New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

In a matter of minutes, the small jet was already on the tarmac, making his last checkups before takeoff. The pilot was used to this kind of hastiness.

Once the tower gave him the green light, he was off the ground in seconds.

The hastiness of takeoff was felt inside the passenger cabin. They were all strapped in, but they still felt the increase in pressure from accelerating so abruptly.

As soon as the jet was high enough in the air, it sped up to full speed, the pilot uncaring of the extra fuel cost. His boss told him to get into Canada fast, and he intended to do just that.

By the time the police and rangers found the area where the Goblin camp was and the battle had taken place, the private jet was already well away from Nebraska.

Calling the plane back would require so much paperwork and jumping through so many metaphorical hoops that they would never do it in time to stop it from crossing into Canada.

So the local authorities covered up the story. The news about the little green men would never even show up in the paper.

Some black suits came in and closed the area faster than you could drop a paperclip to the ground. The conspiracy freaks were already screaming about aliens all over social media.

Back on the plane, the trip back was quiet. Jack had little to talk about with Kary, and the same could be said the other way around.

Since the trip was a few hours long, Jack took a nap. He had slept little in the last two days, and it seemed like as good a time as any.

Guo kept working on his tablet, while Kary stared outside the window. The soft white clouds passing under the plane eventually lulled her to sleep.

Using mana so actively outside of New Eden was a novelty to her. And it had drained her much more than she expected.

She barely noticed as her eyes became heavy and she slept into the land of dreams. The first one to wake up was Alex.

Even though he had drained his mana like crazy in the last few days, it appeared his body was already growing accustomed to using and replenishing it. The abysmal amount of mana around him right now didn't seem to dampen that.

When he woke up, he noticed Kary was asleep in front of him, and opted to leave her that way. Turning his head, he also saw Jack laying back, his chest slowly rising and descending.

When he looked around, he noticed the only one still awake was Guo, trudging away at his tablet.

He rose from his seat, careful not to make too much noise. Alex walked to sit on the seat opposite the aisle from Guo.

"I'm glad to see you are awake so fast, Mr. Leduc. I had hoped you wouldn't be unconscious as long as last time."

"I still feel a bit tired, but nothing unusual. What about you? Do you ever sleep?"

Guo smiled warmly at him.

"Do not worry about me, young man. I rest when I need to. But a lot of work needs to be done. The Goblin camp has already been found, and some American agencies are already snooping into our brief stay near it."

Alex frowned.

"How long have I been out? How did they find out so fast?"

"You haven't been out very long. We are halfway back home, so a few hours. And you would be surprised how quickly the American government catches on to anomalies in their territory."

Nodding in fake understanding, Alex leaned into his seat.

When he glanced toward the back of the plane, he saw David knocked out, strapped into another seat. His skin tone looked pale, like he hadn't seen the sun in a while.

"Is he alright?" he asked, pointing at David.

Guo raised his eyes, looking at where Alex was pointing.

"I'm sure he will be fine. He looks less drained than when you fainted the first time. I'm sure he'll be up on his feet before we reach Montreal. As for the lady, she was fine when we boarded. She only fell asleep when we reached our altitude and cruising speed."

Once again, Alex nodded his head.

Alex tried recalling the last thing he did before backing out. He remembered un-melding with the demon he had chosen, and recalling White Death, and that was all.

Thinking about White Death, he tried communicating with the wolf. When he mentally spoke to it, he received no verbal answer, instead feeling a succession of emotions.

The first one was happiness, followed by confusion, and then came tiredness. Alex understood the non-verbal message.

He could guess he still wasn't strong enough to manifest White's complete soul, meaning the wolf only had basic consciousness. This was why the soul already felt tired.

Just communicating with him, after having been out for a few minutes in the world, was probably the maximum it could exert itself for now.

'It's okay. Rest,' he silently said to his companion.

Immediately after, he stopped feeling White's soul in his mind. It was back to being a subtle presence inside him.

Opening his eyes, there was a calmness to them. Guo could see the difference.

"You seem calmer. Did a nice thought occur to you?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Nothing of the sort. I was just communicating with the wolf's soul inside me. I don't know why, but feeling it closer than before, like this, puts me at ease a bit."

"Is the soul a good friend inside New Eden?" Guo asked.

It piqued his curiosity.

"Nothing of the sort, haha. I could even say White is more of a problem sometimes. I don't know why it appeased me to sense him there. It's almost like… I was missing a part of me before, and now it's back."

Alex didn't know how to put it in words better. But it mattered not.

The sense of calm he felt was enough for him. He didn't need to know the reason.

Alexander got up and walked back to his seat. Guo smiled at him, focusing back on the tablet in his hands.

Moments later, Alex was back asleep, this time dreaming of battlefields filled with enemies and allies. He could see himself, happy, fighting to his heart's content.