I tossed and turned, tormented by the visions of what happened a few weeks ago, how I gave in to the grasp of allure and the horrifying words I used to defeat Luxura, how I almost harmed Higen, “′sup Ozie” Allure formed in my shape he was still wearing the same clothes and his hair was as long as the day it happened “what… what are you doing here” he took a step closer “come on don’t you remember? I did collect my due pay for the job.” I summoned the staff quickly and put it in front of me. “Stay away or I′ll,” he laughed at me. He snapped his fingers, and the staff flew to him, turned into his version of the staff. “Do what exactly? Should I remind you that this belongs to me? Or that I know how to use it better, now” “No… don’t get any closer” “DISAPEAR!!!”

  “Ozwald! Ozwald!” Higen was holding my shoulders I opened my eyes and saw him holding me so I wouldn’t hurt myself “Sorry I… I had a very vivid nightmare” he sat on my bed, I looked at the clock and noticed it was about to be six a.m “you two hugh?” he had told me that he is against the idea of letting the guys join in our fight but he hadn’t told me about the nightmares “do you want to talk about it Higen?” he nodded “it was… I had to tell their families that they had been killed by a monster and it did not go well… they pointed at me… called me monster and killer so I ran away from the scene” “Come here big dummy” I hugged him and we lay on my bed “listen to me, you are not a monster nor a killer and you will never be” he nodded and buried his face in my shoulder “I just want to keep them safe Ozwald” I stoke his hair to calm him down “I understand but they have proven they can fight” I remembered a few weeks ago when they were formally introduced to Tartaros team.

  “Titans… they are in essence the concentrated negative emotions that flow from Elysium and the Human realm, they are formed in the Calderon of Babel, a place located in between the realms” At the projector the picture changed from a very blurry building in the distance to one of the titans Higen and I fought when we arrived, the guys were all looking eagerly at the projection, whit varying levels of attention, Niko was listening closely and taking notes from the presentation, Donna was listening but also having an eye on her phone under the table, while Carter was almost falling asleep, is been a few weeks since the dance incident, where Higen and I fought a Calamity formed by a man named Otis.

  “This is what a Titan looks like, but don’t be fooled, they can assume many forms, but one thing that all of them share is this” She cut the presentation and turned the lights as she pulled the cyan core of the Marmol Statue we fought first, I was reminded of how it trapped Higen on a glass bead and was going to kill him, I looked for his hand and grabbed it, “this is the core of a titan when one is defeated it reverts to this shape it harmless right now” Niko raised his hand “and we keep that thing with us because?” “Our job at Tartaros is to be the prison for Titans, and as for the apparition of the man named Otis, those who wish to harm humanity, we keep these cores here to both analyze them and then seal them away.”

  Donna did raise her hand, “Analyse them for what? Shouldn’t it only be like an egg or something in that form? I remember it was in the booklet you gave us after the dance.” Lulu nodded and continued her explanation. Higen tapped me on the shoulder and got his mouth close to my ear, “Ozwald, I'm nervous… what if they hate us? Or what if they get hurt because of us?” Hagen told me, he has been very doubtful about them becoming part of our team of operations he even woke up screaming once from a nightmare where they got killed in battle, he was biting his lip looking at the conversation “Listen we did what we could but no matter what we said they are determined to be part of this… how is your eye?” he touched the cotton eye-patch he had over his left eye “is going… well I can see shadows and bright light with it but is not back fully, I′m sure it will be back to normal in a few days… it always come back” we heard Lulu cuffing to get our attention.

  We bout blushed as we were now the center of attention. “If the love birds on the back could stop chit-chatting, maybe you two can explain the difference of colors in the cores, Mr. Valoro, Mr. Banna?” I struggled to form an answer but Higen stood up and said calmly “The different colors of the cores represent the mania or vice the titan has an affinity for, the cyan from the statue, for example, correspond to “Gloom” while the Yellow one from the pianist we fought at band camp corresponded to “Sloth” there had been cases where the colors overlap but the nomenclature remains the same taking more into consideration the predominant color” Lulu nodded satisfied by his answer and continued

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  She procided to put a case full with the cores we had collected so far “now Niko, Carter and Donna, I want you to close your eyes and let your instinct choos a core for you” we all looked confiused at Lulu “trust me” Niko went first, he closed his eyes and didn’t do much and yet the birght cyan core moved to hus empty hand, “okey that was weird, and very upsetting but also really cool, isn’t this one the one that turns you into foam?” he asked, but he didn’t got and answer form Lulu, Carter pushed him out of the way and did the same he try to remain calm but he was brething heavily, when he open his palm he had the ruby red core of the brass bull “dope I liked the visions of fire and pain” Donna pinched his cheek and he moved out of her way “I love when you get edgy but if you think I wont teach you not to act salty toward our friends you are wrong” he twisted his mouth into a frown and let her repit the process, when she opened her hand the dull orange core of the siren was in bettewen her fingers.

  “Not really my color, but I guess I can't exchange it for a different one.” Lulu shook her head. “What is the meaning of this, Miss Lulu?” Higen asked concerned for our friends, “Higen I understand your reaction but is not like what Otis did, you see” She pulled from her blazer three bracelets and collected the cores, after a moment of fidgeting with them, the cores were attached to the bracelets “while it is true that Elysium chooses a knight and later on a sorcerer, there has been instances of this realm choosing heroes of its own, we have worked to refine and aid said chosen ones” she returned the bracelets to the guys and asked them to put them on.

  “Okay, so the jewelry is nice. I personally love the craftsmanship of a good bracelet, but what exactly do they do?” I was looking at Niko′s wrist at first I was concerned like Higen about the wellbeing of our friends, I can see Carter fighting he is strong not on the level of Higen but he is very strong and Donna is quick she is the star of the track team, but Niko isn’t the best at physical things, Lulu smiled and continued her explanation “at the beginning of this process we conducted test to measure the compatibility of you three whit the cores Ozwald and Higen have collected so far, now, concentrate, look deep inside of yourselves” the guys closed their eyes and breath, Higen and I remain quiet to see what was going to happen “think of the things you keep to yourself, the things that give you strength, the things that bring you down, contemplate the core of yourselves and bring it to the surface”

  After a moment of meditation, nothing seemed to happen; beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of everyone. I noticed the cores shining for a moment, “What the hell is this!?!” Niko yelled in a panic as a silver mirror appeared in his hands. The back of the mirror had a resemblance to the statue; its core came from he poked the glass with his finger, and it went through it. “It… It′s water." “You are not alone in this one, Niko… I love these boots!!!” Donna′s Leges were encased in greaves with a feathery design, “Yo!!! Now we are talking!” Carter's fists had gauntlets that ended in brass horns resembling the smoldering bull, “Okay, I think we need an explanation, Miss Lulu.” The guys seemed to be fine, but in a moment, they started to pant and seemed very tired. Their new gear vanished in thin air as they lost their concentration and sat back down.

  “Allow me to explain now that the test has concluded, we have adapted the cores to be used in combat, but as you saw and experimented, this process takes a lot out of you. If you are going to fight, you really need to practice with your new shackles. Be warned that if you use them for too long, it could pose…” Higen banged his hands on the table. “I've been sitting here for too long…” he was really upset. I knew he wasn’t okay with the idea of this, but this outburst was uncharacteristic for him. “Why are you guys still doing this? You should be normal people, not learning how to summon things out of thin air. “Hey, Banna, I don’t see the problem. You do things like this all the time, right?” Carter tried to calm him down, but he was far too into his rage. “It is not the same Marten! I trained for years to be able to do this. I knew I was going to be doing these things, but you guys should be safe, not on the front line!”

  “Higen, but we want to help, it will be easier and better if there are five instead of two.” “But, but, but what happens when you get hurt or worse, what happens if you lose control of those… things?” Donna looked at him “Hig… you literally went blind in one eye because there was only you and Ozie, this is our home I don’t want people that are close to me to be hurt by monsters they can't even see coming” he breathed deeply and looked to the ground, he then turned away “I′ll go out I need some air, I apologize for my words” he started to walk to the door after weeks of training the guys were able to use their gear properly but Higen has been tense, we are supposed to resume our titan hunting tomorrow.