As they went through the food line, Kev grabbed a little too much. Douglas did the same, but it was all just free food to him. Lieutenant Sawyer and Samuels expected that of Douglas but were a bit surprised at Kev.

Samuels smiled at Kev. “Get enough food there, Kev?”

Kev didn't even look up. “Some of these foods are unfamiliar. Also, I seem strangely famished.”

Lieutenant Sawyer's eyebrow went up. “So I'm guessing you aren't usually hungry. Is it possibly linked to that lack of access you mentioned earlier?”

"That is a possibility. This planet does have a weird mana flow. It is a certainty that my strength has been diminished as well.”

Douglas stopped long enough to add his opinion. “Yeah. My magical abilities virtual disappear when I'm outside of a zone. My shield disappears about a minute after I leave one.”

Kev tasted an apple. “It could be because Earth has just had its ley lines re-awakened. The mana could be limited to the ley lines, but it should theoretically leak into the rest of the planet over time.” He finished the apple in hurry.

Lieutenant Sawyer sat back. “How do you mean 're-awakened'? You make it sound like Earth had plenty of magic in the past.”

Kev bit through a pastry. “Yes, it did. Prior to the Fading, Earth had more than enough mana to support a plethora of supernatural creatures. Some of them even traveled here just for the mana. Then my ancestors tried harnessing that energy for their own ends. It resulted in an explosion that consumed a large amount of mana. They had thought that the mana had dissipated from the planet, but it appears that it was absorbed by the ground. Something happened to unlock it.”

Samuels was fully awake. “I take it your society has studied us for some time?”

“Something like that. It is rumored that my people feel a debt to this planet because of that explosion. It was one of the purposes behind the edging ring.”

The three soldiers froze. Even Douglas stopped eating for a moment. Just a moment. Lieutenant Sawyer recovered first. “Wouldn't that mean that your people were responsible for The Cataclysm as well?”

Kev put his chicken leg down. “Not likely. The Fading did not happen overnight; it occurred over several centuries. The supernatural creatures had plenty of time to evacuate to other worlds or to find some form of hibernation here. To force the mana back to the surface so suddenly would have taken a tremendous amount of energy applied in just the right location to create what you have experienced. Something that would have caused several hundred thousand deaths, There are some theories, but nothing we lack enough evidence to prove anything.”

Lieutenant Sawyer held her coffee like it was a life preserver. “There was a rumor that two South American countries had decided to go after each other with nuclear weapons. Could that have provided the deaths required?”

Kev shrugged and picked up his chicken leg. “Yes, but for that to have started the chain reaction, they would have had to be on the same ley line and attacked each other nearly simultaneously. But all of that magical energy with no will guiding it would have become a destructive force.”

Douglas got some words out between bites. “Dang. That would have been some ludicrously powerful magic.”

Samuels was in shock. “Sort of scary to think that there are such forces are out there.”

Kev stabbed some sausages. “There are some places I could show you if we have some time to explore later on.”

Everyone just stared at Kev. The ramifications of what he had almost casually mentioned to their cosmology were frightening. Lieutenant Sawyer made a mental note to bring it up with Kev later; those sorts of places would be interesting to explore later, when they secured their place here. Strange that the boy in question was struggling with how to properly eat spaghetti: Kev ended up just grabbing the noodle. Lieutenant Sawyer smiled as she showed him how to twirl it.

* * * * *

After lunch, Douglas went to his physical exam with Samuels as his chaperone to ensure that he arrived. Walker had attempted to hook up with the pair, but the screaming somewhere in the vicinity of the squad's office had caused Lieutenant Sawyer to send him to check on the source of the screaming. Or at least she had thought that she had heard screaming. She and Kev then headed to the office of General Martin.

They were immediately shown in. Lieutenant Sawyer saluted and they were told to sit. General Martins pulled up Kev's lab results on her tablet. “Admittedly, I was hoping to see something a bit more...interesting.” She looked at Kev. “You check out as a relatively regular human. While your overall physical health is well above normal and you are healthier than most of the battalion, there is nothing here that would suggest that you were anything more than a standard teenage boy.” Kev and Lieutenant Sawyer looked at each other. “Well, except for your alkaline phosphatase. That was a bit interesting.”

Kev was puzzled. “Sorry, you will need to explain. It is not a standard metric.”

She put the tablet down to look at him. “Factored in with your genetics, it can be used to tell us how old you are.” She pulled back a little. “Based on the evidence I have, you would appear to be 84 years old.”

“That would sound correct.”

“It means that you're aging at approximately one-fifth the rate of us regular humans.” He attempted to answer, but her hand stopped him. “We assumed that's normal for one of your race.”

Kev was taken aback. “That is truly...interesting. I should not be aging. Normally, the tattoos on my skin link me to the mana of the world I am in and prevent aging.” He looked down, lost in thought. Then his head shot up as enlightenment hit. “Oh.”

Now it was Lieutenant Sawyer's turn to be surprised. “'Oh'?”

"Yes. Normally the mana in a world would be diffused throughout the world. But based on how Douglas' abilities drop off once he is outside a zone, and my own apparent weakness, it means that the mana is currently limited to the zones. For the moment anyway.”

General Martins looked at him a little more intensely. “Would this apply to anyone, any entity, who is powered by...mana?”

Kev shrugged. “Yes. If the same relationship applies, then they should lose their supernatural status approximately a minute outside of a zone.”

She smiled at Lieutenant Sawyer. “It looks like we may have an edge. At least until this 'mana' diffuses into the rest of the planet.”

Lieutenant Sawyer smiled. “Yeah, it does sound like it.”

General Martins' smile faded. “We should verify that before celebrating. Also, there is the question that if the boys both lose their connection after a minute outside of a zone, how long until they regain their abilities after returning to the zone?”

The tablet beeped. General Martins looked at it. She smiled. “Douglas' results are in. He has some malnourishment issues, but nothing a week or two of proper eating wouldn't cure.” She looked at the platoon leader. “Would you mind attempting to recruit him for your platoon?”

She frowned. “What about the hair?”

The older woman smiled. “That would be up to his squad leader.”

Lieutenant Sawyer cocked her head when she looked at her. “You just hate me.”

She smiled. “Sometimes.”

Lieutenant Sawyer's eyes rolled. “Fine, ma'am. But let me ask the rest of the squad first.”