Dimensional Descent

Leonel looked at the various souls floating around him and felt a hint of excitement that was doused quickly. How could he remain excited? While it was true a burden that had been weighing him down for so long was finally off of his shoulders, there was another matter that was harder to accept...

After a bit of hesitation, he reached forward toward Rollan's soul.

Rollan was someone that Leonel had met long after his falling out with James. After what happened between him and his longtime best friend, Leonel truly didn't think that he would ever connect with a person on that level again. He and James might have been complete polar opposites, but they worked in a way that Leonel simply couldn't describe.

That wasn't to say that Leonel thought more of James than his other brothers, that wasn't the case at all. Some parents might lie when they said they loved all of their children equally, but Leonel wasn't lying at all when he said that he loved all his brothers the same.

What differentiated his best friend from his buddies wasn't how much he liked James, but rather how well they clicked, how well they played off of one another, how well James seemed to compliment him.

Now that he understood a bit more about himself, Leonel knew exactly why this was too. Would it even be him if it wasn't for a selfish motive?

James was a simple minded brute and he was all too willing to deal with Leonel's manipulation. But at the same time, he was sharp and intuitive in a way he himself probably didn't understand. He could pick out Leonel's flaws in a way that others simply couldn't.

In a lot of ways, James was like Leonel's litmus test. If he could pull one over on James, then his actions would go unnoticed.

a selfish person, but he didn't believe that he had crossed the line to evil, villain, mastermind just yet, treating James like

to this for certain, because although Rollan was also a polar opposite of James,

of whatever was ailing them, and if anything, he was a bit sharper than James was,

Leonel had to choose which friend he was the

just one thing: Joel didn't tolerate Leonel's nonsense

had brought the liquor that day, and it was Joel who forced Leonel to see that he was less

didn't want that kind of best friend. Joel wouldn't just call him out like Rollan, or tolerate him like James, he would try to force Leonel to

the leader wasn't Leonel at all. After all, he was on the sidelines. It was Joel who took control of their defense... he was the quarterback

sad. Maybe if Joel had been his best friend instead, or rather if he had allowed that

would he allow someone to change him? Did a person as selfish as himself even have that

the restrictions and allowed Rollan to

looking around in confusion for a moment. When he noticed Leonel, he immediately bowed deeply, and it was precisely

he and Rollan were still slated to be best