It was a long while before Gunderson responded to the question I had asked him. After a while I began to think he was never going to respond. Did I cross a line? Was that question too personal? I knew it was a bit sensitive…

“Matteo was another supernatural like you, but he…he died almost a decade ago now.” Gunderson told me solemnly. His tone and demeanor were very cold and rigid. I realized then I brought up something I shouldn’t have.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought this up. This is clearly something very personal for you, we can just pretend I never mentioned it.” I tried to tell him.

“No, no that’s alright. I appreciate the thought, but you deserve to know about this, more than most.” Gunderson told me, while his hands seemed to grip the steering wheel that much tighter. “This issue is more my own hang-ups and shortcomings. Matteo’s name and his accomplishments shouldn’t be ignored or forgotten.”

I wanted to say something to him then, but I had no idea what I should say. Do I say something to comfort him? Do I insist that it’s alright to wait for another time to talk about it?

My indecision and inability to respond gave Gunderson the time he seemed to need to gather up his thoughts.

“He was the first supernatural that I’d mentored and helped out. Matteo was around your age when we met, but he…he died in the line of duty.” As Gunderson told me this, the tension in his body and posture grew even tighter. “I blamed myself for his death back then. I mean, how could I not, it was my job to make sure he was ready, and I let him down.”

“What happened to him?” This really felt like the wrong thing to say, but my curiosity and the need to know the fate of my predecessor pushed the words from my lips. I should just try and change the subject now, or maybe make a silly joke to lighten the mood or something.

“He bit off more than he could handle, fighting monsters that he wasn’t yet ready for.” Gunderson said. “Matteo was so so excited when he was picked by the Akashic Record and got his abilities, always eager to face any challenge and throw himself right into the face of whatever dangerous monster he could find.”

“But you were there to help him, didn't he listen to you or something?” I asked, hoping to ease the guilt on Gunderson's mind, but there was still clearly a lot I didn’t know.

“I was there, but truthfully I was almost as bad as he was. Eager to slay every foul beasty we could find, excited to see my student grow into a terrifying force of nature.” Gunderson’s expression became slightly more downcast as he looked down into his lap and off the road for a moment. “He was never able to reach that point though, all because we…because I was too impatient, too arrogant, too blind to the dangers.”

“And that’s why you’ve been trying to take a slower approach with me.” I reasoned. “Despite what the other people in the IDPA wanted or expected from you.”

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, I fully intend for you to be ready to face whatever challenges come your way, but I wanted to keep the process as slow as I possibly could.” Gunderson said, his expression and mood both gathering a bit more energy at his resolution.

“I’m guessing you never told any of this to your bosses though?” I asked.

“Ha, no, you saw how Irmingir is. He, and honestly most in the IDPA, including your fellow supernaturals, have a very sink-or-swim philosophy when it comes to you and your kind.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, remember when I explained that there was an element of randomness, but within that random selection, the most qualified person was chosen? Many think that if you truly are the ideal candidate to be given special powers, then you’ll rise to the occasion.”

“And if I’m not and I die early like Matteo did?” I prodded, perhaps unkindly.

“Then you weren’t worthy of your powers, and your death will make room for another supernatural to be chosen, hopefully someone who is worthy.” Gunderson’s words hit me like a hammer. “After all, there are billions of other people for Akashic Record to choose from, there’s no chance of it running out of options.”

“I don’t get it, everyone there, including you, seemed eager to offer their help to me. ‘Whatever I need’ they said, and ‘Contact us at any time’ was what they told me.” My voice was more than a little incredulous as I said this.

“We do want you to succeed. That much is absolutely true, but…well how do I explain?” Gunderson said while pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts. “Do you remember how I compared supernaturals to comic book superheroes?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that is kinda the expectation the IDPA and other paranaturals have for any given supernatural. If you can’t meet that standard as a supernatural, you’re considered a dud, a failure, or even a mistake.” Gunderson explained, the harsh expectations for me being made abundantly clear. “There’s more to the dynamic between supernaturals and the IDPA I could go over with you, but I still think you’re still pretty early in your career to have to worry about it too much. Just know we do want you to succeed, and we’ll do whatever we…I’ll do whatever I can to ensure you get there.”

“Thanks, Gunderson. I believe you.” I told him, my voice lacking much in the way of energy though.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get there. As I said to you before, one day you’ll be the thing others are terrified of.” He turned to give me an encouraging smile at that proclamation. I tried to reciprocate with a smile of my own but it was a weak and insincere attempt at one.

“So what happened after Matteo passed? Were there no more supernaturals in this area for almost a decade?” I asked, hoping to move on to a different topic.

“No, the Akashic Record wouldn’t let that happen. Monster incursions and new dungeons are popping up nearly every day within the region we monitor. Most of the small weaker events are things the IDPA agents and teams are capable of dealing with, but the Akashic Record doesn’t rely on or even expect us non-supernaturals to deal with the invading monsters.”

“So another supernatural was chosen.” I guessed. “But where are they?”

“Well, technically two people have been selected since then, from our region anyways.” Gunderson explained. “One not long after Matteo left us, but they eventually moved away. The other was a young woman who was given her powers by the Akashic Record almost nine years ago now.”

“What happened to her, is she still around?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“She is, you should meet her soon enough. Her name’s Bobbie, she’s considered a bit of a rising star among the IDPA and supernatural community. She’s already gotten her second class and reached C rank in her first.” Gunderson told me, with clear admiration and respect in his voice.

“That’s impressive I guess, what’s she like?” As he had described her to me, I couldn’t help feeling an unbidden twinge of jealousy within me. Not enjoying that feeling, I did my best to suppress it.

“Well, as you may have heard Florence the barista say, Bobbie can come across as a bit brash.” Gunderson had a bit of a smirk when he told me this.

That twinge of unwelcome jealousy sparked again, but I resolved to ignore the irrational feeling.

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“So are you helping and advising her also?” I asked with complete innocence.

“No, Agent Knowles is the one who was assigned to her when she was selected by the Akashic Record. He’s been supporting and helping her for almost a decade now.” Gunderson explained.

“That poor girl…” My jealousy had suddenly started to morph into pity.

“Ha, I know that they both may seem like they have difficult personalities, but Bobbie and Knowles seem to work well together. Maybe it’s because they both can be a bit…acerbic that their personalities mesh.” Gunderson shrugged as he tried to explain their dynamic.

“Hmm…” I resolved to keep an open mind about meeting this other supernatural, and not let any of my illogical feelings and preconceptions get in the way.

“So, feel like stopping anywhere for lunch? We’re already out, and if we take you back to your school, I’m pretty sure we’re past the normal school lunch time” Gunderson asked.

“Uh no, I’m not really hungry.” I said, an uncomfortable knot of hunger inside me making itself known.

“Come on, you can get whatever you like. It’s all on the IDPA dime too, that’s one little perk you can take advantage of right now.” He turned to look at me as he told me this. Worse though, he began to wiggle his eyebrows at me in an attempt to prompt some kind of reaction out of me.

The absurdities of his display did make me chuckle a bit, but his embarrassing behavior didn’t do anything to change my mind.

“I can just get something at home, I’m sure there’s leftovers of some kind in the fridge.” I reasoned.

“Ah, that’s so boring, but if that’s what you want, I’ll take you back to your house then.” Gunderson informed, ceasing the tango of furry caterpillars on his forehead.

“I appreciate the thought, but I’d rather just go home so I can unwind even if it's only for a little bit.” I told him, the sincere need in my words was hopefully clear to him.

“I understand, like I told you, I didn’t want to overwhelm you too much, too quickly. I'm not sure I succeeded, but hopefully, I prevented the worst of it.” Gunderson told me, a bit of pain coming through as he said it.

“You did, I think. I’m not sure how anyone could have introduced all this to me without making me feel at least a little overwhelmed.” I gave him a more sincere smile this time, hopefully encouraging him for his efforts.

“Ha, I’m sure Knowles would claim he could have done twice the job with half the effort if he was the one doing it, but thanks, it does mean a lot to hear that.” Gunderson smiled back.

“Don’t worry about it.” I told him.

“Look, I know we said I wasn’t going to overwhelm you, but did you have any other question you wanted to ask me before we reach your home?” Gunderson asked.

“Um…” I had to stop and think about that. Truthfully, I still had about a million questions left unanswered. It felt like every time I did get some kind of answer, it would just generate another question for me to ask, likely more than one. “You said we should go over skills more, but is that something I should just be reading about in this spiffy new book I got?”

I raised the book I’d been holding for emphasis, but also just to show it off because I thought it was cool. It was a frickin book of magic after all.

“Oh yeah, we don’t really have the time today to do a thorough in-depth review of all your class and general skills, but there is one thing I should point out.” Gunderson said while moving his right hand around at various points to highlight his words.

“Okay…” I said, bracing myself to once more take in an excessive amount of information that will possibly shatter and fundamentally change my view of the world.

“You noticed, hopefully, that all your skills should be rank F, correct?” He asked.

“Yeah, just like the attributes on my status screen were all also ranked F.”

“Yep, that's normal, but the interesting part is what happens when one of your skills or stats reaches 100.” Gunderson paused his explanation for emphasis. “ Once you get to that point, the Akashic Record will offer you a quest to rank up that skill or attribute.”

“Quests? Like the main quest and side quest I’ve got?”

“That’s exactly right, accept the reward for completing this quest is a rank up of your skill or attribute and possibly the option to choose what it evolves into.” Gunderson was now gesturing around with his index finger while giving me his explanation. “That part could take a bit more time to explain, but you shouldn’t have to worry about that until we get another chance to talk.”

“Okay, if I get a 100 in a skill or attribute I’ll get a quest to improve it.” I summarized, making sure I understood his explanation.

“You got it.” Gunderson said.

As we concluded our brief discussion on skills, Gunderson’s car finally brought us onto the quiet suburban street where I lived.

I suddenly felt weird being driven around in this flashy convertible by some middle-aged guy I had just met today. My life had become so frickin weird.

As Gunderson pulled smoothly into our vacant driveway, the loud rumble of the car’s engine became ever more prominent in the typical silence of our middle-class suburban neighborhood.

“One last thing before you go.” Gunderson, having taken his hands off the wheel, now turned to give me his complete attention. “I should have told you sooner how important the veil was, but the explanation of why and the details around how it works would take a while to explain properly. The short version is that mundanes can’t perceive magic, monsters, or anything related to them. And when I say can’t perceive, I mean they literally can’t, their mind will just create a fictitious scenario to explain everything.”

“Yeah, I get what you're saying. I already figured that part out I think.

“Good, but now we get to the part I need to warn you about. The veil can be broken, and it is part of your job to ensure that that doesn't happen. You saw it before with the quest with the huge penalty you told me about.”

“Right, but I guess it’ll take too long to explain why it's my job though.” I guessed.

“Essentially the Akashic Record likes to keep everything that isn’t mundane as hidden and secretive as it can, again the reason why will have to wait for later. All you need to know for now is, don’t let people who don’t already know, find out the truth about monsters and magic. Simple right?”

“Um yeah, I more or less pieced all that together, what with the painful headaches and giant experience penalties.” I admitted.

“Great, that leads me to the last thing you need to know, the veil can intentionally be broken.” Gunderson gave me an intense look then, one that tried to force me to understand the importance of what he was saying.

“Wait, why?” I asked, not completely understanding the purpose of doing the opposite of what my job was supposed to be.

“It’s so you can choose to let others in on the secret.” He said, again trying to will understanding into my head with his stare.

I did get it now though. He was trying to tell me I could let my friends and family know about all of this. I would finally be able to explain all the craziness that’s been happening to me, but it couldn’t be that easy.

“What’s the price? It can’t be as easy as just telling someone. I've already tried, it hurts.” I explained, recalling the splitting headache my previous attempts at explanation had given me.

“You’re right, the price, as you correctly guessed, is your experience points. By expending them you can choose to let another person in on the truth of this world. I will strongly suggest that you wait for now though.”

“What? Why? Do I not have enough experience points?” I guessed.

“That, and it’s still a bit early for you to appreciate the consequences of letting a mundane into this world. I can’t stop you if you make the attempt, but my advice is to wait. It’s safer for you and those you care about.” Gunderson said, the feeling of truth and wisdom in his words swaying me somewhat.

“Alright, I guess I won’t recklessly spend all my experience points telling my friends and family about this stuff.” I promised half-heartedly.

“That’s good to hear, you probably don’t even have the points to awaken more than one or two people anyways. Just keep my warning in mind. I’ll text you my number when I leave, so feel free to call me at any time of the day if it's important. Got it?” He asked a bit more authoritatively than I was used to from him.

“Got it, thanks for everything Herbert.” I told him with a smile.

“No worries Jenni, I’ll be in touch.” He smiled back at me as he reversed out of the driveway and quickly drove off.

Congratulations! - Quest Complete

Side Quest: Looking for Answers

Success: 150 Exp.

“Oh.” I said, a bit startled at the new blue box that popped out of thin air.

Happy at the closure of my talk with Gunderson, and the surprise quest reward, I still couldn't help feeling overwhelmed on multiple fronts. Dismissing the blue box with a thought, I made my way to the front door preparing to open it. As I pulled out the key and started trying to put it in the lock, the door swung open to reveal the looming and menacing face of my mother looking down upon me.

“M-mom, what are you doing home.” I practically squeaked.