"Nathan?" Keith asked.

"Yeah?" Nathan responded.

"Why are you changing him in here?"

"Because he pooped."

Keith looked over at the violet-eyed catkin boy, whose diaper Nathan was changing, swapping the local cloth version for a disposable Earthen one. The infant, for his part, was just watching the demigod, his twin babbling in baby speech beside him.

"I meant," Keith said. "Why are you doing it in here, instead of, say, the family room?"

"Because he pooped," Nathan answered. "Why?"

"Never mind," Keith shook his head. "Anyway, Nathan, I had a question regarding them."

"Yeah?"

"How do you plan on keeping them on Earth when the universe forces people back to their birth worlds?"

"Icthvar told me that babies born of parents from two worlds," Nathan explained. "Can go to either without issue until they start the sexual maturation stage of puberty. Around that point, they start finding themselves 'drawn' to one of the two worlds, up until they finish puberty, when they're forced to live on one world over the other. That world is always the one they spent more time on before they started finding themselves drawn to one of the worlds."

"I see," Keith said. "You asked Ichtvar that after seeing them?"

"No," Nathan finished changing the baby's diaper. "I asked him awhile ago, after we left the Isles of Darkness. He told me it back then."

"Why did you ask him then?" Keith asked.

"We'd both slept with Evala," Nathan answered. "So it made me wonder what would happen if two people of different worlds had a baby. So I asked him, and he told me."

"Of course you were curious about that," Keith said as Nathan held up the baby, which started giggling. "Anyway, are you going to help me decipher these?"

"Weren't you going to wait until we were back in a safe zone for that?" Nathan asked, gently tossing the infant catkin into the air, then catching him. "That's what we discussed yesterday."

"I know," Keith said. "I just… we've been here for two days already, and while I'm busy memorizing these and taking notes, I really want to know what they say."

Nathan looked around the room using his magic sight. Evala and her family never considered that their deceased brother had written things in magic, hidden from normal gazes, and as a result, never realized that all of his notes and the walls, floor, and ceiling of his room were covered in research notes or comments of his own.

"You can ignore the section you're looking at," Nathan told him.

"Why?" Keith asked.

"Everything written in that rectangle is a box of people he's slept with," Nathan stated.

"Are you sure?"

"It's a box of names written on his headboard, in magic," Nathan said. "I'm willing to bet that if you ask those people if they've slept with him, they'll confirm it."

"He's slept with this many women?" Keith asked.

"Nathan's messing with you," Ichtvar told Keith, landing beside him. "From what I learned, the brother was a virgin. He may have been legal both here and on Earth at nearly nineteen when he died, but he was waiting until he found a long-time mate."

"Oh," Keith said. "What's this, then?"

"I can speak this language," Ichtvar told him. "But I can't read it."

"Nathan," Keith groaned. "Please translate."

"Her brother left a message for us," Nathan said. "It says that the thing we're looking for is in a compartment hidden on the underside of his bed, concealed with magic. It also says that his triplet brother is bisexual, as with all demigods, and would be more than willing to sleep with you, Keith, if you just asked."

Keith and Ichtvar both stared at Nathan as the demigod continued playing with the babies, then the psychic sighed and slid under the bed on his bac, running his fingers over the section with the hidden compartment as he pushed his mana into it, unlocking it. Pulling away the panel, Keith reached into the bed and pulled out a thick notebook, then slid back out and started flipping through it.

"This contains everything on the walls," Keith said after a few minutes. "And then some. It's not just her brother who did this, either, Nathan. It says at the start that he continued the work of others. Centuries of work, to create this notebook."

"And he left it for us?" Nathan asked. "Because he knew we'd continue it? He was a psychic, I did learn that much. Wait. You can read it?"

"Yeah," Keith tossed it to him, and Nathan opened it.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Nathan looked through the pages, frowning as he went.

"It's in English."

"Yeah," Keith said. "Read the first page."

Nathan did, finding as he read it that the catboy had been a member of a long line of psychics and enchanters. Each one passed on their knowledge to the next using magic, and he when he realized the Overseers planned on killing him because of his research, he compiled it into a single text, using his psychic powers to learn which language they spoke and then his demigod powers to write in it.

The entire purpose of the order was to research what was necessary for Nathan and Keith to perform their work, the catkin demigod naming them specifically. In the note to them, the catkin demigod wrote how their secret order began.

A demigod psychic whose mother was a goddess of foresight, whose soul had been forged in a previous reincarnation. He had used his powers to find out how the game would be ended, and it led him to creating the secret order and finding out about the future existence of Nathan, Keith, and Samantha.

"There's also some bad news at the end," Keith said.

"Bad news?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah," Keith said. "Um… read it."

Nathan flipped to the back of the book, where a single note was left inside, written in the same handwriting as the rest of the book.

By the time you return home, the one you love the most will have died in the game, Nathan Hunter. Sometimes, innocent runs turn out lethal.

"This is joking, right?" Nathan asked.

"I don't think so," Keith swallowed hard. "Considering what's at stake, I don't think he'd have done that."

Nathan dropped the book and ran out of the house, charging straight to the gate as horror filled him. He burst through the gate, startling the workers in his factory. Looking around, he saw that Samantha wasn't there. Guessing she would be at home, Nathan ran home, his System-enhanced speed making him faster than any car.

When he arrived, he reached the front door just in time to hear two thuds and a gory explosion, followed by an ear-splitting scream. Bursting into the house, he found Michael ripped to shreds, Isabella dead with her chest ripped open, and Samantha with several large holes in her body, along with a quite plump stomach.

William was still alive, but wounded, his arm in a sling and bandages around his head, a patch over his eyes. As soon as he saw Nathan, he looked away.

Nathan looked at his parents, it was his mother who had screamed. Grateful Luke and that part of his family weren't there, Nathan stepped over to Samantha's body, kneeling down and gingerly touching her, feeling the warmth leaving her body.

For several moments, there was silence. Then, Nathan looked up and met William's single-eyed gaze, his face a mask with no emotion.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice low and unnaturally calm.

"We did some training stuff yesterday," William told him, looking down. "Samantha realized she was pregnant towards the end of it, after missing a period and taking a few tests. So we went in today for a longer run. She was leading the group, and she accidentally selected Normal Difficulty, which none of us noticed. We'd gone to the restroom, the three of us escorting her, as usual, and a pretty strong one showed up. It was near the end of the run, putting her to what we estimated would be the end of the pregnancy so she could surprise you when you returned, and… it and the others overwhelmed us. They'd apparently been hiding from us just how many of them there were, and when they attacked, it was en masse. I-I'm sorry. We tried to save her, Nathan, we tried to protect her. If she weren't pregnant, she could have fought better with us, but she couldn't, so we tried to do what we could to make up for it, and-"

"Enough," Nathan said, standing, and his parents and comrade could see the pure, unfiltered rage in his eyes, the faint white glow around him caused by his magic starting to leak out in a heavy amount. "Ichtvar was right. If we took too long to destroy the Soul Engine, her or Keith would die."

He grit his teeth, his mask disappearing as his fury filled his face and voice.

"If it weren't for this fucking game," Nathan snarled, his clothes beginning to ripple from the force of his magic beginning to swirl around him. "Things would be a lot different, but at least she would be alive. Tell me: what is the official statement regarding the reveal of magic? It's been a day now, hasn't it?"

"Just a little bit," William told him. "The governments have stated that they're aware of the situation, they're working on dealing with it, and some other stuff, but the actual big statements haven't been made yet. It was kind of unexpected. The US is doing ours this evening, and I think the rest of the world is looking for it, with the other governments looking to see what we do and say."

"Good," Nathan forced calm into his voice, though everyone could still hear the fury in it. "Keith, tell the director that I am making a statement there. I'm going to need some resources as well, so make sure that the list is met. Ichtvar, find a fucking necromancer with a forged soul. A demigod if possible. Bring their ass here, and you have one day. Her body is not to be buried."

"You can't bring her back, Nathan," Keith said from the doorway, having followed Nathan with Icthvar, the book and babies in his arms.

"I'm not planning on bringing her back," Nathan growled. "I want that fucking necromancer to pull her soul out of the fucking Soul Engine, no matter how much fucking power it takes him or her. We're going to lend him a mana orb for it as well, to ensure he has the necessary power.

"Ichtvar," Nathan turned his gaze to the phoenix. "I believe I gave you an order. You will obey. Immediately. I am commanding this as a prince of the gods, regardless of whether or not that has a magical hold on you."

"Your soul," Ichtvar said. "Was forged to be one of the three most powerful the Well of Souls ever forged. Much of what you're about to do will be considered irrational by many, Nathan. Despite that, I have no intentions on disobeying you. It might be possible, but it might also take me a few days."

"You have one."

"Nathan," Ichtvar said. "I will try to find one as soon as possible, but there are limitations even I suffer, and the universe is a massive place."

"Then get to work!" Nathan snapped, and the phoenix disappeared in a flash of flames. The demigod turned his gaze to Keith. "I'm going to tell the fucking world about the game. I'm also going to tell them that I'm going to destroy the fucking game. Make sure the director knows that when you tell him I'm doing the announcement. Then, I need those resources. Immediately. Let's do some work using his research and our own. The sooner we destroy that fucking thing, the better."

Keith handed Nathan the babies, and the demigod went up to his room, where Cyrus was napping in his crib. Sitting on his bed, Nathan held the two catkin babies against him, breaking down crying as he pulled his magic back into himself.

He really wanted to satisfy his desire to kill people, and hoped an Overseer or two would come near him soon. Even if they didn't, he would ensure their last moments were spent in terror as they realized their plans were destroyed by him.

While he might have wanted to destroy the game before to protect Samantha and Cyrus, her death flipped the trigger built into his soul. Nothing would stop him from pursuing its destruction, and with his lack of need to enter the game ever again, the Overseers wouldn't be able to manipulate his death like he began to suspect they did for Samantha upon realizing how dangerous the trio were.

Praying to his true father, Nathan hoped he accomplished his goal much sooner than projected.