The conversation went more or less the way you’d expect after that: he accepted the burden of proof and convinced me the whole magic powers thing wasn’t bullshit.

“Why didn’t you tell me??” I demanded.

“It’s illegal to inform a legacy,” he started.

“A what?” I said scrunching my face up in confusion.

“A child whose parents were in the order. It’s illegal to inform them of their heritage; normally, it’s a law no one follows, but there are only a few dozen members left on the continent, and we haven’t trained any new recruits since…” he hesitated. I knew what he was going to say.

“Since my parents died,” I supplied.

“It wasn’t just your parents that died. We lost over a hundred spellswords.” There was an emotion on his face I hadn’t seen before. Regret?

“Where were you when that happened?” I said in a barely audible whisper.

“I was away on a mission. A mission to find their headquarters,” he said as he tightened his fist.

“Who?? Who did it?” as the words escaped my lips, I felt a fury inside me I never had before. It felt almost like a sea of anger I could barely contain.

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“A group of demonologists lead by a former order member named Eric Manthei. Don’t worry about him. Your mother made sure to take him with her.”

“What the fuck is a demonologist?” I felt the rage start to subside a bit. At least this prick was dead.

“A demonologist is someone who practices demonology,” Kaine retorted as if that meant something to me.

“Very helpful.”

Kaine sighed deeply, “It’s a type of black magic that allows the user to summon demons into our world.” Before I could ask, he went on, “Yes, demons are real, and they really come from hell which is a very real place.”

I collapsed onto a chair. We were in the living room of the only house I’d ever lived in. It wasn’t particularly nice, but I loved that chair. It was an old recliner that I sank into every time I sat in it. I wonder if Kaine still has it. Anyway, I put my head into my hands and sighed deeply.

“Look,” Kaine said placing a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to understand everything now, but there is something you need to know. The order has tentatively decided to accept students again. Three students will be permitted to The Krymmeno, the Gnosilepides fortress of North America. If you’d like, you can be one of those students.”

“Yes,” I said instantly looking up at Kaine. I’ve wondered countless times how things would be different if I had said no. I didn’t even consider the repercussions; I agreed without a second thought. Kaine had just given me something that a lot of people never have: purpose. I could escape a life of meaninglessness. I could become strong and use that strength to protect people. As a kid that idolized Spider-man, it was like a dream come true.

Kaine didn’t say anything else. With his hand still on my shoulder, he looked down at me, and smiled.