“You have got to be kidding me,” said Klaus with some disbelief. “I thought this place had gone out of business.”

Before them jutted the slightly faded, but still brightly colored, sign for ‘Der Zauberhafte Früstückswald.’ While Klaus had heard of the breakfast and coffee shop when he had been younger, given the state of the city he would not have expected it to be the place Franz had been talking about. Honestly, given how capable the man was in the arts of violence, he had been expected a more subdued Moonbucks.

“Whatever for? I assure you the food is quite good,” said Franz as they made their way down the street to a restaurant that could charitably be called eccentric. From the outside, the café looked like a rundown gingerbread house. A facade of faux chocolate bricks, scuffed candy cane columns, and dirty icing-trimmed windows greeted them as Franz opened the door for Klaus to proceed him inside.

Entering the café was like stepping into a old German storybook. The interior was in fare better shape than the outside, and it mimicked a facsimile of a fantastical forest with a canopy looming overhead, complete with twinkling fairy lights and hidden speakers occasionally emitting the chirping of birds. Mossy carpets lined the floors and beyond the entrance sat toadstool-shaped tables and chairs scattered throughout. A few people sat here and there, eating breakfast or sipping coffee. The waitstaff were dressed as characters from classic German fairy tales, with a friendly-looking witch being the closest to them on this side. The whole setup gave a feeling of picnicking in an enchanted glade.

“Feel free to seat yourselves at any open table, Franz,” the witch called as she finished dropping off a fresh cup of coffee at a table near the front. A massive man sat there facing the still open door. While intimidating, Klaus couldn’t help but notice that his face had gone slightly pale on catching sight of Franz coming through the door. When his eyes made their way to Klaus’ face, Klaus was even more surprised to see the man went even more pale. It took him a moment, but that Klaus remembered that his face was not pristine like it was yesterday morning, but now covered in a patchwork of scars. Just further confirmation of what people would associate them with in a city like this.

The man hunched over and focused all his attention on his steaming cup of coffee, doing his best to ignore Klaus and Franz as they made their way over to a free table.

“What was that about?” Klaus asked as he took a seat.

“What was what about?” Franz asked before following Klaus gaze to the man nearer the door. “Oh, you mean Gunther. First time I was here, he thought I was a member of a different gang intruding on the territory of the Storm Wolves. I simply explained some things to him so there would be no further confusion.”

“Explained some things?”

“Well,” Franz continued, turning back to Klaus as he picked up one of the menus on the table. “I may have been a bit… direct in my explanation. I was quite hungry at the time, and he had knocked my plate onto the floor when he came over to ask his questions. Everything is fine now, though.” He gestured for Klaus to pick up his own menu. “Go on, have a look. As soon as the order is in, we will have that conversation I told you about.”

As if to reinforce Franz’s words, Klaus’ stomach chose that exact moment to let him know that it had been quite some time since he had eaten. Flipping open the menu, Klaus’ eyes scanned the options. Everything appeared to be a whimsical take on Bavarian breakfast staples. ‘Hansel and Gretel Gingerbread Pancakes’ came in a stack of fluffy goodness with a hint of ginger and nutmeg, topped with a drizzle of sweet, forest berry syrup. While he normally enjoyed sweets, Klaus figured it would be better to have a more robust breakfast today.

His eyes eventually landed on the ‘Bavarian Huntsman’s Feast’ which was a platter piled high with sausages, pretzels, cheese, and soft-boiled eggs. That and a cup of black coffee would do it. He closed his menu to indicate he was ready to order.

“So what can I get you, gentlemen?” asked the witch when she made her way over.

“I’ll have the Bavarian Huntsman’s Feast and a black coffee, please.”

“The usual for you, Franz?” she asked after she scribbled down Klaus’ order.

“Yes, and a black coffee as well,” Franz nodded. “Thanks, Ingrid.”

While the waitress made her way over to put their order in and grab them some coffee, Klaus asked a question that had been bugging him since they had come in.

“Exactly how long have you been coming here?”

“Ehh, a few weeks now I think.” Franz idly scratched at the faded scar on his cheek. “Wasn’t that long after I found you that I started coming here in fact.”

“You still haven’t explained that,” Klaus pressed.

“No, I haven’t,” Franz stopped working at his old scar and put both his hands down on the table. “This is your last chance, boy. You can still avoid learning more after this breakfast if you want.”

“No,” Klaus did not even hesitate, “after you saved me, and the way you did it, there was no going back. Tell me what is going on.”

“True, true,” Franz said with a wry grin. “But it is still good for you to say it out loud.” He paused, eyes going over Klaus’ shoulder to the waitress that had just come back with their coffee. “Thank you, Ingrid. If you could, ask Walter to take his time with the food? The boy and I have a few things to talk through before we eat.”

“Sure, Franz, I’ll go let him know.”

As Ingrid walked towards the entrance to the kitchen, Franz reached into his pocket to pull out what looked to be a rock with a strange symbol on it. Setting it down in the middle of the table, he pressed lightly against the symbol with his thumb. The symbol began to glow a soft, almost imperceptible blue. Klaus could just barely make out a soft buzzing in the air around them.

“Just something I picked up that will prevent unwanted ears from hearing our conversation,” Franz explained at seeing Klaus looking closely at the now clearly magical item. He then pulled out from his jacket what Klaus swore was an old parchment document. Unfolding it, Franz laid it out in front of Klaus, but it was in a language he did not recognize. He then set a pen down next to it.

“I know you can’t read this as you are right now, but everything I say from this point on is the truth. This,” Franz taps the parchment, “is a binding contract that states that you will willingly go on a trip to a location of my choosing, and in exchange, I am free to explain a significant amount of what is going on, including why I have been following you, where you will be going, why you will be going there, and…” he paused, almost seeming to hesitate before forging on, “…your true identity.”

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With those three words, Klaus’ world came screeching to a halt. His true identity? What could he possibly mean? The weight of the moment pressed down on him like a leaden fog. Klaus was struck again by how this gaunt-looking man that he was having breakfast with was at once the deadliest person he had ever met, as well as had access to magic when all logic before yesterday said that was purely the province of fairytales and made-up games. Franz sat across from him, same as he was a few minutes ago, but with the terms of the contract explained he now seemed somehow… more. Though he did not move, Franz seemed to loom over him.

Klaus’ heart beat like mad, a deafening drum in his ears in the silence that now stood between them. A torrent of questions roared through Klaus’ mind, washing away all the others that he had been so eager to ask Franz just moments ago. His true identity? That had to be a lie… right?

Memories began to come back to him from his time in the hospital. Offhand comments made by his parents when they thought he was asleep. Hushed conversations that he had never been meant to hear, that he had tried to forget how he had tried to forget. His fingernails dug deep into the palms of his hands.

No.

Even if he is someone else, that doesn’t change who he has been all the years of his life. Even if his parents weren’t his biological parents, and his siblings his real siblings, they were his family in every way that mattered. That was not going to change. He needed to know.

Franz cleared his throat, black coffee in hand, and Klaus raised his gaze to meet the sympathetic look on his face.

“What happens if I do not sign,” Klaus asked before he could help himself, already knowing that was not really an option.

Franz took a sip of his coffee, then gently set it back on the table. “You will still be going on a trip,” he replied in a sympathetic tone, “but it will be a bit longer until you learn any more about what is going on. We have come to the point that I am afraid I cannot budge on this.”

Klaus leaned back, taking his own coffee in hand. It was as hot as it looked, and he could barely taste it, so focused was he on the decision he was about to make. The foundation on which his entire world stood had been shattered in the span of a night and a day. Honestly, Klaus was surprised he wasn’t already a gibbering mess given all that he had experienced to this point. The fact that he was not who he thought he was was no more outlandish than the fact that magic was apparently real. No. The only way forward was to actually move forward.

He signed the contract.

As he finished writing his signature, Klaus was surprised to feel a similar click to what he had felt in the hospital during what, he was increasingly coming to feel, was quite a bit more real than the nightmare he had tried to convince himself it was. As soon as he had that thought, he immediately got the sense that he should not say anything about it to Franz.

“Wonderful,” Franz said as he folded up the parchment, putting it back in his jacket pocket. “That makes things quite a bit easier. For the both of us.” He leaned back in his chair. “Now. Where to start?”

“The beginning?”

“Probably for the best.” Franz nodded. “Let me begin by saying that there is quite a bit more to existence than your people have puzzled out.”

“My people?”

“Yes, you know,” Franz gestured vaguely at the other people enjoying the restaurant as well as out towards the entrance, “the people of your planet. You are what I would term the Unintegrated.”

“Unintegrated? What does tha—”

“Look, boy,” Franz interrupted Klaus before he could ask the obvious question. “Things will go quicker if you just let me give you the basic rundown that if I have to pause and backtrack through every question you feel the need to voice. I promise, if you just let me talk, this will go a bit quicker.”

Klaus hesitated but then nodded in agreement. If there was anything he didn’t understand, he told himself he would ask it at the end.

“Good, now the Unitegrated. It is a common term used by the majority of the major powers where I come from for those who have not yet been brought into the System.” Franz took another sip of his coffee. “Think of it as being a bit similar in function to those tabletop games you have been playing with your friends, though the System is dozens of magnitudes more complicated and governs practically all aspects of life to some degree or another.”

Klaus couldn’t suppress the incredulous look on his face. It was one thing that magic was real, but quite another to claim that all of existence operated along the lines of one of his favorite games.

“I know what you are thinking,” Franz chuckled, “but you’ll just have to trust me on this for now. You’ll see the truth soon enough.”

“Alright, I’ll agree to reserve judgment,” Klaus said. “All that aside, why exactly have you been following me?”

“Why I have been following is due to my rank as an Imperial Arcane Pathfinder of the Treverorum Empire in the service of House Blacksword.” Franz rolled up his sleeve to display an intricate tattoo on his upper arm. Surrounded by a sea of stars that seemed to shift in the light was a stylized compass rose, at the center of which was what looked to be something similar to the old medieval noble crests of Europe. Before Klaus could get a good look at the details, Franz rolled his sleeve back down. “My role in service to House Blacksword, and the Empire by extension, is to navigate the infinite realms of the multiverse, to learn of them, and when circumstance allows, to act on behalf of my patron’s interests.”

“Before you ask,” Franz continued, “you, Klaus, are why I am here on Earth.”

Klaus couldn’t hold back the questions anymore. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

“Well, you involvement starts with the fact that your name is not really Klaus, but Klarion.”

“Klarion?” said Klaus incredulously.

“Klarion von Sturmwacht of the Archducal House Blacksword to be precise.”

Klaus blinked, his mind struggling to process the words. “Klarion von Sturmwacht? Archducal House Blacksword? What are you talking about?”

“Your family, and those to whom I have sworn service to, are one in the same. House Blacksword,” Franz continued, “is a high noble house of some importance in the Treverorum Empire. I cannot speak as to the circumstances of your exile, the contract prevents me from doing so, but I can say that your family has determined that it is time for you to reclaim your true identity and fulfill your duty to House Blacksword.”

“Say I believe you,” Klaus said quietly, “say I really am this Klarion. Why now?”

“Again, I cannot say. The only thing I am permitted to share on that topic is that there are certain… responsibilities that scions of nobility within the Empire have to fulfill and you are finally of an age that your family has determined that you are eligible to meet those responsibilities.”

“But I have a family. They—”

“Klarion,” the sudden blurting of the name cut off what Klaus was going to say. “The people you have raised you on this planet will always be an important part of your life,” Franz continued softly, sympathetically in the silence, “but they are not your true family. House Blacksword is, and it has been determined that it is time for you to come back.”

“Back? Back for what?!”

“School.”

Out of all the things he had expected Franz to say, all the options he feared the Imperial Arcane Pathfinder would voice in response to his question, school was not even on the list.

“School?” Klaus parroted dumbly.

“Yes, one of the schools that all of the nobility of the Empire attend prior to taking up service to the Emperor, the Imperial Court, and the people. Everything you will need to know to be a part of the Imperial ruling class will be there for you to learn.”

Klaus stared down into his coffee. “So, my family sent you to find me? To bring me back to attend some finishing school for nobility?”

“Yes,” Franz replied, his tone softening. “Your great-great-grandfather has decided that you need to be returned to the fold to serve the needs of House Blacksword.”

“What needs? And why should I care about what a family, whom I have never met nor ever even known about, wants me to do?”

The only thing Klaus was feeling at these revelations about family was anger. Given everything that Franz had said and done for him, he had no real reason to doubt him. But that did not change the fact that his entire life to this point had been the result of his so-called true family discarding him until he had value to House Blacksword.

Some of Klaus’ thoughts must have been showing on his face, because Franz let out a disappointed sigh.

“I knew you were going to react this way.”

Franz quickly raised a hand as Klaus’ head whipped around, mouth open to angrily retort. How else was he supposed to react to news like this?!

“Not that you are not justified,” Franz hurriedly continued. “But I can see that anything I might say to convince you to go to the Empire will fall on deaf ears right now. So I will show you instead.”

Franz reached into his jacket, pulling out a crystal orb. Light blue in color, it immediately attracted the eye and Klaus found his attention seized by it.

“Touch the orb.”