The trio met Cadmus, Helios’s father and the leading Archmage of Hedonia, in his office. Though the word office could hardly describe an archmage’s workspace. The table alone was enough to seat an entire delegation.

James was expecting a simple business lunch. But as soon as they entered the room, his mouth started to water.

It was a feast! Even with the gigantic table that dozens of people could eat at, the food could barely fit in the office. Every surface seemed to have some sort of deliciousness on it. From fruit to meat to mouth-watering sauces and baked goods, one could have anything they wanted.

“Wow, did you cook all this, sir?” James asked respectfully, in awe of the sheer quantity of food. Although he could tell from the smell that the quality wasn’t anything to scoff at either. The smell alone was so good that it was torture to keep himself from stuffing it all in his mouth right that second.

“Cook? No, no, no. I see you’re still not quite used to our world.” Cadmus laughed. “It’s magic, of course!” Cadmus snapped his fingers, and even more food popped into existence. Of course a high level mage like him wouldn’t need to spend time cooking. There wasn’t even anywhere to put the food at this point, it had to float in the air. “And don’t call me sir, that’s too formal. We’re all basically family here, call me Cadmus.”

They had important things to speak about, but Cadmus let them eat for a while before getting down to business. James was drooling all over, drool literally leaking on the carpet, so weak he was to the allure of the enchanted foods.

“I see you’ve made quite a bit of progress.” Cadmus said with admiration while visually inspecting James. “Helios and Lunaris briefed me all about your adventures, but seeing you in person is much more impressive.”

James gave a small, respectful bow in thanks. Being praised did feel a bit awkward, but he deserved the embarrassment after all the times he insistently praised Helios and Lunaris to the point they were beet red from embarrassment.

“I couldn’t have done it without my best friends. They did most of the work, really.” James stated.

Cadmus laughed, amused at his modesty. “Now, now, no need to be humble, child. I’m sure these two rascals helped you a lot, but you mustn’t underestimate your own successes. It takes quite a character to ceaselessly leap from danger to danger, pushing yourself to level up as quickly as possible. It’s quite an accomplishment.”

James could see Helios and Lunaris looking at him and snickering while exchanging glances. He was now convinced they put Cadmus up to this. After all the times he did this to them, they intentionally told Cadmus to praise him to the point he was now the one that turned beet red.

After snickering for some time, while Cadmus kept lauding James, Lunaris decided he had had enough, and rescued James from the constant praises.

“Oh, Cadmus, let me tell you about James’s cat!”

The four of them continued telling stories, laughing and having a good time until almost all the food had been eaten.

James was suspecting that the food had some arcane properties that made it disappear from one’s body after it was ingested. He was eating, savoring every taste, but he wasn’t feeling full at all!

Which was fantastic, because he was really enjoying himself. It was quite a tranquil experience, he wouldn’t have objected to it lasting forever. Eating great food, surrounded by friends, laughing and exchanging stories for hours.

But all good things must come to an end. There was important business to discuss.

Helios had already briefed Cadmus about all the important developments that had happened during their adventures, and during this feast they managed to share every minute detail. Now, they had to speak about their future.

“How did the investigation into the agent go, dad?” Helios asked.

Cadmus straightened his back and answered in a much more serious tone than his usual jovial, cheerful voice. “Even if it was the Soul Grinder, you were gone for an unusual amount of time, I was starting to get worried. So as soon as I received your message, I sprang into action. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, but it was already too late. The bastard was long gone, nowhere to be found. He even had time to scrub most traces of his existence here, he probably vanished even before you got out of the Soul Grinder.”

Cadmus looked sad and apologetic. “I’m sorry that you had to go through all that, children. We really underestimated the agents. We knew they were dangerous, but to even infiltrate the inner circles of Hedonia? That was unthinkable. I still can hardly believe it. But because you survived and lived to tell the tale, you have done us a great service. Who knows how much more damage he could’ve done if he managed to go unnoticed for much longer? Why, we still don’t have a reliable way of telling if there are any other agents or their recruits among us. I suppose even though they didn’t manage to kill you, cursing James was quite a victory for them. Who knows what kind of advantages his Darkness powers would’ve given us against them, perhaps he’d have been able to detect them on sight eventually.” Cadmus sighed.

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“It’s not much, but maybe this will be of use.” Lunaris pulled out the darkened flower left from when James cast the Chaos Flower. She had been interested in it ever since James created it, and she even managed to learn some things from it. “Maybe one of the archmages can research it. I myself had several theories because of it. I think I can even combine those ideas with one of my hole spells. Anyway, you don’t see a dark figure like that every day, and this tiny flower absorbed quite a bit of its leftover essence. It can be quite useful to a keen eye.”

James was relieved Lunaris was thoughtful enough to keep it. He had forgotten all about it, and he probably would’ve thrown it away if she hadn’t been there to tell him not to.

“My, aren’t you a thoughtful one. Thank you, Lunaris.” Cadmus gently took the flower and sealed it in a vial.

“How’s the general situation with the Darkness though? Any movements?” Lunaris asked, having not had the opportunity to gather any information while she was out on adventures with James and Helios.

Cadmus looked at James and hesitated for a second, but then he answered. “I suppose at this point you kids have been through so much, it’s no point in keeping James in the dark, excuse the pun. I wanted to keep the child unaware of the gravity of this war for a while. He was new to this world, I wanted him to see it for all its beauty, instead of the ugliness that threatens it.”

Cadmus pounded down a glass of wine before continuing.

“But now that he’s been targeted by agents twice, he needs to know the bigger picture. The truth is that the situation is at a stalemate, as it has been for a while. Which you might think of as a good thing at first. And I suppose it is, technically. But it’s also a very worrying thing. We have no information on their movements. We don’t know what they are preparing, but they’re definitely working on something. As you can see from the fact that an agent has infiltrated our ranks, the fact that we aren't actively fighting a bloody war doesn't mean things aren't dire. At least when the war is active, we know what’s happening. It’s the not knowing, that’s the real terror.”

Helios and Lunaris both nodded and sat in silence for a while. There being no new developments was good news, but it also meant that their side didn’t make any progress either.

“Any idea when they might make their move?” Lunaris asked while Helios was contemplating in silence. James was just listening carefully, trying to absorb every piece of information.

“No idea whatsoever.” Cadmus answered dejectedly. “Could be weeks, could be years. We have all kinds of scouts and farseers working on it, as usual. But no country seems to have unearthed any clue about their grander plans. Nonetheless, every country is working at maximum capacity, even a stalemate is something that takes a lot of effort to maintain. One wrong move and they could break through the defensive lines. I suppose that’s why did they did things like targeting James. Sabotaging us and making us rot from within would just make their next move that much more effective. I didn’t expect them to do it so swiftly though. They noticed our opportunity to learn something more about them, to perhaps even have a way to track them and scout them, and they nipped it in the bud with that curse. It seems that what we believed to be a stalemate turned out to be a phase of infiltration and sabotage.”

Cadmus pounded down another glass of wine.

“Don’t worry sir, we’ll get those bastards!” James said innocently, like a child trying to cheer up a sad adult.

Cadmus looked at him and laughed, James’s innocent tone that didn’t match his grown up face with a bald head was quite heartwarming.

“Thank you, child. I hope we’re able to get rid of that curse soon too. Not even for our sake, I just wish the best for all you children.” Cadmus said kindly. He then conjured up some desserts to cheer everybody up.

“So what do we do now?” Helios asked while munching on a doughnut.

Cadmus thought for a while before answering.

“More than anything, I want you children to be safe, so I’m conflicted about even telling you about this. But as usual, safety means power. Ironically, sending you out on dangerous missions now, may be the only way to make you strong so you are safe in the long run.”

Cadmus then pounded down yet another glass of wine.

“I’ve recently discovered an opportunity for James to level up. It may even give all of you some levels, that's how much xp would be available. Especially now that James has had his first awakening, you can even drop the level dampening. Sure, he’d get less xp, but we must keep our safety in mind. There will be xp aplenty nonetheless. But it’s a dangerous plan full of potential dangers. You’d have to be really careful, one mistake and it could all be over. Actually, I advise you to reject this opportunity, but I feel like I have to present it to you anyway. I won’t even tell you what it is beforehand. First you need to know is that it’s crazy, reckless, and it’s as dangerous as it gets. I have to be frank with you and present the option to you, but you should reject it.”

Helios and Lunaris immediately looked at James and answered. “We’re not scared, we’ll go anywhere with him. But it’s James’s decision though.”

Ideally, James would’ve loved to keep his friends safe and sound and not go on any reckless missions.

But this world was not a safe place. If he didn’t level up and become a truly powerful entity soon, he’d only be putting them in danger in the long run. Who knew what other agent would target them, or when the war would break out again?

He understood that if he wanted to keep them safe in the grand scheme of things, it would be better to take some risks now, as contradictory as it may seem. The more powerful he got, the less risk there would be in the future. Short term pain for long term gain.

“Let’s do it.” With an unusual confidence, James answered resolutely. “I trust in my friends, and I trust in myself. We’ll be able to beat any challenge. Right guys?”

“That’s right, brother!” Helios responded enthusiastically.

“Count me in!” Lunaris said firmly.