Xiaodan wrestled his way out of the room, struggling to move with the kids latching their nails onto his legs, jumping up and down to grab a fast bite on the plates on his hands. Honestly, they were too energetic and impatient, like adorable puppies wanting a treat.

Tender sweet and sour pork chops, steamed broccoli and choy soaked in soy sauce, and three-way tofu served with good ol’ plain rice and accompanied by spring rolls, dumplings, and baos on the side. He tried to shake them off, but their pleading due to insatiable appetite persisted. It was only until an old lady tapped her cane, that they went silent and promptly headed over to the table.

“You ought to be more strict,” told Miss Suo, as she descended the stairs with her back slightly hunched over and her face full of wrinkles. “The brats won’t be obedient unless you do, Xiao-bao.”

“Why do you still call me that?” he turned his yellow eyes away embarrassedly, while putting the dishes on the table. “I’m not a child anymore.”

“Ugh! As irritating as ever,” she sat on her chair, eyes leering on the now disciplined children. “If only your father was here to set you up straight.”

A bit too late for that. Xiaodan served the rice bowls for the eight people present on the table. The children’s eyes brightened upon seeing the deliciousness before them, with two immediately grabbing their chopsticks to take a bite, yet stopping at a hiss from Miss Suo. “Zhao, Mao, we haven’t started our prayers yet. Be patient.”

“Okay, Gege …,” the two replied, quietly.

“Good,” Xiaodan sat down only to feel the tiny kicking from the kid next to him. “Haoyu, stop kicking me.” But Haoyu continued kicking while sporting a snarky smile. Then a cane hovered from above and gave a light tap, stopping Haoyu who now had a bump on his head. “A Po, I told you not to do that. You know I can arrest you for child endangerment.”

“New kids with their new laws. Back in my day, the only way to discipline a child was to hit them with a cane or scatter rice on the floor then have them collect each grain.”

Yeah, I still remember you doing both to me, thought Xiaodan.

Everyone gathered on the table and held their hands up, waved them left and right before praying in silence. We beseech you, Zhao Chen of the Heavenly Stove, to thank you for today’s meal blessed by your golden fire.

And so, the family began their breakfast, chopsticks in hand. Zhao and Mao tried to pick the broccolis and choys away, but seeing little Chi-Chi eating them proudly had them steel up and eat their veggies. Although Haoyu kept his silence after being scolded, his partner-of-mischief, Cheng, attempted to bring him back into the game, only to be subsequently bonked by Miss Suo’s cane.

As for the two eldest, Lin and Feng, the two speed-ran their feast and promptly left the house after finishing with their heavy bags full of books and papers. Must be heading for their study group. Made sense since the entrance exam of the illustrious Magikku Academy, the number one educational destination institute throughout Antryion, would start next week.

How time flies, Xiaodan thought, while staring blankly toward the empty seat opposite to him. Although it’d been a while since he last visited, Xiaodan could still faintly recall the great laughter of the boy who often brought all the kids together, whose melodic whistle always kept the room lively.

Little Chi-Chi, who used to sit next to Zhiyuan, took Lin’s empty bowl and placed it at the empty part of the table. “For Zhiyuan-Ge,” she spoke in an innocent tone, completely oblivious to his brother’s disappearance.

“Zhiyuan is not here,” told Feng with food still in his mouth, and Xiaodan was about to intervene, when he then said, “He’s on a trip to become the greatest whistler ever.”

“Yeah,” Haoyu added. “And when he comes home, we’ll be all filthy rich. It’s not like Xiaodan-Ge makes much money.”

“Oi! Who do you think got the ingredients for this meal you’re having?” Xiaodan said.

“And how much money Xiaodan-Ge’s still have?” —Xiaodan kept his silence and looked away— “There, see! Just you wait, Xiaodan-Ge. When Zhiyuan-Ge gets back, he’ll—Ouch!” Haoyu got bonked once more.

“Too loud!” Miss Suo cleaned her mouth and left for the kitchen with the empty palettes. Xiaodan followed and offered to help with the dishes, but Miss Suo slapped his hand away. “No. It is the job of the woman to do the dishes. And don’t you say that just because I’m old that I’m not able to. I’m still fit as a fiddle.”

The water flowed out the sink, but then came to a stop. Most likely clogged. Inside Xiaodan’s head, the equation to the solution formed itself, followed by the form he wished the magions inside his body would take. Green winds thin and sharp like thistleweed gathered around Xiaodan’s fingertips. He sent them straight into the faucet, their airy blades pierced through the blockage, and freed the water to flow once more.

“Your welcome,” Xiaodan said, which the old grandma ignored and returned to washing dishes. Still, she looked troubled. Anyone would in this situation. “Don’t lose hope, A Po. The Murakami Order and I are doing everything we can to find him.”

“I’ve lost that sense of optimism ten years ago. Don’t need to tell you why now, do I?” Miss Suo said, referring to how her husband, children, and grandchildren were all swept away in the fires that was the Great Rebellion.

This little orphanage she made in the outskirts of Lanting … Xiaodan remembered when he first stepped foot into this house. Broken-down and depraved of livelihood, devoid of a rooftop to keep out the rain or birds, the interior parched and stained by the battles once ensued outside. Only a woman named Meiqi Suo was there to rebuild what had been lost. This building did belong to one of her daughters.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

That being said, there was someone else, but it’d been so long that Xiaodan could not remember his name nor his face. Not that he could anyway. The man was amnesiac and was wrapped in bandages from head to toe like many others. Despite him vanishing a year later and Miss Suo never talking about him ever since, Xiaodan hoped that he was now living a good life. As he did for everyone else, who survived that great tragedy.

Suddenly, the door swung open and a red haired woman entered with the most radiant smile anyone could express, as well as lots and lots of bags of which most were carried by two dog-like automatons.

“HELLO EVERYONE!” Yukina yelled her heart out and the kids immediately flocked toward her, calling her, “Yuki-jie!” as to get her attention.

“Awe, you guys miss me?” she said.

Zhao first said, “Yuki-jie, you won’t believe what I saw yesterday. There was a phoenix. A real phoenix flying in the air!”

Mao then added, “That wasn’t a phoenix. It was a red-plumed sparrow. Phoenixes have actual flames on their bodies.”

“Yuki-jie! Yuki-jie! Look at what I made!” Haoyu put on a white tiger mask. “I am the great tiger, protector of the Ranshao Mountains. Hear me foolish mortals. ROAR!”

Yukina clapped away, not realizing the sneaky masked Cheng coming from behind, jumping and roaring directly at her ears. “AAHHH!” Yukina screamed and gasped for air. “Why you two are certainly quite the pranksters. Come here you!”

“RUN!” Haoyu and Cheng ran away, though Yukina didn’t chase them. Instead, she laughed a sweet chuckle then waved at both Xiaodan and Miss Suo.

“Yuki-jie! Yukina-jie!” Mao called. “About what I asked …”

Yukina kneeled down to her level and sported a somber expression. “I’m really sorry, Mao-mao. The truth is I couldn’t get you that new toy from Helix Toyshop that you wanted.”

“Oh, okay …,” Mao’s expression fell. “It’s fine if Yuki-jie cannot get it.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry. That is why …,” Yukina commanded her dog automatons to put down the bags, and she reached inside one of them to give to Mao. There were several cubes the size of an adult’s hand, and with a press of the button up top, the cubes expanded themselves and transformed into toys.

A small toy truck with attached rocket packs, a staff that shone like the stars and shot out sparkling glitter, a color- and shape-changing kite depending on the amount of sunlight it received, building blocks with moving faces that sported various expressions, and a walking automaton teddy bear that went ahead to give Mao a big hug.

“Did Yuki-jie make all these?” Mao’s eyes brightened.

“The teddy bear you wanted was sold out by the time I got to the store. They were selling like hotcakes, I tell you. So, I thought, if I can’t buy you that teddy bear, why not make my own? But unfortunately I had no skills in knitting and I know no one who’s good at it. So thus, I decided to instead enter a research collaboration with Helix Toyshop and created these new products for sale next week. It might’ve taken me five months to develop the retracting mechanism, but it was certainly worth it.”

Yukina looked very proud of herself, but Xiaodan couldn’t help but think why? Why took the hard path when the easier path would be to buy another similar teddy bear from another toyshop? It should’ve at least come to mind to her thought process, but Xiaodan was once more reminded that Yukina did not tend to follow the most sane of answers.

“Also, I’ve got new books for Feng and Lin, as well as a,” Yukina took out a typewriter attached with a trumpet-like piece. “TT-20 Prototype. A brand new series in the typewriting industry, which I got from a researcher friend. Not only does it have a cool sleek design, it also has a voice-based self-writing feature. Just say the word through this microphone and the typewriter will do its job.”

The kids were, however, befuddled by her over complex explanation. It made Xiaodan wonder how her own child was capable of grasping her words.

“Seems like time hasn’t changed much for you,” Miss Suo walked toward Yukina. “Putting your brains over your words. I fear for your child’s future.”

“It’s good to see you, A Po,” Yukina went for a hug, which Miss Suo begrudgingly accepted. Although inside, Miss Suo was definitely gleeful, having met a returning family member. Yukina then approached Xiaodan and said, “Hello Xiaodan. Looks like you haven’t changed your hairstyle.”

“It’s been seven months and that’s the first thing that came out of your mouth?” he said. “Also, I quite like this haircut and I think it looks good,” —Yukina’s face contorted slightly and glanced away— “Okay now you’re just being mean.”

“Well at least your jacket looks good. Never seen this type of design. The hoodie too.”

“A colleague gifted this for me from some auction in Umikaze.”

“You mean the KAISEI Auction?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. You’ve been there too?”

“Not personally, but a good friend of mine got her strange artifacts there. Like there was this thick card-like item that when pressed emits a bright light. There was also this gun that doesn’t shoot bullets and instead shoots a ray that heals wounds. Literal wounds! As in … your arm got sliced off, shoot, and BOOM, it grows back.”

“They actually did a demonstration?” Xiaodan was baffled.

“They did and I almost passed out. Who knew there would be an item stronger than a priest’s miracle?” Yukina said, referring to the invokers of faith under the Zakerdos, who mostly reside on the southern continent of Zagaron.

Unlike mages, who drew power from the leylines containing magion, the priests derived their power from the Divine God, Zafyr. Similar to a shaman like Xiaodan’s superior, Kazuya Ryosuke, who was contracted to a dragon yokaebbi, but more abstract than it was contractual, with the strength of their miracles and the form those miracles took depended on the priests’ level of faith.

Mao then tugged on her shirt. “Yuki-jie. Something’s wrong with the type-thingy!” he pointed to the typewriter auto-typing non stop, with smoke billowing out as the gears inside sprung out one by one. Then, to everyone’s fortune, the typewriter stopped working.

Right as Yukina was about to pick it up, a character key suddenly shot out and hit her temple. “Ouch! That hurts …,” she cried in heishita. “Guess I have to send the bad news.”

“Tsk. Technology this. Technology that. Paper is still far superior compared to them,” Miss Suo commented, while managing and noting this month’s donation money.

“It’s alright, A Po,” Yukina spoke again in longhua. “If you got any weird suspicious technology product, I’ll be willing to inspect it myself.” —Miss Suo rolled her eyes— “By the way, where’s Zhiyuan? I’ve got this amazing new product called a speaker that ought to make his whistling heard across Hoshikuni.”

Ah, right. Yuki-jie doesn’t know, Xiaodan thought, wondering how he should break the news. After a moment of pondering, Xiaodan invited Yukina upstairs, while telling the kids to not follow. With Miss Suo there to watch, the kids should be obedient and remained downstairs.

The further up they went, the more anxious Yukina seemed to become. Perhaps she had an inkling as to what it was, considering Xiaodan had done the same during an incident involving a stalker a while back. That case was easy. He needed only to tail Yukina from a distance and catch the culprit. However, a stalker wasn’t the problem this time around. It was something much worse.

They stopped at the end of the hallway lined with many doors leading to each of the children’s bedrooms. Once the air had quietened and the playful voices below could be barely heard, Xiaodan explained it. He explained all about Zhiyuan’s disappearance.

And how he wasn’t the first one.