“Enter.” Came the rumbling voice of a man within the meeting room. Leif didn’t recognise the voice, but he had come too far to turn around and walk away. Though now that he thought about it doing so would be quite amusing.

“Who is this? If you were busy we could have had this discussion at a later date?” Came the voice of a younger man, this one Leif did recognise.

As he pushed open the door two figures came into view, both sitting at a large round table positioned next to a wide glass window with a view of what were likely training yards below. Darius, a thin young man with dark hair and piercing green eyes was straightening up from his slouched position. The other had similar, if aged features, possessing a degree of gravitas and maturity the younger man lacked.

The guild leader raised a glass full of a deep orange- almost amber looking liquid as a greeting, a wry smile on his lips. “Ah but my boy, this is your guest, not mine.” He said, placing down the glass and standing in a smooth motion, his green eyes gleaming with a curious intensity.

“My guest?” Darius asked, looking genuinely confused as he rocked back in his chair. “I don’t know… who… wait… Leif?!” He exclaimed, quickly standing, almost spilling his own drink as he did so. “Gods, I thought you were dead, you should have sent a letter. Wait, no, how could you have? Uhh, you should have come sooner.”

The guild leaders' smile widened as his son expelled a rapid series of poorly thought out words. “See? Like I said, a guest. How about you introduce us, my boy?”

“H-how did you know?”

“Lars.”

“He didn’t contact me?”

“Apparently not.”

“Umm, right. Father this is… wait. Leif, this is my father, uh, how much does, I mean, how are you even here?”

Ah. Leif realised. Darius knows what I am, but his father probably doesn’t. Unless Darius told him what happened on the expedition. Did I just walk into a room with a powerful adventurer, he doesn’t seem on edge about my identity but that could change at any moment.

“This is the unique monster Hera told you about, the one she hired on as an auxiliary healer.”

Well, that answers that. He thought, a mix of shock, trepidation, and a slight amount of relief spiking through his mind. If he already knew, then maybe there won’t be any problems.

“So he is.” The guild master said, striding forward, his smile still present. “I’ll admit this is an experience new to me, despite the many years I have held this position you are perhaps the first monster to casually walk into my guild. It’s more impressive than anything, and I like the mask, it’s so unstable that it wraps back around to being inconspicuous.”

“Right…” Leif said. “Sorry for any issues my coming here may have caused, things moved a little quicker than I expected and I was so distracted by the city that it honestly slipped my mind.”

The older man grunted. “From the fantastical tale Hera wove about you, I can only imagine someone in such a unique situation might find themselves somewhat disorientated. Though I suspect unique isn’t truly the correct descriptor, rare certainly, but I find it unlikely for you to be the first and only man to have become… something else.”

“That… that may be true.” Leif said, taken aback by how seemingly casual the guild master was being about his identity. He cast his memory back to his first evolution, where he had read the system notification that had implied his reason for having access to both a monster, and normal classes was his ‘inheritant’ class.

“Regardless of the truth, your circumstances are fascinating. I am Nikolas, guild-master for the Twin Heart guild, son of a bastard, brother of fools, father of a kid who keeps trying to turn into mist and run away.” He reached out a hand. “It’s a pleasure, welcome to our home.”

Leif accepted the gesture, and shook the man’s hand. It was firm, but not crushing, a solid and practised motion that implied both strength and respect. It was interesting how much one could infer from a handshake, and Leif found himself liking Nikolas despite their brief interaction.

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“Hells,” Darius muttered, “When you vanished off the skimmer and returned to the encampment I thought you were dead for sure. Everyone was so shocked that nobody said anything for several minutes.”

Leif pulled out a chair at the indication of Nikolas, he tried to reinforce the chair but found his skills slipping off it. He sat and it held without a hint of strain. The guild-master procured a third glass from seemingly nowhere and filled it up before sliding it across the table towards him.

“What happened after the battle? I have a way of seeing past events, but things are too hazy to make out towards the end.”

“That must be a, what? Time aspected skill?” Nikolas asked, when Leif nodded in affirmation he continued. “Time is incredibly rare, it’s one of those aspects that rides the line between elemental and conceptual. There’s a relatively common skill called [Haste], but that has the aspect of ‘acceleration’, not time. Anyway I’m rambling, end of the battle? Shit that whole expedition was a disaster.”

“Things were pretty… crazy, I guess is the right word. We did eventually land, but it was a day’s travel on foot from where the expedition outpost was. Hera showed up leading a group of around a hundred survivors but she was badly injured, like, I don't know how she was walking at all.” Darius said.

“She’s tough, always has been, even when she was just a girl.” Nikolas said. “She showed up to the tryouts for the Sablaris branch of the guild with a sprained ankle and a prayer. I was the examiner for that event, sent her away for being an idiot.” He chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.

“You what?” Darius asked, appalled. “Why haven't I heard this?”

“Because the fact we nearly didn’t accept the woman who would go on to become one of the youngest level one hundreds in history, and a gods damn Academy Blade at that is something we all like to pretend didn’t happen.”

“How could you?”

“Easily, I told her to piss off when she couldn’t even run a lap of the training yard.”

“But she still got in?”

Nikolas got a far away expression, sharp eyes focusing on something from the distant past. “She did. Damn girl showed up the very next day with a splint and crutch she made herself. She was the only applicant to show up, and it was pouring with rain.” He snorted in amusement, returning to the present. “Quite frankly she looked a mix between pathetic and insane, standing there completely soaked. Apparently her puppy dog eyes won me over, and the rest is history. Let it be known that without a keener eye than mine, talent may slip from our grasp!”

Darius went to stand, then slumped. “Fine, I’ll run the damn tryouts.”

“Wonderful.” His father said, clapping his hands together. “What were we talking about? Oh, right. Leif, Lars said you had something for my boy?”

“I do.” The Scion said, summoning the Academy badge onto the table. The small silver token engraved with the likeness of a serpentine dragon consuming its own tail rolling slightly before flopping over front side up.

“Oh, umm, yeah, I was given a replacement a few months after the incident.” Darius said, procuring his own token from his coat pocket. Leif stared at it for several moments, then sighed.

“Right, I should have known.”

“Those are pretty valuable.” The guild-master said, somehow flipping Leif’s token up onto its side without touching it and rolling it around the table. “Part of the reason I allowed my very talented, handsome, but not very bright son to join that expedition. A decision I almost came to regret, thankfully it wasn’t a complete disaster.”

“What do you mean, ‘not very bright’?” Darius asked, clearly displeased at the descriptor his father had used.

“Boy, you ran around invisible instead of studying. And you run around chasing women way out of your league, I know you’re not the brightest because I used to do the exact same thing.”

“Want me to tell mum you said that?”

Nikolas grunted. “She’s not in the city, also she already knows, bless her pure heart for taking pity on me.” He stopped the academy token from rolling off the table with a finger, then flicked it back to Leif. “Besides, you wouldn’t have gotten away with half the shenanigans you did as a child if seeing you scamper around trying to be sneaky didn’t make her swoon. It’s my own fault for marrying a [Rogue], can’t blame me though.”

Leif returned the academy token to his spatial ring, amused as Darius stood, the younger man shaking his head as if in disgust. “Tryouts are in ten minutes, I’ll go check on them.” Darius mumbled, then he turned to Leif. “It’s, um, good to see you again Leif, I’m glad you survived. And… I appreciate you returning my token, even if I already had one. You can, uh, come with me if you want. I doubt the old man would mind.”

“Assuming you have the common sense to not go around shouting your identity, then I don’t particularly care what you do. Consider yourself a temporary member of the Twin Heart guild while you’re in our wonderful city. Though I will ask that you stay back for a few minutes as I do have some things to discuss.” Darius lingered at the door, as if unsure if he should stick around or depart. Nikolas shooed him away before turning back to Leif. “I’m going to give our guest my ‘Those with Power’ lecture, you know the one. Now get out of here.”

“You may as well be torturing him.” Darius muttered as he slunk away, his fathers words more than enough to dissuade him from sticking around.

“I heard that you little shit!” He called, then he winked at Leif. “Actually I lied. Well not really, I will give you the ‘talk’, but there’s more than just that. It’s important, I'm afraid.”

“Should I be worried?” Leif asked, somewhat hesitant at the man’s shift in tone.