Kraisten, Dallion thought, unable to utter the word. He had expected a lot of things, though not this.

The man was large as a bear. His muscles weren’t as defined as those of a bodybuilder, but large, obtained through years of hard labor on construction sites. The face, though, was the same, just a lot younger and cleanly shaven.

“What’s the holdup, K.?” one of the other workers shouted. “Time’s ticking.”

“Family issue, give me a few,” Kraisten shouted back as he let go of Dallion’s shoulder. “What are you doing here?” he asked in a lower tone.

“That’s my question,” Dallion countered. Last time he had seen the man, he had been erased from existence. Of course, that had happened in the other world, but being the most extreme Moon’s punishment, one would have thought there would be other consequences as well.

“I work here,” the large man grunted. “And don’t like being spied on.”

“You severed the threads?” Dallion was even more shocked than before. “But you never had magic.”

“Idiot. Of course I had magic. I told you I was second after the emperor. Just because I got de-leveled doesn’t mean I lost it.”

“Time’s wasting, K.” someone else shouted.

“I said, I’ll be there!” The man roared, almost causing Dallion’s eardrums to rupture. “Look.” he took a notepad and a pencil from his back pocket and scribbled something on it. “Go here after work. Come alone and bring some flowers and candy.” He tore off a page and handed it to Dallion.

“Flowers and candy?” Dallion looked at the note.

“For the wife. You’ll be my distant cousin.”

Kraisten patted the boy on the shoulder and went to join the rest of his crew. For close to a minute Dallion just stood at the entrance barrier to the site, staring blankly at the construction. A few more workers passed by him, coming from a quick trip to a nearby shop for cigarettes.

Grandad, Dallion thought.

So, the man had a wife on Earth. It was impossible to know whether he’d had her before having his family in the awakened world, or afterwards. Either way, it couldn’t have been easy.

Coming across him, though, also came with its own set of problems. He couldn’t tell Alien and Katka about the old man, but at the same time he couldn’t say he hadn’t found anyone, either. With Alien being paranoid as he was, anything vague would be seen as a serious problem or proof that the watchers had somehow gotten to Dallion.

Ultimately, after a careful analysis of the situation, and a bit of experimenting with combat splitting, Dallion decided to tell them the truth. He also made it clear what would happen to either of the mages, should they fail to keep the secret.

“That’s almost as bad as the emperor,” Alien said, lying on the bed. Naturally, he had used an illusion to make it twice larger and far more comfortable. “The man was the imperial executioner. Do you know how many otherworlders he killed?”

“You seem to know a lot,” Dallion noted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Ha, good one. Even if there weren’t Moon vows involved, I still wouldn’t have said a word.” He sat up. “You’re thinking of going to him?”

“Why not? If he wanted to harm me, he could have done it there, or even here. I’ve no idea how good his magic skills were, but if he can sense you spying on him, he can probably track you.”

“Unlikely.” The mage said, yet fear still emanated from him. “I made sure to have a lot of false splits and barriers just for the occasion.”

“Sure. Either way, you and Katka don’t have anything to worry about. I’ll go there on my own.”

“And if you’re not back till morning, we’re on our own,” Alien added for him. “I knew you showing up would bring disaster. Before that, I was safely barricaded away. Then you came and look what happened.”

“You’re still alive,” Dallion snapped. He was starting to find the constant complaining annoying. “If you’re lucky, he’ll know a way for us to get back.”

“And if not?”

Dallion shook his head.

“That’s why you and Katka will spend the rest of the night searching for other awakened in the city. If there’s no one here, we go to DC.”

“And if there are no answers there?”

“We go through the entire world until we find some!” Dallion shouted.

It was unusual for him to lose his temper. Even he knew it. The outburst had outright terrified the two mages, who were all but trembling right now. Judging by the emotions emanating from them, they might as well have been.

“Sorry,” Dallion was quick to add, even if he wasn’t; not entirely, at least. “I just want to focus on the things we can do. We were brought there, so there is a way. If it involves magic, ancient artifacts, or high-tech devices—all the better. If not, I’ll find a way to plead to the Moons directly, but I’ll find a way back.”

“Sure,” Alien was quick to say.

“One last thing.” Dallion turned to Katka. “What type of flowers are appropriate for dinner?”

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It was a slightly awkward moment, but an hour later came the most awkward moment of all—Dallion standing in front of his grandfather’s door. It was a working-class house in a working class neighborhood, probably passed down for a generation or two. As much as he was ashamed, Dallion knew very little about Kraisten’s Earth life, and there was no guarantee that the little he knew was true.

The moment he knocked on the door, loud barking came from inside.

Great, Dallion thought. He has a dog.

The sound of rushing steps followed—far too soft and quick to belong to an adult, though not a complete child, either. A moment later, the door opened.

“Yes?” a boy of around ten asked.

Seeing him, almost made Dallion drop the gifts he had brought.

“Lin?” he couldn’t help but say.

The boy was a carbon copy of his brother in the awakened world. The only problem was that not only wasn’t his brother an otherworlder, but he was incapable of awakening. Even at the height of his power, Dallion wasn’t able to change that. Yet, he was standing right there, looking at him in confusion.

“Err, I’m here to see your father,” Dallion quickly added. “I’m a friend.”

“Jack!” A woman rushed to the door. She was on the plump side, but warm and motherly, with curly golden-brown hair. “I told you we’re having guests for dinner.”

The boy looked up at his mother, then took a step to the side, still observing Dallion with curiosity.

“Sorry about him. He’s at that age. I’m Carla. You’re a distant relative of Karry’s right?”

“Yeah.” Very distant. “Sorry for the intrusion. I didn’t expect to be passing through here.” He quickly handed her the bouquet of flowers—daffodils. “This is for you.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have.” The woman smiled and took a whiff.

Dallion had been present at enough dinner parties to know that most of the reactions of people who got flowers weren’t genuine. To his astonishment, Carla’s were. The woman was actually happy. What was more, she wasn’t displaying anything but warm feelings towards him.

“Oh, come in, come in,” she invited Dallion into the house. “Karry will be here in a moment. You know what they say—the moment you go to the bathroom is when the guests decide to show up.” She laughed, leading Dallion to the dining room.

The interior was modest but well kept. Judging by the pictures on the walls, Kraisten had three children, two of which had left home for college. There were also pictures of Kraisten’s wedding, him in military uniform, and posing with a rather impressive fish he’d caught. All in all, the ideal life one could have. No doubt about it, he was a lot luckier here than in the other world.

Barking followed as a German shepherd ran down the wooden staircase, preceding Kraisten’s arrival. It was one of those creatures that, despite its size, seemed friendly to anyone, even people it had seen for the first time.

“You’re late, Dal,” the large man said.

“Nonsense.” His wife fluttered by. “Dinner isn’t served yet.”

“He’s still late.” The man grumbled. “Want something to drink?”

“I don’t…” Dallion began. “Sure.”

Kraisten disappeared into the kitchen, then reemerged with two bottles of beer. Flicking his thumb, he opened one and handed it to Dallion. Then he did the same with the other.

“Cheers.” He took a large gulp.

“Cheers.” Dallion took a sip. The taste was terrible.

“Jack, why don’t you help your mother in the kitchen?” Kraisten asked.

Dallion was able to catch a faint presence of music threads. It wasn’t the actual skill, but something developed through experience.

The boy nodded silently, then disappeared, leaving the two alone in the living room.

“How are things back home?” the large man asked.

“Are you sure we can talk here?” Dallion whispered.

“I invited you for a reason. It’s safer here than anywhere else.” The man took another gulp of his bottle. “Damned place is full of zombies walking around. None of them have any idea what they’ve been through—the good and the bad.”

Dallion nodded.

“So, why are you really here?”

“I want to go back.” Dallion said. “I thought someone here might know how.”

“You never quit while you’re ahead. Did you piss off the network?”

“No.”

“What about the watchers?”

Diplomatically, Dallion took a sip from his deep instead of an answer.

“That’s bad. Don’t underestimate them too much. They’re like ants—persistent and dangerous in large numbers.”

“Did you call me here to tell me what I already know?” Dallion stared right into the man’s eyes. The experience from the other world still made him view his grandfather as someone to be in awe of. Even so, he didn’t intend to let himself be intimidated.

“No.” The other looked back. “I invited you to dinner. We’ll talk about this afterwards.”

Dinner started on the silent side. Most of the food was composed of things that could be readily bought at every store outside. Still, with such a short warning, there was no reason to complain.

Initially, the conversation was centered around Dallion: where he was from, how was he related to Kraisten, what was college life like… Several times he had to resort to combat splitting, not to mess things up. After a while, though, the focus shifted to Kraisten’s family instead.

Dallion got to learn stories about all of their children, details regarding how the old man had proposed to his wife, a few war and hunting stories—all of them exaggerated, of course. By the end of the meal, all the initial anxiety and concern had faded away, making Dallion feel as if he had experienced a standard family meal.

Beyond the obvious differences, he almost felt like he was back in the awakened world again, sharing food with his grandfather and his extended family. Even the awkwardness of looking at a carbon copy of his otherworldly brother stopped bothering him.

The talks continued all the way into the night. Then, after everyone had helped clean the table and Jack had been sent to bed, Kraisten invited Dallion to a beer outside.

“He really looks like him, doesn’t he?” the man asked, opening another bottle of beer with his thumb. “It’s one of those things that you don’t notice right away.”

“Any connection?”

“Cosmic coincidence, pettiness of the Moons?” Kraisten shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

“Which family was first?”

“This one. I had Paul and Emma before I got sent there. Looking back, I wonder how the second childhood didn’t mess me up.”

“You had your local memories to take care of that.” Dallion remembered that while he was confused, he couldn’t say he was panicked. The link to the world had made him part of it, killing the desire to want to return.

“Or maybe the Moons just put an invisible echo in our realms.” Kraisten finished half of the bottle and put it on the front porch. “I know it’s shit to ask, but I’ll ask anyway. How did you die? Did Jeremy kill you?”

“Die?”

“Or did you break a vow?”

“Neither.” Dallion put his full bottle next to Kraisten’s. “I leveled up the world.”

The man stared, pride and disbelief emanating from him like a lighthouse beacon.

“Holy crap.”