“Director Morris, what can you tell us about the realm Mr. Jones was transported to?”

“Only that it had an accelerated time flow similar to the last Returnee.”

“Director, why has it taken the bureau so long to release Mr. Jone’s information? Hasn’t he been on Earth for nearly two weeks now?”

“Mr. Jones had been asleep in a coma-like state up until earlier today. Until then we were unable to properly identify him as he had aged quite a bit. After he awoke we were able to confirm his identity as well as locate his family, all of whom are alive and well and have arrived to receive him.”

“Director Morris, Dana Warshank, WRTV news. What new information has the Bureau learned from Mr. Jones.”

“Well Ms. Warshank, that’s a very vague question. Overall we haven’t learned much more than we did from any of the other Returnees. What we do know will be released in a brief sometime early next week.”

“But…”

“Ah. Here is Mr. Jones now.” Director Morris pointed out towards Kailan who was walking in from a side door. He was surrounded by his family as well as several of the bureau’s monitoring agents.

The group pushed their way through the noisy crowd of reporters and up to the stage while Director Morris gestured for everyone to quiet down. Dana Warshank raised her arm quickly to be the first to question.

“Yes Ms. Warshank.”

“This question is for Mr. Jones...”

“Mr. Jones will not be taking any questions today. Any questions you have can be directed to me.” Director Morris immediately cut her off.

This caused the crowd of reporters to become quite rowdy. Comments like “the people have the right to know” and “you can’t block the media” crept out eventually and started to resound even louder. Director Morris attempted to quell the commotion but it wasn’t easy. Kailan realised he would have to make an appearance if only to placate them somewhat.

Walking to the podium, Maria reached out to hold him back, but Kailan waved her down telling her it was fine. As he approached the mic, Director Morris moved to the side to give him some room.

“You aren’t obligated to say anything to them. We can handle this.” He whispered to Kailan.

“I know, but it’ll be better this way. And it’ll make your job easier, right?” Kailan whispered back with a smile.

Turning to the crowd of reporters who were finally quieting down so as not to miss anything, Kailan took a deep breath before he spoke with a friendly smile.

“Ladies and gentleman, thank you all for coming out today. I’m sorry, but I won’t be answering any questions at this time. I have however given the Hunters Bureau permission to answer questions on my behalf.” Kailan spoke smoothly and eloquently.

“Mr. Jones, please tell us about the realm and the world you went to. What was it like there? Did you gain any knowledge that could benefit humanity?” Dana Warshank spoke out of turn, prodding Kailan for answers.

Kailan gave a sideways glance at her still wearing his amicable grin, before he turned his eyes back to the center of the group and continued.

“I can’t really tell you anything about my experiences because there were too many over the long period of time I was away. So we’d probably be here for a while.”

This last comment earned him several chuckles.

Dana became annoyed, this boy in front of her had flat out ignored her. No one ignores Dana Warshank, especially not some snot nosed punk kid, she thought to herself. All of the boys around Kailan’s age had crushes on her. She was a very attractive woman so it was no wonder she would have a lot of young admirers. She found it odd that he wouldn’t even respond to her.

The other reporters around her glanced over gloatingly. “He said he wouldn’t answer any questions yet you had the balls to jump out and ask one and got shot down. Serves you right.” was what they were thinking. Of course they also intended to do the same, but she had beaten them to it.

Dana had a bad relationship with the other reporters. She was a pit bull and always got what she wanted. She would always get the story, no matter what it took. Her arrogant personality turned off a lot of people, though not the younger crowd who found it attractive. In fact her methods and persistence had won her a number of big stories making her very popular these days.

The other reporters were of course jealous of her. Humans are jealous by nature. No matter who it is, no matter how perfect they may seem, everyone has a little bit of jealousy or envy towards someone else. This is because humans have desires and everyone wants what they desire. So when they see someone else with what they desire, it of course breeds jealousy. Dana’s desire was to be the best of the best and to be known around the world. It was a very selfish desire and she didn’t care.

“What I can tell you is that I have returned and reunited with my family. This is something I didn’t think would ever happen. So I will ask that you all respect mine and my family’s privacy. Thank you.” Kailan finished his brief speech before walking back to stand with his family.

The reporters went wild. Everyone started asking questions. Words jumbled together and were perfectly unintelligible. Director Morris stepped back up to the podium, quieting the crowd down once again. He said a few words in regards to how grateful he was to be involved in reuniting a family and that the bureau will do everything it can to help Kailan transition back into society, as is their responsibility. Then he turned towards Kailan and nodded.

This was the signal that they could all leave. The monitoring agents that had escorted them in, which included Eva and Douglas, once again pushed through the crowd and led them back out. Agents were posted at the doors, and as soon as Kailan and his family had left they shut the doors tightly and blocked the reporters from leaving. This didn’t earn the bureau any points, but it did protect Kailan and his family from being trampled.

“You parked in the East garage right?” Eva asked towards Maria and Edward as they walked down the hall.

“Yes, on the 2nd floor.” Edward responded.

“Alright, we can take the indoor elevator to that level. That way you can get out unnoticed. Douglas and I have some things to take care of here so we’ll be by your house later to check on everyone. Here, my number. In case anything comes up.”

Eva led the group to an elevator that was in the North hall just past the East lobby. Taking it up to the 2nd floor, Kailan and his family got out into the parking garage. The elevator seemed to be hidden in the wall so as to not be seen and it had no access panel in the garage. Kailan inspected it curiously for a moment.

“It’s designed to be unseen. Let’s us help people to leave before the reporters mob them.” Eva explained.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Nice.” Kailan exclaimed in admiration.

“We’ll talk to you later. Drive safe.” Eva waved to them as the elevator door closed. Douglas had been stoic the entire time. He was in business mode.

Edward led his family to the car. It was a Ford Occult, a new SUV model that had come out about half a year ago which integrated Mana Crystal technology into the engine making it entirely Mana powered. As a member of the Hunters Bureau who often worked remote he of course had a company car.

"It's Manatech?" Kailan seemed to sense the Mana Crystal and its mechanisms.

“You know about Mana Technology?” Elias asked. Kailan nodded in response.

"It's the latest non-gasoline driven vehicle from Ford, a Ford Occult. It’s a company car, not ours. How did you know it ran on Mana?" Edward responded quisatively.

"I can sense the Mana flow that's driving it."

Maria and Edward looked at each other as if it was strange, but then they remembered he had spent a decade in another realm. It wasn't that strange for him to return with some unique abilities. Elias on the other hand found it very odd. He knew how rare it was for a person to be able to sense Mana.

Edward proceeded to open the back door for Kailan and Maria to get in, while Elias sat in the front passenger seat. They managed to get out unnoticed. Though it did help that they had used a secret elevator and that the car's windows were tinted preventing prying eyes from seeing them in the first place.

It only took them twenty minutes to get home. Kailan was glad that the house hadn't changed. Edward unlocked the door before stepping back. “Would you like to do the honors?” It was a cheesy gesture but it was also symbolic. He and Kailan had often competed to see who got to open the door first when he was a kid.

Kailan walked to the front door and stood with his hand outstretched towards the handle for a moment. He was savoring the feeling of being home.

“Home…” He quietly stated before turning the knob.

Walking in, it was like he was 14 again. Nothing had really changed. Everything was still in the same place it had been in. Even the smell was the same. It gave Kailan a rush of nostalgia.

“We left your room the same. Come on.” Maria interlocked her arm with Kailan’s as if she was afraid that if she let go he would disappear again. She dragged him upstairs and into his old room.

She was right, his room hadn’t changed at all. It was exactly as he had left it. His bed, his desk and laptop, his posters. Everything was still in its place.

“Oh, we’ll have to go buy you some new clothes. I doubt these will fit you still.” Maria opened the closet as she ran her hands along the clothes that were hanging up with great care.

“She would always come in here and touch everything when you were gone. I think it comforted her.” Edward leaned over to whisper to Kailan.

“We can do that tomorrow mom. I’m fine in these.” Kailan took his mom’s arm and pulled her back out of the room. It was embarrassing watching her caress his childhood clothes. Elias closed the door as they left, taking one long glance before doing so.

The family went downstairs and sat in the living room for most of the afternoon. Maria made lunch, tuna fish sandwiches. They sat and ate and talked. Edward turned on the TV at some point and turned it to a channel playing cartoons. Everyone was happy.

Elias and Maria attempted to get Kailan to open up about what had happened to him but he would always dodge the subject just as before. They figured it was probably something he didn’t feel comfortable talking about. Mostly it was Maria and Edward telling Kailan about their jobs and how the people had changed. Maria was especially articulate about Kailan’s friends from high school.

Some of them had gone on to become great Hunters while others were working steady jobs and even had husbands, wives and kids. Maria became particularly animated when she talked about the kids. She was a traditional mother, she wanted grandkids. But both Elias and Rebecca were so focused on their jobs with the guilds that she didn’t hold out much hope. They were both single after all.

Eva and Douglas dropped by around 4 in the afternoon. Maria invited them to have some coffee so they sat and talked a bit with the family. They left about an hour later stating that they would be available whenever Kailan needed them so just call.

Soon dinner time came around. The family moved into the dining room to sit and talk while Maria made her famous spaghetti. It was a special occasion so she had to make something special for it. This was the last meal they had with Kailan before he disappeared. So it made sense for it to be the first meal he has after coming back.

The table was set and dinner was served. But even as they ate they continued to talk. It was all nonsense. Just gossip, with nothing important said. Kailan was still feeling somewhat numb to the situation, but he was slowly opening up.

“Where’s Becca?” He asked as he glanced at the empty plate set out. This was where Rebecca normally sat so he wondered where she could be.

“I called her guild about an hour ago. Apparently her party is still in the dungeon. They said it’ll probably be a few more hours before they exit.” Elias replied while slurping down his noodles.

Kailan looked concerned. He knew far more about the dungeons than anyone else on Earth, so he was acutely aware of how dangerous they can be.

“Don’t worry, your big sister is really strong. In fact she’s more talented than I am. I have an Elite rank talent and I just turned level 4, I ’ve been a part of the Hunter’s community raiding dungeons for 9 years. She’s only been active for 7 years, but with her Knight rank talent she’s actually been level 4 for a while now. Besides, the dungeon they entered is only a Plebeian rank with an average level of 4. Oh, do you know anything about the dungeons and how they work?” Elias tried to ease Kailan’s worry as he explained.

Both he and Rebecca were actually quite strong compared to Earth standards. Every being has a Talent Rank which determines several aspects including their overall stat distribution, level cap and how quickly they grow. On Earth the Talent Ranks are Plebeian, Mortal, Elite, Knight and King in that order. Technically there are higher ranks but there are no humans on Earth with them. Except Kailan of course, but no one really knows that just yet.

Plebeian and Mortal ranks are the most common with over 80% of Hunters having this level of talent. Elites are the next tier up with just over 12% being at this level. Knights make up around 6-7% while King ranks make up less than 1%. In fact, there’s barely more than 300 King ranks in the entire world.

Knight rank is considered the highest ranking talent among Hunters on Earth. While elite rank are considered, well, the elite and Mortal is seen as average. Plebeians aren’t really considered because their talent is too low and Kings are too extreme and too few to be considered.

Despite Elias being one level higher than Rebecca, she is actually a little bit stronger than he is because of her higher Talent Rank.

Kailan still felt some concern but he was somewhat relieved when he heard this. If she’s that strong with a dungeon of that level she should be fine. “Yeah, I know how they work. Thanks Eli.”

Elias was a bit surprised that Kailan knew about dungeons, but he didn’t pay too much attention as he could have learned about it in the other realm or from the Hunters Bureau.

They continued to eat dinner and chat. Elias acted like his old doting self towards Kailan while they both teased their father. Who of course sulked, but Maria didn’t allow that for long as she chastised him for being a wimp. It was a pleasant evening for everyone. It was like time had rewound.

Eventually it was bedtime. Maria didn’t want to go to sleep for fear that all of this was a dream. But Edward urged her to get some rest and Kailan also promised he wasn’t an illusion. Elias decided to spend the night and slept in one of the guest bedrooms, which used to be his old bedroom when he still lived at home.

As Kailan laid in his bed, he recalled the day's events. It was busy. But it was fun. He slowly fell asleep, wondering how everyone in Asgard was doing.

~ 3:08 AM ~

Edward’s cell phone sounded out waking him and Maria from their slumber. It was the number for the Hunters Bureau. Sitting up, he looked at the clock on his phone.

“Why would they be calling at this hour…” He said disgruntled.

“Yes, this is Edward.”

“Mr. Jones…”

Edward sat there listening intently as the agent on the other end spoke. “What is it honey?” Maria rolled over and asked groggily with her eyes still closed. Edward dropped the phone to the floor and it made a loud thud.

“Maria… get up. We have to go, now!” Edward said horsley as if it was hard for him to speak. He quickly got up, turned on the lamp on the nightstand and started dressing.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Maria sat up staring at him questioningly as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

Edward turned towards Maria, holding back his tears as he acted strong. “Rebecca’s team, they sent the distress signal.” He replied with great effort.