Two weeks had passed since I moved out of the Richie Estate in Riyadh, and not much had changed. I was getting used to living in Mt. Ethos and traveling almost an hour every morning to get to school.

Mr. Ethian Richie, a man of considerable influence, made numerous attempts to change my mind, even reaching out to me personally. However, my response was always a resolute and unwavering no. When he probed about the reason for my departure, I could only suggest, “Perhaps your son and wife hold the answers.”

School went by without too many hiccups during this time. I still met Eva every lunch break, and we talked like any average couple. The twins surprised me by staying at a distance from me. I could still feel their gazes every now and again, but it seemed as if Cora’s fascination with me was weaning.

Nox kept nagging me, but it was less every day.

For the past two weeks, I had dedicated my after-school hours to delving into the mysteries of the Book of Chronicles. I was intrigued to find that much of its information was indeed true, provided one had the correct gene count to unlock its secrets. It was a fascinating journey of discovery.

I was surprised by some of the things in it, such as how you could level up your skills all the way up to what was called Titan Rank, something unheard of today. Also, I was diving into the mysteries of the estranged Bragen group mentioned in the book. I researched them at the library during my lunch breaks with Eva. She even helped me to look for them, although she didn’t understand why I was looking for this mystery family.

“I don’t get it, Babe; why are you looking for them?” she said as she scrolled through the countless articles that were popping up on the search queue.

“They popped up on a book I was researching, and I was just curious as to who they were,” I said as I helped scroll through the articles on the display.

Eva just nodded and continued to help.

After a few days of finding nothing significant in our search, I told Eva to stop searching. Spending time with her doing regular things was much better than wasting our short, indispensable time searching for something that might not even be real.

“Are you sure, Khy? This seems important to you, and I don’t mind helping,” she said with a sweet smile.

“I’m very sure,” I said, grabbing her hand, “I’d rather spend this time with you doing something more endearing than having us waste it this way. Let's relish the short time together.”

That’s when I started investing more of my time into researching the Book of Chronicles and the mysterious Bragen Group after school. That way, it would not interfere with my time with Eva.

I also had another idea.

Seeing that Roy was in a different place entirely and doing nothing but sitting on his ass on a couch, eating, and watching the display. I asked him to do some searching for me.

I asked him if he could search for any other books called The Book of Chronicles, anything relating to the Bragen family from his side on the Island of Cypree.

The idea was that with two people looking from opposite ends on this search, we could expand the search parameters, get lucky, and find something.

I had just finished school today, leaving after my last class, and was on my way to the Apartment when Roy called me about the CAD.

After two buzzes, I quickly picked it up.

“Hey Roy,”

“Khyrum, are you done with school,” he asked.

“Yes, sir, just heading home right now. What’s up?” I answered.

“Ok, I got some news on your missing book,” he said casually.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“You do? Great!’

“Yeah, I found another book, The Book of Chronicles Alpha Prime Edition, Volume 2, in the Astren royal family home's library on the Korean peninsula."

Damm, what luck.

Eva was from the Astren royal family. She was the daughter of Rhene Fox, Lord Tsuna’s oldest daughter.

“Now I just had to find a way for her to get me the book,” I told myself.

Even though I felt terrible asking this much from her, the book had become a major obsession of mine.

As I was caught up in my thoughts, Roy’s voice brought me back to the present.

“Khyrum, are you still there? Hello????” said Roy, bemused.

“I’m here, Roy. I'm sorry, man; I was thinking of something,” I said hastily.

“It's okay; I was just making sure I hadn’t lost you, as it's been hectic over here as the auction approaches,” he finished saying.

After a moment of silence, Roy asked.

“You haven’t forgotten about the auction, Khyrum, right?” he said with a questioning tone.

“No, I haven’t. Is the plan still the same,” I asked.

“Yep, I should have a transport for you by next week. Seeing as how the schools and all the other businesses will be closing from Wednesday until after the auction to make way for the event on the weekend."

"I’ll probably send the transport on Weds,” he finished.

Over the last week, the Auction for the Angel Wings Charm has garnered the most attention worldwide. Most, if not all, governments and special interested groups agreed that this auction had taken the aura of a global holiday as they expected a lot of people to tune in for the auction. It was not every day that a Tier 1 magical charm gear with three skills got auctioned off.

For this reason, the auction was given its own place in the global calendar, and next week was dedicated to it. Businesses and schools would shut down three days prior to give everyone time to find the best place to watch the auction.

“Ok, sounds good, Roy. I’ll be waiting,” I said as I hung up the call.

“Man, I can’t believe how one little charm turned into this gigantic spectacle, even calling it a global holiday,” I said, feeling bewildered over the whole thing.

"I wonder how the world would react to Eva's Singularities Bracelet," I told myself.

The bracelet was at least twice as strong as the charm.

The rest of the trip to the apartment seemed to flash by in a minute.

As I walked into the building, I was surprised to find Damian sitting in the lobby. He seemed to be talking to someone on his CAD. I could see with exceptional clarity the different emotions he was going through from talking to the person on the other side of the call. He went from calm to intrigued, then frustrated, and finally worried.

“Hmm, this doesn’t look good,” I mumbled.

I proceeded to tiptoe across the lobby to avoid attracting Damian’s attention. With a few steps more, the elevator was within my reach. I dove in and pressed the button to close the door quickly. As I saw the doors closing, I sighed in relive as I thought I had gotten away, when suddenly a hand reached into the elevator to keep the doors from closing.

“Shit,” I said in my head.

Suddenly, a familiar face popped in front of the elevator doors.

“Hey, there, Khyrum,” said Paige in a thunderous voice, loud enough that Damian, who was still on his call, quickly turned around.

After a quick second of staring at each other, I could help but glare at Paige with ‘Fuck You written all over my face. This fucking lady has been a pain in my ass over the last two weeks. Every little chance she gets to make my life hell, she does. I’m trying hard to keep calm, as we live in the same building, but it's getting harder and harder to do with each passing day.

She smiled innocently, like saying, “What did I do?” as she walked into the elevator.

Soon after, Damian made his way to the elevator as well.

“Hello there, Khyrum,” said Damian calmly as he saw someone else inside the elevator.

I pressed the button for floor six, and Paige called out to me as we started to go up.

“Khyrum, can you press the button for 4,” she said.

I moved my hand to press the button but stopped right before I did. By this time, the elevator was passing the second floor. I kept my hand up and pressed the floor for 10 when I saw we were already at floor 3.

“What are you doing?” said Paige, livid.

“Why would you press the tenth floor when you know I live on the fourth floor?” she said in a very indignant tone.

“I’m sorry. My finger slipped, you see,” I said, raising my hand and showing her the middle finger.

She glared at me as if ready to tear my head off, but she held back, seeing that Damian was in the elevator.

Soon, the elevator's Ding rang, announcing that we had reached the sixth floor.

“Well, this is us,” I said smugly as I walked out of the elevator, followed by Damian.

I could still feel Paige's death stare as the elevator doors slowly closed behind us.

“That’s kind of childish, isn’t it, Prime,” said Damian, questioning.

“It's alright; she and I have this little game going on about who can annoy the other the most until one of us dies of anger,” I said with a smirk.

Damian just shook his head as he looked at me.

“I had forgotten that Prime is still a teenager and, as such, is prone to fits of pettiness,” he said to himself.

I knew what he was thinking but didn’t care. After punching in my code, the apartment door opened, and I walked inside while gesturing to Damian to come in.

I dropped my backpack on the floor just as I got to the apartment. I sat down on the couch, followed by Damian, who sat opposite me.

“So, what’s the news,” I said coldly.

He looked at me. A flash of anxiousness flashed through his eyes before composing himself.

“We have our first assignment. It's in Cypree!”