Being called to the study the day after you did something that your boss may not be happy with was an experience.

Ever been called to the rector after you had broken the rules or some shit like that? Well, Nylarthog neither, but he assumed that this was what it must have felt like.

Well, it turned out that he had mostly been called for organizational things, though there were one or two subtle comments about the day before. But mostly that if Orion planned something similarly dangerous again, that Nylarthog should get a guard to follow along discretly.

Only after Nylarthog had, discretely as well, told Nevaeh that following instead of trying to prevent Orion from doing what he wanted was likely better if one was in Nylarthog's position, as that way Orion was less likely to try to sneak away and be completely alone.

Otherwise the following days went similarly, with Nylarthog mostly following behind Orion who did whatever he set his mind on. Except when he was in the library, that was probably Nylarthog’s new favorite place. While he wasn’t allowed in quite a few areas, he was more interested in whatever novels it held.

And while there were quite a few duds, he also found some real gems that he would probably read a few times.

Things continued peacefully, if you could call it that, Nylarthog thought he had a short attention span, but his was nothing compared to Orion’s. Most things couldn’t hold his attention for more than 30 minutes, most things less.

Anyway, they continued peacefully until a week before Orion’s 13th birthday. While it would be a small event compared to what most rich kids got, but there would still be quite many guests, which not only meant that the servants were busy preparing for the festivities, but also that the security measures in and around the mansion were tightened, and they had already been quite stringent before.

But now, the security measures had been taken to a whole new level. The security guards were more alert and were patrolling the grounds with an increased frequency. There were even security cameras installed, which had been a major expense, as they all needed some insulation to not stop working within a few hours, if they would even hold that long, considering that whatever security formations that had been in place had been set to the highest level, and new ones had been installed.

In addition to this, the security personnel had been given specific instructions to thoroughly search any vehicle that came to the mansion, including the guests' cars. They were checking every bag and item that entered the mansion to ensure that nothing harmful made it inside.

Nylarthog thought they went a bit too far on some things. Activating the slaughter formations and setting them on stand-by didn’t seem quite necessary for him, it would have been better to just have a formation that would teleport a designated group of people, read: the inhabitants, out, and then blow the whole thing to kingdom come.

But, contrary to what the security measures would have made you believe, the birthday came and went and nothing overt happened.

The same was true when the head of houses birthday came and went. Only that there were even more security measures.

This only escalated further over the year after that, for Orions 15th birthday there were even hired body-doubles. And all that despite the fact that Orion lived every day twice.

Not the greatest boon, but definitely still quite useful. As for how Nylarthog knew that? He had been told about a year and a half ago, after Orion had one too many times known something he shouldn’t be able to and simply decided that he didn’t want to keep it a secret anymore.

His father hadn’t exactly been pleased, but it made things easier overall, as Orion could just warn him beforehand if a possible situation could occur, even if it wasn’t necessary most of the time, as they had escaped or killed the opponents easily enough the first time around, but not meeting them at all was even saver, so there had been barely any actual fights after that fact had been shared.

Not that there had been many beforehand, as Nylarthog followed Orion around, so Orion could just decide to not go out or something and they would avoid the clash. This of course didn’t work when the other party was targeting Orion specifically, as they would then simply target them the next day, or the day after that.

But they then simply took guards along, who would then do the fighting and killing if it became necessary.

They wouldn’t do all the fighting and killing because Orion had to learn to defend himself, and fighting an actual enemy is different from sparring with someone you know won’t seriously harm you.

There was also one last reason, someone could manipulate Orions memories on the first day after knocking him out, then he would give faulty information the second time around, which would allow for enemies to set a trap.

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This hadn’t happened so far, but it was a possibility that had to be considered.

But anyway, Nylarthog was getting off topic again, after Orion's 15th birthday had passed, his father dropped a bombshell. Not literally this time.

Orion would be sent to Lower Heavens for his safety. He was now old enough that the lacking radiation in the surroundings of Lower Heavens wouldn’t impact his cultivation and talent anymore, so Nevaeh wanted to send him there, to hide him from those same enemies that had prompted all those extra security measures, even if they never showed up and Nevaeh refused to say exactly who that was, only that they were ‘extremely dangerous’.

Orion wasn’t to be sent to Lower Heavens without anyone. While Nevaeh couldn’t send anyone along that was too strong, meaning above the Elemental Attunement Realm, as they would be known to the enemy, and therefore maybe lead them to Orion, he had apparently been building a guild in Lower Heaven that Orion would be free to use in any way he saw fit.

There would also be some extra guards at the Elemental Attunement Realm that Orion would be able to call upon if necessary. Not too many because of the risk of discovery, but twenty with at least one combat orientated boon each would be enough to take over a country in Lower Heaven, so even if they weren’t many, they would still be quite the force to be reckoned with.

Which was why the Butler, since nobody knew his name, not even the staff, that had become it, had brought everyone who would accompany Orion, and of course Orion’s father, into a splinter dimension.

It was only barely more than a few cubic kilometers large. If you wonder how that is possible, imagine the space as a ball, draw a line somewhere and call it the border, now you would always end up at the other end of the ball if you were to cross the border.

Now just make that whole thing four-dimensional, and you would know how it was possible. Well, one of the possible things anyway, Nylarthog had no clue if it actually worked that way for this splinter dimension.

While Nylarthog had been busy explaining nonsense to his imaginary audience in his head, he had missed Orion’s and Nevaeh’s goodbye, well, most of it.

“And remember that if there is any problem that you don’t think you will be able to deal with, run away, I can’t lose you, not after your mother.” Nevaeh seemed close to tears, he had said something along those lines multiple times over the last few days, and at least three times that Nylarthog had noticed.

“And you remember to visit Necrosis, I’m sure it will be happy to see you again.” As expected, Nylarthog had ended up getting Orion to, and away from his mother's pet regularly, so regularly in fact, that Orion had even named it.

And Necrosis was the name of choice. Not particularly welcoming, but Orion liked it, so it was decided.

Again with the straying off topic, Nylarthog really had to get that under control. He was only called back to reality when the Butler reminded Nevaeh that they had to leave because the splinter would collide with Lower Heaven shortly.

So after a last hug and a last few words of goodbye, Nevaeh turned around with heavy heart, nodded to the Butler, and they both vanished, a tear glistening almost invisibly under his eye.

He wasn’t the only one though, Orion wasn’t in a good mood as well, no matter how he didn’t like rules, he still loved his father who did everything for him that he could. So suddenly being in a situation where he wasn’t not only not there, but would likely also be unavailable for quite a while, was hard to accept.

Nobody seemed to know what to say, everyone stood there, awkwardly watching Orion, who, in turn, was trying to not break down.

At least until Nylarthog couldn’t take it any longer, “I don’t know what to tell, you, so I will instead ask if you are hungry.

Are you hungry?”

Orion didn't respond at first, still lost in thought about his father leaving. But eventually, he looked up and shrugged, "I guess so."

As if that was the sign everyone had been waiting for, the guards started setting up camp, while one of them gave Orion some food from a dimensional storage.

“How long do you think it will be before the first person enters?” Orion asked, after having finished his... whatever the fruit was called, some mix of banana, apple and watermelon.

“It could be anywhere between a few hours and two days I guess. I hope we won’t have to wait long. I want to see firsthand what the people in Low Heaven are like, well, the fighters anyway. Sure, it probably will only be newbies for such a low-ranked dimension, but...”

“You are going off topic again, Nyarl.” Orion interrupted him, but before he could go any further, Nylarthog interjected “How often do I have to tell you not to call me that? It reminds me of some Cthulhu cat-harem novel.”

“I’m not the one with the unpronounceable name here.” Orion shot back, making Nylarthog chuckle.

“Fair point,” Nylarthog replied, “but you can call me Nyl, everyone else does.”

“So not true, you barely ever talk to anyone. I would be surprised if most of the guards even know your name at all.”

Nylarthog rolled his eyes at Orion's teasing. "Well, that may be true, but it's not like I'm here to make friends.”

“I know,” Orion said softly, “but you have at least one friend, me.”

Nylarthog looked at Orion in surprise, “Since when? You know I’m being paid to accompany you.”

“Since the moment you were being nice to me despite not being paid for that.”

“Is that so? Well then you will have to let me choose which game to play more often then.”

Orion laughed, “Sure thing, you need every advantage you can get anyway.”

The two continued teasing each other for a bit longer, before then starting to watch the guards put the finishing touches to the camp they would spend the next week in.

Maybe even a month or two, as they had to wait for the dungeon break to happen before they could leave.