“Lucas, I... “ Hushing him with a finger over his lips, I smile. Simply holding him for a moment, I enjoy the tingle of his Wild Magick against my skin.

“I didn’t realize I felt this way about you until you…” My voice catches in my throat, tears well in my eyes once more. Colt pulls me into a hug this time, shushing me and rubbing my back.

“It’s fine Lucas, I’m here… We’re here. Back in Maine.” He goes to pull me in for one more kiss.

“Maine, is it? I suppose it’s… pretty.” Rocketing probably three feet off of Colt in shock, I turn to see Pasivier standing on the grass near us. My heart is thrumming in my throat.

Colt’s eyes have never been wider. His face is a shade of green I’ve never seen before. “Oh, uh, hi Pasivier! Lucas and I were just…”

“Kissing. I’m aware. Which one of you went for the first?”

My face is blistering with heat, I struggle out an answer. “M-me…”

Pasivier brightens considerably. “Aha! Ilmarinen owes me 20 gleams!”

Embarrassment replaces with anger and shock. “You were betting on us?!” Pasivier scoffs.

“But of course, young Lucas. It was horribly apparent how smitten you two are.” He begins picking at something on his shirt as if what he just said was entirely unimportant.

“So you’re not… Freaked out? Disgusted? Ashamed?” Colt tilts his head, still planted on the ground, his face has lightened a little now.

Pasivier looks at him like he has two heads. “Why would I be any of those things? As much as I hate to admit it, you’re Fae after all and frankly deserve… better, you two make an adorable couple.”

Somewhat offended, I push aside Pasivier’s side comment. “It’s just that, on Earth at least, especially here in northern Maine, people aren’t always very… accepting… of this.” Indicating between Colt and myself.

Pasivier’s eyebrow raises. “Expressing feelings for another is taboo? What a strange, drab culture you must live in.”

“No, no, no! It’s the fact that we’re… Both, y’know... Boys.” My face is starting to heat up again.

“What a silly thing to care about. Why should something like that matter?” Pasivier scoffs again.

“Well, obviously it doesn’t to Colt or me, but a lot of people do care. I’m not really sure why myself.” Pasivier waves a hand at me dismissively.

“It should and does not matter, clearly I’m going to have to spend some more time in training some self-confidence into Colt. You will be permitted to participate in those classes yourself, Lucas.” He gives me a quick once-over look up and down.

Rolling my eyes, I walk back to Colt and give him an arm to pull himself up on. He grins, pulls me down into a kiss, and stands up on his own.

A few hours pass of us showing Pasivier around my house. Ilmarinen finally arrives, lacking a teleport skill like Pasivier has.

“You owe me 20 gleams, pay up.” Pasivier holds a hand out expectantly.

“Ye had to make the first move, didn’t ye lad.” Ilmarinen glares at me.

“It was an emotional time, okay?” He shakes his head and walks into the kitchen.

“What in the great seas is this door!?” His voice yells out from the kitchen, aghast at my handiwork.

“I did the best I could with the resources at hand!” Ilmarinen is grumbling audibly. The sound of saws and hammers comes from the kitchen moments later.

A few minutes after, I walk into the kitchen after chatting with Colt a bit more to find my back door and window completely repaired, glass and all. “Holy shit, you even matched the wood! How!? Thank you!”

Ilmarinen swells with pride. “Never underestimate a good Craftsman, lad. Now, shall we eat?” He opens the refrigerator before recoiling back.

“Gods lad, tis all rotten!” The smell reaches my nose, causing me to gag.

Colt walks in after hearing the commotion, immediately turning and leaving as even his eyes water up. It’s worse than the seastar.

Pasivier walks into the room, eyes critical. He snaps, yellow and purple light washes over the refrigerator, leaving it empty and clean.

“Honestly you two, learn some useful spells.” He scoffs and turns back.

“Colt! Prepare us some dinner would you?” He whistles a tune as he steps through the house, inspecting every inch once more.

Colt walks past Pasivier and sticks his tongue out at him silently once he’s behind his back. Sparkling violet and yellow light flash around his mouth, forcing his tongue back in.

Approaching Colt, I give him an innocent smile. “How about letting me help again? I wanna level up my Chef Talent more!” Colt glances to both sides.

“Uh, I mean, I guess you can… if you want to. I’d be happy to have you help.” His voice is pained. The last three weeks I “helped” with the cooking sometimes. He’s a bit of a foodie, and nothing I help with ever comes out amazing.

“What will we make though? We don’t have any food!” The fridge is empty due to Pasivier’s spell, volley stag meat and all.

A piercing screech from the forest in my backyard interrupts us. Colt and I look at each other, nod, and run out.

Trying to grab Ilmarinen on my way out, he shakes his head. “I cannot interfere in this way, lad. Yer on yer own.”

Frowning, I waste no more time and rush out the back door after Colt. Using my Porcine Nose, I scan the air for the scent of whoever screamed. I catch the smell of… Bubblegum?

Following the scent trail, Colt stays close behind me, vigilant of the area. Soon, we arrive at the source of the scream. We’re frozen for a second when we see a whole herd of volley stags, larger than any we’ve seen before.

A swift blonde streak is dodging the projectiles from the deer. “How about a small Trim?” The source of the feminine voice flashes forward at speeds I can only achieve with Knots added to my legs.

Metal glints and one of the stags is beheaded. Afterward, she takes one of the rock throws to the leg and screams, breaking Colt and me out of our stupor.

Unclipping Argo, it expands in my hand just as I reach a volley stag. It’s crushed from a direct Devastating Impact to the side, making only a slight yelp.

The figure seems to realize we’re helping her, downs a healing potion, and returns to the fight. It’s apparent her stats are lower than ours, but her fighting style keeps up with us.

She weaves in and out from the projectiles, dodging them all or cutting the ones that would hit her. With quick flicks of a blade, the deer are beheaded in seconds.

In about two minutes, we’ve dispatched the whole group rather effortlessly. Strangely, no message appears from The Construct, which also reminds me that I never received any from the dungeon either.

A small sliver of fear runs down my back. Setting aside the questions in my mind, for now, I turn to the girl.

With my first good look at her, I’m filled with shock. “BECKY?!”

She looks wide-eyed at us as well. “Lucas?! Colt!?”

“I haven’t seen you since high school! How did you get all the way here?! You’re near my house!” She dusts dirt off of herself before the typical placid expression I remember her for returns to her face.

“Iunno, I ran for a while from those stupid deer.” Waiting for more of an answer, we get nothing.

Glancing down, I finally take note of her… weapons. “Becky, are those scissors?” She blows a bubble with gum that she’s apparently been chewing the whole time.

“Mhm.” Yet again, no further explanations from her. She takes a look in my hands.

“An anchor? Really?” I’m remembering why I never talked to her in high school.

“I am Argo!” The anchor chimes happily.

She glances at my anchor but doesn’t comment on it, completely unphased.

“Coming from the one using scissors. I don’t think either of us can claim we have good weapon choices.” Taking a look around, I note how many volley stag steaks dropped from these kills.

Colt speaks up. “Becky, would you like to join us for dinner?”

She flips her hair over her shoulder. “Sure, whatever. What’s with the green hair Colt?”

Colt blushes green, making Becky’s expression shift just slightly back to shock. “It’s an uh, long story. I’m a Fae now.”

She stares at him for a second, chewing her gum slowly. “Cool.”

“A brick wall as always, Becky. Well, let’s gather these up and go.” My face is impassive.

She quirks an eyebrow. “I got this.”

Her hair floats up in the air, waving in unseen winds. “Magic Locks.”

Strands of hair fly out, increasing in length and grabbing each of the steaks. I note that she also pockets all of the money that dropped from them.

My jaw drops in awe as she piles the slabs of meat into Colt’s arms. Shrinking Argo back down and replacing him on my earring, I take all the food from Colt, storing it in my hold.

Becky takes note of this and hands me her bag. “You carry it, magic boy. Oh, and these dropped. You can keep them, they’re gross.” She hands me a pile of volley stag pelts with her hair.

In one swift motion, her scissors flash, cutting away any blood-stained hair. Afterward, the hair grows back to the exact length it was before.

“...Becky, think you could give me a haircut when we’re back at my house? I could use one.” Over the course of The Construct coming, my hair, which had already been in need of a trim, has grown far too long for my tastes.

“Only if Colt cooks dinner. I remember his casserole from the school potluck. Shit was lit.” Her eyes glint with gluttony.

Frowning, I give Colt an approving nod. Looks like I won’t be helping with dinner tonight. I’m slightly offended that he looks relieved.

Our trip back to the house is uneventful, but I’m wracked with anxiety over my lack of any Construct messages.

Colt gives me looks of concern several times through the trip, but I just give him a face that says “We’ll talk later.”

Finally, we arrive back at the house. Ilmarinen and Pasivier were apparently spying on us the whole time with scrying magic, so they already know who Becky is.

She says “ew” directly to Ilmarinen’s face, much to his chagrin, but says that Pasivier is “kind of hot, for an old dude.” She winks at him before indicating to me.

“You. Haircut. Now.” Taking it as a command, we walk outside. I settle on to a chair I brought out and she gets to work. Much to my terror, she’s moving at a speed far outside of my comfort zone for someone with scissors in hand.

“Think you could… Slow down a little Becky? This is… Scary.”

Bubblegum snaps from behind me. “Do you want a haircut or not?” Resigning, I slouch my shoulders and let it happen.

Within minutes, Becky hands me a compact mirror, declaring that she’s finished. Taking a look, my hair actually looks great. It’s a close shave on the sides of my head with a proper fade to the top, which is slightly longer.

“Wow, it looks incredible Becky. Thank you.” She eyes me for a second.

“You’re welcs. Oh and uh, thanks for… saving me, or whatever.” She struts off, looking heavily uncomfortable.

Colt states he doesn’t need a haircut once we return inside and Becky offers. He then demonstrates that due to his magical anatomy, he can control the length of his hair.

Becky seems upset and claims that Colt is “copying” her, but he assures her that he does not have the level of control she does.

While Becky was cutting my hair, Colt was gathering everything he needs for dinner. The spices and oils are still fine, but he also grabbed some zingpods from the garden for garnish.

Once Colt finishes dinner, we all sit down at the table. He sets a steak in front of each of us before sitting down in the chair next to me, giving me a smile.

After taking my first bite, I’m in heaven from the flavor. The steak is a perfect medium rare, the oils and seasoning soaked in delightfully, and it’s tender as can be.

Even Becky’s typically blank expression is gone, she looks like she’s on cloud nine.

Dinner passes in relative silence aside from compliments from everyone on Colt’s cooking. He’s apparently approaching Adept in the Talent.

Ilmarinen seems to strangely accept Becky, inquiring about her weapon choice towards the end of dinner. Apparently, honesty is the best way to him accepting someone, so Becky saying “ew” to his face made him somewhat more approving of her.

Regardless, Becky gives very nonspecific, bland answers which leave Ilmarinen frowning at her once more. She’s more interested in testing the reaction speed boost from the zingpods.

Ilmarinen leaves shortly after dinner. Apparently, he brought his entire house with him in a briefcase. With a quick swing of his anchor, the land is cleared next to my house and he sets down his.

It turns out that Pasivier is somewhat of a gossip, however. He and Becky spend most of the night after dinner sharing juicy tidbits with one another.

It must not matter to him that he has no idea who any of Becky’s friends are, he’s just fascinated to know that she really said that. Becky is equally surprised at some of Pasivier’s stories from the Fae court.

Colt and I don’t pay much attention to them, however, simply enjoying a night of relaxation together in the living room. We chat aimlessly for a few hours as the sun begins to set in the sky.

Colt is somewhat concerned when I tell him about everything that happened in the dungeon and afterward, but assures me that I still have my abilities, so The Construct will probably come back.

Reassured, my mood drops slightly once more as I realize that my room is still a mess from the slime. “Aw man, I really wanted to sleep in my own bed for once.” Colt squeezes my hand and stands up.

“I got this, Pasivier was showing me this one spell, and I think it will work.” Standing up as well, I hug him and kiss his cheek.

“You’re the best, let's go!”

In my room, Colt holds his hands out in front of him. A familiar green glow emanates from them, all the hardened slime chunks I couldn’t clean shift back to a more liquid state once more.

Even the bits deeply embedded in cloth come out with Colt’s magick. Within a few minutes, Colt is sweating but my room is clean once more. Gathering up all of the slime into some bottles, we have potion ingredients once more.

Colt and I both elect to clean ourselves of dungeon odor before going to sleep. We cleaned ourselves to the best of our ability with Hydrokinesis earlier, but a proper shower will do wonders for us.

We walk over to Ilmarinen’s house. He doesn’t look happy about the interruption, but we each take a turn using his shower.

Finally, we’re back in my room and settle down for bed. We allow Becky to stay the night as well, giving her the spare room. Pasivier declares his home situation is fine and he walks off into the woods.

Sliding in next to Colt, he pulls me close to him. Sleep finds us both quickly, we’re exhausted.

Opening my eyes, I find myself in a cloudy gray-white void. A figure walks out from the fog in front of my.

“DAD?!” Attempting to run towards him, my body won’t move despite my legs ambulating.

My apologies, Lucas. From observing humans, I determined that this form may be more comfortable for you to speak to me in. I am The Construct.

Even in my sleep, I can feel a cold sweat break out on me. At least I assume this is a dream. “Th-thank you… For helping me get rid of The Restruct’s hold.”

My father’s face smiles at me. It was all your doing, Lucas. I simply encouraged. Everyone’s Fate is their own. I believe I owe you some explanations, however.

Nodding to him slightly, he continues. Many millennia ago, I was created alongside The Restruct. We were an experiment using runes to augment the very fabric of reality.

Originally, we were intended to be one distinct being. However… Something happened. Restruct and I fragmented from each other into separate consciousnesses.

Restruct strictly believes that all living beings should be forcibly augmented into his visions of power. He is capable of giving these abilities but at the cost of that creature’s Fate.

From that moment on, choice is no longer available to any under Restruct’s control. I am the opposite of him. I too can grant great power, but it is of paths you form with your own Fate.

I used to be equally powerful to Restruct, but many many of your lifetime’s ago, he struck at me. Now, I have to pick my battles carefully.

I choose only the races I believe have the highest chance of succeeding against Restruct’s control. I will not alter your Fate, but I will give you the tools to shape it.

Any dungeon or aggressive being you see, it is all Restruct’s doing. It wishes to control everything.

I am proud of you, however, Lucas. It has been a very long time since I saw someone break Restruct’s hold on their own. No amount of stats I can give you will help with that, it was all your doing.

“Okay… But you said something before, that he had some kind of hold on me for a long time?” My father’s face nods, looking sullen.

It was an… Unfortunate error. Restruct got to you before I did, apparently. He planted what might be called… A seed. Did you notice any needless recklessness in your actions?

Nodding once more to him, he continues.

Restruct was attempting to set you up in a position where you would require its power to succeed. You have taken that power and rejected it afterward.

I do not believe The Restruct will attempt to invade you again anytime soon. It lost… Resources… Doing that.

“Well, how about your system? What can you tell me about it? Are there any shortcuts? Secrets? How can I make sure I get the best perks?” The Construct laughs, sounding exactly like my dad.

These are questions I cannot answer Lucas, they would alter your Fate.

Frowning, I concede. “Well, it was worth a shot. Thanks anyway. Oh, also, I had one other problem that maybe you could help with. I haven’t received notifications from you at all after the dungeon.”

Ah, yes. Your connection to The Restruct frayed ours heavily. It has taken a bit of a toll on me, but I believe I have repaired them fully by now. Here. Take a look.

Congratulations, Lucas Creo! You have completed the Grand Harbor Dungeon!

Calculating rewards…

Error: Rewards could not be assessed due to connectivity errors.

Attempting reassessment…

Error: Rewards could not be assessed due to connectivity errors.

Error: Indeterminate number of Volley Stags defeated…

Error: Cannot calculate XP received.

I am sorry, Lucas. There will be more dungeons, however. The Construct frowns.

There always will be. It appears our time is up, I must go. My father turns to walk away.

“Wait!” The Construct turns back.

Yes?

“Is… Are my parents okay?” My father smiles once more.

Your parents are more than okay. They’re astounding.

Sighing in relief, I turn to The Construct.

“Okay, that’s good. And to you, Construct? I’m gonna kick Restruct’s ass!”

The Construct’s face seems to turn to shock, but the connection truly must have been taxing to it, because the dream ends abruptly.

Shooting up in bed, Colt looks at me with concern. Reassuring him, I check my notifications once more. I smile. They’re real. The entire dream was real.