"This is your uncle Cyrus's grave," Nathan told his son, sitting on the blanket Samantha had spread out. "He died a long time ago."

Cyrus looked at the grave, then up at his father, then nestled his head against his father's chest.

"Yeah," Nathan said. "We were on our way here yesterday when you decided you wanted to come out."

"You do realize he can't understand you, right?" Samantha sat beside him.

"Ichtvar says that the children of demigods can always understand their demigod parent."

"No," she said. "He said they can always recognize their demigod parent."

"I just got off the phone with one of my contacts," Keith approached, then sat on the other side of Nathan and looked at his godson. "They've never heard of a green aura before. Ever. Green magical power doesn't exist in their records. They actually got pretty upset at me, thinking I was just pranking them. I didn't tell them I actually found someone with a green magical aura."

"We'll have to wait for Ichtvar and Master Torzin to return, then," Samantha said. "Do you know how long they'll be gone for?"

"They're already back," Nathan answered. "Master Torzin's on his way back down here right now, and Ichtvar is visiting his home at Yellowstone for a bit, then is returning to me."

"Have you asked Ichtvar on the matter?" Keith asked.

"No," Nathan answered. "I was waiting for him to return. Same with Master Torzin. Things from the divine realm have silver and gold auras, according to them, and there are four known types of aura for the mortal realm. That means Cyrus has a magic type that's even rarer than a demigod. Something that's not well-known at all."

"Did you tell Keith what happened?" Samantha asked.

"What happened?" Keith asked.

"Cyrus can do magic," she answered.

"He's barely a day old," Keith said. "They only released you two a few hours ago."

"Yeah," Nathan nodded. "I was doing a light trick, and Cyrus imitated it. He needs work on his control and the finer details, but he did imitate it."

"A day old, and already doing magic," Keith sighed. "And he's even giving you two impressions to let you know he's hungry, tired, poopy, and so on. Are you sure eating here is a good idea?"

"Cyrus wouldn't mind it," Nathan said as Samantha started pulling food from a backpack. Sandwiches and a few other things Nathan prepared. "My brother, not my son."

They ate in silence, Nathan with Cyrus in a baby carrier pouch strapped to his chest. Samantha gave him an amused look. She barely managed to receive an hour of holding her son before they were released from the hospital, and she knew the wind elemental was already guarding the baby.

"Cyrus was born earlier than expected," she said. "What's going to happen with you going to the other world?"

"He'll come with us," Nathan answered, and she frowned. "Better for him to be with a powerful mage and his demigod father in an unknown world than the light protection of his mother."

She knew that most would probably be offended by that, but Nathan had a point. If Ichtvar was truthful, then Nathan had protection outside of the universe. Not only that, but Nathan and Keith were designed to be the most powerful souls ever forged. Herself as well, but those two even more so. Keith's magical power was nearly on-par with a demigod's natural magical power, and he had just as much mana as a demigod's awakening level of mana. Both possessed familiars of the highest levels of power.

Wherever those two were was the safest place for Cyrus.

"Then I'm coming with you," she said.

"Okay," Nathan said. "But you can't watch as Keith sleeps with a catboy. That would be rude."

"Let's change topics," Keith looked at Samantha. "How are your parents taking it? They seemed… well. How are they handling it?"

"They were talking to Nathan's parents, last I checked," she answered as she checked Cyrus, who seemed to be sleeping in the baby carrier strapped to Nathan's torso, his head resting against his father's chest. "I think having me suddenly have a baby just a month after they last saw me and Nathan's blatant displays of magic were rather convincing."

Before conversation could continue, a flash of fire appeared in front of them, and Ichtvar stretched his wings, then stared at the trio as he hovered above Cyrus's grave.

"Oh," he said. "Strange. "I wasn't aware you three would be waiting for me at the ley line."

"There's a ley line here?" Keith asked.

"A very convenient one," the phoenix nodded. "I use it sometimes. This is the best place to leave because multiple-what is that?"

The three looked at what Ichtvar was staring at, which happened to be Cyrus. Keith and Samantha noticed Nathan's rage immediately.

"That's Cyrus," Keith said before Nathan could explode. "A 'who', not a 'what'. Ichtvar, use your common sense."

"That's Cyrus?" Ichtvar looked at Samantha. "I'll be back."

The phoenix disappeared in a flash of fire, and the trio stared at each other in confusion, Nathan's friend and girlfriend both aware of the rage that was building in the demigod.

"Nathan," Samantha said. "Ichtvar probably noticed the green magic in our son and didn't connect us having an infant and that infant being my baby."

Cyrus opened his eyes and looked at his mother, then his godfather, then at Nathan, before holding up a hand. A ball of red light formed above his palm, which he then shot into his father's cheek.

"Who's advancing with their magic?" Nathan looked down. "It's you, isn't it?"

"This is frightening," Keith whispered to Samantha as Nathan ignored them and continued talking to Cyrus.

"Very," she said. "What's even scarier is the fact that he's probably going to still be his old self with others."

"Can you make it into your uncle Ichtvar?" Nathan asked. "Like this, Cyrus?"

"Uncle?" Keith asked as Nathan made a rough appearance of Ichtvar out of light. Cyrus stared at it. "Nathan, even if he could understand you, I don't think he'd understand how a bird was his uncle."

"Ignore your godfather," Nathan whispered. "He might be a genius beyond human capability, but he can be an idiot sometimes."

Cyrus nodded.

"His thoughts are scary," Keith whispered to Samantha.

"I thought you didn't like reading Nathan's mind?" She whispered back.

"Stop reading my son's mind," Nathan grabbed Keith's ear and yanked.

"Ow!" Keith exclaimed. "Nathan! Stop! That hurts!"

"You were reading Cyrus's mind?" Samantha asked in disapproval.

"Just to see what he was thinking when he nodded!" Keith exclaimed. "Nathan, that hurts!"

"Don't ever read my son's mind again."

"Okay!"

Nathan released Keith's ear, then gave him a curious look.

"Just so I know," he said. "What was Cyrus thinking?"

"Well, he doesn't exactly have 'words' yet," Keith said. "Since, y'know, he was only just born a day ago. So he hasn't developed the thinking pattern of humans. He thinks in impressions, images, sounds, smells, and so on. And…"

Keith frowned.

"Essentially," Keith said. "He thinks of you as 'the great father', me as 'purple-boy', and Samantha as 'milk-maker'. He also wants to know where 'fire-streaker' went. And he can see ley lines. OW! NATHAN!"

"You're in his head again," Nathan yanked on Keith's ear even harder. "Fuck the System and preventing me from actually ripping that ear off until I get rid of your Health."

He pulled out a gun.

"Nathan," Samantha put a hand on his arm. "No shooting Cyrus's godfather."

"Thank you," Keith said.

"While Cyrus is watching," she added, and Keith groaned. "Don't worry, Keith – Nathan wouldn't actually kill you, and Ichtvar could probably fix your ear."

The trio resumed eating, falling silent once more, apart from Nathan occasionally talking to Cyrus as the infant played with light. Keith and Samantha made sure to keep an eye out in case someone saw them, but the only person around was the necromancer who tended to the cemetery.

When they finished eating, they packed their stuff up and left, returning to Nathan's house, where Katie was waiting with Michael and William.

"Where's Elise?" Nathan asked.

"Dead," Michael answered. "She, William, a few of the others at the facility, and I went into the game yesterday morning. We did a Dungeon, a Challenge, and then decided to try a Tower run, and she never returned from the last. When we left, her body was… well, she's gone."

"Speaking of the game," Nathan pulled Cyrus out of the carrier and waited for Samantha to remove the carrier so he could sit on the couch. "We found a way to delay Mandatory Challenges. Keith and I are exempt from the next six."

Michael and William stared at him in shock.

"We already told Samantha and Katie about this," Keith said. "But once we're ready, the six of us are heading back in. It would've been seven, but… looks like we're down one. Anyway, you know about multi-Dungeon Dungeons?"

"Yeah," William answered as Nathan sat down, creating three small orbs of blue light above his son, rotating them slowly.

"If you complete ten Dungeons during a Dungeon run," Keith explained. "You become exempt from the next Mandatory Challenge. If you complete twenty, you become exempt from another two. Thirty, another three. We believe the pattern continues. The first three Mandatory Challenges take up six months, then they occur every six months after. If you manage to complete thirty Dungeons in a single Dungeon run, you become exempt from six, meaning you have two and half years before you have to do another Mandatory Dungeon."

"They also confirmed," Samantha sat beside Nathan, who indicated that Cyrus was hungry, so she lifted up her shirt and undid her bra so their son could eat. "There there's a limit to how many extended Survival Challenges in a run you can do. It hasn't applied to Earth yet, but eventually will."

"How was this confirmed?" William asked, and Keith explained about Evala and what she had said, including that extended Survival Challenges were used for training.

"I don't get it," Michael sat down as Keith sat on Nathan's other side. Cyrus began hitting Nathan in the face with balls of red light as he ate. "Why would we become exempt from Mandatory Challenges for doing Dungeons?"

"Think about it," William said. "We know from Ichtvar and Keith's familiar that Dungeons are all in the same dimension. We suspect that we're being used to fix things, and that's why the Mandatory Challenges exist – to ensure that every player who survives puts in effort to fix the stuff for the people running the game. If you're doing Dungeons, then you're fixing issues. If you do a lot at once, then it makes sense they'd want to reward you by not requiring you for awhile."

"William is mostly correct," Keith said. "But we no longer suspect this. Nathan has met one of the Overseers, the people who created the System."

Michael and William turned their gaze to Nathan, and Nathan explained about the meeting and the cause of it.

"You didn't tell me it was because of a pearl," Samantha told him when he finished.

"I thought you'd like it," he said as he pulled Cyrus away, and she fixed her clothes. "It made me think of your eyes."

"Why was he doing that?" William asked as Cyrus shot Nathan with a ball of light again. "I know we expected him to have his magic awakened already, but he's already using it, and he seems to be-"

"He finds it entertaining," Samantha said. "We think. His magic dissipates when it hits Nathan."

"It might against Samantha," Nathan said. "But we don't know. He won't hit her with magic, just me. And no, you cannot hold him. He's mine."

"Got it," Michael and William responded in unison.

A moment later, a flash of fire formed, leaving Ichtvar behind.

"Let's go," Ichtvar said. "The government is allowing us to temporarily repurpose their gate. Cyrus is coming with us."

"Why?" Nathan asked, his expression and tone hostile.

"Because Nuenar wants to see him."

"Who?" Nathan asked.

"The oldest of all phoenixes," Ichtvar answered. "A being more powerful than any god. And he's not traveling to see you. You're traveling to see him. There are no exemptions here. If he comes to Earth, everyone will know about magic. Immediately."