There are people in my life that breathe fresh air into my heart and cool my mind. Sometimes those people were there from the moment I was born. Other times they slipped quietly into my life.

My grandma was one of the latter.

“This is our game room.” She spoke.

My grandma, Gold, and I stepped over the glowing floor filled with symbols and the wall opened up as we approached. The entire mansion moved at her whim, her steps crossing over arrays so complex that they gave me a headache when I looked at them.

It didn’t stop me from studying them.

Gold squawked in my ear, and I looked up from the floor to see my surroundings filled with regents. Balls, squares with screens, tables and what looked like board game boxes were displayed proudly across the room.

The entire room was bigger than my house. I stepped inside and looked at the regents carefully.

They were all onze.

I knew that the Jâl family specialised in them, but to see so many regents in one place amazed me.

“If you want to play with them darling, then play.” My grandma gestured grandly towards the regents and then hobbled forward. “But first, the rules!”

She tapped the top of one of the tables and it flowed. Then my eyes widened as it cut itself into pieces and fell to the ground, destroyed and powerless.

“Dismantling is allowed.” My grandma clapped her hands and the floor glowed.

The table pieces reacted, lines of power tracing across their surface. Then they put themselves back together before my eyes. I blinked and the blocks went from scattered to one whole piece.

“If you want to study them, then study them. Try not to blow the room up, but if you do then I forgive you in advance.” She tutted.

“I promise not to blow the room up.” I smiled. “I couldn’t do that to your place.”

“No- no- no.” My grandma waved her hand dismissively. “My place is your place darling. And us Jâls never make a promise not to blow things up. Our ancestors learned that the hard way.”

She zigzagged between the games and furniture, showing me where to put my mana to dismantle them. The completed regents were onze, but she had grafted mana-absorbing symbols and arrays into all of them.

They were a mix of the two types of regents, onze and magic items.

I tapped each array carefully. My eyes wandered over the symbols as they lit up and split the power between themselves.

“Your dad used to do the same.” My grandma smiled. “He spent hours here when he was a kid. This place was a lot smaller back then, but every time we brought him a new toy, he’d take it apart. That’s why I learnt to make it easier to do.”

“The first few times he used symbol carving equipment to chop our regents up.” She whistled as she recalled a memory. “Never do that unless under supervision or when the regent is active. The power has to go somewhere and let’s not make it your face.”

From her tone, I had the feeling that she was talking about a real event.

I couldn’t imagine my dad being so careless.

“And especially don’t do it the day before prom.” A voice called out.

I looked over my shoulder to see my dad entering the room, his eyes wandering over the regents on display.

“This place has grown so much.” He smiled.

He swirled his finger to show that he was talking about the entire mansion.

Then his eyes were drawn to the corner of the room.

“I don’t remember having a dollhouse.” He raised an eyebrow.

I followed his gaze to see a miniature home splashed with pink. I wondered what secrets it contained.

Would it work as a real house?

Could you open the tiny front door and be transported inside?

“That is a trap.” My grandma spoke fondly. “Berlia rigged it to explode as one of her first regents.”

I stared at the dollhouse. Berlia was my cousin, and I remembered her being obsessed with weapon regents.

Didn’t she have a little sister? I hoped the girl didn’t like dollhouses.

“Of course, it explodes with colourful rainbows now. I modified it myself.” My grandma grinned. “I wouldn’t let anyone get hurt.”

My dad let out a chuckle and I smiled. I wanted to give the two of them some alone time. They had a lot to catch up on.

My grandma read my mind and dragged my dad off to explore the additions she’d made to the mansion while he’d been gone. Meanwhile, I looked around the game room with eager eyes.

Gold chirped and flew to one of the boxes, pecking at it.

“Don’t you dare tear that up.” I strode over to the game and looked at the packaging.

It showed a picture of two armies fighting. One red and one blue. There were big words scrawled in ornate handwriting across the cover.

Battle for Illima - Delux edition.

“Up to four players. Suitable for ages 8+.” I looked at Gold and he stared back at me. “I think we’re a little too young to play this, buddy.”

I chuckled and opened the box anyway. A single line of writing caught my eyes, next to the age restriction.

“Tin rank scribers and higher only.” I read the words out loud for Gold. “Huh.”

These were scriber exclusive games. I was even more curious now about how it worked.

Why could only ranked scribers play?

The pieces fell onto the table beside me, each packaged neatly by whoever had used it last. Four different coloured armies each represented by different pieces were the main bulk of the game.

There was also a very thick map that could be unfolded and placed on the table.

I got to work bringing the pieces out, while Gold unfolded the map and nudged it into the middle of the table. The sound of rain fell around me as his talons tapped against the table's surface, and he examined every inch of the map.

Then he squawked.

I turned to see what he was looking at and saw several holes filling the map’s surface. They matched the bottoms of the army pieces I was sorting through.

They came in three types, square holes, circle holes and triangle holes.

“This looks familiar.” I traced over the map with my fingers.

They were the basic shapes given to me to practice for my earth construct skill.

Gold tapped at the map and looked at me imploringly. I raised one of the pieces. It was an ordinary knight in armour holding a shield. I placed it carefully onto the board.

The foundation of the piece nestled neatly into the square hole.

There was a shift in the mana around me and Gold flapped his wings in surprise as an orange shield appeared around the piece.

My eyes widened as I saw the magic appear. The board game was an onze.

Or rather, half an onze.

The other half was inscribed inside each piece. Once they were out together the regent would be complete.

The next few minutes were spent experimenting with the pieces and the various ways they could be used. There were knights, magicians and regents that looked similar to cannons, but floated in the air.

The magicians could create shields in other sections of the map.

The cannons created no shields, but they could turn in any direction and fire a small burst of mana at other pieces.

It looked a bit like the game Risk from my old world. Except with magic.

The reason it was only suitable for tin ranks and above soon became clear when I opened up the game manual. It was a thick tome that looked like it would break my nose if I dropped it onto my face.

Inside were dozens of ways to activate the pieces and hidden arrays on the map. Different methods of interjecting mana into the board would cause different reactions from the pieces.

If an army captured certain sections of the map, then different arrays would become available to them.

Some provided more resources like a traditional game. Others provided more mana attacks per turn or changed the magic of some pieces entirely.

I tried it out for fun, filling half the map’s locations strategically with knights only.

I watched with glee as the knight pieces disassembled and transformed into robed figures with swords by their sides. According to the manual, my empire had grown large enough to support magic knight production.

“Okay. I think I’m starting to get it.“ I passed the manual to Gold and he chirped in gratitude.

There were four major locations on the map.

Illima, Pêlat, Destra and Gesti City.

The last one grabbed my attention. Emotions and uncertainty rolled through my heart.

Gesti was the name of the immortal household that was trying to keep me apart from my family. I looked through the manual. It had little factoids about each faction.

Gesti City: Now the thriving home of the Gesti Immortal Household, it housed an army of eight thousand during the clash of nations one thousand years ago. A pittance now, but a grand power at the time.

Using their battalion of knights and their signature focus on raising offensive magicians they swept through the battlefield.

You too can experience their power for yourself, as a commander and as an enemy!

I put the manual down and stared at the location. Their family had been around for over a thousand years and had only grown in power since the events mentioned in the manual.

It stirred up my curiosity.

I could still see the ‘gift’ from the Gesti family in my inventory. The one that my granduncle Fermez had given me and told me never to open.

It was a single metal sphere, sitting there at the back of the inventory without moving.

My granduncle had told me to forget about it, but that was hard to do. The more I tried not to think about it the more it popped up in my mind.

After another thirty minutes of working out the different combinations on the board, Gold and I had our first match.

“Can you even activate this type of regent?” I asked him.

Gold tilted his head and pecked at the board.

He didn’t know either.

He could only make defensive regents, but theoretically he could power any type of regent if he could activate his own.

I placed a knight piece on the board for him, and it formed a shield. Gold tapped the map with his claws.

The shield transformed into a red colour, signifying that the piece was in offense mode.

“Nice work.” I gave him a thumbs up.

He chirped happily in response.

The time passed as we played, and I was sweating by the time my grandma came back to check on me for dinner. We were still playing our first match but somehow Gold had started winning.

I’d had the stronger middle game, but his grasp of the different arrays was opening up new tactics I wasn’t prepared for.

We stopped as I heard the wall opening behind me.

“My- my- my.” My grandma's voice was tinged with joy. “Playing by yourself? I’ll have you know I’m a master at every game in this room and always available to be your opponent.”

I looked behind me and saw my grandma cracking her knuckles.

“These old bones still have a competitive spark darling.” She grinned.

Gold tucked his wings sheepishly and stepped back from the board and I breathed a sigh of relief. My grandma hadn’t seen him activating the regent. That would have been an awkward conversation.

She stepped up to the table and paused as she saw the game we were playing.

“Oh dear. That’s not the one you want.” She pressed her lips together. “I forgot it was in there. Silly me.”

She moved towards the board, but I stopped her from picking it up.

“I don’t mind.” I smiled. “Honestly, the game is really fun. I can use a bit more of that in my life. Especially now.”

My grandma placed a hand against her cheek and looked at me with worry.

“I heard about that. A monster in the city. It even got to some of your academy’s students” She shuddered. “You’re too young. You shouldn’t be exposed to something so horrible so early.”

She didn’t know how right she was.

“Actually, I’m pretty curious about the Gesti.“ I raised one of the pieces to my eye.

I chuckled but my grandma didn’t.

“I’m not the kind to run away.” I clarified.

My grandma’s expression shifted, and I saw a flash of thought cross her face. She looked at the board and then at me.

“Your grandpa was the same. If someone tried to hold him back, he studied their specialty until their voices were silenced.” She leaned over and picked up one of the pieces. “I think he started scribing because of that. He plowed through dozens of people that tried to tell him that learning symbols was crazy, and impossible for him.”

“I remember he kept pestering me until I agreed to teach him.” She hummed happily. Then she gazed at me. “You’re not planning on fighting them, are you?”

Her tone turned serious, and her posture shifted as she spoke, her arms crossing.

I knew why she was asking. I didn’t know what the Gesti’s power extended to; their specialties or their businesses, but I did know they weren’t someone Andross Silver the civilian could touch.

Andross Silver the Marked one was another matter, but that wouldn’t be necessary to reveal, from what my parents had said.

“I genuinely want to learn more about their household, and only that, I just haven’t had the time.” I gestured at the board. “Now that school’s optional for the next week or two, I can pick up on some of the things I’ve been putting off. Mostly relaxation.”

My grandma’s defensive stance broke, and a smile bloomed on her face.

“So, you want fun and relaxation? And you have time…” My grandma’s voice trailed off. “Do you really want to learn more about the Gesti family?”

I nodded.

These were the people I would eventually have to confront. I knew that I couldn’t fight them head on, nor did my parents want me to. But I wasn’t born yesterday.

Knowledge always led to victory. Knowledge of one’s enemies even more so. It wouldn’t hurt to learn what it meant when people said that the Gesti family was an immortal household.

“I have an idea. One that can fulfil both your needs.” My grandma clapped her hands together. “Tell me, do you have any friends? Ones that want to go on a trip?”

A trip?

I raised an eyebrow at her. That wasn’t what I was expecting.

“A few.” I counted them in my mind.

Amanda, William, Gerial, Ouros and Roxxy. If my grandma was planning something, then Ouros was unavailable. He was still in the hospital.

My grandma looked at me expectantly.

“Maybe around four people.” I spoke carefully. “I’d have to ask them if they’re free.”

My grandma beamed.

“Wonderful- wonderful- wonderful.” She tapped the table. “I’ll pack this game up later. I left your dad waiting in the dining room and we’ve got food to eat, but I’ve got an idea that’s perfect for you!”

My grandma's white hair bobbed with excitement, and I looked at Gold. He was as confused as I was.

One moment we had been talking about the Gesti family and the next my grandma was talking about a trip.

She wouldn’t take me straight to them, would she?

That didn’t make any sense. The idea did interest me, but meeting the family directly wasn’t something I wanted. Also, given their reputation, I could only imagine it was extremely difficult to meet with them personally.

Possibly as difficult as meeting a Marked one.

My grandma also wouldn’t want to bring my friends along for that.

I took a look at her and smiled. My grandma was trustworthy, and clearly excited about the solution she’d found.

“What do I tell my friends? That it’s a surprise?” I fished for information.

We walked out of the game room into the mansion corridors, and she hummed beside me.

“Tell me darling, have you ever heard of Gesti Sky?”

She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye.

Gesti Sky?

I shook my head.

“Then you’re in for a treat.” She grinned. “Ask your friends if they want to come and watch them flock to you. You just tell me when you’re all ready to go.”

My grandma winked.

“Let your grandma handle the rest.”