Sometimes I had to remind myself that it’s okay to sit back and relax. Monster attacks, constant training, immortal household schemes and ungraspable watching horrors took their toll on my mind. Rest and relaxation are what stopped me from crumbling apart.

“My key card is done.” I spoke.

I rubbed my temples, a headache dissipating.

I’d had to turn off my mana sense after seeing the storm of mana, but the aches it caused were still there.

We were sitting in my room, exploring the different pamphlets when my key card glowed bright green. We had slowly eliminated the options we weren’t keen about, or that we’d visit later.

All that was left were the main attractions.

Gesti zoo, Gesti rides, the Gesti haunted house, and the Gesti Museum.

I was starting to sense a trend in their names.

“It should wait until we finish deciding where we want to go.” Roxxy huffed. “It’s inconsiderate to rush us.”

We had all unanimously decided that visiting the ice-cream aviary would happen, but our plans hit a snag when we explored the other pamphlets.

Our group couldn’t decide on what to do before dessert.

“I wouldn’t mind visiting the museum.” I pointed at the pamphlet. “Swords, history, and information. What’s not to like?”

William nodded in agreement. Gerial, Roxxy and Amanda shook their heads. Gold gave me an apologetic squawk and I saw him hop onto a different pamphlet.

Gesti rides.

“Gold has the right idea. The rides are what this place is famous for.” Amanda placed her hand onto the pamphlet. “He has my vote.”

Agni hopped next to her and looked down. Then she glowed, grabbing our attention as she walked towards a different pamphlet.

Her beak tapped on it, the sound clicking across the room.

The Gesti haunted house.

“Score.” Roxxy pounced on the opportunity. “I’ve been saying it all along, I like this one.”

Gerial shuffled beside me and gazed down at the table.

It was still strange seeing him in his new body, but I assumed he would tell me how he did it afterwards.

“It sounds like fun.” Gerial agreed.

“You’re normally so reclusive.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“What can I say, the idea of being scared out of my wits is tempting.” He smiled.

He had a strange sense of fun.

“That brings us to the same impasse we’ve been at for the past half an hour.” I pursed my lips.

My grandma had told us that we could pick any location and she would teleport us there. She knew I wanted to spend time with my friends, but I had promised to spend the fourth day with her so that we could get to know each other.

“The museum has stories.” I gazed at Amanda.

“Rides have rides.” She didn’t budge.

“Can we do them all in a day?” Gerial asked.

I shook my head.

It was morning when we’d left my grandma’s estate, but at Gesti Sky it was late afternoon, the evening slowly creeping up on us.

We only had a few hours of sunlight left.

“It’ll be night soon, exactly when the haunted house will have the most impact.” Roxxy leaned back. “But I’m also happy with the rides.”

“Seconded.” William spoke.

I gave him a look of betrayal.

“It’s the best compromise.” He shrugged. “We can always visit the museum in the morning.”

The others nodded and I took the pamphlet in my hands.

“Awesome, Gesti rides it is.” I sent a text to my grandma.

We split up, everyone heading to their respective rooms with our key cards to activate the security features.

Gold and I looked around at our room.

There was a fully stocked fridge and my grandma had said we could use any of the ingredients within. There was also a map of the hotel, and my eyes were drawn towards the earth cultivation room.

It would be a good idea to check that out in the morning.

Gold squawked and I looked at him. His belly puffed out and he pointed his beak towards the door.

There was nothing there.

“What’s up?” I asked him.

Gold flapped his wings and tilted his head in confusion, letting out a single chirp.

He’d seen someone.

The sensation of knowing what he was saying echoed deep in my heart. I could tell my interpretation of his words was correct, but there was only an empty doorway.

“There’s nobody there.” My eyebrows furrowed.

I pushed myself up, stretching lazily as the sofa released me. Gold hopped up my arm and onto my shoulder.

If he said he saw someone, then I was going to check before I doubted him.

My head poked out of the doorway, and I looked from side to side. The corridor was empty, my friend’s rooms lined up next to each other.

My room was the last on the floor, a window to my left. Gerial had claimed the room to my right.

Gold squawked.

There was somebody at the end of the corridor, striding down the long section that housed the other rooms on this floor.

It was Amanda.

Had she come to my door? Gold flapped his wings as he spotted her.

“Hey!” I called out to her.

She didn’t hear me.

Gold and I looked at each other and then back at Amanda. She was staring curiously at something I couldn’t see.

Then she disappeared around the corner, her hair flaring lightly.

That’s strange.

I closed the door to my room and walked after her.

Gold flew ahead of me, his purple and black feathers glimmering under the corridor lights. Everything in this hotel was powered by symbols. They were all onze, our family’s specialty.

My footsteps echoed across the corridor and my finger’s grasped the edge of the wall as I reached the intersection.

Amanda was standing still in the middle of the corridor.

“Amanda?” I took a step towards her.

“Huh?” She jolted as my voice reached her.

Amanda turned around and I saw Gold on her shoulder, and Agni on her head.

“Are you okay?” I looked behind her.

The corridor was empty.

“I thought I saw a kid.” Amanda shook her head. “I guess not.”

“Between you and Gold I’m starting to feel this is the real haunted house.” I joked. “I’ll let my grandma know.”

A small wisp of caution rose in my heart. There could really have been someone here.

I couldn’t discount the possibility that someone had walked past my room. Maybe they’d realised they were in the wrong section of the hotel and turned back.

“Stick by Gerial or me if you see anyone suspicious. Magic makes me suspicious of anything unexpected.” I turned back toward our rooms. “Nobody will be able to bother you then.”

“Right, your guards.” Amanda looked pensive. “Are they here now, booking a room in the hotel?”

“That’s—” My voice trailed off. “I don’t know.”

My guards had their own ways of getting around, but this was the territory of an immortal family.

How would they move secretly once we were inside the main area?

“Maybe they’ll come in disguised as tourists.” I chuckled. “They could probably use a break as well.”

I would give them permission to have fun on the rides and visit the attractions if they asked for it.

It must be boring guarding me all day.

“Dears.” My grandma’s voice entered my ears. “Are you two exploring the hotel?”

We turned around and I saw my grandma waddling over towards us. She had changed into a dark dress that was a cross between formal and business attire.

She had more to do than just guide us around.

My grandma was also busy running the household and conducting day-to-day duties. Our visit to Gesti Sky had been just as convenient for her as it was for me.

That didn’t mean her intentions weren’t genuine, I could see the joy in her eyes as she saw me admiring the building.

“Actually, we were chasing a ghost.” I responded.

We explained what Amanda saw and my grandma’s expression turned pensive.

“I’ll look into it immediately.” My grandma promised. “But there are plenty of people booked on this floor alone.”

“It's not a big deal.” Amanda shuffled nervously and her hands cupped together.

“It never hurts to check dearie.” My grandma smiled.

There was a click behind us, and William emerged from his room. He still had his splendid white shirt with gold trimming on, but he had changed his jacket.

Now he was wearing a peach-coloured blazer made of a substance that flowed over him like silk. It looked like it would ripple across his shoulders and body at the slightest breeze.

“A fine room.” He adjusted his clothes as he walked towards us. “I hope the rides are good.”

“Of course they’re good.” Roxxy appeared beside him. “They have floating cities!”

The last of us to appear was Gerial.

Once he was ready, we gathered in my room, all of us standing around my grandma.

“Now then, I’ll teleport you to Gesti rides, and at the entrance there will be a staff member that will activate your passes.” My grandma handed us the passes. “It takes a few minutes, but you can wait in the lobby. Once the process is completed, you’ll have access to all sections of Gesti Sky.”

Each floating island was its own section of Gesti Sky.

There were dozens of them, and that didn’t include the recreational areas, restaurants, and other buildings.

People lived here making money off the tourists that poured in every day. They even had their own floating residential areas that weren’t tourist spots.

“You’re not coming with us?” I asked my grandma.

She’d taken the time to go out of her way and ask my granduncle for tickets to this place. I knew that had to be uncomfortable for her.

I didn’t want her to feel like I was abandoning her the moment we got here.

“Nonsense dear, you don’t want your grandma there cramping your style.” She gave me a pat on the arm. “Enjoy the day with your friends.”

“I don’t think you’ve noticed but I have no style.” I replied.

Something nudged my cheek and I looked at Gold. He chirped at me and raised a wing.

“I believe Gold disagrees with you, as do I.” My grandma smiled.

Then she clapped her hands.

“Okay- okay- okay. Gather around. Remember, when you want to return just message me or tap your keycards. Both will give you access to either me or the hotel staff.”

We nodded at her words and my friends tensed as my grandma began the teleportation process.

The ground glowed around me, and this time I could see the symbols forming at her feet. They floated through the air, shining brightly, and made their way towards us.

The hotel shifted and then I was in a lobby.

I blinked in surprise at the sudden change. Gold flapped his wings and chirped, getting a response from Agni who chirped back.

The three of us were feeling perfectly fine.

“Okay, I definitely prefer walking through the nexus.” Roxxy grunted. “At least I only get damp clothes there.”

“That was interesting.” Gerial was beside me, a smile on his face. “I don’t believe many scribers can do that, even with permission and proper regent systems in place.”

“I’m going to have to ask how my grandma does it.” I smiled.

The lobby around me was a lot nicer than the ones I had seen back on earth. A deep red carpet cradled my shoes, and I could see a single opening at the end of the room.

There was a person standing behind a large booth next to the entrance. There was a desk in front of him and he wore a black uniform. I could see the Gesti crest etched into his jacket’s breast pocket.

He looked bored.

“Is this it?” Roxxy’s head perked up. “I don’t see any rides.”

“That’s because this is the lobby.” William replied dryly.

“Oh, right, I knew that.” Roxxy blushed.

We brought our passes out and made our way toward the staff member.

He straightened as we approached, and I saw a small bronze sign on the desk.

‘V.I.P entrance.’

I looked down at my passes.

Nothing written on them indicated that we were VIPs, but none of my friends looked surprised. They were used to travelling like this.

“Five passes to be activated.” I stepped forward, everyone handing their passes to me.

I read his name tag, ‘John’.

“Fantastic.” John shot me a toothy grin. “Welcome to Gesti Sky.”

I handed him the passes and he slapped his hand onto a nearby regent.

It was a small cube, and as it activated the symbol arrays showed up on the outside. I could see the mana swirling within them, activating each part of the regent in a steady rhythm.

I could actually understand this array.

“Activating your passes will take a few minutes.” He gestured to the door. “There’s a waiting area through here.”

My friends made their way through the door. Roxxy stopped to look at the cube, fascination in her eyes. Then she followed the others.

I stayed where I was.

“You’re not coming?” She called out to me.

“I think I can memorise this.” I flashed her a smile. “Let me study in peace.”

“Nerd~” Roxxy flashed me a smile. “Make me one when you succeed.”

She disappeared through the doors.

John looked at me curiously.

“Do you have any interest in regents, sir?” He turned to the machine.

It had already eaten up two of the passes and spit one out. Each time it finished it would attract a new pass from the desk. They would fly into it and begin the process again.

It was a magic item, not an onze. I could see the staff member powering it.

“I have a passing fancy in regents.” I studied the cube. “What does it do?”

I could see the symbol for ‘activation’ glimmering in the middle of the main array, but that didn’t give me any hints.

The regent could be activating anything within the cards.

“The way my boss described it is that any authorized item will be attracted to the machine once it’s turned on, and it will activate whatever is inside.” John scratched his head. “Basically, your passes have a message inside saying, ‘open me’ and they’re attracted to the machine.”

“Then it opens them, releasing whatever information or arrays are inside.” I nodded. “Is it just for passes?”

The staff member shook his head.

“It sucked a letter out of my clothes one day. Turns out my boss had snuck a promotion into my pocket.” He grinned. “But it only takes Gesti approved items. We have our own brand, so you don’t have to worry about it attracting your gold coins or anything.”

I chuckled.

Gold coins? This man must’ve mistaken me for William.

I stared at the regent intensely. Every line was being memorised by my brain, for viewing at a later date. It wasn’t rare to see arrays out in the open but seeing one I could understand and copy was an oddity.

Soon all five passes were done.

“Here you go, sir.” John handed them to me.

They had a tiny sticker of a snow-white bird added to them.

Then the regent stuttered, and a light blinked on its surface.

“That’s strange.” The man tilted his head. “It’s detecting another registered item.”

He turned to me, and then I looked down.

Something was moving inside my inventory. An item was reacting to the cube after the final pass had activated.

“If you have any more passes, then I can activate them for you.” The man raised an eyebrow at me.

“No, it’s not that.”

I searched inside my inventory and saw the source of the interference.

There was a metallic sphere at the back. Its surface vibrated and let off a shimmering yellow glow. It was the gift that the Gesti had sent through my granduncle.

The one he’d told me not to open at any cost.

Before I could react, the sphere shot out of my inventory and hovered over the activation regent.

John’s back straightened as the sphere came into sight, a jolt of surprise running through him. Then he put his hand on the activation cube.

“Is that— I see, you’re in a wonderful position, sir. Gesti Sky is honoured to help you today.” I saw a glint in his eye. “I’ll open it straight away, sir.”

“No, thank you.” I shook my head.

I reached out for it, but John was quicker. He snatched it from the air and I frowned, a tremor of confusion and anger running over my heart.

He was ignoring me on purpose. He knew what the sphere was, and for some reason he wanted to activate it.

“I don’t want you to open that.” I gestured with my hand.

The silver bar I kept inside my inventory liquified and moved toward him. It flickered through the air. The sphere let off a pulse of mana into the air as it flew closer to the cube.

My metal wouldn’t be fast enough.

John’s hand stopped.

I let out a sigh of relief. He had reconsidered.

Then I frowned. John’s fingers were twitching. The man was struggling against something. The sphere left his hand and rose into the air.

That’s strange.

I narrowed my eyes.

[Mana Sense].

A blurry figure appeared in my vision.

It was Gerial.

I only had a moment to process what I was seeing before Gerial put the sphere inside his inventory and I felt the atmosphere shift around me. The staff member looked surprised at the interruption, and then his face fell.

He didn’t look sorry. His expression was one of disappointment.

Gerial turned sharply towards me, and the sphere appeared in his hand, also invisible. I saw him gaze down at it and then he moved next to me.

The staff member moved, and I turned towards him sharply.

He had an innocent expression on his face.

“Here are your passes, sir.” The man held the passes out towards me.

I didn’t accept them.

The activation cube turned off, its mana used up, and I looked from it to the staff member.

Why was he acting like nothing had just happened?

Also, what had just happened?

My fingers curled into fists, and I turned toward John, anger rising in my heart. I was going to give this man a piece of my mind.

A hand grabbed my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.

Gerial was by my side. He gestured for us to leave through the doors. I looked at John and Gerial nudged me again, shaking his head. He wanted me to leave without a confrontation.

I turned towards the entrance and strode through it. I trusted Gerial, but I’d need an explanation.

Gerial grabbed the passes from John’s hand, the staff member jerking back in surprise.

I hesitated, but then I relented. Gerial had stopped the sphere from opening, and he knew more than I did about it. I gave one final look over my shoulder to the man.

The staff member watched me go, a faint frown on his brow.

Gerial and I walked through the exit, entering a large room. Our group was at the far end, looking out of a balcony at something below.

Mana shifted around me and Gerial became visible again. We hung back far enough that our friends couldn’t hear our conversation.

I glanced at him.

“What was tha—”

“Where did you get this?” Gerial’s words cut through me.

His voice was laced with fury. The sphere rested in his hand, and he held it back from me.

“My granduncle gave it to me. He said it was a gift from the Gesti, and that I should never open it.” I replied immediately.

He saw my confusion and took a deep breath. He relaxed, and the tension drained from his body. A tell-tale sign that he’d activated his meditation skill.

“Do you know what this is?” His tone softened. “Other than a damn mess and a half.”

I shook my head.

“I’m hoping you can tell me.” I said.

Gerial nodded. The sphere disappeared from my sight, back into his inventory.

“This is going to take some explaining. Hopefully as soon as possible and with more privacy.” His thumbs jerked towards our group. “Basically, it’s a stake on an object by a party. We call it a claim.”

The Gesti were making a claim?

I frowned. That didn’t sound too good, but it didn’t sound bad either. I needed more information.

“What are the Gesti claiming?” I asked.

Gerial’s lips pursed, and he skidded to a halt.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

He gazed into my eyes.

“They’re claiming you.”