“The 7th Street?” Maria grits her teeth. Arcs of electricity gather around her clenched fists. “Those bastards will pay, mark my words.” The seething woman growls. “Go on, clean this mess up and take care of the Normals!” she barks her orders to the men wearing full military gear before focusing her electric blue eyes on me. “And now let’s focus on you, Zach. From what I have gathered from my son’s story, you were not aware of what an Awakened or what Mana was until now.”

I gulp, the dangerous glint in her eyes makes me tighten my grip on the Spell-In-A-Tube. I somehow doubt that it would do much against that woman, but I could surprise her enough to use the Twilight World to run away. “That’s right,” I answer with a nod.

“And you insist that he’s not a Normal?” she asks Johnathan, who massages his now bandaged shoulder.

“Zach teleported without a sound and appeared behind those bastards,” my friend recall. “Even blasted the fat guy right in the face.”

“This doesn’t make a lot of sense,” the old woman narrows her eyes. A shiver goes down my spine. She looks ready to blast me! “If he was as unaware as he claims, how did he get his hands on one of those spell tubes?” she looks at the Spell-In-A-Tube that I’m still holding.

“I stole it from one of the assailants while they didn't pay attention,” I lie. Something tells me that revealing the existence of the Twilight World to these people will not be a good idea. “Teleporting around makes it easy to pick the pockets of people.” Cold sweat beads off my forehead. Nathaniel keeps staring at me, and Johnathan’s mother looks very wary. At this point, I should cut my losses and —

“Show me,” Maria says as she crosses her arms. “Show me that teleportation.” I glance at my friend, who nods. Well, here goes nothing.

***Welcome, Heir of the Twilight World.***

***Countdown: 00:19:57***

***Multiple suitable energy sources have been detected.***

A dozen orange outlines appear in the piles of clothes where the Lockheart members were a second ago. I gulp, I want to collect them all but I don't want to risk destroying their items. They might notice and could attack me since they are already so suspicious of me. I can’t even take anything since staying in the Twilight World too long would make them wary. I head towards Johnathan’s location before leaving the gray alternate dimension.

“See?” I say, causing my friend to jump in fright.

“Fucking hell,” Johnathan mumbles. “Could you not do that? I almost had a heart attack.”

“Interesting,” Maria declares with a faint smile. “It is like you said. There was no Mana fluctuations, nothing to indicate where he would reappear.”

“Not bad.” Nathaniel grunts in approval before throwing his used cigarette on the ground.

“Mister Zach,” Maria looks at me. “Your situation is not common. Usually, I would not bother with you. But we still have a duty to guide you to make sure you understand the basics of the world you live in. We also have to make sure that you do not become a threat to others or yourself because of reckless experimentations. Furthermore, I recognize your talent. You could become a valuable asset with proper guidance.” She takes a deep breath, “Truthfully, we Lockheart always repay our debt, and you saved the life of my son. You showed rare bravery since you could have escaped at any moment. So believe me when I say that I’m about to offer is in good faith.”

My heart starts beating erratically. I’m dying to know more about this unknown facet of the world. Gaining the help of the Lockheart family would allow me to earn a ton of Twilight Points and more. On the other hand, the look of the wily old woman makes me shiver. It is like a predator licking its lips before pouncing on defenseless prey.

“Will you join our Lockheart family? I reckon you could become an amazing scout if your combat abilities are not up to our standard, and my son seems to trust you. Despite his many flaws, he’s a good judge of character.” She says. “Of course, I'm not offering a free ride. You will have to undergo rigorous training. Even if you end up failing, it would be an invaluable experience for you.”

“Think carefully, Zach.” My friend warns. “I will help you as much as I can if you accept, but you have to know that it won’t be easy. Our training methods are harsh. If you were afraid during our battle, then you should not accept. There will be plenty of that later, against much stronger foes. I will not think any less of you if you decide to back out.” He puts a hand on my shoulder. Should I join Johnathan’s mafia-like family? Should I risk my life? My initial plans for the Twilight World were to live a life of leisure by stealing anything I wanted, but this—

—This is exciting. Who knew magic was real? Accepting the offer would change my life forever. But, certain doubts remain.

“If I accept, what kind of arrangement am I dealing with? Is it a ‘join forever and die if you leave’ kind of deal?” I say with narrowed eyes. As interesting as the offer sounds, I do not want to be a lackey forever.

Maria chuckles, “Of course not! Who do you think we are, the mafia?” she smiles, revealing her sharp teeth.

I make a sheepish smile, “To be honest, I have no idea what your family is even supposed to be. You have the means, but what is it that you do exactly?”

The old woman looks to be in deep thoughts, “I see your point. Are those ‘public relations’ that you are so adamant about?” she asks Johnathan.

My friend nods, “Exactly! But no, before you ask, we are not the Cosa Nostra. Think of our family as a local law enforcement agency. We make sure that Awakened people do not make a mess and respect a few rules regarding their interactions with the Normals. We also have a business of material collection in alternate dimensions, but that is another can of worms.”

I have so many questions. What alternate dimensions? What the hell? Is traveling between dimensions not that special? I thought they would be surprised by the Twilight World, but maybe I was wrong.

“Once again, I have many questions,” I reply. “But that opportunity is too good to pass up, so ‘ill accept your offer.” I nod at my friend's mother, whose smile keeps getting more and more sinister.

“A wise decision,” she declares. “You will accompany us to our estate so we can better explain what we expect of you and what you will be doing for the coming days. I suggest you free your schedule.”

“Okay, how do we get there? I can't see any cars. Now that I think about it, I did not hear you coming at all.” I realize that the Lockheart family appeared out of thin air without a sound. How did they do that? Teleportation? The Twilight World might not be very special.

“You will see in due time,” Maria replies. “I expect the cleanup to be done in ten minutes,” she addresses her men who are all busy spraying a blue glowing foam on every possible surface of the rundown bar.

In the meantime, Johnathan looks at me with sympathetic eyes. “I hope you’re not prone to motion sickness.”

“Why?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Ask my brother, he should know,” Johnathan smirks. Nathaniel replies with a scowl as he takes a deep breath. The scowling man is bracing for something, and I can’t help but gulp. This guy looks like he punches boulders for fun, so how horrendous can their transportation methods be?

“Alright, it’s good enough.” Maria inspects the foam-covered surfaces before nodding. “Get your Tethering Bracers out.” She orders. The Lockheart members pull out a construct of five thin, greenish metallic bracelets tied together by a single silvery cable.

“Here you go, you’re lucky I had a spare one.” Johnathan hands me one of the mysterious artifacts. A brief inspection reveals nothing at all, I have no idea how this thing is supposed to work. Should I take a brief detour to the Twilight World to get a better understanding of the device? I shake my head, that would raise a lot of questions for nothing.

“You put it on like this, it will adjust on its own.” My friend, noticing my confusion, explains how to put on the device. I follow his instructions and slip my hand through the rings until it reaches my elbow. The Bracer hums and vibrates on its own while the specks of green material under the polished metal surfaces rotate. The rotation speed increases until the specks turn into a blurry line. But the most shocking is that the rings themselves are slowly shrinking!

How is that possible? I can only stare in amazement as the device is now clamped around my forearm. I clench my hand a few times, but it is hard to notice that I’m even wearing the Bracer. I also realized that I must look like a complete idiot to these people. To them, this is everyday stuff. But it doesn’t stop my mind from going into overdrive. The possibilities of this magical world are endless. I know for a fact that this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but I’m already fascinated.

Accepting Maria’s proposition was a good idea. I would have never even imagined that such a thing is possible.

“Okay, I put on the weird bracelets,” I say to my friend. “What am I supposed to do now? Tap my heels three times and say a magic phrase?”

“Teaching this kind of stuff feels weird,” Johnathan replies. “Especially to you, I would have never expected that you were one of us.” He gestures towards a group of soldiers, who are now waving a thin blue wand made of opal. I say opal, but I doubt it’s such a mundane material. The mineral itself is blue, containing a vast night’s sky with floating strands of multicolored energy dotting the surface. “This should be done —”

A loud rumble interrupts him, and a large beam of energy erupts out of nothing before arcing through the clouds.

“—Right about now.” My friend continues.

“This is less discrete than I expected,” I remark. “How are people not spotting whatever this beam is? We can see it from miles away!”

“There’s something related to light frequencies attuned to the wearers of the Bracers. Sorry, I don’t remember much.” Johnathan scratches his head.

“So I can only see this beam because I’m wearing a Bracer?” I ask, and my friend nods in confirmation. “This doesn’t explain how it—”

My brain freezes for a moment when Nathaniel slams his Bracer into the beam. Then he is rocketed at Mach 5 into the sky.

“Holy shit!” My jaw drops before a sly grin creep on my face. “How can someone like you even use this? Aren’t you going to scream your lungs out as soon as you’re thrown into the sky?”

Johnathan stares at the ground. “I-I usually close my eyes.” I smile, “Don’t laugh! That shit is scary!” he grumbles. My friend approaches the beam with reluctance, causing his mother to click her tongue. He shivers and hurries to the beam before repeating the motions of his brother. My friend’s figure vanishes in an instant.

Holy shit. I’m going to turn into a puddle of goo if I touch that thing! That acceleration looks insane!

“Touch the beam with the Bracer. It won’t hurt even if it is a bit surprising for the first time.” One of the soldiers provides helpful advice. I thank him with a nod and take a deep breath of my own. I won’t die, I won’t die. This is normal, perfectly normal. Being yeeted through the sky at supersonic speeds without protection is fine.

“Here we go,” I also punch the beam. My stomach lurches as soon as the artifact touches the magical construct while the world shifts around me.

“Fuck!” I can’t help but scream as the scenery turns into a blur. The clouds are already beneath me as an invisible force tugs on my forearm, forcing my body to follow the trajectory of the beam. “Shit, shit, shit!” At this point, I’m unable to see anything. The entire world has turned into an indistinct blur as I keep accelerating, reaching speeds that should not be possible.

“I want off this ride!” I yell as I see the ground approaching. Was I supposed to slow down? Am I going to turn into a Zach-shaped pancake on the ground? I should have never accepted that —

Everything goes to a standstill in the next moment. I arrived in a large courtyard in front of a massive Victorian-style manor. “Just like that?” I mumble, my knees wobbly because of the sudden change in acceleration.

“Not so fun now, huh?” Johnathan, who is paler than a sheet of paper, still has enough energy to make fun of me.

“That was— an experience.” I pause for a second while my heart is thumping in my chest. No wonder I never saw them coming. Who would be insane enough to use this as a means of transportation? I stare at the Bracer still wrapped around my arm. That is far more dangerous than I previously thought. I’m also re-evaluating the sanity of Johnathan’s family.

Somehow, I already feel regret for ever coming here.

“Hey, at least you didn’t vomit. Unlike a certain brother of mine.” Nathaniel snorts, barely able to suppress a mocking smile.

“You too? I thought you were on my side!” my friend grumbles. In the meantime, the rest of the group has arrived. The beam then breaks into a flurry of blue particles that vanish into the air.

“So what am I supposed to do now? Do I have to sign something?” I ask Maria, who is as expressionless as ever despite the grueling catapulting she went through.

“Of course not,” she replies with her usual monotone voice. “Follow me to my office. Johnathan and Nathaniel, you as well.”

The more time I spend here, and the more I realize that I might have made a mistake.

Is it too late to back out?