"We can't actually go to the phoenix's chamber," Agent Barts, a woman in her late thirties, informed Nathan as she drove along a path through the woods. "Due to both his barriers and our health, so he's agreed to meet us."

"Why did he agree?" Nathan asked. "From what I know, phoenixes don't generally like people."

"When making the request," she answered. "He asked several questions about you. They mentioned your white magic, and he seemed interested. Gave a chance to come clean, and said that if we said again that your aura was pure-white, then he wanted to meet you. If your aura wasn't what we claimed, he'd set off the volcano and let the two dragons living on North America know to just raze the continent."

Nathan snorted in response. It was a moody little phoenix, it seemed. That was an overreaction on the phoenix's part, he felt, but it was in-line with what he'd been told.

"I've never heard of a white aura before," Agent Barts admitted. "They're looking into what it means and if anyone else knows. There's a good chance the phoenix won't tell us."

Nathan nodded, then asked where the phoenix was meeting them.

"There's a clearing up ahead we use," she answered. "He conceals it with his magic specifically for us to contact him with."

"Even though he doesn't like people?"

"He likes chocolate," she shrugged. "In exchange for giving it to him regularly, he's agreed to leave people be in general. He's one of the oldest phoenixes in the world, we think. He actually immigrated here from Europe a few centuries ago."

Just like the dragons, Nathan thought, looking at the trees that passed them by. Is there a connection?

"We sometimes ask him for help with things," the agent informed Nathan. "And pay him for it in chocolate. He's also given us a supply of certain types of rare materials that are dangerous to attempt to acquire. If he does agree to be your familiar, for whatever reason, we'll lose out on that. So it's a win for you, a loss for the people who need those materials."

The idea of a moody phoenix agreeing to work for chocolate amused Nathan, and he wondered if the phoenix had a way to preserve the payments, or if he just ate them all when he acquired them.

A few minutes later, Agent Barts pulled into a clearing and parked the SUV, before telling Nathan to get out. They left it and walked towards the center of the clearing. Resting on the ground was a red-and-gray stone, which the agent knelt down and pressed, murmuring under her breath.

"And now," she stood, taking a few steps back. "We wait."

Several minutes passed in silence before, in a flash of fire, a bird with red, orange, and yellow feathers appeared, its eyes golden and watching them. The stone in the center had grown to four and a half feet, and the creature was perched on it.

"Interesting," Nathan couldn't help but wonder how it actually spoke with a beak. "You really do have a white aura. What is your name, demigod?"

"Demigod?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure that's not your name," the phoenix chuckled. "Yes, demigod. You're half-god. I'd say it's your father who's divine, and not your mother. You bear the scent of the bloodline of one particular god. I've only smelled a child of his once before. Based on how things went with that particular demigod, contracting as your familiar might be interesting. What's your name?"

"Nathan Huntes."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," the phoenix gave him a small bow, touching the tip of his right wing to his chest. "You may call me Ichtvar. Do you know how to forge a familiar contract?"

"No."

The phoenix chuckled.

"Come here," the phoenix told him, and Nathan approached. "Place your hand out, palm up. When I touch it with my wing, cycle your mana, flowing it to me. With who your father is, the rest will be instinctual."

Nathan did as instructed, and felt the phoenix's soft feathers against his palm. Cycling his mana, he found that he did, indeed, know what to do, and pushing his mana in the proper pattern to forge the contract with the phoenix. A few seconds passed, and he felt the contract complete, the phoenix, Ichtvar, accepting.

"You may recall me as you please," Ichtvar told Nathan. "Though do know that if you abuse me, I reserve the right to sever the contract, kill you, and destroy the continent upon which we live."

"Understood," Nathan said.

Focusing himself, Nathan unbuttoned his shirt, and Ichtvar flew into it, merging into him. Nathan remained aware of the phoenix's mind and power, though the only physical sign of his existence was the red-and-gold marks on his chest, which faded away.

"I've never seen familiar marks vanish before," Agent Barts said.

"What happened to your marks?" Nathan asked.

"I am sufficiently old enough, powerful enough, and talented enough to hide them," the phoenix responded as the marks reappeared for a few moments, then faded away once more. His voice was directly in Nathan's head "It's not something just anyone can do, however. No matter how old they are, a creature who's never been a familiar before can't do that."

Nathan began to ask who the phoenix had been contracted to, then stopped. The agent didn't seem to have heard, and the voice was in his head. And unless there was a phoenix contracted that no one knew about, then that meant this phoenix was the very same one that had contracted with Merlin.

The only other person Nathan knew about who had a huge power boost upon awakening, rather than anything in the normal range. Did that mean that Merlin was a demigod, too?

Another question on Nathan's mind was on whether or not his father knew that his mother had cheated on him. Coming to a quick decision, he figured his father would probably be fine with it if he knew it was a literal god.

Assuming, of course, all of this was true. There was a chance the phoenix was just screwing with him.

"Let's go," Agent Barts pulled Nathan out of his musings. "We can get something to eat before we head back to the hotel, unless there was something else you wanted to do."

Nathan nodded, and followed her back into the SUV. As they left the forest and pulled onto the main road, the agent received a call, during which she swore.

"We'll meet them at the hotel," she said. "How many? Understood."

She hung up and looked at Nathan.

"A local school was hit," she informed him. "Five survivors – three boys, two girls. The agency's booking rooms for them at the hotel now and has agents heading their way to meet them. Thankfully, there's an office out here, so we've got agents close by. Two attacks in three days… what are people going to think?"

"That whoever's doing it really has it out for the US," Nathan commented.

"Probably," she snorted. "We still don't know who it is."

Nathan had a theory, but he didn't want to mention it. There was no evidence for it whatsoever, so there was no reason to voice it. He would need to experiment and test things in the game a bit more to better develop that theory.

They reached the hotel, and Nathan went straight to his room and powered up his laptop, opening a video chat with Keith.

"We just heard the news," Keith said. "Are they there yet?"

"No," Nathan answered. "Probably still at the school. We'll be heading back to the new school with them tomorrow."

"Dude," Keith grinned. "Your parents showed up after you left yesterday. They're pretty pissed that you aren't here."

"Figured," Nathan said. "Lesson. Now."

"Right," Keith said. "Can you show me the ones you already did?"

Nathan held up several sheets of paper so that the magician could check them, and Keith nodded.

"The runes look good," Keith told him. "But without inspecting them in-person, I can't know for sure. I did manage to locate the runes you were looking for. Why did you want them?"

"Personal project," Nathan grunted. "My parents still there?"

He wasn't interested in bringing Keith into the project until he hit an actual roadblock on it, though he knew he'd eventually need the young wizard's assistance.

"Yeah," Keith answered. "They want to make sure you're okay before leaving. Did the phoenix agree?"

"He did," Nathan answered. "Back to the lesson."

Keith sighed, then pulled up an image on the screen showing another magic rune. Nathan marked it down on a paper, then the next one Keith showed, repeating until he'd finished all five of the runes, which he practiced several times and showed Keith through the camera after each completion.

"So what's this project?" Keith asked.

"Personal."

Keith rolled his eyes, and Nathan ended the video call, just in time for Agent Barts to knock on his door.

"We're gathered in a conference room for dinner," she said when he opened the door. "I ordered pizza."

Nathan nodded, then followed her to the conference room. It was a small room with a 'bar' in front of one wall and a group of tables put together. An agent waited outside the door, another inside, the five survivors of the most recent Tutorial game giving Nathan a curious look.

Rather than greeting them, however, he walked over to the bar and grabbed a plate, pulling out some slices of pepperoni pizza and setting them on his place. After filling a plastic cup with Sprite, Nathan sat at the table and began eating.

The other students continued to give him curious looks, and he sensed that they hadn't been informed of who he was or why he was there. Based on his subtle observations, one of the girls was with one of the other guys, while all three guys and that girl seemed to be in disbelief that they were out.

The second girl, however, caught his attention. She seemed like she had accepted they were out already, and couldn't wait to… something. His ability to read magic told him she wasn't a witch, so he doubted she was part of the Black Orb. Perhaps her desire to leave was to meet the other survivors?

She had long, brown hair tied back into a braid with a black band, with emerald-green eyes, her skin lightly tanned. She also looked a bit hesitant, even if impatient. There was a good chance that she wasn't someone with a high natural inclination for what happened.

It was possible, he realized, that she'd likely suffer from some level of trauma past what would be normal for a survivor, due to the mental influence the System had on them.

"So…" One of the boys eventually looked at Agent Barts. "I know we were told you were handling our case, before you arrived, but we weren't told about him. Who's he?"

"Nathan Hunter," Agent Barts answered. "You heard about the attack two days ago? He's one of its survivors."

"You brought one of the survivors out here?" He asked. "For what? To meet us?"

"We were already out here when you were launched into the game," she shook her head. "We drove out here yesterday from the school, and were already planning on returning tomorrow."

"Why were you guys out here?" The girl coupled with one of the guys, who had his hand on her lap, asked.

She had a contained aura, informing Nathan that she was a witch already, probably before the game.

"Familiar-seeking," Nathan grunted, cramming another piece of pizza into his mouth.

"You came out here to find a familiar?" She asked, then frowned. "Your aura's white. You're a wizard? What kind?"

"Fighter," Nathan said as he pulled his magic in, concealing it. "And look it up."

His gaze returned to the other girl, who he decided to help a little.

After dinner, Agent Barts interviewed each of the students individually, then let them head up to their rooms. The agency had reserved the entire floor, with agents stationed at every entrance, to ensure privacy for the survivors.

"Name?" Nathan asked the brunette he'd found himself interested in.

"Katie."

"There's no rule against co-ed," Nathan pointed at the couple, who were heading into the same room. "Want to do the same?"

"Are you asking me if I'm going to have sex with a guy I just met?" She sounded offended.

"No sex required," Nathan said. He was, admittedly, a bit too tired to bother trying to get it up. It seemed contracting a familiar took a lot of energy. "But waking up alone after what you went through… might not be fun. Sex would be a bonus, and only if you wanted to. It's purely to have someone there when the nightmares come."

If he was right about his assumption, she'd want to be with someone during the night. If he was wrong, he'd probably look like an ass, but that didn't bother him so much. He had Samantha.

"I don't see you offering this to the guys."

"I'd rather share a bed with a beautiful girl than a studly guy."

She snorted.

"I think I'll be fine, thanks."

Nathan nodded, then entered his room and stripped out of his clothes, practicing runes a bit more before heading to bed. A few hours later, he woke to someone knocking on his door, and he snorted.

Exactly as I thought.

Pulling on a pair of shorts, Nathan went to the door, where Katie was standing, looking a little pale and shaking slightly. She was dressed in a set of dark blue pajamas, slippers on her feet.

"Okay," she says. "I see why you thought it'd be best to not be alone."

"Yeah," he grunted, stepping to the side. "Come on."

She entered his room, and he closed the door, bathing them in the darkness of the room.

"Bed or talk?" He asked.

"Both," she answered, and he flipped on the light. "Thanks. How can you sleep with that off? I couldn't even close my eyes."

"I'm cold enough it doesn't bother me."

"You're heartless."

"Anyone touches my girl," Nathan said. "They die. I've a heart."

"So you're dating someone?" She asked as he walked over to his bed. "And you'd have sex with someone else?"

"We aren't dating," he told her. "Not in the normal sense, anyway. Come on."

Hesitantly, Katie walked over to his bed, stepping out of her slippers and climbing onto it.

"What do you want to talk about?" She asked him.

"Just talk," he said. "Or sleep."

She stared at him for a few moments, then curled up beside him, watching him as he lay there with his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, even though she was pretty sure he wasn't asleep. Instead of talking about the game, and what she went through in it, she talked about camping trips she went on with her family, before everything, stopping only when she fell asleep.

Unaware that her words had fallen on sleeping ears.