"Give me Cyrus," Nathan said as he began to take his son from Lucas almost as soon as they returned from their run.

As promised, the group willingly let the run end early so that Nathan could return to his son. They hadn't met much resistance with the monsters, and knew they would likely be able to do the Dungeon again, so none of them saw any reason to keep Nathan there, as he wasn't needed. The rest of their brief time there ended fast, and Nathan wasted no time in moving to hold his son once more.

"But I just got to hold him!" Lucas protested at the demigod's request.

"He's my son," Nathan said as he successfully, yet gently, took his son into his arms and cradled him against his chest. "Hello, Cyrus."

His son promptly responded by raising both hands up and hitting his father in the face two with orbs of green light.

"We just went into the game," Samantha told Lucas as Nathan walked off with their son. "Nathan… became surprisingly depressed not being able to do more than see Cyrus while in it. We were expecting this to happen, but couldn't warn you in advance."

"We'll head out," Michael told Samantha, who nodded, and he and William left.

"Okay," Lucas looked down, sadness clear in his voice.

"It's okay," Samantha put a hand on his head. "I'll convince Nathan to let you play with Cyrus in a little while. For now, why don't we head out and do something fun?"

"Like what?" He sulked.

"Laser tag," she told him, and Lucas brightened up.

Keith, Samantha, and Katie took Lucas to play laser tag, as they and Nathan were considered his guardians for the day as his parents and older brother were out with Nathan's parents. Since they knew Nathan wanted alone time with Cyrus, they knew it was best to vacate the house.

Laser tag went well, with Keith beating the other three in points, the four of them winning the round against the other two teams largely due to the psychic's unfair abilities. When they returned to the house, the four were greeted with the sight of Nathan sleeping on the couch, Cyrus sleeping on his chest in the exact same position as his father, both wearing the standard outfit of the demigod, slacks and a button-up. Samantha was relieved to see there was no tie present, as she felt a natural worry their son would have choked to death in his sleep, had he worn a tie.

"That's just too cute," Keith muttered as he pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" Lucas whispered.

"Taking a picture before Nathan wakes up," Keith whispered back, then promptly took several pictures before pocketing his phone.

"Alright," Samantha said. "I'll wake Nathan and pull Cyrus away. Keith, do the thing I asked you to."

Keith nodded, not sure how well Nathan would take Samantha's private request of the pair of enchanters. He watched as she approached her boyfriend and reached for Cyrus, only to have Nathan suddenly wake up and grab her hand, eyes open as if he had never been asleep. The psychic knew the demigod had been completely asleep until then, and was once again astounded by how the other teen could wake at specific events.

"Welcome back to the waking world," Samantha kissed Nathan. "It's time for Lucas to play with Cyrus a bit."

"But-" Nathan began to protest.

"Nathan," Keith said. "Let's head across the river and find a nice, dry bar to hang out for the evening?"

"Why?" Nathan asked suspiciously as Samantha pulled the then-awake Cyrus off his father's chest, surprised by the infant waking without a fuss.

"Because it's been all work for us," Keith said. "And the two of us could use some bonding as just hanging out rather than work and training."

"We aren't dating," Nathan said as he sat up.

"We're friends, though," Keith countered. "And don't deny it just because others are around."

"This isn't a one-piece!" Samantha exclaimed, and everyone turned their attention to her, who had untucked her son's shirt. "This is an actual shirt!"

"Yeah," Nathan said. "I bought the outfit last night. From this time, not the game time."

"I thought it was just a single piece!" She told him as Cyrus blasted his father with an other orb of green light, the attack dissipating upon contact, as usual. "Not an actual shirt! You put buttons our baby, Nathan! What if he ate them?"

"He promised not to," Nathan answered. "He did keep trying to eat the tie, though, so I left that off."

Samantha groaned as the demigod stood and stretched.

"Come on," Keith told him. "There's this place I used to go to you might like."

"I probably won't."

"Not for the food," Keith said.

"I'm not leaving."

"Then you're sleeping alone tonight," Samantha said as she finished removing her son's clothes, leaving him in just his diaper before handing him to Lucas.

"I'm driving," Nathan muttered.

"I'm going to go get a onesie for him," Samantha told Lucas. "Keep hold of him, okay?"

"Okay," Lucas nodded.

Nathan waited until Samantha returned from fetching a onesie for Cyrus, then he led Keith to his car and the pair piled in. Keith directed Nathan across the river and to a dry bar popular with college students, the two of them taking empty seats at the bar itself.

Most of its clientele were either female students or males on health trends, which Nathan found strange considering its menu consisted of fried foods and other stuff he'd expect in a bar. Then Keith pointed out the drinks menu, which was full of smoothies made with fresh fruit and veggies, and informed the demigod that those were what the students looking for something healthy were actually there for. The smoothies and the yogurt dishes.

"Ah," Nathan said, then looked at the shelves behind the bar, which had bottles of various nonalcoholic drinks lining it. More were in the small refrigerators beneath them, though he could tell the smoothies were made in the back. "What makes you think I'd like this place for something?"

"Because the place is enchanted so that only magicians can even notice it," Keith told Nathan. "Which means you don't have to be careful about what you say as much."

Nathan looked around, taking note of the two dozen college-age customers, then gave Keith a bewildered look.

"There are a lot of colleges in the area," Keith explained. "And students from all over the country come here. Several major mage guilds are based in the area, too, so some families send their children or independent mages come here to attend college while hoping to get scouted. While we don't live in a big city, we are near one, and big cities tend to have higher amounts of mages than outside of them, even with the rarity of magicians as a whole. A really big city, like New York City or Chicago, would have a far greater amount than here simply due to their size. But the number of quality colleges in this area, even if not Ivy League and such, attracts plenty anyway."

"There are shops like this?" Nathan asked, and Keith groaned, realizing that that was what the demigod had been confused about.

"Yes," Keith answered. "It's a tricky piece of enchanting, but rather useful. Almost anywhere with a major guild has half a dozen places like this, at minimum. It allows a more casual setting, and for rogue magicians to be looked for."

Because, as Nathan remembered, very few magicians were allowed to not be part of a guild or the government. Magicians were rare enough that everyone was forcibly conscripted in some way.

Well, nearly everyone. Some rogue elements persisted, such as Keith and Nathan. Keith simply because no one wanted to anger the enchanting prodigy, and Nathan simply because the demigod was too volatile.

Even if he worked with the government, they knew that was only a temporary arrangement, especially after his discussion with Endariv.

"Are you a new wizard?" One of the female patrons of the restaurant sat beside Nathan.

"Yes," Keith answered before Nathan could respond. "You know those attacks that randomly happen across the world at various high schools?"

"Yes," she nodded. "The governments quickly quarantine the survivors, then move them to some secret facility."

"It forces an awakening," Keith told her. "Nathan and I survived the incident across the river. While I was already awakened, Nathan became awakened during it. The current theory the government has is that it's some attempt at forcing awakenings without the negative effects, but it results in the deaths of most who it targets."

That was the official statement being given to any magicians or guilds which pried too much into the situation. It was a plausible explanation to those who wielded magic, and only those with deep connections, such as the Black Orb, learned the actual truth.

"Really?" She asked. "But aren't all of the survivors being isolated?"

"We're not infectious or anything," Keith shook his head as Nathan suddenly became interested in the menu. Keith did his best not to snort, having heard the same thing the demigod had from another patron. "They're actually isolating us to make sure there's no mental trauma, and to help guide us in magic at first. We don't have to stay if we don't want to, and, well, neither of us were interested in serving the government."

"Which isn't surprising," a pair walked up to them, a guy and a girl. "If he's your friend, Keith."

"You know him?" The girl they were already talking with asked.

"No," the girl who had spoken responded.

"But we've heard of him," the guy said. "I'm Drake, and this is Kathy."

"Oh, and I'm Amanda, though most call me Mandy," the other girl said.

"Pleasure to meet you," Keith said, then directed his attention to the couple. "So you've heard of me."

"Anyone who's anyone in the magical community has," Drake snorted. "I have a friend in Russia who heard you were rumored to live in the area and wanted to know if we'd ever crossed paths."

"He's famous?" Mandy asked.

"Very," Kathy answered. "Considering that he's the most powerful mage in the world, despite only being eighteen, and is said to have an incredibly powerful familiar."

"Can I flash-"

"No!" Keith gave Nathan an amused look. "And don't word it that way, either!"

"But I want to-"

"Flash your 'special stuff'," Keith rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know. Don't go around flaunting your familiar marks, Nathan. And would you word it properly?"

"Wanna see my tats?" Nathan asked Keith hesitantly.

"That's… no," Keith told him. "Just… no, Nathan. Familiar marks. Just refer to them as 'familiar marks', okay? And don't go showing them off. People don't even know what my familiar is, and I'm already under unwanted attention by the guilds. If they knew what you had, it would be even worse. And we both know how you'd react to that."

"I still want to level them."

"And you'll get your chance," Keith said. "I promised you we'd go do that after… we took care of that stuff. It'll have to wait until after tomorrow's session though, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever," Nathan looked at the couple. "Is Keith really that famous?"

"Yes," Kathy answered. "You're friends with him, and you didn't know that?"

"I knew he was sought after by the guilds and government," Nathan said. "I didn't know he was considered to be the most powerful magician in the world."

"No one's ever seen his full power," Drake said, sitting at the table beside the pair of enchanters. "But it's said to be far greater than anyone has known before, except maybe in the case of Merlin."

"But Merlin's a myth," Mandy added. "So that can't be a good comparison."

"He's weaker than Merlin," Nathan said.

"If you go by the legends, that's true," Kathy said as Keith rolled his eyes. "It's said he's contracted something from the Grand Set, and is a powerful enchanter, too. One of the rumors I heard is that he succeeded in creating a barrier enchantment which could stand up to a griffin's attack."

Keith cleared his throat.

"To be clear," he said. "All I managed to do was stall it with a bit of high-speed winds. That wasn't actually a barrier, just a bit of air magics anyone proficient with them could do."

"When did you fight a griffin?" Nathan asked.