As most others panicked around him, Nathan finished eating breakfast, then took Cyrus from Samantha and walked outside to wait for the dragon to arrive. Only a few minutes passed before the dragon landed on the front lawn of the facility, curling his tail around himself as he lay on the ground to be more level with Nathan.

Ignoring the traffic issues caused by unaware people seeing a massive dragon landing when they previous thought such creatures were myths, Nathan gave Endariv a disproving stare.

"We had an agreement, Endariv," he said. "Two years."

"I know," Endariv said. "Ichtvar mentioned earlier this morning that you were planning on going to another world to do some research. I decided to be a good uncle and offer to watch him for you. His safety is more important than the law of secrecy the humans have."

"You're right," Nathan said. "His safety's more important than stupid human rules. That's why I was going to take him with me."

"There is still that chance," Endariv sat up, puffing out his chest. "So I came to offer my protective services. With me around, no harm shall come to him!"

Nathan looked at Samantha, who had come out with Keith, then at Endariv.

"Fine," Nathan said. "But you have to watch Samantha, too. She handles Cyrus. You're a dragon, I don't trust your skill with human infants."

"But-"

"We'll be fine, Nathan," Samantha told him as Endariv began to protest. "Though I suppose this means you and Keith are going to delay leaving to make some gear for the government?"

"No," Nathan answered.

"But-"

"Samantha," Keith interrupted her. "The government can manage however long we're gone without our gear. Creating enough to supply them properly even in just the big cities would be a huge effort for us. A project taking months."

"Why would the government need your guns?" Endariv asked Nathan.

"To deal with criminal mages," Nathan answered. "And any creatures that decide to attack, now that they will no longer be kept in check."

"I see," Endariv said. "No monsters in North America would do that. They are too scared of me and Kokiril."

"Kokiril?" Nathan asked.

"The dragon in the Rocky Mountains."

"I though its name was-"

"He has something like four hundred names," Endariv said. "I use 'Kokiril' because that's the one he prefers I use."

"Oh," Nathan said, then handed Cyrus back to Samantha. "Daddy's going away for a trip. Your momma and your Uncle Endariv are going to watch you. Behave for them, okay?"

"You know he can't-" Keith began, then shook his head. "Yeah, he understands you. He's only a few weeks old, which makes it disturbing."

"He's my son," Nathan glared at Keith.

"Not him," Keith said. "Just how he's able to understand you. That's not normal. Are we leaving now?"

"Yes," Nathan answered as Samantha put Cyrus back into her carry vest, and he glared at Endariv. "I better return to a happy, healthy baby, or else!"

"I understand," Endariv told him. "I'm going to watch him as Merlin watched me."

"Watch him better than that!" Nathan said, then turned back to Samantha and gave her a kiss. "Question real quick, Samantha. If-"

"Yes, you can sleep with a catgirl," she told him. "Or foxgirl, or wolfgirl, or whatever it is you come across that you find yourself wanting to sleep with. As long as I get to sleep with a male of the same type."

Nathan gave her a confused look, then shrugged.

"Okay," he said. "Anyway, if you go into the game while we're gone, remember to hand Cyrus to someone else before entering. Luke is preferred. Or Mother or Father. That way, if you return and have blood on you, it doesn't get on him."

"Okay!" Samantha laughed. "I think I can take care of our son, Nathan."

"I know," he said. "I just wanted to remind you of that, not getting blood on him is important. He's a baby."

"A long time ago-" Ichtvar began.

"I'll drown you again."

The phoenix stopped, and Nathan looked at Samantha.

"See you when we return."

Samantha gave him another kiss, then remained outside as Nathan, Keith, and Icthvar reentered the building and approached the gate. Nathan turned it on, and for several seconds, the inside of the gate glowed. Then, the glow faded away, revealing the scenery of a village of brick and wood, beastkin of different varieties walking around, though most were catkin, like Evala had been.

Nathan stepped through the gate, then Keith followed him, and Ichtvar brought up the rear. As soon as they were through the gate, Nathan shut it off, looking at the elderly catkin who approached them.

"Welcome," the man greeted them. "Lord Ichtvar said you would be coming."

"Hello," Icthvar waved a wing to the catkin. "Did you think I was lying or something?"

"No," the elder smiled. "It is an honor to have you here once more, Lord Icthvar."

"You can just call him 'Ichtvar'," Nathan told the man. "That's what I do. Sometimes, I also call him-"

"Please don't," Ichtvar said.

"Did he tell you why we were coming?" Nathan asked.

"He did not," the elder responded.

"We're here to visit the home of the deceased brother of a young woman named Evala," Nathan stated. "As well as look at any other property he once had which is no longer there."

"May I ask why you want this?" The Elder asks. "We allowed the Lord Ichtvar and the demigod permission to build this gate as they said it would be used to facilitate inter-world communication, transport, and trade."

"Because if you don't," Nathan told him. "We'll remove our gate and never build another back to this world. Anywhere on it. You will be shut out of our society, and you won't have access to the weapons and equipment Keith and I are making which will assist in the survival of the game and challenges. It's as simple as that."

"We have survived on our own, without your technology, for generations," the elder told Nathan. "Evala mentioned this gun to us, and how you used her brother's research for it. It did not seem that impressive, breaking so easily."

"So easily?" Nathan asked. "You are mistaken. That was the first version. We have made much more powerful, much more resilient versions since then. I have also created a bomb which can kill a dragon fifteen centuries old."

"Which frightens me," Ichtvar told the elder catkin. "He carries it around like it's nothing, but if you ask me, I think Keith should be the one to hold it. Keith is the other young man here, he can only communicate through this nifty little orb they created. You can implant knowledge of two languages into it, and it will translate them."

"It has multiple parts," Keith said, his voice echoing out in the local language after he spoke. "It's this earpiece I'm wearing, with the mouthpiece attached. If I wanted, I could also input what I want to say onto a tablet, and it would give me the translation to say.

"Please," Keith stepped up. "Allow us to look. We are willing to stay a few days to take down our own notes if you would prefer we didn't remove his things. However, we know his research will prove quite useful to us in some of our endeavors, some for our work, some for something more personal. A quest from a higher power we were issued."

"What higher power?" The catkin asked.

"I think you know," Keith said, his eyes glowing. "Considering you're a necromancer, which means you can read souls. It's best if it's not said aloud, for reasons which should be clear to you. One never knows who is observing."

The elder looked between the two teens, then nodded, and Keith's eyes stopped glowing.

"Very well, then," he said. "I will lead you to Evala's. She said to expect the two of you to wish to visit her."

Keith and Nathan gave each other confused looks, then followed the elder catkin, a small crowd following them.

They arrived at a two-story house built of packed dirt.

"It was made with mud, which was left to dry," Keith told Nathan when the demigod commented about her dirt house. "Probably has metal rods inside the walls to help act as support."

The elder catkin knocked on the wooden door, and a few seconds passed before the door was opened by Evala, who was carrying a pair of babies, each only a few weeks old. Both were boys, both with her white hair, ears, and cat tails, but they had different eye colors. The one on her right had dark blue eyes, while the one on the left had purple eyes.

As Evala stared at Nathan and Keith in shock, the psychic and demigod looked at each other.

"He has your eyes," they said in unison.

"Are they ours?" Keith asked Evala in English as he turned off his translator.

"Yes," she answered. "Come in."

Nathan and Keith entered her home, sitting on the cushions against one wall as she closed the door, then sat across from them, the babies silent the entire time. Evala set them on the cushions beside her, then stretched.

"They're both so quiet," she said. "I've never seen babies this quiet."

"My other son is quiet, too," Nathan said, then looked at Keith. "No funky magic."

"Yeah," Keith nodded. "They're both awakened, even though I'm not a demigod, and they both have normal magic."

"Yours is psychic," Nathan said.

"Which is rather annoying," Evala told them. "Psychic babies tend to mentally mature faster than normal. And your son seems to have some of that as well. I swear, the two of them communicate on their own."

"So that one time," Nathan said. "Got you pregnant? With both of us?"

"It's rare, but it can happen," she said. "If two eggs went out instead of one. When I realized I was pregnant, I went into an extended Survival Challenge to bring me to the edge of pregnancy, then had them two days after I came out. I'm using my maternity peace from the game, though it's pretty expensive."

The maternity peace allowed a mother one, two, or three months exemption from the game, only available after giving birth. However, the cost for that bonus was steep, requiring a high amount of Points to purchase. It also did not pause the timer for Mandatory Challenges other than to delay any required during it to be performed within one week of leaving the maternity peace.

"I-" Evala cut off as Nathan used force magic to lift his son off the cushion and bring the infant over to him. "Nathan?"

"My baby."

"Yes," Keith snorted. "He's your baby."

"That one's yours," Nathan pointed at the other infant. "Not this one."

"Yes, Nathan," Keith rolled his eyes, then looked at Evala. "Nathan might not want to leave him here."

"That's fine with me," she said. "I actually wanted to ask you two about that, especially after Lord Ichtvar showed up and mentioned building a gate."

"Worried you'll never see your sons again?" Keith asked.

"No," Evala told him. "Actually, I was hoping you two might want them. I'd rather not care for children, especially ones not born of my mates."

"Still a bitch," Nathan said.

"I don't know how things are in your culture," Evala told him. "But raising bastard children is frowned upon here. Normally, the parents would give the children up at birth to be raised by someone not related by blood in another village, someone who cannot have children of their own for some reason. However, I had knowledge you two might show up here, and decided I would see if it was unacceptable in your land as well."

"Different culture," Keith nodded. "With us, it's frowned upon, but we don't normally just give up the kid. Nathan's a bastard, himself, and he was raised by his mother and step-father, his mother's husband. His other son is a bastard, too, but Nathan and Samantha are raising him. Nathan, keep in mind that things might not be acceptable here even if they are on Earth."

"Or acceptable here when they aren't on Earth."

"Acceptance is subjective to the society," Keith said, then looked at Evala. "He's still upset at you and himself."

"I understand that," Evala told him. "To be honest, the incident with the two of you served as a wake-up call to me. I put in actual effort in my runs after, until the pregnancy was too much for me to continue fighting during.

"So," she said. "The two of you will take your sons when you leave?"

"Nathan will," Keith told her. "But I have never had any intention of having a child, even if I'm the godfather to Nathan's. That said, I don't have an issue with children, per se. I would be willing to take in my son under one condition."

"What is it?" She asked.

"You give Nathan and I complete access to your dead brother's property," Keith told her. "His old room, where he studied, anything he wrote notes on, things he crafted, everything. And give us permission to take what we want from his things."

Keith knew Nathan would want to take his 'nephew' home, too, and that it would end up happening regardless of what he said. However, he knew it was an opportunity to get what they wanted more easily. Giving them access to things in exchange for them taking care of a child? It was an easy deal.

"I will need to speak with Erovol, our other brother, regarding you taking stuff," she told him. "But I am sure he would not have an issue with you at least looking. Speaking of taking things, I had the journal when I left. Did you-"

"We still had it during the Dungeon," Keith told her. "Once we left, it was gone, but we'd already memorized the entire journal by then and wrote up our own copy of it."

"Okay," she told him. "I can show you to his study and room now, if you want."

"We want," Keith told her, then looked at Nathan, who had both babies on his lap, cooing to them. "Or, well, I'll look at them. Nathan can… keep playing with the babies."

"I'll go," Nathan said. "I can look and hold at the same time."