After their not so pleasant dinner ended. Alex and his friends were guided by Celia.

“So you know about the Lodge, Celia?” Alex asked her as he raised the key, taking a better look at it now since he’s too busy absorbing everything that happened. This Celia girl disturbed him and his friends with a horrifying display of food torture and was threatened by the bitchiest receptionist to exist

“Nom...yes, Fryma.” Celia munched on a french fry. Alex already looking like he wanted to palm his face from that nickname but instead bit his lower lip. “i do not live there because the name is stupid. but, my friend Ari does.”

The group followed her as they took a good look at this hellraiser. They barely saw what she fully looked like because she appeared out of nowhere. The obvious distinct look for this girl was that she’s small. Very small. Around 5’1”

Her skin as pale as moonlight yet still had a bit of a glow on her skin, she had a black lace eyepatch with a starlike symbol covering her left eye. She had relatively long and wavy black hair that would have looked quite beautiful if it wasn’t so messy. The only part looking neat being the pinned up hair above her good eye, held in place by a simple yet elegant Lilac hairpin.

Her outfit was a black buttoned dress top with a frilled black and red skirt which really made her seem a walking example of gothic fashion. Her legs were covered by see through black stockings with floral patterns and high ridden boots that came up to nearly mid calf.

“You denied a place that can give you a roof on your head ‘cause of the name?” Sal said with her eyebrow raised.

“precisely.”

She took a nom of her french fry and looked at Sal with her stagnant, blank face.

“my brother is also wealthy.” She added, showing she didn’t need a place to stay with a rich brother.

“...Oh.” Sal cupped her chin for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, with a name that stupid and with already having a place to stay, I don’t think I wanna go to a place with a dumb name.”

“Well you’re going to live in one because you and Lea didn’t find one today.” Alex pocketed the key and retorted.

“We tried looking for a place to stay but they were like too far from the guild, and the ones that are are pretty expensive!”

“And considering what we’re carrying, the ones that are far and cheap are very...unstable” She didn’t say look, they already broke a floor at one apartment from the load Sal was carrying.

“Not my fault, I dropped my bag as gently as I could then the floor gave out and almost made me and the bag fall off to the next floor down!”

“You didn’t mention you broke something while we were eating.”

“Because your story was too important than what we did, we’re more worried on what the hell happened to you while we were gone.” She walked ahead to yank Alex’s sleeve. “Look at this, holes everywhere and bloodstains. You think Lea breaking property is more important than this!?”

“Excuse me!?—” Lea heard that. She did jack on what happened. “Don’t pin it on me, I wasn’t the one carrying all the things, and I’m for sure lighter than three bags worth of supplies and camping equipment!”

“i can offer my services with that issue.” Celia chimed, throwing the paper bag of empty fries into a trash can.

“You’ll what?” Alex quickly pulled his arm away to let go of Sal’s hold on his jacket.

“i will offer my services. consider my guiding you to the Lodge and sewing your clothing as payment for your offerings.” She didn’t sound sarcastic...or was she? It was hard to tell when she spoke in a very monotonous and blank tone that only her actions minus her facial expressions can tell how she feels.

Celia extended her hand to him. “your clothes. hand them to me.”

Alex felt his face turn red. She’s basically telling him to strip down in public. “T-Thanks for the offer but, I have some spares around...m-maybe I’ll give them to you AFTER I get changed, okay?”

Celia tilted her head, looking confused? Judging his response? Regardless she dropped her hand and continued walking. “okay. i have plans to go to the Lodge tomorrow to meet with Ari. you are a strange girl to be embarrassed by this... we can make it a quick job and remove your clothes as fast as possible, so no man sees your chastity.”

He felt his blood rise in temperature for a moment as his voiced raised a bit. “For the last time I’m not a!—mhp!”

“Sorry about that, Alex here is a shy girl who gets embarrassed with any guys around. Real sorry if she’s being a prude to us girls~”

Lea was just looking at Sal with a bit of annoyance, she could’ve joined in on the fun but she was still offended that Sal had tried to pin the earlier fiasco on her. “Sal.”

“i see.” The thing is, Celia knew full well that Alex was a boy...probably. Her face didn’t show that she knew, or even that she was only teasing. She certainly wouldn’t tell them she was either. “come, you three, it is getting late and the pathways are only active at midnight.”.

She started walking further away from the group but the three were not following her for a moment because of Sal and Alex.

He controlled his anger for a moment before cracking and biting Sal’s hand which she quickly pulled away. “Yow!” She yelped, flicking her hand. “Dick!”

“I’m getting really tired of being treated like a literal girl, Sal. The last thing I want is to wait for the whole guild to realize I’m a man like how the whole restaurant found out I’m a boy.”

“—To be fair, Alex…” Lea interjected. “People thought you were when you started serving food on the table with a skirt on and doll shoes…”

“I WAS ONLY SIX! LEXA TRICKED ME, OKAY!?” His faced turned redder as Sal held her stomach and wheezed.

“Ho-hooooly shit! Yeah! Gods that was funny.” She kept laughing, clutching her knee and stomach tightly.

“Okay now that Sal’s laughing like a Hyena. We should get going to the pathway…”

“She said there’s a pathway? I have to see that!” Lea, the only magical one in the group did an involuntary bounce and started running ahead of the two.

“Hey, wait up!” He started running after her as Sal stopped mid-laugh to see them run off.

“H-Hey!” She started running, though she was being dragged behind by the large bag, slowing her down.

Celia and the group finally made it to the pathways, leading to the different branches of the guild that couldn’t be built closely together. The Mages Academy, the Capital Police Department, the First King’s army, and other areas.

“You know, looking at where the Pathways take us...this guild feels more like a government than a...guild.” Lea brought up when she witnessed in awe and the realization of all these branches.

“it is. the guild did not bother changing it after so many years of being active.” Celia shades that though the guild has been around for a long, long time. They are not good with names.

“Doesn’t that mean we are now serving the ‘man’ my friends on the streets complain about?” Sal said, she’s not big on politics, all she knows is that some people hate the government or something along the lines of blaming people in charge.

“they must be blaming the king instead of the guild. now, this is where i must part ways with you. Brother is making my favorite meal tonight.” Alex shuddered in disgust at what she considered her favorite meal, must something fry-related or...anything unpleasing like a steak with caramel and candy corn bits.

“Y-Yeah...See you tomorrow Celia.” Alex waved good, as she walked out on the group, looking back to give them a big wave goodbye, like she was expressing she was excited to meet them despite how it looked like she was wearing a mask that stayed constantly blank.

“Can I say something?” Sal turned to the two. “That kid’s pretty disturbing…”

“Right?” Alex immediately responded in agreement. “But she’s not bad really...she doesn’t seem to be a bad girl, just...want to make us extremely uncomfortable.”

“I think she knows that we were getting uncomfortable…” No normal or mentally challenged person would not see what Celia is doing as something that ISN’T uncomfortable. “And I think that’s the worse part.”

“Yeah...maybe she was bored and wanted to cause trouble while helping us in return of keeping her...happy?” Sal was unsure if she made her happy by making their stomachs suffer.

The two weren’t talking bad about her. They just shared that she was a good, albeit weird girl. They looked at the pathway leading to the Lounge, looking over to see a different floor and the walls having a different design compared to the guild, looking more cozy and comforting to the eyes.

“Who’s gonna go in first?” Sal said to the two as she’s uncertain with the magic stuff involved in this.

“Lady who’s holding the keys to our room first?” Lea quietly said to Alex with a bit of a smile.

“Not you too…” Alex grimaced, showing a large frown and a set of shark teeth.

“Oh c’mon, I wasn’t being too loud, it’s just a little tease for me and Sal. And It’s fine anyway. A pathway is like a door, but a door leading to a different building.” She gently pushed Alex into the pathway as he stepped forward.

The air became completely different, the temperature felt warmer and the place was well lit with a large chandelier at the top and some gas lanterns on the walls.

“Welcome to the Lodge.” Someone greeted Alex, he turned to who greeted him to see none other than Ria, sitting behind a counter with her leg resting on the table, eating a burger and reading a comic.

“You again…?” Why was she here? Wasn’t she the boss in recruiting members of the guild?

“Me again. Saying hi to you from my room.” She dropped the comic on her chest and pointed at the table and the whole desk around her.

“You...work on a desk and sleep on a desk?”

“Eeeeyup...’course there’s also the basement too if I want to be by myself.”

“Wait didn’t you say you were gonna be sleeping?”

“Hah! Really fooled everyone there. That wasn’t me.” She took a bite out of her burger.

“...What?” Sal and Lea soon went with Alex and saw he was talking to the bitch that almost shot Alex.

“You again!?”

“Me again.” She repeated. “That wasn’t me. It’s a robot I made when I feel too lazy to get out of my room. You met the real me when that brat—”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“That cunt—” She corrected her glasses. “Woke me up. So when you three left I brought out my Riabot to take over and get me dinner.”

“Your robot is as bitchy as you for trying to kill Alex.”

“It should be, I was controlling it. Doesn’t got an A.I. inside it.”

“A what—” Alex was slowly loosing control of this conversation.

“I’m not gonna be continuing this. Look, you guys are here, The Seven Families room is on the top floor, You’ll be in the same floor as the Officials so be glad you guys to get to see the best of the best in this guild than anyone else from now on.”

A metallic claw came from under the table to grab a soda and passed it to Ria, taking it and getting a swig of Cola. “Pfahh…” She wiped her sleeve and passed it back to the claw to return it to the table.

“Okay, I have questions.”

“They better not be retarded…” She can see Sal giving her a certain finger with her hand as she pulled out her gun and shot a BB pellet at the tips of that finger.

“Ow!” Sal winced as she grumbled and pocketed her hands.

“You should stop trying, Sal…” Lea guided Sal to a nearby bench to wait out what Alex and Ria were talking about.

“Okay, now that I’m back in control. Why do you have a Robot? What are these Seven families thing? And why are you like this?”

“One, because I build robots and gadgets. Two, You are part of one of the seven founding members of this guild. Didn’t you see those seven triangles in your guild emblem? One of them represents your ancestors. And three, what did I just say about retarded questions?”

Should’ve seen that answer coming. “Right...well, thanks for that I guess.” He had nothing to ask and started walking away. “See you around…” He hoped they don’t see around often, not because of her personally, but for Sal, considering she hates her. “C’mon you two. Let’s go unpack.”

With the three standing up, Sal managed to sneak another gesture at Ria which she quickly shot with another BB pellet. “Ow!” Sal winced as she flicked her hand. “She’s got a really good eye for a four-eyed bitch.”

With the three going upstairs Ria went back to reading her comic book. “Guess I’ll be making some emergency plans with her around…”

The Trio made it to the uppermost floor, looking at a large hallway containing seven double-doored rooms. 6 plaques, one for each room. One plaque was removed, showing an outline where the plaque originally was. On the other side was a larger door with a large plaque saying “Officials Quarters”.

The three looked at the plaques. Lillith, Grimm, Gormin, Leonhart, Ares. One at the very end of the hallway was the plaque with the name—

“Valentine...” Alex pointed to the door, the room chained and locked. “That used to be Crane’s room.”

“Looks like they locked it up...can’t blame them for locking it up.” If one of her friends turned evil and abandoned them, Sal would’ve destroyed their room instead.

“There’s your family name over there, Alex.” Lea pointed at the room beside them, which was facing the Lilith family’s room.

Alex walked to the door and pulled out the key, the key automatically pulling itself to the door, turning itself as the key retreated back to Alex’s hand. The door opened itself to reveal another hallway with sets of doors.

“Woah...magic key.” Sal commented as the three walked into the hallway.

“Huh...that explains it being a double door and how there’s a large space through each room. It’s another hallway.” Alex pocketed the key as he looked at the doors.

“That makes sense. If this is a floor for the original families, every family member has their own room.” Lea said.

“This looks like a good room to take.” Alex pointed at the room.

“Well what are we waitin’ for? Let’s get in and start unpackin’!” Sal went ahead and opened the door, revealing a messy room that reeked of alcohol and gunpowder. Clothing like shirts and pants were sprawled around and at the bed was Michel, shirtless and clipping his toenails.

“Hmm?” He turned his head to see the three staring at them. “Tch—” He clicked his tongue. “Don’t you kids know how to knock? And where the hell have you three been? Thought you’d be here since last week.” Michel continued clipping his toenails as Sal walked back, pinching her nose from the smell.

“Gods, that smell—...it smells like lighter fuel.” The others retreated back.

“Eugh, Yeah I can definitely smell it. How the hell have you not started a fire in this room, Uncle Michel?” Alex pinched his nose as Lea felt a bit woozy from the smell.

“Getting a bit dizzy, it’s like a gas leak inside his room.”

“It started twice today,” Michel commented. “Anyways, Get the hell out of here, your room is in front of my door” He saw something sticking out of Alex’s back and scoffed. “So your pansy of a father decided to give Pops’s sword, huh? You better use her well.”

This was a weird feeling. Alex felt a bit...optimistic that his uncle was counting on him on something? That’s probably the feeling. Alex smiled as he looked at his uncle. “I won’t. We’ll be closing the door now. And for gods sake, clean your room, it’s worse than mine.”

“I’ll do what I want, and cleaning is the least of your worries. You better keep up what’s in store for you. Considering you did something stupid like fighting Valentine…” He clipped and clipped before finally switching to the other foot.

Alex widened his eyes at the mention of his mission this morning. “How did you—”

“It’s been quite the talk during the meeting, most didn’t like you butting in where you shouldn’t stick your head in. And some were rooting for you and how you represent ‘youth’.” Yeah...they can piece together who one of those “some” was.

“What side were you on…?” Sal asked as she pulled Alex and Lea away from smelling distance from his room.

“The side of not giving a fuck. If you want to die early, then go die early. I’m pretty sure someone else will follow you and then the next. Just make sure those who follow you are not worth a damn in this guild.”

“Lea...do you know how to use Fireball…?” Sal felt like out of all the insults he threw at Alex, this one felt like it crossed the line.

“Unfortunately...I can’t do elemental magic…” She said bitterly and with regret as she wanted to ignite his room and set it on fire.

“Alex, Throw a fire spear or whatever to spark his room.”

“—I’m not doing that.” Alex snapped as he moved Sal aside and stood at the door, quickly regret as he bridged his nose. “We’re going now, Uncle Michel. I hope you do your best at work tomorrow.”

Even when he was openly insulting him, downgrading his achievement of laying a hand on the former guildmaster, a feat no one can easily do. Alex managed to keep a cool head as he grew numb to his uncle’s words.

“And I hope you end up like your sist—ugh!” Klang! Alex threw a round shield made of light, shattering in the process when it struck the side of his head.

“You really know how to fucking push everyone’s buttons. Be considerate I didn’t make that one out of fire!” He pulled the door and slammed it shut, almost breaking the doorknob in the process as the knob felt loose and slightly disconnected, the knob sinking down and the base of it almost loose.

“Let’s go unpack.” Alex went to the room infront of Michel’s door as the three went inside.

“Unbelievable! The balls on Uncle Michel!” Alex, changed into a blue pair of pajamas, wearing a nightcap of the same color as Sal wore a small spaghetti strap top, showing her abdomen and her bra strap underneath the top’s strap and blue spats.

Lea was more generous and wore white and pink striped kneesocks, black shorts, and one of Alex’s blue hoodies with his tattered shirt underneath.

“Right? He had some nerve downgrading what you just did. I know both of us don’t know much about this Valentine dude, but what we do know is that you managed to bash his skull with your noggin! And we know he’s the former guildmaster. That alone is badass enough!”

“It’s not about him not giving a fuck on what I did. It what he said that got me. Everytime—EVERY single time, he tries to find things that’ll make us want to hit him the moment he finishes his sentence. At first it was cute and tolerable. But when mentioned Lexa, I wish I didn’t blow up his room right now.” Alex sat down infront of the two, resting his hand on his cheek, huffing in frustration.

“I have to agree that what Mister-...Michel did was uncalled for. He knows that you don’t care what people think of you. But you care what other people think of the people you love. And he used it to crawl his insults under your skin.”

“See this is why he’s a shitty uncle. The uncles you watch on TV are supposed to be the fun guys and the ones who join in on the trouble. Here, he’s the kind where you witness a deadbeat dad who bosses his children around to get beer and a smoke.”

“Surprisingly accurate description of Michel when he stays at Alex’s place...”

“Mhh...let’s...let’s just shrug it off as another Uncle Michel just being an asshole for the fun of it. He said that because he knows that I’m here to replace Lexa’s shoes...until I—mhpf!”

“Stop right there.” Lea covered his mouth as she looked around the room. “You two haven’t felt it but this whole building has been giving a very powerful magical energy.”

“And? It’s probably magic security to keep this place safe…” Sal lifted her leg to hug it, resting her head on her knee.

“This energy...Is dormant and yet also used energy. Whatever or whoever is causing this. is using magic.”

“What, you think were gonna be under attack?”

“The opposite. It means that a very powerful magician is here and is most likely the very security system of this building...Imagine those futuristic cameras like those CC-whatever cameras. But magically where we don’t know we’re being watched or listened.” Lea lets go of Alex’s mouth. “In other words. The walls have ears, Alex...be careful of what you say…” She’s giving him this lesson to warn him not to spill about his own plan and reason in this guild.

“Peina?”

Now you want to listen to what I have to say? You have been ignoring me ever since dinner because you and your companions were too busy in disgust witnessing visual torture. But to answer—yes. She is correct that you are being observed.

He almost let himself slip up. “Sheesh, Lea, did you have to scare me and Sal like that? I was gonna say that until I reach to the top, only now that I managed to replace Lexa’s spot but also be a greater hunter than her to make her and my parents proud!” He smiled, forcing a little bit as he played along.

“Did you really have to flex that you’re the only one who can do and sense magic in this team?” The only way non-magic or weak level magicians can feel magic is when the very earth and atmosphere shift to be the focus of the caster causing such chaos.

Lea blushed as she pulled out the pillow she was sitting on to hug it. “W-Well excuse me for being cautious! I don’t want you guys spilling really embarrassing stuff to whoever’s watching over this building. Like when Alex wore a skirt while working at the restaurant when we were kids!”

Sal already started laughing the moment she mentioned it again

“I said I was tricked by Lexa, Okay!? I was young and I thought what she was doing was right!” He was in disbelief that she decided to bring that up again to play innocent and being like young children. “How about the time you used to think that I was your brother and you wanted me to treat you like a royal princess!” The latter he did not too long ago this morning.

“I-I was only five! I didn’t know any better. Sal! You can’t be the only one not being embarrassed here. Why don’t I tell you how you want to—”

“Woahhhh! Let’s not go there, Lea. Not yet.”

“What? Is it something embarrassing?”

“It’s very very embarrassing.”

“I’m sold! What is it, Lea?”

“If you tell him, I’ll snap both of your necks including myself so that my secret is one hundred percent buried with me.” The three started enjoying being young teens and talking about embarrassing and youthful things until the two were asleep, sharing a bed together as the room had two beds, letting Alex have the bed all to himself.

“Are you awake, P?”

As awake as you are. Though Sleep is something I do not want to do anymore. A decade of rest is quite enough for me.

“So what were you gonna say, anyways?”

Ah yes, when you and your friends were suffering from that girl...You see, you can definitely consider the girl a monster.

“How? I only said it because she was freaking us out.”

Well it can be used to describe her well because...She is one of my kin.

“...She’s what?”

As impossible as this sounds. She is one of my kin, she has a presence and that greedy desire inside her. She is the child of my brother. The very brother who almost brought an end to your world.