Akachi flaunted his conceited persona as he steered the set of mystical horses. He babbled on about his godly connections, the mythical places he visited across the realms, and the exciting activities he took part in while staying in such magical venues.

On the chariot, the brothers stood on either side of Akachi.

Soaring through the sky on a golden chariot was enough to get Zeke through Akachi’s constant name-dropping and the disgusting details of his coital ventures. However, there were a few times he considered jumping out of the chariot to put himself out of his misery.

They rode or flew—or whatever the word was—high over a scenic mountain range. Where the snow was bountiful and as white as the clouds they charged through. The undulating black tips that jutted out of the snow looked like stracciatella ice cream from so high up.

The air became harder to breathe in, but Zeke powered through it and didn’t allow himself to complain. He glanced over at Ugo a few times and was disappointed but not surprised by how he looked at the narcissist as he talked about his drug-filled adventures with Narcissus.

It was clear that Akachi was climbing to the very top of Ugo’s list of personal heroes.

Even the horses looked fed up with Akachi as Zeke looked over at one he believed to have rolled its eyes.

Zeke felt a surge of energy flare up, and his eyes moved to Akachi, who brought his hands up without warning, and then without letting go of the reins, he began to make a flurry of magic signs.

He stopped with his hands facing forward at one of the mountain tops. With his open palms and the thumbs and index fingers touching each other, he pulled them apart.

As if an invisible stage curtain was put over that section of the snowy mountain range, the contents of a house appeared starting from the middle and slowly filled in the empty space to its sides.

The massive rustic-style mansion was both an architectural masterpiece and an impossibility. It was perfectly fit into the side of the mountain, sitting in a pocket of snow and the area around it seemed to have morphed into a habitable space. Several tiny figures awaited them at the entrance.

Again, without warning, Akachi maneuvered the reins, and the horses started tilting downward, almost leveling the chariot and flinging its occupants and luggage into the sky.

They nosedived to the sumptuous retreat, landing at the entrance in seconds.

Despite the hectic speed, the horses pulled off a soft landing.

As Zeke held back his vomit, he gazed upon the monument of avarice and crowned it as the most expensive and extravagant-looking thing he had ever seen. Beating even the best his imagination could come up with when he thought about what ski resorts high-level celebrities would retreat to.

He hopped off Helios’ shining chariot and onto the snow, and his feet didn’t sink in. It was flattened and hardened like he was standing on asphalt.

Soon after, a suited minotaur approached the three.

It stomped past them towards the chariot and grabbed the luggage.

Then, Akachi began moving up to the mansion, and Zeke and Ugo followed.

On the pathway to the front door on either side were two lines of men, women, and beasts in all-black suits and with radiant smiles plastered on their faces.

It felt like walking down the red carpet of some bizarre, parallel universe. They all seemed too happy to see them for Zeke’s comfort. Naturally, his anxiety stepped in to help him conjure as many theories as possible. Maybe AJ was right.

They walked up the front steps; awaiting them on the plank oak deck and blocking the entrance with his wide body was Gill. After an unbearable ride with a mix of pride and lust. They were now standing before the personification of gluttony.

He was huge.

Gill stepped aside, letting the minotaur pass, and reached out his big, meaty hand. Zeke hesitated and stared at the hand, fearing that a shake with it might hinder his dexterity permanently.

Ugo bit the bullet for him and shook it. “Man, you’re huge.”

Zeke’s eyes widened, and he started planning his escape, leaving Ugo’s fate to the will of the gods.

An enormous belly laugh erupted from Gill. “Yes, I am!” he declared jubilantly. He had a strong English accent. But even before he spoke, his classiness was apparent by just his attire. He wore a refined, Italian wool suit, designer and custom-made (because of course)—composed of a black checkered jacket matching his pants over a white dress shirt and a gray tie. Not a single speck of snow touched his Oxford shoes, almost as if it was out of fear.

“That’s not something you should be laughing about, fatass,” Akachi hissed.

Gill replied with a side-eye. “Why don’t you head inside and find something to stick your knob in, huh?”

Akachi scoffed and went inside.

As soon as the door closed, Gill’s smile returned. His brown hair was gelled to the side, and he had jowls sagging on both sides of his face and a triple buttchin. Gill reminded Zeke of a British bulldog who has been fed one or two treats too many.

Gill made a loud clap with his hands and rubbed them together. “Alright, I understand you two must be tired and would like to see your rooms and maybe a tour, but beforehand I will have to ask you to follow me to the conference room.”

“‘The conference room’?” Zeke asked.

“It’s a safe place for us doctors to talk about work. I made that space entirely for medical-related topics. No kid likes to talk about school on their summer vacation, right?”

“Right,” Ugo agreed and turned back to the suited collection of people and beasts who stood in place and looked up at Gill blankly. “What’s up with them? Do they work for you or something?”

“Yeah, they do,” Gill said. He waved a hand, and they scattered. “But listen, my servants are your servants, okay? Anything you need, just call one over, and they’ll get it for you.” Gill put his hands over their shoulders and led them to the door. “Let’s get out of the cold now, eh?”

Gill accompanied the brothers through the main floor’s corridors of what had to be the world’s most intricate and overly extravagant log cabin. To their side was a row of huge windows providing heart-stopping views of the mountains and thick glass panels installed on the oak floors with an iron mesh beneath.

They reached a door that Gill opened for them.

Like their host, the room wasn’t just wide but impressively tall. The high ceiling was reclaimed oak with an avant-garde chandelier with tiny skulls of various creatures spiraling around it, and the rest of the ceiling was marked with sigils.

The room was filled with just as many homely decorations as unsettling ones. There was a statue of a demonic form for every regular-looking vase, for every innocent painting was a brutally bloody abstract painting in return, and so on. On top of the occult symbol-covered rug was a long oak table, and 8 seats were taken.

The rest of the members of the Fourteenth Tainted Generation of Healers.

It was really 6 new faces that Zeke was seeing. He had already met Akachi, who was seated back, relaxed with his feet up on the table, wearing a white cardigan over his bare torso.

Isaac, the First-Born, was there too. He was seated at the end, attired with a large coat and beige sweater combo. Isaac gave him a wave and a warm smile once he and Zeke crossed their eyes.

Zeke froze in place, not knowing what to do. Ever since what happened back in the Heavenly sub-realm. Zeke had seen Isaac around school but did his best to keep his distance from him (like he had always done), and as if they had some sort of amicable social contract in place, the zealot never went out of his way to force him back into that place to open that door.

Seated at the other end of the long table, looking away from everybody and out the single window in the room, was her wearing overalls over an oversized sweater.

Violet.

The familiar pangs went off in Zeke’s chest, followed by the familiar chilly tinges in his stomach. The last time he saw Violet was when she brought the vile to the infirmary that helped save his mother’s life. In return, he had declared that he would stop her.

Zeke wondered if she had thought about that day as much as he did. Or at least a small percentage of it. He also pondered if she was still killing angels. The wickedly beautiful glint in her violet-hued eyes suggested that they had seen a lot more bloodshed since last time.

Zeke ogled at her, hoping that by some supernatural force—which didn’t seem too far-fetched at this point in his life—she would look over at him without him having to say anything to get her attention.

“I present the Diagnostician and the Surgeon!” Gill announced.

Violet was the only one who didn’t turn to them.

One of the Healers the brothers hadn’t met before stood up and made an impression on them with just that.

She was the tallest person in the room. Taller than anybody that Zeke had seen before, he was sure that the same was for the awestruck Ugo. As the statuesque neared them, she grew even taller with every step. She walked with purpose and dignity as if she knew she was the most important person in the room, and her body was—“holy, shit”—as Zeke heard, thinking it came from Ugo but then realized it came from his own head.

She stared at them with a malicious grin, and then Gill raised a hand.

“Can you not do that now, luv?” Gill asked politely. “I don’t want the lads to be freaked out so early.”

She halted, glaring back at Gill. Her body was the pinnacle of an hourglass figure—her tiny waist and voluptuous assets fit wonderfully in her opulent light blue dress. It was tight and stitch detail.

“I just wanted to say hi,” she said with her thick Russian accent.

She had dark red hair that reached the end of her long back and scintillating silver eyes. Her beauty was cruelly intimidating and her heavy-looking diamond earrings, bracelets, and rings added to the intimidation factor. Despite her seemingly normal pale skin, Zeke had a hard time being convinced she was human but didn’t know how to go about asking it. He didn’t know how to go about saying anything to her.

“I’m Ugo!” the lecherous half of the brothers blurted. “And you are?”

She raised her head and glowered down at him. As if she was offended by the question, or maybe, just by him breathing the same air as her.

“Hey, Ashlin,” Akachi said with his hands now rested on the back of his head. “Fun fact about Ugo. He thinks Santa is real.”

Most of the other Healers began to laugh, including Gill.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Santa isn’t real!” Ugo shouted. “The Tooth Fairy isn’t real. The Easter Bunny isn’t real—”

“Yes, he is,” an Asian girl seated next to Isaac interrupted. “Of course he is. Why wouldn’t he be? I treated him last week.”

A couple of other Healers were shaking their heads while squinting at Ugo.

“What were you treating him for?” Gill asked her.

“Cavities.”

“Ohhh, that makes sense.”

“Ashlin Kristov,” the tall redhead announced with gravitas and arrogance. “Fifth Born. Container Specialist.” She walked back to her seat.

Ugo hit Zeke on his shoulder and whispered to him. “That is the hottest person I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“She looks like she came right out of a video game.”

“I know, right? Isn’t it great? She’s my target. I’m going to make it happen. Watch me.” Ugo pulled away and followed Ashlin, taking a seat next to the girl, an insurmountable amount of leagues above him.

The Asian girl sprouted from her seat, dashed over to Zeke and halted inches away from his face. “Hi!” she screamed.

Zeke pulled back and picked his ear. “Hi…”

“You’re the Diagnostician, right?”

“Yes, I am—”

“Okay, great. It’s Zeke, right? Listen, I have a small, teeny-weeny request regarding your hybrid friend.”

“Naomi?”

“Yeah! It’s simple really, it’s nothing, just, uhm, let me, uhm, uh…” she looked around as she stammered. Then, she snapped out of it and fixed on Zeke with a stern look. “Let me have a look at whatever she’s packing in her pants.”

Zeke stared vacantly for a moment. “Excuse me?”

“She wants to see what her genitalia looks like!” shouted an unkempt guy with a dirty lab coat who was slouched onto the table.

The ecstatic girl raised one finger and pouted at Zeke. “Just one look, please! Let me examine her.”

“What? No!” Zeke said.

“Don’t be like that, Zeke,” she gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. “We’re practically family.”

“What does that have to do with letting you see… look, it isn’t up to me anyway, but then again, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to take you to her just for that—”

“You can watch. All I need is 2 minutes… no… 5 minutes… and a camera.”

“No, stop being weird!”

The unkempt guy raised his hand into the air for a moment. “Aida, maybe you should tell him your specialty first.” He said in his Australian accent.

“Right!” She shouted and extended a hand to Zeke. “Aida Koshiko, Ninth Born, Geneticist, and Supernatural Breeder…”

Zeke shook her hand back. “Oh, a breeder. Interesting”

“Exactly! I’m not a pervert or anything like that… this is purely from a scientific standpoint.”

“Not entirely,” the unkempt guy added.

“You’ve helped enough, Wade, thank you,” she barked at the unkempt guy and turned back to Zeke. “I need to know what it looks like or whatever it is that she has. I mean, an offspring of an angel and demon? How is that even possible? Did Naomi come out of an egg or…?”

“I don’t know.”

“I wonder if she can reproduce. Just let me do one examination! Please, Zeke, please!”

Gill pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat, prompting Aida to stop her whining. “Okay, I say we get started with the introduction, starting from one to eleven.”

He walked, or more accurately, waddled to the table, and Zeke and Aida followed, and they all took a seat.

The Fourteenth Tainted Generation of Healers were all seated at the long table.

A Healer in an all-black outfit with a mouth mask to match raised his hand. “Do we really have to do an introduction? We already know each other,” he said in his weak voice.

“This is for Azaekias and Ugo,” Gill defended.

Zeke looked over at Gill. “Actually, it’s pronounced Eze—”

“So, let’s start with Isaac!” Gill said, pointing at the jovial devotee. “Wait, you already know them, right?”

“That’s right, and so does Violet,” Isaac said, slowly turning towards Violet.

She waved silently, still looking out the window.

“The Vicar, Neurologist, Surgeon, and Diagnostician are all from Winterberry City, huh,” an Israeli Healer wearing a multicolor turtleneck sweater said.

Gill cleared his throat once again. “Next is me, Gilliam Destrian. Demonologist. Third-Born—”

“And is going to be the world’s first Healer to die from diabetes.” Akachi interrupted, standing up from his seat. “I met Zeke and Ugo outside, but it’s never a waste of time to remind people who I am again. Akachi Adeyemi. Physician of the Deities. Fourth Born. World’s first interdimensional playboy. I saw Aphrodite naked, by the way. Try topping that, losers.”

“I fixed the Bifrost once,” the Israeli Healer said.

“No one gives a shit.”

“Okay, next!” Gill looked over at the redhead.

She raised to her feet.

“Well, you kinda already introduced yourself to them, so how about you tell us a little about yourself?” Gill asked.

Zeke looked over to Ugo, and obviously, he was ogling with a drool dripping from the corner of his lip.

“I like stuff. I really like stuff. If I catch any of you touching it.” Her black cat emerged from under the table and climbed up to her shoulder. “I’ll trap your soul into the Container of a dung beetle and sell your original body to some generous customers in the underworld.” She sat.

Gill nodded and looked over to the unkempt guy.

He started groaning immediately and searching the pockets of his dirty lab coat. It had food and ink stains, all of various colors, and a multitude of symbols drawn across. “Hold on…” He said, pulled out a bottle, and then dumped a river of pills into his mouth.

“I’d prefer if you were sober for this one, buddy,” Gill said.

“And I’d prefer to be sleeping, but we can’t always get what we want.” He pointed at Ugo. “You, Ugo, right? Do your feet hurt?”

Ugo looked back, confused. “Um, no…”

The unkempt guy tossed a bottle of pills at him and then took out another bottle from his lab coat pocket. “And for Zeke…” he said, reading the label. “I don’t know what it does. It does something.” He tossed it over to him. “Wade Rupp. Anesthesiologist. Born after… whatever the last number was. Nice to meet you.”

The guy in black stood up on his own.

“Why does he look like a supervillain?” Ugo asked.

“Why does he look like a supervillain?” Ugo asked.

He stared at Ugo and pulled out a polaroid photo from his jacket. “Wanna see a photo of a patient vomiting feces?”

“No!” Ugo said.

“Aww…” he slid the photo back into his jacket. “Anyway, I’m Kian. I’m the 8th. Infectiologist.”

“And I’m Aida! But you know that already. Zeke, I’d really appreciate it if you reconsidered my request—”

“Who’s next?” Zeke asked.

“Me,” the Israeli guy stood up. “Yaalon Tahan, I’m the last. Immunologist. I specialize in studying creatures’ weaknesses and resistances. Aside from being a master at defense spells, I am also working on improving my elemental spell capability. My dream is to teach what we can do to ordinary people.”

“You’re still going on about that?” Ashlin said. “That won’t work.”

“You don’t know, and even if it doesn’t. It’s not time wasted.”

“That is the definition of wasted time, you moron,” Akashi said.

“Oh, my!” Isaac exulted, all eyes turning to him (except for Violet). “This is exhilarating. All of my siblings are here! It’s a family reunion and now let’s do our first family activity together.” While seated, he started flashing a quick succession of hand signs.

Zeke knew that Isaac was being too quiet and waited in trepidation for whatever bullshit he would start.

He could’ve never predicted the horrific mutant that Isaac made appear out of thin air.