Rusk let out a long sigh of relief as he stepped into the twins’ common area—a wide circular room that had once been reserved for the Starglider’s Upper Echelon. But with Bayren being the only high-ranking member on board, most of the upper decks had sat empty… at least until the twins came into his life. Now the once-sterile space was smothered in fluffy blankets, drawings, games, and massive stuffed replicas of various creatures—everything from Carboxarax to Vai’tolants and other wondrous and strange beasts from across the Translates.

  Rusk leaned down, letting Mera slide off his arm. “Well, did you two have fun today?”

  “Yeah!” Lamia exclaimed. “I wanna visit that dessert shop again!”

  “I’m glad you liked it.” He turned to Mera. “Did you enjoy the librarium?”

  Mera nodded excitedly.

  “Glad to hear it.” Rusk stretched his arms, rolling his shoulders. “I’ll be hanging out here until Veladonna gets here, so you two go get ready for dinner.”

  “Can you really not stay a little longer, Musty?” Lamia asked, tugging at his sleeve with both hands.

  Rusk sighed. “I’ll stick around until Veladonna gets tired of me—how about that?”

  “Sweet! You wanna see my Critter Slayer progress? I’m on three-star quests and my slayer is starting to look pretty cool!” Lamia bounced on her heels, excitement spilling out of her.

  “Sure. But first, go change out of your street clothes,” Rusk said.

  “Okay! I’ll be back in a sec!” Lamia chirped before darting off to her room.

  Mera, on the other hand, had already disappeared into her bedroom a while back, leaving Rusk to sit down on the couch and look through his messages. He giggled at some of the texts he was exchanging with Kaela—but his enjoyment was cut short with a slap of reality as a haunting notification popped up on his screen.

  “Dear Mr. Holt it seems I won’t make it back in time tonight i’ve been severely wounded in an ice skating accident and have broken my left arm. There goes my calcium streak. Darn. Please stay with the girls until Lord Bayren arrives. Thank you. Your awesome and charming friend Vela.” The text message read.

  Rusk squinted at the message, half-annoyed, half-confused. Awesome and charming, huh? Why the heck did she sign off on a text message?

  He shook the thought away. “Guess duty calls,” he muttered.

  He began to type back. “Sure, I hope you feel better soon. Don’t worry about the girls I’ll take care of them.”

  The typing bubble appeared instantly. …Wow, for someone with a broken arm she’s pretty handy on her crystalcomm. Actually, I think she’s ambidextrous, he thought to himself, remembering a weird party trick Veladonna showed him when he first started working there.

  Veladonna wrote: “ Wow wow!!! How dependable! If you’re into older women I’m always available.” With the text, she sent a little chibi sticker of the Dragon God of Slaughter blowing a kiss.

  Ehh… Who the hell thought Reaver was a good choice for that sticker??? He focused back on Veladonna’s words, feeling his ego rise. Hmmm, I guess my farmer boy charms weren’t my mom just being nice. Maybe this is my popular phase. He smiled to himself.

  Veladonna typed again: “Just kidding.”

  Ah… I got greedy.

  Veladonna added: “Unless?”

  Wah, she’s playing with me… Rusk glared at his phone screen and typed: “I’ll visit you at the hospital tomorrow. Send me the info of your room and stuff.”

  Veladonna began typing again: “How bold.”

  Not like that! Geez… Still, she’s a good coworker. I’m glad someone this nice taught me the ropes. “Get some rest, Vela. I’ll bring you some of those fluffy white snacks you like,” he added.

  She replied with a sticker of a little chibi Lord Bayren doing a heart pose with his hands.

  You know, seeing that goofy sticker after seeing him in action is kinda weird. I wonder how they got approval for this collection. Rusk replied with a sticker of a chibi Lord Kirvr Archudar giving a thumbs up. Kirvr was a Calamity Lord with a void-black body like Bayren, but his crest was a massive confluence of horns, coming together to form a single massive horn.

  Though, in this tiny cartoon form… he actually looked pretty cute.

  Mera popped out of her room wearing a black hooded onesie of Lord Bayren, drooping horns included. Her face was still hidden behind her crystalline mask, but Rusk could see a bit of her hair—tied into loose twin braids that peeked out from under her mask.

  She hurried over to Rusk with an electronic tablet in hand, plopped down beside him, and tapped the screen. Images popped up one after another as she showed him art she had made of the game Lamia had been talking about earlier.

  “Wow, you’re getting really good at painting, huh?” Rusk said as he examined the artwork—dragons and warriors clashing in sprawling, colorful scenes. “Is that your character? You’ve gotten really good at drawing people!”

  Mera nodded happily and swiped to show him even more drawings.

  Lamia burst out of her room and sprinted to the couch, scrambling past Rusk and Mera as she dove for the game console. The thing was tiny—no bigger than a USB stick—and honestly, it functioned just like one. She scoured the carpeted floor for the remote, patting around until her fingers found it. With a click, a thin strip unfurled from the floor as a massive, paper-thin screen descended from the ceiling. Lamia slotted the console into one of the ports along the strip, and the system flickered to life with a soft hum. She practically launched herself back onto the couch and snatched up a controller.

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  “I’ve been using that big sword you recommended! And it’s super fun to smack the dragons in the head!” Lamia exclaimed as she ran around a digital hub. “Check out this armor I crafted, isn’t it pretty?”

  Rusk smiled as he began to talk with Lamia while looking over and talking to Mera about design ideas. The trio discussed games and such for what felt like hours. The two girls excitedly bounced around as Rusk smiled and humored the two to the best of his abilities.

  Outside, high up and hanging from one of the massive support beams, like charcoal black gargoyle was Bayren. He took in a deep breath as he gazed down upon the sparkling city of Aeburgh. His visage cracked slightly as he watched the people below going about their day, blissfully happy. He scanned the expanse. Kilometers of ice had been carved away to make room for the growing city. Huge support beams pierced the darkness, each lined with illuminated gelation units that kept the temperature stable so the ice wouldn’t melt. Satisfaction filled the old Calamity Entity.

  I’ve grown rather fond of this sparkling city… which means. Perhaps it’s time.

  He pulled out a crystalcomm built from calamity constructs. A long checklist unfolded across the display, nearly every box marked—save for one.

  Witness what was Heard: See the legendary Colossal Carbotitrax.

  You see, an impossibly loud noise had been detected using a deep-sea probe. Long, deep, and thunderously powerful. At first, it was dismissed as glacial movement—but after further recordings and long discussion, it became clear the sound originated from one of the largest organisms ever recorded within the SED. A Carbotitrax, a fully marine cousin of the Carboxarax. And this particular specimen was estimated to be between 4,000 and 5,000 meters long.

  Once I witness your grand presence, my time here will come to an end… He let out a long sigh. It’s time for the twins to bask under the real sun anyway.

  His jaws cracked into a smile as he lunged toward another support beam, leaping great distances as he made his way home.

  Inside the Nordos Starglider, Rusk was passively enjoying Lamia’s gameplay while Mera quietly drew beside him. All things considered, this job was actually kinda awesome and surprisingly fun—and he’d also realized he was surprisingly good with kids. Or, well… at least with these two.

  The door to the common area opened with a light hiss as the dark figure of Bayren emerged into the room, his monstrous form contrasting harshly against the cozy room.

  Lamia’s eyes grew wide as she paused her game, jumping off the couch and rushing over to Bayren. “DADDY!” she exclaimed, jumping onto him and giving him a hug. Bayren patted her gently, then lifted his gaze toward Mera—still sitting beside Rusk—who gave him a small wave.

  “I see you’ve heard of Miss Veladonna’s accident,” Bayren said as he approached.

  Rusk stiffened immediately. “Y-yes sir. We were playing some games while we waited for your arrival.”

  “Ah… so this is the game you were telling me about, Lamia?” Bayren asked, as Lamia climbed onto his shoulder like an oversized, overly confident parrot.

  “Yup! Good old Rusky has great taste in games! He’s the one who recommended it!” she declared proudly.

  Bayren’s visage cracked slightly in a smile.

  Rusk returned an awkward one of his own, feeling sweat start to gather at his brow. “Well… it was a pleasure, your Lordship—I shall now excuse myself so you can enjoy dinner with your family.”

  Mera grabbed onto his sleeve and looked up at Rusk, her mask somehow expressing the longing of a long-lost puppy.

  Lamia tapped her dad on the shoulder. “Daddy! C-can he please have dinner with us tonight?”

  Rusk went pale. OH FIDDLESHITS! I didn’t think she’d actually ask!? He glanced at Bayren—shock and terror filling him—as he tried to study the alien contours of the Calamity Entity’s visage.

  “Lamia…” Bayren said softly. “This is a special time for our family, and Ranger Rusk must be very tired from his duties.”

  Lamia pouted. “But he’s a lot of fun! And he knows a bunch of random stuff that’s really interesting.”

  Mera ran over to Bayren and, though Rusk couldn’t see it, she took off her mask and looked up at her father with wide, pleading eyes. Then, suddenly—

  “P-p-please Dad, c-can’t he eat with us?”

  Bayren’s visage cracked wide with shock. “Ehh? You can talk?”

  Rusk stared, completely floored. HE DIDN’T KNOW SHE COULD TALK???

  Lamia tugged on her rattled father again. “Come on, Daddy, even Mera wants him to eat with us!”

  Bayren turned toward Rusk. His visage cracked all the way down his neck as he stepped forward, looming over the ranger—who could only smile in quiet acceptance of his impending doom.

  A black claw raised, and—Rusk felt a warm pat on his head. Yo what the heck is happening? he thought as the old Calamity Entity gently patted his head with a tenderness he absolutely did not expect.

  Bayren looked down at him. “Do you know what their Kyyr abilities are?”

  Rusk shook his head. “N-no sir…”

  “Mera can perfectly see all Kyyr using her Kyyr Retina, and Lamia can directly interact with pure Kyyr using her Haptic Kyyr. Now… you, the twins, and I are the only ones who know.” Bayren lowered himself slightly. “Do you understand why I’m telling you this?”

  Rusk nodded, sweat pooling on his forehead.

  “If word of this gets out…” Bayren leaned in and whispered something horrific into his ear.

  Rusk felt his blood freeze. “Y-yes sir.” he answered rather robotically.

  Bayren straightened, turning toward his daughters with a monstrous smile. “I’ll go get your mother—” he said warmly. Then, in a tone not warm at all: “Rusk. Take the girls to the dining hall.”

  “Aye, sir!” Rusk answered, posture snapping upright.

  With that Bayren left the room, leaving Rusk to deflate his vagus nerve on the very verge of rupturing. Holy Symbols, that was scary as hell! By the grim of a Carboxarax gut! What if their Kyyr ability gets leaked and I have nothing to do with that? Is he going to Regress me into a sperm cell? Oh no…

  Mera tugged at his shirt, her mask still off, revealing her face to the panicked Rusk. She looked almost identical to Lamia—save for her silvery-pink hair, her matching eyelashes, and the few extra moles sprinkled under her right eye. But what really caught his attention were her eyes. They were milky-pink, she almost looked blind, but he knew she could see.

  Mera opened her mouth. “You’re a pretty color,” she said—with an abnormal level of consistency for her.

  Rusk’s fear eased as he looked down at the little girl comforting him, and he cracked a smile, suddenly feeling very silly. Ah, what the hell… I guess I’m doomed to work here till I die. Might as well go with the flow…

  “What color am I?” he asked Mera.

  Mera blushed, squinting as she slipped her mask back on. “A bright one.”

  Lamia grinned as she watched her little sister open up, but then her attention snapped back to Rusk. “You better sit next to me! You gotta talk to me all dinner time so I don’t get bored!” she commanded.

  Rusk gave her a weak smile. “Aye, captain!” he said with a salute.

  Lamia burst out laughing.

  Nearby, peeking in from behind a door with his Kyyr senses, Bayren Emperar smiled.