Emilio appeared beside the Monolith, exactly in the same place he had been when he touched it for the first time. Without even looking around, he headed back to his house. He was completely focused on calling his sister so she won’t enter the Monolith. Given his state of mind, he didn’t realize it was late at night, he also didn’t realize there was not a multitude of people in the street as when he entered. And most of all he didn’t have a way to realize it was another day.

  He entered the living room and looked for his phone on the table but there was no phone. There was also no cake. He clearly remembered leaving the cake and the phone on the table, but they were not there.

  At that time, he realized that Amelia might have left the Trial before him.

  “Ami, are you here?” He shouted while going to the guest bedroom where his niece was staying.

  As he arrived at the door he knocked loudly to check if she was inside.

  “What the hell?” a sleepy shout came from the room “It’s fucking 3 o’clock!”

  And that was the moment Emilio realized he didn’t even check the time.

  The door opened and a sleepy girl in pajamas exited the room.

  “Uncle Emi, you are back!” Amilia cheered. “But couldn’t you have waited until morning to announce yourself? Though I am glad that you are fine.”

  “Hmm, hi Ami,” Emilio said awkwardly as he realized what he actually did. “Sorry to wake you up. I am also glad you are fine too.”

  He reached to hug her and added “Do not ever run like that again to something unknown.”

  “Yeah I know, but would you have let me go into the Trial if I didn’t run away? I bet you wouldn’t even have entered during the whole week!”

  Emilio realized that the little girl was right, he wouldn’t take the risk. He was as safe as one could be. He had a house, a well paying job and everything he could need. Why would he take risks? But apparently this was going to change with the integration, so he needed to take some risks in the future.

  “You are right, and we would have missed a great opportunity,” he admitted. “How about this, I will start taking those risks with the System. It appears that we will need to take them for our future. But if there is somewhere unknown where you want to go, we will go together. Please don’t run on your own again.”

  A big smile appeared in Amelia’s face as she heard her uncle sided with her point of view. She was really reading herself to have a fight with him, especially after she discovered they could upgrade their Stats during the Trials, but apparently the fight was not needed.

  “Yeey, if it is like this I promise to tell you what I am planning to do before acting,” Amelia accepted the conditions. She completely trusted what his uncle said. After all, her Uncle Emi wouldn’t trick her, at least not in a serious matter. “But what is this about having to take risks in the future?”

  “Didn’t you speak with Tuor?” Emilio questioned, “But more important. We have to call your mother right now!”

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  “Don’t worry, I already had her enter the Trial. She won’t miss the first week.” Amelia said, trying to calm her uncle down, but receiving the opposite effect.

  At that moment, Emilio lost all hope of actually seeing his sister soon. If she really entered the Trial, she would miss a trial if she wanted to come back.

  “That’s really bad,” Emilio sighed “How the hell did you convince her to enter during the first day, before I even came back?”

  “The first day? You do know today is Saturday, don’t you? Or better said, Sunday given the time,” Amelia explained. “How many Stats did you increase to have spent over two days in the Trial? And why is it bad that she entered the Trial?”

  “What the.. Is it Saturday? I missed work on Friday? Shit I have to call Mili!” Emilio spurted, thinking of the consequences of suddenly missing his work day.

  “Don’t worry, she called yesterday and I explained what happened. She actually thought you might have been dead. When was the last time you missed a day of work for her to think like this? Either way, you are not the only one to have entered a Monolith. Though not many stayed over a couple of hours,” Amelia explained. “She said you can call her when you come back, but I don’t think this includes the middle of the night. Now answer my questions!”

  “Thank you Ami, you really helped me there,” Emilio thanked her and went ahead in answering her. “It is bad because changing Monoliths have a one week cooldown, so if she comes back she will miss a Trial.”

  With that comment Amelia looked really worried. She took a few seconds before she asked something else. “So, can I stay longer with you?”

  “Of course you can, silly” Emilio commented, while patting her head. Receiving a groan from his niece. “ You can stay as long as you need. Don’t worry about yourself. I am more worried about your mother.”

  “You know she can take care of herself don’t you?” Amelia asked.

  “Yes, she can,” Emilio admitted. “But the world is really going to change. It would be better if we are together. Tomorrow we can talk about these issues after we call her. For now, you can go back to sleep. I’m sorry for waking you up.”

  “Hold on,” Amelia stopped him. “You still didn’t answer. What are your Stats?”

  “What about you?” Emilio asked, curious about her upgrades.

  “I earned 3 points in Body,” Amelia said proudly. “That..” And she suddenly shut up.

  “What happened?” Emilio asked, wondering why she stopped talking.

  “Apparently I can’t tell you what the Trial is because you didn’t do the Body Trial” Amelia explained.

  “I get it, the System loves privacy. Did you use your free points?” Emilio asked.

  “Yes, all in Body too. I love the feeling of getting stronger. Also, my gun was strengthened, so it might not be too useless after I used them.” Amelia smiled.

  “It was smart to put them in Body as it is your highest Stat for now. Not so smart to get a gun, didn’t the System warn you it would use your Energy that only has 1 point?” Emilio asked.

  “It did,” Amelia pouted. “I didn’t take it into account because it was a gun! I plan to correct the Energy issue in the next Trial. That will make the gun better.”

  “Ok, as long as you can use it then it is fine. After I asked for the gun and received the notification, I decided to get my lovely Void Twin Daggers, ” Emilio said while unsheathing them to show them off to his niece.

  “They look really nice, but why did you get two? And why are they named?” Amelia asked.

  “Apparently they are considered one weapon. I just had to ask for double daggers and I got them. As for the name, I just named them out loud. The System seems to have approved the name and it is calling them Void too,” Emilio explained.

  “I would have loved you to be with me in the Trial, I didn’t even think about asking for two weapons. Now, I have to think of a name for my gun too. And.. you still have to tell me your Stats,” Amelia complained.

  “Ok I will, I used all my free Stat points and now I have 10 Vitality,” Emilio smirked “The last point also came with a nice Trait.”

  “What? Tell me!” Amelia begged.

  “You will find out when you reach it! Now back to sleep. Tomorrow we will have a lot of calls to do. And we also need to decide what we are going to do in our future.”

  Thanks for reading!

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