I didn't head home right away after dropping off Cade. Spinning the wheel around, I drove the city streets on autopilot. Enhanced reflexes thanks to the system made driving a much less stressful affair. Despite the number of cars on the road, I wove through the traffic with ease. Once upon a time, I had thought Hadford was a small city that existed for little more than the college and the factories. People lived and died in the city without ever leaving or amounting to much. Myself included.

  Now things were different.

  Every boring strip mall might house a dungeon entrance someday, and every person who wandered the streets might one day end up instated. Suddenly, having a potential that no one could predict. Hell, no one could have predicted that a burnout like me would end up in the position I was in these days. I'd killed more monsters in the last month than most fantasy protagonists would manage in a trilogy, but there was always a sense of more lurking under the calm. It didn't help that the Banner continued to drop problem cases in my lap when they appeared, which meant I often saw things a great deal worse than the goblins I'd used to introduce Cade and my siblings to the system.

  Worse, The Incident when Matt went missing. Was taken. Nothing felt resolved. There was still an entire team of analysts devoted to going over the data recorded in that dungeon, even now when it had long since closed without further issue. The whole situation left me unsettled. It was like an itch under my skin, buried deep in my bones. There was more to it than we were seeing. The Banner or I. I knew it on a soul deep level, that was a rabbit hole. One I was not prepared to delve too deeply into, lest I become lost in a way I couldn't come back from whole. I shook myself, and the whole SUV in the process.

  "Getting a little too maudlin there, Kaesor," I muttered to myself as I swirled the wheel around, the vehicle gliding across the lanes. I felt Vipera perk up deep inside my soul where she lay coiled, metaphorically speaking. Or would that be metaphysically? I wasn't sure. Vipera's presence pressed against my awareness, cool and dry and tinged with the faintest edge of amusement, sat at the intersection of comfort and hunger. A common response from her. I couldn't overstate how much she helped to balance me out, though. I'd grown used to her like a new limb, the same way I'd grown used to the not-quite-human edge the System had shaved into my personality since the Soul-Sheer. Without her, I would feel bereft and off balance; she was much a part of me as any of my limbs.

  Hadford after sunset was a different animal, especially downtown. The downtown core had a history of being used as a set for horror movies, and for good reason. The facades that flanked the street were imposing in the fading light of day. A little mist, a little fog and judicious use of CGI, lo and behold, horror in the making. It may have been a simple formula, but it worked.

  ——-

  I cruised up the street towards my father's home. I was still technically living in my old bedroom. Even if I had spent more time sleeping in training rooms at the Banner compound than my own bed, the last few weeks. It was late by now, the streetlights on and the sky dark. Interestingly, the lights were still on, and Vicky's car was in the driveway behind my dad's. As I stepped out, the chill in the air bit at my face. That early fall tang, wet leaves and damp grass.

  When I walked in the door, the first sound was laughter, distant, then rising and falling in waves. Home was warm and bright, and there was the familiar roast and potatoes smell that meant Dad was on dinner duty. I kicked my boots off and moved quietly down the hall, fighting the old habit to call out my arrival. Something about coming back from a dungeon made me want to be unnoticed, a ghost slipping in at the edges.

  The kitchen was a riot of motion. Dad at the stove, brow sweating but wearing that same old grin. Sean leaned back in a chair, spinning a steak knife on a fingertip, deep in animated conversation with Uncle Wolfe. Vicky, with a glass of wine, red painted lips mid-smirk, perched on the counter like her heels might catch fire if they hit the linoleum for more than a second. Though she looked happy, she had always been the one who wanted the family togetherness, despite getting all fancy for work. I stood in the doorway—no one noticed me at first.

  “Hey, look alive! Spiderboy’s home,” Sean called out, catching my reflection in the glass before I could make a clean sneak through. The room erupted in a small chorus of greetings. Vicky set her wine glass, smiling.

  “Did you kill any eldritch horrors tonight or just traumatize more goblins?” she asked.

  “Just the goblins,” I said with a chuckle. “Had to break Cade in without breaking the Cade, you know?”

  Dad gave me a look over his shoulder, eyeing me in that peculiar way he had since the Incident, like he was searching for cracks in the new person I still wasn’t quite used to being. “Did he handle it?” he asked, but his tone was already warm with approval.

  I grinned, but let it soften for a second. "He's better at it than I was, honestly. Didn't run screaming." I couldn't resist smirking as I took a seat at the table. "Then again, he started with goblins. I started with a monster Rex."

  Uncle Wolfe snorted, his face splitting into that craggy, too-wide smile. “Probably all the anime violence you two consumed. Pre-adapted.”

  Vicky rolled her eyes. “I’ll laugh the day you two remember Cade is a person and not just cannon fodder. Or maybe I’ll pity you. Jury’s out.” She tilted her glass to me anyway, a show of mutual survivor respect. She held the bottle up in askance.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Sure," I replied, and a moment later I had my own glass of red wine. It was dry, very dry, but good. My palate was not refined enough to better describe it. My opinion of wine went as far as good or not good, would buy again or wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

  I sipped the wine slowly, ignoring Sean’s exaggerated eyebrow waggle as he mouthed ‘fancy’ at me. I very poetically flipped him the bird in response. Dad plated up thick slices of roast and heaped potatoes onto mismatched dishes, stopping only to steal a momentary hug from Vicky—who grumbled but made no effort to escape, even as she went limp in overdramatic protest.

  We ate, and for a while the air was filled with nothing but the scraping of cutlery and the odd groan from Sean as he went in for an unconscionable third helping. Once food was on the table, Kaesor family dinners tended to get very quiet, for at least a little while. I let the moment be, leaning back into the easy rhythm of my family's chaos. These scenes were rare and precious, a finite resource. Between Sean and me throwing ourselves at every dungeon available, and Vicky's work as a lawyer, it was hard enough to get the three of us in a room together these days, let alone Uncle Wolf, who was as busy as ever.

  This night, the calm lasted longer than most. Maybe we were all a little wrung out. Maybe the world spinning just slightly off-axis was becoming the new normal. I watched Vicky as she picked at her salad, making notes in her phone with thumb and forefinger as if the court might call her at any minute, even at nine on a Tuesday. Sean, with chin in palm, gave the thousand-yard stare of a man fighting heavy existential angst and deciding the best way to win was through carbohydrates, and now the carbs were punishing him for his transgressions. Wolfe had his phone flipped screen-down on the table, a couple of silent vibrations betraying texts he was determined not to check during family time. Dad looked at us all with a sort of resigned satisfaction, as if the universe could spring goblins, vampires, or eldritch nightmares, but it couldn't stop him from feeding his kids.

  There was something off, though. A glance around the table showed my siblings and Uncle Wolf very studiously avoiding looking at me.

  And at Dad.

  A flicker of intent was all it took to trigger [Analyze], and a grin spread across my face.

  [Displaying status sheet.]

  Name: Robert Kaesor

  Species: Human

  Level: 4

  Class: [Barbarian]

  Titles:

  Attributes:

  Strength: 28

  Dexterity: 10

  Endurance: 26

  Intelligence: 13

  Perception: 18

  Charisma: 12

  Luck: 10

  General Skills:

  [Power Strike (Common)]

  Class Skills:

  [Crash Hammer]

  [Rage]

  [Mighty blow]

  “So when were you lot planning on telling me?” I glared around the table despite the grin on my face. Seconds ticked by. In true Kaesor fashion, both siblings simultaneously pointed at Uncle Wolfe and promptly threw him under the bus. “It was his idea.” Wolfe’s laugh detonated in the quiet like a stick of cartoon dynamite.

  “I wanted it to be a surprise,” he said, holding up both hands. “Robert was due, and I vetoed the group text. Wait until you see the old man tear up a pack of dire wolves. He’s like a meat blender with a bad attitude.”

  Dad just grunted, looking anywhere but at me. I didn’t need magical senses to read the tension—the flush creeping up his neck, the clench of his jaw. The man carried his pride like a shield, even when it got dented.

  He didn’t say much, hooked a thumb at his empty plate and mumbled, “Good roast, huh?” like that explained the whole damn thing.

  He looked healthy, though; in fact, he looked like a man who'd spent a month at a weightlifting retreat run by drill sergeants who'd been fired for being too motivated. The fat he'd carried since as long as Aiden could remember was melted off. There was a new width to his shoulders, the kind that threatened to make every shirt he owned obsolete. The System really did like to mould people to their inner narrative.

  "I just thought," Robert started, then looked away and scratched the back of his neck, "with you kids all in it, and things ramping up out there… why the hell not? I wasn't exactly expecting to be competing with you three anymore. Figured I’d cheer from the sidelines." But his face said it all: he wanted to be in the scrum. Always had. Even when he was a kid, his old man had radiated aggression like heat from stove top coils.

  The silence that followed was gentle, a sort of family understanding letting things settle on their own. Wolfe was first to break it with a whistling exhale. "You know, I’ve recruited a lot of people to this mess. Most of them didn’t take to it like your kids. But that first time your old man popped a goblin like a balloon, I wanted to throw him a parade."

  Dad just rolled his eyes, more boyish than Aiden had ever seen him. "The thing was three feet tall. Wasn’t exactly a fair fight."

  "Not with that monster hammer of yours." I shot Uncle Wolf a questioning look. "Your dad got a weapon-based skill with his Class, which lets him summon up a war hammer about as tall as he is." Suddenly, the mental image I had of my dad killing goblins became significantly more hilarious. More like Mario with a power hammer. I couldn't help the laugh that burst out of me, and soon the rest of the family was laughing as well.

  "Well, it's a little earlier than I expected, but welcome to the insanity, Dad." He wasn’t even sure if his father heard him over the laughter, but the effect was evident in the way Robert all but glowed, shoulders lifting with something like pride—though there was a wariness in the set of his jaw. Aiden doubted he’d ever seen his father wrestle with being vulnerable and strong at the same time until now. It fit him, somehow, the way old tools fit new hands; awkward at first, then seamless.

  They lingered around the table until the roast was just a memory. Sean started stacking plates, predictably clumsy, juggling them with a bravado that would have been funnier if it didn't threaten to shatter decades-old ceramics. Vicky shot him a narrow-eyed warning and snagged the wine bottle before his careening elbow could knock it askew. Even after everything, some rituals held on. Wolfe helped Dad wipe down the countertop, swapping low, rumbling jokes about whose Blood Pressure had tanked since starting with the System. Dad pretended not to notice that every shirt in the laundry basket was now two sizes too small, but he let out this satisfied kind of sigh every time he stretched and flexed through the new, wider door frame.

  “So, what’s next?” Sean asked, “We all go clear a dungeon together? Kaesor family adventure part two, electric boogaloo?” He was only half-joking.

  Dad made a sound like a stuck chain. “Hardly, Wolfe volunteered to help me train up a bit before we get into something like that. So hopefully I won’t so you youngsters down too much.”

  "Oh please, Dad, Aiden makes us all look slow anyway." Sean retorted, pointing an accusing finger at me. I just grinned and shrugged. I had joined up with teams Sean was working with a time or two, so he'd seen what I could do when I wasn't babysitting. I sat back and enjoyed the friendly ribbing that circled the table while Vipera shifted under my skin. She was rarely more content than when I was with my family. Calm and content. These moments were important, even if they couldn't last forever.

  They were candles in the dark, lighting the way home.