"Uh... What?"

  Silvia looked at the text written on the front of the stack of papers. Confused, Ryan flipped through each sheet, and they all just had a single line on it, just in different languages. It was pretty obvious that it was the same invitation.

  "So what, now that the door opened, they realised that we couldn't understand them with these small notes this whole time?" Ryan rhetorically asked, dropping the paper onto the table, "Am I really just supposed to go in there, now?"

  "Are you fucking insane?" Yanna asked, confused and startled by that very idea, "You want to just go into the dark void behind the door created by a four-dimensional deity?"

  Ryan looked up at the minotaur, and slowly shrugged, "I guess so, yeah."

  Without words, Yanna just looked over at Modak, who shrugged, "I figured he was going to go in there anyway, so that part isn't shocking."

  "You thought- Why? Why would he do that? Ryan, why would you do that?"

  "I mean..." Silvia added, looking at her sister with an awkward smile, "It kind of makes you curious, right? You know, what's going on? What does the administrator want with Ryan? What are the trials? What's that spirit lady got to do with it?"

  "Silvia, you're not going in there." Yanna put her foot down, staring down at the elf. "Ryan is one thing, because the spirits are strong, but you are not. going. in. there. Got it?"

  "I knoooow, don't worry, I wasn't planning to! I'm not that crazy. We'll just strap a camera to Ryan so we can see what's going on in there." As though it were the most natural option, Silvia looked over at Modak, who slowly nodded his head.

  "I think we should be able to make that happen. To be honest, I don't think we'll get a great long-distance signal, but we can record things at the very least. Maybe Runar could help enhance a camera so we can use that signal teleport thing?"

  "He might do that, yeah. We'll ask when he finally fucking answers his phone," Ryan pointed out, glancing over at his screen. He was hoping to have gotten some kind of response, but his messages weren't even getting delivered. Frankly, he was terrified about what might have happened, but it was Runar - it was impossible for anything to happen to him, right?

  Yanna seemed relieved at what Ryan just said, "So you're running it by your uncle first?"

  "I mean, I'll tell him about it, and if he doesn't give me a good reason not to, I'm going inside," he replied immediately. Though Yanna didn't like the idea, she knew that there were things going on beyond what she could really grasp. Fate? The administrator? This was all way beyond her.

  "If you say so... Just be careful, okay?" she patted Ryan's shoulder, trying to encourage him, "Don't do anything stupid or reckless if you can avoid it. And I know, that's a lot, coming from you."

  "Why... would you do something like that?" Fae stared at Ryan, still a few steps away, "I get that you don't know why this is happening, but you would risk your life just to satiate your curiosity?"

  Ryan turned around, not quite sure what expression to make. It wasn't like Ryan didn't get it, or that he wasn't absolutely terrified.

  "Fae... it's the administrator. Do you think this is just an invitation? It's a summon, I basically have to go. The door is open, and I don't know what's going to happen if I don't head down there. For all I know, monsters will come swarming out." Of course, Ryan didn't have anything to back up this assumption, but it felt like a reasonable thing.

  History was littered with instances where gods showed their fury when they were ignored, especially when they actively attempted to reach out to others. And sure, the administrator wasn't technically a deity, but powerful beings were always happy to abuse their powers. Since almost nothing was known about the administrator, it was a bit of a gamble.

  "And you're going to head into incredibly likely doom just because of that? What if you somehow drag Silvia into all of this ridiculousness? What if she gets affected even more by your... by your bullshit?!" Fae stepped up to the table and slammed her hand onto it. Her entire body was covered in sharp, spiked patterns and dark clouds - she was completely furious, that was for sure.

  "... Honey... he's not dragging me into anything. I'm here by choice, because I want to, and because I love these guys," she explained, placing her hand onto the changeling's arm. Fae pulled back and stared at her.

  "But... this is dangerous, Silvia, this is so, so damned dangerous..."

  "I mean... is it, though?" Modak interjected, looking over at Fae, though this was meant for everyone else in the room, "We're not actually talking about some chaotic entity here. It's the Administrator of the system. Ryan, is the system unfair?"

  Ryan thought about that question for a moment, though really, the answer was simple.

  "No, it's not. The system rewards effort, and even if we don't understand them fully, there are very clear and strict rules."

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  "Right. Has the system ever lied?"

  "Excluding the time where one of my skills used to be called something else? Or the cases where people can manipulate the nature of 'truths' and 'lies'? Definitely not."

  Modak shrugged, "Then I don't think it's going to be dangerous. It's an 'invitation' to 'trials'. I'm going to run the rest of the notes through some translators so that we can see if there are any other connotations connected to the choice of words here beyond what they have in Riverian, but if it's just this, then it doesn't seem to be anything bad. Invitations are usually positive in nature, and trials are based on rules. If you do things correctly, if you best the trials, you're going to get something out of it."

  Somehow, this did seem to calm Fae down a bit, but it offered another question, "So why Ryan? What is it about him that makes the administrator give him of all people a trial? I've never even heard of anything like this. How do you even know it's actually the administrator, and not some kind of lie or trick?"

  To that, Ryan immediately shook his head, "No. It's the administrator, I'm sure of it. But... yeah. I don't know. I guess maybe it's related to the spirits? Or my lack of existing fate? Maybe it's just a coincidence, and it's just because I was the one that went downstairs and stepped into the door. Either way, whichever it is, the administrator is asking for me, and I feel like... I just kind of have to follow up on it. Like it's just what I'm supposed to do."

  Modak and Silvia glanced at each other for a moment. They were trying to see if they were both thinking the same thing. Ryan sounded scarily convinced, to the point where it wasn't just a simple guess or a regular gut-feeling.

  "Ryan, do you-" Silvia started, about to ask where his confidence is coming from exactly, when a pair of quiet footsteps could be heard. Everyone turned around, seeing Liam walking down the steps while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

  "Good morning..." he yawned a bit, "What are you guys talking about?"

  Immediately, Ryan stood up from his chair. Yanna grabbed the notes while Modak took the ring. Basically, they were just taking what was closest to them aright now, as Ryan walked over to the young kid.

  "Just about the party yesterday, and all the stuff that went wrong. Sorry if we were a bit loud just now, last night was just really upsetting," he explained, kneeling down in front of him as well, "We didn't really get to talk a lot about it anymore. Are you okay?"

  Liam slowly nodded, noticing the concerned stares of everyone else in the room, "I'm... okay. But why, what was going on? Were you guys drunk?"

  Ryan laughed, "Yeah, some of us."

  The boy narrowed his eyes, staring at Ryan suspiciously, "Did you guys do drugs?"

  Silvia scoffed, looking over at Modak with a teasing grin, "Yeah, some of us."

  "Did... I do drugs?" Liam asked, slowly looking down at his hands, but Ryan just laughed and shook his head.

  "I sure hope you didn't. Come on, let's get you some breakfast," he replied, placing his hand onto Liam's back. He turned over to the others, basically telling them wordlessly that they were going to continue this conversation later. Right now, in front of Liam, nothing of the sort would be discussed. Liam didn't even know the true nature of the skull downstairs - that it had been turned into a shrine. At first, Ryan didn't want to let Liam know at all, but it was a little hard to keep hidden, and it didn't seem like it was going to be anything dangerous. In that case, it was more dangerous to have Liam running around this house without knowing where and what everything was.

  But for now, Ryan just brought him into the kitchen, opening the fridge, "Okay, which one do you want?"

  "Hm..." Liam thought, "Can I have the chocolate one?"

  "Of course! Here you go," Ryan smiled, grabbing the light brown bottle. He poured it into a tall glass, put in a straw, and handed it to Liam.

  "So, how did you sleep?"

  "Hm... it was okay. I think I had a bad dream, but I don't remember it," Liam started sipping on his drink, smiling a bit at the taste, "I don't think it was anything too bad, though."

  Ryan let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like Liam noticed almost nothing of the events of last night, nor the clean-up that happened afterward. Ryan had led Liam upstairs through his own bedroom, so that the boy wouldn't have to see the living room like that.

  "Well, I'm sorry you had a bad dream. If you still need to sleep a bit, you can nap later, you know?"

  "... But it's already past ten. I slept way too long already. A whole six hours!"

  "Hah, you think six hours is bad? I slept a full eighteen hours once. Modak? After last exam season, he left me on read for a full day and a half because he was sleeping."

  Liam's eyes went wide, "What? That long?"

  "Mhm, that long. Plus, who cares if it's past six? Sleep whenever you feel like it. You're a kid, you can still afford to do that. It's also a lot like a vampire to sleep during the day."

  Confused, Liam tilted his head to the side, "What do you mean?"

  Ryan smiled a bit, "You know, part of the 'mythos' is that vampires are nocturnal. Apparently, in the past, vampires did sleep during the brightest hours of the day to pass the time a bit faster, but that was mostly because they wanted to get the most out of the night where they could walk around freely."

  "Huh. Neat! So I can be like a real vampire if I go to sleep again now?"

  "Mhm, you can be. But finish your breakfast fist, then you can take another nap if you feel like it," Ryan said, just when the doorbell went off. The kitchen was right next to the front door, so he quickly walked out to take a look. The screen on the side showed just some guy, standing there in suits and some shades. That was too sketchy to just let him inside, so Ryan slowly opened the door and stepped outside. The security system was still active, so even if it was someone hostile, they should be protected.

  "Hello?" the man said through the speakers, "I am with the Office of Awakened Affairs. May I speak to a... Ryan Aglecard?"

  "... I'll be right out."

  Even more confused, Ryan opened the door and walked over to the gate in the front.

  The man took a wallet out out his jacket's inner pocket to show his OAA credentials, "Jargo Carpenter, with the Office of Awakened Affairs. Are you Ryan Aglecard?"

  "... I'm him. What is this about?"

  The man cleared his throat, "May I come in? So that the neighbours don't start talking."

  Ryan raised a brow, looking past the man. The nearest neighbour's front door was not just out of earshot, but Ryan could barely see the house number.

  "I'm willing to take that risk. Again, could I ask what this is about?"

  "... I am here to investigate something about last night. After attending your 'party' yesterday, an anonymous individual got into a small accident. During the hospital visit, it was found that they were inflicted with an unidentified, unregistered, emotion-manipulating spell."

  Ryan felt a pit form in his stomach. Nora. Did Nora get into an accident because of the spell? So they didn't find him before anything happened...?

  "I was trying to be more civil about this before, but..." the man took out another document out of his chest pocket, handing it over to Ryan, "I came with a warrant to investigate your property."