Noblesse Oblige!

INSIDE the luxury craft was different from other warbirds. At the back of the cabin were a few spacious booths for passengers. The Keeper had her own private cubicle, while the others had to share. Ryan, Jasmine, Mac and the others were in the main cabin, the comfortably spaced seats and aesthetics of the cabin were accommodating to the five magi for their journey.

Ryan dropped his backpack onto the seat next to him, then, started fiddling with his wand. Mac sat opposite him, "Where's Jasmine?" she asked looking around.

"I think the proctors are having a talk with the Keeper." Ryan said back, on the other side, Amanda was also seated, looking out the window.

"What are you doing with that thing?" Mac asked, referring to his wand

"Oh, I'm downloading a new app called Reacher,"

"Reacher?"

"Yeah, I think it's some sort of long range app, like for affecting things that are far away."

Mac went to the porthole, outside, all she could see was an endless sea of clouds.

"I can't believe I'm on an actual ARGUS warbird." Mac exclaimed, "How cool is that?"

"Very," Ryan grinned, "And we have no idea how much cooler it's going to get."

Moments later, Jasmine walked out of the Keeper's suite and walked towards them. The first thing she did was take off her ranger's belt, then crash onto a chair.

"So, what happened to your predecessor, proctor?" Ryan asked,

Jasmine sighed, "That would be Proctor Duncan James, he retired. He was a Proctor for over five decades, he'd seen a lot and I guess he'd finally had enough of it."

"Wow," Ryan said disinterested

"Did you know that I'm now the youngest person to be promoted to proctor, ever? Like in all of ARGUS history?"

"No kidding?" Mac said,

"I'm serious," Jasmine said, "I'm nearly twenty-one, but that's still a good seven-year age gap between me and the last person to hold the record for youngest Proctor."

"When's your birthday?" Mac asked

"February 19th" Jasmine said,

"Huh, that's the same day as this kid I knew back at the sanctuary," Mac commented, before turning to Ryan, "What about you? When's your birthday?"

"The 27th of June." Ryan said, "on my last birthday I was almost killed by a hot substitute teacher and blew up my school."

"Really? Awesome," Mac said,

"Not really," Jasmine said, "I should know, I was there. He buried me alive."

"You have got to stop bringing that up," Ryan commented

"Well mines April 22nd , since no one asked," Mac muttered

"Nice." Ryan said, then his wand beeped, "Oh, my apps done installing."

"Ryan, are you still downloading useless apps onto your wand?" Jasmine complained, "a wand is a precision instrument that can mean the difference between life and death for a magus, not a toy for your own amusement."

"Why can't it be both?" Ryan asked, "And these apps are useful."

"Right, an app that picks locks is useful, an app that makes clothes disappear isn't."

"Well, technically, that Hider app could have its practical uses beyond petty voyeurism." Ryan said, shining a ray from his wand that made the section of floor below them, invisible.

Then, the door to Stephanie's suite opened and she walked out with William.

"Eyes on me, everyone," Stephanie said drawing their attention. She had lost the Keeper coat and looked more relaxed as she addressed them.

As she walked to the middle of the cabin, a section of the floor opened up allowing a solid dais table to rise up

"Okay, you have our attention." Ryan said as his seat swiveled to face the table.

"First off, I would like to thank all of you for coming with me to this thing. it's incredibly boring and the more of you there are to distract me, the better I'll be." Stephanie said

"So, what are we expecting?" Amanda asked

"The actual summit doesn't hold for another three days," Jasmine explained, "That time allows for all the different Keepers to get their act together and assemble."

"So even Keepers come late?" Mac asked

"Yeah," Stephanie said, "we Keepers aren't the most composed bunch. After all the Keepers have arrived, then the summit begins. First, Keepers will address all sorts of issues and concerns in an open dialogue to clear the air on the first two days, then the following two days, the Keeper king discloses the main issue for the gathering. Then the last day the Keepers and their party file out. All in all, it takes a whole week."

"So, the Keeper king is the Keeper of the first branch?" Mac asked curious. She wasn't familiar with the inner workings of the juggernaut know as ARGUS.

"Yes," Jasmine said, "And he is, incidentally, king of all of ARGUS."

"Hence the name," Ryan commented, "So how many summits have you been to?"

"This will make my third summit," Stephanie admitted, "but it's my first as a Keeper so it's kind of a big moment for me."

"That rare, huh?"

"Yeah, the King doesn't call all the Keepers together unless it's something real big." William said

Jasmine then remembered the warnings of her sister, about something terrible stirring because of Ryan.

"I have an unrelated question." Mac asked, "Why didn't we just use the portals?"

"Yeah, why do we have to fly there if the warp-gates are still functioning." Ryan said

"First off, we can't use a portal to get to the 1st branch, since the 1st branch is located in a splinter realm. It's diplomatically neutral territory, so no branch can have direct access." Stephanie said, "Besides, there is literally only one way to access the 1st branch, which is where we're going right now."

They continued to discuss for several more minutes until the meeting was concluded.

"You might want to call it a day," Stephanie suggested, as the table receded back into the floor, she then walked back to her suite, "It'll be some time till we get there."

Later that night, Ryan was tossing and turning restlessly in his sleep. All of a sudden, he jolted awake, breathing hard and wand in his outstretched hand. He looked around to find he was still on board the warbird Victory, Mac and Jasmine were sleeping opposite him.

He steadied his breathing and calmed himself down, for months now he had been having the same reoccurring nightmare. With him being back on that ship on the Graveyard Island, with Christie… and that thing. He kept replaying that fateful moment, when Christie's hand left his and she was swallowed up by the Darkness, no matter what he tried, the dream always ended with that moment.

He takes a deep breath, "I'm sorry, Christie." he says under his breath before he lay his head back down but knows he's not going to get much sleep for the rest of the night, "you deserved better than me."

… )]≥( …

The next day, Stephanie woke them up with a smile, "C'mon, we're almost there, you wouldn't want to miss the big show."

Ryan stifled a yawn.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Mac asked

"It's fine, I'm just a little sluggish." Ryan lied

"It's just that I heard you mumbling throughout the night," Mac continued

"I said I'm fine," Ryan snapped

Along with the Keeper and her entourage, the executive warbird was also staffed with two pilots and two attendants. One of the attendants approached Stephanie, "Good morning, Keeper Fairchylde, Captain Millers said I should inform you that we will be entering the precipice shortly and you should buckle in as we expect heavy turbulence." She said in that measured and calm flight attendant voice.

"Thank you." Stephanie said as she took one of the free seats and strapped in. "This will get very bumpy,"

As the warbird Victory crossed into the Bermuda Triangle, the craft was met by an ever-present magikal hurricane that haunts the area, known as the Bal-amhri. Even with the expert guidance of seasoned pilots the craft was still trembling from the turbulence like an earthquake, getting worse as they neared the eye of the storm, a massive maelstrom. Only specially designed warbirds, like the ones used by ARGUS, could survive in these harsh conditions and make it to the eye.

After the absolute hell it was getting through the Bal-amhri, once they passed through the vortex it was deathly calm. Instead of arriving in the eye of the storm, they ended up in a different plane of existence. A swirling gray void with dozens of swirling vortexes scattered around them, spewing things in and sucking them out. The Precipice.

This was Ryan's first time seeing this place that wasn't a place, and he could picture how this space could be ideal for ARGUS's central command. The Naexis in the precipice was alive, he could feel it on his skin, in his hair in his lungs. This place was as deep in the Veil as any mortal dared to go.

"We're here." Stephanie said excitedly and they all looked out the windows as a silhouette of a giant floating landmass appeared in the gloom. As the craft closed in, the shape came into clearer detail and the 1st branch was revealed.

"No way," Ryan said gazing in wonder with a huge grin on his face.

Stephanie had told him that the entire city was on a floating island, she forgot to mention the fact that the entire city was upside-down.

The city was built around what appeared to be an inverted mountain, and was a collection of tall structures all clustered together and held by a series of bridges, balconies, walkways, suspended thoroughfares and aqueducts of different sizes, all crisscrossing around and through the inverted metropolis. [Imagine something like New York built upside-down]. The city was a mighty citadel where the ancient blended with the ultramodern, great cathedrals and castles of brick and mortar hung beside towering skyscrapers of glass and steel. There were aqueducts that fed streams and rivers all around the city, emptying at the numerous waterfalls that disappeared into the gloom below. Numerous ports and jetties ringed the city at different levels, where several dozen warbirds sailed to and fro.

Despite being upside-down, the city featured lush and vibrant vegetation, with hanging gardens, vertical parks and massive terrariums ringing most towers. In the middle of the mass that was this city was a massive temple structure, like a pyramid, that was the exact center of the city, where all the main roads led to. It was made of white stone and had the ARGUS symbol engraved boldly onto its sides,

"This… this is…" Mac gaped

"Crazy!" Ryan replied with a wild smile on his face.

"No kidding," Amanda said as awe stricken as they were

"This is the first branch, otherwise known as the city of High V'hax." Stephanie declared confidently. "The ancient capital of Atlantis."

Around the floating city, warbirds and fighter crafts patrolled the skies and even from that distance giant torrents and cannons could be seen trained on them, standing at the ready to blow them out of the sky.

A POD flew from the flying city towards their craft, scanning it, then it transmitted a message through the intercom. You have entered restricted territory. Please identify.

"Keeper Stephanie Gwendolyn Fairchylde. ARGUS Branch 45. Authorization: 626519Ω. Requesting permission to enter."

After a brief pause, the POD replied, Permission granted, welcome to Branch 1, Keeper Fairchylde. Allow me to guide you docking bay G19.

A chord of energy shot from the POD to the bow of the craft and the POD started towing the craft into the city as the cannons came to a rest. As they drew closer, they could see banners flying the same symbol,

 Along the way, Ryan saw lots of people hustling and bustling about. Some people waved at them as they passed by, some held up welcome signs, Ryan even eyed a girl that blew him a kiss.

The Victory descended into a canal and followed it into a large domed building. Inside, they could see other warbirds docked in jetties, their occupants disembarking.

After the Victory was properly docked, Stephanie and her entourage disembark and began finding their way to the port. Amanda and William were ordered to supervise the transport of their luggage, which just left Ryan, Jasmine and Mac with the Keeper.

"This place is so huge." Mac said looking around

"High V'hax used to be the capital city of Old Atlantis," Jasmine said, "after the whole continent was destroyed, it's all that remains of the ancient magus civilization. The last remnants of the greatest magus society this world has ever known."

She had a gleam in her eyes that told Ryan that she was very excited

"I take it you're really into this?"

"Are you kidding?" Jasmine said, "when I was just starting out, Christie and I would to spend hours talking about Old Atlantis…"

At the mention of Christie's name, the excitement quickly died down. Jasmine missed her dear friend, and knew that she would've been delighted to be standing here. The fact that she wasn't sent a wave of anger through her body. She hated the thing that killed Christie… and as much as she didn't want to admit it, part of her still hadn't forgiven Ryan for letting her friend die.

Ryan just gave a forced smile, "it's good that you have fun memories of her,"

"There should be someone here to greet us," Stephanie said, looking around "A representative of the—" she stopped when she saw a guy by the Victory talking to William. He was tall and thin, with dark shiny hair greased back, his mustache was stylishly trimmed, and his eyes shimmered silver. He wore a dark suit that complemented his body and stood with such posture and authority, you'd think he was a prince.

"Oh crap, not him." Stephanie hissed, "We need to go, now." She started trying to sneak away, but the man approached them.

"I'd know that back anywhere." He said smiling and showing off perfect white teeth as he came close, "the last time I saw it, you were rushing out of my hotel room in the middle of the night, Stevie."

The look on Stephanie's face made it obvious she didn't want to talk to him. She turned around and forced a smile, "Vladimir, long time no see? How are you?"

"I'm good, Stevie." He replied, scanning her from head to toe with his silver eyes, "Though not as good as you, time is definitely your friend."

"Stevie?" Ryan said in unison with Mac.

"Everyone, this is Lord Vladimir Draco Armitage Enstien III. He and I have… history. Vlad, I'm so sorry about how we left thing."

"Yes, I am too." Vlad said, "I tried to reach out to you, but what can one say to the woman who left him at the altar?"

"WHAT!?" Ryan exclaimed

"The note you left at the reception was comforting." Vlad said, as Stephanie visibly buckled, like she'd been hit.

"Listen Vlad, I'm really sorry for that. I was really immature at the time," Stephanie said, 

"Don't be, I've been meaning to thank you." Vlad said, "You leaving me made me realize that marriage wasn't really for me, I'm dedicated to my work now and I couldn't be happier."

"Oh." Stephanie said, "Well, it was great catching up, but we need to go meet out city representative."

"Well, coincidentally, that's me, Keeper Fairchylde." Vlad said with a polite bow. He then looked at Jasmine and paused, "Those are some lovely eyes you have, young lady."

"Uh, thank you." Jasmine said uncertain about the comment.

"Well, I have arranged for a car to pick you up outside and take you to your hotel." Vlad said, "Unfortunately, I have some urgent matter to attend to elsewhere, if you'd excuse me."

"Bye." Ryan said as Vlad walked off, then, Ryan faced Stephanie and looked at her, "Him. Really?"

[Stephanie has had a very interesting pattern of bailing out of relationships. She meets a guy, they start dating, then when things get serious, she bails. Once, she met a guy on the bus in the morning, dumped him and met another guy in the park before dumping him too, all in the same week. I didn't think she'd ever had a boyfriend for more than two months. There was this one guy, Scott, who managed to propose to her at a concert, the next day he's reported missing and was never seen again…I always wondered what happened to him?]

"He was from when I was much younger." She said rubbing her shoulder, "Before you."

"You stood him up, on your wedding day?" Ryan said, "And you left him a note to do it?"

"I couldn't well break up with him in person. That would've been way too awkward, with all those guests." Stephanie said, "Now hush up and let's go."

Mac walked beside Ryan, "I keep forgetting that you're her nephew."

"I forget it too, when she pesters me like a mom." Ryan said

Outside waiting for them was a car, it was a rather luxurious looking limousine, but instead of tires there were large orbs, and the whole thing hover a foot off the ground. From the terminal, the car took them to a tall tower with the name EMPRESS INN written on the side. This was their destination where they had a queen suite reserved for them.

A queen suite took up half of the level, with another queen suite taking up the other half. After the elevator, there was a corridor with a fine rug on the floor and paintings on the walls; at the end of the corridor is a balcony. Halfway up the corridor are two identical room doors opposite each other, there is an electronic lock by the door only disengaged by the room card and on each door, QUEEN SUITE is engraved onto a plaque. Stephanie and her crew are staying in QS2, as Amanda taps the room card onto the sensor, it beeps and clicks open.

The inside of the hotel room was bigger than most apartments, the door opens into an atrium, then past that is a living area with lavish furniture; the sofas and chairs were made of a soft black silky fabric, a central coffee table made of a combination of wood and metal with intricately detailed carvings, there was a wall mounted monitor. There were three bedrooms and a private office along with a mini bar and a fridge. In the rooms, the beds were softer than soft, like sleeping on a cloud, the sheets were 500 count fine silk. There was a walk in closet and an en suite bathroom with a massive tub and a lavish shower stall.

"This is where we'll be staying until the summit ends?" Ryan asked,

"Yes," Jasmine answered, "There are dozens of other hotels that were booked for Keepers, but how did we get this one? From what I've heard the Empress Inn is one of the best hotel in the city."

"Vlad has his connections." Stephanie said with a hint of admiration, "He's a purveyor of all things rare and exquisite; he is the foremost authority on ancient or lost cultures, myths and antiquities."

"Wow," Mac said, "Vlad sounds awesome."

"Alright everyone, get a room and get unpacked." Stephanie ordered as she commandeered one of the three private rooms for herself. The boys took one of the free rooms and the girls took the other.

The next morning, Ryan and Mac went to see Stephanie in the office, where they found Jasmine as well.

"What do you want us for?" Ryan asked

"Ryan, you're the last living Reins on the face of the earth, which makes you the de facto patriarch of the Reins house." Stephanie explained

"Wow, a whole house of one?" Ryan said with mock enthusiasm.

"This is serious," Stephanie chided, "While you're here I want to get you legitimized as the new heir to the Reins legacy, the family birthright."

"Whoa, Ryan is gonna be a noble?" Mac asked, as she mock bowed to him, "well done, m'lord."

"A noble?"

"The Reins are among the forty-seven great houses that first founded ARGUS." Jasmine said, "the head of each house earns the honorary title of 'lord' of 'lady', as a sign of nobility."

"I have to be part of the aristocracy?" Ryan said looking unenthused

"Unfortunately, and since the Reins house has officially been extinct for nearly two decades, the process of getting you recognized isn't going to be easy." Stephanie sighed

"What about me?" Mac asked, "my family isn't noble."

"No, but I promised your father that I'd look out for his family, and the first step to that is getting that family legitimized by ARGUS." Stephanie said, "Biotics are endangered, so it's about time you get the protections under magus law that you are owed. Congratulations, you're about to be a certified pureblood under my house."

Mac was utterly speechless, "I-is that even possible?"

"It's what happened when my sister and I joined ARGUS, only we weren't purebloods." Stephanie shrugged, "Ryan, your grandfather threw such a fit when I started dating your dad."

"What?" Mac exclaimed, "So she dated your dad, and he then married her twin sister? So your dad—"

"I try not to think about it too much," Ryan scowled,

"The man had a type," Stephanie said with a smug grin,

"Ugh, can we not talk about you and my dad's love life?" Ryan pleaded, "like, ever again?"

"Nuh-uh," Mac interrupted, "I live for gossip,"

Before Stephanie could go into more details, there was a knocking from the door, it was a POD [seriously, those things are EVERYWHERE]. Jasmine let it in and it drifted over to Stephanie.

Excuse me, but you have a visitor waiting in the reception, it said, Lord Vlad Enstien.

Stephanie nodded, "Fine, let him through."

Of course, Keeper Fairchylde, and with that, the POD floated out.

"I'm going to ask Vlad if he can fast-track your legitimization, since he's good at playing the bureaucracy." Stephanie said, "Of course I'll be there too, to serve as witness and deal with some other official crap."

"Speaking of Vlad, maybe you could tell us what happened between you two?" Ryan said

"Hey, that too personal a thing to ask a Keeper," Mac scolded,

"Yeah, that's just insensitive and disrespectful," Jasmine commented

"The two of you were all for hearing about how my dad got with both twins," Ryan accused, "I take interest in another of my aunt's old flames and suddenly I'm being insensitive, don't be hypocrites."

"I don't want to talk about what happened between me and Vlad." Stephanie sighed, hammering in the point that the conversation was closed.

Ryan narrowed his eyes scrutinizing the face of his aunt, "alright… for now."

A short wait later, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Ryan calls as he rushes to the door and opens it, standing in front of him is Vlad

"Hello," he greeted 

"Vlad, just the guy I wanted to see." Ryan said,

"And why is that?"

Before Ryan can say more, Jasmine approaches, "What are you doing, idiota?"

"Nothing," Ryan says innocently.

"Right," Jasmine glares

The moment Vlad and Jasmine made eye contact, both their eyes seemed to glow momentarily. Jasmine felt an intense heat in her eyes, unlike anything she'd ever felt before, that caused her to take a step back away from the smartly dressed man.

"S-sorry," Jasmine muttered, "that's never happened before,"

"It's quite alright," Vlad said, "but those are some lovely eyes you have Miss Sumner."

"Uh thanks," Jasmine said slowly, "you too?"

Was he trying to come on to her? Jasmine wasn't sure she liked that, despite looking in his prime, the guy was probably anywhere between his late thirties or early seventies, Jasmine was barely twenty years old. That was one hell of an age gap, even for a magus.

"Quite the rare gift you have there," he said, "If you ever want to know more about them, I am always available,"

"What?" Jasmine asked, surprised, "How did you know?"

"I make it my business to know who I'm dealing with." Vlad said, his silver eyes shining,

"Wow, thanks." Jasmine said, she was still suspicious, but determined to not pass up any help she could get.

"You're very welcome," Vlad said, then he past them into the room, "So, is Stevie… er, I mean, Keeper Fairchylde in?"

"Last time I checked." Ryan said,

"She asked me to take you to her office." Jasmine said

"Alright," Vlad said as Jasmine led him towards the office Stephanie was using.

When she returned to the door, she finds Ryan standing in the corridor, talking to a girl in front of the opposite room. She has smooth fair skin with long straight silver hair that sparkled in the light and bright amber eyes.

"Ryan, who's this?" Jasmine asks, catching the attention of the two.

"I don't know." He says, "I can't understand her."

The girl turned to Jasmine and smiled, "Olleh, ym eman si Kana, i-ma ni eht moor etisoppo sruoy. Ti-si ecin ot teem uoy."

She spoke so fluidly and fluently it took Jasmine a few seconds to process what she had just heard.

"See what I mean?" Ryan said,

"Don't be rude, you idiot," Jasmine said, elbowing him in the side.

"What?" Ryan said cleaning his ear with his fingers.

"She just spoke High Atalan, very old school." Jasmine said, "She's saying her name is Kana, she's in the opposite room."

"Oh." Ryan said

"I-ma Jasmine. Evi-grof ym dettiwmid dneirf, Ryan, eh-si na toidi!" Jasmine said almost just as fluently.

Kana's eyes widened in surprise, then a bright smile spread across her lips, she seemed newly excited about something.

"I didn't know you spoke High Atalan," Ryan said to Jasmine

"What are you talking about," Jasmine said looking at him confused, "I don't,"

From her reply, Kana looked at her funny, "Jasmine, uoy tsuj ekops Atlan ot em."

"What?" Jasmine said, unknown to her, her eyes glowed faintly, "Tahw od uoy neam I ekops Atlan. I tonnac…" her eyes widened with realization, "I-ma gnikaeps ti hthgir won, era-ton I?"

Kana nodded slowly and Jasmine looked incredulous. Since when could she easily speak a sacred language? High Atalan was also known as the Eden Tongue, it was the language spoken in old Atlantis by the ancient magi. It was the foundation for the modern glyphs used in casting. Each word held great power, which was why it is still used when invoking the most powerful magik, the Eden Arts. To speak it conversationally was virtually unheard of nowadays, only grandmaster magi, those who spend decades of their lives studying Eden arts can use the words effectively… so how did she do it unconsciously?

"I evah ot og." Kana said, "Ti saw ecin gniteem uoy." She said as she ran into her room.

It was at that moment when Stephanie, Vlad and Mac stepped out of the room, "Alright, let's go get you… what happened?" Stephanie said as she looked at the faces before her

"Um, Jasmine just spoke High Atalan without knowing," Ryan said

"It's true," Jasmine said looking worried, "what's happening to me?"

Vlad stepped forward to look her over, "interesting…" he mused staring at her eyes, they were still glowing faintly, and some patterns could be made out around the retinas.

"W-what?"

"You don't have any control over your eyes, do you?"

"N-no,"

"It seems I'll have to teach you control,"

"You'd do that for her?" Stephanie asked

"Yes, it's the least I could do," Vlad said, "Tomorrow I'll meet with you. For now, you must rest." Vlad instructed

"But…" Jasmine started to protest, but his urging and Stephanie's orders convinced her to call it a day.

"Will she be alright?" Ryan asked

"She'll be fine," Vlad said, "For now it's the two of you who we need to focus on."

A short limo ride later, they found themselves before the Ministry of Ancestry, which held the records of every magus family in ARGUS since its inception. The building looked similar to the Empire State Building, except upside-down.

Passing the grand entrance into the lobby, they were greeted by a bustling ground floor, there were people waiting in queues separated by partition ropes and people in lines before dozens of teller windows.

"My god, this place hasn't changed at all," Stephanie grimaced, "why does that make it seem even more depressing?"

"This is where all family matters are handled," Vlad explained to the two teenagers, "everything from wedding registry and divorce, to child custody and family lineage."

Thankfully, because they were with Vlad, they were allowed to cut through the long queues to get to a teller window, which earned them dirty looks from the other people who had been waiting hours.

At their window was a young woman dressed in a smart office suite with neat hair and a plastic smile.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Ancestry Affairs, how may I help you today?" she said mechanically.

Vlad smiled at the teller, "Good day my dear, I'm here to get a family officially recognized and to also legitimize a family heir as the new head."

She nodded and went away for a few minutes, when she returned, she slipped two booklets towards Vlad

"You will need to fill these out, providing relevant information and identification, then submit them to their respective offices on the 17th and 39th floors. Next."

They took the booklets and went to one of the many business tables available for patrons to use. Mac's booklet was labeled 'Official Family Indoctrination' and Ryan's booklet was labeled 'Transfer of Legacy'. 

"I'll go with Mac to get her family recognized," Stephanie said, "I'm familiar with the process."

"I'll go with Ryan to get him legitimized." Vlad said as they went for separate elevators.

Getting Ryan recognized as the heir of the Reins family took longer than anticipated. Firstly, the Reins family was not yet official recognized as extinct, but all known members were documented deceased, so Ryan had to take a blood test to prove that he was, in fact, a Reins. After that, they had to go through the entire bureaucratic circus, getting the pending extinction certificate of the Reins house revoked, getting his family re-instated as an active sponsor to ARGUS, getting re-registered within the 45th Sanctum, getting an inventory of the family assets held by ARGUS, then finally getting recognized as the sole successor to the Reins family legacy. However, since Ryan wasn't yet twenty years old, and thus not fully an adult by magus standards, he couldn't legally inherit the family legacy, so it went to a trust that had been set up for him by his parents.

"Are we done yet?" Ryan begged once they left the last office.

"Not even close," Vlad chuckled, "now you need to receive your copy of the magus noblesse codex; the book of rules, responsibilities, and privileges you are now entitled to as a noble lord. Then, you will need to contact the Citadel and have a new arkan assigned to your house." he still went on, "you'll also need to establish a territory of your own, at least if you want to be taken seriously, and then open contact with other nobles and highborn pure-bloods. You are familiar with proper noble etiquette, right?"

Ryan just groaned, "when will it end?"

"How did it go?" Mac asked, when they reunited at the ground floor.

"I can see why you hate bureaucracy," Ryan said to Stephanie, then he held up a sealed scroll, "this place sucks!"

"We're mostly all good on this end," Vlad said, "the rest will have to be handled from the 45th."

"Good, now we can get out of this godawful place," Stephanie sneered as she started for the exit.

On their way back to the hotel, Ryan was sitting next to Vlad in their limo and opted then to strike up a conversation.

"Hey Vlad…" he started,

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering, but, what you know about mystic gears?"

"Quite a bit, actually" Vlad answered, "In my line of work, it pays to have a wide repertoire of knowledge for any and all situations. Why?"

"Would you also know how to activate them?"

"I suppose." Vlad said,

"Well, it turns out that I have one in my possession, and no idea how to use it,"

"Really? That is impressive." Vlad says, "mystic gears are not that easy to come by, though I've never actually used one before, I suppose I could give you some useful tips." Vlad said,

"Wow, thanks," Ryan said

"No problem, anything for a nephew of Stevie's." Vlad said, "If you're free meet me tomorrow at 7 on the yard, that's when I'll be training Ms. Sumner."

When they arrived back at the hotel, Stephanie and Vlad opted to stay in and prepare for the summit, while Ryan and Mac meet Jasmine, Amanda and William on their way out.

"I thought you were resting," Ryan said

"Now she'd going out with us, there's this place I've always wanted to visit," William said, "wanna come?"

"Spend the evening with those two in enough sexual tension to swoon a nun, or hang out with you guys? Hmm, let me think." Ryan said sarcastically

"After spending all that time at the Ministry of Ancestry, you guys deserve to have a little fun tonight," Vlad told them, "on me."

He produced a black card from his wallet and handed it to Jasmine

"Is that an obsidian card?" Amanda asked, "I've never seen one in person in person before."

"It has unlimited credit, but don't spend it all at once," Vlad said

"We won't," William said

"Don't get into too much trouble," Stephanie said as they went for the elevator

"C'mon guys, lets hit the town." Mac said, "I've always wanted to say that."

… )]≥( …

Once at the lobby, they exited the elevator and walked towards the doors, when Ryan and Jasmine ran into someone they knew.

"Ryan, Jasmine, ti-si doog ot ees eht owt fo uoy niaga."

"Kana," Ryan said, looking back at the elevators, then at Kana, "How're you?"

Kana giggled, "I-ma enif," she said, "I saw gnikool drawrof ot gniees uoy niaga."

Ryan smiled awkwardly

Kana cleared her throat, "R-Rya-n, w-wi-wil-l… y-ou go-o…" she struggled to say.

He pulled his wand from his jacket, "Ah, I just remembered, I have a universal translator app on my wand."

"Why would you need a translator," Jasmine asked

"Long story involving Noah, a bet I can't in good conscience speak about to another living soul, and a horrible evening with cannibal forest nymphs that we will never speak of again."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow, then just shrugged at Ryan's antics as he activated the translator app, the wand tip glowed with a purple hue.

"Try speaking." He instructed

Kana looked reluctant, "Llew, ereh seog… I would like to h—" her eyes widened, "I-I am speaking in your language? It does not feel any different."

Ryan could still see her lips moving in high Atalan, but her voice came out in English. It was like watching a dubbed telenovela in real life.

"Yes you are." Jasmine said, "congratulations,"

"So, Ryan," Kana said, "I wanted to know if you wanted to accompany me around the city?"

"Uh," Ryan said, "Sorry, Kana, but my friends and I are going out tonight. Maybe… maybe some other time."

"Oh," Kana said, disappointed, "Well, I look forward to when we meet again."

"Yeah, right." Ryan said, "Got to go meet up with my friends. Uh, bye."

As Jasmine and Ryan walked towards the entrance, Jasmine caught a glimpse of sadness on Ryan's face.