In the living room of a large mansion-like house, three adolescent boys sat on an oversized couch watching television together. Two of them had the same jet black hair, but if one paid close attention, they would notice one of these boys had violet streaks while the other had aqua. Aside from the different hairstyles, one had buzzed sides and his hair tied back in a tight five-inch ponytail, while the other had a high and tight haircut similar to the one you’d see on a military member with the top a bit longer, the two were clearly brothers. The third boy had well-trimmed short sandy blond hair.

“Hey Cynrik, is it true that you guys were there when A-G 22097 collapsed? How did you guys get out?” The blond-haired boy looked away from the tv momentarily and looked at the boy with violet highlights, fiddling with a bracer on his left arm.

“Eh? I mean, yeah, we were actually the cause, to be honest. When we entered for our Exams, we got trapped in an anomaly Instance, and well by beating it, POOF, the whole place came down.” Cynrik replied while waving around a fancy metal tool that looked like a cross between a wrench and screwdriver while staring at the ceiling in thought.

**ACK

“Big Brother, I thought we agreed not to talk about that.” Brance, the boy with aqua highlights, smacked his brother in the arm, making him drop the tool between the couch cushions.

“Fuck, cmon Brance, it’s just Aiden; he would find out eventually anyway, right? AFTER ALL, he IS Auntie Maeve’s son; won’t Mom blab about it to her in due time.” Cynrik complained as he reached down in search of his tool so he could continue adjusting his hidden blade.

Even though only a day had gone by since they left the Egress, a lot had changed. Apparently, when the members of MyrkLys disappeared for a year, in their grief, Cinyah and Rikard had moved into the Pinhurst Mansion in the Capitol Valor City, as their home town Lawton didn’t have a teleporter reaching A-G 22097. This allowed them to lean on the Pinhurst family, with who they had a close relationship in their time of need, and gave them quick access to the Egress to dive in and try finding their children.

This sudden move had been a source of shock to Cynrik more than his brother, as even back on Earth, he hadn’t been fond of moving. However, when they arrived at Maeve’s family home, the two brothers were greeted with a level of smothering affection they had never experienced, mainly from Cinyah and Maeve. But, that wasn’t all; they were also forcefully introduced to Maeve’s only child Aiden, who, although nowhere near as eccentric as his mother, was definitely an oddball in his own way.

Strangely enough, it was Cynrik who hit it off relatively quick with Aiden, who was a huge nerd and had a love of comics and animations. Cynrik viewed the youngest Pinhurst as a kindred spirit who had a taste for the… most exemplary culture. This could be seen by the astronomical amount of Waifu figures posed all around his bedroom.

Upon seeing the room, Brance sneered in disgust and decided it was better not to get close with Aiden, leaving Cynrik to become instant best friends with the boy. However, no matter how much he denied it, Brance had a sneaking suspicion this weeb, whose level of “enlightenment” rivaled that of his older brother, would end up as part of their group as he was the Blacksmith MyrkLys needed.

The night of their arrival, Cynrik and Brance found themselves sitting in the living room with their parents, explaining the majority of what happened in the Egress, leaving out the parts about the Deities, something they tactfully agreed wasn’t the information that needed to be known by Cinyah and Rikard. Gabby and Benny needed little convincing as they were scared **less by Wadjet and the Adjudicator, so it was just a matter of giving an altered story to not only the city officials who controlled the Egress but also their parents.

The official story went as such, when the party entered the Egress, everything went fuzzy, and they realized instead of being a regular dungeon dive, they had entered a unique Instance. When they cleared the final boss, there was a bright flash, and the whole place started rumbling, so the party broke for the door. After that, they were outside. Since they were only children and were part of the Academy Exam, no one thought any foul play was involved on their end. It helped that Egresses had a reputation for being mysterious and unpredictable, so their story wasn’t entirely unbelievable.

Although the officials were unhappy with the tale spun by Cynrik and Brance, they had no other choice but to take it with a grain of salt. The loss of a Green Alpha Egress wasn’t so substantial that it would cripple the city’s economy, so in the end, the investigation was marked as a cold case without being resolved. Without any further leads as to the cause of everything and only the testimony of MyrkLys, it became a story that baffled people. So much so that the news had been nonstop talking about it for 24 hours straight.

“Boys, time for lunch!” The clear melodious voice of Cinyah echoed throughout the halls of the house, making the three boys jump up and dash to the kitchen.

Cynrik was still in awe of how casually Cinyah, a notorious helicopter parent, handled the whole situation. Again, of course, it had a lot to do with the fact that everyone returned home in one piece, and this time, at least in her mind, it wasn’t her sons’ fault. But, at the end of the day, she knew just how unpredictable and dangerous Egresses could be, so she chalked it up to that and moved on with life.

Turning around with her arms full of plates of food, Cinyah was surprised her children were already at the table and noticed Aiden was still walking in from the hallway. However, she quickly frowned when she looked at Cynrik with narrowed eyes.

“Cynrik, what have I said about weapons at the table?” Then, using her “Mom” voice and keen eyesight, she noted Cynrik wore one of his hidden blades and immediately scolded him.

“Sorry, Mom, it won’t happen again.” Grinning sheepishly, Cynrik swiftly tossed the bracer into his inventory before neatly placing his hands on the table as if nothing had happened.

With her eyes still locked on her rascal of an oldest son, Cinyah scoffed, as she knew full well that it would happen again even if Cynrik swore it wouldn’t.

“Uh-huh, sure it won’t, no dessert for you, young man.” Clicking her tongue and placing the plates of fried chicken and mac and cheese on the table, she crossed her arms before patting Brance on the head.

“UGHHH NOOOOOO!” Cynrik slammed his head on the table in anguish at the loss of his would-be dessert.

“Why can’t you just follow the rules like Brancie. He always does what I ask; sigh, where did I go wrong.”

“Cinyah, are you sure you didn’t drop Cynrik on his head when he was an infant?” Giggling at her best friend’s woeful speech, Maeve walked into the kitchen and swiped a drumstick off his plate before flicking Cynrik’s ear playfully.

“OI! AUNTIE MAEVE C’MON, THAT WAS MY DRUMSTICK!” Protesting the woman’s offensive actions, Cynrik held his ear as if mortally wounded.

**ACK

“…ow…”

“Brat, how often do I have to discipline you and tell you to call me Big Sister before you learn?” Maeve scoffed while devouring the chicken mockingly in Cynrik’s face.

Cynrik could only grit his teeth and feel wronged by her actions, as she was stronger than him.

One day, I will show her; I swear I will pay that Auntie back for every time she hit me tenfold.

Yeah, right, you know damn well you don’t have the guts to hit Mom’s best friend. Brance shook his head in disdain while filling his plate with Mac and cheese.

A few minutes later, everyone had finished eating and sat around the table chatting idly about nothing when Cinyah cleared her throat, drawing the group’s attention.

“Cynrik, Brancie, have you two decided on what Academy you want to join yet?”

Even though they still had a little under two weeks until they needed to show up at the testing location, Cinyah felt no harm in asking the question about her children’s future.

“Eh, I can tell you where we won’t be going.” Cynrik took a sip of his soda, and he and Brance spoke simultaneously.

“Renson Military Academy”

Renson was the first school both brothers had crossed off the list; with Cynrik having spent time in the Airforce and Brance the Marine Corps on Earth, neither Cynrik nor Brance were keen on joining back up with whatever form of Military their country had. This struck Renson from the list of potential options from the get-go.

“Oh? I figured Renson would be a top contender, especially for Brancie, who loves order and structure.” Cinyah cutely tilted her head to the side and scrutinized her sons.

“Nope, while I enjoy a certain level of structure, I don’t want to be forced to do menial tasks or sign away the rest of my life to the government.” Shrugging his shoulders, Brance just shook his head and answered truthfully.

“Hm, well, as you aren’t Demi-Humans, Banes is off the table, and I don’t see you joining those closed-minded fools over at Finwan. So that really only leaves Quest Combat, Supremacy, and Vesemir.” Cinyah tapped her chin in thought for a moment before continuing.

“If you two want to go to Supremacy, I could make a few calls as they only except Nobles, but I would prefer not to call in those specific favors as I left that life ages ago.”

“It’s okay, Mom; I’ve already thrown Supremacy Uni out the window; I don’t want to deal with interacting with snooty rich kids. So it is narrowed down to Vesemir School for Affinities or Quest Combat Academy. What do you think, Brancie?” Cynrik glanced over at his brother, but he already knew the answer.

Last night they had sat down and had an in-depth analysis on which school to join, and since the name of the Affinity school reminded them of a game they spent hundreds of hours playing back on Earth, it was really a no-brainer.

“Evil is Evil.” Grinning back at Cynrik, Brance nodded curtly and looked toward Cinyah.

“Looks like we choose Vesemir School for Affinities,” Cynrik smirked at Brance’s casual quote drop.

Confused at what was going on between her sons, Cinyah shook her head and collected the dishes. Cynrik and Brance had always been strange; why would she be surprised by it now.

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