Hero had about four hours of sleep before he woke up. He quickly got a shower since he hadn't the day before and changed into more silkier, softer and expensive royal robes. That day was his first break day in a few weeks, and his Lieutenant General taking over his job for the day. He still carried around his weapons, he still needs to protect himself and his brother.

He already made a plan for his day once he stepped out of the shower, wiping at his wet golden locks. He was to meet with Darryl that day to discuss his weird encounters. After that he might need to check the maids and cooks for things they need. Cutlery, ingredients and even clothes, he would drop by the busy afternoon market to pick them up.

As Hero walked out of his room, he started putting on his light blue royal cape, made from the rarest of spider silk. He caught sight of a drowsy Markus stumbling out of his own room, hastily putting on his brown cape. Hero slapped his brother hard on the back and caught sight of a few dark purple and red marks on his brother's neck. He smirked as he said, "You're not supposed to do adult things, Marky. Being a lord doesn't make you get away with everything."

Markus' eyes widened before he covered up the marks and muttered, "Shut up. I bet you've fooled around at least twice. Ivan and I used to bet on you and Dianne."

Hero faltered in his steps and shot his brother a glare. He said lowly, "I guess I could understand, considering how close we seemed to be. However, I don't think it's... Appropriate of you to bring her up."

Yes, Markus was taller, smarter and of higher rank but Hero was still his older brother. Blood was thicker than water could ever be. Markus managed a polite nod. Markus mumbled an apology until Hero spoke again, "Besides, I've never encountered such dirty thoughts. And pretty flowers don't interest me. Big, strong hunks-ah, trunks are far better."

Markus gave him a look of disbelief as Hero stalked towards the kitchens. He (finally) got a full meal for once, steak and baked potatoes. He finished up some milk before bid the cooks goodbye and started heading to the stables. Which was... Far away. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, maybe he can do what he did the previous night again and appear in Darryl's house.

He made extra sure there was no one watching, before he shut his eyes tight and willed himself to get there. He remembered that he- for the lack of a better word -teleported because he was quite desperate the previous night. Fuck Markus, him and his ridiculous idea to get a huge-ass castle.

He felt the familiar pull and opened his eyes, finding himself in a cozy home. He turned around to find Darryl, but the wizard was right there, in robes, gaping as he held his wand over a cauldron. "H-How the hell did you get here?"

Hero smiled before replying, "That's what I've been meaning to ask you. Do wizards, er, teleport often?"

Darryl placed a Pause Charm on the potion he was making and stalked forward. He used vigorous hand gestures as he yelled, "Only the strongest can do such things. Teleporting drains their magic! And yet, your power core burns even brighter than before. I don't understand..."

Darryl started pacing, "And when you used Elemental Magic of some sort back underground. Those spells are impossible to learn! They only exist in stories, where angels, demons and gods use elemental magic."

Darryl was gonna start on another paragraph of words until the two were interrupted with a purple flash in the lounge. Hero drew his sword out of instinct and Darryl tightened his grip on his wand as they went to investigated. Two cloaked people were waiting in the lounge, and spoke before the two young men could even start.

"We're having a Order of Magic meeting right now. Mister Darryl Lance Kirkland, you are the last wizard of your family and you will be representing your family name in the meetings from now on. I apologize for not contacting you any sooner, as the war prevented us from seeking you out. Mister Persson, you are requested to represent your family name as the head. We were requested to give you the rings of your father, Lord Kirkland. If you could please put them on."

The other silent wizard handed a thick golden ring to Darryl.

"And since you are the first of your family to receive the gift of magic, we have made a new one for you, Lord Persson." The wizard gave him a thinner, silver ring. The wizards then addressed them both, "Only sorcerers are able to see the rings, and they will alert you if there is a meeting with a glow of the gems. They will vibrate if you are needed immediately. The two of you have fifteen minutes before the meeting starts, and when you're ready, touch the ring."

The two wizard disappeared and Darryl swerved to Hero. "We will continue this conversation later."

Darryl started placing cleaning charms on his clothes while Hero summoned his royal cape to his shoulders. The two inspected each other's presentation before they nodded and touched the rings.

As soon as their feet touched the purple carpet, Hero slid his hood on. He didn't want anyone else to know that their general was a wizard. A couple started to approach them, and Hero noticed that the woman had quite the stomach. Probably pregnant. Her husband had an arm around her waist as he greeted Darryl, "Hello Darryl. You certainly grew up. The last time I saw you, you were such a small thing. Now, you're head of your family."

The three exchanged smiles while Hero awkwardly stood, looking away. The woman turned to him, "And who are you, good sir?  What family do you belong to? I've never seen you before."

Hero and Darryl exchanged looks before Hero ducked his head, "I'm the first of my family, ma'am."

The woman gasped and Hero raised his head to see the woman pointing to his ring and chest- his power core -and whispering to her husband. Her husband spoke up, "I only know of two other heads with silver rings. They were the first of their families too. One from the family of Kellar, a German family. The other lady was from Renou, French family. What about you?"

Hero still didn't meet eye contact as he muttered, "A Swedish-Finnish family. Uh, Persson."

The husband and wife both looked at each other before the husband held out a hand. "Well, Head Persson, I'm Jonathan Terry Foster. This is my wife Angelina Jolene Foster." He grinned at his wife's stomach, caressing her gently. "This is Seto Foster. Or Selina. Not sure yet."

Hero allowed himself to smile a little. He couldn't help it. Children are one of his many weaknesses. He heard Darryl behind him laugh, "You two are nearing your 80s and that's when you decide to have your first child? God, guys."

Hero held in his gasp and shot Darryl a shocked and questioning look instead. Darryl inclined his head, indicating that he would explain later. They followed the Fosters to a wide and round room. Numerous rows of chairs surrounded the empty platform. There were two floors, and Hero and Darryl's family seats were in the second one. Hero took note of small box nearby. It had a roof, three velvet chairs and a wooden railing. He watched as two people came from the black curtain, taking a seat on the chairs on the furthest sides, leaving the middle one empty.

They were both hooded, but one of them was a lady, the other a man. The lady had thin silky purple robes over her darker purple dress. She had the hood over her face but Hero caught a glimpse of yellow from the shadows. Her hands were placed on top of one another, and were littered with rings ranging from gold to silver. He saw the one single silver ring on her left hand's middle finger, where his own sat.

He also noticed that she had pretty dark skin, and frizzy black hair was poking out of her hood. She was the chubby type as well, quite gorgeous really. The man though, looked peculiar. He had thicker and heavy-looking robes. Nearly everything he wore was black, and under the hood Hero spotted a pale glow of silver(?) and locks of red hair. The man's arms were quite hairy and Hero sucked in a breath when he made a mental note that the man was muscular as fuck. He avoided anyone's gaze, not wanting anyone to see how red he was. He stole a few more glances at the man, who was heavily scarred as well. His nails were long like a cat, as his huge fingers drummed impatiently on the armrest.

•

"The Aether representative is here, Kenny."

"I know. He was staring. Am I really that handsome, Katrina? Poor thing."

"No, you're rather nasty as fuck. But I guess it's not his time yet, since his seat is not in here with us."

"Wait, Katrina. Use your night vision, check under his robes. He looks like the General, doesn't he?"

"Oh. He is the General."

"Lady Aetheria assigned a godamn male general to be her representative? I thought she would choose some girl who wore frilly dresses and wore flowers in her hair as she skipped in a field of cloud bunnies."

"Take that back."

Katrina punched him not so gently. Hero noticed that but quickly looked away, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Kenny rubbed his arm and seethed in quiet resentment.

"Jesus, okay."

"But he doesn't look like a typical general. He's so thin, and he's short. He does move with a slight grace doesn't he?"

"True. But he probably can pack a punch as a general."

"We all can. We have equal abilities. I wonder what his strongest element is. Oh, and his counterpart too. His demon weapon? His guardian..? What are his eyes like?"

"You're rambling, Katrina. But I can see his eyes are starting to pale. Remember when ours started to as well. Our families freaked out. Which led to my death but I forgot about yours."

"I was in a mining family. Found a stronghold, fell through the portal. Got burnt to death by the enderdragon and mauled by endermen afterwards. You fell into lava after getting a brawl with your pigmen, right?"

"Yup. We both died in our lands. But the Aether isn't exactly accessible."

"Once he dies from whatever the fuck, he'll go straight to the Aether and he'll get the role."

It was silent and the two noticed that they were both staring at Hero. Hero could feel their intense stares and refused to feel flustered and budge. Katrina and Kenny then looked at each other before they said in unison.

"We will be expecting you soon."

•

Hero diverted his attention to Darryl. "So, how old are you really?"

Darryl smiled at him and replied, "About 50. We get help from magic so our life spans are much more longer than an ordinary person. The oldest wizard ever lived to be about 500, a British fella. Though we normally live up to like, 180."

He went quiet for Hero to absorb what he just said until he asked, "So, what do you think is going on with you? Because I honestly don't know. You remind me of a magic folk child's tale of a woman who was blessed with most powerful magic of all. She discovered Minecraftia and blessed it with her magic, thus making the land produce lots of interesting flora and fauna, and causing a high birth rate of magic folk."

"Is there a spell or something that shows you a family tree or something?"

Darryl looked away to ponder before replying, "Yes, but only warlocks are able to use it. It's our third and highest rank, after sorcerer and very few are granted that title. So far there's only five in Minecraftia with that title. Mr Foster is one of them. It's some blood spell and we never mess with blood, dark or soul magic. You need to get that title or get permission from a warlock, and it takes a lot to convince them, even Mr Foster."

Hero leaned back, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he muttered, "Everything is so confusing."

Darryl wrapped a huge arm around his neck and brought him in a friendly side-hug, his hand sliding under the hood to mess up his hair. "Sooner or later you'll take everything in stride. Right now just focus on Minecraftia and most importantly..." Hero peered at him behind his hood as Darryl rubbed at the dark circles forming under the younger man's eyes. "Take care of yourself."

"The meeting will commence. Please go to your seats."

○

It was... Boring. Hero resisted the urge to stand up, sleep or just do something, anything that will stop the meeting. All they did was listen to people address small problems, asking for opinions and casting votes for a solution. Darryl squeezed his wrist whenever he made half-assed comments as a comfort or warning. It was finished much more later than Hero would like. He spared a glance to the silver-ringed duo before turning to follow Darryl.

Hero and Darryl looked at each other and hooked arms, both touching their rings at the same time. Mr and Mrs Foster just watched them go, and Mrs Foster turned to her husband. "His core, the Persson boy. It's just as enormous and bright as the other silver-ringed people. Peculiar, isn't it?"

Her husband nodded to the now empty floating platform, and whispered, "There's three chairs as well. The one in the middle had been empty for quite some time."

It was silent as they both stared at the platform. Mrs Foster absently stroked her swollen belly, and leaned against her husband.

○

"You're just a plain wizard. And your core is more bigger than all the warlocks I know combined," muttered Darryl. Hero raised his head from the tea he was sipping.

"There are ranks in being a magic-abled person, right? What are they again?"

Darryl sat down in the chair in front of Hero and answered, "Three ranks. First is a wizard or witch, based on your gender or preference. Second is sorcerer. The last is the most respected rank there is, a warlock."

Hero nodded silently and rested his head on the table. Darryl allowed them to have a few minutes of silence before he whispered, "The magic folk child's tale I told you about? My grandparents told me that there's be a group of people, who have been blessed personally by the lady. They have even more magic than all warlocks combined, and are capable of even more things the lady can't do. When I was young, I was hoping I was one of them but I'm not even a sorcerer yet, so..."

He paused for a bit, thinking before continuing, "I've heard theories. The ender portal and nether portal has been discovered recently right?"

Hero sat upright, more curious now. "Yes. They're guarded and closed off now. People have gone in and never came back. We do not want any more of that."

Darryl frowned, "You've heard of the young lady who fell into the end ports and never came back right? After that, a man fell in the nether one and disappeared ever since. It's kind of suspicious."

Hero froze.