“You have got to be kidding me,” said Kus with some disbelief. “I thought this pce had go of business.”

  Before them jutted the slightly faded, but still brightly colored, sign for ‘Der Zauberhafte Früstückswald.’ While Kus had heard of the breakfast and coffee shop when he had been younger, giveate of the city he would not have expected it to be the pce Franz had been talking about. Holy, given hoable the man was is of violence, he had been expected a more subdued Moonbucks.

  “Whatever for? I assure you the food is quite good,” said Franz as they made their way dowreet to a restaurant that could charitably be called etric. From the outside, the café looked like a rundown gingerbread house. A facade of faux chocote bricks, scuffed dy e ns, and dirty ig-trimmed windows greeted them as Franz opehe door for Kus to proceed him inside.

  Entering the café was like stepping into a old German storybook. The interior was in fare better shape thaside, and it mimicked a facsimile of a fantastical forest with a opy looming overhead, plete with twinkling fairy lights and hidden speakers occasionally emitting the chirping of birds. Mossy carpets lihe floors and beyond the entra toadstool-shaped tables and chairs scattered throughout. A few people sat here and there, eating breakfast or sipping coffee. The waitstaff were dressed as characters from cssic German fairy tales, with a friendly-looking witch being the closest to them on this side. The whole setup gave a feeling of piig in an ented gde.

  “Feel free to seat yourselves at any open table, Franz,” the witch called as she finished dropping off a fresh cup of coffee at a table he front. A massive man sat there fag the still open door. While intimidating, Kus couldn’t help but notice that his face had gone slightly pale on catg sight of Franz ing through the door. When his eyes made their way to Kus’ face, Kus was even more surprised to see the ma even more pale. It took him a moment, but that Kus remembered that his face was not pristine like it was yesterday m, but now covered in a patchwork of scars. Just further firmation of eople would associate them with in a city like this.

  The man hunched over and focused all his attention on his steaming cup of coffee, doing his best to ignore Kus and Franz as they made their way over to a free table.

  “What was that about?” Kus asked as he took a seat.

  “What was what about?” Franz asked before following Kus gaze to the man he door. “Oh, you mean Gunther. First time I was here, he thought I was a member of a different gang intruding oerritory of the Storm Wolves. I simply expined some things to him so there would be no further fusion.”

  “Expined some things?”

  “Well,” Franz tiurning back to Kus as he picked up one of the menus oable. “I may have been a bit… dire my expnation. I was quite hungry at the time, and he had knocked my pte onto the floor when he came over to ask his questions. Everything is fine now, though.” He gestured for Kus to pick up his own menu. “Go on, have a look. As soon as the order is in, we will have that versation I told you about.”

  As if to reinforce Franz’s words, Kus’ stomach chose that exaent to let him know that it had been quite some time since he had eaten. Flipping open the menu, Kus’ eyes sed the options. Everything appeared to be a whimsical take on Bavarian breakfast staples. ‘Hansel and Gretel Gingerbread Pancakes’ came in a stack of fluffy goodness with a hint of ginger and opped with a drizzle of sweet, forest berry syrup. While he normally enjoyed sweets, Kus figured it would be better to have a more robust breakfast today.

  His eyes eventually nded on the ‘Bavarian Huntsman’s Feast’ which tter piled high with sausages, pretzels, cheese, and soft-boiled eggs. That and a cup of bck coffee would do it. He closed his menu to indicate he was ready to order.

  “So what I get you, gentlemen?” asked the witch when she made her way over.

  “I’ll have the Bavarian Huntsman’s Feast and a bck coffee, please.”

  “The usual for you, Franz?” she asked after she scribbled down Kus’ order.

  “Yes, and a bck coffee as well,” Franz nodded. “Thanks, Ingrid.”

  While the waitress made her way over to put their order in and grab them some coffee, Kus asked a question that had been bugging him sihey had e in.

  “Exactly how long have you been ing here?”

  “Ehh, a few weeks now I think.” Franz idly scratched at the faded scar on his cheek. “Wasn’t that long after I found you that I started ing here in fact.”

  “You still haven’t expihat,” Kus pressed.

  “No, I haven’t,” Franz stopped w at his old scar and put both his hands down oable. “This is your st ce, boy. You still avoid learning more after this breakfast if you want.”

  “No,” Kus did not eveate, “after you saved me, and the way you did it, there was no going back. Tell me what is going on.”

  “True, true,” Franz said with a wry grin. “But it is still good for you to say it out loud.” He paused, eyes going over Kus’ shoulder to the waitress that had just e back with their coffee. “Thank you, Ingrid. If you could, ask Walter to take his time with the food? The boy and I have a few things to talk through before we eat.”

  “Sure, Franz, I’ll go let him know.”

  As Ingrid walked towards the entrao the kit, Franz reached into his pocket to pull out what looked to be a rock with a strange symbol on it. Setting it down in the middle of the table, he pressed lightly against the symbol with his thumb. The symbol began to glow a soft, almost imperceptible blue. Kus could just barely make out a soft buzzing in the air around them.

  “Just something I picked up that will prevent unwanted ears from hearing our versation,” Franz expi seeing Kus looking closely at the now clearly magical item. He then pulled out from his jacket what Kus swore was an old part dot. Unfolding it, Franz id it out in front of Kus, but it was in a nguage he did nnize. He the a pen dowo it.

  “I know you ’t read this as you are right now, but everything I say from this point on is the truth. This,” Franz taps the part, “is a binding tract that states that you will willingly go on a trip to a location of my choosing, and in exge, I am free to expin a signifit amount of what is going on, including why I have been following you, where you will be going, why you will be going there, and…” he paused, almost seeming to hesitate before f on, “…your true identity.”

  With those three words, Kus’ world came screeg to a halt. His true identity? What could he possibly mean? The weight of the moment pressed down on him like a leaden fog. Kus was struck again by how this gaunt-looking man that he was having breakfast with was at ohe deadliest person he had ever met, as well as had access to magic when all logic before yesterday said that urely the province of fairytales and made-up games. Franz sat across from him, same as he was a few minutes ago, but with the terms of the tract expined he now seemed somehow… more. Though he did not move, Franz seemed to loom over him.

  Kus’ heart beat like mad, a deafening drum in his ears in the silehat now stood between them. A torrent of questions roared through Kus’ mind, washing away all the others that he had been so eager to ask Franz just moments ago. His true identity? That had to be a lie… right?

  Memories began to e ba from his time in the hospital. Offhand ents made by his parents whehought he was asleep. Hushed versations that he had never bee to hear, that he had tried tet how he had tried tet. His fingernails dug deep into the palms of his hands.

  No.

  Even if he is someone else, that doesn’t ge who he has been all the years of his life. Even if his parents weren’t his biological parents, and his siblings his real siblings, they were his family in every way that mattered. That was not going to ge. He o know.

  Franz cleared his throat, bck coffee in hand, and Kus raised his gaze to meet the sympathetic look on his face.

  “What happens if I do not sign,” Kus asked before he could help himself, already knowing that was not really an option.

  Franz took a sip of his coffee, thely set it ba the table. “You will still be going on a trip,” he replied in a sympathetie, “but it will be a bit longer until you learn any more about what is going on. We have e to the point that I am afraid I ot budge on this.”

  Kus leaned back, taking his own coffee in hand. It was as hot as it looked, and he could barely taste it, so focused was he on the decision he was about to make. The foundation on which his entire world stood had been shattered in the span of a night and a day. Holy, Kus was surprised he wasn’t already a gibbering mess given all that he had experieo this point. The fact that he was not who he thought he was was no more outndish than the fact that magic arently real. No. The only way forward was to actually move forward.

  He sighe tract.

  As he finished writing his signature, Kus was surprised to feel a simir click to what he had felt in the hospital during what, he was increasingly ing to feel, was quite a bit more real than the nightmare he had tried to vince himself it was. As soon as he had that thought, he immediately got the sehat he should not say anything about it to Franz.

  “Wonderful,” Franz said as he folded up the part, putting it ba his jacket pocket. “That makes things quite a bit easier. For the both of us.” He leaned ba his chair. “Now. Where to start?”

  “The beginning?”

  “Probably for the best.” Franz nodded. “Let me begin by saying that there is quite a bit more to existehan your people have puzzled out.”

  “My people?”

  “Yes, you know,” Fraured vaguely at the other people enjoying the restaurant as well as out towards the entrahe people of your p. You are what I would term the Ued.”

  “Ued? What does tha—”

  “Look, boy,” Franz interrupted Kus before he could ask the obvious question. “Things will go quicker if you just let me give you the basidown that if I have to pause and backtrack through every question you feel the o voice. I promise, if you just let me talk, this will go a bit quicker.”

  Kus hesitated but then nodded in agreement. If there was anything he didn’t uand, he told himself he would ask it at the end.

  “Good, now the Ued. It is a on term used by the majority of the major powers where I e from for those who have not yet been brought into the System.” Franz took another sip of his coffee. “Think of it as being a bit simir in fun to those tabletop games you have been pying with your friends, though the System is dozens of magnitudes more plicated and governs practically all aspects of life to some degree or another.”

  Kus couldn’t suppress the incredulous look on his face. It was ohing that magic was real, but quite ao cim that all of existence operated along the lines of one of his favorite games.

  “I know what you are thinking,” Franz chuckled, “but you’ll just have to trust me on this for now. You’ll see the truth soon enough.”

  “Alright, I’ll agree to reserve judgment,” Kus said. “All that aside, why exactly have you been following me?”

  “Why I have been following is due to my rank as an Imperial Are Pathfinder of the Treverorum Empire in the service of House Bcksword.” Franz rolled up his sleeve to dispy an intricate tattoo on his upper arm. Surrounded by a sea of stars that seemed to shift in the light was a stylized pass rose, at the ter of which was what looked to be something simir to the old medieval noble crests of Europe. Before Kus could get a good look at the details, Franz rolled his sleeve back down. “My role in service to House Bcksword, and the Empire by extension, is to navigate the infinite realms of the multiverse, to learn of them, and when circumstance allows, to a behalf of my patron’s is.”

  “Before you ask,” Franz tinued, “you, Kus, are why I am here oh.”

  Kus couldn’t hold back the questions anymore. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

  “Well, you involvement starts with the fact that your name is not really Kus, but Krion.”

  “Krion?” said Kus incredulously.

  “Krion von Sturmwacht of the Archducal House Bcksword to be precise.”

  Kus blinked, his mind struggling to process the words. “Krion von Sturmwacht? Archducal House Bcksword? What are you talking about?”

  “Your family, and those to whom I have sworn service to, are one in the same. House Bcksword,” Franz tinued, “is a high noble house of some importan the Treverorum Empire. I ot speak as to the circumstances of your exile, the tract prevents me from doing so, but I say that your family has determihat it is time for you to recim your true identity and fulfill your duty to House Bcksword.”

  “Say I believe you,” Kus said quietly, “say I really am this Krion. Why now?”

  “Again, I ot say. The only thing I am permitted to share on that topic is that there are certain… responsibilities that ss of nobility within the Empire have to fulfill and you are finally of ahat your family has determihat you are eligible to meet those responsibilities.”

  “But I have a family. They—”

  “Krion,” the sudden blurting of the off what Kus was going to say. “The people you have raised you on this p will always be an important part of your life,” Franz tinued softly, sympathetically in the silence, “but they are not your true family. House Bcksword is, and it has beeermihat it is time for you to e back.”

  “Back? Back for what?!”

  “School.”

  Out of all the things he had expected Franz to say, all the options he feared the Imperial Are Pathfinder would voi respoo his question, school was not even on the list.

  “School?” Kus parroted dumbly.

  “Yes, one of the schools that all of the nobility of the Empire attend prior to taking up service to the Emperor, the Imperial Court, and the people. Everything you will o know to be a part of the Imperial ruling css will be there for you to learn.”

  Kus stared down into his coffee. “So, my family sent you to fi me back to attend some finishing school for nobility?”

  “Yes,” Franz replied, his tone softening. “Yreat-great-grandfather has decided that you o be returo the fold to serve the needs of House Bcksword.”

  “What needs? And why should I care about what a family, whom I have never met nor ever even known about, wants me to do?”

  The only thing Kus was feeling at these revetions about family was anger. Givehing that Franz had said and done for him, he had no real reason to doubt him. But that did not ge the fact that his entire life to this point had been the result of his so-called true family discarding him until he had value to House Bcksword.

  Some of Kus’ thoughts must have been showing on his face, because Fra out a disappointed sigh.

  “I knew you were going to react this way.”

  Franz quickly raised a hand as Kus’ head whipped around, mouth open to angrily retort. How else was he supposed to react to news like this?!

  “Not that you are not justified,” Franz hurriedly tinued. “But I see that anything I might say to vince you to go to the Empire will fall on deaf ears right now. So I will show you instead.”

  Franz reached into his jacket, pulling out a crystal orb. Light blue in color, it immediately attracted the eye and Kus found his attention seized by it.

  “Touch the orb.”