After an awkward conversation with Marcus, I found out that normally I should be safe when they check my identifier though if Ethan and the military knew it may be different. Part of me couldn’t help with the growing unease. My hands were sweating as I waited until the attendant called out my name to be seen. The eerie silence from everyone else in the room didn’t help either. I thought how subtle background music may have been perfect in this waiting room.

“Volatis, are you here?” The attendant called for a second time.

“Yep, here…” I stood up making eye contact and following them behind the next set of doors.

They were taking me to see the government official in charge of handling my appointment today. I found it odd that he waited inside what felt like an interrogation room. He stood up to shake my hand and motioned to the seat across from him to sit in.

The touch of cold steel transferred through my trouser shorts. The blasting air conditioning made me regret not bringing along a jacket or long pants. Before I had a chance to complain the worker opened up a file with my name on it.

“Hello, Volatis. Please place the palm of your hand on the device.” His eyes stayed trained on reading through my file. The circular device on my side of the table looked like a typical I.D. scanner, but less portable.

An electronic beeping noise sounded the moment my hand pressed against it. The worker raised his line of sight to look at the display in front of him. I felt like this guy was screwing with me by taking his time before speaking.

“You may remove your hand now.” He went back to reading through my file, occasionally flipping back and forth between pages.

The worker raised his hand, making a come here gesture directed at the corner camera, and spoke about what was going to happen next. “Volatis, it looks like you are due for an identifier update. We will have to connect you to our system, the process will be quick and simple.” The way he said it sounded as if I had no choice in the matter.

Two people dressed in similar suit and tie walked in carrying a box-shaped contraption. They worked fast having opened and already installed the mystery device on the table. One of them handed over a wearable helmet visor.

“Please put this on.” Their words still maintained a level of professionalism and I started to protest worryingly. No one mentioned this happening to them before, when I asked what happened during their I.D. check-up.

“All this is for a simple update?” I ended up taking hold of the visor, not yet wearing it.

“Yes, it won’t take long.” The original worker returned what felt like a rather practiced response.

Everything about this screamed sketchy however, I had no choice but to comply since anyone who didn’t follow through would be breaking the law. I thought maybe if I closed my eyes it wouldn’t work on me.

That was the last thought I had before opening my eyes again to the visor and device no longer in the room, with the two people that brought it in also nowhere to be seen. The only one remaining just like when I first entered was the government official closing up my file to place on the table.

“All done, Volatis. Thank you for your time.”

“That’s it?” The attendant that let me in came through the door to show me the way out.

“That is all, please bring in the next in line.” The worker ordered the second half to the attendant.

Was that all my imagination? What the hell happened during the moment I closed my eyes? I followed the attendant through the winding hallways while immersed in utter confusion. Before I knew it I found myself outside with Eris waiting next to my parked motorcycle.

“Everything okay?” Eris noticed my dazed complexion.

“Uh…, I think?” I explained the situation to her in detail about the visor device they had me wear and the lapse in memory afterward. Stating how at most it seemed strange yet I felt perfectly fine aside from the weird experience.

“I have no idea about that, normally I’m found and killed by a reforcer before I get to that point.” Now she had me worried that it was a form of manipulation the nobles put in place to control the masses.

The unsettling notion continued eating away at me to the point I eventually reached out to Marcus for some answers. I repeated the same thing I told Eris to him. He mentioned how he actually remembered something similar happening to him as well during one of his many yearly appointments. I questioned why he felt the need to leave out that bit of important information. I could feel the literal shrug of his shoulders through his voice when he said how it felt like a dream. Even he questioned the truth of the situation though never cared to question it, gradually forgetting about it altogether.

Everyone I spoke to gave me the same exact response and at this point the only one that could give me answers was most likely Ethan. My answers were now tied with finding the Aurisavem. The time has come to start seeking out this egg and finding out why he wanted it so badly. It was in my best interest to start accumulating leverage on certain matters.

I had a pretty good inclination on where to start looking. The monsters that showed intellect, mainly the Siberian tiger that retreated due to the military setting detonating bombs in the mountain. The next being Balthazar, maybe he might have answers to my questions. Both were in the same direction so it worked out perfectly.

Now the question is whether or not to bring anyone else other than Eris along with us. I knew the dangers and in the end, chose not to put anyone else at risk. They each had their assigned tasks and instructions to slowly reach our goals.

Nathan worked with Rhea in leading the hunter teams in gathering experience and monster parts, mainly the cores. Alexa was busy enough as is with being our manager and point of contact for anything that needed my involvement. Some of that work gradually shifted over to Jade as she began to understand her role as our public relations agent.

Clare gathered and trained a team of volunteers to be cooks and helpers for all of our meals. It became a favorite pastime to guess the next meal for the day, knowing that I would always be satisfied by the gourmet styled entrees.

Even Selka started fitting in with everyone as fewer issues arose from her problematic magic. The sweatsuit helped greatly during training, the only downside was Nathan or Eris had to be present for her to be allowed to participate in group activities. Nathan could diminish the intensity of her magic preventing any accidents from getting out of control, whereas Eris could outright nullify her magic or just place her inside a personal force field bubble.

Selka still needed to develop a better degree of control over her abilities before she would be the perfect spy. I even made sure to see how she felt about that line of work and she didn’t mind it one bit or at least showed no aversion to the possibility.

Volatis

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