Damn, Auntie knew how to feed a man.

Luckner reclined back into the dining room chair. His belly was full, a subtle pleasure enflaming his body. The floor’s matriarch sat to his left, looking all proud and regal.

“Who cooked the chicken?” Luckner asked, his voice a rumbling purr.

A slender girl of about fifteen raised her hand shakily. She glanced nervously from Luckner to the near-empty plate.

Luckner picked at a grain of rice, rubbed it around in the remaining sauce, and flicked it into his mouth. He nodded approvingly.

“Lil Mama, I gotta give it to you, you did great. Thank you.”

He flashed her a smile.

The girl tilted backward, her eyes rolling up into her head. The other younglings jumped behind her and caught her from her fainting spell.

Luckner jolted, struggling out of his seat since the legs caught on the dining rug. Auntie waved him down before he got up fully.

“She’ll be fine,” she said.

“But she zonked out for no reason. She could be sick.”

“She got sick with the love-bite, sugar.” She chuckled. “And that’s your fault. You gotta be careful with that singularity of yours.”

“Yeah, it is my fault.” Luckner slumped into his seat, his hand rubbing along his course, unkempt beard. He needed a shave. He needed to figure himself out.

He needed help.

An even younger girl came around and took his plate. Luckner thanked her without putting too much energy into it. She didn’t faint, fortunately. But she did smile from ear to ear while two boys watched Luckner like he was an icon or something.

“What’s going on, Auntie?”

“Sugar, that’s a loaded question. Ask something more specific.”

She took out the cards, shuffled them, and started laying them out. She did it all without looking at them, either because the habit was engrained into her or because of her new vision of things.

“What’s the Circle System?” Luckner asked, starting there.

“Something the Mythics brought with them. I ain’t got a clue how long it’s been happening, but I’m sure it’s happened long enough for all sorts of people to Awaken with it. Maybe it’s the Lord’s way of balancing the sudden intrusion, or it’s another way to mess with us sinners. In the end, The Circle System is real simple, I think.”

“Simple how?”

“You climb the ranks and become stronger. Ain’t no if’s or but’s about it. Mythics, Hunters, and those inbetween like you. We’re part of a new way of grabbing power, hoarding power, and abusing power.”

Luckner looked up his script. He stared at his ranking, [1st Circle - Low Adept]. The longer he studied it, the more he felt absorbed by it. It seemed to be bulging out. Like it wanted to burst and release something.

Luckner touched it, freeing the information it contained. Not with direct words, but with a pearl of internal wisdom that sunk into him.

“I’ve progressed,” he said.

Auntie nodded.

“I get this feeling that I’ve gotten stronger. From the encounter with the goblins to the fight with the slime. Hell, I feel like the little contract we made helped me progress. I’m steadily on my way to Mid Adept.”

“There you have it,” Auntie said. “The Circle System is intuitive like that. Anything else you noticed?”

Luckner thought for a while. “I can tell if something is stronger than me. If I concentrate and, what, feel with the sixth sense?”

“That’s right,” Auntie said. “It’s a little dull with us Hunters. It might be a little sharper for you since you’re inbetween.”

“Wait, have you been discussing this with others?”

“Of course. I’m a [Diviner]. Finding others was the easy part. Learning what I needed to know and keeping the hell out of their business, that was hard.”

Luckner tilted his head. “I thought your future sight could tell you anything.”

“Nah, boy. I can only see possible events a few days out. Maybe a week. I can get the gist of things I shouldn’t know when it gets closer. But I can always be wrong. And I’m only a Low Super.”

“Huh, what’s that?”

Auntie set the cards aside neatly. “2nd circle.” Before Luckner shot out of his seat, Auntie waved him down again. “It’s still relative, Luckner. I ain’t got a fighting bone in me. No spells and all my skills are based on my practices. My script is all in on my singularity.”

“So, you can say you’re super in that regard,” he said. “Will you climb the circles, then?”

“There’s nine of those circles. The higher you climb, the tougher it’s gonna get. I’m too old for all that drama.” Auntie shook her head. “So the answer is no, Luckner. I’m fine where I’m at. And my script isn’t gonna progress cuz it knows I want to stay like this.”

On any other day where Luckner’s heart wasn’t half on fire, that would’ve been fine. If a person didn’t want to progress or grow, that was their right. Luckner, however, was uncertain if that was a satisfying option for him now.

“Anything else, Luckner?” Auntie’s eyes glimmered with interest.

“Lylyth,” he said.

“Oof.” Auntie shrank into her chair, her regalness gone. “I already looked into that vast pit of darkness and fire, and she looked back. Boy, did she look back.”

Luckner’s [Zeal] heated up. Out of anger or excitement, he was unsure. But now, Auntie’s words certainly confirmed that Lylyth was powerful. There was probably no way to know how far up she ranked, but having the power to revive him had to mean she was strong. He belonged to someone strong.

Wait.

He shouldn’t belong to anyone, let alone a bratty woman that left him alone to be robbed by goblins. He still had to pick her up and spin her around until she cried.

“Ugh,” Luckner grunted. “So, I can’t use your help to find her?”

“Please don’t.” Auntie shuddered. “Whatever she is, she left me off with a warning. If I ever go down that road again, I’ll die instantly.”

“Wow. It’s like that?”

“Sugar, you’re tied up with a big one.”

Luckner tried not to preen. He let a smile breakthrough for a moment. Then he sighed and frowned.

“Why she messed with me, then?” His internal fire cooled. He felt chilly. “I’m kind of a loser here.”

“That’s for her to explain when she decides to see you again, Luckner. I’m not going to try to interpret the reasons of a powerful woman. Just know you’ve been favored by her, sugar, and her favor is giving you a chance to make changes.”

She leaned closer.

“And you’re full of it if you’re gonna go around spreading that self-deprecating attitude. Didn’t you put that slime monster out like last week’s trash?”

She hadn’t been there for it, so she didn’t see how he needed old crusty Mr. Baylor’s help. Then again, she didn’t need to be at the location to know what went down with an event.

“Mr. Baylor pointed the gun at me, asking if I’m a Mythic,” Luckner said.

He paused to glance at the children huddling near. He decided not to fret over whatever gossip got out. The truth would find its way around eventually.

“I sure ain’t human, Auntie.” Luckner grimaced, feeling an uneasy pinch from his human side.

“Does that matter?”

Luckner blinked, holding to silence.

“I mean. Does that stop you from being what you want to be, Luckner?”

“I don’t know what I want to be,” he said. “I thought everything I wanted was what WE wanted. Now that she’s gone, I feel gone, too.”

Auntie nodded, falling silent. Little noises reverberated into the unit from outside. When Luckner glanced out the clear balcony doors, he saw a city of lights and fire. The fighting was still going on out there. That goblin princess Gixzah was out there.

“A lot happened today,” Luckner said slowly, reiterating the events gradually.

But as he did so, he paid more attention to how he felt throughout. He remembered the fun and allure and whimsy he felt surrounding Lylyth. He recalled the burning sensations empowering him to fight the goblins and survive Gixzah. Then he drew up the recent experience with the near mind-melting awesomeness of beating that slime.

The rollercoaster of emotions he spiraled through today had more peaks than he felt in a long while. Maybe in his entire life. Honestly, when he thought about it, most of his life had been a calm beat. Like an unchanging chord that sounded low and stayed in the background. Nobody paid it much mind. Some people thought it was interchangeable. Maybe even unimportant. Now his life was a bass guitarist strumming out a solo act and taking the lead.

“I don’t think I want to be a background guy in all of this,” Luckner said. “You get me? I don’t get it yet, but I think I want to go out and take on the next day rather than stay cooped up in the Golden Crown.”

Auntie beamed. She picked up the table candelabras, and underneath was a folded piece of paper. She passed it to him.

“I’m guessing this is my fetch quest,” Luckner said.

“I divined it’ll be worth your while.”

Luckner quirked an eyebrow, waiting for more.

“Big. Bad. And blue. What you’ll have to do is be you.”

“Yo, that’s cheesy.” Luckner grimaced. “Would it be better if we do the tarot cards?”

“I can’t say any more than that,” Auntie said, frowning. “I’m tempting the fates to strike you hard if I divulge too much. And Luckner, the fates got a bone to pick with you for ducking them and for belonging to that woman.”

“Why’s that?”

“You decided to live again. A man supposed to have one life, one death.”

“Fuck it, then.” Luckner’s [Zeal] heated up. The children murmured behind him, reminding him that he cussed in front of kids. He simmered down. “So, you’re trying to protect me by giving me only hints?”

“I can’t protect you,” she said. “All your possibilities within the next twenty-four hours can kill you. It’s frightening. But if you want to figure out what you want, this is the hustle you gotta be in.”

“Since we’re being cheesy and cliche, I’ll go ahead and say don’t worry about me.” Luckner smiled a little. “It can’t be too hard learning to hustle for myself, right?” He waved the little folded note. “And to hustle for people who won’t screw me over.”