He got up and started towards the front door. “You should stay here,” he said, suddenly more serious than they had ever seen him. “Make sure the kids and Aggie stay in the house”.

  “Wait! Aidan, what’s going on,” his mother said jumping up from her spot on the chair.

  They followed him out of the door, Sophie telling Aggie to sit and stay as she closed the door behind her. Aidan was walking slowly, but confidently. They had chosen to stay a few steps behind him. All of a sudden a large grey wolf appeared padding along beside Aidan.

  “What the fu-” Jack said, stopping and grabbing his wife’s arm to stop her too. She noticed the wolf and screamed. Everyone stopped.

  “Aidan. Why is there a wolf next to you?” Sophie asked, taking a step backwards meeting with Jack and his wife.

  “This is Aurora. She’s my…,” he hesitated. “She’s my companion. She won’t harm you.” He looked back at his family. “This is where you start to believe me.” He turned around and continued walking down the road. The rest of the family slowly began walking again. As they walked, they noticed a black suv type car at the end of the driveway. Two people got out as the group got closer.

  “The one on the right is strong. It would be a fight but we could take him. The one on the left is weaker,” the low growl came in his head again.

  “Maybe they’re friendly Aurora. Let’s see what they have to say,” he mentally replied.

  He used Identify on the stronger of the two first.

  Name: Unknown. Race: Human. Class: Warrior Mage - Equivalent. Level: 37. Strength: 112. Strength enhanced by armor and weapons. Strength enhanced by consumption of beast essence. Wisdom - 118. All major abilities enhanced by consumption of beast essence.

  Aidan looked at Aurora. “They consume beast essence?” He asked.

  “She said different worlds attained their abilities in various ways. Perhaps Earth does not have innate abilities like Estea. They have to get them by consuming the essence of the beasts they kill,” Aurora spoke. “The natural order. I approve”.

  Aidan focused on the woman, Aurora’s weaker of the two.

  Name: Unknown. Race: Human. Class: No Equivalent Found in Guide. Level: 22. Strength: 18. Intelligence: 56. Intelligence enhanced by skill book knowledge. Intelligence enhanced by consumption of beast essence. All major abilities enhanced by consumption of beast essence.

  The woman held up her hand and waved. “They got here faster than I thought they would have,” Aidan said. They walked up to the end of the driveway and Aurora sat down next to him. “Hello. Who are you?” Aidan asked, not unfriendly.

  The man stared at him unbliking. The woman reached out her hand and took a step forward. She smiled, “Hi! My name’s Grace. I’ve - we’ve been waiting for you to come back.”

  Aurora let out a small growl and Grace took a step back. Aidan patted the wolf’s head. “She doesn’t like strangers,” Aidan said. He looked at the man again before turning back towards the woman. “You’ve been waiting for me to come back. Which means you’ve been watching my family. I don’t know if that was a smart idea.”

  “Are you threatening her?” The man finally spoke. His arm steadying at his side.

  Aidan just looked at him, his hand never leaving Aurora’s head.

  “No, no he wasn’t Max,” Grace smiled. “And even if he was, he’s not wrong. Nobody wants their family watched.” She looked at Aidan. “When you disappeared five years ago, the agency that we work for noticed a surge in magic. By the time we got to the library, the magic was gone. We thought it was one of the Demons. They had been getting stronger at the time. Popping up in random places. But there wasn’t any evidence of a Demon when we arrived. So we looked at the cameras and saw you and the bubble. We found out who you were and watched your home and your family to see when or if you’d show back up. Today, there was another massive surge of magic. And it happened to be at your family’s home. I knew it had to be you.”

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  Aidan listened to her while keeping his attention on the man. “Demon?” He asked.

  “That’s what we call the creatures that appear in this world,” Grace replied. “We know they’re not all Demons. And some of us have taken a more scientific approach to naming them. But the agency started out in the Catholic Church before exapnding. So what do you expect really?”

  “You need to come with us,” The man called Max said. “We have questions, you need to answer them.”

  Aidan raised his eyebrows, “I don’t think I’m going anywhere today. I just got back. Tell you what. In three days I’ll meet you on the 11:10am ferry from Bremerton to Seattle. That still exists right?” He turned to look at his family.

  They all nodded.

  “Great! 11:10 ferry. An hour each way. That’s how much time I’ll give you time to explain who you are and what you want. And then I’ll decide whether it’s worth my time. But I’m not going anywhere with you today,” Aidan finished and started to turn around.

  “I didn’t give you the option,” Max said. Golden armor forming around his body. A longsword appearing in his hand. “You are coming with us today.”

  Aidan turned back to face Max and Aurora stepped in front baring her teeth. “You’re strong. But do you know what I learned all my years away? Physical strength isn’t always the best advantage. Sometimes, it takes more than muscle to show just how truly powerful you are.”

  “Feel my wrath and despair!” Aidan said. His eyes turned black and a cloud of purple mist envoloped him. At first the two felt nothing. Grace looked at Max who had started moving forward. And then they felt it all. A soul-crushing heaviness. It was suffocating them. Max in all his armor fell to his knees. Grace was clawing at her throat, desperately gasping for air. Her eyes filling with tears as she looked at the man hidden in the purple cloud. And then it was gone, the heaviness and suffocation. The purple mist had dissipated and black eyes too were gone. For a moment it felt as if those few seconds had been nothing more than a nightmare. But the fear was still there. She could feel it. She looked over and saw Max laying on the ground. His armor and sword gone. He was gasping for air.

  Grace had faired better. Not much. But better. Aidan figured it was her intelligence level and whatever was helping to enhance it. Max’s intelligence had lowered slightly when he put the armor on. His strength had increased from 112 to 147. He didn’t want to fight the man. He couldn’t have won in strength alone. But he needed them to know he wasn’t a push over. They were going to need him by the time all of this was over. He needed them to understand that he wasn’t just going to sit back and take their orders. That’s not what he was here for.

  Aidan’s family had seen all of this happening and went from disbelief to utter shock and horror. They watched as their son and brother nearly killed two strangers in their driveway. They watched as the wolf had snarled and bit at the air. And then vanished.

  Aidan walked over to Grace, who instinctively slid back on the snowy ground. He held out his hand and waited for her to take it. She did and he helped her to her feet. Then he walked over to Max and held out his hand for him. Max looked at him angrily but took his hand and he too got to his feet.

  “Look,” Aidan started. “I can’t go into all the details now.” He looked back at his family. “But I’m not here forever. I’m going home. Before I do that though, Earth needs my help. It’s either that or everything and everyone dies. I was sent back here to do everything I can to ensure this world’s survival. That includes the people on it. You don’t have to trust me. Gods know I certainly don’t trust you. But we are going to have to work together to make sure you all live. So, in three days I’ll meet you and your boss or whoever you report to, on the ferry. You should go now. I want to spend the rest of the night with my family. And if I have to worry about you, then I’ll be upset.” With that Aidan turned aorund and walked back towards his family. Aurora had reappeared and was silently walking beside him. The two strangers got back in their SUV and left.

  They walked in silence back to the house. Just before they walked inside Aidan stopped and held out his hand. They thought for a moment that he was catching snowflakes. But a purple flame appeared dancing in the palm of his hand. “This is my domain.” He spoke. The flame stopped dancing, grew in size, and then shot high into the air. It exploded, shards flying off in all directions. A purple shimmering dome fell around them before disappearing.

  “What was that?” Jack asked.

  “It’s a protective barrier. Connected to my Will. It won’t last forever. And it won’t do any damage. But it will tell me if anyone uninvited tries to come onto the property,” Aidan said looking back into the sky before walking into the house.

  Jack looked up, shuddered, and closed the door behind him.