Calloway closed the door behind him and sighed.

He'd casually dumped some of his less valuable inventory just to dress it up. A few swords and shields he never used. Books from quests that he never used again, sentimental trophies from boss raids, and even an epic rare item known as Elfinhiem the Sword of the Fairy Queen.

I'm a terrible person, aren't I?

Calloway collapsed on his bed in some plain clothes, but he left his eyepatch on for his disguise's sake. But he still beat himself up over all his regrets. How had Ophelia seen right through him so fast?

When he had asked the orphan girl to join his family he was acting as a guild master not an adult! He imagined that he'd be more of the goofy uncle, but when she called him papa there was no way he could tell her she was mistaken.

Was he even qualified to be a father?

The more he thought about it the worse he felt.

What was he supposed to do with a little girl!

Then she went and called Shayley mommy in front of all those people! And then he kissed Shayley and said all those embarrassing things. He was still agonizing about his identity, was he the guy from the human world or the elf named Calloway?

His heart sank.

"And I'm still lying to everyone. Who am I?" Calloway's hand hovered over his eye-patch. "Am I immortal like the elves, or will I die in human years? If I die in battle will I respawn at the guild building?"

How do I confront this world? Why did I enslave those girls? Was it just to test the limits of my ability to customize the laws here? Was it just to help their family in my roundabout way? Am I leading Shayley on because I'm unsure of myself? Am I doing Ophelia a disservice by being a being an inadequate father?

He couldn't help but see the tangents between him and Peter. He thought about what he told Peter, could he follow his own advice? If he tried too hard would it be obvious that he was lying? Would he be caught in his cycle of doubt and what then?

He wracked his brain as the stars crawled across the sky when his door opened.

"Papa." Ophelia's timid voice came from the hall.

Calloway put his shame away long enough to answer, "yes."

"Papa, I don't want to sleep alone anymore."

"You can come join me if you want, or-"

The sound of tiny feet approached the bed quickly and then slowly.

Well Wendy, it looks like I won this time. He thought as he pulled up the blanket so that Ophelia could join him.

Ophelia crawled into bed and cuddled up to him.

Calloway's heart felt warm and tingly, is this what it's like to love? Then he remembered something he asked Peter 'How have you been doing with your second chance, have you been living a life full of love?'

He laughed at himself for being so silly, a life full of love? Maybe he should focus on living a life full of love rather than agonizing over his petty insecurities. Calloway put one arm around Ophelia's tiny shivering body.

A life full of love doesn't sound like a bad plan. Calloway calmed down enough to let sleep take him.

.

.

.

Jerking movement awoke Calloway.

"Ophelia, quit moving." He rubbed his eye and looked at her.

Ophelia's jerking wasn't natural, her eyes were half open and hollow while drool fell from her lip.

"Ophelia!" Calloway sat up and cast the simple hovering light spell so that he could see Ophelia's seizure.

"Oh no. Oh no. Apolo OHNO!" Calloway threw off the blanket and opened up Ophelia's status window.

There were no debuffs or status effects, her health was still maxed, but her mana was fluctuating.

"Healing hands, mana sync, goddess blessing..." He was a priest and a druid, he used every healing spell at his disposal. Panic was shooting through his spine, his mana barely dipped until he used his area effect spells. "Ophelia!" nothing was working.

"Dela! Your Master Summons You!" Calloway's roar shook the entire building.

"Master!" A water nymph burst in the door a moment later.

"Dela, this is an emergency! I need you to see if your healing magics work on Ophelia. If they don't I need you to bring her temperature down if a fever starts!" Calloway opened his inventory and scrolled through his herbs and potions. No, what he needed wasn't a potion but a poison.

A paralysis poison would at least keep her from hurting herself. He looked for a suitable one then suddenly Ophelia stopped shaking.

"Ophelia! Did it work?" He ignored the people who had crowded the doorway.

"I didn't do anything," Dela stopped her spell casting.

"Ophelia, Ophelia!" Terror gripped Calloway.

Ophelia stood up and stared at Calloway, her eyes glowed a pale blue. When she spoke, her voice wasn't that of a cute little girl, it had changed into a deep ethereal thrum.

A menu window opened in the corner of his vision and recorded the words that Ophelia said under the title: Dark Prophecy.

"Darkness grows from the south containing a power beyond that of the heroes of old. If let alone it shall cover the world in despair and threaten Gaia. In two months' time the spawn of evil will arise to challenge the natural order of the world. Only the master of Peril may come out victorious. Gather your forces, patron saint of the twilight, you'll need them."

Ophelia took a deep breath and her eyes stopped glowing. She looked around the room to see Calloway and her family staring at her with shock.

"Ophelia..." Calloway waited to make sure it was her again.

Ophelia met Calloway's worried gaze and her eyes began tearing up. "It happened again, didn't it? I'm sorry, I promise I'll learn how to control it, I won't let it happen again. Please don't kick me out again." Her desperate plea grew weak as her eyes flooded. The entire room looked for Calloway's reaction.

"Oh thank Gods and Gaia!" Calloway wrapped his arms around his daughter. His own eyes began to water. Is this what love was like? Fear, worry, anxiety, stress, and unbridled joy?

"Pa-pa?" Ophelia wasn't prepared to be embraced and stopped crying for a second.

"I was so scared for you, I thought I was going to loss you before the night was over."

"PAPA!" Ophelia returned the hug and wailed.

Shayley had arrived just before Ophelia stopped quaking and had seen the whole thing, and now she was standing in the doorway with the staff watching Calloway fuss over his daughter.

"Listen," Calloway wiped his nose with his sleeve. "I will always love you, and as a family we are going to have some quirks." He looked her in the eyes and rubbed her shoulders to comfort her. "You and me, okay? We are a team now. In the morning, we are going to have a long talk about how we are going to support each other, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." Calloway laughed and wiped his face. "Oh man. You got me crying."

He then shouted, full of excitement.

"Wow!" Calloway picked her up and spun her around. "So that is the power of the oracle. Wow, that was a lot cooler than I thought. Terrifying, but pretty cool. That's my girl!"

He turned to the doorway. "Wendy I-" his voice caught when he saw the half-naked princess standing in the doorway watching him. "H-hi Shay, I d-didn't see you there." He stuttered and set Ophelia down.

Shayley was increasingly aware of how she was dressed and failed when she tried to use her arms to cover herself. "When I saw the spells, I ran here as fast as I could."

Calloway cleared his throat. "Yes, um sorry to have worried you. You must be cold." Calloway took a chance and walked over to her. He pulled his leather jacket out of his inventory and handed it to her.

Her turned to his servants and elementals. "Yvette, I want the prophecy written down and on my desk in the morning with all possible interpretations. Naomi, I'm going to need milk, cookies, and a large pot of tea. Wendy, please send word to the castle and let them know that everything is alright here, I'm going to return the princess to the castle with an escort of elementals as soon as she feels comfortable going back into public."

His goal was to dispel the awkwardness as fast as possible, he could probably handle just Ophelia right now but anymore and he didn't know what he would do.

Shayley covered herself with the jacket, "actually, I was quite worried. I'd appreciate it if I could stay. For Ophelia's sake of course."

"Can mommy really stay?" Ophelia's tiny voice made Calloway flinch.

New Quest

[princess sleep over] the princess was worried sick for Calloway and Ophelia, dispel her worry by letting her stay the night or send her home with an escort? Warning: sending her home would only make her worry more and may hurt the guilds ties with the kingdom.

Calloway turned to Wendy, with the 'help me out here' look.

"I'll let the castle know that the princess will be staying the night." Wendy, coldly left with her girls down the hallway.

Quest accepted.

Traitor.

"Mommy gets to stay, Naomi bring some extra cookies." Calloway said.

Ophelia sniffled but her smile was more than enough to make it worth it.

The staff scurried about and Calloway returned to his bed. When he sat down and crossed his legs Ophelia crawled over to sit in his lap but her puffy red eyes were full of excitement. Meanwhile both Dela and Shayley stood by the bed awkwardly.

Calloway waited for them but they didn't move. "You can sit down." Both Dela and Shaley looked at each other and sat on the floor.

Calloway sighed. "I meant on the bed, there is plenty of space."

"On a man's bed-" Shayley looked at the sheets of the bed like some uncharted territory.

"Don't make it weird. We are here for Ophelia." Calloway shot daggers at Shayley. He then softened when he addressed Ophelia, "it's okay Ophelia, Dela is a nymph who helped papa when he was scared for you and mommy came all the way from the castle just to see you, she even forgot her pants." He snickered.

"Cal!"

"Can you say thank you to both of them?"

"..."

"You have to speak up so that they can hear you."

"Thank you."

Dela and Shayley both 'awed,' and the room was a little less tense.

"Thanks for all your help Dela, I hope you like the cookies."

"You mean I can stay?"

"Of course, It was a big help just having you around. And Shayley I-" Calloway turned to Shayley, now that he had a chance to get a good look at her. He got an eyeful of her curves and leather jacket actually made her even more enticing.

Shayley's face burned the longer that Calloway stared. "Cal, you're staring." She pulled her legs into her chest.

Calloway jerked his head away. "Um sorry, I was happy to see you, not all of you, I didn't see anything. Not really, but you came and its great, and you're great." Calloway rambled on until Naomi came back with a tray of the things that Calloway asked for.