Kito walked Sapphire, Hiralda and James to the door, and followed them out onto the porch. The sun was only just starting to dip over the trees, the day a blur to Kito as he still worked to process what exactly was happening.

“You know we’ll give you everything you need.” Sapphire turned, smiling up at Kito.

“I know, Saph.” Kito gave her a hug, smiling into her shoulder as she squeezed him.

“I’ll make sure you have the full support of the empire,” James grinned, slipping his helmet back on. It was a pretty simple thing, long sharp horns pointing to the sky and a dark, near-featureless smooth face with nothing but dark eyeholes, “Should you find yourself in the area.”

“I’ll remember that.” Kito shot him a smile and returned the nod he received from Hiralda. Sapphire waved to him before the three of them set off, heading down the garden path towards the trees. Kito watched them go, his smile slowly dissolving into his face as the frown started to settle in. He marched back into the mansion, through the corridors until he was in his study. He cracked his neck and looked over the walls, refitted over the course of the last decade to be floor-to-ceiling bookcases stuffed to the brim with his research materials. He scanned the spines for anything of interest or value. Something that could fight off his father… He supposed he would need to work from the top and check out the types of things his father could defeat, not what he couldn’t. Kito exhaled deeply, his eyes settling on the spine of a relatively thick, old journal. The furthest along the shelf of many that looked almost exactly like it, spanning his whole wall. His father’s hunter journal. He took it from the shelf and poured himself a whiskey, falling into his chair.

“I’ll leave you to it, honey.” Katy smiled as she gave Kito a peck on the cheek and went to move off. Kito pulled her back into a kiss and she chuckled when they broke off, giving his arm a squeeze and heading off, closing the door gently on her way out. Kito smiled lightly, the food Katy had brought smelled lovely. He took a spoonful of mashed potatoes before getting back to reading, leaning forward in his chair once again. His father’s early life had surprisingly been pretty uneventful compared to his own. He had trained, went to school, trained some more, went on a trek around the world. It was interesting to read for the first time, though none of it was very pertinent to the current mission. He chronicled the types of things he’d fought, but it was all stuff Kito was familiar with. Low-level dregs, weak demons, vicious monsters. A couple fights with mages and warriors from different magical races. Nothing too insane. That changed pretty suddenly when he met Kito’s mother. Kito smiled as he read. There was a lot of ‘Sara dragged me into another scrape’ or ‘Sara got herself in trouble… Again’. They started to go up against some much stronger monsters and opponents. Hunters, demons, tougher dregs, very powerful monsters making their way from Sentria. This was where Kito started to pay closer attention.

It was after managing to kill a rogue Warden of Tartarus that his father got his place in the seal guardians. Wardens were notorious for being extremely powerful and hardy due to the inhospitable climates of their home Realm: Tartarus. Usually, they were able to shrug off the majority of attacks thrown at them. Only a handful of people had ever been able to fend them off, nevermind kill one. As such, his father earned a spot among the most legendary warriors in history. It was after this he started to fight much stronger opponents on a regular basis. He often heard when he was younger that becoming a seal guardian meant defending their post against foes on a whole other level to when in the different militaries in the alliance. The thing sealed away was nothing short of eldritch in nature. As such, its followers were a level of magnitude more powerful than anything Kito had ever gone up against. Not surprising, then, that reading about yellow-eyed demons and drakes, or wyvern-based dregs was commonplace in these later pages. Nothing that stood out as abnormal… Though there were a few things Kito hadn’t fought, he had heard of them. He also knew others who had fought and beaten them. People less skilled than his father. There was mention of a dark entity from the Rift that he couldn’t kill, only seal away. Though that was because he couldn’t find a way to kill it, not a lack of power. Later in the journal, he mentioned he’d been brought to his limits by a paladin working for the king of Magistratia, but he won in the end. Kito growled in frustration, tossing the journal onto the desk and falling back in his chair, rubbing his face.

“What the hell beat you?” Kito whispered, running a hand through his hair as he looked up at the ceiling. There had to be something. Something he was missing, something he wasn’t getting. There had to be. His father couldn’t have just vanished. Then it hit him. A seal guardian. Kito gulped, his frown deepening. Could the thing sealed away in Yhor’Dheel have gotten free somehow? If that were the case, were any of the other Seal Guardians missing? Did they even know? How could it break out? Kito stood and started pacing his office. If something that powerful were to break free, surely they’d feel it… No, they wouldn’t. It would have broken free in Sentria, so the energy could have enveloped a whole world and they wouldn’t have felt so much as a slight tremor. This was bad. Kito downed the rest of his drink, walking quickly out of his office and through the mansion.

“We need to get going as soon as possible,” Kito said, striding into his bedroom as Katy was just pulling her top over her head. She tossed it aside and fell back onto the bed.

“What’d you find?” She asked, her tone even but her brow furrowed in worry.

“Nothing,” Kito rubbed the back of his head, “That’s the problem. The only thing it seems like it could have been, the only lead is..” He couldn’t finish.

“The only thing strong enough to defeat your father is whatever is sealed away at Yhor’Dheel.” Katy nodded slowly as if she had come to the same conclusion.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“If that’s the case, we’ll deal with it,” Katy stood, walking over to Kito with her hands behind her back, “We always do.”

Kito smiled lightly, exhaling, “Aye.” He said softly, relaxing as she kissed him. He knew she was just trying to make him feel better, considering there wasn’t anything they could do at that precise moment, but he didn’t mind. Katy’s confidence may have gotten them into more than a few scrapes at this point, but it never failed to set Kito’s jangling nerves at ease. That, and of course knowing Katy she probably could deal with it on sheer willpower alone.

“We’ll go first thing in the morning,” Katy said, breaking off the kiss only barely before resuming. Kito didn’t bother with any more talking, he just lifted his wife, her legs wrapping around his waist as he dropped her onto their plush bed, his lips moving to her neck. Katy let her breath out slowly, hands wrapping in Kito’s hair as he moved down her body, lips lightly touching her skin and causing goosebumps to prickle up wherever his mouth trailed over. Katy let her head fall back and her eyes closed as she let out a deep sigh, fingers gripping Kito’s hair tighter as he travelled further southward.