Somewhere, in the centre of the city of Arcanmir, a man sits in a luxurious office chair, hunched over his computer-riddled desk. He looks through his schedule for tomorrow and sighs. Another busy day. He leans back and looks out of his window. From 35 storeys high, he can see the entire city, bustling with life as the people of the city turn in for the day. The neon lights shimmer between the shadows of the buildings below, as the setting sun falls below the ocean to the west. He knows that the life of the city at night is much more energetic than it might seem. He yawns. It’s time to go home. He turns off his computers, making sure to disconnect the wires afterwards, and puts on his overcoat.

Just as he was about to leave the office, however, he hears the transceiver implant in his ear start ringing. His left eye lights up to reveal his heads-up display. It’s Connor. Why is he calling now of all times? He looks at the phone icon in his eye with disdain, wondering whether or not to leave it alone. He sighs once more. The now annoyed man picks up the call.

“I was about to clock out, so keep it brief, please.”

A young voice replies in a hushed tone, “Hey boss. Remember the museum girl I mentioned before?”

“Right.” He looks back out through the window of his office. He doesn’t think this report would be of any interest. If anything, he thinks that Connor only called about how another intrepid explorer couldn’t find anything of interest. But that’s not what Connor’s report is about. His brows furrow, and his teeth clench. From his transceiver, he hears words he didn’t think he would hear in his entire time on Earth.

“She did what?”

“--And that’s when the first moon landing happened! That’s when all of humanity realised at the same time; “Wow humans really can push beyond our limits…” And I totally agree!” Alfonso grins as the old man stares at the back of Alfonso’s head with wide eyes. It’s hard to tell what expression he’s making under all that facial hair, but Alfonso believes that he’s been listening to every word. Even if the old man told him to shut up ten times during the ride.

It had only been one hour since they left the mountain, but to Val, it felt like an eternity. Listening to Al break down the progress of humanity to the old king felt like a toddler trying to explain astrophysics. It was full of misinformation, old wives’ tales, and some of it was probably stuff he made up himself! It was torture to a researcher like her, but she won’t interject from fear of listening to some of Alfonso’s wilder conspiracy theories. Einar had learned the hard way, that when Alfie starts talking, there’s no way to stop him. Thankfully, her destination is coming up soon.

“And, while going to the moon is fantastic, I think mankind’s greatest achievement has to be cybernetics—”

“And we’re here!” ‘And just in the nick of time too.’ Val thought to herself. The car swerves into the driveway of a modest looking house. To the surprise of Alfonso.

“Wait, what are we doing at our house? I thought you wanted to drive to the museum.”

The familiar suburban neighbourhood seems empty. The siblings’ parent’s house is right on the edge of the bustling city of Arcanmir. Most people would rather live under the neon lights of the world, famous city, but the siblings’ parents wanted them to live in a quieter area, away from the blinding city lights. Of course they couldn’t just leave the city entirely, they still had jobs to do there. So when Valentina was born, they moved out, closer to the coast. The house they bought wasn’t as fancy as their old apartment, in fact, it looks like it was made in the last century. The walls were made of wood, a luxury for the modern home, but they’re poorly maintained. A sloped roof with actual tiles, instead of the industry-standard reinforced polymer. The neighbourhood itself isn’t all that remarkable either. The road was uneven, the beaches were full of rocks, and there was only one person they could contact for any kind of house maintenance, but as long as it wasn’t the steel jungle of the city centre, they were satisfied. Their small, two-storey house is their home.

“That’s another 30 minutes of driving, and frankly, I can’t stand listening to you talk for that long.” Val unbuckles her seatbelt. “Plus, I need to change into something presentable.” She points to their dirt covered clothes. “Can’t exactly show off the living dead wearing this”

“I’m right here you know” Einar was so silent throughout the ride that Val almost forgot he was even there. Val looks back and sees a very tired looking old man. Looks like he can’t really put up with him either.

Al looks back at the old man, then back to his sister. “What do we do about him? We can’t just leave him in the car, he might blow it up or something with his magic.”

Val sighs. “If he could do that, he would’ve done it earlier. Isn’t that right, Mr. Old King?”

The old man says nothing.

“You’re insane, Val.”

“Whatever.” She opens the car door. “Stay with him. If he does anything stupid, just tase him again”

Al looks flabbergasted, “You know how hard it was to buy these things? These things aren’t exactly legal!”

“Then you better make it count!” With that, she closes the door on him.

Al’s dejected face could’ve been seen for miles, if anyone cared enough to look. He nervously picks at the taser in his sling bag before turning around. “So, uh… Wanna hear more stories?”

Inside the house, a tired researcher takes her time to take in everything that just transpired. She closes the door behind her, a small bell ringing to notify the house’s inhabitants that she’s come home but no one is there to greet her. She puts covers her mouth with one hand and takes a deep breath. There are too many questions in her head, and whenever she tries to think of an answer, more questions would pop up. The question at the forefront of her mind, of course, is whether any of this is real. She made sure she wasn’t dreaming a long while ago, the red marks on her cheeks were proof enough. Now she wants to know if it was all a trick. What she felt while she was at the mountain was real. The warm, yet sharp tingling in her brain when the purple light enveloped them was far too vivid to be some hallucination. At least that’s what she thinks. She had experienced elaborate pranks for other, more cynical archologists before, but never to the extent of having an old man buried deep inside a mountain. Her research on the old kings on Arcanmir had led her to that mountain, so it has to be true. But the magic the old king performed… Even if this is exactly what she was looking for, it’s hard to accept.

She shakes her head. If she has any questions, she could ask the old man once they reach the museum. Technically she could ask him in her house, but if it turns out he really is just a random geezer, then she would rather not let him into their house.

Val looks around the dishevelled mess of a house. What was once the Menendez family home, now only houses her. She isn’t exactly the cleanest person, and she is barely in the house anyway, mostly toiling away at AHM’s archives, sorting and cleaning up after her seniors. Of course, once she took it upon herself to find the lost tomb of the old king, she became even more distant from the house. She walks up the stairs to her study, avoiding the scraps of old, discarded, research papers and week-old take-out. Her study might be the cleanest part of the house, though that doesn’t say much. The desk has stacks of old books, mostly borrowed from the city’s library with almost all of them being overdue for return. She’d have preferred if the things she needed to look for were on the net, but alas, history books are rarely transcribed digitally. After all, who has the time to transcribe the origins of a fairy-tale in this day and age? Who would really care?

She opens one of the drawers and pulls out her old handheld phone and her old glasses and leaves behind the GR-1 visor. “It was fun while it lasted, I guess.” She takes out the microchip from the visor and inserts it into a slot in the twenty-year old phone. She was hoping she could leave behind the antiquated tech, but fate seems determined to keep her in the past. She looks behind the pile of books to find her work-issued laptop, her backpack, and finally a piece of coffee candy, stored away in a jar by the window. She reaches for the door that leads to her room but before she could, she hears a loud bang from outside, followed by ringing coming from her front door.

She runs down the stairs in a panic, and finds Alfonso, standing by the doorway. He lets out a nervous chuckle, with his hands behind his back. “Oh, it’s just you Al. I thought I told you to watch over the old guy.”

Alfonso’s smile fades as he steps to the side. Einar steps into view, taser in hand and pointed towards Alfonso. “You’re not going to get me with that trick again, child.”

Valentina’s eyes widen in horror. “What did you do to him?” She clenches her fist.

“I only tied him up. Don’t think I got to my age without learning a few tricks.” A wry smile forms on his face.

Val blinks, “You learned how to tie knots while you were in the casket?”

“It was before that.”

“Ah. Right.” Val didn’t think about that.

“Also I meant I learned how to fight, not tying knots.”

“Of course, of course” Val nods.

Alfonso looks at them in bewilderment, “What is happening?”

“Anyway that’s beside the point.” Einar straightens himself and trains the taser at Val. She flinches. “I’m here to make an offer, girl. Scholar to fellow scholar.”

Val tenses up again. She stares him down while thinking about how to get out of this mess. Neither her nor Alfonso are the physical type, so fighting him isn’t going to happen. She can throw a mean punch, but the taser aimed at her won’t let her get close enough. Her mind races, but she doesn’t know how long Einar is willing to wait. She can’t think of anything. She puts her hands up in surrender. “Alright, you win Mr. King. What do you want from us”

“Just some answers to my questions girl. First and foremost,” Einar’s hand grips the taser tighter, “Why have you captured me? Are you from the council, or are you so rude you would treat your elders like wild beasts?”

 Val stood still, staring through the old man. She doesn’t have an answer to that. “I- I said I was bringing you to the museum—”

“In binds? While attacking me with this… Thing?” He gestures to the taser in his hand. “I highly doubt it.”

She grimaces, “You were supposed to be a corpse! I still have doubts whether you’re truly the king of old.” She casts her eyes to the floor, her voice low almost to a mumble. “How am I supposed to believe that you’re not just another dumb prank?”

The old man stays silent. Alfonso, on the other hand, leans towards Einar, “Yeah, she’s got some, uh, trust issues.”

Einar glares at him.

“I believe you though! Truly! After what you pulled off at the mountain.”

Val lifts her head, “So that’s why you’re going to follow me to the museum. And you’re going to prove to me that you’re truly the old King of Arcanmir.” She lowers her head once more and whispers to herself, “More importantly, prove to him…”

The king ponders for a moment, then relaxes his stance, lowering the taser, “And how do you propose I do that?”

“I… I don’t know use your magic or something.” Val sighs, her head suddenly hurting after the tension in the room had dissipated. All of her gusto from when she first met Einar had faded, only now realising how exhausted she is. It’s been a tiring day for Val, playing babysitter wasn’t on Val’s itinerary.

Einar, who seems just as tired, ponders Val’s words a moment. “I’ve been wondering for a while now, but is magic an uncommon occurrence for you?”

Val looks up, “Forget uncommon, we all thought magic was just a myth.” She pute her head in her hand again, “Nowadays magic is just a sleight of hand or good looking props”.

“That’s… Disturbing news.” He hands the taser back to Alfonso, to the surprise of the young man. He walks to the wall by the door and leans on it as he puts his own hand to the bridge of his nose. The room is silent. Alfie feels an awkwards tension in the air as the two scholars are seemingly in deep thought.

Einar is first to break the silence, “So you want me to be your research subject, is that it?”

Val looks up, a hint of concern on her face, “I didn’t mean it like that,”

“It’s fine” he waves his unbandaged, heavily tattooed left hand. “Why don’t I prove to you that I’m the king you seek right now and save us both the trouble?”

“No!” The siblings shout in unison.

Einar staggers back, surprised at their sudden outburst.

Val continues, “Not in here, you might damage something.” She starts walking towards the door to when she remembers, “Oh, before that could you untie Alfie here.”

“Oh good, someone remembered me.”

Outside, the sky has turned dark, the now orange sun illuminating distant clouds across the sea. The neighbourhood is still as empty as ever, save for a few elderly residents looking towards the sunset. The trio walks toward the rocky coast, passing by an old fishery store and a few more residential homes. The store owner’s teenage son, who’s helping him close shop, waves at the trio. Val and Alfie wave back. They walk further along the coast towards a very rocky cliff face, behind an abandoned tool shed, making sure no one can see them.

“Why all the secrecy?” Einar interjects. “If you wanted to show me off, you’d think you want witnesses.”

“I don’t know what your magic does, I’m just making sure there’s as little damage as possible” Val looks around the shed, making sure no one is around.

“You really do have trust issues.” He looks over to Alfie, who is currently setting up a high-definition camera for the occasion.

After making sure no witnesses are around, Val takes a few steps away from Einar, “Alright, let’s see this proof of yours.”