“So, first of all, a long, long time ago, about a thousand years ago, the only enemy humans needed to worry about was other humans. But then, all of a sudden, our world was invaded by those monsters you saw, which we call demons. When they came, they changed the world. The balance of power was shifted— no, not shifted, it was thrown away completely. Not only were they much stronger, faster, and more durable, but they brought something unstoppable from their world: magic.”

“But here is the thing: while demons were busy destroying the world, they didn’t realize that by introducing magic to our world, this power would start to grow within humans, too. Shortly after, many people started to discover magic within themselves. Every person who was blessed with that power felt something inside that fueled their magic. We called this something ‘Source.’ The better you can manipulate your source, the stronger your magic. The more ‘source’ you have, the longer you can use your abilities.”

“Every individual who possesses this power has a different magic unique to each user, which is true for both us and demons. For example, I have the power to change someone’s bodily state, so I use it to heal people. If I could do it faster, it would be a devastating offensive power. But to be honest, healing people suits me better, so I don’t complain and try to improve my skills to help people, not destroy them.”

“Um, what about my dad?” Liz wanted to know what he had to do with any of this. A year ago, when he left them without a word, she thought he was just drinking nonstop and was too ashamed to come back.

“Oh, yeah, that—”

“He was one of the first people whose power awakened. Not only that, he was among the first; he had an endless amount of it. His power is time manipulation, and instead of having a source to power it, as he himself describes it, time itself powers his magic, so he has no limits. That gave him one of his nicknames: The God of Magic.” Zywa was slashing away dead skin quickly and accurately. It didn’t hurt as much as it would have if anyone else had done it. Despite her lack of practice, it was clear as day that she was born to heal people.

“My dad?” Despite the great pain, she somehow managed a surprised and equally disgusted face. She couldn’t believe her father was capable of all that.

“Yes, but even that didn’t help stop them from destroying everything. People asked him to freeze all major cities in time so demons wouldn’t be able to wipe us out completely. He was able to save only three cities. According to the plan, he should have frozen them fifty years apart from one another. The first was your home, Frey, then fifty years later, Topaz, and a hundred years after the first, Paibin. They said it was better that way because the later cities could develop magic, so they could be more helpful in the future.”

When Zywa talked about Norn, she was so proud of him. Liz was under the impression that she must have owed him her life. It was so strange to imagine anyone thinking that highly of him.

“That is why he calls you ‘granny.’ Technically, you are over a thousand years old if we count the time you were frozen. Which I don’t think we should, by the way.” Zywa drilled into the back of Shin’s head with her eyes.

“What about the demon king you mentioned? Shouldn’t we be afraid of him the most?” Liz asked while Zywa disinfected her arm, making her hand jerk on its own every time it stung.

“No, not for now, at least. Some time after Norn finished with the cities, he ran into the demon king in the wild. By some miracle, he was not only able to escape, but he actually froze the demon king in time. Norn never told anyone in detail what happened there or for how long he trapped him. He said he didn’t want anyone to leak that information and get in the way when it was time to reapply the spell.” Zywa began to sew together the open wounds that had been caused by sharp objects she’d unfortunately caught from the explosion.

“I should mention that when he sealed the demon king, they lost the ability to cross between worlds. It was such a crucial moment in history because all the demons here were their offensive personnel, which meant they couldn’t reproduce. If we kill all of them, we can take our world back. It gave humanity the last hope—hope that we could win. That is why we created the hunters: to hunt down all of the demons. Shin and I, we are hunters. Our crew leader is your father, and together we locate, gather information, prepare, and then strike targets.” Zywa gathered her fingers into a fist and struck the air lightning fast, then instinctively returned her hand into a squabble pose. She was a well-trained fighter.

“I can’t believe my dad did all of this.” Images of her father ran through her head. Not a single one was pleasant. He would always fight with Mom or come back drunk from the bar with his friend, waking up the whole street. She was scared that if he continued to live this way, he would start to hit them.

“Why? Was he a clumsy type when he was with you?” a smirking Zywa asked. She was really curious about who Norn was before he became the literal god of humans.

“Not just clumsy. Mom couldn’t get him to do anything, no matter how much they fought over it. Honestly, he was the worst father ever.” When Liz said it, Zywa’s heart sank. She couldn’t believe her hero was just a regular man who could hurt his daughter’s feelings. Be called the worst father ever, not the perfect hero who saved the world many times, and should be celebrated at every chance.

“But why was Frey unfrozen then? Is that the demons’ fault?” Liz asked before Zywa finished and left without telling her more.