Exhausted from the long mission and not having a good night's rest in what felt like months, Kain and Serena immediately wanted to head back to the College dorms.
However, first, Kain brought Malzahir to the building he'd previously gotten as a temporary HQ for his meetings with Darius and any others he chooses to help awaken. Thankfully he had the foresight to add sleeping quarters to the building.
After sending off messages to his family, friends, and his business associates like Collin, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
His soft, high thread count, pillow.
'Ahhh… this is the life…'
Kain had no desire to pick up any more missions for a long time, he couldn't help thinking before everything faded to black.
When Kain woke, it was now bright out.
Sunlight poured in through the dorm windows, casting gentle streaks across the floor. For a brief, blissful second, he considered turning over and going back to sleep. But the dryness in his throat and the vague sense that he was forgetting something finally pushed him upright.
He blinked blearily and reached for his phone, which lay face down on the nightstand.
It was still powered off.
Kain frowned. He could've sworn he'd left it on. Maybe it died at some point during the night. He held the power button for a few seconds until the screen lit up, and leaned back against the headboard with a yawn while it booted.
BZZT. BZZT. BZZT. BZZZZZ. BZZZZZ. BZZZZZ.
The phone vibrated so violently it nearly leapt out of his hands.
Unread inboxes: Family, Collin, Darius plus god knows how many.
He swiped through the notification bar, eyebrows lifting higher and higher.
Messages from his family came first. The director and Bridge first, followed by the rest of his siblings. All filled with relief.
Director: "I knew you'd be fine, but please check in more often!"
Bridge: "About time you came back."
Cherry: "Kainnnn!! Did you bring back any souvenirs for me???"
Jasper: "We were taking bets on how long it'd take you. I said 20 days. I won."
Melody: "Come visit, please. I miss you."
Milo: "Welcome back."
Kain smiled faintly. He typed out a quick message to all of them, promising to visit soon and reassuring them that everything was fine.
Then came Collin's messages. Dozens of them, organized in bullet-point summaries. Straight to business like always:
Collin: "Quarterly report finalized. Numbers up 37% from last month."
Collin: "Three new knockoff spiritual beer brands popped up in the Capital. Sent cease-and-desist."
Collin: Surprisingly all knockoff suppliers in the Eastern region and even the Southern regions seem to be gone.
Collin: "Meeting request from Lord Alaric Veylen. You mentioned no longer wishing to socialize with him. Meeting declined."
Collin: "Your share of last month's sales profits deposited. Check ledger."
Collin: "A certified issuer certificate has been issued to almost 8000 bars and restaurants across the Empire."
Collin: "Updated storage security. We had a breach attempt. No losses."
Collin: "Spiritual beer demand exceeded projections. We'll need a new brewing facility within the month."
Collin: "Warehouse 3 is ready. Staff already rotated in."
Collin: "When you're back, we need 30 minutes minimum. A few things require your decision."
Kain groaned softly, already feeling a headache coming on. But then he reached the largest stack of messages by far:
Dozens upon dozens of them.
Kain scrolled. Then scrolled more. And scrolled again.
And with each message, his brows crept lower into a deepening furrow.
They hadn't contacted him while he was away, respecting the blackout, but now that he was back…
The threads were increasingly unhinged.
Darius: "Mission done. Sort of. You… might want to call us."
Darius: "We got rid of the knockoff vendors like you asked. All of them. Permanently. I think."
Darius: "We didn't technically break any laws. But if anyone comes to talk to you, you don't know us."
Darius: "Okay but like, hypothetically, if a building explodes but no one reports it…"
Darius: "Can someone explain why there's a goat in our van? It bit me"
Darius: "Sorry. Wrong group chat."
Kain stared blankly at the screen for a long moment.
He rubbed at his temple, slowly lowering the phone. "It was just supposed to be a basic clean-up job…"
So much for a vacation.
He swung his legs out of bed and stood with a groan, muttering under his breath as he reached for a clean shirt.
"Alright. Let's go see what disaster they caused..."
But just as he turned to toss the phone aside and get ready to leave another flood of vibrations buzzed through his hand.
A fresh batch of notifications. Except this time, they weren't from anyone he recognized.
Names not saved in his phone. People he definitely didn't remembered giving his number to. And people that definitely shouldn't know that he was back yet since he didn't tell them…
[UNKNOWN]: "is it true ur back?! omggggg 🙈🙏 welcome home legend 😭💖💖"
[UNKNOWN]: "he came back alive from the wilderness… our planner prince fr 💍"
[UNKNOWN]: "pls come to my store grand opening?? i named it 'Kainspiration'. It mainly sells merchandise for the 'Kain Fan Club'🥹💕"
[UNKNOWN]: "how do I get my contract to evolve like yours 😭 it's a Vespirae Queen too, like yours was, but it's so weak in comparison"
He scrolled again. The sheer volume was absurd—hundreds of texts, mostly compliments, a few mildly creepy, and a shocking number asking for consultations.
"...I have a fan club?"
He frowned, opening one particularly persistent thread at the top. The contact name had hearts on either side (he had absolutely zero knowledge of adding this contact himself…), and the chat was… long.
[11:23 PM] "Hi Kain!!! I know you're super busy being amazing and mysterious and powerful but I FELT that you were back… we must have such a deep connection 💕"
[12:01 AM] "I passed by your dorm building last night (just coincidentally!! haha don't be weird 🙈) and I SWEAR I saw the lights flicker. You're back, right? You're back."
[2:45 AM] "I tried to deliver you breakfast but the security around the top 5 dorms is so tight. I will try again in the morning. 🥰"
[3:10 AM] "I am so happy I got into the same College as you! Isn't that fate??? I decided to take some elective Evolutionary Planning courses this semester, we have so much in common ☺️."
[5:17 AM] "The security wouldn't let me in again. They're so annoying! Please tell them when you wake up about how close we are!"
[7:02 AM] "Anyway text me when you're free!! Or I'll find you first teehee 💖"
Kain slowly locked his phone after reading that last (threatening?) message.
And let out a long, hollow sigh.