"So," Theo said, glad his voice came out strong and clear. "It wasn't a dream. That wasteland. And the dragon. And you guys. It all happened."

Zenith stiffened. Darian and Meg exchanged glances, then Meg turned toward Theo, eyebrow raised. "Are you telling me you truly have no idea what happened back there?"

"Uh...no. Was I supposed to?"

"You entered the arena," Darian said. "You couldn't have done it if you weren't a wizard with powerful Levia."

"Wizard? Levia?" Even more words he didn't understand.

Out of the corner of his eye, Theo noticed Zenith frown a little before turning away. Before he could wonder what it meant, Meg spoke. "Was that your first time entering an arena? Casting wizardry?"

"Wizardry? You mean...those diagrams?" Despite the soup and tea, the headache was beginning to creep back in.

"Oh, heavens." Meg flipped her hair, looking amused, but she was the only one. Otherwise, the atmosphere was like concrete. "How does that happen?"

"Those were powerful spells," Darian said. "There’s no way you could have cast them if you were a complete amateur.”

"I don't - I just - I saw them in my dreams. Those diagrams. I've been doodling them all my life. I never thought they meant anything." To his embarrassment, Theo’s voice began to shake. He curled his hands into fists, digging nails into palms.

"You saw them in your dreams." Darian's tone was caustic.

"I'm sorry, I can't explain it, okay?" Theo dug his nails in harder. "And I think you guys owe me plenty of explanations yourselves. What's with this whole wizard deal anyway? Don't tell me Harry Potter is nonfiction?"

Meg's mouth twitched like she wanted to laugh. "Not quite. Well. I suppose it is fair to put it this way: you're a wizard, Theo."

"Ha-ha, very funny." Theo folded his arms. "So what exactly does that mean?"

"We'll start with this." Darian leaned forward, hands clasped. Small as he might be, Theo sensed that he held the authority in this room. "There's another world out there, besides Earth. It's called Tielos."

"Tielos," Theo repeated, testing the unfamiliar word. Something might have stirred in him, like the echo of a wingbeat, but it was gone as soon as it came.

"I'm from Tielos, and so is Sir Zenith." Darian glanced at the knight. "Lodovico too, technically. Tielos is a land of magic where all people carry an innate power called Levia."

"A land of magic? Like the floating cities in my dreams?" Theo burst out.

"Floating cities?" It was subtle, but Theo sensed Darian leaning closer, paying attention in a way he hadn't before.

"Yeah. I sometimes dream about it...floating crystal cities up in the sky, where everybody has wings. Is that Tielos?"

Zenith lifted his head ever-so-slightly. Theo didn't know why he was paying so much attention to his reactions, especially since he wasn't talking. Maybe because Zenith was now his familiar, whatever that meant?

"Hm." Darian blinked, then rested his chin atop his clasped hands. "You could say so. That's a part of Tielos. Those floating cities are called Fortresses. Once upon a time, all of Tielos was like them. Rich, flourishing, beautiful, kept alive by the Levia within the land.

"Then a great war broke out between the seraphim and the demons. The demons were defeated, but the Demon Prince cast one final spell before his death. We call it the Rending, and it destroyed Tielos. All the Levia of the land was drained away, except for some fragments the seraphim managed to preserve and transform into flying cities, the Fortresses. But the ground below them became a wasteland where the vast majority of Tielans struggle to survive."

A wasteland. Theo thought of the cracked earth, the shattered structures. "Um, but wait - you said everyone in Tielos has Levia. How does that work out if this, um, Rending drained it all?"

"That's because there's two types of Levia," Darian said. "Levia of the land, and the Levia inside of people. The Levia of Tielos' land was drained, but that within its people remained. And an individual's Levia can grow stronger over one's lifetime. If one succeeds in maximizing their Levia, they will grow wings and become seraphim, earning the right to enter a Fortress. The Fortresses exist to preserve Levia, so only the strongest may pass through their gates."

"I...I see." No wonder his dream self felt so euphoric - proud, even - whenever he approached the city.

"To maximize our Levia, we travel the world and battle strong opponents," Darian said. "But a few centuries ago, Tielans discovered a new way to do so. They discovered a world called Earth."

"That's where us wizards come in," Meg said. "We're the rare humans who have innate Levia. You've felt it yourself, haven't you? It's like a fire in your veins.”

Theo's hands moved to his chest. The warmth was just a faint echo now, but he couldn’t forget how it had felt the moment he’d connected with Zenith.

"On our own, we humans can't do much with Levia. We don't have powers like Tielans do, alas." Meg winked. "But we do have wizardry. Using our Levia, we can form contracts with Tielans. The Tielan pledges to serve the wizard as their familiar and in exchange, the wizard casts spells to grant the Tielan strength in battle."

"So that's...what I did." Theo turned toward Zenith. "I made a contract with you."

Zenith jerked as if he hadn't expected Theo to address him. Slowly, he lifted his head and nodded, though he didn't meet Theo's gaze. A few loose locks from his ponytail fell over his shoulder.

"I...." The headache was back with a vengeance. "So now what? I go around fighting magic battles and stuff? So you can...join a Fortress or whatever?"

"You as well," Meg said. "That's what's in it for the wizard: we have the potential of maximizing our Levia and entering a Fortress alongside our familiars."

"What?" Theo shoved his chair back. "I don't want that."

Did he? In his dreams, seeing the Fortress always filled him with such joy.  Not only like he'd completed an arduous journey, but like he'd finally come home. Home. A word that hadn't meant very much these past five years.

But those were dreams. In the waking world, he had his own goals. Help Sam create her game. Record himself singing and put it online. And maybe someday, perform in front of a live audience. They had nothing to do with flying cities or magic battles or familiars or Levia.

He jumped to his feet, almost knocking the chair over. "What time is it, anyway? How long have I been here?”

"Ah, that's right." Darian slid a phone in a black cat case across the table. "This was in your jacket pocket. You've got some notifications, so you should probably let them know you're okay."

Theo didn't wait for him to finish. With trembling fingers he unlocked the phone. 9:31 PM. Not as late as he had thought, but still later than he usually came back.

But when he saw the new message from his dad, something cold and hard clenched in his chest.

Theo, I'll be working late tonight so I won't be home until tomorrow. Take care of yourself.

Dad wasn't worried. Dad had no idea where he was and didn't care. Nothing out of the ordinary; he often worked nights even over the weekends. All for the better, then. Theo wouldn't have to cook up an excuse for coming home late.

So why did his heart ache? After all these years, why did he still expect more from his dad?

"Young master Theo?" Lodovico stepped closer to him. "Are you all right?"

"Ah - I - " Theo swallowed hard. It wasn't like he had anything to actually be upset about. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Do you need to leave now? I'll give you my number so we can contact you again when it's more convenient," Darian said, rather breaking Theo's brain. So this rapier-wielding prince from another world had a phone like anybody else.

"Wait, my liege." Zenith half-rose from his chair. Though he was addressing Darian, the naked plea in his eyes pierced Theo's heart like a needle.

It made the light inside him - the Levia - stir. Which brought back memories of the moment when he'd formed the contract with Zenith. The pure certainty as their Levia touched. Zenith's smooth skin beneath his hands.

Even if he hadn't known exactly what he had been doing, he’d still made the choice to reach for Zenith. If he walked away now, what would it mean for Zenith? His familiar. Like it or not, they shared a bond of some kind. And Theo couldn't forget Zenith had put his own life on the line to protect him, not once but twice.

The least Theo could do for him was not run away.

"I don't have to leave," he said. "My dad's out for the night. I guess I....I can learn a little bit more about all this."

Zenith whipped toward him, blinking. Theo hadn’t expected such an unguarded reaction from the stoic knight, and it made his heart flip.

Darian spoke up before he could wonder about it. "Excellent. So, what do you want to learn next?"

So much. He had so many questions, he didn't know where to begin. If only he could just crawl back into bed. But he pushed the pathetic urge aside and tried to hone in on something specific, solid.

Once again, the image of the wasteland jumped out of his mind. The crystal ruins, the random trees and benches and street lights. "That...place. Where the dragon was," he said. "Was that Tielos?"

"Oh, no, no." Meg waved her hand. "That was an arena."

Theo remembered Darian angrily demanding how he'd gotten in, like he shouldn’t have been there. "So what is an arena?"

Meg snapped her fingers loud enough to make Theo jump. “I could give you a lecture, or I could show you. So let's go with the latter option, shall we? I always believe we learn better by doing, anyway."

With that, she jumped out of the chair and pranced toward the door. Lodovico followed placidly, and Darian and Zenith got up too. While Darian strode ahead, Zenith paused to glance at Theo.

Though he couldn't explain why, he felt touched that Zenith had waited for him. He ran to catch up and Zenith nodded at him before following after the group.

Theo fell in step beside him, wondering where Meg was going. Hopefully, it wouldn't have any dragons.