When I got a closer look at the "guns," they resembled spears—except a barrel and muzzle had replaced the tip. How did I ever mistake these for actual guns?

  Judging by their earlier attempt to kill us with that spider trick, it was clear they were dangerously trigger-happy.

  Hessien grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back, leaning in to whisper, “Try to look magnificent.”

  I had no idea what he meant by that.

  Vacinay crossed her arms and stood tall, her posture flawless. With a stern, commanding expression, she glared at the people outside.

  Hessien and Ghomas crouched on either side of her, flexing their fingers in anticipation.

  Then Hessien spoke, his voice cold and dramatic. “It seems the people have heard our call…”

  Ghomas slowly turned his gaze toward them. “Indeed. The mortals are eager.”

  Ohhh. That was my cue.

  I quickly sat down, crossing my legs, and rested my chin on my palm. “Hmph.”

  I probably could have come up with something better to say.

  Still, our plan was working. The less we spoke, the more fear crept into their expressions. They glanced at one another, clearly hoping someone else would break the silence.

  Vacinay delivered the final line of our act. “Is this how you greet the divine defenders of reality? By pointing weapons at us?!”

  At her outburst, two men collapsed to their knees. One of them begged, “Please, stop speaking in that horrible language!”

  “Enough with the prophecy threats! Just tell us what you mean!”

  Wait, what?

  Vacinay and the others exchanged confused looks. Oh. Their auto-translation was off.

  After turning it back on, they cleared their throats, preparing to repeat their grand speeches. But I wasn’t in the mood for more theatrics.

  I stood up and gestured toward the four of us with my thumb. “Like we said, we’re reality defenders.”

  Among the group, one man stood out—a towering figure with dragon-like tattoos winding across his skin. He wore a flowing white-and-gold robe that draped down to his ankles.

  A circular cloth adorned with gemstones rested around his neck, and unlike the others, he carried no weapon. Instead, he held his palm open, as if wielding some unseen power.

  Then there was the older man, likely in his sixties, dressed even more elegantly than the tattooed warrior.

  As I studied their outfits, they murmured among themselves. A rather handsome guy tried to insert himself into their conversation, but they pushed him aside.

  After a few moments, the older man smiled. “Welcome to our world.”

  As we left the summoning room, we walked past the high-ranking figures.

  Behind us, the guards whispered amongst themselves—loud enough that they clearly wanted us to hear.

  “Don’t they look kind of weak?”

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  “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.”

  “I bet I could take any one of them in a fight,” one of them muttered.

  Annoying. If my powers were functioning, I’d indulge in a little power fantasy right about now.

  I’d go back in time and mess with his entire life. I’d become the Reverse-Flash of his existence.

  …Okay, maybe I was getting a little too worked up.

  The man who seemed to be their superior watched us intently, his gaze almost unsettling. It was the kind of look someone might give after discovering Batman was real—an admiration teetering on obsession.

  But the moment I met his eyes, his expression shifted to one of practiced professionalism.

  He inclined his head. “Is there anything you require, Reality Defender?”

  He thought he was clever.

  I shook my head. “No, and besides, my name is Lumine Markish.”

  “That’s a beautiful name, my lady.”

  Uh-huh. “Sure.”

  He proceeded to ask the others for their names, and one by one, they answered.

  “Ghomas Hyuiom.”

  “Vacinay Frutez.”

  “Hessien Markish.”

  The old man and the guard leader exchanged puzzled glances.

  Then the older man—who I assumed was the king—spoke. “You all have two names? What’s the meaning behind that?”

  They didn’t have family names here? That was… unexpected, I guess.

  Ghomas was the first to respond. “It’s our surname… obviously. We actually have three names, but when introducing ourselves, we don’t mention our middle names.”

  The two men exchanged baffled glances.

  The muscular one, his curiosity piqued, asked, “So… what do the extra names mean? What purpose do they serve?”

  I didn’t want Ghomas to call him stupid, so I jumped in. “In our world, first names are common, so middle names help distinguish people. They can also honor a family member or serve some other personal meaning. The last name is the family name, usually inherited from the father in many cultures.”

  The older man gasped, clapping his hands over his mouth.

  I had no idea what fascinated him so much about that.

  He murmured, “Wow… that’s glamorous.”

  The other man stroked his chin, lost in thought.

  The guard with the distinctive look puffed out his chest and cleared his throat. Maybe I should refer to him as the guard who seemed like a side character but had a unique design.

  Anyway, he said, “That’s cool and all, but we keep things simple. We have one name, and if someone wants to know our family, they can tell by our flow patterns.”

  Oh, so the patterns were genetic? That was interesting.

  I think he expected a response, but we pretended not to acknowledge his words.

  Vacinay leaned toward Hessien, snickering. “Imagine if your wife cheated on you, gave birth to a kid with your best friend’s flow patterns, and then tried to convince you it was yours. Hehehe.”

  Hessien stifled his laughter. “Bro, you’re joking, but that probably happens.”

  “For sure. I bet it goes like this—‘I swear, it’s yours!’ Then the guy looks at her, the baby, and his best friend. He notices the baby and the best friend have identical flow patterns and just goes, ‘Bitch, you think I’m dumb?!’”

  “Hahah!”

  Ghomas draped an arm over Hessien’s shoulder, grinning. “Don’t worry, fam. Since we’re just friends and not best friends, when I got your wife pregnant, it’s all good.”

  “Shut the hell up.” Hessien rolled his eyes.

  Heh. That would be a sight.

  After walking for a while, the older man seemed more like a fangirl than the other guy. I could practically see the twinkle in his eyes.

  Was our naming system really that fascinating to him?

  Finally, we climbed a flight of stairs and reached a new floor.

  The older man spread his arms toward an apartment complex. “This shall be your living quarters! This entire place was built just for you all!”

  “Wait… oh damn. The previous reality defenders must’ve had it good, huh?” The place wasn’t bad, but… an apartment? I’d expected a mansion or something.

  I was disappointed. Very disappointed.

  The older man shook his head. “Previous reality defenders? There’s no such thing.”

  “What?” I blurted out without thinking.

  “What’s he talking about?”

  “Eh?”

  “That makes no sense.”

  Hessien, Vacinay, and Ghomas voiced their confusion.

  The muscular man explained, “It’s the truth. In fact, people consider you all a legend.”

  “That makes no sense! If that were the case, why would you have built all this for beings that may or may not exist?” I was more frustrated than I should’ve been.

  They all turned to the older man.

  “Well… the old president had a dream about beings called reality defenders being summoned to stop the mutants and the asteroids that create them. So this place was built just in case. And, well, I wanted to see if it would come true, so I made sure it was never repurposed or torn down.”

  Wait—president? Oh, so this country didn’t have a king? I guess that should’ve been common sense… One of them did say ‘sir president,’ and the guards mentioned something about a president too.

  Welp, the old president’s dream actually came true.

  Ghomas crossed his arms, skeptical. “Didn’t that Palli weirdo say we were this generation’s reality defenders? I thought that implied there were others before us.”

  “Yeah, same,” I said, frowning.

  “Yeah, yeah! She did!” Hessien and Vacinay nodded vigorously.

  Oh boy. Of course, she lied to us.