Chapter 6: Inheritance Dispute

Though Rick's mind was mostly preoccupied with why Uncle Alan would be coming to a meeting about his parents' estate, he couldn't help but be taken aback as he entered the building. This was no small legal office, but the headquarters of one of the largest local firms.

He didn't know much about legal firms, but everything about the offices of Pine, Jade, and Swift Associates projected power. Lush but tasteful carpet, furniture that looked like it cost more than his apartment, lucrim crystals glittering in the windows... it all demonstrated that they had money to burn, and money meant power.

Trying to ignore all of it, Rick headed directly to the front desk, avoiding thoughts about how shabby he looked in a room like this. A woman sat behind a computer there and she smiled at him with no trace of scorn, however. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, I hope so. I'm Richard Hunter, and I received a letter from you guys." He held it out to demonstrate, feeling incredibly awkward. "There's supposed to be a meeting?"

"Of course, Mr. Hunter. You're a bit early, so would you mind waiting in the lobby?"

"No, but my unc - another family member appears to be already here. I'm not sure why."

The woman frowned and glanced at her screen briefly, then returned the same polite smile to him. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about your specific case, but I can assure you, things will begin at the appointed time. Please take a seat."

He was too nervous to sit down, but he did wander into the lushly-appointed lobby. This area was clearly for clients and visitors, so it included a wall with a number of ornate carvings chronicling the history of the firm. According to the official story, the Highest Pine, Jade Hand, and Swift Elegance had been combat sects without peer in the Midwest before they joined forces to create the modern firm.

Most likely the official story involved some exaggeration. Whenever any place talked about its history, somehow there were unrivaled schools and legendary martial artists everywhere. But that didn't mean that they weren't significant.

For one, everyone who worked there was stronger than him. Even the woman at the desk had a generation rate in excess of 50,000 lucrim. And when a well-dressed man who looked like he might be a lawyer walked through, Rick actually had to take a step back. His rate was 200,000 or more, so high that Rick couldn't even properly evaluate his strength.

To top it off, that power wasn't just granted in a lump sum like the Birthrighters. Oh, the lawyer probably got a significant Birthright Core from his parents, but it was dwarfed by the many polished cores within his lucrima. In his current state, Rick struggled to even aspire to such power.

Before he could get too uncomfortable in the lobby, the woman called his name and gestured him toward one of the doors in back. A young man guided him through the wood-paneled corridors, apparently not wanting to chat, and soon left him in front of a door marked with nothing but a number.

Swallowing, Rick pushed inside. On the other side he found yet another tastefully expensive room, though this one was rather spare. Plain carpet, and aside from the table and chairs, there was no furniture at all.

But there was no time to think about that. What mattered was that a lawyer sat on the other side of the desk, while Uncle Alan slouched on the closer side. He'd gotten heavier now, but the signs of the fighter he'd once been were obvious in his body. He wore blue jeans and a shirt with the arms torn off, showing both muscular arms and many scars from days pit fighting.

Only one chair remained, obviously for Rick. He walked inside slowly, eyeing his uncle, and paused long enough by the chair that the lawyer had to gesture for him to sit.

"Please, make yourself comfortable."

While Rick slipped into the seat, his uncle frowned at him. "Thought you wouldn't show up, boy."

"Why wouldn't I?" He swallowed the acidic words on his tongue, not wanting to seem childish in front of the lawyer in case that ended up affecting the results.

"Because you were always playing your little games," Uncle Alan said. "Never showed up when the family needed you."

It was more that he refused to allow the rest of the family to drag him down, separated himself because he didn't want Melissa to end up in a dead end life like so many of them. Rick knew that he should shrug off the insult, but found himself smiling bitterly instead. "When was the last time you visited my parents, Uncle? I assume you're just here to give your condolences, right? What they left behind has nothing to do with it?"

"Looks like you've turned into a smug bastard." His uncle's fingers gripped tightly into the armrests of his chair and he started levering himself up. But at that moment the lawyer raised a hand. Just a slight gesture, but he also flexed his aura as he did so. Unlike a visibly manifested aura, it simply rippled through the room, but the raw power of it was a wave of pressure keeping both of them in their seats.

Rick sat without moving and waited for Uncle Alan to calm down. When they both sat silently, the lawyer gave a flat smile and positioned a piece of paper in front of him before speaking.

"Since the two of you obviously have business of your own to consider, I'll be brief. Our meeting today is to distribute the belongings of the deceased. They were in some debt, so the majority of their belongings were claimed toward repayment of some of that debt. By law, however, surviving Lucores must be distributed to next of kin."

The lawyer lifted a briefcase onto the table and opened it toward himself. Still speaking, he removed two devices and placed them beside the briefcase. "Due to the unfortunate circumstances, there was significant deterioration and so we are left with only two viable Lucores. To wit, these."

Each device was a black square with four steel tines rising from the corners, arching together to meet in the center. The air quivered with the field they produced, and in the exact center of the space pulsed a nearly invisible speck of power. Though there was no difference between the two, they retained just enough familiar essence that he knew they came from his parents.

Those two cores were all that remained of his parents. Rick stared at them for a while, not sure what to feel, but then he needed to focus, as the lawyer swiped his hand through the air and created a lucrim display.

[Birthright Core

Family Designation: Hunter193

1108 lucrim]

[Birthright Core

Family Designation: Hunter193

1944 lucrim]

The larger one had been from his mother, the smaller from his father. He looked over the numbers, having long ago comprehended them, just trying to decide how to react. Though he should have felt more emotion, at the very least curiosity about how they had died, the information in the letter had told him what he basically expected.

His parents had lived lives that were simultaneously reckless and unremarkable. Now, they left him two unremarkable cores. True, they were significant compared to his current abilities, but they were nothing much for a pair of adults. Mike the Birthrighter's 100,000 lucrim core had probably been only a tiny fraction of his family's accumulated power.

"Not bad, bro." Uncle Alan reached out toward the cores, surprisingly eager. If he needed lucrim cores worth just 3000 that badly, then his situation really must be difficult. No wonder he was trying to steal what never should have been his.

Rick reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Why should they go to you? They were my parents."

"You're a damn boy! Would you even know what to do with that much power?" Though he scowled at him, Uncle Alan did pull his hand away. He sat back in his chair and stared at the cores, while Rick looked past them.

"The law on this matter is frustratingly vague," the lawyer said. "Though it surprises many clients, the law does not actually enshrine inheritance rights for children. Under most circumstances this is handled via a last will and testament, but our searches have presented reasonable doubt that any were ever created. As such, there is actually some uncertainty as to the distribution of the Birthright Cores."

Frowning, Rick did his best to stay calm. "I don't think I've ever heard of Birthright Cores not going to the children. Why wouldn't they?"

"While that is unquestionably the modern custom, there are also legal precedents that favor senior family members."

Uncle Alan grunted. "Yeah, what he said." He turned in his seat, staring Rick straight in the eyes. "Here's the deal kid: I'll let you have the smaller core and you can just walk away. I think I'm being pretty damn generous, considering how much you've brushed off this family."

Rick considered it for only a moment before he thought about what those cores could mean for Melissa. "No. You have no right to take them."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." The older man growled and pushed himself out of his chair, reminding Rick just how tall he was. "Then we do this the hard way. You're a junior member of the Hunter family and you're owed nothing. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with me."

The lawyer sighed. "A ritual challenge, then. While this is not unexpected... please make it quick. We have more business to attend to today."

"Oh, it'll be quick." Uncle Alan cracked his knuckles and let his aura rise from his body. It flowed a muddy red and moved roughly, but it was as large as Rick remembered it.

With an odd movement, the lawyer made his chair and the table slide across the floor, soundlessly gliding to the corner and leaving the center of the floor empty. Fighting on carpet in a wood-paneled room felt wrong, but Rick didn't have a choice. There was no way he was backing down from this one.

Rick stood to his feet and took a deep breath. If there had ever been a time to spend all the strength he had been gathering, this was it.