Even Simon didn’t like doing this kind of thing. His original awakened class was Archivist; he much preferred a quiet desk job where he could file paperwork all day, but things didn’t work out. He had been in need of money at some point, made the wrong kinds of contacts, and ended up in a position where he had to run around, licking the boots of newly awakened brats all day long.

  Maybe it wasn’t quite fair to treat this one kid so harshly. The only thing he did wrong was share a last name with the most influential family in the city. No, the whole country, really. Awakening with a unique class wasn’t his fault either, obviously. It just so happened that everything came together perfectly to make Simon snap earlier today.

  Not that any of it would matter anymore after tonight. Simon called some of the scum that he knew wouldn’t mind getting their hands dirty in exchange for some petty cash. After making a bit of a mess of the café and Ryan himself, things should settle down quickly.

  Simon took a deep pull of the cigarette, then pushed it out of the car’s window. He looked at the clock, groaning loudly at how long he still had to wait.

  The subway came to a screeching halt, and Ryan tiredly stepped out into the station. He turned around, seeing Silvia and Modak following behind.

  “You guys don’t actually have to drop me off at home, you know?” he pointed out, but his friends clearly thought differently.

  Modak shook his head as he stepped up to Ryan’s right side, while Silvia took his left. “We’re not going to leave you alone with that Bluesky guy running around.”

  The elf immediately agreed, glancing down at Ryan’s hands. “Especially not while you’re hurt.”

  “It’s not that bad, it’s just some surface-level stuff. Seriously. I still have that healing salve, my hands will be fine by . . . Sunday, I guess.” Though he was trying not to worry his friends too much, he did have to admit to himself that his palms were in a ton of pain right now. Though, that might also be the overly tight bandages that had been wrapped around his hands earlier.

  They had called the university’s security and filled them in, and they had of course called an ambulance for Richie. The EMTs ended up taking Richie to the hospital, and quickly cleaned and wrapped up Ryan’s hands while they were at it, though they were clearly in a hurry to help Richie. The presentations tomorrow had obviously been pushed back, but that wasn’t even the worst part. Vanda had been taken in by the police afterward.

  Of course, since it was her robot that had caused all the damage. However, Ryan was able to fill them in on some things, assuring them that it wasn’t her fault. He even went so far as to explain that it was a spirit core that was corrupted, though when he told them that the core “disappeared,” he didn’t go into enough detail to tell them that it disappeared into Ryan’s domain.

  In the end, Ryan hoped that Vanda would turn out all right. With things like this, they would probably involve some spells or Awakened that could sense lies, so it should be easy enough for her to prove her innocence. At least, that’s what Ryan was hoping; he knew the reality always looked a bit different.

  The three stepped out into the streets, already dark, though the sky was still showing a few hints of the summer sunlight. Ryan glanced around, trying to see if Simon was lurking around somewhere.

  “Don’t worry, we got you,” Modak reassured Ryan, who couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

  “I’m just checking, alright? I’m not scared of that guy, I just don’t want to be jumped again.”

  Silva patted Ryan’s arm. “There’s nothing wrong with being scared, you know?”

  With a long breath, Ryan nodded. “I know, I know …”

  However, the three managed to make their way to Café Runic without any sort of incident. Ryan unlocked the door and led his friends up to the flat.

  “You guys want something to drink?” Ryan asked as he slipped his bag from his shoulders.

  “Do you mean, like, water? Or beer?”

  When he considered Silvia’s suggestion for a little while, Ryan’s brows curved upward. “I mean, we do have some in the fridge. And I could use some after today.”

  While the others were still putting down their bags and hanging up their jackets, Ryan made his way into the kitchen first. He pulled open the fridge, immediately seeing another half-eaten takeout container, added to the collection.

  “Godsdamn—Runar, just finish your old food before you order more …” he sighed, grabbing three bottles of beer from the top row in the fridge. Ryan placed them on the table and grabbed more bottles from the crate in the corner of the kitchen, replacing the ones that he just took out of the fridge.

  Ryan dropped onto the nearest chair as Silvia and Modak followed in kind. “Your uncle’s not home?” the elf inquired.

  “I honestly have no idea,” Ryan replied. “He’s probably either out doing some shady bullshit, or in his basement doing gods-know-what.”

  “… And you still don’t know what’s going on?” Modak wondered. “You said Runar mentioned something about filling you in on that phone call, right?”

  “Right, but that hasn’t happened yet … To be honest, I’ve just been avoiding him all week. Not that it was hard; whenever he wasn’t working, he was in the basement or something. He tried to bring something up a few times, but I managed to get away with some pretty basic excuses every time,” Ryan replied as he opened up the three bottles.

  Silvia seemed surprised by this. “You didn’t want to know what’s going on? I mean, what’s going to happen tomorrow?”

  Leaning back in his chair, Ryan contemplated that question for a moment. Of course, he wanted to know—how couldn’t he? It might answer a lot of his questions. But maybe that was exactly why he didn’t want to hear Runar out. “What if … it’s horrible? What if Runar does turn out to be a vile person? What if my father was caught up in things that I don’t really want to know about? And … what if my class is a bad omen?”

  “If that’s the case, then you’ll have to face that sooner or later anyway. And honestly? I’d say better sooner than later,” Silvia pointed out, looking around the table. She looked at her friends, feeling her heartbeat speed up. “I … my birth mother is not a good person, and it took me a long time to really accept that. But in the end, the sooner I learned about all the choices she made, all the things that she did to me that I hadn’t realized at the time … the sooner I was able to move on. Now I barely think about her anymore, and I was able to become a full part of my actual family. The people that love me and care for me.”

  Ryan and Modak looked at the elf, who was clearly trying not to lock eyes with either of them. Instead, she was just staring down at the label of the beer, fiddling with it nervously.

  “Thanks for sharing that.” Modak softly smiled at her, briefly holding his friend’s hand to comfort her.

  As Ryan looked at Silvia, his stomach churned. She was right; facing the truth and a past that he didn’t know would help him. He couldn’t run away from it. And there was something else that he didn’t want to keep hidden anymore; something he was sick of hiding whenever his back was even slightly exposed. They had only known each other for half a year, but Ryan already trusted Silvia and Modak more than he ever trusted anyone else in his life.

  “… I think I should tell you guys about something that I’ve been meaning to show you for a while now. Silvia saw it earlier, and I’m sure you, Modak, glanced at it a couple of times before too. I just want to tell you guys about it so that I don’t need to hide it anymore.” Ryan stood up, dropping his torn-up jacket from his shoulders. He turned his back toward them and pulled up his shirt. His stomach was turning upside down as silence filled the room.

  Ryan’s back was covered in faded scars, as if someone were trying to fit as many of them onto the empty space as they could. Some were long and thin, others were short with ragged edges. Others were small round dots scattered across. Some of the scars seemed to form patterns or letters, as if someone had cut up his back for fun, or out of boredom. Like scratching your name into a desk at school.

  Nervously, Ryan started to explain after pulling his shirt back down. “My mother remarried a couple of years after my dad died. You know, to give me a ‘normal’ life, whatever that means. He was … not a good person, either. Uhm … I … I know that Runar isn’t this kind of bad person, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if I can’t trust him anymore after all of this.”

  He sat back down, refusing to look at his friends in case they were looking at him with pity. It was one expression he didn’t want to see them make right now. Even disgust might be better than that.

  “You guys, I’m so sorry that you both had to deal with those kinds of things. Neither of you deserved to go through that,” Modak said, trying to reassure his friends that everything was fine. “And, Ryan, I know this is scary, but you have to talk to Runar. You can’t run away from this. It’s going to just keep eating you up from the inside. At the end of the day, it’s your choice, but we all know that you can’t just ignore this.”

  As if Modak’s words had summoned him, the flat’s door opened and shut with a loud slam. Ryan’s heart skipped a beat as he stood back up. “You’re right. I’ll have to talk to him.”

  Heavy footsteps rushed through the hallway, and Runar rushed past the open kitchen door for a moment, before stepping back and peering inside. Seeing Ryan, his eyes immediately widened, and he rushed in, carrying what seemed to be a birdcage with some dark fabric covering it.

  “Runar, we need to—” Ryan started, but he was quickly interrupted as Runar placed the birdcage onto the ground and rushed up to his nephew. He didn’t even glance at Silvia and Modak as he stepped up to Ryan, grabbing his head with both his hands to stare deep into his eyes.

  “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” In a complete panic, Runar started to “inspect” Ryan. His eyes let off a soft, pale-green glow that made Ryan flinch and move back in confusion, but his uncle didn’t let go of him at all.

  Ryan was about to ask Maximus for help, but the knight was seated in his cabin, simply observing the situation. It all overwhelmed Ryan a bit too much, but before he really needed to do anything, Modak had already jumped up and was pulling Runar away.

  “Keep it easy!” the orc exclaimed, as Runar turned around toward him with a startled expression.

  “Wait, you—Why are you guys here?” Runar pushed away Modak, who unknowingly stepped onto the edge of the fabric that was tossed over the birdcage, making it slip off ever so slightly. The others didn’t seem to notice, but Silvia saw something move inside the cage, and it didn’t seem to be a bird.

  “We all came back here together after everything that happened today.” Ryan pulled away, and Runar stared at him nervously.

  “Wait, what happened today?”

  “What—You don’t even know and you’re acting this insane? Dude, what is going on with you? I literally texted you that I was jumped by that Bluesky guy, you don’t respond to me, and then you come home, act like a maniac, and then say you don’t even know what’s going on?” With an almost furious glare, Ryan stared into his uncle’s eyes. “And are you seriously using a skill right now? You’re a fucking Awakened?!”

  When Runar realized what he just heard, his eyes widened. “You were jumped?! Did that guy hurt you anywhere? Was he the one that tried to infect you with the corruption?”

  The words coming from Runar’s mouth confused Ryan even more. He had no idea what was going on right now. How did Runar know about the corruption? Rather, if he didn’t know that Ryan was jumped, how did he know that something happened to him in the first place?

  But what ended up really making Ryan’s mind short-circuit was when Silvia lifted the birdcage, pulling the covering off it. And what was inside of it was not a bird. At least, not a bird that Ryan had ever heard of.

  It was a creature from storybooks. The fairy tales that parents read to their kids. Inside the cage was a small pixie.

  Chapter Thirty

  Under the Basement

  Ryan stared at the sleeping pixie within the cage, and Runar’s neck snapped around in a panic. “Okay, I know this looks really weird, but I can explain everything, alright?”

  “Oh, can you? Are you going to explain to me why you have a … a thing that I didn’t even know was real in a cage? Why you know about the corruption? And will you finally tell me the truth about what you know about what the fuck a Spirit Keeper is?!” Ryan wasn’t able to keep his voice down anymore. It was all just boiling over, and he couldn’t stop himself. Runar looked at his nephew, and then let out a careful, slow sigh.

  “… Fine. I … I promised your dad I wouldn’t get you involved in this, but … honestly, I think it’s a bit too late for that now,” Runar sighed loudly, before turning around toward Silvia. “Also, please put the cage down. I barely got her to fall asleep on the way, she’s a very anxious young girl. Alright?”

  Silvia looked back at Runar, glancing past him over at Ryan. He nodded his head, though hesitantly. After Silvia put the cage down, Runar turned back to Ryan. “Do you want them to be here for this?”

  Ryan didn’t even need to think about it. “Of course, I trust them both implicitly.”

  “It’s your choice, just don’t regret it,” Runar replied. “But first. Before I tell you anything at all, you have to tell me what happened with the corruption. Did it attack you, did it latch onto you?”

  Slowly, Ryan placed his hand onto his chest. He could feel the traces of whatever that was still writhing on his chest. He looked at it earlier, and it definitely didn’t look pretty. With a sigh, Ryan pulled off his shirt. While he didn’t know what was going on, he wanted to trust his uncle. He wanted to believe that Runar was the good guy.

  On his chest, black tendrils had embedded themselves, bulging like thick veins that were ready to burst. Runar’s face went pale as he looked at his nephew. “How are you even standing like that? It’s got to hurt, right?”

  Ryan shrugged. “I mean, kinda, but not really. It’s just kind of numb, to be honest.”

  With a long sigh, Runar leaned forward to take a closer look. “Alright … it looks like it latched onto your skin, but … not your mana? Wait, is …” Slowly realizing what happened, Runar let out a loud laugh. “Your mana poisoning is protecting you.”

  “… What?”

  “Yeah, you were exposed to a massive amount of mana, and a bit of it is still inside of you. It basically acts as a shield to the corruption. Dungeon mana is almost impossible to corrupt. It’s trying, which is why it’s still latched onto you, but it can’t actually do it,” Runar explained, sighing with some relief. “You’re lucky as hell, you know that?”

  Ryan looked down at his chest. “Was that why the corruption was repelled like that?”

  “That … was for a different reason. I placed some protective runes on you that held back the corruption, but since it’s already latched onto you, I can’t remove it just like that, but we have a bit of time until it gets worse anyway,” Runar pointed out, sighing a breath of relief as he straightened his back, noticing Ryan’s deep stare.

  “You’re … a Rune Mage?” Ryan asked, with a slightly confused smile on his face.

  Runar raised a brow. “Yeah, you got a problem with that?”

  “No, it’s just …” Ryan didn’t know how to say it, but Silvia luckily didn’t mind saying what they were all thinking.

  “Your name is ‘Runar,’ you own a place called ‘Café Runic,’ and you’re a Rune Mage? Isn’t that kind of playing into the theme a bit too much?”

  “Okay, firstly, rude. Secondly, I didn’t name myself, and my brother came up with the name for the café. Alright?” Runar turned around and picked up the birdcage, stepping into the hallway. “Now follow me. Oh, and by the way, even if Ryan trusts you two, I should make something clear. If you two say even a word about what you’ll find out, you should be prepared for the consequences that come with that.”

  On an ominous note that didn’t bode well for Silvia and Modak, he left the kitchen. Ryan put his shirt back on, and looked at his friends, “If you guys don’t want to know, you can—”

  “Shut up, you kidding? Obviously we’re going to come along,” Modak scoffed. “That’s a pixie in there! A real pixie!” The orc’s eyes were filled with curiosity and excitement, and Ryan couldn’t blame him. His heart was beating strong in his chest, and not just out of anxiety.

  “Silvia, what about you? Really, you don’t have to,” Ryan pointed out, but Silvia seemed to be of the same opinion as Modak. She had pushed for Ryan to figure out the “mystery” behind his class and father in the first place.

  “I will not let you two get involved in some secret underworld without me.” With a scoff, Silvia stepped out of the kitchen as well, and Ryan and Modak followed behind.

  Inside his domain, Maximus was seated on his bed, without the intention to come out anytime soon. He was still just watching, barely even reacting when Ryan tried to talk to him. Whether he finally ended up remembering something, or whether he himself was just anxious, something was going on, and it was putting Ryan on edge.

  The three followed behind Runar. They walked out of the main flat and made their way down the stairs to the basement. The door itself seemed very ordinary. Old and wooden, fitting what you would expect from a building like this. Runar pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open with a creak. And what they walked into … was a regular basement.

  There was a workbench in the corner, some tools hanging on a pegboard on the wall. Boxes stacked up in the corner and lots of clutter everywhere. Really, nothing out of the ordinary. It was kind of disappointing, really.

  “… This is the big secret?” Ryan asked with a sigh, but Silvia playfully hit his side, clearly enjoying the situation.

  “Don’t you watch any movies at all? There’s clearly some hidden passageway somewhere,” the elf pointed out, looking over at Runar excitedly. “So, where is it? Behind that old bookshelf?”