Runar turned toward her and sighed, shaking his head, “No, it’s not there. But honestly, you’re taking all the fun out of the reveal, you know?”

  He stepped into the center of the room and squatted down, pressing his palm onto some runes that had been carved into it. The wooden boards creaked loudly and shifted aside in a familiar way, revealing some stairs spiraling downward. Ryan looked at Runar, locking eyes with him as he looked up. “What?” Runar asked, and Ryan scoffed lightly.

  “A ‘friend’ installed the adaptive door, huh?”

  “… I mean, I couldn’t tell you I did it,” Runar pointed out. “Though I guess it’s just another lie on top of everything else, so … sorry about that.”

  “No, honestly, I should’ve known. No way you’d have friends,” Ryan said quite bluntly, stepping down into the dark stone stairway.

  While waiting for Silvia and Modak to go down as well, Runar started complaining, “Man, I know that tension between us is high right now, but that one was really uncalled for.”

  Once everyone was in the stairway, the wooden boards shifted back over them, for a moment encasing them in perfect darkness. But it didn’t take long until that changed; along the walls and on the stairs, like safety lights, long lines started to glow. Runes were written within the lines at regular intervals.

  The group continued climbing down the stairs, down and down, much farther than Ryan would have ever imagined. The stairway was narrow and spiraling, to the point where it was starting to make Ryan dizzy. However, that didn’t last long, as before long, the group reached a chamber at the bottom of the stairs, with a large stone door on the other side of the room.

  “Another layer of defense?” Ryan asked, growing more and more nervous. This situation was already ridiculous in the first place, but somehow, seeing something like that gave him even more anxiety. What kind of things was Runar involved in that he had hidden this space to this extent?

  Runar stepped up to the door. “You can never be too careful. There are a lot of things to protect behind this.”

  He placed his palm onto the door, once more activating some runes that covered it all over. The heavy door scraped open, and Ryan’s heart skipped a few beats. What was behind there? Treasure? A drug den? A secret murder hole?

  Was it a bad idea to come down here with Runar after all? Ryan turned around toward his friends. They seemed similarly anxious, though he could see a bit more curiosity on their faces than Ryan imagined on his own. But really, he had no idea what his face looked like right now.

  But what he saw instead was something he really didn’t expect. Plants. Thick leaves and vines right in front of the door that it tore through while opening up. Runar rolled his eyes and shook his head as if disappointed. He quickly stepped through the door, pushing the leaves and branches out of the way. “Every single time …”

  Confused, Ryan, Modak, and Silvia followed behind him, unsure what to say. They took a few steps forward and the door quickly closed behind them. As they continued on and the plants seemed to become less dense, Ryan was able to see something as he peered up through the thicket.

  He could see stars. Which didn’t make any sense, obviously. They had gone down so far, so how could there possibly be stars here? And then, Runar pushed aside the last wall of plants, making way for Ryan, Silvia, and Modak to step through.

  “This is the Sanctuary of the Hidden,” Runar explained with a certain proud smile on his face, though Ryan could tell that there was some bitterness in his voice and face. But really, he couldn’t focus on that right now. Instead, he focused on what was in front of him.

  A trampled dirt road, some houses, and even street lights. They were all made of old stone, like some of those really old structures left behind from Old Riverside. It was basically a small village surrounded by trees and vines that seemed to climb up on the sky itself.

  “What the actual fu—” Ryan yelled out, but Runar immediately pressed his hand onto his mouth to stop him.

  “Be quiet—there’s people sleeping down here,” his uncle warned him, but that just confused Ryan more.

  Silvia took a few steps forward, looking around curiously. “There’s people down here? And what do you mean with ‘hidden’? Whose sanctuary is it?”

  Letting out a loud sigh, Runar turned back around and started walking again. “I’ll explain it to you in a second. But really, just keep it down a bit. And … no matter what you see, don’t make too much noise, alright?”

  They continued walking forward, and Runar seemed to be looking for something. And, as though he found it, he pointed his hand forward, speaking in a clear, but not loud, voice, his foot impatiently tapping on the ground. “You, come here.”

  “Hm?” Ryan let out, looking into the direction that Runar was pointing at. But he was just pointing at some plants. Though, those plants soon started walking. It was a mass of ivy, as if a statue was overgrown.

  With its head hung low, the moving plant approached Runar, who slowly looked past them. “You two as well,” he added, and from the thicket, two more came out. One was a lot shorter, seeming more like a child made of moss, and the other didn’t look like a person at all. Instead, it just looked like a decently large dog made of thorny vines and some roses blossoming on its back and head.

  “What did I tell you about blocking the doors?” Runar asked, clearly waiting for an answer. The person made of ivy started to … shift, as if the leaves of its body were trying to respond to the question.

  Runar sighed, “You say that every single time, but I assure you, nobody besides me can come through there anyway.”

  Slowly, the three sentient masses of plants looked at Ryan, Silvia, and Modak, who were watching this scene unfold in a mixture of shock and confusion. Shaking his head, Runar assured those plant people. “Don’t worry, this is my nephew and his friends. They’re fine, they’re with me. You can trust them,” he explained, before turning back to Ryan, finally starting to explain. “These three are dryads. There’s around two dozen of them down here, and as you can see, they’re intelligent and sapient plants.”

  “Uhm … hi? Nice to meet you, I’m Ryan,” he nervously said, looking at the three dryads, instinctively trying to reach out to shake their hands. However, they all backed away, scurrying off back into the thicket.

  Runar patted him on the shoulder with a smile. “Don’t worry, they’re just not great with strangers. I’m sure with time, they—”

  “What the actual fuck is going on here?” Ryan immediately asked, pulling away from Runar with a deep stare, not sure exactly why he acted so casual about sapient plant people just now.

  Runar looked away, continuing to walk down the road. “Our family has been protecting those who can’t protect themselves for … a thousand years now?”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean? Protecting whom? From what? And ‘our family’? Does that mean my dad was involved in this as well?”

  “It means exactly what I said. We protect people and animals that can’t do it on their own, and we mainly protect them from society itself. ‘Our family’ means the ‘Aglecards.’ And yes, obviously, that includes your father.”

  “So … you’re the good guys?” Ryan asked hesitantly, hoping that he was understanding things correctly. Runar stopped walking and turned around, staring at his nephew.

  “Hold on, did you actually think I was a criminal or something?”

  “Well, yeah, what did you expect? I overheard that phone call earlier this week about something that’s supposed to happen tomorrow.”

  “… Right, I was afraid that was the case. That situation is a bit more complicated still; we’re doing something like a test run tomorrow,” Runar explained with a long sigh. He started walking up the stairs leading into one of the buildings. Ryan quickly followed behind, more focused on Runar. But Silvia and Modak were just stunned as they looked around excitedly.

  “So this is a secret society thing?” Silvia asked excitedly, practically jumping up the steps. Runar simply nodded.

  “It sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it? But yes, that’s basically what it is,” Runar explained, pushing open the door in front of him. The space inside the building was fairly simple; a single large space with some couches in the corner and a desk on one side of the room. There were bookshelves and some metal filing cabinets set up as well, but the thing that stuck out the most was the small ball made of sticks, leaves, and flowers set up on a small pedestal right next to said desk.

  While Ryan, Silvia, and Modak were still looking around, unsure what to expect, Runar made his way to the desk and put down the birdcage, then opened it up a moment later.

  Carefully, Runar scooped up the sleeping pixie to place it inside the spherical “nest” next to the desk. Once that was done, Runar sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk, and looked at Ryan, locking eyes with him.

  “Alright, sorry that I’ve been still a bit dodgy until now. But let me really fill you in now. My name is Runar Aglecard. I awakened as a Rune Mage at the age of thirteen. Five years later, I was officially named the head of the Aglecard family.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The Family Business

  You’re the head of a motherfucking secret society?” Ryan let out almost involuntarily after he heard his uncle’s words, and Runar slowly nodded his head.

  “Yes, I am. Your father was supposed to inherit that position, but before that could happen, he cut contact and moved away to Maidsbury. He became an accountant, met your mom, and … got sick,” Runar explained. “He never wanted you to be a part of this whole thing. It was his biggest fear, to be honest. But he asked me to take care of you should you be forced to get involved.”

  Ryan stared back, a bit confused. “What do you mean, ‘forced to get involved’? This is about my class, isn’t it?”

  “Obviously it is. It … your class is a—” Runar started, but the conversation was quickly interrupted as someone, or something, stepped through the door. It was a small, stout, one-meter-tall figure. Its body was round, and its arms and legs were short and stumpy. It was also completely made of stone, except for the large hole in its head that revealed a complete crystal interior.

  Ryan immediately stepped between it and his friends, but Runar jumped up a moment later. “Wait, wait, wait!” He tried to stop Ryan, running over to the side of the small stone figure.

  “This isn’t like a monster or anything, they’re called geodes. They’re made of stone and crystals, and they’re also very much alive and one of the people that we protect,” Runar explained. “Nothing down here is inherently dangerous, alright? So … don’t beat anyone up.”

  The geode in question slowly looked at Runar. The crystals revealed through the hole in its face glowed and then dimmed again, in rhythmic patterns, while at the same time a soft whistle like wind chimes sounded out. Runar seemed to be listening and watching intently, slowly nodded his head.

  “Hm, okay, thanks for letting me know,” Runar sighed lightly, rubbing the bridge of his nose annoyed. “I’ll go to talk to him in a bit, alright?”

  Happy with that answer, the geode turned back around and walked away, without paying attention to Ryan and the others at all.

  Modak curiously peered after them as they waddled away. “I’ve never heard of a ‘geode’ before … was that it talking just now?”

  Runar looked at the orc with a raised brow. “First of all, ‘they,’ not ‘it.’ Geodes aren’t objects, they’re people. I know they might not look it, but let’s treat them like it, alright? But second, yes, that was them talking. They communicate with light and those small vibrations that make that ringing sound. Took me years to learn how to understand them properly. And then all the different languages … that was a pain, really. But worth it. It’s much better than having them all write down messages for me.”

  “I don’t … I don’t get it,” Ryan slowly let out. “So this place is a ‘sanctuary’ for people like them? People that don’t … look like us?”

  “It’s not about how they look,” Runar replied. “We take care of some people that look just like anyone else, and visually wouldn’t stick out. But … they can’t coexist that easily with others for other reasons.”

  Ryan frowned lightly, “What other reasons?”

  Trying to find the right words, Runar ran his hands through his hair. “So … let’s take pixies as an example. They’re smart, they have sapience, and they hit all the official marks for a ‘person’ that’s been established by the World Rights Organization. But they can’t speak. They don’t have vocal cords, and they’re legally deaf as well. However, they can innately sense mana, and manipulate the mana in their bodies to talk to each other. But because they weren’t able to communicate with other species, they are officially classified as … animals.”

  “Wait, really? Weren’t there any other ways to check that?” Silvia asked, looking at the spherical nest with a sad frown. “Like having them write, or … or, I don’t know, just anything other than assume they’re animals?”

  “Of course they could have, but why would they? People just assumed pixies weren’t intelligent and didn’t care to check.” Runar walked over to the couches, then sat down on one. He motioned toward the couch across from the small coffee table to have Ryan, Silvia, and Modak sit down as he seemed to prepare himself to continue. “And then, they found out that pixie … pixie blood, flesh, and bone have healing properties. Back in the day, many high-quality potions or elixirs were made with them as a prime ingredient. It was better for people to not think about the ‘what-if.’ But at this point, pixies are an endangered species. We’re not entirely sure, but we think that we’re currently protecting about 90 percent of all the pixies left.”

  Ryan’s face went pale as his stomach turned upside down at the thought of a person being turned into medicine. “So what, this is what you do every time the store is closed? You go and try to save people in danger?”

  “I mean, I don’t go out and do it myself, usually. We … have a lot of people working with us. I end up having to do a lot of administrative work. People come and go; my entrance isn’t the only one. We have a couple others nearby that might be a bit safer depending on the circumstance. But I had to go this time because of the situation that the pixie girl was in,” Runar explained, as something that Ryan had never seen from his uncle before appeared on his face. “She was about to be auctioned off as a pet … I managed to bust the auction. We work with the police to some degree, as necessary. They know we’re doing something, but they stay out of it as much as possible.”

  A thought crossed Modak’s mind. He felt horrible about asking this the moment after Runar spoke about illegal auctions, but since he had ties to the police, he just had to come out with it. “Do you think you can help my friend? She … she’s clearly going to get in trouble because of everything that happened today …”

  Runar looked at Modak with a slightly confused frown. “I mean, I try not to get involved with legalities for unrelated matters, you know? I’m sorry about your friend, but …”

  “It … is related,” Ryan replied, glancing over at Modak before turning back to his uncle. He started filling him in on the events of the day. Runar listened intently but nervously, finally understanding the source of the “corruption” that had latched itself onto Ryan’s chest.

  He leaned back in his seat and sighed. “So that’s what happened,” he muttered, turning to Modak while pulling out his phone. “I’ll tell my people and have them take care of this Vanda girl, alright? You don’t need to worry, she’ll be fine.”

  “You have reception down here?” Silvia asked, pulling out her phone to check, but Runar shook his head, pulling off his phone’s case. On its inside, arrays of runes were revealed.

  “You guys won’t, but I’m transmitting the signal from my phone to a point upstairs,” he explained, starting to write up a text while glancing back up at Ryan. “Now, you have the second fragment? That’s good, that makes things a lot easier. Even those guys can’t hide the last one if we have more than half.”

  Ryan frowned, leaning forward. Clearly, Runar knew more about the spirit cores than he wanted to admit. But now, he wasn’t in a situation where he could hide that anymore. “Alright, you have some stuff to explain to me. What is my class?”

  Runar, still typing the message to his “people,” started to explain. Though, he seemed to be using it as an excuse not to look at Ryan directly. “The ‘Spirit Keeper’ has always held a special position within our family. The first ‘Aglecard,’ the one who founded our family, was a Spirit Keeper. Since then, it’s been passed down, but only after the death of the last Spirit Keeper. There’s only one at a time. Though, it wasn’t always the family head. Actually, the Spirit Keeper hasn’t been the family head for … five hundred years? Your father would have been the first one in a while.”

  Taken aback, Ryan looked at his uncle. “Wait, but … my class has never been registered before. If my dad was one, then how … ?”

  “Well … The identity of the current Spirit Keeper has always been kept a secret, until you. It’s always been safer that way. Again, the Spirit Keeper class is a bit special. Or rather, it holds a special meaning for those in our circles,” Runar explained. “Like a symbol; a beacon for those that need help.”

  Ryan slowly averted his gaze. He looked inwardly at Maximus, once more trying to pull him out. This time, he didn’t resist. The knight appeared on the table between the two couches. Looking at him, Ryan asked him something that he had already asked him a few times. He just hoped that he would be able to remember this time. “So? Do you have anything to tell me now? You knew about all of this too, right?”

  Maximus stood there, clearly not sure how to respond. But Runar quickly responded for the spirit. “I … I actually don’t think so,” he pointed out, and Ryan glanced at his uncle again.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I knew Maximus before. He was one of the spirits that Hayden protected, and was at the forefront of any battles. Of course, I only saw him a couple of times; I was just a kid, after all,” Runar explained, “But … when your father … when he cut off his connection to the system, that stopped. He was the keeper of many spirits, but their cores were completely scattered. Most of them were injured in some way, whether it was by fragmenting or even irreversibly shattering. We haven’t been able to wake up the few that we managed to find, but we’ve always assumed that the process led to irreversible mental damages. Honestly? Amnesia seems to be a light consequence. His personality is still the same, it seems.”