Ryan was trying to follow along. He felt bad for doubting Maximus, especially since he was clearly a victim here.

  “My father cut his connection to the system? What … what’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, though Ryan already knew. He clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white as his fingernails dug into his palm.

  Modak and Silvia had been trying their best to stay silent while this conversation was going on, not wanting to interrupt something as heavy as what was being revealed right now. But that didn’t mean that they weren’t there to support Ryan. Modak patted his friend’s back, while Silvia placed her hand onto Ryan’s clenched fist, trying to get him to relax.

  Ryan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Seeing that, Runar carefully responded.

  “It means that he reversed his awakening.” Runar looked down at Maximus, with a bitter, regretful expression. “And in the process, he hurt a lot of spirits that only deserved to be protected.”

  “And how’s that even possible?” While Ryan heard and understood what Runar was saying, the idea of someone “un-awakening” just didn’t make sense. In the first place, the way the system really worked and the reasons behind its existence still weren’t known even more than a millennium after it first came to be. Reversing an awakening was a ridiculous idea.

  And even Runar seemed to agree. “It’s insane, I know, but it’s what happened. He did it all on his own. I’ve been trying to look into it since I became the head, but … nothing.”

  Ryan looked at Maximus. He was abandoned by Ryan’s father, clearly without the latter contemplating the consequences of his actions. But there was something that made Ryan even more mad, specifically in regard to the knight. “So my father … doomed a ton of spirits, and then kept Maximus around as a souvenir? Are you fucking with me?”

  Runar leaned back in his seat, slowly nodding. “Yeah, that’s basically it. Maybe he kept Maximus around for the next Spirit Keeper. But until you awakened, we thought that Hayden got rid of the class altogether, so I really don’t know. Clearly, though, it was the right time for the keeper to come back.”

  Ryan was a bit confused. “What do you mean? ‘It was the right time’?”

  “Well … the Spirit Keeper isn’t usually handed down from parent to child, and you becoming the keeper isn’t because you’re Hayden’s son either. The Spirit Keeper is chosen by …‘fate’? Frankly, most of the time, they weren’t directly related to our family, and we found them and took them in after they awakened. It was always people chosen because they deserved the title and the weight behind it, and because they would cherish the spirits.”

  Ryan scoffed, not particularly happy with the idea, “So … what? ‘Fate’ brought Maximus to me?”

  “Is … fate even real?” Modak asked, deeply skeptical at the idea.

  And before Runar could respond, Silvia looked at the orc. “Of course it is! Fate is all around us, constantly! Guiding us, helping us, leading us to where we’re supposed to be.”

  “Yes! Yes, that is true, but …” Runar quickly took over, looking at Modak who still wasn’t entirely sure, “… fate isn’t forcing you to do anything. It’s this complex amalgamation of mood and timing and all these little coincidences that might bring you to the right point in time. It’s still your journey, you are the one in control. For example, if Ryan weren’t a good person, and didn’t actively make the choice to protect and help others when he can, no matter how he does it, he wouldn’t have awakened as a Spirit Keeper. Fate isn’t some omniscient force either; we’ve learned that in the past, other people that were candidates to become Spirit Keepers were given the opportunity to awaken by fate, but due to their actions and personality, it didn’t happen.”

  I guess that’s a pro? Ryan thought to himself. The idea of “fate” being the only reason he awakened, something beyond him that he couldn’t control, felt almost demeaning. But if the reason for his awakening was that the choices that he made in his life were bringing him onto the right path, and that it meant that he could be trusted with the safety of others, despite the mistakes that he has made in the past, that felt … good. Just good.

  “This is all … a lot,” Ryan pointed out with an awkwardly nervous smile on his face. “So what does that mean? Do I have to fulfill some kind of role now?”

  Runar shrugged. “Not if you don’t want to. I mean, the family elders might complain a bit, but my word goes above theirs. If you want to help out somehow, we can find a way for you to do that. If you want to not get involved in any of this, I can keep you blacklisted.”

  “… Blacklisted?”

  “Basically, it just means that no member of the family or adjacent groups we work with is allowed to contact you directly. It’s usually used more for like . . . an exile thing? But it’s useful here as well,” Runar explained. “I can’t justify keeping it up if you get too involved, and once it’s removed, I don’t think I will be able to reverse it.”

  “Can I think about that for a bit? I think I need to sort of … digest it all, you know?” Ryan asked, his mind racing with far too many thoughts for him to make such a decision right now. His gut was telling him to just agree, and to see what the hell this new world he didn’t know about had to offer him. But at the same time, making such an important decision without considering the consequences? That would be insane. There was clearly something bigger going on, something darker than was obvious right here. Ryan had to consider if that was something he wanted to deal with.

  But there was still something else that Ryan needed to know. “So, what’s going to happen tomorrow?”

  Runar’s face immediately dropped as he leaned forward, almost startled. “A-About that … So, there’s a species we’re currently working on integrating into society. But we can’t just do that, you know? So … we’re doing a test run. It’s this ten-year-old kid. He’ll go to school, he’ll make friends, and hopefully act as a great example that they can live well in society with the tools we’re providing.”

  Surprised, Ryan raised his brows. “Oh … I thought it was going to be a bit … more than that. What’s the trouble with that, then? Why were you freaking out so much?”

  “Well …” Runar sighed loudly, not sure how to say it. In the end, he chose to just come out with it. “He’s going to be living with us.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The Vampire Kid

  Could you repeat that?” Really not sure if he heard right, Ryan stared at his uncle with a perplexed expression.

  Runar sighed loudly, “Listen, it’s part of the job, alright? I end up housing a lot of people upstairs, especially individuals that struggle because of curses or mutations or things like that. This is just the first time that it’s going to be a long-term thing.”

  “Where’s he even supposed to stay? I’m not sharing my room with a kid, you know?” Ryan pointed out, but Runar quickly calmed him down.

  “Of course not, don’t worry. I guess you didn’t check it yet, but I cleared out my office. We’re having some people come tomorrow to properly set the room up for a kid his age. A bed, a proper desk, windows that we’re darkening, and a bunch of school stuff for when he starts.”

  Ryan frowned lightly, glancing at his friends to see if they noticed it as well.

  “You’re darkening the windows? Why?”

  “Oh, the kid’s a vampire. They have awful sun allergies so we need to block it in his bedroom, obviously. We have this really potent sunblock for when he goes outside, though, but his bedroom should be even safer.”

  Considering that there was a sapient mass of rocks talking to Runar with lights and vibrations earlier, and a pixie was sleeping just a couple steps away, Ryan knew he shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that vampires were still around. Though Silvia seemed like she just had to make doubly sure.

  “Vampires are still around? Seriously? I thought they all died out centuries ago …” she asked, both taken back and curious. Runar let out a long sigh and nodded his head.

  “Yes, they’re still around. And so are ghouls, and succubi, and titans, and—you know what? I’ll give you guys a list later; that might make this a bit easier. A lot of species thought to be either extinct or fictitious are real and hidden from society’s eye,” he replied, slowly pushing himself off his seat. “But yes, again, vampires still exist. Yes, they’re allergic to sunlight; no, they don’t mind garlic, and they’re also not vulnerable to holy magic or depictions.”

  “… So, why are you struggling to integrate them into society?” Ryan asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Runar sighed loudly. This was the part that he was worried about revealing the most, obviously.

  “Because they have to live off blood. Or rather, the mana dissolved in all of our blood. They can survive off animal blood for a while, but most animal blood doesn’t have the right quantity or quality of mana, and it can lead to plenty of health issues. Something like … extreme, extreme scurvy, basically,” he started to explain. “But most species of people have a higher quality of mana, so that’s where they would need to go for their blood. And you can imagine why that would cause … friction. It’s the reason why the vampires of the past were slaughtered like monsters in the first place.”

  Ryan held his hand to his neck carefully. Everyone that had heard stories of vampires knew about the classic bite mark on the neck. Runar was immediately able to tell what he was thinking, and quickly shut his thought process down.

  “Oh, no, that’s not how that really works these days. I mean, there’s always vampires that go rogue, but that’s really just comparable to other criminals, you know? We have been buying up excess blood from blood banks for a while and providing it to any vampires that have made contact with us. So there’s no direct physical contact. But we have actually been working on something that just left its last clinical trial phase, hence why we’re doing a proper test run now. We’ve been working on artificial blood.” Runar stood up from his seat and walked over to his desk, looking for some documents that were scattered around.

  Ryan turned around, looking at his uncle with some disbelief. “You guys invented artificial blood just so that vampires don’t have to feed off people anymore?”

  “Well, not just. It’s going to take a little longer to adapt it to every species and blood type, but once we do, it’s going to go into trials to be used in the medical sector, but that’s still a bit away.”

  Finally finding what he was looking for, Runar picked up a piece of paper and brought it over to Ryan, Silvia, and Modak, handing it to them. It seemed to be the results of the trials that they had run: “In our long-term tests, a full 98.7 percent of vampires were able to fully replace their blood intake with our artificial blood. For the remaining 1.3 percent, who were only unable to do so because of things like indigestion and mild intolerances that came with the artificial blood, we believe we can adjust the formula as we would into different blood types to make this possible. Oh, and of the ones that were able to replace their intake, 95 percent had an improvement of health over the course of the next three months, and none had a decrease.”

  “So … what? You can distribute this to all vampires? And then you’ll hold a big press conference, announcing the existence of vampires?” Ryan asked, unsure exactly how this was all supposed to go. He was happy that he wouldn’t have to worry about being randomly bitten by the kid that was going to live with them starting tomorrow, but this was still a bit confusing.

  “Well, we’re going to be adjusting the formula and using it as a base for something like those meal-replacement drinks, so that vampires can also start enjoying their meals a bit, and then we’ll try to sell them in stores across the country and then expand internationally. And otherwise? We’ll just have vampires slowly reveal themselves. They already live in society; people just don’t know that they’re vampires. They look near identical to humans, just with slightly more pointed ears, so people probably assume they have some elf blood in them. Well, a press conference isn’t a bad idea, though. Just to make it clear that vampires aren’t dangerous.”

  “Wait …” Ryan placed the piece of paper down on the table, looking back at his uncle. “So if they’re already living alongside us, just ‘hidden’ … the test run means that the kid is going to live with us, and we’re going to publicly tell everyone he’s a vampire?”

  “Yep. Legally there’s already no issue with vampires coexisting with us as long as they don’t harm other people, and since we’ve practically solved that problem now. It should all go relatively well. Frankly, these days, people are very open. The last species that we properly integrated a few decades ago were the arachnids, and that was a challenge itself, but we got through that, so vampires should be alright.”

  Modak raised his brows surprised. “Wait, you did that with arachnids?”

  “Oh, yeah. Non-humanoid species are always a bit rough to integrate, but it all worked out. You know Aranea, the head librarian at your university? She’s actually the great-granddaughter of the arachnid representative from when our family helped them integrate.” Runar smiled lightly. “I’ve met her a couple of times, since we still work with arachnids to ensure that they’re treated well and their rights are kept up. Actually, I—”

  In the middle of Runar’s sentence, his eyes widened, confused. “Who the hell—” he let out, jumping onto his feet, groaning loudly. “Godsdammit … sorry, there’s something I need to take care of.”

  As Ryan looked at his uncle, whose irises had started glowing in a soft green light, he saw an expression he had seen plenty of times before. Usually, when there was an annoying customer in the café that Runar was dreading dealing with, he would make that exact face. Usually Ryan would end up taking care of it, but this time, it was different.

  “You guys go ahead and stay down here. It won’t take long, and running up and down the stairs multiple times just gets annoying sometimes. There’s still a lot that you guys should know about.” Runar walked over to his desk and grabbed something that was laying on it. A black engraved fountain pen with golden inlays and small metallic feathers on its end. The engravings looked similar to the ones that were on his father’s model-building tools. “I guess it’s a good chance for you to just digest everything, and maybe talk out what your plan is after this. Oh, and Ryan, if someone comes here and is confused about who you are and why you’re here, just tell them your name, and you should be fine.”

  “Uh … Sure, I guess. Do you need any help?”

  Runar looked at his nephew, as if contemplating it for a moment, but he just shook his head in the end. “Nah, I got this. Alright, I’ll be right back!” He rushed out the door, shutting it behind him. His footsteps quickly faded away, and Ryan leaned forward, burying his face in his hands. Silvia and Modak were similarly silent, until the dense air was cut apart.

  “Holy crap, Ryan!” Silvia let out loudly, looking at her friend as she jumped up from the couch. “A secret society? A secret! Society?!”

  “Don’t look at me like that, I had no fucking clue! Honestly, I still feel like this is some weird, elaborate prank!” Ryan admitted, throwing up his arms. “Like … how is this kind of shit even real? This isn’t some kind of book … is it? Are we in a book? Is this whole thing a stupid fucking book?”

  “Calm down, guys. This is crazy, but it’s clearly real.” Modak slowly stood up with a long sigh, but both Silvia and Ryan were just staring at him.

  “Don’t act so big, you’re obviously freaking out right now,” Ryan retorted.

  “No I’m not.”

  “Yeah you are.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Your eye is doing that thing again.”

  Modak held his hand to his cheek, feeling his eye twitch nervously. With a click of his tongue, the orc replied, “Okay, fine! This is insane! How could I not be freaking out right now?”

  Seeing how his friends were reacting, Ryan slowly stood up and looked at them both. “I … if this is too much for you guys, I can tell Runar and you guys don’t have to get involved in any of this.”

  Though they both wanted to reply immediately, neither of them was able to. This was much too complicated for them to come out with an immediate response. There was so much weight on all of this, and they barely had any time to process any of it.

  Finally, Modak asked, “What about you? Will you … stick around? Will you become a part of this whole … thing?”

  Ryan thought about it for a moment. He turned toward Maximus and looked inwardly at Gaia, her two fragments floating in her domain. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll stick around. I can’t back away from this anymore. There’s no way I can go back to living a normal life, always wondering why my father would … doom so many spirits. And come on, this is the perfect place for me. I can actually help people. I can … I can …”

  “If you’re sticking around, so am I,” Silvia said bluntly. “I mean, I know that it’s probably different for us, and our decision in this has less weight, but still. I’m not going to leave you alone here.”

  After the elf’s immediate response, Ryan was overcome with relief. Not having to do this alone was going to make this all so much easier. But Modak still had some concerns.

  “What if this is dangerous?” he wondered, clearly worried about some things. “I mean, Runar literally placed a protective ward on you. That’s not something you do if there’s no threat of something horrible happening. Not to mention, that ‘corruption’ thing? Are we sure that’s a level of danger that any of us want to be exposed to?”