Ryan immediately nodded, grinning under his mask as he turned back around. “Great, I’ll test it out right away!”

  Without hesitation, Ryan turned around and left the small building, rushing back toward the edge of the cave. On the way, he grabbed the biggest bucket he could find and brought it with him. Once he was there, just in case, he had Penny wait downstairs again, though she seemed a bit annoyed about having to sit out there alone all the time. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to hurt you in case something goes wrong, alright?”

  Penny grumbled lightly and nodded as Ryan took the bucket and brought it upstairs. There was a hose upstairs so that they could clean Kindly, so he could fill it up there. Once Ryan got upstairs, Kindly seemed startled. The part that was “healed” from the corruption earlier was slowly growing over again, but there were still parts that were fine. So, it should be easy enough to properly clean the mimic without letting the corruption take him over again.

  Ryan filled up the bucket and then poured in a splash of the concentrate. He wanted to start with as little of it as he could to see how much was needed to get rid of the corruption. After mixing it together, Ryan grabbed a bowl that was generally used to feed Kindly medicine and scooped up some of the water.

  “Alright, stretch out one of your tentacles,” Ryan said, trying to instruct Kindly by stretching his own hand forward. The mimic slowly did as asked, and Ryan poured some of the water over the corrupted spots. The corruption was being cleaned off with ease, crumbling away immediately. Just a fraction of the bottle’s contents in that massive bucket was enough. A broad smile formed on Ryan’s face as he refilled the bowl, splashing more onto Kindly’s tentacle. Bit by bit, he started cleaning up the mimic, and the corruption was fading more and more, until all his exposed areas were rid of it.

  “Okay, Kindly, open up fully now,” Ryan said with a smile, patting the ground in front of him, though the mimic seemed a little hesitant about that. But Ryan just sat there, patiently waiting, and Kindly carefully opened the wardrobe. Ryan had already seen part of the mimic like this when Modak was treating him, but it was a little different now. Ryan couldn’t open the wardrobe himself like Modak could, and just had to wait for Kindly to come out on his own.

  But still, the mimic came out, revealing the entire mass of corruption that was covering him. It was bulging and pulsating, as if it were alive.

  Ryan continued scooping up bowls of water and poured them over Kindly’s body, trying to get rid of any corruption that he could find. The more he did, the more the mimic seemed to be calming down, as if the pain that he was feeling every day was being cured more and more. But the skin that was revealed underneath the corrupted gunk wasn’t healthy in any sense of the word. It was sore, and Kindly was starting to bleed quite a lot. Old wounds were opening up. But with the corruption gone, Rose would be able to properly treat the mimic, and proper healing products could be used to help him out.

  Soon, the corruption was gone almost completely. The only part that was persisting was a large lump at the side of Kindly’s body. It was like the corruption’s heart, trying to spread out rapidly before it died again. The water wouldn’t be enough to get rid of this. Though, at the very least, it seemed to be making it harder for that lump to truly hold on to Kindly’s skin.

  “… Okay, this might be stupid, but …” Ryan filled another bowl and took a deep breath. And then, he grabbed the lump. It was hard, like some kind of stone, so Ryan could hold onto it well enough. But the moment he did, the corruption tried to infect Ryan’s right hand, so he had to hurry. He pulled on the lump and poured the water onto the gap between the lump and Kindly’s body, trying to get rid of the part that connected them. A few moments later, the lump was pulled off Kindly, and Ryan hurried over to the bucket.

  The lump was digging into his skin like it was searing hot, but the moment Ryan submerged it in the water, he was able to pull it off properly.

  His hand was covered in deep sores and felt incredibly numb, but otherwise, he was fine. Looking into the bucket, he saw that the water was blackening more and more as the lump, the heart of the corruption, was being killed off.

  Chapter Forty

  The Seed

  The door to Kindly’s room was thrown open as Rose stepped inside. She had gotten everything that was needed to treat the mimic ready, carrying it into the room. But the moment she saw Kindly, the corruption cured from him for the first time, Rose almost dropped everything she was carrying to the ground.

  “It worked!” Her voice was muffled through the hazmat suit’s mask as usual, but Ryan could swear he heard some sniffling. And Ryan certainly understood why. Kindly was, for the first time in basically forever, lively. After Ryan had taken the core of the corruption off the mimic’s body, Kindly quickly returned into his wardrobe and started walking around. He had pushed some of his tentacles out through the bottom part of the wardrobe and hardened them into spider-like legs.

  Until now, Kindly had been too scared to actually move around, since he didn’t want to potentially infect anyone with the corruption, but that was hopefully something he didn’t need to worry about anymore.

  Rose looked over at Ryan, who was sitting near the door, leaning against the wall. “Thank you so much; you have no idea how much this means—”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just doing the right thing,” Ryan replied, hiding the deep red grooves on his palm that he would need to try and heal later. He looked down at a small stone that he was holding, then showed it to Rose. “Have you ever seen something like this?”

  Rose leaned forward, but she just slowly shook her head. “I don’t think so. What is it?”

  “It’s the source of the corruption. After I cleaned everything else off Kindly, there was a lump left. And after I properly got rid of that lump, this stone was left behind,” Ryan explained. Rose immediately pulled back.

  “Wh-What? So that’s how Kindly was originally infected? Does it still …”

  “No, it doesn’t have any more corruption in it,” Ryan explained, looking over at the large bucket, which was filled with dirty black liquid. Even after all the water was used up and the “gunk” was gone, the stone itself still seemed to have some corruption within it. So, Ryan had had to use another splash worth of the corruption-curing liquid in the small bottle to get rid of the rest. Just in case, he also poured it over his hand a bit more to make sure he didn’t have anything to worry about.

  But really, that whole situation had taken a ton out of Ryan. Dealing with corruption was exhausting, both physically and mentally.

  “I think it’s a seed of some sort,” Ryan explained. “I’ll go and ask Gaia to use her Inspection skill on it later. Oh, and by the way, did you see Penny down there when you came?”

  Rose nodded in an extremely exaggerated way to make sure that Ryan could see. “I tried to get her to come up with me when I noticed her, but it didn’t seem like she wanted to leave her spot.”

  “Right.” Ryan sighed loudly. He had asked the young pixie to wait for him downstairs, so she probably didn’t want to leave without his permission. He pushed himself off the ground, doing so with his right hand without thinking. Ryan tried to stop himself from grimacing at the discomfort, and just quickly stepped out of the room. He approached the first step, and as he lifted his foot, Ryan’s sight went white for a moment. It really wasn’t for long, but it was long enough for him to miss the first step.

  Silvia’s arms were slung around Fae’s waist, pulling her in closer as the two lay on the elf’s bed. Feeling Fae’s weight on her body, Silvia didn’t want this moment to end, but for a while now, she could tell that Fae wasn’t really into it.

  Right around now, her body should be covered in waves of color that almost seemed to illuminate the dimly lit space around the two. Silvia had tried to make up for it, wondering if it this was just because the two didn’t know each other that well in this regard just yet, and tried some things that she knew Fae liked, but that didn’t seem to do anything either.

  Almost robotically, Fae pulled in closer for a kiss, but Silvia pressed her hand between their mouths.

  “Alright, what’s going on?” she asked, and a startled Fae slightly moved away. Silvia pulled out from under her girlfriend. She grabbed the remote from her bedside table and turned off the music. “You’re somewhere else right now.”

  Fae let out a long sigh, then sat up and leaned against the headboard. “Yeah, I know, I’m … I’m sorry; I was thinking about earlier today.”

  “Earlier today? What do you mean?”

  Silvia knelt in front of Fae, confused and concerned, as Fae did something that the elf hadn’t seen from her before. The colors of her body were fading to blend with the bed, blanket, and pillows, as if she was trying to hide away. This was apparently a subconscious habit that some changelings developed over the generations, particularly those who were as natural at manipulating their pigmentation as Fae was.

  “I saw Ryan talk to that girl that assaulted us at the restaurant.” Fae tried to avoid looking at Silvia as much as she could. And Silvia felt a bit taken aback by Fae’s explanation, since it really just caught her completely off guard.

  “What do you mean? When was this?” she asked, not sure what to think. Of course, she believed Fae, but it wasn’t clear where Fae was going with this.

  “When we were in the park, when Ryan suddenly disappeared for a bit. I don’t know what they were talking about, but Ryan was just pretty quiet afterward. His mom and uncle also seemed worried, so I feel like something happened.”

  Silvia looked at her girlfriend hesitantly. She knew that there was something more to that woman, since she was clearly related to the underworld that Silvia was now also a part of to some degree. But it did worry her a bit that Ryan hadn’t mentioned anything about it.

  “And why is that making you so nervous? Maybe Ryan just saw her and confronted her, and then got mad because she’s a little crazy,” Silvia suggested, but Fae didn’t seem all too convinced. She was still trying to fade in to the objects she was touching. The elf grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and squeezed it tight, “There’s no way you think that Ryan has something to do with her, right?”

  “… I mean, he is a little weird sometimes, right? Like, he gets a new spirit every few weeks, and he keeps getting involved in weird stuff. Every other day, you talk about how he got hurt again,” Fae pointed out. “Like, I know he’s a good guy, I really do, but don’t you think there’s something weird about him? Plus, his uncle’s café is open maybe half the week sometimes. They’re just … off.”

  Silvia smiled and moved closer to Fae, pulling her in for a hug. “Don’t worry; you’ve got nothing to worry about. Yeah, those guys are a little weird, but they’re good people. I’m sure Ryan just kept it a secret because he didn’t want to upset us, but he probably just went to see what the hell her deal was.”

  “… I guess you’re right. But what is Ryan even up to these days? He gets hurt so often. Do you think he’s doing something dangerous?”

  Silvia scoffed. “He doesn’t get hurt that often. He’s just busy training and trying to get stronger, so he’s doing training in some kind of dungeon,” she explained. “It’s been a while since he got seriously hurt.”

  Just then, Silvia’s phone rang. It was the ringtone she had set for Ryan. “Let’s just ask him about it right now!”

  Quickly, Silvia reached over to her phone and answered the call, while the color slowly faded from Fae’s skin again as she got a bit less nervous. “Hey! Perfect timing; would you—”

  Silvia listened to what Ryan was saying, slowly closing her eyes. She nodded along, agreeing with something here and there. “Got it, yeah … But you’re fine? So, it’s not too bad, alright; that’s good. I’ll come by tomorrow before we were supposed to meet, okay? Got it. See you then.”

  Silvia hung up and carefully opened her eyes again, looking at her girlfriend.

  “What’s going on? Did something happen?” Fae asked, and Silvia carefully averted her gaze again.

  “So, uh … Ryan wants my help with something tomorrow morning, but right now, uhm … he’s getting treated because he broke his leg and hurt his head …”

  “Thanks, dude,” Ryan said, running his hands over his leg after he hung up. “You’re a real life-saver, you know?”

  Even through the white cloth hanging over most of Kula’s face, Ryan could tell that he was being judged.

  “Rhi-ka so giott. Marki-luin.”

  “I don’t know exactly what you’re saying, but I’ll guess that meant I’m an idiot and I should be more careful?” he said with an awkward expression, and Kula nodded.

  “Yes,” the healer replied, speaking in Riverian to Ryan for the second time. “You’re lucky that your leg was a clean break, but that wound on your forehead could have been real dangerous. And do not get me started on the injury to your palm. Take better care of yourself. And maybe consider awakening your resistance stat. You have, what, strength and stamina right now?”

  Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I awakened both of those not too long ago. But resistance training is pretty rough, right?”

  Kula’s cold glare made Ryan silently retract his question. The healer let out a slight sigh. “It may be rough using some of the more straightforward methods. Most people try to build resistance through, for example, getting beaten by others. But for you, I would say the most effective way might be … pressure and heat. With your numbness to pain—”

  “Hey, hey, I wouldn’t say I’m numb to pain—”

  Kula continued, basically unbothered. “With your numbness to pain, anything like being struck or punctured, which would work for others, will need to get to a dangerous level before it does anything for you. Pressure and heat can be controlled a lot more easily. Just ask your uncle about it.”

  Ryan nodded, thankful for the advice. “Right, got it. Will do. And thanks for the help again.”

  “… And here I hoped that I wouldn’t need to heal you again … Savir la-kra … You’re lucky I’m still in the area for the remainder of Spirit Week, though I hope I won’t have to come see you for this again,” Kula said, and Ryan let out a slightly awkward laugh.

  “Right, sorry. I’ll talk to Runar, yeah,” Ryan said, slowly getting up. “Luckily, you have an access token for down here and could come without him, huh?”

  Kula packed up his things and basically immediately moved on. “Mm-hmm. Why were you in such a hurry, anyway?”

  “Ah, right! That’s what I need Silvia’s help with. So, as it turns out, the copper flowers that Gaia is growing in the garden upstairs can cure corruption. I helped heal Kindly of his corruption earlier, and I guess the wound on my hand I got from that was a bit rougher than I thought, so I whited out and fell down the stairs,” he explained, and Kula just stared at him.

  “I thought that wound on your hand didn’t seem like what you would get from a fall. But still, finding a cure for corruption, huh … If I ever come across something that I can’t heal due to corruption, then—”

  “Of course; let us know right away,” Ryan replied with a smile, and Kula slowly nodded. He went on his way, and Ryan sighed awkwardly. He was sitting in Runar’s office now. Rose had gotten the Forge elemental to help carry him there, so it was waiting outside the door right now. Meanwhile, Penny was nuzzled up in Ryan’s collar, not wanting to leave him alone anymore.

  He had already given up on getting her back into her nest, so he just had to deal with this for the time being. But there was something slightly troublesome. The “seed” was gone, the one from inside the corruption. He was very certain that it didn’t fall when Ryan was, well, falling, mostly because there was something new inside of Ryan that he wasn’t all too happy with. He closed his eyes and moved into the space around the domains.

  The spirits were outside, celebrating with the people of this hidden village, so the domains themselves were empty. And usually, that white space around the domains should be just as empty, but that wasn’t the case right now. Right below Ryan’s feet, the point that he considered the center of this space, something was now embedded in the ground: a small sprout that seemed like it would grow into a sapling and then later a tree.

  It had grown from the seed after it was pulled into Ryan’s domain after being soaked in his blood after he fell down the steps.

  Like some kind of aspect hidden deep inside of the seed had woken up after noticing the magic inside of Ryan’s blood, it had forced its way through and was now growing with him.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Letters

  Ryan squatted in front of the seed, which had now grown into the beginnings of a sapling. He placed his hand on it and carefully tugged on it. If he could get rid of this again, that would be great. That seed had come from inside of the corruption, and even if that corrupted aspect was gone now, there was no way that this wouldn’t cause any issues.

  But the moment that Ryan touched it and pulled on it, he could feel an electric pain surge through him. It was like he was trying to tear out an exposed nerve. And with that pain, the whole world shook. And that was quite literal; the space around the domains shook, and so did the domains themselves. Ryan could see the training dummy in Maximus’s domain sway, and some things fell from the shelves in Gregor’s domain. A few glasses even broke. Ryan should apologize for that later, but for now, it was clear that he should stop touching this without a better plan.

  “Why does all this random shit keep happening?” Ryan groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he pulled back out of the domain. He stood up from his seat and looked at his phone. It was about time he headed out to go meet with Maribelle.

  “Penny,” Ryan said, looking down at the pixie who was still nuzzled up in his shirt, “I’ve got to go, sorry.”

  The pixie looked up at him with a sad expression but still slowly nodded. She flew onto the table, giving Ryan a small wave to say goodbye. Squatting down, Ryan smiled at her. “Don’t worry, I’ll come back soon. Okay?”