The sun was shining and the road was full of cars driving to their jobs. A brand new limousine parked in front of a skyscraper. It was shaped like a pencil.

A bodyguard opened the door for a lady who was wearing a mask. It had a special shape like a flower which was opening up. The same shape could be seen over the entrance. A sign said the name: ‘Spider Lily’. The flower had a deep red colour.

Walking towards the entrance a line of almost fifty bodyguards greeted the woman. A man with a different uniform received her with a big laugh.

“Hahahahhaa! Mrs. von Parseval! How long has it been?! It feels like an eternity.”

“It sure does. I’m doing fine. Tell me about yourself. I heard that you now have twins.”

“Hah, well you know, I got lucky. Two beautiful little boys came to the world just healthy. It’s the best time of my life. They are so sweet and playing with them is the best thing in the world.”

Listening to Kyle, Sylvia von Parseval got a little emotional. As a woman who grew up her own children and then lost one of them, she couldn’t restrain herself and got glassy eyes.

“Ahh, I apologies for what happened to your child. It was shocking news to the Ranker’s world. He was such an outstanding personality. Well, anyways how about we get it going. The boss is already waiting.”

Both of them went to the elevator. Kyle put his chip on the screen which enabled more floors than there were visible to the normal employee. It was a for VIPs and higher ups of the company. The moment the elevator started moving, an inbuilt coffee machine started brewing. It was driven by the movement of the elevator. This way no energy was wasted.

“You want one as well?”

“I’m alright, thanks.”

Arriving at the top floor, a young woman received them.

“Welcome, Mr. Stein and Mrs. von Parseval to the top floor of Spider Lily. Mr. 11th is in his office. He is awaiting you. Please follow me.”

She led the two through a hallway which appeared way longer than it was.

“Hmm? Why is it so long?”

“Don’t worry, it’s because of illusion magic. The building is not a pencil. It has more room than people can see.”

Sylvia was baffled. Not only could she not detect any traces of magic but she hadn’t heard of any illusion magic of this grade. Somebody incredibly strong must have prepared it.

“Who created the illusion?”

Kyle didn’t answer the question for a while.

“Don’t… worry about it.”

The atmosphere became strange.

“We have arrived. You can go in.”

The room was very bland. In fact only white and black could be seen. From the window to the tablet everything was either black or white. The creepy thing was that the man sitting at the desk was also black and white. No colours.

“Ohh.. Kyle, you’re here. I was waiting for you. Welcome Mrs. von Parseval. You’ve grown a lot. Congratulations on your marriage.”

“Th-That was years ago. Also do we know each other?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Sylvia felt uneasy. She couldn’t understand what was going on. It was like the person in front of her was sucking in her energy. But she didn’t feel any drainage in power.

“Indeed. I met your father while you were young. But that’s irrelevant. I congratulated you regardless. The wedding might be over but the marriage still continues.”

Kyle interrupted the conversation.

“You guys can get to know each other later. Let’s get to the reason why she’s here.”

He took a place in the sofa that was to the side of the boss.

“Sure, let’s get to it. So Mrs. von Parseval, I’m sure you are wondering why Spider Lily invited you here. The first and foremost reason is the death of your son, Anton. I know it might hurt but we have to get over this.

Anton used to work for us. He probably never told you because that would’ve been a breach of contract and there would’ve been nothing good coming from that anyways. I’m sure you did your research before coming here. We a re a company that sells and invests in stocks. ‘Spider Lily.’ is one of Germania’s biggest investment companies and although that is true, we also do other business. Business, that is not disclosed to the outside world. Business, that your son was a part of.

Hmm… I would call it ‘Rift Hunting’. It’s using gates to get to other dimensions. There you go hunting for treasures especially items which cannot be found in this world. Special items so to say. As you can imagine such things can bring in a lot of money and I mean a lot.

During one of the Hunts he went to a dimension that the company had not visited before. ‘Mythra’. A place far bigger than our dimension. Now it’s a wasteland mostly after an incident that happened there. Not much is known about it but two entire dimensions were destroyed. When Anton found that place, he visited it countless times. Almost a hundred visits were partaken and in one if them he found something, a crystal, that contained the soul of an ancient dragon. It is an item that many have been looking for, for centuries.

After coming back he decided to not give it to the company but keep it for himself. He talked about how somebody gave it him and he promised to keep it safe. Somebody was after him. A man named ‘Mdrassi’. At first nothing out of the ordinary happened. He went on his usual visits but one day that friend of his disappeared. He came back devastated and from then on searched for him. He same across people he shouldn’t have and did not stop after I told him to.

Then on the visit before he died, he came back completely beaten up. His arms were broken. He was basically on the brink of death. Even after that he still insisted on going back. regardless of my me telling him not to pursue this any longer he one night left on his own. After that… you know what happened.

That’s as much as I know. Or rather we as a company know. I thought I had an obligation to tell you as your his mother. Some of his belongings are also here. Weapons, items and some company shares.

Mr. 11th told Sylvia a lot of things she didn't know. She didn't even expect to hear anything of this sort from her visit to Spider Lily. The letter that she received stated that this company knew something about the death of her son but never would she have suspected anything like this.

"Wh-What are you saying? My son worked here? He went to other dimensions?"

"Ma'am I know how you must feel, but trust me, your son was extremely strong. He came here when one of his friends told him that he could get some gear from here that would strengthen his abilities but after a while he started hunting for his own. The stuff he got was so good that he used some for himself especially from Mythra. Those items were... Light and Darkness attributed."

He didn't talk any further as any Ranker knew how incredibly rare these elements were found in this world. Mrs. von Parseval looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe that she didn't even know anything about her own son.

Tears started to appear in her eyes. She slowly wiped them away.

"I... don't know what to say. How... did I not know of any of this."

Kyle looked at her with a worried expression.

"You don't need to blame yourself. He was a grown man. He chose the path he wanted to walk himself."

"I agree with Kyle. You couldn't have known any ways. Now coming to the more pressing issue. The people who killed Anton are still looking for the crystal. We sent some of our employees over and the rumours are still in the air. That's why we need to confirm if you know the whereabouts of the crystal. Perhaps your son had it among his stuff."

She thought about it and shook her head slightly.

"I wouldn't know about any crystal. Perhaps he had hid it in the house. I will look into it."

"I would be very pleased if you did. Thanks for coming here Mrs. von Parseval. I know that you are a very busy person. For that reason let me give you some shares and please look through our item collection. Kyle bring her there once you leave."

"Yessir."

"There is no need."

Sylvia looked down on her embrace. She felt guilty for even calling him her son.

"I'll be going then. Please excuse me."

"Wait, Sylvia!"

"Don't."

Kyle stopped in his walk and sat back down again.

"She is a mother. Which mother would not feel devasted finding out that she knew nothing about her son."

Sylvia left the building and entered her limousine.

"Robert, go to Bercity, now."

"Yes, ma'am."

...