The morning after the battle of the Biochem Facility, Leo awoke to a surprise. He woke up feeling massively more powerful than when he went to bed the night before. Leo had leveled up. He was now a Level Four Sorcerer.

Leo queried his Sorcerer Magic System. “Why did I level up now? Was I casting spells in my sleep?”

His Magic System had the answer. “Well, I could tell that yesterday was hard for you. Taking your first life as a Sorcerer is a somber affair. I wanted to let some time pass so we could celebrate your leveling up as the joyous occasion that it is.”

Leo appreciated this. He never knew that a Sorcerer's Magic System had a personality completely separate from the Sorcerer themselves. Leo didn’t mind this at all, it was like he had a personal assistant in his head any time he wanted. “So, level four. What does this mean for us?”

He could hear a smile in his Magic System’s voice. “In addition to some juice ability score boosts, I have a trio of potent new spells to tell you about.”

Leo rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Lay them on me.”

His Magic System seemed almost excited. “The first spell at level four is Discus Shield. It will allow you to create a powerful shield three feet in diameter anywhere within a twenty foot radius. Precise protection just when you need it.”

Leo realized his aim would have to be pretty good with that. “A full bubble shield would be nice, but I’m not complaining. What else?”

The Magic System didn’t hesitate. “The Electric Wind will allow you to siphon electrical energy from a source and utilize it. This can be used as an attack or even to power a device that is otherwise nonfunctional.”

Leo now could summon fire and electricity. “That can really come in handy, I’ve never been particularly good with machines before. What’s the last spell?”

In his mind, Leo could picture the Sorcerer Magic System smiling. “I think you’ll like this one the best, Leo. It’s called The Golden Draak. It summons a metallic dragon-like creature to fight by your side during battle. It is rather large so be careful where you summon it.”

Leo’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “You’re serious? I’m going to have my own dragon?”

The Magic System cleared its throat, not that it actually had a throat to clear. “I said dragon-like. It’s technically a lesser drake, but don’t let that worry you, it will be quite a formidable partner when the chips are down.”

Leo was grateful for these new spells and couldn’t wait to try them out, but today probably wouldn’t be that day. He was meeting with Surya to secure proof of his Holgeld heritage, and she told him to meet him at the hospital. Summoning a dragon, or even a lesser drake, inside a hospital was probably a very bad idea.

Surya was in the car that picked Leo up outside the Security Campus. This was the first time he’d seen her since she saved his life back in the Opal Corp board room. “I did want to say thank you, Surya. For standing up for me in there. Obviously, I’m surprised you were able to figure out my secret but it all seems to be working out for the best.”

Surya was handlessly applying her makeup with a cantrip while she flicked through some documents. “And here I thought you’d be furious at me for almost getting you killed. I debated filling you in beforehand, but in case you truly didn’t know I did think your genuine surprise would have been in our favor.”

Leo shrugged. “We each had our secrets, it seems.”

Surya smiled. “You really are a Holgeld. Now I’m very glad that I never kissed you. We could still only be second cousins, but why risk it, I say.”

Leo swallowed. “Yeah, why risk it.”

The car came to a stop. Surya’s face turned serious. “I do need to touch you though, Leo. I’m going to put my hand over your heart and you’re going to do the same to me.”

Leo’s blood rushed to his cheeks. “Over your… heart?”

Surya nodded. “I’m going to cast a spell and it needs your consent. It’s a binding spell.”

Leo wasn’t familiar. “What exactly are we binding?”

Surya looked him square in the eyes. “We’re binding to each other. I’m going to help you, Leo. I believe that you can climb the ranks in Opal Corp higher than I ever could. But I’m not going to let you leave me behind. Understood?”

Leo returned her gaze. “I promise, I’d never do that.”

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Surya raised an eyebrow. “I wish that was good enough. Here, put your hand right there.”

Surya placed Leo’s hand on her chest. Leo could feel her heart beating under her exquisitely tailored suit. Surya placed her hand on Leo’s chest. It was quite warm.

Surya closed her eyes. “I bind you to an oath. Should you, Leo, ever inherit Opal Corp, you will make me, Surya, your second in command. If you fail to uphold this oath, may both our hearts stop cold. Do you consent?”

Leo could feel the current of magic surging between them. “I do. I consent.”

The magic gave one final pulse that surged from Surya through Leo and back again. They both let out a breath at the same time.

Surya straightened her skirt and climbed out of the car. Leo followed, staring up at the hospital building. “So this place has proof about my heritage?”

Surya nodded. “Undoubtedly. You were born here.”

That fact hit Leo harder than he thought it would. He had long since given up any hope about learning about his birth or even his parents. If this hospital had records on him, it would surely also reveal who his parents were.

Surya gave her name at the front desk and she and Leo were led up to an office on the top floor. The name on the door read Doctor Wallace Plata. The doctor himself was waiting inside.

Surya shook his hand. “Dr. Plata, my name is Surya Holgeld, this is my personal security, Leo. I believe you have some information for me.”

Dr. Plata smiled thinly and took off his wire rim spectacles. “I’m sorry you came all this way, Ms. Holgeld, but I tried to tell your office. I’m not at liberty to share the information on the child you requested.”

Leo gave Surya a worried look, but she didn’t seem shaken. “Dr. Plata, you are Head of Research at this hospital, if I’m not mistaken. Research that takes place in the Argus Holgeld Memorial Wing. Research that has been generously funded by the Holgeld Family Foundation for over thirty years.”

The doctor cleaned his spectacles before putting them back on. “Quite generous. There’s no question of that. Should you ever need to know more about how that generosity is reciprocated, you’ll know and won’t need to ask.”

Leo sensed something was weird about this doctor, he clearly had some deal with Opal Corp but Surya wasn’t high enough clearance to know about it. Leo considered seeing if he could get Romus himself to get the information, but Surya was already standing up to leave.

Dr. Plata stood as well and led her to the door. Surya put a hand on his shoulder. “I hated to have interrupted your day, Dr. Plata. I’m sure you have many important things to attend to.”

A genuine, if slightly unsettling smile graced Dr. Plata’s face this time. “No trouble at all. Say hello to your father for me. Next time you see him.”

Surya promised she would. Out in the hallway, Leo needed to speak up. “I can’t believe you gave up that easily. If this guy has proof about my lineage, we have to get it.”

From her pocket, Surya flicked out the access card she swiped from Dr. Plata’s pocket. “We’ll get it, Leo. Whether the good doctor wants us to have it or not.”

Leo couldn’t help but be impressed. He wondered if Surya had some spell that let her steal the card, or if she was just a particularly skilled pickpocket.

They reached the hospital elevator and Surya swiped the access card in a panel. The elevator sent them all the way from the top floor to the lowest sub basement of the hospital.

The doors opened and Leo stepped out into a darkly lit floor. It had a strange, unnatural odor, even for a hospital. “I don’t think I saw this place on any of the maps upstairs.”

Surya followed Leo out, they walked past walls and walls of medical equipment and specimen jars. “I imagine Dr. Plata doesn’t want many people to know exactly what kind of research goes on down here.”

Leo got a closer look at one of the specimen jars then pulled back in disgusted. “What is in those? They look like… I don’t even want to say what they look like.”

Surya was being careful not to look at any of the jars herself. “I had heard rumors about genetic research that Opal Corp was funding. Daddy was always obsessed with how Sorcerer DNA gets passed down within a family. Why Sorcerers like the Holgelds got to be special and no one else did. Other people said it came from his desire to have the perfect heir. Someone to pass Opal Corp down to that wasn’t a failure like my siblings and I.”

Leo did not want to consider the implications of this. Was he an experiment, just like these things in the jars down here?

They reached an office in the back of the floor where Dr. Plata had set up a computer terminal. It looked like the terminal had been cut from the wall so that no one could access it. Surya got angry. “What the hell. This computer should have exactly what we need on it.”

Leo stepped forward and cast Electric Wind. Electricity danced from a wall outlet and the computer booted up without issue. Surya seemed impressed. “A computer wiz, huh?”

Leo smirked. “Something like that. Let’s see what this thing has to share.”

Leo and Surya leaned in together and gathered as much information as they could. Surya looked sick to her stomach. “This is worse than any rumors I heard. Not only were they experimenting on babies that were born Sorcerers, they were injecting non-magical babies with Brillianite to try to get them to manifest powers of their own.”

That would explain many of the poor, twisted creatures that Leo saw in the specimen jars. He was eager to get out of there as fast as he could. “Let’s find my birth certificate and go. We can’t get caught down here.”

Surya typed away and they were finally able to find it. Leo’s birth certificate. It had his weight, his hour and minute of birth and his full name Leo Holgeld. Leo’s heart soared only to falter when he saw that the names for the father and the mother were left empty.

This didn’t bother Surya. “This is everything we need. It’s official, Leo. You’re a Holgeld. Now we need to keep it a secret until the time is right.”

They took the elevator back up and Leo was grateful to be back in the brightly lit hospital. But before they reached the exit, something caught Leo’s eye.

On a TV in one of the waiting rooms was Leo’s own face staring back at him. Leo rushed over to see why. A business news show was covering a breaking story. “Opal Corp stock plummeted today on rumors that Romus Holgeld has chosen a successor to inherit the company. And that successor is a completely unknown relative known only as Leo.”

Surya caught up with Leo, she looked extremely worried. The secret was already out.