Ryan stared at the sleeping pixie within the cage, and Runar's neck snapped around in a panic, "Okay, I know this looks really weird, but I can explain everything, alright?"

"Oh, can you? Are you going to explain to me why you have a... a thing that I didn't even know were real in a cage? Why you know about the 'corruption'? And will you finally tell me the truth about what you know about what the fuck a 'Spirit Keeper' is?!" Ryan wasn't able to keep his voice down any more. It was all just boiling over, and he couldn't stop himself. Runar looked at his nephew, and then let out a careful, slow sigh.

"... Fine. I... I promised your dad I wouldn't get you involved in this, but... honestly, I think it's a bit too late for that now," Runar sighed loudly, before turning around toward Silvia, "Also, please put the cage down. I barely got her to fall asleep on the way, she's a very anxious young girl. Alright?"

Silvia looked back at Runar, glancing past him over at Ryan. He nodded his head, though hesitantly. After Silvia put the cage down, Runar turned back to Ryan, "Do you want them to be here for this?"

Ryan didn't even need to think about it, "Of course, I trust them both implicitly."

"It's your choice, just don't regret it," Runar replied, "But first. Before I tell you anything at all. You have to tell me what happened with the 'corruption'. Did it attack you, did it latch onto you?"

Slowly, Ryan placed his hand onto his chest. He could feel the traces of whatever that was still writhing on his chest. He looked at it earlier, and it definitely didn't look pretty. With a sigh, Ryan pulled off his shirt fully. While he didn't know what was going on, he wanted to trust his uncle. He wanted to believe that Runar was the good guy.

On his chest, black tendrils had embedded themselves, bulging like thick veins that were ready to burst. Runar's face went pale as he looked at his nephew, "How are you even standing like that? It's got to hurt, right?"

Ryan shrugged, "I mean, kinda, but not really. It's just kind of numb, to be honest."

With a long sigh, Runar leaned forward to take a closer look, "Alright... it looks like it latched onto your skin, but... not your mana? Wait, is..." slowly realizing what happened, Runar let out a loud laugh, "Your mana poisoning is protecting you."

"... What?"

"Yeah, you were exposed to a massive amount of mana, and a bit of it is still inside of you. It basically acts as a shield to the corruption. Dungeon Mana is almost impossible to corrupt. It's trying, which is why it's still latched onto you, but it can't actually do it," Runar explained, sighing with some relief, "You're lucky as hell, you know that?"

Ryan looked down at his chest, "Was that why the corruption was repelled like that?"

"That... was for a different reason. I placed some protective runes on you that held back the corruption, but since it's already latched onto you, I can't remove it just like that, but we have a bit of time until it gets worse anyway," Runar pointed out, sighing a breath of relief as he straightened his back, noticing Ryan's deep stare.

"You're... a Rune Mage?" Ryan asked, with a slightly confused smile on his face.

Runar raised a brow, "Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

"No, it's just..." Ryan didn't know how to say it, but Silvia luckily didn't mind just saying what they were all thinking.

"Your name is 'Runar', you own a place called 'Café Runic', and you're a Rune Mage? Isn't that kind of playing into the theme a bit too much?"

"Okay, firstly, rude. Secondly, I didn't name myself, and my brother came up with the name for the café. Alright?" Runar turned around and picked up the birdcage, stepping into the hallway, "Now follow me. Oh, and by the way, even if Ryan trusts you two, I should make something clear. If you two say even a word about what you'll find out, you should be prepared for the consequences that come with that."

On an ominous note that didn't bode well for Runar, he left the kitchen. Ryan put his shirt back on, and looked at his friends, "If you guys don't want to know, you can-"

"Shut up, you kidding? Obviously we're going to come along," Modak scoffed, "That's a pixie in there! A real pixie!" the orc's eyes were filled with curiosity and excitement, and Ryan couldn't blame him. His heart was beating strong in his chest, and not just out of anxiety.

"Silvia, what about you? Really, you don't have to," Ryan pointed out, but Silvia seemed to be of the same opinion as Modak. She had pushed for Ryan to figure out the 'mystery' behind his class and father in the first place.

"I will not let you two get involved in some secret underworld without me," with a scoff, Silvia stepped out of the kitchen as well, as Ryan and Modak followed behind.

Inside his domain, Maximus was still seated on his bed, without the intention to come out anytime soon. He was still just watching, barely even reacting when Ryan tried to talk to him. Whether he finally ended up remembering something, or whether he himself was just anxious. Something was going on, and it was putting Ryan on edge.

The three followed behind Runar. They walked out of the main flat and made their way down the stairs to the basement. The door itself seemed very ordinary. Old and wooden, fitting what you would expect from a building like this. Runar pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open with a creak. And what they walked into... was a regular basement.

There was a workbench in the corner, some tools hanging on a pegboard on the wall. Boxes stacked up in the corner and lots of clutter everywhere. Really, nothing out of the ordinary. It was kind of disappointing, really.

"... This is the big secret?" Ryan asked with a sigh, but Silvia playfully hit his side, clearly enjoying the situation.

"Don't you watch any movies at all? There's clearly some hidden passageway somewhere," the elf pointed out, looking over at Runar excitedly, "So, where is it? Behind that old bookshelf?"

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 centre 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 spiralling downward. Ryan looked at Runar, locking eyes with him as he looked up, "What?" Runar asked, and Ryan scoffed lightly.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"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 in regular intervals.

The group continued climbing down the stairs, down and down, much further than Ryan would have ever imagined. The stairway was narrow and spiralling, 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 defence?" 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 clearly extremely 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, not sure 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 beside 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 bird cage, opening 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."