Ryan squatted down in front of the seed, which had now grown into the beginnings of a sapling. He placed his hand onto it and carefully tugged on it. If he could get rid of this again, then that would be great. That seed came 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' 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 her head. She flapped her wings and 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?"

  Penny nodded, and Ryan quickly walked back out the door, stuffing the bottle filled with the corruption-curing potion into his bag. Outside of Runar's office, he saw the spirits waiting for him. Of course, they knew that Ryan had gotten injured, but he insisted that he was fine and that they should continue celebrating with the people from down here for a bit longer, but their concern clearly got to strong.

  "Come on, let's go," Ryan said, holding his hand out to the spirits waiting in front of him, and they quickly stepped into their domains, "Gregor, some of your stuff fell down just now... I'll explain it to you on the way up."

  The automaton immediately started cleaning up, obviously a bit annoyed, but since it clearly wasn't on purpose he just quietly cleaned up. And while the spirits were inside of their domains, Ryan explained to them that something had taken hold in the space around them, but it didn't seem like anything they knew about or could help with.

  Runar might know about it. But Ryan was still pretty annoyed at him. He called him earlier to talk about the flowers healing corruption, but that was really just because he didn't think too much about it. But then again, hiding something this important just because he was pissed at his uncle was probably pretty stupid.

  After making his way upstairs again, Ryan quickly went all the way up to the flat. He stood in the doorway of the living room, seeing his mom, Runar, and Liam sitting on the couch, watching something on TV.

  "There you are! Where were you?" Mary asked, quickly standing up, "I wanted to ask you something about..."

  As she came closer to her son, Mary narrowed her eyes. She ran her hand through Ryan's hair, "Honey, is that blood? Did you get in a fight again?"

  His heart skipping a beat, Ryan grabbed his forehead where his wound was before. Kula was supposed to have healed it all up, but there might have been some residue that Ryan didn't manage to clean off yet.

  "I was... doing some training to awaken my physicality and fell down and hit my head. But it's really nothing much, just a small scratch," Ryan explained, pushing his mother's hand away. She looked at him with a concerned frown.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, I'm sure. I really didn't fight anyone, don't worry," Ryan said, "I'll just get cleaned up real quick and then head out. I'm meeting up with someone."

  "Don't you need to go to a doctor? Does it hurt anywhere?" Mary tried to touch at Ryan's forehead again, but he quickly took a step back.

  "Seriously, it's all good, don't worry," he replied, quickly stepping back into the hallway. If his mom kept looking, she would realize that Ryan wasn't actually hurt anymore. At that point, it would be impossible to convince her that he didn't get in a fight. It wouldn't be the first time that Ryan came home covered in blood that wasn't his own. Though, he obviously wasn't particularly proud of that.

  He quickly went into the bathroom to get rid of the blood before it could fully dry. He heard soft footsteps approach, and expected his mom to follow him, but instead of her, it was Runar. He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, writing a rune into the air with his finger.

  Ryan could feel the air change, and the sound of the water flowing out of the tap became duller, "I guess she can't hear what we talk about?"

  "Unless you scream, no," Runar replied, as Ryan got back to cleaning up his hair, "Alright, so what was this about curing corruption?"

  "Exactly what it sounds like. The copper flowers can cure corruption. I gave Kindly a flower crown made with the copper-"

  "What? Why did you even go in there, I told you that place is off-limits for you."

  Ryan grabbed the towel hanging next to the sink and glanced at his uncle through the mirror, "I've been going to visit him every time I'm down there, you know?"

  "Excuse me? Why would-"

  Ryan turned around at his uncle and stared at him. He wasn't in the mood to have some kind of discussion, and Runar was able to pick up on that pretty quickly. He grumbled slightly, but just moved on mentally.

  "Fine, whatever. So, you did that, and I guess the flowers fought back the corruption? Did Rose manage to extract everything?"

  "I think so. I've got the rest of it in my bag. Just a little bit of it was enough to completely wash away the corruption covering Kindly. Rose is treating him right now," he explained, and a smile formed on Runar's face immediately.

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  "Really? Do you even know what this means?"

  "That the White Shadow Society tried to create a corrupted dungeon?" Ryan responded, and Runar's face immediately dropped.

  "Why would it-" he said, and then slowly caught up to what Ryan meant. Runar closed his eyes and nodded, "Yeah, that's exactly what it means. But Gaia was strong enough to fight back against it, creating a cure for corruption in the process."

  Ryan dried off his hair and approached the door, "Yup. We'll make sure to plant more of the copper flowers. I already asked Silvia to come by tomorrow, I want her to make something that can speed up their growth even more," he explained, getting ready to pull the door open. He figured the spell his uncle activated wouldn't work anymore once he did. But before he could, Runar pressed his hand against the door.

  "I get that you don't really want to talk to me right now, but at the very least tell me what happened earlier. I know you called Kula, and I also know that you wouldn't bother him just because you got hurt during practice. Was it Kindly? Did he hurt you while you were cleaning him off?"

  Ryan stared at his uncle in a bit of disbelief, "What? No, of course not. Kindly is super calm, I don't get why you keep getting so-" Ryan interrupted himself. He didn't want to start a fight right now, "I hurt my hand while helping Kindly, yes. But not because of him, but because there was this big lump stuck to him that I could only get rid of by tearing it off him. So I touched some corruption, but before you freak out, I completely cleaned my hand off with the potion. But it was still sore and I got a bit lightheaded when I was walking down the stairs, so... you know."

  Runar's expression of worry immediately turned into an angry frown, "What? Are you serious? Why do you keep doing things like that? You could have died, you have to be more careful!"

  "Oh gods, not this again... yes, I know I could have gotten hurt, I'm not an idiot. I know how much I can take."

  "No, you don't. Kula messaged me after he was done treating you and reiterated how messed up your sense of pain is, so what the hell do I have to do to get you to understand that you can't just keep putting yourself in danger like that?"

  Ryan glared at his uncle, "And what do I have to do to get you to understand that I'm not a little kid? I told you, I know how much I can take, and what is too much. Corruption hurts, sure, but I had a bottle that could cure it right next to me."

  "That's not the point, you-"

  "Why do you suddenly care?" Ryan interrupted him, "You never cared when I'd come home with bruises, cuts, or black eyes. You'd just ignore all the wounds I had. Or well, I guess you'd refill the healing salve that we keep in the kitchen."

  "... That's not fair, I just... I just didn't want to get too involved in your life, I was worried I would pull you into all this."

  "Oh yeah, how could you pull me into a life with more money than I could ever dream of where I, at the same time, can do something that actually matters? How dare you do something so selfish?" he replied sarcastically, his hand shaking in anger. It was rattling the door handle that it was laying on.

  Runar rubbed the bridge of his nose, "That's obviously not what I meant."

  "I used to write you letters, you know?" Ryan replied, "I tried to ask you for help back then. One time when locked me in the closet, I managed to sneak a flashlight. I was terrified of the dark, so I tried to do anything I could to distract myself. That's when I found my dad's old stuff. Some old model kit. And in there was a note addressed to me, telling me that it was one of my father's favourite models, and that he was sorry he couldn't be there to build it with me. He apologized for a lot of things, but at the end, he said that you would always be there to help when it mattered the most."

  The two stood there in silence that was only filled by Ryan's heavy breathing, "So I trusted him. And I started writing you letters and would sneak them into the post box on the way to school. I would ask you to come and help us. To come and save us from that man," Ryan held his shoulder, grabbing at the top of his back, "But you never came. So I just had to take that literal torture. And one day, after he dumped hot coals onto me to punish me for not putting out the fireplace in time, I realized that you were never gonna come. That I had to help myself, and become the hero that I wanted you to be."

  Ryan pulled open the door, stepping out into the hallway, "So don't you dare act like you of all people know better what I can and can't handle when you never cared before I was useful to you."

  Grabbing his backpack, Ryan pulled out his phone. It luckily wasn't a long way to the botanical gardens, so he could just walk and clear his head a bit. Slamming the door behind himself, Ryan rushed down the steps and walked out of the building before anyone could call out to him from behind. He grabbed his headphones from his backpack and pulled them over his head, trying to just let everything else fade away. He was so, so mad, and just had to cool down a bit.

  "Sorry you guys had to see that," Ryan whispered, speaking to the spirits, but they tried to act like nothing was wrong. Except for one.

  [Jester's Excitement has risen slightly]

  "Go fuck yourself, you sadistic prick," Ryan pushed away the system window, continuing to walk through the alleyways of oldtown. He really didn't need Jester to bother him right now. Fights weren't the only things that seemed to raise his excitement. Basically, any sort of strong emotion did the job as well. Anything that got Ryan's heart beating fast. And of course, whenever Ryan got mad, his heart beat like hell. He just had a bit of a good streak for a while now, so he hasn't been getting angry just as much recently. Ryan wanted that to continue, but obviously, those things waned and waxed. And right now, it was waxing like hell.

  "Let's just get this over with," Ryan grumbled, starting to move into a jog. With the way his awakened stamina was now, he didn't have to worry about getting out of breath until he reached the botanical gardens. And running helped Ryan clear his mind a little.

  Before long, he reached the park. There were still some people here and there, enjoying the additional lights that were put up here for Porsa's day in advance as the sun went down. But Ryan was headed straight for the botanical gardens. They should already be closed right now, though, so maybe he was too late. But for some reason, the door was still open, and there weren't any security guards around either.

  Figuring that maybe they kept the botanical gardens open for a bit longer today, Ryan went inside and navigated to the spot where Maribelle should be waiting for him right now. But as he walked through the paths in the gardens, he realized that something was off. It was all way too... dark. The paths should be lit by those lanterns at the side.

  Ryan had a bad feeling. He continued walking toward the greenhouse, where Maribelle was supposed to live. That place was illuminated due to some of the flowers that grew in there that gave off a lot of bioluminescent light. Like following a beacon, Ryan soon stepped inside the greenhouse.

  And in the centre of the space was a large flower, the original flower that Maribelle was born from. A viscous black liquid was dripping down the petals, practically sucking in the light that the surrounding flowers were giving off. Sitting atop those petals, like a queen sitting on her crown, was Maribelle, crying black tears as her body was being taken over.

  "Well, well, I figured we might get an interruption, but to think it would be of all people," a familiar voice said with genuine surprise. A young gnome stepped out of the darkness.

  "Richie..? What are you doing here?" Ryan looked at the gnome, barely recognizing him. Just glancing at him made Ryan's skin crawl. That slicked-back hair, the way he carried himself. This wasn't the Richie that Ryan knew. Plus, that sparrow pin on his chest, "You work for Bluesky now?"

  "That he does," someone said from behind Ryan. He had been too distracted by Richie to realize someone was coming up from behind him. But now, Ryan turned around, and saw another familiar face. One that he couldn't forget even though he absolutely wanted to. It was the man with half a face covered in burn scars; the gunman that, just a couple weeks ago, had shot Ryan multiple times over in the Channel. And once again, he was pointing a gun at Ryan's face.

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