William led Lou deep into the labyrinth of bookshelves, past rows of rotting encyclopedias.
They stopped abruptly at a dead end. A wall of uneven brown stone that looked as old as Ypisistis itself.
Lou stared at the masonry. There were no levers, no hidden buttons, but he knew the base was right there, just inches away behind the rock.
William turned to him, his usual breezy charm replaced by a sudden, jagged seriousness.
"Once we step through this stone, Klaus, there's no walking back into the light. You won't just be a kid who sees ghosts, you'll officially be a Spirit Hunter." William's eyes locked onto his, searching for a flinch. "You'll be exposed to our secrets. Do you understand when I say there's no turning back from this?"
Lou nodded.
He understood perfectly. Joining a secret society wasn't like taking a job at a bakery, there would be consequences for anyone who tried to walk away.
But he didn't care about the exit.
He needed the knowledge, he needed to know how to manipulate spirit energy, how to survive, and how to master the power growing inside him.
He'd worry about the consequences once he wasn't a defenseless amateur anymore.
"I understand," Lou said, his voice steady.
"Good. Then let's proceed."
William stepped up to the stone and took a deep, grounding breath.
He didn't reach for the wall.
Instead, he began a chant in a language that sounded ancient and heavy, a tongue that seemed to vibrate the very air in the cramped aisle.
"MAMBO WEDENGA, VURA MASUWO!"
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then, the heavy bricks began to groan. With a sound like grinding teeth, the stones started to shift, sliding over one another and separating to create a jagged, arched doorway.
So cool, Lou thought, his heart racing as the impossible architecture unfolded before him.
William stepped through the gap without looking back. Lou followed, his boots clicking on the stone floor.
As soon as his heel cleared the threshold, the bricks behind him slammed back into place with a heavy thud that made the air pop.
The passage ahead was narrow and dark.
Far at the end of the corridor, Lou could see a flicker of light and the outline of a heavy iron door.
"Keep close," William's voice echoed in the tight space.
They reached the end of the hall, and William pushed the door open. Lou squinted as he stepped through, finally entering the world he had only seen in glimpses.
"Whoa," Lou breathed, his neck craning back as he struggled to take it all in.
The interior was a masterclass in high Georgian opulence.
It was a subterranean cathedral of marble, mahogany, and polished brass.
The scale of the place was immense, anchored by sweeping twin staircases that spiraled both upward into hidden galleries and downward into the deep shadows of the earth.
Men in sharp, tailored three-piece suits and women in structured, elegant mourning dresses, all in shades of charcoal, midnight blue and black—moved through the halls.
Dominating the polished marble floor was a massive, inlaid sunburst circle of gold leaf with three jagged rays of light erupting from its center.
When Lou looked up, he saw the same symbol mirrored in a breathtaking stained-glass dome in the ceiling, illuminated by a light.
It was the Mark of the Trinity.
The Supreme God, the Mother, and the Warrior which were the three most popular deities worshiped in the Eurodia Empire.
"Welcome to the Sanctorum of the Solace Sun," William said, his voice echoing slightly in the vast hall.
"I... I never expected this," Lou stammered, his eyes still darting from the gold trim to the elegant crowd. "Not after seeing that library."
"The Library is the mask, this is the face," William replied.
He clapped his hands twice, the sound snapping through the air like a whip. "I'll get you acquainted with the rest of the hounds later. First, we have to present you to the Captain of your branch."
"Captain of my branch? What, I'm already hired?" Lou asked, his heart skipping a beat.
"Sort of..." William began to walk, his stride confident.
"Try to keep your mouth shut and your head down," he added over his shoulder. "The Captain is a stickler for protocol, and she's usually in a foul mood. She has a habit of remembering that I'm technically the strongest hunter in this building, and her ego doesn't handle that truth very well."
The strongest hunter in the building? Lou looked at William's back.
He seemed like a powerhouse, sure, but in a place this massive, filled with people who looked like they breathed magic for breakfast? It felt like he was over-exaggerating.
"Wait, you're the strongest?" Lou asked, catching up.
"By a wide margin, lad," William grinned, though he didn't look back. "Now, move. You don't want to keep a woman like Lady Edith waiting."
Lou followed, but he couldn't help the skepticism gnawing at him.
The strongest? Out of everyone here? He's probably just trying to look big in front of the new guy.
Lou followed William through the opulent hall, watching as the senior hunter exchanged brief, professional nods with the others.
Lou counted about fifty of them. They were men and women who carried themselves with the same lethal grace William had shown back at the cottage.
They reached a set of massive, gold-embossed doors that groaned slightly as William pushed them open.
Inside was a spacious office that smelled of expensive tobacco and old parchment.
Lou's eyes scanned the room, but they immediately snagged on the woman sitting in a high-backed swinging chair behind a mahogany desk.
She was leaning back, puffing on a long, slender pipe, but the smoke wasn't what caught Lou's attention.
It was her eyes.
They weren't blue, brown, or green but they were a milky haunting white.
She's blind, Lou realized, a chill running down his spine.
She looked to be in her early forties, with striking gray hair that didn't make her look old, but just seasoned.
But despite the lack of pupils, she was staring straight at him. Not just in his general direction, directly into his soul.
When William moved to take a chair opposite her, Lou expected her gaze to shift to the man talking to her.
Instead, those white orbs stayed locked on Lou. When he shifted his weight to stand beside William, her head tilted almost imperceptibly, her vision following his every micro-movement.
She can definitely see me, Lou thought, his skin prickling. Is this a Seer thing? If she's blind and can still track me, what else can she see?
"Edith," William said, his voice dropping some of its usual playfulness.
The lady didn't bother with pleasantries. She exhaled a cloud of aromatic smoke and cut right to the chase. "Is this the boy?"
"You know, I'd really appreciate it if you greeted me back once in a while..." William sighed.
Edith didn't reply.
She just deepened her scowl, her grumpy expression making it clear she wasn't in the mood for William's charms.
William cracked an awkward, lopsided smile and cleared his throat.
"Fine. Yes, this is the boy I told you about. His name is Klaus."
He turned slightly toward Lou, gesturing to the woman. "Meet Edith. She's the Captain of this branch... and a Grade Two Seer."
Grade Two? Lou's heart did a slow roll in his chest. William said he was the strongest, but he's a Grade Three Combat type. If this woman is a Grade Two Seer.
So he had been over-exaggerating.
Lou looked at the back of William's head. Grade Three versus Grade Two? Yeah, William's ego is definitely doing the heavy lifting in this relationship.
Lou bowed his head slightly. "Nice to meet you, Ma'am."
Edith's face didn't move an inch. No smile, no nod, just that milky, haunting stare. "If you are going to work under me, I require you to follow three simple rules."
This lady doesn't do small talk, does she? Straight to the manual, Lou thought.
"Rule number one: Follow orders. Rule number two: Always follow orders. Rule number three: Don't forget rules number one and two," Edith said, her voice as dry as old parchment.
Well, she's a weird one. Short, sweet, and slightly tyrannical.
William smirked, leaning against the mahogany desk. "You sure don't like to waste time, Edith. I assume we're moving straight to the ordination?"
Edith rose from her swinging chair, her white eyes still pinned on Lou with that same sharp, mean expression. "Kneel on one knee!" she commanded.
Is she testing Rule Number One already? Lou smirked inwardly. Fine. I'll play along.
He dropped to one knee, the polished floor cold against his leg.
Edith stepped around the desk.
She held her hand flat and stiff, like a blade, and placed it firmly on top of his head. The air in the room seemed to grow heavy, humming with a faint, static charge.
"By the Holy Trinity, the Supreme God, the Mother, and the Warrior, I order you to preserve the light, to be bold in the face of terror, to resist the creeping dark, and to remain pure of heart in the service of the Sun."
Am I getting knighted? Lou wondered. This feels very high-fantasy for a basement in a library.
"By the Supreme God, do you vow to hunt the shadows and protect the innocent from the rot of the fallen?" Edith asked, her voice echoing with a strange, metallic resonance.
Lou didn't know the script.
He shot a desperate look at William. The older hunter gave a subtle nod and mouthed: Say 'I do.'
"I do," Lou said, his voice echoing in the quiet office.
"In the name of the Mother, do you vow to show mercy to the broken and shield the souls of the living from the hunger of the dead?"
"I do," Lou repeated.
"And in the name of the Warrior, do you vow to strike without hesitation, to bleed for your brothers, and to never falter until the dawn breaks the night?"
"I do."
"Then by the Trinity, I declare you a member of the Solace Sun. Rise, Hunter."
Edith pulled her hand back. William clapped his hands together with a sharp crack. "You're officially a Spirit Hunter now, lad. Welcome to the pack."
Lou stood up, brushing off his knee. He felt... exactly the same.
That was it? he thought, a wave of disappointment washing over him. I expected a rush of power, or a golden glow. It was just a bunch of words.
"Are you ready for your first mission, boy?" Edith asked, her blind gaze never wavering.
Already? I haven't even had breakfast.
But Lou knew the rules now. He couldn't say no. Not to a Grade Two who looked like she'd turn him into a frog for blinking wrong.
"Yes," Lou said, squaring his shoulders.
Edith turned her head slightly toward William. "Good. We have a Spirit Medium to find."
What Spirit Medium....?