Lee entered the house and followed after Robert. Looking around the place, he noticed that the home was tidy and well-lived in. What surprised Lee the most was the number of books on rows of bookshelves in the main living room. Looking at the titles as he passed, he spotted books about history, art, adventure, romance, you name it. Each was worn from use and had seen better days, but they were still functional. 

Robert spoke to the woman following them as they sat at a small dining room table. 

“Vanessa, will you please bring us something to drink?”

Vannessa looked miffed at Robert’s question but readily accepted.

“No problem, dad.” 

She walked off into the kitchen, which was set up similar to what Lee had seen in Robert's own home, as Robert stared down at the table, unsure of what he should say. Lee was uncomfortable as well. He knew that his position as a healer set him apart from most other people, but it was still weird and unsettling that a grown man in his forties or fifties treated him with respect and not the other way around.

After gathering his thoughts, Vanessa returned with some wooden cups filled with steaming liquid—Tea. Lee did his best to suppress a grimace as he dearly hoped that this was not tea. He had always hated tea. Everything from the way it smelt to the way it tasted. She sat down with them at the table as Robert began speaking.

“Lee, the person I want you to see is… unique.” 

Lee waited for something else to be said, but seeing the nervous and hopeful looks they gave him, he could tell they were trying to hint at something. The emphasis put on the word person was ringing some bells. 

Lee looked back and forth between them as they watched him in turn for any hits of emotion. Lee decided to test the waters.

“This… person… Are they physically unwell? Are they sick?”

Robert watched him like a hawk for any signs of emotion. After a few seconds of silence, he answered.

“I do not know. That’s the part that worries me. They’ve locked themselves away and haven’t shown themselves in… a long time. I’m worried about their wellbeing. In the past, there were some… issues with the appearance of the person.” 

Some more puzzle pieces were sliding into place as Lee started to catch on to what they were trying to say. For confirmation, Lee asked a rather unique question. This would tell him if his suspicions were true. 

“Was this person always a person?” Lee asked slowly and tried not to have any judgment in his tone.

The only response was silence. 

That was enough for Lee to understand. Both Robert and Vanessa watched him as they themselves tensed, almost as if they were waiting for the start of a battle. Lee smiled and relaxed in his seat. This caused them both to ease. 

“I think I understand your predicament. That shouldn’t be an issue. Unless they’re violent?” 

They both immediately shook their heads and spoke at the same time, both with hope and confidence.

“Not at all…”

“They would never hurt anybody…”

They both trailed off as they spoke over one another. Lee smiled and stood from the table while thinking of what his uncle had said to him before they parted.

“Also, be nice to the races of the world—all of them. Do not judge others for what they have always known.”

With someone to heal, he didn’t want to waste any time.

“Well then, Let’s go and see what I can do.”

—--------------------------

Exiting Vanessa’s home, Lee followed after Robert and Vannesa as they led the way to his patient. A monster turned person. 

He wasn’t a hundred percent sure about the many ways a monster could become a person. The only example he had was of Juris, a shapeshifter. Juris had saved his life and knocked some sense into him at one of his lowest points. From what he knew, Juris never killed anybody in Neldam and acted normal as well. He hoped that whoever he was seeing now was similar.

From what Lee knew, monsters evolved into people as they leveled up. This meant that whoever he would see was at a vastly higher level than himself. He had some hypotheses about other ways a monster could become a person, but he would never be able to find out if those were true. 

As they walked down the dirt road, Lee spotted Belgrate and Kendri watching him from the sides of the road. Lee did his best to shoo them away, but they didn’t budge and followed him from a distance. Belgrate wrote into a notebook as he walked. 

After leaving the village and walking down the dirt road past a few farms, they started to near the old run-down watchtower. Lee looked better at the building as they turned down the old cobblestone path leading to its large foliage-covered rusty iron gate. 

It was made of enormous gray solid stone blocks. Large thorny vines ran up along the sides of the tall old watchtower, causing it to look much worse than it actually was. It was five stories tall, with a boarded-up balcony on the second and fourth floors. The fifth floor was domed, with dark glass windows framed with wooden shutters. It was by far the largest structure in the area and stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Robert unlocked the rusty iron gate with a key. As Lee was about to pass the boundary, he heard rapidly approaching footsteps approaching from behind. He spun around and, out of the instincts honed through his trek through the Shadowgrove, cast Water Wave Wall. 

The towering white rapids erupted from out of thin air, causing Jeremy to be cut off from him. Seeing as he had just overreacted, Lee dropped the spell, causing the water to collapse and spread out along the cobblestone path, soaking the ground underneath. 

Slightly embarrassed by his overreaction, Lee cleared his throat with a slight cough and tried to speak with some bravado. 

“Don’t run up on me from behind next time. We don’t accidents to happen.”

Pale-faced and shaken from the ordeal, Jeremy nodded slowly and shakily backed away.

Lee turned back towards the watchtower, only to spot the shocked gaping maws of Robert and Vanessa. Really tired of people being surprised by his magic, Lee shrugged and gestured through the now-open gate. 

“Shall we?” 

Soon enough, Lee, Robert, and Vanessa reached the main entry point of the watchtower—Two towering double doors made of solid metal. 

Lee waited for Robert to either open the door or knock, but instead, Robert just waited. Lee was about to ask whether or not to knock when a bucket lazily floated down from the heavens. 

Lee watched dumbfounded as the simple, ordinary wooden bucket gently floated down from up high. Robert and Vanessa didn’t seem surprised by it’s appearance.

The bucket eventually reached the ground, right in front of Vanessa, plonking to a standstill. 

“We aren’t here for that, Em.” Vanessa said out loud.

In response, the bucket raised a foot off the ground and jingled back and forth. 

Vanessa watched the bucket rapidly shake for a few seconds before doubling down. 

“No books today, Em. We have someone we would like you to meet.” 

The bucket went still and fell to the ground, lifeless. 

Lee was about to ask whether or not the bucket itself was some sort of sentient object when the tiniest reflective glare imaginable caught his eye. Upon closer inspection, the bucket was connected to an almost invisible thread, which led all the way up to the very top of the watchtower. It was so thin that Lee couldn’t even make out a color; he would have to say the thread was clear. 

Not long after, Lee heard rapid pairs of heavy thuds from behind the metal door. Then, silence. 

Vanessa was the one to speak to Lee’s unknown patient once more. She placed her palm on the metal and spoke gently. 

“Em, can you open the door? We’re worried about you.”

In response, several thunderous clangs rang out in mere seconds from the other side. Several clinks and clanks could be heard after a few seconds of stilled silence. The door opened only a few inches before everything was still once more. 

Before anybody actually entered, Robert turned to Lee and whispered. 

“Do not be alarmed by her appearance. It is frightening, but she is a kind soul.” 

Now, thoroughly nervous and slightly afraid, Lee followed Vanessa into the doorway. Inside, Lee couldn’t see much at all. No windows were present on the ground floor. There were no light sources at all. Once Vanessa and Lee were through the opening threshold, the door started to close by itself. Lee looked back just in time to see the only light source available fade away.

Leaving them in pitch-black darkness. 

Speaking into the darkness, Lee tried to ask Vanessa a question. 

“Can I cast a light spell? Or is that not allowed?” 

He had expected Vanessa to be the one to answer, but instead, his non-direct question was answered by a sharp, metallic, and penetrating feminine voice. 

“Cast what you wish, mage.”

With permission, Lee cast Orb of Light. As his eyes adjusted to the newfound light, Lee again heard the rapid thunderous clangs ring out within the room. Turning to where the sound originated with his slightly adjusted eyes... Lee looked up and instantly paled.