As soon as Madd opened the door he was greeted with the sight of a very large area with lavish decorations and gold trimmings all over the wall. There was a marble staircase going up all the way to wherever the top may be and has two entrances both at the sides of the room. In the middle of them is an elevator that was not being used at the moment. In front of the door was a long red carpet that looked too expensive to even think about walking on with shoes.
When Madd saw all this he was stunned. 'Is this really my house now? Just who is mom? What has she been hiding from me?' Madd looked over to his mom to see that she had no change in her expression. "It hasn't changed a bit since the last time I was here." Michelle said with a nostalgic tone.
When Madd heard that he was very happy. It's been a very long time since he has last seen his mom acting like this. After seeing her like this he made a vow to himself that he will protect everything that was important to him or his mother.
After Madd looked at his mother for a little bit he looked back to the house. He didn't notice at first but there were maids standing on the left side of the room and butlers on the right. Each row had about 20 people in it. 'They have 40 people just at the entrance? Just how rich are they?!' Madd thought.
All of the butlers and maids bowed in his direction "Welcome back young Mistress and welcome young master." They all said at the same time in a very confident and respectful tone.
After they all said that a man started to walk down the stairs. He looked youthful and had long blond hair that went a little past his shoulders, a muscular build that looked like it could overpower anything, and the same eyes that both Madd and Michelle have.
When the man looked down from the stairs he smiled. "Welcome back my daughter. I have missed you so much. I'm glad I finally get to see you again." If one looked closely they would see tears starting to pool at the edge of his eyes. He looked at Madd, and after a minute of just staring at him he said "I assume that you are Madd?" He looked at Madd with a curious gaze.
When Madd felt that, he once again felt that this man could see everything about him. And he could. "I am Korn Gardener and your grandfather." Korn said with a huge smile. The reason he was smiling was because he could see everything that Montigue could see but even more. He could see deep down inside Madd, hides an unimaginable power. 'We finally have another successor that can compete with the rest of the family!' Korn thought
Madd was stunned for a second but Michelle quickly nudged him and he said back "Hello grandpa I'm glad I'm finally able to meet you. I always thought about what having a grandpa would be like and now I am very glad that I have one too. You look like an amazing person. How do you look so young?"
"HAHAHA young man you surely know how to flatter other people." Korn said with an amused expression on his face.
"Now let's get back to business. I know that you haven't been told anything about what kind of world your mother lived in and the world that you will soon step foot in. But all will be told in a short time. For now please lead my daughter and grandson to their rooms so that they can settle down." Korn said to the maids and butlers still lined up.
A maid and butler took Michelle and Madd to their rooms. Madd expected that he would get his own room again because of how big this house was. On the way to the rooms they walked by countless glamours things. From paintings, to statues, to ballrooms that are the size of football fields. He couldn't comprehend how this house has so many things inside of it. 'It's really nice to be rich.' Madd thought to himself.
When he finally arrived at his room on the second floor, he said goodbye to his mom and entered. Once he entered he didn't know what to do or where to begin. 'I didn't have anytime to pack my things so I don't have anything to put in here. I'm sure I can just get some money from grandpa because it seems like he literally bathes in $100 bills.'
Inside the room was a king sized bed with very comfy blue sheets and pillows. There was a wardrobe that somehow looked normal but felt like it could hold way more that what the wardrobe appeared. Finally, a table on each side of the bed that both had a lamp. 'This room is really nice but I don't have anything to do right now. So let's go look for mom and then find grandpa. What did he mean by a new world?'
Madd left his room and went to go look for his mom hoping that he wouldn't get lost along the way. Luckily he didn't have to go very far because her room was right next to his. Once he knocked on the door and told his mom what he wanted to do she agreed and went with him. She then looked for a maid that was cleaning and asked if she could take the two of them to the master of the house. Obviously the maid didn't reject her and lead them to where Korn was.
Once Korn saw who it was that came to see him a smile blossomed on his face. "You're quite the curious type aren't you Madd?" This question made Madd blush a little.
"Haha, ok now let me explain to you about this world that you are now going to be apart of." Korn said when he noticed the blush on Madd's face.
"We Gardners are a noble family of seekers. Seekers look for what we call "abandoned spots" in the world to make sure that nothing will come in harms way because those monsters. Now keep in mind that not every abandoned spot is bad. Some can give a boost to your shadow power and rings but a lot are dangerous and should be handled with extreme caution."
"Rings or Shadow rings are how you can identify how powerful a seeker is. You will first start off with one ring around you once you begin the ritual. Of course people can naturally form their first ring but it takes a lot more effort and time than a ritual. The ritual will then make your connection to your shadow closer and you will officially begin your path of a seeker."
"There are many levels to a seeker but for now I'll only be telling you two. The first level is called ring formation. This is when a person uses the shadows around them and their own innate power hidden within them. The ring formation level has 9 sub-levels and every three levels is a qualitative boost in power. Once you get your first three rings I will teach you how to condense them into one ring so that you can get that change in power. The rings give us the power to manipulate the shadows around to do different things. Some can make a barrier of shadow that can trap abandoned creatures or some can make powerful shadow spikes that can price through their enemies. The color of rings tell what level someone is at. All ring formation colors are light grey."
"The next level is called shadow integration. This level is a lot more powerful and complex than the ring formation. Once someone steps onto this level they are able to go into their own consciousness and look at their inner shadow. The inner shadow is in every living being and what makes up the power of all things. Everything has an inner shadow and once you master the shadow integration level you will be able to control a person's inner shadow if they are weaker than you. Once one starts to integrate with their inner shadow they will also meet their inner daemen. But don't confuse these with demons because they take great offense to that. Daemens are creature born from shadow powers and they want all their predecessors to become powerful. Of course if your daemen finds you unsuitable there is nothing you are able to do. So make sure that you don't make it mad. The power of a shadow integrater is very powerful compared to the ring formation level. A nine ring formation user can't even last a second against someone from the earliest shadow integration level. Because they are able to use their inner shadow they are able to strengthen their body with the power of shadow, making them many times more powerful."
"When someone reaches shadow integration they communicate with their daemens and figure out how they are able to use their abilities given to them from their daemen ancestor. Our daemen ancestor is known as Drecore. He is a fallen dragon and they are the most powerful race in all of existence. Especially Drecore, he is only fallen because he became to powerful and the other dragons started to become fearful of him. So they all got together and fought against him. Drecore lasted for a long time and killed many of his brothers and sisters. But in the end they overwhelmed him and tore off his wings and threw him out of the dragon realm."
"Now that I have finished explaining the first two levels of seekers it's time for you to start the same ritual that your mother went through when she was your age."