Chapter 460: Problems That Can Wait

Returning to Mirath ended up being more difficult than Damon would have liked to admit.

Not because of the distance.

Eir opened a direct route for them to the western edge of her territory, reducing hours of walking to little more than forty minutes.

The problem was that Ester had interpreted "you need to rest" far too literally.

"No."

Damon looked at the wide tree trunk she was pointing toward.

"You want me to sit down."

"Yes."

"We’re leaving."

"In twenty minutes."

"We can rest when we get to Mirath."

"You said that in Vermillion."

"It worked."

"You entered an underground facility, held a door with your sword, crossed maintenance corridors, and spent several hours walking on stone with three broken ribs."

"They’re cracked."

"One was broken."

"It probably isn’t anymore."

Ester stared at him.

Damon sat down.

"Excellent conversation."

Xue Mei passed by carrying two bags.

"Did she win?"

"I chose to sit."

"Of course."

Xue Lian passed a moment later.

"He lost."

"Widespread betrayal."

Aurelia didn’t even look up from the documents she was carrying.

"You could interpret this as consensus."

"I prefer betrayal."

Aria sat on a nearby root and opened her notebook.

Damon immediately pointed at her.

"You slept yesterday."

"Yes."

"So now you think that means you’ve earned permission not to sleep again?"

"We’re waiting twenty minutes."

"Do nothing for twenty minutes."

Aria looked at him as though he had just suggested something biologically impossible.

"How?"

"Excellent question."

Ester smiled.

Damon closed his eyes.

For several minutes, nothing actually happened.

The forest was quiet.

Neria and Liora had remained at Eir’s core.

The four Order agents who had helped transport Neria had left through another route, returning to Vermillion with instructions from Mereth and a simple message from Neria: no one was to touch the equipment connected to her records until a complete review had been conducted.

Damon didn’t know how much of that the agents would actually be able to enforce.

But it was no longer only their responsibility.

Varos would do his part.

Mereth would do hers.

Neria herself had chosen to remain involved.

That was enough.

A small black tablet emerged from Aria’s bag.

She raised her head.

"The connection is back."

Damon opened his eyes.

The Observation tablet had remained almost completely useless inside Eir’s forest, except when the entity herself allowed some form of interaction.

Now small symbols were beginning to appear across its surface.

"Network?" Aurelia asked.

"Partial."

Aria ran her fingers along the edge.

"We’re close enough to the boundary for Observation to establish a link."

Damon stood.

Ester sighed.

"Are the twenty minutes over?"

"Nineteen."

"Then sit."

"We have communication."

"You can communicate while sitting."

He sat again.

Aria ignored both of them.

"I can send a message to Mirath."

Damon thought for a moment.

"Tell them we’re coming back."

"That’s all?"

"We’re alive. Vermillion is stable. Neria stayed with Eir. Varos went to Order headquarters."

Aria wrote.

"Anything else?"

Damon looked at Ester.

"He needs to rest," she said.

Aria added it.

"I did not authorize that part."

"It’s operational information."

"Delete it."

"No."

Damon rubbed a hand over his face.

The reply came less than a minute later.

The tablet vibrated.

Aria read it.

Then smiled.

"What?" Damon asked.

"Jian Li."

"That doesn’t explain the smile."

She turned the tablet around.

The message was short.

IF YOU’RE ALIVE, COME BACK BEFORE JIAN YUE DECIDES TO GO LOOKING FOR YOU.

Damon stared at it.

"She really would?"

Xue Lian answered:

"Yes."

Ester agreed.

"Without question."

Damon stood.

"Then the nineteen minutes are over."

This time, Ester allowed it.

They reached the edge of Eir’s territory shortly afterward.

The change was obvious.

The forest stopped reacting to every step, and the entity’s presence became more distant.

Liora had explained that Eir could still observe parts of that region through ancient roots, but no longer possessed enough control to alter paths or respond directly.

Aria raised the black tablet.

"Transfer is available."

Damon looked back.

The path opened between the trees remained visible.

A root emerged near his feet.

He sighed.

"You’re going to say goodbye?"

"Yes."

"Naturally."

The root stopped in front of him.

Damon waited.

Eir spoke with difficulty through that distant section of the forest.

"Come back."

"Probably."

"Without danger."

Damon looked at Ester.

"She’s becoming demanding."

"I support her."

He looked back at the root.

"I can’t promise that part."

"Less danger."

"That I can try."

The root lightly touched the tip of his boot.

Damon didn’t move away.

"Take care of them."

"Yes."

"Neria is going to try doing more than she should."

"I know."

"And Liora eats enough for three people."

"I know."

"Good."

The root began to withdraw.

Damon added:

"Eir."

It stopped.

"Thank you."

The nearby leaves moved.

"Also."

He didn’t ask what she meant.

Aria activated Transfer.

This time, there was no resistance.

Space folded around the group, the sounds of the forest vanished, and for a brief instant Damon felt that familiar absence of direction that accompanied travel through the network.

When the sensation ended, there was stone beneath his feet.

Mirath.

The inner courtyard of the base was almost empty.

That lasted approximately three seconds.

The first person to appear was Jian Li.

She emerged through one of the side doors and stopped when she saw the six of them.

Her eyes passed over Damon, Ester, Xue Lian, Xue Mei, Aurelia, and Aria.

"Six."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"You knew how to count the last time I saw you."

"You left with six."

"We came back with six."

Jian Li relaxed.

Mu Qing appeared behind her.

Then Elizabeth.

Chen Mo came last, apparently drawn by the noise.

He looked at Damon.

"You look terrible."

"I missed you too."

"I wasn’t speaking emotionally."

"Still affectionate."

Jian Yue appeared in the corridor.

Damon immediately realized that Jian Li’s message had not been an exaggeration.

She was wearing traveling equipment.

Sword at her waist.

Coat fastened.

Bag packed.

Damon pointed.

"You really were going."

"You were out of communication for days."

"We were inside a forest that doesn’t like the network."

"I know."

"And it only started working again now."

"I know."

Damon looked at Jian Li.

"How close was she to leaving?"

"Fifteen minutes."

Jian Yue crossed her arms.

"Ten."

"That doesn’t make it better."

Ester walked past Damon.

"Before everyone starts, he needs to be examined."

"Again?"

"Yes."

"I was already examined today."

"Now we’re in Mirath."

"My anatomy didn’t change on the way here."

Eir probably would have considered that statement offensive.

Damon decided not to think about it.

Elizabeth approached Xue Mei.

"And you?"

"Fine."

"Any injuries?"

"No."

Xue Lian answered:

"We’re fine."

Aurelia lifted the box containing the records.

"We have new problems, but none of them need to be solved in the next ten minutes."

Chen Mo looked at Damon.

"That almost sounds impossible."

"I know."

Jian Yue noticed the most important absence.

"The girl?"

"Liora stayed."

"And the other one?"

"Neria too."

There was a brief silence.

Jian Li frowned.

"Other one?"

Damon looked at Aria.

"You explain."

She opened her notebook.

Damon immediately regretted it.

"Short version."

Aria closed half the pages she had been preparing.

"The Scarlet Order kept an earlier manifestation of Eir imprisoned for one hundred and seventeen years in a research center called Vermillion."

Mu Qing froze.

"One hundred and seventeen?"

"Yes."

"And she’s alive?"

"Yes. She was freed and returned to Eir’s territory."

Elizabeth looked at Damon.

"And the Order just let you leave?"

"That required some discussion."

Chen Mo looked at his ribs.

"Discussion."

"Some of it was physical."

Ester pointed toward the infirmary.

"Now."

Damon began walking.

"I’m going."

"No detours."

"I would never."

Everyone stared at him.

Damon stopped.

"That was a bad sentence."

"It was," Jian Yue replied.

The examination took longer than he expected.

Ester used Mirath’s equipment to compare his recovery with the evaluations made before the trip.

His ribs really were healing.

The injury in his shoulder was also improving, although there was still deep inflammation caused by excessive movement.

Damon was lying on a bed while Ester studied a projection of his circulation.

"You made the shoulder worse."

"How much?"

"A little."

"Then it didn’t get worse."

"That is not how definitions work."

"It’s an optimistic definition."

"You also opened a new connection."

Damon became serious.

"It didn’t open. Eir said an old one stabilized."

"I know. I’m looking at it."

The projection showed the small structure near his heart.

Chen Mo stood on the other side of the room.

Damon looked at him.

"Why is he here?"

"Curiosity."

"I wasn’t asking you."

Chen Mo answered:

"Aria told me."

"Of course she did."

"She said your body possesses a structure older than modern species."

"Simplified version."

"Can I see it?"

"You’re already looking."

"I want to examine it with energy."

"No."

Chen Mo nodded.

"All right."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"That was easy."

"You said no."

Ester gave him a meaningful look.

"Look at that."

Damon ignored her.

Mu Qing entered shortly afterward carrying a tray.

"Food."

Damon sat up.

"Finally, someone understands priorities."

Ester pushed his shoulder back down.

"You can eat lying down."

"That’s humiliating."

"You’ll survive."

Mu Qing placed the tray nearby.

"Aria requested a meeting when you’re finished."

"Today?"

"Yes."

Damon looked at Ester.

She answered first.

"After you eat."

"Good."

"Sitting down."

"Naturally."

An hour later, everyone was gathered in Mirath’s central room.

Aria occupied one end of the table with the Vermillion records organized into stacks.

Aurelia sat beside her.

Xue Lian and Xue Mei sat together, while Jian Yue, Jian Li, Mu Qing, Elizabeth, and Chen Mo occupied the remaining seats.

Damon entered last.

Jian Li looked at him.

"You’re walking."

"That is usually my preferred method."

"Ester allowed it?"

"With moral supervision."

Ester entered behind him.

"Sit."

Damon sat.

Aria began.

She explained Eir.

Not the entire story from the beginning, because many of them already knew about the request for help received through the black tablet.

She focused on what they discovered afterward.

The entity’s regional nature.

Liora.

Neria.

The chains.

The Scarlet Order.

Serik.

The Vermillion Archive.

The first standardizers.

And finally Vaelor.

When she finished, no one spoke for several seconds.

Chen Mo was the first.

"So vampires and incubi may have emerged from the fragmentation of an older lineage."

"Among other lineages," Aurelia corrected.

"And Damon still possesses parts of that structure."

"Yes."

Chen Mo looked at him.

"That explains some things."

Damon pointed at him.

"Don’t start."

"I was going to say your ability to sustain incompatible systems."

"You may continue."

Elizabeth was more interested in another point.

"Serik is still alive."

"Yes."

"Detained by members of his own Order."

"For now."

"And Varos went to confront their leadership."

"Yes."

Jian Yue crossed her arms.

"That could turn into an internal war."

"It could," Damon replied.

"Do you intend to get involved?"

"No."

The answer came quickly enough that everyone looked at him.

Damon continued:

"Varos chose to return. Mereth stayed responsible for the patients. Serik is isolated. We have copies of the records. If the Order decides to argue with itself, we do not need to show up in the middle of it holding swords."

Jian Li tilted her head.

"You matured."

"Everyone is getting very comfortable today."

Xue Mei laughed.

Jian Yue, however, remained serious.

"And if they go after Eir again?"

"Then that changes."

"And the records?"

"That too."

"But not before."

"No."

Jian Yue nodded.

She seemed satisfied with the answer.

Aria moved to the next subject.

"There’s something else."

Damon closed his eyes.

"Of course there is."

She ignored him.

"There may be descendants of Maerin in the west."

Chen Mo immediately became interested.

"Maerin?"

Aurelia quickly explained who she had been.

A member of the ancestral lineage who had refused complete restoration and gradually recovered part of her adaptive capacity over seven years.

"She had children," Aria said. "Eir occasionally senses similar structures in the west."

Jian Li looked at Damon.

"Are we going?"

"No."

Aria raised her hand.

"I also said we weren’t planning to."

"Your face."

"You need to stop doing that."

"It works."

Mu Qing asked:

"Then why mention it now?"

Damon answered before Aria could.

"Because if they exist, maybe we can learn about my structure without having to interfere with it."

Mu Qing understood.

"Comparison."

"Yes."

"But not now."

"No."

Ester nodded in satisfaction.

"He heals first."

Damon pointed at her.

"This meeting is becoming an intervention."

"It’s working," Elizabeth replied.

Damon leaned back in his chair.

For the first time in a very long while, the table in front of him was filled with problems that did not require solutions that same night.

Serik would face consequences.

The Order would have to confront its own choices.

The patients in Vermillion would need weeks or months to recover.

Neria would need to decide which changes she wanted to keep.

And his own ancestral structure would continue changing—or not—at whatever pace his body determined.

None of those things needed to be solved through force immediately.

The black Observation tablet vibrated on the table.

Everyone looked at it.

Damon closed his eyes.

"I spoke too soon."

Aria picked up the tablet.

The symbol that appeared wasn’t an emergency.

Nor did it come from Eir.

It was an ordinary network transmission.

Aria read it.

Then looked at Damon.

"What?" he asked.

"Message from Varos."

"Already?"

"Yes."

"Problem?"

Aria read it again.

"He reached the first regional division of the Order. He wasn’t arrested."

Damon relaxed slightly.

"And?"

"Three supervisors agreed to receive the records."

"That sounds good."

"A fourth refused."

"That sounds normal."

"Varos also says they located the administrative records for the three centers connected to Phase Three."

The room became quiet.

Aria continued:

"Two suspended all procedures when they received the information."

"And the third?" Jian Yue asked.

Aria looked at Damon.

"No response."

He remained silent.

Ester crossed her arms.

"No."

Damon turned toward her.

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your face did."

Xue Mei started laughing. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Damon rubbed a hand over his face.

"I hate that I taught all of you that."

But he didn’t stand.

He didn’t reach for his sword.

He didn’t tell Aria to open Transfer.

He simply looked at the message again.

"Send another request."

Aria nodded.

"And if they still don’t answer?"

Damon thought about it.

Then looked at Ester.

"I finish healing."

She raised an eyebrow.

"And after that?"

"Then we decide."

This time, no one disagreed.