Chapter 54: Revelation

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Revelation

The Association air transport cut smoothly through the clouds, and inside it almost nothing moved. The mission had wrung everyone out.

Felix was asleep in his seat with his head tilted to one side, Kael beside him just as far gone with his arms crossed over his chest, and Darius across the aisle had surrendered to it too.

Lena sat toward the back with headphones over her ears and her eyes closed, quietly recovering. The rest of the team was scattered through the cabin, some sleeping, some just leaning back with their eyes shut, still coming down from the brutal fight in the northern forest.

Only Aria looked untouched by it, sitting near the front with a spread of reports across her lap, working steadily through the mission paperwork.

Seraphina, surprisingly, wasn’t sitting beside Felix. She’d taken the seat next to Mira instead, and Mira was talking.

"...so after a mission, everyone usually goes somewhere to eat."

"What kind of place?" Seraphina asked.

"Depends. Felix usually picks."

"What does he like?"

"Felix?" Mira smiled. "Food-wise? Pretty much everything."

"What does he like *most*?"

Mira tapped her chin. "Grilled meat, probably. Especially when he’s cooking it himself."

Seraphina nodded slowly. "I see."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"He likes trying new restaurants too," Mira went on. "Honestly, though, he’s a better cook than most of them."

Seraphina’s eyes brightened slightly. "You’ve eaten his cooking?"

"Of course. We’ve had parties at his place."

"His place?"

"Yeah."

"Where does he live?"

Mira answered without a second thought. "Valemont’s eastern residential district. Really nice high-rise. He’s got an entire floor."

Seraphina’s eyes narrowed just slightly. *An entire floor. Interesting.* "What do you usually do there?"

"Eat, play games, talk..." Mira stopped. "Wait. Why are you asking so many questions about Felix?"

Seraphina blinked at her, all innocence. "I’m merely curious."

Mira laughed. "You’ve gotten pretty curious lately."

"I suppose I have," Seraphina said, faintly smiling.

Mira missed the small flicker of satisfaction behind it entirely and kept talking about his family, how his older brother had a huge house, how his niece was adorable.

"Niece?"

"Yeah."

Seraphina listened carefully, filing every piece of it away. Where he lived. What he liked. Where he ate. Where his family lived. How he spent his free time.

Her first leave was coming up. One month of service was the requirement for two days off, and this week marked exactly one month since she’d joined the Association’s mission program.

She already knew what she wanted to do with them. She’d surprise Felix, then ask him to show her around Valemont, she barely knew the city, which made it a perfect excuse.

A date. The thought lifted the corners of her mouth, and she hid it quickly.

Mira kept chatting, completely unaware she’d just handed over half of Felix’s personal life.

Seraphina glanced toward the sleeping man a few seats away, and her expression softened.

---

**Thursday Morning**

"You’re getting better," Liora said, eyes on the screen.

He smiled, pleased. "Thank you."

"You’re still worse than me."

She giggled.

"I’ll improve."

"You have to follow my lead."

"Yes, instructor."

They kept playing. It was the first time Felix had brought his own console, and Liora had spent the last two hours teaching him the game and despite all his complaining, he was actually enjoying himself. Eventually he set the controller down. "Two hours already?"

"Yes."

"That’s enough for today."

She looked a little disappointed. "We’ll play again."

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Sure."

She smiled. He packed up the console and stepped out of the cell, nearly walking straight into Gideon.

Gideon looked at the console in Felix’s arms, then at Felix. "How’s the progress with her?"

"Good."

"That’s good." His eyes stayed on the console. "What’s that?"

"A console."

"And, why are you carrying it?" Gideon asked puzzled.

"It’s mine."

Gideon’s expression turned suspicious. "You have your own."

"Yep."

"Don’t tell me—"

Felix grinned. "I played with Liora for two hours."

Gideon shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "You actually did."

"Absolutely."

A long silence. Finally, Gideon sighed. "Good."

Felix blinked.

"Keep it up." He turned and walked off. "Therapy through gaming," he muttered. "Whatever works."

Felix followed him toward the surface, and his phone rang halfway up. Dr. Hart. He answered. "Yes?"

"Felix, come to my office." Her tone was serious. "It’s urgent."

His expression shifted. "Okay."

---

**Rehabilitation Division**

A short transport ride later he was walking into the Rehabilitation Division building, and then into Evelyn’s office. She looked up from her terminal the moment he came in. "Felix. Please sit."

He took the chair across from her. "What’s going on?"

"Sorry for the abrupt call."

"It’s fine."

She hesitated. "I need to verify something."

He straightened. "Sure."

She pressed a button on her desk, and the office door opened on a woman in her early thirties, dark brown hair tied neatly back, wearing the white uniform of the Association’s mental-health division. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Felix, this is Dr. Selene Marrow," Evelyn said. "One of our mind healers."

"Nice to meet you," Selene said, nodding politely.

"Likewise."

His expression changed as the connection landed: Liora. The failed attempt to enter her mind, the backlash that had put the last specialist in the hospital.

"We’ve already treated her," Evelyn said.

"Ninety-nine point nine nine percent of the foreign mana was cleared."

His eyes narrowed. "But there’s still some left."

"An extremely small amount. That’s why you’re here."

"Let’s see it."

Selene held out her hand, and Felix hovered his palm just above hers. "Ready?" She nodded.

He closed his eyes, and a thin stream of emerald mana flowed from his palm into her channels. Nothing at first.

He went deeper. Still nothing. And then he found it: a microscopic trace of foreign mana, almost impossible to detect.

*There.*

He guided his mana toward it, and the instant they touched, the trace vanished completely. He opened his eyes. Silence filled the room, Evelyn watching him closely.

"You recognized it."

He didn’t answer right away, his expression darkening.

"You’ve run into this same attribute of mana recently," Evelyn said quietly.

"Yes."

"You fought something with this affinity."

"The gate’s S-rank boss."

She nodded. "Then you already know what I’m going to say."

His eyes hardened. "Liora."

"Exactly." She paused. "Liora has the same affinity as that dark elf. Darkness." She looked straight at him. "Which makes Liora Morven the first known human in recorded history to possess it."

Felix looked down at the floor. The weight of that was enormous: an affinity everyone had assumed belonged only to monsters, beasts, and the other creatures that crawled out of rifts, now sitting in a human being.

He thought of the dark elf’s black mana, the disruption, the teleportation, the physical enhancement, the control over lesser monsters.

Then he thought of Liora in her cell, playing games and slowly learning to interact again.

His expression grew more serious. "How much do we actually know about this affinity?"

"Almost nothing."

"Then we’d better start learning."

For the first time, the Association had evidence: Darkness wasn’t only a monster’s affinity. A human carried it.

And that human had been sitting beneath Acheron Deep for years.