After waiting for the Sorveil police to show up and detain Conrad, they headed back into the city, before they stopped at a small hospital to get Aiden's wounds disinfected. They figured the best course of action was to leave Aiden to heal the wounds with his own Essence, so after a quick disinfection, they left the hospital and headed for the van. Leaving his sword with Nicholas, alongside the two katanas he took from the beach, Aiden got in the van and took a seat. The use of Swiftstride tired him out so much that he fell asleep the very instant his head touched the leather pillow.
"That arrogant fool Khiara, this is what happens when she encourages the use of dangerous techniques." Monique stood atop of Aiden, trying his best to wake him, but, he was out cold. His snoring was so loud even the music or the TV couldn't drown it out.
Synnove couldn't help but laugh at Aiden, taking out her phone and recording him. "Oh, I am gonna make fun of him so badly when he wakes up." she teased.
What Aiden didn't realize is that Monique and Synnove arrived long before he used Swiftstride and cut off Conrad's foot, but, Monique urged Synnove to wait, and let him fight alone. Alas, he wasn't even able to realize it now, as he was asleep.
And as the van cruised, and Synnove and Monique were casually chatting, a storm was brewing in Aiden's mind.
He was dreaming of a picnic with Synnove, before the dream shattered, and Aiden's conscious began fading somewhere else… somewhere familiar.
"Damn it," Aiden said, more annoyed than afraid. "Again?"
"Indeed it is again, boy." Aiden was in his mindscape again, a recreation of the Silvius Manor in its entirety. Down the stairs descended someone who Aiden could only assume was Feyr, but, his form changed. His long silver hair and red eyes were the same, although he now had pupils. But, he was wearing an ornate, wine red suit, with silver accents and rubies on his shoulders and his chest. He looked much more refined.
"What do you want, bastard?" Aiden said provocatively.
"Horrible how you call your power giver a bastard. Have you no shame, boy?" Feyr now approached Aiden, gently placing his hand on Aiden's shoulder. "But I suppose you would be correct. I only showed to provoke."
Gripping Aiden's shoulder so hard Aiden felt as if it completely tore off from his body, he spoke up.
"You truly believe you've accomplished something today, fool? You, a person wielding divine power, barely scraping by against mortals?" He let go of Aiden, before spitting in his face. "You truly disgust me."
"Why are you even here?" Aiden said as he swung at Feyr, a noticeable anger spreading across his face. "What do you even want?"
"I'm here to remind you of your insignificance." Feyr turned around and gently waved his hand, immediately summoning an armchair from the living room and sitting down. "Are you playing dumb, or have you truly forgotten what just happened? Swiftstride drained you, left you vulnerable. And look at you know, asleep in a van like a helpless child. You rely on others to save you, to clean up your messes. It's pitiful."
"You have no right to talk here!" Aiden roared. "You've always had others do your bidding for you, look at Cassius and the entire cult!"
"Boy, do you truly believe I would do it that way, if any other way was possible?" Feyr waved his hand again, summoning another chair for Aiden. "Sit down, and listen. Carefully."
"I'll try to keep this brief, to not overload your puny brain." Feyr stopped for a second, sighed, and began explaining. "Many, many years ago, we the 10 Deities co-existed in Caelum, our home. Above us was another, even higher Deity, called Ylva. Ylva was called The Divine Arbiter, and whatever we intended on doing, had to be approved by him. I personally despised that, because, nor creation nor destruction can exist without liberty to do as it sees fit. And so, me and a few of my closest allies, who also despised his iron fist, revolted."
Feyr pointed his finger at Aiden now, almost condescendingly. "That is why we need despicable human forms. Ylva didn't want to clash with us, and instead, sacrificed himself, imposing limits on us. We could only act on our own accord, if summoned onto Astarean soil in a Vessel. Do you understand now, boy?"
"So, the reason everything is happening…" Aiden said faintly.
That tone of arrogance that never seemed to leave Feyr's voice now got even worse. "Is because of me, yes."
Aiden screamed, before jumping out of the armchair and at Feyr, despite knowing he can't do any damage. But, instead of dodging, Feyr just slapped him, and Aiden woke up. He jolted awake, almost falling out of his seat, scaring both Synnove and Monique.
Monique glanced over at Aiden, her face etched with concern. "What just happened? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Trust me, a ghost would've been better that who I just saw." Aiden laughed. "Nothing much, just a nightmare."
"Well, try to compose yourself." Monique pointed at the TV above Aiden's head, showing the route they took and how much longer is left. "We're almost arriving in Dawnvale."
Aiden didn't respond, instead, his mind was still reeling the encounter with Feyr. He leaned back, trying to make sense of his words. It all just seemed so… unbelievable.
And as Nicholas gently rolled the van into and across the city, before Aiden even had enough time to process everything, they were already in front of the Oracle's headquarters. Nicholas opened the door with a press of a button, before looking over in the passenger area. "I need to leave the van in the underground garage, do you mind stepping out alone?"
"No worries, Nicholas." Monique said, elegantly stepping out first. Synnove soon followed, and Aiden exited last.
"Aiden!" Nicholas called out. "Don't forget this." He handed him his ruby blade, before returning back to his driving position.
"What about the katanas?" Aiden asked.
"I'll leave them in storage, who knows, someone might need them." he said as he drove off.
Aiden sheathed the sword around his waist, before heading into the Medical Corps building. After a quick identification, he left his sword at the front desk, and they headed for the elevator. Except this time, instead of heading to the sterile rooms, Monique hit the button for the highest floor.
"Miss, aren't the sterile rooms on the fifth floor?" Aiden asked.
"Yes, you're right, but we're going to visit someone else." the elevator door opened, revealing a large, spacious office. "Dr. Amelia Arroyo, Head of the Medical Corps."
From the left corner walked out a woman with a neatly tied high ponytail and a wide smile across the face. "No need to introduce me with all those formalities, Monique." She was holding a mug of what smelt like coffee, and was wearing a white coat.
"You must be Aldegar's son, right? Aiden?" she walked up to them and shook Aiden's hand. She looked at Synnove, trying to realize if she saw her from somewhere before. "And you are…?"
"Synnove…" she sighed. "It's… it's a long story."
Dr. Arroyo laughed softly. "Don't worry, in this line of work, long stories are par for the course." She moved over to the far right corner of the room, where a bunch of different machines were located. "Come over here, Aiden. I suppose you want to finish the check-up as quickly as possible?"
Aiden made his way to the corner, and sat on a chair almost identical to the one from last time, except clearly more complicated, with more switches, buttons and probes. After sitting on the machine for a little while, Synnove got up, and began heading for the elevator.
"Excuse me, miss, where are you going?" asked Amelia.
Synnove pressed the call button and turned around. "I need to find Aldegar, Aiden's dad. Where is he usually?"
Monique replied, "Offense Corps building, fifth floor, the middle office. There should be a plaque that says Lieutenant Silvius."
"Thank you! I owe Aldegar an apology, or at least an explanation. Long story." Synnove said as she stepped into the elevator.
Synnove headed for the Offense Corps building, hoping to explain to Aldegar the situation regarding her cult, and Ulrich's death. She wouldn't want him to have a poor image of her, especially considering her bond with Aiden.
Meanwhile, Aiden was sat in Dr. Arroyo's office for around half an hour, while she took different readings. She had him do nothing, then use Matchbox, then wait… and all over again multiple times. Aiden could feel himself getting weaker with each repetition. "Dr. Arroyo, I'm getting worn out much more than usual… what's going on?"
"Well then," she turned off the machine, before rolling a portable monitor near Aiden and Monique. "It's as I expected."
"What is?" asked Monique.
"Basically, my thought was this. Inherit allows him to take any power… right? But, Inherit works with Feyr's Soul Mark - X. What happens when he tries using something else?" Dr. Arroyo now pointed her finger at a chart on the display, showing a steady line, which peaked multiple times.
"See these peaks? This is your Essence consumption over time, and this peak, that's when you activated Matchbox after a little waiting." She now grabbed a pen and a notebook from a table nearby, and began drawing.
"Inherit - it's Feyr's Mark, we all know that already. But, for example, Matchbox is Livva's Mark - II. So, when you activated Matchbox, your Essence consumption surged, as your Soul Mark needed to reshape into II, for Matchbox to work." she pointed again to the monitor now.
"This peak is after that little resting period. The Soul Mark reshaped back into X without any input from you, and it probably does the same whenever Inherit activates." Dr. Arroyo turned the display off, before removing the probes from Aiden. "Basically, every time your Soul Mark needs to change, you expedite huge amounts of Essence, and it can easily wear you out."
"Thank you for examining me, Dr. Arroyo," he said as he stood up. "But, I already knew all of this. Dr. Silva checked me out after the ritual, and told me the about the same mechanic…"
Dr. Arroyo seemed incredibly confused by this revelation. "Gabriel? There is no way in hell he could've known that before you even got your first power…" She took the notebook again, and wrote all this down. "Did he tell you anything else…?"
"Well, besides telling me my Soul Mark isn't misshapen, he said that, for Inherit to activate, I need to kill with intent." Aiden said, recalling his last visit.
"With intent, huh?" Dr. Arroyo was tapping the pen against her head, thinking. "This smells horribly fishy… I'll ask Gabriel about this later. Either way, you're free to go…"