Xandra was taken aback by the question. She paused for a moment, recalling what Phoenix had told her about this person, Aiden Blur.
"Requiem of Blood," she finally answered, her tone calm yet firm.
Aiden nodded slowly, his sharp eyes analyzing every detail.
"Unlike mine, it seems deeply connected to you. It's like seeing the weapon is seeing you. Your information must already have reached central, and with the fights you just had, the Department of Applied Energy Biology will probably guide you to take your skills a step further. That's why you came here, isn't it?"
Xandra crossed her arms, nodding slightly.
"Yes. Thanks for the information. I'll head to the department first thing tomorrow to better understand Requiem of Blood."
Catherine, off to the side, thought to herself: But isn't tomorrow Sunday?
"But that's only one of my reasons," Xandra continued, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, a hint of unease in her posture. "My master also asked me to find Phoenix, but they refused to give me any information about him here. Do you know where I can find him?"
The mention of Phoenix cast a heavy air over the group. Sophia, usually lively, suddenly showed a rare somber expression. She lowered her gaze in sadness—something entirely uncharacteristic for her.
"Since last year, Phoenix had been acting strangely," Sophia murmured, sneaking a glance at Aiden. "But six months ago, he completely changed. He almost stopped talking. No matter what we said, his answers were always vague. And his training... it became too intense, like he was trying to escape something.
"In the past two months, he stopped showing up at the Dominion altogether and stopped coming to Elysi Palace. When we asked central, they said he didn't want any further contact with Emergents... We insisted, but we couldn't get his location. And he never told us where he lived... In the end, apart from training together, we didn't know much about him."
Sophia's voice quivered as she finished, and she lowered her head. Her sadness was palpable.
"He doesn't want any further contact with Emergents... Phoenix?" Martin could barely process what he had just heard. "But he kept getting stronger with every Dominion..."
"He hasn't contacted me in half a year, either," Xandra said, a note of frustration lacing her tone. "He wasn't like this before. Something happened to him, and I want to find out what."
Aiden, who had been staring out at the city through the glass panels along the wall, finally spoke:
"I don't know exactly where he lives, but I've walked part of the way home with him a few times. I can narrow it down to an area in the Luminary District for you, if you want."
Sophia turned sharply to Aiden, her eyes blazing with anger.
"Hey! Why didn't you tell me that before? Don't you trust me?" she demanded, grabbing the collar of his black jacket.
"It's not that..." Aiden replied, averting his gaze, his face full of hesitation and regret. "It's just that... I don't think this is something we can help with—at least not right now."
Sophia shook him violently, demanding answers.
"You bastard! Why don't you tell me what you know?!"
Aiden lowered his gaze even further, unable to meet her eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, but he said nothing more.
Visibly hurt, Sophia spun around and stormed off without saying goodbye. Catherine, uncomfortable and feeling out of place, followed her, offering a slight nod to the others before leaving. Martin went after them as well, his face reflecting a mix of worry and respect for Phoenix.
Xandra watched Aiden, who remained frozen, his eyes fixed on Sophia's retreating figure.
"Thanks for telling me that. I'll try to find him. Don't worry," Xandra said, breaking the silence.
Aiden nodded slightly, but his thoughts seemed far away.
Suddenly, a faint smile appeared on Xandra's face. Her eyes gleamed with an unexpected challenge, and her posture shifted, radiating confidence and authority.
"By the way, another reason I came here is because of you," she said, breaking the tension of the last few minutes. Her voice was now firm and cutting. "Would you grant me a duel?"
Aiden raised a hand to his face and sighed wearily. There was something about Xandra that disarmed him—her persistence, her directness, her boundless energy. Without a doubt, she was the type of person who never took "no" for an answer.
"I'm sorry," he murmured in a calm but firm voice as he turned his gaze toward the window, where the moon was beginning to illuminate the empty streets. "I have somewhere to go right now. Maybe another time."
Xandra raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled by his response.
"Somewhere to go...? Are you heading home?" she asked curiously, studying his expression for a clue.
Aiden slowly turned toward the exit, his steps echoing softly on the metal floor of the corridor.
"To Noctus," he replied casually, as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
Confusion spread across Xandra's face as she took a couple of steps toward him.
"Why would you go to Noctus at night? Isn't it dangerous for a Helios Tech Emergent to walk around there? Even for someone like you..." Her tone carried a mix of genuine concern and curiosity.
Noctus was known for being unpredictable—a place where rules held little weight, and even the most powerful Luminar thought twice before entering.
Aiden stopped abruptly, his back still turned to her. A faint, almost nostalgic smile crossed his face.
"Well, yes," he admitted, a trace of irony in his voice.
In an instant, his black jacket began to change, morphing into a brilliant white that seemed to radiate serene yet commanding energy. The design elongated, fitting perfectly to his figure, and large, bold letters appeared across his back: No Limits. The words seemed to carry a symbolic weight, like an emblem capable of defying the very world.
Xandra watched the transformation in awe, but before she could ask a question, Aiden turned his head slightly.
"But I have a dream," he said, his tone filled with unshakable resolve.
"A dream?" Xandra pressed, her curiosity piqued even further.
Aiden remained silent for a moment, his gaze lost in the nocturnal cityscape beyond the glass panels. Finally, he spoke, his voice carrying the weight of memories.
"That's right. Just like the people who saved me..." His words hung in the air, a shadow of melancholy crossing his face. "I want to be a hero."
The declaration struck a chord within Xandra. She watched him walk away, each of his steps resonating with determination. She didn't say anything more, but a faint smile graced her lips.
"A hero, huh... I see. What an honorable dream." She lowered her gaze, deep in thought. "That's why my master and Phoenix wanted me to meet him."
She remained there, unmoving, gazing out at the city illuminated by the faint glow of the stars and the moonlight. In the distance, the streets of Noctus stretched like an abyss of shadows and flickering lights—a place that reflected the duality of the people daring enough to walk its paths.
The silence of the building was almost palpable as Xandra stayed in her place, staring at the spot where Aiden had stood moments before. She couldn't see him walking away, but his presence still seemed to fill the room—not with arrogance, but with a serene and overwhelming certainty.
He was a man driven by something greater than himself, something Xandra was just beginning to understand. That determination, that purpose... it resonated within her like a distant echo.
"A hero," she murmured, letting the word hang in the air, heavy with meaning.
For a moment, the room felt smaller, more contained. There was no wind to tousle her hair, nor stars to surround her with their glow, but the artificial light from the building's lamps cast her silhouette against the glass walls. Xandra sighed, sinking slightly into the nearby seat. Aiden had left something behind with his departure: a silent promise that even in the darkness of Noctus, someone could still fight for something better.
***
Noctus, Clarus District
In her room, Aurora was far from the grandeur of Solaris's streets. The place mirrored her state of mind: slightly messy, with clothes piled on a chair and a coffee cup left abandoned on her desk. She wore comfortable pajamas—a loose shirt and cotton pants, nothing out of the ordinary—that reflected her preference for comfort and indifference toward appearances.
With a sigh, Aurora closed the thick study material and turned off her computer screen. She leaned back in her cushioned chair, a rosy hue matching the colorful furniture around her. Stretching, she felt the day's fatigue settle in her shoulders. "Ahh, Professor Varlan really does love to make our lives miserable," she murmured to herself as her eyes wandered toward the window.
Through the glass, the stars were barely visible, their faint twinkles obscured by the gigantic platforms connecting the upper levels of Solaris's cityscape. The view was impressive, but tonight her thoughts were elsewhere. The day's memories came flooding back: William's distant gaze, his indifference toward others, the vibrant room where he had been, the piano... and that final smile, so out of place on his face.
Aurora slowly stood up and walked toward a mirror placed next to her wardrobe. She looked at herself closely, studying her own reflection. A vacant expression stared back, a shadow of who she had once been. "I look just like him," she thought, bringing a hand to her face. The gesture was delicate, almost timid, as if she feared discovering something deeper beneath the surface.
Memories of Etheron began to flood in, images that had never truly left her. Her mother, a brilliant woman whose laughter was enough to light up any day. Her father, always willing to follow her adventures, though he could barely match the boundless energy of his wife. But those memories weren't just happy; they were tainted by the illness that had consumed her mother and by the strength her father had shown, even after losing her.
Aurora closed her eyes for a moment and let another image take shape in her mind: her father teaching her to play the piano, his steady hands guiding hers. "You don't need to be the best, Aurora," she remembered him saying. "Play with your heart. That's what matters."
She opened her eyes and looked at the stars again. "Mom, Dad," she murmured, her voice barely a whisper. She let herself fall back into her chair and hugged her knees, curling into herself. But she didn't cry. There were no tears left to shed; they had run dry long ago, in those lonely days where no one had answers for her, where no one had extended a hand to hold hers.
Her gaze drifted toward her gleaming sneakers in a corner of the room. The memory of William, with his lost eyes and fractured smile, struck her again. "He's where I was once," she thought. And though she wasn't sure how, something inside her knew she had to help him, even if she hadn't completely overcome her own problems.
The silence of the night stretched through the room, and Aurora remained there, embracing her thoughts, tangled in the ghosts of her past and the reflection of her present.
***
5:30 a.m., Luminia, Luminary District
Beep Beep Beep.
Clara's Nexus blared relentlessly, shattering the calm of the early morning. The sound pierced the silence of her room, dragging her from the warm refuge of sleep into a much less welcoming reality.
"Ughh! GOD! It's Sunday! Who the hell is calling this early?" she protested, rolling around in the sheets of her spacious bed. Her fingers fumbled blindly for the Nexus on her nightstand, but she couldn't find it.
With a frustrated groan, she finally sat on the edge of the bed, her dark brown hair messy and falling over her face. She wore a simple white cotton pajama set—comfortable but far from stylish. Still half-asleep, she rubbed her eyes with one hand and muttered in a low voice, "Whoever it is, they'd better have a damn good reason... or I'm going to kick their ass. Yeah, that's what I'll do."
At last, she grabbed the Nexus and lazily activated the holographic screen with a careless tap. Before she could blurt out a curse for whoever was calling, the call abruptly ended, replaced by a text message.
Clara's expression twisted as the blue hologram expanded before her, revealing the familiar signature of Ion Ross, her direct supervisor. His words, brimming with enthusiasm, were a stark contrast to Clara's unimpressed face as she read:
"Clara, I hope I didn't wake you.
I know it's early, but we have a unique opportunity this morning. Last night, we received notification that at 6:00 a.m. today, we'll be welcoming a young Luminar from Etheron to the Department. And this isn't just any visit: this girl is a bearer of a Xialsin.
Clara, you know how extraordinary the Xialsin are, and the people who wield them are just as exceptional. This encounter could be pivotal—for the Department and for you personally. I want you here on time, ready to observe and learn. I'm confident your ability to pick up on details and your talent will be invaluable in this situation.
See you soon,
Ion Ross, Director of Research and Development."
"Sunday at 6:00 a.m.," Clara muttered slowly, her voice dripping with disbelief. "I'm going to kill this girl. Yes, I'll kill her."