The words lingered in the small room, heavier than the air itself.
Kael Varros, Governor of Nexus, bowed his head. His hands, calloused despite the trappings of power, clenched on the edge of the table. It wasn't authority speaking now, nor the weight of a city's crest—it was a husband, stripped of pretense, begging for the life of the woman he loved.
For a moment, silence reigned. Only the faint hiss of the stove-fire and the quiet clink of Niamh setting down the untouched ladle broke it.
Niamh's eyes burned, shifting from Kael to Jade. Her voice wavered, thick with care and fear.
"He just came out of a dungeon collapse, Governor. He hasn't even sat long enough to breathe, maybe when the day breaks tomorrow?"
Her hand gripped Jade's shoulder, as though her strength alone could hold him still.
"Niamh." Jade's voice was soft, but steady. He lifted his hand and covered hers, squeezing gently. His dual irises glowed faintly in the lamplight, calm yet resolute.
"I'm fine," he said simply.
Her eyes widened. "You're not—"
"I am." Jade met her gaze, and for all his youth, there was something ancient there. Something that quieted her protests, even as fresh tears slid down her cheeks. "You raised me stronger than this. Don't worry."
Niamh's throat worked soundlessly. Her hand lingered on his shoulder a moment longer before it dropped. "Okay", she managed to choke out.
Amara had slipped from her chair and now crouched beside Lio, one arm curled tightly around her brother. She looked between Jade and the governor, worry written plain across her face. "Jade… are you sure?"
Lio, quieter but no less firm, answered before Jade could. "If he says he's fine, then he is. Don't doubt him." Yet his small hand still clutched Jade's sleeve, betraying the fear he couldn't hide.
Jade smiled faintly at them both, reassuring but brief, then turned back to Kael Varros.
"I'll help her."
The governor's head lifted sharply, disbelief and relief crashing together in his eyes. For a man who had stood in courts and command halls all his life, his composure nearly cracked then. "You will?"
"Yes." Jade's tone carried no hesitation. "But only if you understand—I can't promise miracles." His gaze sharpened, the weight of it startling on a boy's face. "I will try. That's all I'll give."
Kael bowed his head again, voice low but fierce. "Trying is more than anyone else has dared. That alone… is enough."
Niamh moved to Jade's side again, her hand brushing through his silvery hair with a tenderness so raw it ached. Her whisper was for him alone.
"Don't push yourself too far, okay ?."
Jade leaned into her touch, just slightly. "I won't."
Then, rising from his seat, he straightened, his expression once more composed for the world beyond their door. "We leave now."
The governor rose as well, relief flooding through him, though his sharp eyes flicked once more to Jade's pupils—those layered irises that shimmered with secrets he did not voice. Something unsettled stirred in him, but he forced it aside. Tonight, there was only his wife's life.
Niamh fetched her shawl with trembling hands, Amara helped Lio steady himself, and the little group gathered by the door. Kael motioned to his two plainclothed guards outside; they stepped aside, forming a silent escort.
Before they stepped outside, Jade paused. His dual irises caught the lamplight, a strange shimmer in the dim room, and for a moment he seemed lost in thought. Then, quietly, he said, "Wait here. I need a moment."
He slipped into the back room. Lio made to follow, but Niamh shook her head faintly. "Let him."
When Jade returned, even the air seemed different.
His long silvery-blue hair was gone. In its place flowed a mane of snow white, glimmering faintly in the lamplight. His dual irises—those impossible suns of silver-grey and golden-purple—were hidden now, replaced by luminous silvery-grey eyes, cool and steady. The faint omega mark at the side of his neck was gone, veiled along with the silvery tracery of markings across his back. Even the necklace itself was invisible, erased by its own enchantment.
And yet, despite the concealment, his beauty remained. If anything, it was sharper, cleaner, less overwhelming but no less arresting. Ethereal still, but human enough to walk among them without drawing every whisper.
The room stilled.
Niamh's hand lifted, then trembled before falling back to her side. Her lips parted as though to speak, but no words came.
Amara stared openly, wonder mixing with unease. "Jade... you look… different."
Lio's gaze lingered longest. His shoulders loosened, and he breathed quietly, "Still Jade."
Jade inclined his head faintly. "This is how I will appear from now on." His voice left no room for questions. He did not explain how, nor why.
Even Kael Varros, who had spent decades in courts of power, paused for a heartbeat, studying the boy anew. Concealment or not, there was something that set him apart from every other living thing in the room.
"Then we leave," Kael said at last, recovering his composure.
The door opened, and the night air of Nexus poured in. At the curb, a sleek hover-carriage awaited, plain but rune-etched beneath its surface. Its levitation core hummed with steady energy, and the insignia on its frame was muted enough not to announce its master, yet sharp enough to grant passage anywhere in the city.
As the door shut behind them, the night air of Nexus pressed close—thick with neon glow, mana-hum, and distant voices. But within their small circle, it was something else entirely. It was the weight of a decision made.
.....
Kael motioned them inside.
The carriage's interior was spacious, lined with soft mana-cushioned seats. Niamh settled beside Jade immediately, one arm protectively looped around him despite his quiet insistence that he was fine. Amara and Lio sat opposite, close together. Kael took the forward seat, his guards mounting discreetly onto the front rig.
The vehicle lifted smoothly, gliding into the neon-lit veins of the city.
Through wide crystal-glass panels, Nexus passed in glowing streams. Skyrails shimmered with trains of light overhead; towers thrummed with mana-reactors, their spires cutting into the low clouds. Markets below still pulsed with life, colors and scents swirling together in a chaos only half-hidden by night.
Inside the carriage, silence reigned.
Niamh's hand never left Jade's arm. Amara stared out the window, stealing glances at her brother's calm profile, while Lio sat with his hands knotted together, gaze fixed on Jade as though drawing strength from his presence.
Kael studied the boy across from him. Even muted, Jade carried himself with a stillness unlike any child Kael had ever seen. The governor had met generals, judges, awakened of high rank—but not one of them had sat with such quiet certainty at seven years of age.
It unsettled him more than the dungeons, more than the abominations that lay beyond.
The carriage slowed as the cityscape gave way to broader avenues, walls rising high to mark the estates of the powerful. They passed gates worked in silver and stone, guards in gleaming armor, fountains enchanted to glow with soft radiance. Finally, they drew before one such gate, tall and black-veined with shimmering runes.
It parted without challenge.
The hover-carriage glided into the courtyard of the Varros estate, where lamplight spilled over marble arches and carved fountains whispered in the dark. Servants froze as they saw their governor step down first, their eyes widening at his unexpected return—and widening further when the white-haired boy followed.
"Say nothing," Kael ordered them sharply, and the servants bowed, scurrying away with pale faces.
Within moments, they were inside the mansion, walking past hushed halls where the scent of polished stone mingled with the faint tang of mana-purifiers. The weight of authority lingered everywhere, but none dared speak as their master led them deeper.
At last, they reached the tall door of a private chamber.
Kael's hand hovered over the handle for a moment. His composure cracked just slightly, enough for the tremor of a husband's fear to show.
Jade stopped before the doors, his white hair falling like a curtain of frostlight under the sconces. His eyes lifted to Kael's, then shifted to the ones behind him.
"Niamh," he said softly, "stay here with them. I'll go in with the governor."
Her lips parted, a protest trembling there, but she caught herself. Something in Jade's tone was quiet and resolute silenced her. She only reached out, touched his sleeve once, then nodded.
Lio gave a small nod of his own, his gaze steady, as if to say I'll be waiting brother. Amara clung to her brother's hand, wide-eyed and worried, but too overawed to speak.
Kael gestured, and two attendants stepped forward. "Take them to the west wing. They'll rest until we're done."
The servants bowed, ushering Niamh and the children away. Niamh glanced back one last time, her eyes locked on Jade, but she let herself be led, her spine stiff with both fear and trust.
The doors groaned open.
Kael entered first, his cloak brushing the polished floor. Jade followed, silent as shadow, until the doors closed behind them with a muted thud.
The chamber smelled faintly of herbs and cold air. A canopy bed dominated the room, draped in pale silks. Upon it lay Selene Varros.
Her hair was once rich black streaked with silver, now dulled to lifeless strands. Her face was elegant but gaunt, her skin too pale, lips faded of color. Her chest rose and fell with shallow effort. At the nape of her neck, half-hidden by hair, gleamed the mark of her mate—a sigil etched into flesh, Kael's claim, proof of their bond. She was a recessive Omega, yet even so, there should have been vitality. Instead, the bond mark looked dim, its glow faltering.
Kael moved to her side, the mask of governor falling from his face, leaving only the man—husband, mate. His hand brushed her cheek, lingered on the fragile line of her jaw. Then he turned, gaze hardening on Jade.
"See her," he said, voice low, almost breaking.
Jade stepped forward.
The silvery-grey of his irises shifted. At first faint, then brightening—fracturing into twin pupils within each eye. One silver-grey, one golden-purple, overlapping, orbiting. The air seemed to still, the glow subtle yet undeniable.
Kael inhaled sharply, as if the sight pressed down on his chest.
Jade looked at Selene. And through her.
Her body fell away, layers peeling back to his vision. Flesh, blood, bone, essence. He saw the weave of her mana veins, strands of light coursing weakly, faltering where they should have flowed. Her aura, once radiant, lay cracked and uneven, dim embers in a broken lattice.
Her information unfurled before him—lines of knowledge, fragments of truth.
Vitality: waning.
Essence core: fractured.
Aura flow: obstructed.
Condition: progressive degeneration.
And deeper—there it was. The black root of it. Not a curse. Not poison. Something born of her own body, turned against itself. A creeping essence parasite, subtle, slow, feeding on her aura like ivy choking a tree.
Jade's gaze sharpened, the golden-purple iris flaring. His heart clenched, but his voice, when it came, was calm.
"I know what it is."
Kael's knuckles whitened where his hand gripped the bedframe. Hope and fear tangled in his eyes, his voice a rasp.
"Please… speak."
....
....