The road hummed beneath them as the city passed by — glass, noise, and neon blending into a human blur.
Logan sat in the front, watching the skyline. "Did you get it?." he asked without looking back
Leon looked up briefly before turning his gaze away "yeah...you won't believe what I found"
" What are you talking about?"Ethan asked in a rare moment of confusion
"Don't tell me you didn't feel it brother Wu mingyu?" Chen kaelun (Caleb) asked his lips raised in an amused smile
"I felt the energy of a superior artifact in the hallway when we passed" Logan explained and Ethan nodded before glaring at Caleb who chuckled looking away amused
"Can we see it?" Susana asked
"...the energy is too strong " Leon replied and they all nodded not pressing the matter anymore
"Mortals, they've built so much but... understand so little" Lora who was sitting at the very back said sighing softly
Mason glanced through the rare view. "That's called progress, my lady."
"Progress," Ethan repeated, as if tasting the word. "Strange name for chaos."
In the backseat, Jason leaned toward the window, fascinated. "Did you see how they laughed for no reason? Just,laughed. Loudly. At nothing."
"That's youth," Caleb said, not looking up from his phone (which he had no idea how to use properly). "You'd think a few thousand years would've cured you of curiosity."
"I like it," Lora said softly. "It's unpredictable."
Leon crossed his arms. "It's foolish. They fight over food, grades, popularity. They bleed for the smallest things."
"That's what makes them human," murmured Logan, the one who rarely spoke. Everyone turned toward him, surprised.
He added simply, "They live knowing it ends."
The car fell silent for a moment.
---
Outside, the light dimmed as dusk spread across the city — the same hour when the immortal realm once shifted from day to night.
Logan noticed. He frowned slightly, feeling the faintest vibration in the air , like a whisper from far beyond.
Susana noticed too.
Her smile faded for a breath.
Then she laughed again, too bright, too forced. "We should totally join a club tomorrow. Maybe theater!"
Jason groaned. "You'd burn the stage."
"Or steal it," she winked.
Shen Rui'an just shook his head. "I'm starting to think I don't get paid enough to drive gods around."
"Technically," Ethan said mildly, "you don't get paid at all."
"Exactly my point."
The car filled with quiet laughter, light and easy,but beneath it, something else stirred. A strange pull. A shadow stretching just a little longer than it should have, leaving the car before going down the street.
In The Mansion
Their car pulled into the garage.
The mansion was cloaked in silence when they returned.
High on a hill overlooking the sleeping city, it stood , elegant yet ancient, its marble veins pulsing faintly with celestial light. To mortal eyes it would seem like nothing more than a lavish estate; but within, the air hummed with power ,ageless, divine, and restless.
The seven immortals gathered in the meeting hall, their mortal disguises long gone. Robes replaced uniforms, each one woven in the colors of their celestial essence: silver for Leon, crimson for Jason, blue for Caleb, gold for Susana, violet for Ethan, Midnight black for Lora, and white for Logan.
The grand room glowed faintly with runic sigils that circled the ceiling, symbols from a language lost to all but the heavens. At the center, a crystalline orb rested upon a stone table, swirling faintly with starlight — their link to the Elder Council.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Finally, Logan's voice broke the stillness. Calm. Deep. Commanding.
"Let us begin."
He lifted his hand slightly; the orb brightened, projecting faint ripples of light across their faces.
"The first day went as expected," he said. "We blended in, observed the human students, and gathered surface information." His tone hardened. "But there was something else."
"i found the spectal of darkness in the library locked in rows of books" Leon murmured, leaning against the column. His arms crossed, his eyes dark. "That thing shouldn't exist here. Not outside the Underveil."
Susana twirled a strand of her hair, her tone deceptively casual. "And yet it was there. Near the west corridor. Hiding like a parasite."
Caleb eyes burned crimson under the lamplight. "You're certain it was a spectal of darkness? Not just a shadow fragment?"
Logan gaze met his. "I know what I saw. Its signature matched the Oracle of Demons. Faint, but unmistakable."
"Bring it out" he ordered and Leon nodded bring out the spectal that darkness coils around as it tries to escape his grip
A hush fell. The Oracle,a being said to weave chaos itself , had vanished thousands of years ago, sealed beyond the celestial gates.
Ethan, always calm and composed, finally spoke. "If the Oracle's power has found a way to manifest here… then the veil between realms is thinning faster than the Elders predicted."
"It already is," Jason said, his voice edged with cynicism. "First we sense echoes of corrupted mana, now this. What's next, demons enrolling in math class?"
Susana smirked faintly. "Might explain why the cafeteria food tasted like despair."
Logan gave her a sharp look, but it softened quickly. "Jests aside, we must treat this seriously. The presence of a spectal means something or someone is channeling power from the dark plane. It is not random."
Lora, seated quietly by the window, finally turned her gaze toward them. Her eyes were faintly luminescent, reflecting the moonlight. "Perhaps it seeks what we do."
Caleb frowned. "You mean..."
"The Child of Destiny," Lora finished.
The room's temperature seemed to shift.
Shen Rui'an, their acting Butler, stepped forward with a stack of glowing parchment. "The Elders sent a transmission this evening," he said, unfurling the celestial seals. "They've begun their own investigation. According to their divination, seven potential candidates have been located across the mortal world."
"Seven?" Susana raised a brow. "That's convenient."
Jason scoffed. "Or suspicious."
Shen Rui'an nodded. "Each bears traces of ancient energy, residual fragments of the same aura once linked to the Heart of Destiny."
Logan moved closer to the table, his reflection fractured in the orb's light. "Read their names."
Shen Rui'an recited slowly, the words echoing through the chamber like distant thunder.
He cleared his throat slightly
"Ava Li, born in Beijing, bearer of the Moon Sigil.
Elias Ward, from London, blessed by the Whispering Flame.
Naomi Aduke, Lagos, her aura aligned with the Spirit of Time.
Rei Takahashi, Tokyo, marked by celestial thunder.
Matteo Alvarez, Madrid, heart tethered to shadows.
Isabella Laurent, Paris, soul entwined with the Song of Light.
And one unnamed — energy detected here, in this very city."
Everywhere was plunged into silence