Chapter 18 Sylas
~Sylas~
The world came rushing back.
I shot up in bed.
What the—
“It’s all okay. You’re okay,” a familiar voice spoke.
I turned to my left to see Lazriel sprawled out on the other side of my bed, his head propped up with his elbow as he watched me intently and with a whole lot of adoration.
He was fully clothed again.
I looked down at myself and saw that I was as well. In a fresh pair of pants and a black long-sleeve tee. I even had socks on my feet. And I wasn’t sticky in the least, so he’d clearly even cleaned me.
“I passed out?”
“You did, yeah.”
I slapped my hand to my throat, feeling abrasions there and a sting.
“I wanted to ask before I healed you, wanted your permission. You’ve had enough done to you lately.”
“I don’t need it healed.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You want to keep my bite marks on you?”
“Yeah. I do.”
His whole face lit up.
I smiled, then looked around, frowning in thought. “How long was I out for?”
“About an hour or so. You’re fine. I checked your vitals. It was the pleasure and the intensity. In your current state, you aren’t—”
“I get it. No need to spell it out.”
He flinched.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be harsh. Just… talking about it doesn’t help.”
“I get that, but—”
“I need to get back to it,” I said, pushing off the bed, stumbling a little as my feet hit the ground.
I had to grab the edge of the bed and take a moment, before I then made my way over to my papers and journals on the other side of the bedroom.
“Back to your research. Yeah, I saw. All of it. It’s about Scion.”
I turned around. “What?”
“My dad told me about another threat out there, one he says is specifically dangerous to vampires. He wouldn’t give me the details, or define exactly what or who it is, but he did give me that name.” He frowned. “Maybe because he knew I’d tell you and it would be recognizable to you?”
That was… a lot to absorb.
“He sent you here to me?”
“He didn’t send me exactly. I wanted to come. Especially after he told me what had happened to you… the thing you don’t want me bringing up.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “The huge fucking elephant in the room that we’re just ignoring.”
“It’s not ignoring. It’s transcending.”
“Sure. However you want to paint it.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “The Shadowed is aware not only of what Scion is, but that said threat is rising and is undeniably dangerous to vampires specifically?”
“Yeah. Remnant considers it a big enough threat to have put tons of resources and time into doing something major, risking a shitload in the process. All to ensure you are in a position to ‘do what needs to be done’. His words—that last part, at least.”
I started. “What do you mean? Are you telling me that The Shadowed has found a cure? For my specific sickness?”
“I’m saying there’s a strong possibility.
The fact that Remnant, himself, believes it’s viable means a hell of a lot too.
He’s not exactly one to make unsubstantiated statements.
” He rolled out of bed and strode to me.
“This has gotta stay between you, me, then Velra and Cassius. No Guardian Movement involvement.”
“Always fine by me where the Guardian Movement is concerned. Let’s face it, the only reason I haven’t been arrested after performing that spell is because I’m currently powerless.”
“It’s gotta stay off Kai’s radar as well.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Sylas. I’ve been entrusted with this intel. Volatile intel and something that could incriminate The Shadowed in major ways due to the nature of the research that went into this.”
“I hear you. And from the way you’re now referring on-and-off to Remnant as Dad, it’s clear you’re building a relationship with him.
It’s important to you. I get that. And I want that for you.
All three of us do. But Kai has been helping me for months to determine a cure. I can’t just cut him out now.”
He’d also been there at my bedside delivering the news about me needing to be bound.
But I wouldn’t mention that to Lazriel. It would make him feel bad and guilty, because he hadn’t been there.
He hadn’t known, though. He’d been underground.
And he’d needed to be. Not just to gather information, to help with our enemies, but to finally lay eyes on his father.
“Would Kai keep this a secret from his loves?”
“He has an agreement with them, due to how he used to be. This won’t violate that. It doesn’t directly impact him, Ariana, Nyx, or Vorzyr. Also, the research we do at Arcanum Order isn’t shared with them either. Again, unless it directly impacts him or them. He’ll do this for me. I have no doubt.”
He took my words in, then grasped my hands, a huge smile spreading over his face.
“According to Remnant and The Shadowed’s research, it’s possible to do a necromantic core transplant.
We just need to test it with your blood first, so their magical scientists can prepare for any complications in advance.
They’re all about that… preparing for anything and everything.
Talk about covering all bases. It’s another level, seriously. ”
I stared for several moments, trying to wrap my head around what he was telling me.
“A necromantic core… transplant? That’s not… to get a hold of the cores in the first place… and in this way, which would require the entire thing—”
“Not just one entire thing. For you with your power set, we’re talking a full three that would be needed for the transplant. Apparently you’re even more of a Master of Death Magic than I even realized. Beyond even a prodigy.”
“I was the strongest necromancer in the world.”
“You are the strongest. And you will be again. With this transplant.”
“It would be temporary, yes?”
“A couple of months before the cores start disintegrating.”
“Then I’d have to be bound again before the rot resumed, my sickness no longer having a barrier that these cores would provide.”
“That’s the downside. But Remnant doesn’t believe that will be a factor once whatever Scion is has been dealt with.
He says it’s the key to a permanent cure for you.
And this… the transplant… would be in the interim so that Scion can be defeated.
Something you’re uniquely qualified to do apparently. ”
Uniquely qualified. Yes, that certainly summed it up where Scion was concerned.
“To obtain these cores… The Shadowed is responsible for those murders? All to cure me so I could stand against this threat?” Something didn’t add up there.
“No. They merely… saw opportunity in it. They harvested the cores of three necromancers who were found murdered.”
“Harvested them? The cores would have been in death state.”
“They were able to revitalize them.”
I choked. “Excuse me?”
“I can’t get into that. It was the deal I struck. I’m sorry.”
I shoved my hand through my hair. “This is… heavy. A lot to digest. Even for me. The Shadowed has found a way to bring something back from death state—with no necromancers in the mix, on their payroll? This is… it’s no small feat, Lazriel. This is revolutionary.”
“Yeah, I get that this is giving you a major magical-research hard-on.”
“Something, given the extent of his knowledge on me that this conversation alone has demonstrated, Remnant would have already anticipated. Meaning he won’t allow me to be brought into The Shadowed underground for this procedure, yes?”
He nodded with a grimace.
“Just my blood then. So be it.”
“Really? You’re on board? Already? I figured you’d ask way more questions, want answers galore, and then want time to think on it beyond that as well.”
“There are no other solutions. This is it.”
“You realize this is the first procedure ever of its kind?”
“Of course. Isn’t that what I just said? It’s revolutionary.”
“I know… I mean… your quick acceptance… it’s not about the magic, is it?
Not just about the magic, anyway? Something else is driving it.
” He gestured at my research into Scion all over the floor.
“And it’s that. You know what this threat is, don’t you?
I couldn’t make out any of the writing. It’s not in a language I understand.
Not even Latin, which is taught in bits and pieces even to non-magical beings at Wraeven Academy. ”
“It’s my own language.”
“You… what? You developed your own language?”
I nodded. “A safety precaution when I’m undertaking volatile research.”
“I see that safety precaution stance extends to those objects I saw all over your kitchen table when I first arrived, the place where your serum production spell used to be.”
“Yes. Those are Specus Relics.”
He thought for a moment. “Stand-ins for magical power?”
“I knew you took your studies more seriously than you let on. Wraeven wasn’t all about Graverun for you after all, hmm?”
His lips quirked. But that brief flicker of mirth dissipated all too soon. “Cave. That’s what it translates as?”
“Yes. It’s an arcane metaphor for a hidden store of power.”
“You’ve got a shit-ton of them.”
“Well, you can never be too careful in our world.”
“You mean in your former line of work—your vigilantism.”
I lifted a shoulder. “Either way.”
“Or, could it be that it’s about more than that side of things? That it’s about this other threat now rising alongside Puritas?”
“Not rising alongside. They’re entwined.”
He jolted. “What?”