Chapter 15: All Will Be Well

  The tapping of Felix’s boot echoed down the hallway. He kept winding the ends of his loose hair around his binyeo, then unwinding it. Winding it, then unwinding it again. He let out a sigh and started to tap it against his forehead.

  Lady Meng sat down beside him and offered him a cup of coffee and a warm towel. He shook his head. “At least drink something warm,” she insisted. “How are your injuries?”

  “They’re fine. Fixed them myself.”

  The night wore on, but the doors to the hospital room Ace was in remained shut. Leonhart and Jude had returned to their rooms, thanks to Lady Meng’s gentle insistence. Before they left, they explained the gist of what happened. Felix could hardly wrap his head around it. He was so deep in his thoughts that he unknowingly chewed through the foam cup.

  “How’s the other kid we found in the sewers?” Felix asked, discreetly spitting out the foam into his palm.

  “He’s still unconscious, but his condition is stable,” Lady Meng replied. “I anticipate that he will make a full recovery soon.”

  “Kazuya Aiuchi… Why does his name not show up in our records?”

  Lady Meng handed him a small book. “Kazuya’s memories. He had been staying in an orphanage for almost a decade. That was until he injured his bullies about a week ago.”

  “Injured his bullies…”

  “His memories were faint and suppressed, but still readable. I made a quick trip down to the orphanage earlier,” she said. “The injured have since made a full recovery. I have modified everyone’s memories, but I’m still working out the network of people who may have heard about the incident.”

  Felix quietly thanked Lady Meng by squeezing her hand gently. “I’ll deal with the boy, and you worry about Ace,” she said.

  “He’s still going to be my student,” he said. “Not that I mind.”

  “You’ve grown fond of them, haven’t you? It’s been a while since I have seen you like this,” she said.

  “I worry for you the same way,” he replied with a half-smirk.

  “Bullshit, I’m sure you have ditched my ass to save yours before.”

  “I believe you’d have to think very hard about it.”

  The door to Ace’s room swung open, and the conversation was quickly abandoned. Felix stood up from his seat to greet Dr. Lee Guangyao. Dr. Lee acknowledged him with a nod and shut the door behind him. His baggy doctor’s coat rustled as he smoothed it out with his hands.

  But Felix managed to get a glimpse of the room. Lady Meng inhaled sharply, her hand flying to her mouth.

  “Let’s take this elsewhere.” Dr. Lee tipped his head, signalling for Felix to follow.

  In his office, Dr. Lee rubbed his neck and took off his glasses. He wiped down the thick lenses with the hem of his coat. His eyes darted between the file on his table and Felix in the meantime.

  “Why are there so many talismans?” Felix ripped into his uncle immediately. “Why is Ace restrained?! He’s unconscious!”

  “There’s good news and bad news. I was thinking about where to start, but you are ahead on that aspect,” Dr. Lee massaged the bridge of his nose, sighing loudly. “That’s the bad news.”

  “What’s the good news?”

  “His wounds are not life-threatening.”

  “You say that, but that does not explain the talismans! Shouldn’t the Cursed Essence be flushed out after a week or two? It’s not active–”

  “Correct, for those that hit the main system.”

  “Main system?!”

  The doctor let out an exasperated sigh and pressed his thumbs against his temples. “I am also trying to understand what I just witnessed. Please give me some time to think about how to phrase this.” He poured out a cup of water for himself. As he lifted the cup to his lip, his hand trembled slightly.

  “It better be a damn good explanation.”

  “I’ve never, in my whole career, seen a human like your student.” Dr. Lee spoke slowly, chewing on every word. “He’s what we call a chimaera. I ran some tests on his left arm. The DNA does not belong to him; it belongs to a different person.”

  Felix stared blankly at him.

  “The only physical clue, which is the irregular skin tones, could’ve been brushed off as a birthmark.” Dr. Lee put on his glasses, which magnified his small and weary eyes. “This phenomenon usually happens to fraternal twins in-utero, when one twin absorbs the dead or dying twin. But this is not a very satisfactory explanation.”

  “That’s impossible…”

  “Pretty ironic considering the world we live in. Anything is possible,” Dr. Lee said. “For starters, you exist.”

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  “No…” Felix mumbled. “When I first met him… I saw two cores… I thought it was…”

  “And you didn’t say anything?!” Dr. Lee stared at him with unblinking eyes.

  “I–”

  “Felix, the Celestial Eye that the six of us have is never wrong! This is no mere title like 'Heaven's Eyes' that people give our family! The six of us, the best of the family! Only we have it!” Dr. Lee threw his arms up in utter exasperation. “I never once doubted mine, and yet here you are, omitting one of the greatest anomalies in modern-day medicine at your discretion!”

  “It’s bad enough that he is an Aberrant,” Felix tried to reason. “What do you think people out there would start saying if they knew about this?”

  “I’m not going to argue with you about that,” Dr. Lee sighed. “You’re right. You’re always right.”

  “Let me get this straight. The reason why he has two cores is that he ate his twin?”

  “If that is how you would like to understand it, yes.” Dr Lee toyed with the Newton's cradle on his desk, lifting one of the balls before letting it swing. “As for how or why this happened, we may never know. What we know is that Ace is himself and his twin. Two distinct systems in one body that somehow never merged completely.”

  Felix tried to digest what his uncle had said, but his train of thought was broken repeatedly by the click-clacking of the steel balls. He slammed his hand on it, setting it ablaze. Dr. Lee sighed and dumped the remaining water in his cup on it.

  “This still doesn’t justify the talismans,” Felix pressed.

  Dr. Lee straightened his back. “From this moment onwards,” he said in a low voice, “I am addressing you as an Elder. Whatever I say next will cause an uproar everywhere, especially the top brass.”

  “Huh?”

  “The left arm tried to attack us when we were treating Ace’s wounds,” Dr. Lee said gravely. “If not for the nurses’ quick thinking, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

  “Oh shit.” Felix rubbed his face with his hands.

  “Ace has been cursed.” Dr. Lee picked up a pen and stabbed the ream of paper that sat on his desk. “Thankfully, you have a seat in the Ortus, so we have time to deliberate over our next steps.”

  Felix had always loathed being an Elder. But this time, he was grateful.

  For once.

  Dr. Lee continued his monologue. “He has the potential to perform the Cursed Arts if he gains the knowledge of how to cultivate it. You and I know that this is the biggest taboo in the sorcerer society. It’s far too dangerous to keep him in there without safety precautions. So long as that arm remains attached to him, he is a danger to himself and others. Removal–”

  “You can’t just chop off part of his body! Don’t you always have another way?!”

  “Did I say I was going to? If examining the arm managed to elicit such an adverse reaction from the arm, what more amputation?” Dr. Lee said. “Moreover, the core is located under his left collarbone, a very inconvenient spot.”

  “What can you do now?” Felix asked.

  “We can only come up with something to seal the cursed arm. The merger of the two systems was incomplete. We can reinforce and even artificially extend the main system to cover the whole arm,” Dr. Lee said. “We can also make him expel it, but the very thing that forces it out generates more of it. It’s an infinite cycle, which is why we struggle against phantoms and the very rare Cursed Essence user.”

  Felix pressed a cold palm against his forehead. All he could feel was his heart pounding in his head.

  “If he strays down the wrong path and starts cultivating it,” Dr. Lee sighed. “You and I know what the consequences entail.”

  Felix remained mum.

  “It’s bad for the body, even more so the mind. There has never been an exception to it, and some of the repercussions are far beyond our control. You should be familiar with the cautionary tale of Mercifer, right?” he said.

  He who performed the Cursed Arts only lived to destroy the world. Consequently, the sorcerers had to execute him for his treason and crimes. Anyone who dared to stick as much as a toe in the Cursed Arts would be punished.

  By death.

  Dr. Lee tapped the papers on his desk with his pen once more. “I would have to prepare a report about this, but,” he paused, looking up at Felix, “I believe your word will suffice. Venerated Elder Lee, it’s time for you to step up.”

  Felix clenched his jaw. “I suppose it is,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “As your uncle, I would like to tell you that paper cannot wrap fire. In time, the truth will reveal itself. By then, pray and hope that this society will come to… embrace him,” Dr. Lee went on. “In the meantime, we will keep him away from the masses until we are sure that our solution to seal his arm is effective enough. Given that he is young and healthy, vessel failure is unlikely to happen… Moreover…”

  “What is it?”

  Dr. Lee furrowed his brows. “The reason why I say that vessel failure is unlikely to happen is because of how slowly the core in that arm is revolving. I cannot explain further without looking into the effects of writing a phantom onto a blank slate. I’m also unable to answer the question about whether he can move his left arm again.”

  “Why not?”

  “Finding the answers to my questions will involve me stepping into forbidden territory,” Dr. Lee said. “Our knowledge of the Cursed Arts is based on stories passed down by survivors and those who bear our Will. Moreover, anything that attempts to explore our link to the God Hands is strictly forbidden.”

  Survivors are bad mouthpieces for the dead. Felix was well aware of survivorship bias and how it had gotten many more killed before accurate knowledge was written into the books. Dr. Lee’s research was crucial to ensure Ace’s safety. He had to force the others to allow it.

  “I’ll do everything in my power so that you can get the answers you need,” Felix said. “By the way, how long are you keeping him under observation?”

  “At least two weeks. His injuries are not shallow. We can’t risk them reopening. Keeping him asleep would allow the Essence to focus on healing up his body.”

  “Fine.”

  Felix stood to leave, but Dr. Lee cleared his throat. “Please take better care of my daughter and her friends and do what is right.”

  Felix obliged. “I will. You don’t have to worry.”

  ***

  Felix made his promise too easily.

  Dr. Lee stared at what remained of the Newton’s Cradle. The metal balls were charred to different degrees.

  Flames were fickle things after all.

  You have Leonhart, Dr. Lee thought as he swept up the destroyed desk toy. And I only have Shi Yan.

  For a fleeting moment, Dr. Lee imagined a world where they could hold on to what was theirs alone, untouched by anyone else.

  not a title. It is something Felix, Dr. Lee and 4 other individuals possess. You can find out more in Season 2.