» Hours later
"Fascinating," Callian murmured, eyeing the electricity that was dancing across Zeri's upturned palms.
It glowed a visceral, sickly green, casting the barest hint of illumination onto the shadowed room around them.
He glanced back toward the girl's gleaming yellow eyes.
Although seemingly one-dimensional—the girl's aspect wasn't truly so simple.
It was not the regular, arcane-powered lightning he was familiar with. It was bioelectricity given form.
Heavily empowered to an almost obscene degree—so strong and dense that it had become visible to the naked eye.
It explained the girl's uncanny reaction time—though raise the question of how her brain could handle such a lethal amount of energy.
Then again, perhaps she was born with a natural adaptation for it. Nothing in nature was inherently self-destructive, after all.
"Can I stop it now?" the girl asked quietly, dropping her hands by a fraction. "It's tiring."
"You may," Callian acquiesced, putting a pin in his most recent line of thought as the eerie light flickered out.
In its place, his thoughts fell back toward an older subject of his attention.
Wasteful. That was the only word he could use to describe this… tragedy.
He had never seen this girl before in the old timeline. Nor heard of her either.
Given how the scene had been set—back within that Southside street—she was likely fated to have died there. What a waste.
Such a promising life cut so short due to mere circumstance. Cut short by three who were so unbelievably ordinary. How lucky they had been.
Someone so gifted would have been a boon to their city.
It was fortunate that he now possessed the time necessary to appropriately handle this matter. He had five empty months in his timeline. How convenient.
Lumen had explained his theories concerning fate to him—many of them. Back then, they had seemed… convoluted at best. Perhaps there was some merit to them after all.
Well—coincidence or not—the girl's gift would not end up wasted this time around. Not if he approached this with the appropriate care.
Zeri's hands curled into fists. The short silence her display of power had left between them was unbearable.
Then she sighed—letting her fingers fall open weakly.
She glanced downward, now feeling reserved. She began to scratch the tips of her fingernails against one another slowly.
"What are you going to do with me?" she asked, her voice so quiet it barely even qualified as a murmur.
A pause. Then he gave her an answer. One that sounded so strange it made her mind go blank with confusion.
"I will teach you how to live," he replied, his violet eyes shimmering. "People who possess gifts like ours are persecuted in this city."
His follow-up sounded even stranger. Almost chiding, even.
"You need to learn control, not restraint. I can help with that."
For some reason, his calm, even declaration made her want to cry.
She couldn't fathom why.
So she ignored the traitorous heat that was beginning to work its way to the forefront of her eyes—instead moving to pose another question to him.
"But… why?" she asked, the words half-catching in her mouth.
She raised her head to lock eyes with the man.
There was an imploring weight behind her gaze. A need for an answer.
"Why bother?" she croaked.
His momentary silence felt damning.
"Hold out your hand," he instructed, finally answering her.
Slowly, Zeri did as requested—feeling him press an item into her hand.
She choked out a sob.
It was a necklace. Her necklace.
"You are special."
Her hands began to shake as she pulled the pendant toward her chest. The heat burning behind her eyes intensified toward breaking point.
The man took a step forward and—ever so gently—pulled her toward him.
"Your mother knew that, even if she was not equipped to handle it," the man continued, his arms slowly encircling her trembling frame. "I am. I can make you untouchable. Nobody will be able to take from you in that manner again. I guarantee it."
When compared to her mother's embrace, his hug felt measured. Maybe even insincere.
But he felt warm. Maybe even safe. And… well… she didn't know how she felt.
In the face of… that. She just gave in.
Zeri shut her eyes and melted forward into the comfort of his arms.
What was she even doing? When… when did she start crying?
Being held again—it felt so… right.
He'd kidnapped her. She knew she shouldn't believe a word he said. Maybe he was lying about what he wanted from her. He probably had another, secondary motive.
But… did that really matter? What exactly did she have left to lose, anyway?
"Okay," she replied, burying her face into his neck.
Her voice sounded impossibly small. Like surrender. A pitiful one at that.
But still. Hidden deep within her undertone—somehow—it sounded hopeful.
"I'll stay with you."
Maybe she'd change her mind later.
But for now—she just wanted to be held like this again.
Even if it was just one more time.
✦ ✦ ✦
» One month later
Zeri drummed her heel against the stone steps below her, staring outward into the void ahead.
She knew she was looking out at the manor grounds—but she couldn't see a thing. Only the standard blackness she'd become so accustomed to during her stay here.
Green lightning flickered across her seated frame, casting an eerie, fluctuating glow onto the surrounding area.
The only noise she could hear was the faint ticking of the watch held loosely in her right hand.
She glanced down at it—again. He'd be back soon.
Her eyes moved—tracking the streams of power that were racing along the edges of her dirty clothes.
It was easy. Manifesting her aspect—as Cal had called it—was nothing to her now.
All it had taken was time. Time she'd previously been denied.
Zeri dropped the watch, its chain pulling taut where it was wrapped around her middle finger. It danced in tandem with her bobbing leg—then came to rest as the movement dampened.
She reached up and enclosed her hand around the pendant hanging around her neck.
She closed her eyes and sighed. Slowly.
A faint crunching drew Zeri away from her brooding thoughts.
She looked up quickly, peering outward into the darkness of the grounds.
She could see him approaching. His eyes, at least.
The closer they got, the dimmer they seemed—dwarfed by her own, glowing green.
Violet eyes merged with a half-masked face—emerging from the black Eastside darkness and striding into view.
"Hey," she greeted, dropping her hand and allowing the pendant to fall freely against her collar.
"Zeri," Callian acknowledged, stopping his ascent beside her to offer a hand.
She took it, a ghost of a smile tracing the edge of her lips.
The man pulled her to her feet firmly—tilting his head toward the mansion's open doors in a silent gesture.
She didn't let go of his hand.
They began to move.
Zeri trailed just behind him, her watch swinging between them as they walked—dangling from its ever-swaying chain.
"Have you made any progress?" Callian asked as they made their way through the building's foyer.
"Nothing major," She replied, her mind drifting toward the exercises he'd taught her. "It's still growing though. I can feel it."
If there was a ceiling to how high her aspect's power reserves could grow, she hadn't hit it yet. Every second of use added to her already flourishing capabilities.
"Would you like my assessment?"
Zeri glanced upward from where she'd zoned out, staring across at the back of her benefactor's head.
If she agreed, she'd have to spend some time recovering her energy. In total darkness.
"Okay," she replied, feeling Callian's hand slowly relinquish her own. "Here?"
He nodded.
She knew by now that the man before her was far too streamlined to act on a whim.
His suggestions might sound like suggestions—but ultimately—they were orders. Purposeful ones at that. Always calculated.
Even the way he spoke was measured. It had, admittedly, taken her a while to notice—but he never abbreviated his words while talking to her. Not once.
His tone always remained the same as well. Always calm. Always controlled.
The streams of electricity dancing across her frame thickened, their inherent green glow getting brighter by the second.
Callian backstepped a few paces away from her. He raised a lone arm across his chest to guard his front—fist closed, his vambrace pointed toward her.
Zeri widened her stance, raising her left arm and pointing it toward him.
Her fingertips burned white-hot, causing a painful sensation to creep across the immediate flesh.
The affected skin glowed, slowly adopting a translucent green lustre that glimmered with activity.
Zeri pushed past the pain her aspect was inducing with a practised effort. The pain of it wouldn't stop her any longer.
She threw up her other hand and enclosed it around her trembling, glittering forearm.
Her powered fist spasmed as the streams of lightning sank into her iridescent skin.
Her outstretched fingers slowly closed into a fist—then opened into a makeshift gun.
She could see Callian's eyes shimmer with a quiet appraisal.
The green glow kept expanding across the surface of her exposed skin—eventually passing the threshold of her wrist.
Every second beyond that point was effort. Raw, aching effort.
But Callian's studying regard pushed her onward.
She could see nearly all of the expansive room now too. Her electricity was that bright. That radiant.
Dark shadows danced across the foyer's dilapidated walls.
She couldn't hold it back any longer.
An arc of raw, unfiltered electricity blasted toward Callian at a speed Zeri's keen eyes failed to track.
The girl's mind blanked white on that moment of release. So much power.
The bolt slammed into his vambrace with a thundering force—promptly vanishing in a swirl of jade coloured mist.
The strange, angular letters that were carved into the stones peppering his vambraces thrummed with a quiet power.
They were the source of that ethereal colour—their glow already beginning to dim as the noise of the impact reverberated around the quickly darkening room.
Callian lowered his raised arm and turned it over, unfazed.
He examined the brightness and hue of his runestones closely.
Improvement was visible there. Subtle, but still visible. To him at least.
Zeri hunched over, gritting her teeth as her hand throbbed with an awfully familiar hurt.
Her previously glimmering skin now seared as if burned—despite how untouched it looked outwardly.
She hissed in discomfort as her aching fingers began twitching. It signalled the beginning of a very painful recovery.
"Do you need help with the pain?"
Zeri looked up at Callian's question before grimacing.
After barely a second's deliberation, she nodded. Her hand hurt too much to refuse.
She sucked in a calming breath—then opened her mouth in wait. She clenched her injured hand into a fist.
She felt the man widen the gap between her teeth—gently pushing them apart with an armoured finger and thumb. Then he pressed a drop of his blood onto her outstretched tongue.
The effect was immediate. An unnatural numbness raced across the surface of her mouth, quickly shifting downward and spreading throughout the rest of her body.
Once the feeling reached her hand, the pain she was feeling receded as if it had never even existed. A few moments later and she felt the rush.
It trickled through the numbness the drop had spread in a steady, second wave. It quickly overturned the nothingness into an oddly captivating tingle.
The first time she'd been offered his blood, he'd warned her straight up that it was addictive. It was effective though. That—she couldn't deny.
"Better?" he probed.
Zeri nodded in assent, slowly licking the inside of her mouth. She straightened up.
"Your power is almost at a sufficient level," Callian observed, taking her by the hand again. "A few more weeks and in that regard, you will be ready. You have done well."
Zeri appreciated his silent assistance. Whenever she needed help navigating this darkness—almost like clockwork—he was there to offer her his helping hand.
She also knew that coming from him—those words might as well have been glowing praise.
A foreign emotion curled within her. Pride. Not exactly the surge hope she'd been expecting at this development—though that was still there in trace.
"Thanks," she said, tentatively starting to massage her injured forearm. "For the watch too."
The bronze watch he'd given her had quickly turned into her lifeline in this sea of darkness. It was the only real way for her to tell how much time was passing during her confinement.
Callian's violet eyes flickered dully.
"You are welcome," he answered—guiding her forward into the depths of his lightless manor.
✦ ✦ ✦
〘 A/N: Changed the formatting of my writing somewhat. Let me know if it stands out as especially better or worse than before. 〙