Kael closed the book and placed it onto the desk.
The desk, once empty, was now cluttered with ancient tomes, their leather bindings cracked and peeling.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
'I've finally managed to translate them all.'
These last few days, he had barely left the apartment, except for brief visits to the library.
'He must have grown bored, living in that cave for so long.'
The books he'd read described the Smolten's day-to-day life, but they never delved into his personal thoughts or opinions.
'The timeline doesn't match up, though,' Kael thought.
"How long is a Smolten's lifespan?"
Kael spoke aloud, voicing his thoughts more than asking her directly.
Mael paused her chopping and stared at the wall in front of her, lips pushed forward as she thought.
"Around one hundred twenty years, if I remember correctly."
Kael didn't respond. His mind had already sunk deep into its own calculations again.
Mael watched him for a moment longer before returning to her task.
It hadn't even taken her a full day to grow used to Kael's behavior. She even seemed to enjoyed his company.
'Right… why is she still here, anyway?'
Mael hadn't left the apartment much either. She spent her time reading, cleaning, writing, or keeping herself busy with something.
The only times she went out were for trips to the market, buying ingredients she'd later use to cook, food she always shared with Kael for some reason.
'She must enjoy cooking.'
Kael didn't mind her presence. In fact, her being from the direct bloodline of Claymore, like Darian, meant her education surpassed even many noble families. Kael suspected her upbringing had been more thorough than most of Velthoria's elites.
And she was undeniably brilliant — even if she didn't always act like it.
So she had been a great help with Kael's studies, and with her being Darian's sister, someone he somewhat trusted, he doubted she would bring him any harm even if she was capable of it.
"What happened to your eye, anyway" Mael asked casually.
Kael sighed inwardly. Personal questions were never pleasant, though he did not truly mind them.
"I slipped and accidentally sewed my eye shut."
"Happens to the best of us," she said with a quiet chuckle, tossing the chopped onions into the pot.
Kael pressed his fingers against his temples. His mind felt heavy, crowded with fog since the eye had entered his body, as if something inside him kept pushing against every thought he tried to form.
"Have you studied mote refinement?"
Mael's hand stopped stirring. Neither of them had stated outright that they were Luminaires, but both knew with absolute certainty that the other was one.
"Yes. It is the field I have always been most interested in. What about you" she asked, resuming her gentle stirring.
"Likewise," Kael replied as he stood and made his way to the kitchen table before sitting down. "I need your help."
"Oh" she said, filling two bowls with soup, her voice calm but attentive.
Kael had never stopped evaluating her, even while consumed by the ancient texts, and he had no doubt she had studied him in the same manner. When she placed a bowl in front of him, he lifted his hand and released his Will, letting it condense into a red orb above his palm.
"A refinement orb" Her eyebrow arched in surprise.
Kael was fully aware of the danger of his situation. He lacked knowledge, lacked resources, and with the eye clouding his mind, even his thoughts felt unreliable. Asking her for help was not something he had come to lightly. Ever since the Weeping Eye had entered him, he understood he would not be able to save himself alone.
The fog in his mind came from the eye, but that was not the full reason for his decline. Once he realized it had infiltrated his Will itself, he began deliberately restricting his own thinking, forcing himself into simpler, safer patterns in fear of revealing too much. He was almost certain the eye could read his thoughts to a limited extent, yet just as certain it could not see his memories, which made him avoid thinking about his past entirely. The constant restraint had been mentally exhausting, but necessary.
"Why is your Will red?" Mael asked.
Kael ignored her.
For days he had tried to create plans and countermeasures inside his own mind, but every time he began to form something meaningful, the eye reacted. His Thoughts twisted, shifted, or scattered in ways he could not control, ruining his thought processes before they could take shape at all.
"Look."
Kael lifted his hand and held it close to her face.
Mael leaned in, and the moment her eyes focused, her expression shifted. Curiosity lit up every line of her face.
"What are the white things"
She gently took his wrist and pulled his hand even closer, studying the orb from a breath's distance.
"I believe it is a mote that has entered my body."
Her brows knitted.
"How has it been able to reach your Will. That should be impossible."
She tilted his hand, analyzing the orb from different angles.
"I do not know."
He tossed the refinement orb aside, letting it break apart and dissolve into faint red sparkles. Leaning back in his chair, he exhaled slowly.
"Is it able to infiltrate your thoughts" she asked quietly.
"Yes."
Mael's entire expression hardened.
She understood immediately. This was not a simple problem, or even a dangerous one. This was something that should not exist.
"You realise no mote under rank five should be capable of that, right"
She folded her arms across her chest, eyes fixed on him.
"Where did you even find this thing"
She waited, but Kael's silence made it clear he had no intention of explaining. Eventually she let out a long breath and sank into the chair across from him.
"Listen. I want to help you. Truly. But if I am being honest, I do not know if I can."
She rested her cheek in her palm, thinking.
"If the mote is actually rank five, then this is not something I can interfere with. It would be like trying to climb a mountain with your bare hands. No… if it really is rank five, it is like comparing a mountain to a dust particle. I would not even be able to touch it."
"No."
He straightened his back. "You will not actually have to touch it. If I focus, I can extend my pure Will. Will that do not contain any white tendrils, and if we are able to refine a mote that only uses—"
Kael's eye dimmed.
The words died on his tongue.
Mael watched him closely, her expression tightening as her brows drew together.
'He lost his thought process…' she realized.
She lifted a spoonful of soup, blew on it gently, and took a measured bite.
"You have said enough. I will see what I can do."
Kael closed his eye and shook his head softly.
'What is she talking about?'
He knew the last few minutes had not been idle, yet he could not recall a single thought that had passed through his mind.
Everything was fog.
Everything was missing.
Only a hazy emptiness remained in the space where his ideas should have been.
After they finished the soup, Mael gathered her things and walked toward the door. She paused with her hand on the handle and glanced back at Kael.
"I'll head home for now and see what I can figure out."She gave him a small, confident smile. "Take care, Kael."
Kael lifted his hand in a lazy wave."You too."
When the door clicked shut behind her, the apartment fell quiet again.
Kael returned to the desk, pulled out his notebook, and sat down.He opened to a blank page and began scribbling down fragments of thoughts, trying to catch whatever remained before the fog swallowed it again.