Chapter 19: Five Days of Waiting
The sunlight seeped through the curtains, casting soft streaks across Luo Shen's bedroom. For five days, this room had been Aria's quiet vigil. She'd spent the first morning exploring the small house—running her fingers over the bookshelf crammed with worn paperbacks, staring at the calendar pinned to the fridge with a magnet shaped like a cat, and pausing in front of a photo on the desk: a younger Luo Shen, grinning beside a woman with his same eyes.
By noon of the first day, she'd discovered the TV. It took her an hour to figure out the remote, but once she did, she'd sat cross-legged on the couch, absorbing everything—soap operas, cooking shows, documentaries about deep-sea creatures. Earth's culture fascinated her: the way humans laughed at commercials, the rituals of sharing meals, the strange emphasis on "politeness" and "privacy."
On the second day, she'd ventured into the kitchen. The cabinets held basics—rice, salt, a dented pot—and the fridge had a carton of milk (which she'd sniffed warily) and some vegetables wilting in the crisper. A cooking show had taught her about porridge, simple and gentle on an empty stomach. She'd burned the first batch, smoke curling from the pot, but by the third day, she'd mastered it: soft rice simmered with ginger and a pinch of salt, just like the host had demonstrated.
Each morning, she'd make two bowls. She'd set one beside Luo Shen's bed, waiting. When it grew cold, she'd eat his portion too, her jaw tight. At night, she'd retreat to the spare room down the hall—a tiny space with a single bed and a closet full of old clothes. She'd learned from a drama that humans frowned on unmarried men and women sharing a room; better to follow the rules, she'd decided, even if the logic felt foreign.
Her mind kept returning to that moment in the dungeon: the way Luo Shen's eyes had glowed, the silver-dark boss dropping to its knees as if struck. What power was that? It had felt older than the Sovereign, deeper than any dark energy she'd encountered. A force that didn't just use darkness—it commanded it.
On the fifth day, she was in the kitchen, stirring a fresh pot of porridge, when the security camera feed on her bracelet flickered. She froze.
Luo Shen was sitting up.
Aria nearly dropped the spoon. She wiped her hands on the dish towel, her steps quickening as she headed for his room. The door was ajar, and she paused for a second, then pushed it open.
Luo Shen turned, his eyes wide. He looked disoriented, his hair sticking up at odd angles, but alive—alert. "You're… here," he said, his voice rough from disuse.
Aria leaned against the doorframe, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "You're awake."
He glanced around, taking in the familiar walls, the photo on the desk, the bowl of now-cold porridge from that morning. "Did you… bring me here?"
"Yes."
"How'd you find my address?"
She tapped her bracelet. "Earth's government systems. Your name was linked to this property." It had been laughably easy to hack, but she didn't mention that.
Luo Shen nodded slowly, his gaze drifting to the ceiling as memories surfaced—fragments of the dungeon, the dark presence, the boss kneeling. He'd been conscious, in a way, watching from inside as his body moved on its own, as Aria carried him here, as she'd sat by his bed night after night.
"Are you hungry?" Aria asked, breaking the silence. "I made porridge. I can warm it up."
He blinked, refocusing. "Sure."
She disappeared into the kitchen, and he heard the clink of a bowl, the hum of the microwave. When she returned, the porridge steamed in her hands. He took it, the warmth seeping into his palms, and hesitantly took a spoonful.
It was good—mild, comforting, with a hint of ginger. He looked up, surprised. "This is… nice."
Aria's lips quirked. "I've had five days to practice. I learned from the TV. Earth's cooking shows are surprisingly informative."
Luo Shen laughed, a low, rough sound that felt foreign to his own ears. He took another bite, the warmth spreading through his chest. For five days, he'd been a spectator. Now, as the porridge settled in his stomach and Aria watched him, something like normalcy flickered to life.
But beneath it, the Dark Core hummed—a quiet reminder that normalcy, for him, was a thing of the past.
Luo Shen spooned the last of the porridge into his mouth, the warmth lingering on his tongue. The silence in the room felt soft, not awkward—a rare thing for him. He set the bowl down, his fingers brushing the edge, and found himself thinking of that photo on the desk. The woman in it, whoever she was, had she ever made him porridge like this? He couldn't remember, but this… this felt like what he imagined a family moment might be.
He glanced up at Aria, who was leaning against the wall, watching him with a quiet curiosity. "What about you?" he asked, the words slipping out before he could stop them. "Where are you from, exactly?"
Aria straightened, her gaze turning distant, as if looking past the walls of his small house to something far larger. "Aetherion," she said. "A civilization light-years from here. We're… advanced. More than Earth, by centuries. Our technology, our understanding of energy—we've mastered things your world hasn't even dreamed of."
Luo Shen raised an eyebrow. "And you left all that to… be here?"
"To protect you," she said simply. "Because of the Obsidian Core."
He froze. "Obsidian Core? What's that? I have a System, sure, but—"
"The System is part of it," Aria cut in. "The Obsidian Core is the source. It's the reason the System exists, why you can access abilities, why that silver-dark boss knelt. It's a fragment of raw, primal energy—older than most stars."
Luo Shen's hand drifted to his chest, where he'd felt that steady hum since waking. "It's… in me?"
"Merged with you," she clarified. "Not just sitting in your body—woven into your cells, your energy. It's part of you now."
He thought of the dark presence in that void, the red eyes, the power that had surged through him. "Then why didn't your people take it back? If it's so important, why leave it with someone like me?"
Aria's expression turned grim. "Because no one can take it back. Not without destroying you—and even if they could, they wouldn't survive it. The Obsidian Core is wild. Unstable. In the past, beings far stronger than me, than your 'SSS-rank hunters,' tried to wield it. They exploded. Burned out. Their bodies couldn't handle the energy."
Luo Shen's throat went dry. "Then why am I… okay?"
"Because of you," she said, her voice firm. "There's something inside you—something stronger than the Obsidian Core itself. A power that stabilized it. Tamed it. That's why you didn't burn out when it merged with you. That's why you could command the darkness in the dungeon. Whatever it is… it's unique to you."
He thought of the red-eyed presence, the way it had spoken of "serving" as Lord of Darkness. Was that the power she meant?
Aria crossed her arms, a faint, almost impressed smile tugging at her lips. "And don't sell yourself short. According to Earth's hunter scale? You're already A-rank. Maybe higher. I didn't expect that. Not this soon."
Luo Shen leaned back, processing. Aetherion. Obsidian Core. A power inside him he didn't understand. It was a lot to take in, but… it explained things. The System. The boss. The way he'd always felt a little "off" from everyone else.
He picked up the empty bowl, standing. "Thanks for the porridge. And… thanks for sticking around."
Aria nodded, but her gaze was already drifting to the window, as if sensing something beyond the glass. "We should train. Soon. If you're A-rank now, imagine what you could be with control. And we'll need it—there are others who'll come looking for the Core. Ones who won't care if you survive."
Luo Shen nodded. He didn't know what lay ahead, but for the first time in a long while, he didn't feel alone. Not with Aria here. Not with whatever that power inside him was, steady and strong.
"Let's start tomorrow," he said.
Aria smiled. "Tomorrow it is."