Chapter 146: Knock At The Door
Aren didn’t even realize how long he was standing up for. It could’ve been a few seconds or maybe even a few minutes.
He just...stood up, mouth opened as the revelation came out.
By his side, Professor Sterling did the exact same, eyes wide as she stared at Kko and the drake in her lap.
"Is it really true...?" Sterling muttered softly.
Kko turned away from her. But even as she did, a small nod followed right after, confirming the fact.
"So...your hypothesis was true after all," the professor said, looking at Aren. "But how would that even work?"
"I mean, shouldn’t it be impossible?" she continued, scratching her chin with a finger. "Bloodlines are the culmination of your lineage and the power of your ancestors, right? How can they—?"
"By somehow wiping clean of your original Bloodline, and implanting the new one from said beast..." Aren cut in with a pensive voice.
"But since a Bloodline is tied directly to the body...more specifically, the blood itself, they’d have to—"
This time, it was Kko that cut in. "Completely drain out a person’s blood...and replace it with the new one."
"...Wouldn’t that kill them?" Sterling questioned, looking at Kko. "Or worse...turn them into a beast?"
"What would they even become?"
Kko’s gaze lowered slightly to the drake in her lap before replying softly. "...I don’t know."
Aren’s hand curled into a fist as he imagined how inhumane the process was. But the more he thought about it, the more it made him sick...and the realization hit him.
Wait, wouldn’t that mean...Miu!
"Shit..." he muttered under his breath.
"Professor, is there any way we can make a call from up here? There’s something urgent I need to ask."
"A call?" she repeated, frowning slightly. "You know that’s not possible. Signals don’t leave the Wildlands. The ether here—"
"It can."
Both of them turned. Kko hadn’t moved from her seat. The drake was still curled comfortably in her lap as she lifted her cup once more and took a sip.
"...What?"
Kko set the cup down with a soft clink. "I can manipulate the atmospheric ether just a bit, enough for you to get a call through. But it won’t be for long, you’d have five minutes at most."
Aren didn’t hesitate.
He pulled his phone out immediately, fingers moving faster than his thoughts as he scrolled through his contacts. There was only one person he needed.
Professor Voss.
He looked desperately at the screen, toward the upper-right corner of it. Still no reception.
Yet, it flicked slowly...once, twice...and on the third—the signal bar appeared, weak, but it was there.
"...It’s working," Aren muttered.
Sterling’s eyes widened slightly. "...No way."
He wasted no time, scrolling his contacts and choosing Professor Voss’ immediately.
Static crackled faintly through the speaker, cutting in and out like the connection itself was struggling to exist. A small ringtone played, all while Aren stood there, nervous.
Finally—
"...Hello?"
The voice was distorted, layered with interference, but unmistakable.
"Professor Voss—it’s me."
There was a sharp pause on the other side before he heard a slight exhale. "Aren, is that really you?! You’re alive!"
"Where are you?" she continued quickly, her tone sharpening. "Your flight—do you have any idea what’s happening right now? There was a big commotion that happened over the missing aircraft. Hold on, where are you right now?"
Aren’s grip tightened around the phone. "We’re fine, we landed in the Mangroves. We’re currently in the Mountains for a few reasons."
"Good, and I assume the others are alright? Diana should be able to handle it."
Professor Sterling rolled her eyes from the side but otherwise didn’t interrupt the call.
"Right, the College and the Mystic Law officers teamed up to go looking for your group. I’ll give them a call and you guys can meet them at Frontier City."
Hmm, to cooperate with the Law officers when they were such opposing forces. Maybe it really was a big deal.
Aren nodded, replying as soon as she finished. "Professor, due to uhh...some reasons, there’s a group currently on our tail."
"What?"
"Yeah. If possible, could you ask them to pick us up at the Mountains?"
"Hmm, alright I’ll tell them," the voice came from the other side, slightly hesitant but confirmed the plan nonetheless.
"Ahem..." Kko cleared her throat to get Aren’s attention.
She lifted up two fingers, a signal of how much time was left on his call. Aren nodded, needing to move on quickly.
"Professor, I need to tell you something. We caught onto a group within the Wildlands who have a way of extracting Bloodlines from beasts and implanting them into humans."
"They’re likely connected to the stage incident, and so—"
"You’re worried about Miu, right?" the professor cut in.
"Yeah."
"Well," she continued. "We just found out about it recently."
"You did?" Aren’s eyes widened. "Is she okay? Is anything wrong?"
"From our digging, we found out that she’d been experimented on a long time ago and likely had her memories erased by way of the Psychic element."
The professor continued. "Under normal circumstances, she’d be too unstable and die slowly. However, seeing how she survived for this long...I found something else out."
"I thought her Bloodline was from an Original Ancestor, but it was only half-correct. Luckily, the Bloodline that was implanted into her, was similar enough with her original Bloodline, causing them to mix and assimilate with each other into something completely different."
"So, does that mean—?" Aren asked, hope laced in his voice.
"Yeah," the professor confirmed. "She’s currently in a safe and stable form."
Aren breathed out a sigh of relief that he didn’t even know he was holding.
"Right professor, if you already know about what was going on—"
"Wait...Aren...your signal—"
"..."
"..."
"...Found you."
"What?!"
"—Gghk!" Kko yelled out, clutching her head as she dropped down onto the floor. Her eyes were wide open, hands trembling as pain rushed through.
"Hey! Kko! What’s going on?!" Sterling immediately dropped to the floor right next to her, wrapping her arms around her mentor.
Then, a noise...a single noise made them snap their heads immediately. It was at the door, ever-so-silent...
But ever-so-imminent.
Knock. knock. knock.