Chapter 294 Aet-khenu-ra
Liam leaned against the rusted pillar, arms crossed, his mind still processing the scenes they had just uncovered. Clark’s involvement, the brutal murders, the transformation from soldier to monster. But amid all of it, one memory kept pushing its way to the surface, last night, when the wings had burst from his back.
He turned to Vanessa, eyes narrowed. "Why did you say Aetherial last night... when you saw my wings? And why did Clark freeze when he saw them too?"
Vanessa’s eyes immediately lit up, like she’d been waiting for that question. "You remember what I told you... about your father? That he was working on something tied to ancient power.... something no one ever really understood?"
Liam nodded slowly. "Yeah. You said he never succeeded."
Vanessa gave a slow, knowing smile. "That’s what everyone thought."
Liam straightened slightly. "What do you mean?"
"No one believed he succeeded," she said calmly. "But he did. He didn’t fail, Liam. He succeeded... in creating you."
Liam’s brow furrowed hard. "What?"
Vanessa could see the confusion tightening his face. She wasn’t surprised. It was a lot to throw at someone, especially someone still grappling with the idea that his father had been hiding world-changing secrets.
"Listen," she said, stepping closer. "Have you ever heard the term Aet-khenu-ra?"
Liam repeated the name silently in his mind. The syllables were strange, ancient, unfamiliar. He slowly shook his head. "No. Never."
"It’s from the lost Egyptian histories," Vanessa said. "Not the ones in textbooks or museums. I’m talking about the real ones, the ones that were destroyed or buried, the ones that only fragments of scholars even know exist."