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 ca out.
By his side, Professor Sterling did the exact sa, 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 an, 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 sohow 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 ti, 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 beco?"
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 an...Miu!
"Shit..." he muttered under his breath.
"Professor, is there any way we can make a call from up here? There’s sothing 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 imdiately, 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 ti, scrolling his contacts and choosing Professor Voss’ imdiately.
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 ."
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 assu 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 tead up to go looking for your group. I’ll give them a call and you guys can et 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...so 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 ca from the other side, slightly hesitant but confird the plan nonetheless.
"Ahem..." Kko cleared her throat to get Aren’s attention.
She lifted up two fingers, a signal of how much ti was left on his call. Aren nodded, needing to move on quickly.
"Professor, I need to tell you sothing. 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 experinted on a long ti ago and likely had her mories erased by way of the Psychic elent."
The professor continued. "Under normal circumstances, she’d be too unstable and die slowly. However, seeing how she survived for this long...I found sothing 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 sothing completely different."
"So, does that an—?" Aren asked, hope laced in his voice.
"Yeah," the professor confird. "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 imdiately dropped to the floor right next to her, wrapping her arms around her ntor.
Then, a noise...a single noise made them snap their heads imdiately. It was at the door, ever-so-silent...
But ever-so-imminent.
Knock. knock. knock.
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