Aether stood silently before the tallic door. He leaned forward, entering the long code with steady fingers. The door didn’t just open—it flinched, jerking slightly as if startled, before sliding open with a low chanical hiss.
"Xara?" Aether called softly into the dim room, but there was no response.
He stepped inside cautiously, and his breath caught for a second.
The entire room had been transford. Every trace of its previous purpose was gone. In its place were countless blood jars, bottles stacked thodically across shelves, and bizarre creatures sealed in tanks—so alive, twitching, others suspended, unmoving. The sll of chemicals, old blood, and disinfectant lingered faintly in the air.
He had no idea what so of these animals were or why she’d brought them here. But knowing Xara... she had her reasons.
Aether slowly walked in, scanning the scene, until his eyes landed on her—Xara, curled up on a worn-out sofa. Her body looked limp, her limbs stretched, her face turned slightly to the side. Her pale skin looked even paler under the lighting, and the heavy dark circles under her eyes spoke of endless nights of obsessive work.
Aether let out a soft chuckle and smiled. ’Look at her... not a single worry in her sleep,’ he thought. But then he glanced at the cluttered table nearby.
Stacks of docunts. Disassembled tools. Syringes. Data sheets. And in the center of it all—a beaker of shimring, strange blue liquid that gave off a faint glow.
Curious, Aether walked closer, eyeing it with mild surprise. ’Did she... actually find the cure?’ he wondered. He picked up one of the papers and skimd through it.
His eyes widened. The formulas, the chemical breakdowns, the annotations in her handwriting—she had done it.
’My god... she solved it?’ His lips curled into a proud, quiet smile. He placed the file back down gently and turned to look at her.
Xara’s body barely moved, rising and falling with slow breaths. Her hair was ssy, strands falling over her closed eyelids. Aether walked over to her, knelt down, and gently brushed his fingers along the corner of her tired eyes.
She had worked herself to exhaustion. Her dedication was beautiful... and also slightly terrifying.
"You stubborn genius," Aether whispered under his breath with affection.
Without thinking, he leaned in closer, rubbing his nose softly against hers, their breaths mingling.
"Hmmm..." Xara let out a faint hum, her expression twitching into a subtle frown before she sniffed the air. A second later, she smiled faintly and unconsciously raised her hand, pulling Aether’s body close like a pillow—like a teddy bear she wasn’t ready to let go of.
Aether chuckled quietly, wrapping his arms around her waist and sinking into her body.
He stayed like that for at least half an hour, just holding her, listening to her heartbeat slow and even. Then, with a soft chuckle, he murmured, "I know you’re awake, Xara."
He smiled knowingly... The mont he had entered the lab, he had felt her tension shift—she had been alert. She was never careless when it ca to her research, her secrets. She would never let her guard down fully, not even with him.
Xara’s cheeks slowly turned red, but she kept her eyes tightly shut, holding onto the act.
Aether leaned in and softly kissed her lips. They were dry, a little cracked—but he didn’t care. He kissed them again, deeper, with just a bit more pressure.
"~mm~"
Her eyes flew open. She stared at him in shock and flustered confusion, her face burning red. She gently pushed him off and muttered in a low, groggy voice, "What are you doing...?"
Her hands rubbed at her face, trying to act like she had just woken up, but the look in her eyes gave her away.
Aether chuckled again, his voice low and warm. He easily scooped her up and shifted her body, placing her fully on his lap as he sat back on the sofa. Without hesitation, he buried his face in her chest, snuggling against her soft breasts. "I missed these..." he mumbled into her skin with a lazy smile.
Xara blinked, stunned for a second, then looked away as her cheeks flushed again. She wrapped her arms around his back, shaking her head in embarrassnt but not pulling away.
Aether inhaled deeply, taking in her scent. "You sll really good," he comnted playfully, smiling up at her as he pressed his nose to her neck. "Sweat, chemicals, stress... all of it—fucking delicious."
Xara flinched and pushed him off, face twisted in mild horror. She stood up and sniffed herself. "Shit... I sll yuck," she muttered in a disgusted tone.
Aether shrugged, relaxed against the couch. "Not to . Honestly, it kinda turns on," he said bluntly, running a hand through his hair as he thought, ’Sothing is seriously wrong with when it cos to her... I swear.’
He ant it. Every part of her—the unfiltered, chaotic, obsessed scientist, the woman who didn’t care about appearances, who worked until her body gave out—he adored all of it. He couldn’t explain why.
He loved her... Just like that.
Aether shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts. "So... you really found the cure? You figured out how to save them all?"
Xara, who was still ntally complaining about her sll, stopped and blinked. Her expression sharpened instantly, returning to that focused, brilliant intensity. She nodded.
"Yes," she said. "Once I understood this place—this facility and the tech it holds—it wasn’t even that hard. Everything we need is right here. This place... it was built exactly for this kind of ergency. Aether, don’t you see?"
"What do you an?" Aether frowned, sitting up straight.
Xara walked toward him, picking up the sheets she had been working on, and began explaining. Her voice quickened with passion. She told him about the experints, the blood analysis, the gene breakdowns, and how the machines in this place weren’t just ant to monitor or treat—they were designed to edit, to reprogram blood composition entirely.
"It’s like rewriting DNA at its most basic level," she said, eyes glowing with mad excitent. "Whoever built this place wasn’t just experinting—they were creating already to the finest!"
Aether listened, his expression hard to read. He had always known this place was old—ancient even. Built by soone far before his ti. The previous Dragon Emperors barely understood it.
But now, standing here with Xara, hearing her explain with such hunger in her eyes... it all made terrifying sense.
Xara’s voice dropped, growing darker and more wicked. "T-this is the place I’ve been searching for my whole life. I don’t know what that previous lizard did with it—but he barely scratched the surface. If he had really understood it, he could’ve created everything he was looking for without using real people as test subjects."
She began pacing, laughing softly to herself. "Hehehe... ha~ha~ This is a miracle. This lab... it’s not just a tool. It’s a gift. Aether... thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve never found it. I would’ve stayed limited, starved, crawling in the dirt for scraps of data. But now... Haha~Hehe~HEHE---"
Her face lit up with a manic glow, her breathing quick, her body almost trembling in anticipation.
Aether stared at her.
He felt a rush of heat rise up from deep inside. Watching her like that—wild, brilliant, beautiful, a little insane—it pushed sothing primal in him.
Without a word, he stepped toward her, grabbed her by the waist, and kissed her again—this ti harder, deeper, biting down on her lower lip.
"~Hmmm~"
Xara gasped, flinching as her back arched slightly. Her madness began to lt away under the pressure of his mouth, grounding her, pulling her back from the edge of her obsession.
Aether’s eyes darkened, dangerous and heavy with heat as he leaned closer to her face. His breath brushed over her lips as he parted them, voice low and husky.
"Please... don’t make a monster," he whispered.
His fingers, which had been resting softly on her curves, suddenly clenched around her ass—firm, desperate, as if restraining sothing primal within himself. His grip was tight, almost trembling with the effort to hold back.
Xara gasped softly. Her face flushed a deep red as she lowered her head, her lips quivering, unable to et his eyes. She gave him a tiny nod, shy and submissive, as her heart pounded against her chest like thunder.
A thick, suffocating tension hung in the air—sothing heavy, charged, as if the atmosphere had turned molten. It was the kind of mont where one wrong move could ignite everything.
But then...
"A-Anyway..." Xara was the first to speak, breaking the tension with a stutter as she inhaled sharply and tried to centre herself. Her eyes regained their focus, voice turning cold and serious again. "I need to show you sothing."
Aether exhaled heavily through his nose and reluctantly released his grip, his hand sliding away from her soft flesh. His fingers twitched, almost angry at being denied. His face shifted to a defeated, resigned expression, but he didn’t protest. The seriousness in her voice told him this was important—very important.
She turned quickly, walking over to the main console with the familiar speed of soone in her elent. Her hands moved rapidly over the glowing buttons and touchpads, confident and efficient.
"While I was going through the files, trying to understand the equipnt and systems here," she said, fingers dancing across the keys without hesitation, "I found sothing strange... a buried archive."
Aether stood behind her, watching with a curious frown as the large crystal in the centre of the console began to flicker.
’She really does love this stuff... doesn’t she?’ Aether thought with a smirk. Even in the middle of everything—chaos, blood, obsession—she found her passion in the data.
"I ca across this file," she continued, and with a sharp click, the crystal shimred once before solidifying into a clear projection.
A soft hum filled the air, and then the visuals sharpened into view. Aether stepped closer, watching.
The screen revealed a bald man wearing a white lab coat. His eyes were wide, filled with panic and urgency. His voice trembled as he began speaking, looking straight at the cara.
"Whoever sees this recording, please listen carefully... this is my laboratory. I built it to edit human genes... to shape the future of our evolution. This... this was my last hope for humanity---!"
BOOM!
The screen jolted violently. A distant explosion shook the projection.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
TRRRRRR!!
TRRRRRRRRRRR!!
Gunfire tore through the background. Screaming. tal crashing. Aether’s body instinctively tensed as the image shook violently again.
Onscreen, black-suited soldiers rushed into view, rifles raised, bullets flying furiously behind them. The chaos was overwhelming.
"DOC, WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW! SHE’S COMING!!" one of the n shouted over the deafening noise.
The image cut back to the doctor—his face pale, lips trembling. Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried to keep talking, despite the carnage all around him.
"Please... protect this place," he begged, voice cracking. "I gave everything for this. I... I just wanted to give humanity another chance... a future... I just wanted—"
"DOC!!!!"
Another shout snapped him back. He flinched visibly, blinking rapidly, then said one final thing, voice broken, desperate:
"Just rember... she is the Enemy. She will never tolerate an imbalance. She will descend... and she will kill without rcy. My fellow Origins... if you’re still out there... if you survived the nightmare... never forget—Arcane is always our Enemy—!"
SSssshhhhh!
The video glitched and died in a harsh, static hiss. The crystal dimd, leaving the room in silence.
Aether stood completely still, his eyes fixed on the now-empty projection.
User Comments
0 comments from readers