'Milady, it looks clear,' Tiamanes sighed within Lina's mind. The latter sneakily entered the workshop and carefully closed the door behind her. She switched on the light and rubbed her hands together, a wide grin on her face.

"Now, now, I heard them talking about a secret project that was not a gun. Let's see what we have here..." She licked her lips as she searched through crates of strangely designed weapons and automaton prototypes. There was enough scrap in this workshop to fuel the entire steel industry.

"I still cannot understand why you refuse to ask them directly," Tiamanes asked confusedly.

Lina sighed, "Listen, they wouldn't answer even if I asked. That's the point of a secret, you're not supposed to talk about it, even though I could probably force Janica to tell me if I insist enough..." The corner of her lips curved upward slightly and she added, "...But that's not fun, is it?"

She suddenly spotted a blue tarp covering something in the corner of the room.

"Oh-oh, doesn't that look like something they don't want to show?" Lina chuckled as she rubbed her hands together. She promptly pulled the tarp away, revealing a pile of cogs and heart-looking contraptions. She paled as she suddenly realized what these were.

"Oh god. That's all the prototypes for Liam's heart, isn't it?" She muttered in awe of the sheer amount. There were probably half, no, a full hundred of these contraptions abandoned in crates.

'Is Liam's heart still that much of an issue? Damn it...' Her excitement faded away, replaced by guilt and shame.

"You certainly would have been better off asking them about it," Tiamanes said with an, "I told you so" tone, "I believe you can call them your friends, after all. And if they didn't want to share about it, so be it. That is their choice, and your intruding in their privacy," lectured the entity. Lina nodded sheepishly before leaving the workshop, regretting her attitude.

She missed a small mechanical eyeball stuck in the corner of the workshop's ceiling following her every movement. Janica and Liam exchanged a glance before looking back at the security screens. This was the first step in their grand project: a complete security system that watched over all the critical areas of the house.

"Damn, she really is like Sir Glenn in all aspects..." Liam muttered in awe.

Janica nodded before gulping, "Do you think she will become like him? Like the Devil's Hand, I mean?"

Liam tilted his head to the side uncertainly, "Well, that entity seems a little different from the one Sir Glenn is hiding—if you can even call that hiding. I still remember him speaking to it aloud without a care in the world."

"Well, he does have the strength to back him up," Janica remarked with a shrug.

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that concern you? For these two to have strange entities living in their limbs and influencing them?"

Janica looked at him with an amused smile, "What am I supposed to do about it? So far, Sir Glenn and Lina have only been kind to us, even going as far as giving us the tools to work on your heart and our other projects."

Liam nodded frantically, "I know! That's why, we can't have them be replaced by whatever those beings are! I remember how Glenn was back when I first met him in the Fringe, and he wasn't that unhinged. Now—he simply stopped giving a fuck!" He cursed with a hint of worry.

Janica shook her head and slapped him on the arm, "Language. And I believe we should trust them. One is an already proven war hero, and the other is a genius in the making. She's learning Aura and Mana at the same time, and is matching to Sir Glenn's improvement speed."

Liam sighed and rubbed his arm, "I guess you are right. We should stop snooping around and resume our work. We're about to get to the interesting part, after all."

"Automatons aren't that easily programmed," Janica warned as her smile faded away, "...I wish I could have learned more about it, but my university doesn't have the renown to provide us with specialized instructors..."

Liam smiled wryly and patted her on the shoulder, "Hey, you still have a chance to get in next year—"

Janica waved her hand dismissively, "So what? I'll still be rejected because I can't show a worthwhile connection to a noble family nor the funds to pay for the tutelage. And don't even bring up asking Sir Glenn for help again," She warned with a pointed finger.

Liam closed back his mouth and grimaced, "Why? I'm sure he'd be more than pleased to help you."

Janica shook her head, "He's already giving us so much. We can't keep on asking for more. If I get in, it'll be out of my own abilities. And..." She turned her head away but Liam could still see the tip of her ears redden, "...I think I like staying here, with you—"

Liam interrupted her by forcing her to turn toward him, worried, "Hey, are you okay? You look like you're having a fever?" He pressed his hand against her forehead, wincing as he saw her cheeks gradually flush red too.

"You're warm, but not to the point of having fever, I think..." He muttered before sighing, "We'll stop there and take some rest. We can't risk having you fall sick, alright?"

Janica turned away from him for a moment, her face the same color as a tomato. She drew a deep breath before looking back at him and grabbing his face. She forced him to stare directly into his eyes, secretly happy as she watched his face flush red too.

"Liam, I like you."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Liam blinked silently, staring at her in confusion. His mechanical heart began pumping blood at a much faster rate than usual, the cogs working twice as fast. His fingers reflexively tightened around the edge of the worktable.

"You...what?" he asked dumbly.

"I said, I like you," Janica insisted as she pushed through her embarrassment. This had been going on for too long. She needed an answer, and she needed it now. She recalled Big Sis Milena's words.

If there is something you want, you must snatch it up before anyone else.

"Liam, do you like me?" She asked with a resolved tone, dreading the response. Liam looked at her for a long time as the confusion faded away slowly faded away from his eyes. The mechanical sounds of his heart echoed even louder in the side workshop. Janica felt the tears well up in her eyes as the man she loved refused to reply. She pulled her hands back, but Liam gently pressed them back against his face. He leaned forward and shamelessly stole her lips.

"Is that enough of an answer?" He finally uttered after the longest kiss of both of their lives. Janica slapped him on the arm with a small smile.

"I think it is, yes."

***

Once upon a time, a boy was living in Massalia, a coastal village in the northern part of the Southern Continent. They mainly lived on fishing and trading, being a small commercial hub between all the other fishing villages and a larger town down the coast.

Often, Massalia would welcome travelers from the Munirp, the Kingdom of the legendary First King, and a place of hopes and dreams. Those travelers would tell stories of mythical figures, fighting their way through life against the worst evil. Their heroic deeds were acclaimed even long after their deaths and made those still alive living legends, respected and feared by all.

One day, the boy grew up to be a man. Handsome, with skin tanned by the salt and beautiful brown hair. Most girls in the fishing village had their eyes set on him, but the young man couldn't care less for them. That young man dreamed of something else.

He wanted to see the world, make incredible friends, and become one of these legends the travelers always spoke of.

So the young man left Massalia. He took a boat to Munirp, his eyes filled up with stars and his chest puffing with hope. And he wasn't disappointed. Weeks after he arrived in this foreign continent, he learned the art of Aura with a retired hunter and made the bow his main weapon. A hunter that would slay monsters with a single arrow, that's who he aspired to be.

And then he arrived in King's Rise. Unlike some who ended up in the Repentir, the disgusting territory of the Thorn's Church, or the prideful Black Heirs' area, the young man found instead the Pale District. A harrowing place filled with the Pale Kin, individuals of all origins inflicted with the curse of the White Plague.

That curse stuck on the young man. His tanned skin became as pale as chalk, then translucid like some of those weird fishes he used to find with his father. His Aura stopped growing, stuck to the same stage. The elders of the Pale Kin welcomed him as one of their own, teaching him about the White Plague and the fate that awaited him.

That young man was named Javier, for he had tried to find a new house in King's Rise. He forgot his old name, and his old life, and only dedicated all his efforts to one thing.

Surviving the damned curse as a Pale Son.

Javier honed his hunting skills to the very brink. His arrows never missed, unless he willed for them to do so. He couldn't increase their penetration power, but he could become more accurate, and learn better positioning and hunting tactics. He learned how to become as silent as a ghost, becoming so skillful with his bow that his prey wouldn't even realize they were dead. He became a Fixer, a mercenary hunting monsters and criminals. He had skills worthy of the Platinum rank, but his incapacity to grow his Aura further made it impossible for him to rank up.

And that was without counting the fear people had for the White Plague.

One day, Javier met him. A rising star who appeared out of nowhere in the Northern Town, a madman who had dared stand up to the Baron and slaughtered monsters day and night for three months. People who met him described him with many names: the Grinning Demon, the Crazy Hero, the Slaughterer...But eventually, only one stuck to him.

The Devil's Hand. Javier had never met someone like Glenn. He had something...different about him, something otherworldly. But beyond that, Javier could feel it.

Glenn couldn't be affected by the White Plague. Javier had no idea of how the curse was transmitted to others, but the day he met Glenn, he learned that indeed, some were resistant to it. After that...Javier was captured by the Heart of Darkness and suffered from a second curse. A nameless seed of Corruption that was planted in him when he was saved by Glenn and the others.

Even today, Javier could still remember the Voice that spoke to him back then. It allowed him to survive, and it wanted one thing.

"Watch him."

And so, Javier complied. He couldn't refuse the Voice's orders, and he had no intention to. Something was drawing him to the Devil's Hand. He went with him, slaying monsters and living incredible adventures. Soon enough, his dreams of accomplishing mythical achievements were fulfilled: they fought evil cults, stopped an evil god's descent, and destroyed enemy camps. Glenn's party was one of the most famous in the Fringe, and one quickly rising among the Bourgeoisie too.

Javier did not doubt that Glenn would eventually reach the top of King's Rise, and become like these legends in stories. Someone whose name would never be erased by time.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be there to see that. The second they put a step into the Ink Dunes, Javier felt it. A sensation similar to what he felt that day when he was cursed with the seed of Corruption. He guided the group, making them trust him even more, and drew in the being similar to him.

At first, he only wanted to see what that being was, how it could be so similar to him, but then...He felt it. An order of the Voice, to leave the Heart alone and destroy Glenn's party. To kill the brother and sister who just found each other again. That time, Javier almost obeyed this nonsensical order, but something he had never expected happened. The curse of the White Plague fought back against the Corruption. It pushed back against the order and gave him the freedom he so deeply desired.

He then made his choice. Glenn and the others...they were dear to him. After he was cursed with Corruption, the White Plague progressed to the third stage, stealing his voice forever. His emotions were similarly sealed by the Corruption, and his mind was practically controlled by the Voice. Despite that, they were all good to him, treating him as one of their own, their most loyal friend. And he was supposed to betray them?

For the first time in a long, long while, Javier felt rage. He fought back against the Voice's orders alongside the White Plague, destroyed the evil of the Heart of Darkness, and swallowed the Seed. He then took control of the ancient machine and expelled Glenn and the others. Thankfully, they ran away without asking for explanations. Eventually, the White Plague lost the fight to Corruption, and Javier lost his mind.

He became one with the ancient machine, fought against the Titan that fell from the sky and lost. His body—no, the machine was reduced to scraps, and Javier was abandoned in the black sand, his carcass burnt to a crisp. His entire being had been destroyed. The Corruption was gone, purged by the Titan's attack.

There was nothing left.

Or so he thought.

Javier was kneeling in the black sand, staring at the starry sky above. The twin moons were shining their light on him as if to mock him. He glanced down and looked at what he was holding in his right hand. A pearl of dark green evil, sealed and twirling angrily.

There was a time when Javier wouldn't have been able to resist its curse.

But that time was over. Javier crushed the pearl, destroying the last remnants of the Corruption. A tear slowly fell off his face and onto the black sand.

The White Plague had never been a curse. It was a Trial.

"Rise, Hunter. Rise, and cleanse this world." A kind, gentle voice whispered to him in the wind. Javier wiped the tear off and stood up. He looked in the Dark Wall's direction and shook his head.

"No, now is not the time..." He muttered. He clenched his fists and instead turned his direction to the Ink Dunes. He had work to do.

For the first time in many years, Javier's lips curved upward.

And he smiled.