Affliction? It took Alan a while to understand what Niall meant. He knew so little about the reason behind taking the grand priest's medicine, he couldn't make the connection straight away. In the beginning, he had tried to find out the truth without having to question his parents. Getting an answer out of them wouldn't be easy, and he wanted to approach them as a last resort. The unfruitful search lasted for a month before he gave up. Alaya went to great lengths to hide the truth. Left with no choice, he confronted her, and it wasn't an experience he was keen on repeating. His mind wandered to the event, recollecting the memory.

**********

"Mother!"

Alaya turned towards him with a resigned expression on her face, before turning it into a smile. "Mom's busy sweetie. Can we talk some other time?"

Alan had to put in a lot of effort to quell the snort making its way up the throat. "How come you've been avoiding me? You used to visit me every day, and now I've barely seen you in the past two weeks."

Her smile turned unnatural. "I'm not avoiding you Alan. You should know what's happening in the Duchy. There are too many issues to take care of, and work keeps piling up. Why don't you—"

"No!" Alan shouted. "We're going to talk right now!"

His outburst surprised everyone. It was out of tune compared to his usual reserved attitude. Staring into his determined face, she sighed. "Leave us alone."

The people in the vicinity curtsied and dispersed, giving them privacy.

"Go on. What do you want to talk about?"

Alan was sure she had an idea of what he wanted to ask. His actions in the past month wouldn't have gone unnoticed. "The medicine grand priest Amos gave me, what does it do?"

"Why're you so fixated on it?"

"Don't you think I should know about it?" Alan asked. "It looks weird and tastes disgusting."

"Stop lying," Alaya reprimanded. "I took the same medicine and know it lacks taste."

The statement threw him off. "Really?"

She nodded.

"From the same vial?" he suspiciously asked. He remembered drinking the entire contents of the vial and was sure his mother didn't consume any of it.

"Of course not. It was a long time ago."

Her answer gave him a new direction of thought. Generally, medicines didn't act like a panacea and had specific functions. Since Alaya confirmed she took the same one, his condition might be a hereditary disease. If that were the case, he didn't have any reason to be worried. As the cure worked for her, it shouldn't be too different for him.

Still, his thought were mere speculations, and he couldn't write off foul play, so he persisted in his attempts to find the truth.

Alaya deflected most of the questions and tried to distract him, but he remained steadfast. The argument went for so long, both of their patience wore thin. Unable to gain an advantage, he revealed his trump card.

"What Amos gave me isn't medicine? It's harmful to my body! Either he or someone else is misleading you!"

Alaya stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "You think I would be careless when it came to your health? That I would be let you ingest something without being sure of what it was?"

"That's why I'm saying someone might be tricking you! I know it's harmful because I can see it!"

Alan didn't want to reveal that part, but he had no choice. His mother didn't look like she would be convinced by anything less. He couldn't understand why she was being so stubborn.

The cat was out of the bag, but he wasn't too worried. He planned on explaining everything away as a part of his variant ability. There was a chance the explanation wouldn’t fool Alaya, but he could always play the innocent card.

"What do you mean you can see?" she asked in an uncertain tone.

"I can see my health, stamina, and a lot of other things?" He confusedly blinked his eyes. "You can't?"

Alaya scratched her chin. "Must be your variant ability. I thought it helped you predict moves, but it appears to be more complicated. Strange, I've never heard of an ability like that. It's not like I know every single one, and it could also be from Kayden's bloodline or the royal family. It'll be trickier if the royal family's involved. They are tight-lipped about the abilities in their bloodline, and it won't be easy getting anything out of them."

She mostly spoke to herself while Alan listened to her without interrupting. People perceived the world through a lens and tended to interpret things according to their understanding and beliefs. When it was difficult to explain something, he found it best to leave the other person to their devices. He just had to feed their beliefs and answer when they had doubts.

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"How do you see your health?" Alaya asked. "Is it like a number?"

Alan nodded.

"Interesting. Follow me. I want to test the extent of your abilities."

"You haven't answered my question!" Alan seethed. When he opened up about his health, he expected Alaya to do the same, but she was still trying to distract him.

Alaya patted his head. "Don't worry about the detrimental effects as they're intended. It’ll revert once the procedure is done. Trust me on this. It's for your own good."

Her explanation should've been enough for him. His main objective had been to figure out if Amos had been poisoning him or if the medicine had some unintended side effects. She confirmed it was neither, but her willingness to keep its function a secret painfully reminded him of his previous life. His life as a lab rat had never been pleasant, but the most detestable part was the drugs they constantly pumped into his body. To prolong his life, they regularly experimented with new medicines and procedures. The reason always was 'It’s for your own good,' but his consent never seemed to matter. In their eyes, he was less than human and didn't deserve equal treatment.

The recollections caused anger to rear its ugly head. The logical part of him understood that Alaya must have her reasons for concealing the truth, but the emotional part wouldn't listen.

He slapped her hand away. "Why can't you just tell me the truth!?"

The shout echoed long and hard. His reaction was so unexpected, Alaya froze in her place.

"Why the need for so many secrets? Can't you just tell me what I want to know?"

His fears, bottled feelings, and insecurities erupted, and he ranted for the next ten minutes. At the end of it, he was left breathing hard and glared at Alaya.

"I'm sorry Alan," she said and hugged him. "I only ever wanted to keep you safe. I can understand your anger. Being kept in the dark never feels good, but knowing the truth isn't always ideal. I'll tell you in time. Can you please trust me to do the right thing?"

Her actions made him more emotional, and in his stupidity, he blurted words he didn't mean. "NO! I DON'T TRUST YOU! I HATE YOU!"

***

Alan wished he could redo the moment and take back those words. He regretted them from the moment they left his mouth. The devastated look on his mother's face had been painful to watch.

It became a dark memory similar to the ones from his previous life, with one major change. It was the only time he hated himself. Afterward, he tried apologizing many times, but he underestimated the difficulty of uttering three simple words. For some reason, his mouth wouldn't form them when he stood in front of her.

After the incident, Alaya tried to cheer him up by bringing him lots of gifts and told him stories every night till he fell asleep. The dark circles under her eyes made him feel like even more of a jerk. She never answered his question, and he never broached the topic again. Thankfully, he only had to take the medicine once or twice a year, so he decided to ignore the subject. There must be a strong reason for her insistence on keeping the truth a secret, and he decided to give her the benefit of doubt.

Alan glanced at Niall's solemn expression and sighed. "I questioned mother, but she refused to explain."

"Well, she's bull-headed that way. If she doesn't want to speak, you can't force her to say anything."

Niall sat on the other side of the table. "Do you want to know the truth? Like I've said, knowing it isn't always such a good thing."

To be honest, Alan would've liked to hear the words from Alaya's mouth, but it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Unlike his uncle, she refused to see past the six-year-old self and kept treating him like a kid. It would take a long time for her to open up and talk about it.

"I want to hear it."

Niall nodded and went straight to the topic. "Your constitution is different from a normal human's and not in a good way. Within our race, we have many talents capable of using holy element, but those having an affinity for shadow element are incredibly rare. It's because humans are more geared towards the light. That's not to say manifesting shadow is dangerous. Unlike the other elements, it doesn't affect the human body. Decay boosts damage instead of strengthening the body."

The short pause that followed told Alan the main part was coming.

"The situation becomes more complicated when it comes to you. You have a ridiculously high affinity for the shadow element, and for some reason, it affects your body. Your blood naturally contains a compound that adversely affects your health."

Niall explained his condition like he was talking about a common cold. His calm tone, relaxed demeanor, and mild words told him that his uncle was trying to make the situation seem simple. The change from tense to calm was too sudden for it to be natural.

"We've tried replacing the blood, but your bone marrow automatically generates it.

"The bone marrow is the part of your body that generates new blood," Niall added making sure the 'six-year-old’ kid understood. "We've tried using the holy element to heal it but your body resists the changes, and forcing such things can be dangerous. As an alternative, we came with a solution to use the shadow element to destroy your marrow and then use the holy element to heal it over time. The medicine you take permanently injures you and prevents your body from healing the damage. Otherwise, our efforts would've been wasted. We use the holy element to heal you after the entire marrow inside a bone is destroyed. The procedure is slow and complicated, but it's nothing dangerous. Some of the best healers in the kingdom are working on solving your problem."

Every word from Niall’s mouth made his heart sink. He knew enough biology to know changes like that didn’t happen in isolation. Since the compound was part of his blood, it should’ve affected other parts of the body. "Am I going to be okay?"

Niall laughed. "Of course. Alaya's overprotectiveness makes it seem more serious than it is. She didn't tell you the truth because she was worried you would freak out."

Alan couldn't get himself to believe the words. He was sure Niall hid a major part of whatever ailed him.

Right on cue, the system confirmed his doubts by issuing a new quest.

Quest: [Survival]

Cure the condition assailing you.

Time left to live: [19 years 2 months 3 days]

Reward: [Mantle of Darkness]

Suggestion: Use the compound to develop a shadow constitution.