Arcanum - an intangible substance that flows through an individual’s body. Depending on the person’s affinity to Arcanum, they might be able to control it.
Arcanum flows out of a person’s eyes and into the world around them. I suspect that I’m not the only individual that can see them, but as of now I haven’t been able to find anyone else.
Blue eyes signify Ego-type Arcanum, which affects the person’s body. Ex. Adrian Mosse, who can regenerate his body at high speeds.
Pink eyes signify Psyche-type Arcanum, which allows the individual to see and control the spirit of another. Ex. Myself, Caleb Galland, who can see the Arcanum of others.
Green eyes signify Matter-type Arcanum, which allows an individual to manipulate atoms. Ex. Seriyah Cael, who can turn liquids into any of its three states at will.
Purple eyes signify Abstract-type Arcanum, a rare subset that allows an individual to control nonmatter. Ex. ‘Ghost’, a convict who terrorized early Asphodel with their powers of refracting light, severely blinding his victims. Even those considered low-risk still have the potential to cause significant damage, so be wary.
The intensity of the iris’s glow depends on either the individual's mastery of Arcanum, or its inherent strength.
Gray eyes
Gray eyes signify
When an individual has grayish irises
Ex. Hesper Asche, who ????
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Caleb’s mind raced as mentally went through his notes over and over and over again. There must be something his Gift could tell him. Any sort of clue that could explain what he was seeing. Maybe he was mistaken. He kept staring into Hesper’s eyes, which were watching him curiously.
He waited for a hint of color to appear.
Even just a bit.
He didn’t even care if it turned out to be purple.
He just wanted something familiar.
“I warned you.”
Hesper’s voice felt all the more overwhelming, like a knife digging into his head.
“It happens when your Arcanum is confused. It doesn’t know how to make sense of what it’s seeing, so it blames you for it.”
The dull pain in Caleb’s temple seemed to throb with every word spoken. “What do you mean, ‘it’?” he strained.
“You think you’re fully in control of your Gift? You’re terribly wrong. The puppets here are us.”
Caleb felt as if he was going to pass out on the spot. He didn’t believe anything that Hesper said. He was talking as if Arcanum was alive?
“Here, let me help you. Just try to stay still,” Hesper told him.
Caleb couldn’t look up but could somehow feel the other man’s gaze on him. Slowly, his headache started to subside. He wiped sweat off his face with his shirt and looked up at Hesper, who was smiling at him curiously.
“You’re welcome.”
Caleb gripped the edge of the seat for support as he collected himself. “Your Arcanum, it’s—”
“Strange? I know. But you’ll soon figure it out.”
“I felt as if my Arcanum was being forced into a ball in my chest…was that you?”
Hesper laughed. “That’s correct, Callie. Can you figure out what my Gift is now?”
Caleb felt his heart relax when he figured it out. He was still extremely confused, but he at least had one question answered. He looked back up at Hesper, staring into the man’s ashen irises.
“You can suppress the flow of Arcanum. Including your own. That’s why I couldn’t get a read on you—you were hiding it.”
“Congratulations!” Hesper cheered.
“What were you saying…about how Arcanum ‘was confused’? Are you saying it’s sentient?”
Hesper’s shoulders raised in an attempt to shrug through his shackles. “Don’t know much about it myself. That’s just what he told me.”
“What who told you?”
Before Caleb could get an answer, a siren suddenly roared through the hallway outside and the iron door opened. The security guard ran in, his face flushed and his voice full of anxiety as he spoke.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we need you now. Nachtlicht’s squad will watch the guy.”
Caleb blinked. “What’s going on?”
“Holly Rivera’s dead. I’ll let Marcus and Seriyah explain—they’re waiting upstairs.”
“And Adrian?”
“With the newcomers. Seriyah told him to watch the children, in case what happened to Holly was an Arcanum attack.”
Caleb heard the sound of Hesper’s laugh behind him, but he had no time to interrogate. He looked over his shoulder at the man, who was leaning back in his chair.
“Have fun up there, Galland! We’ll talk again later.”
Caleb and the guard rushed out of the room and back to the ground floor of the building, where Seriyah and Marcus were waiting.
“Mr. Yves, I’ve brought him,” the guard said.
“Alright, thanks, Ben,” Marcus said, and then handed a sheet of paper to Caleb. “Take a look at this.”
It was an autopsy report for Holly Rivera. Caleb couldn’t believe what he was reading. According to the coroners, she suddenly suffered cardiac arrest after being fit with Inhibitors. They found two puncture holes in her heart the size of a pinhead, but there’s nothing they found that could’ve done it.
“The doctors want you to take a look at her body, and see if you can find any trace of foreign Arcanum in there. The incident happened about half an hour after your interview, but ARCANA told us to keep quiet until they had a definitive cause of death,” Seriyah explained.
“Adrian’s at the dorms, right?” Caleb asked.
Seriyah nodded. “Amy Taraxa, that girl with the lion, called us saying that she and the lion were scared of the sirens. I sent Adrian there to calm her down, and to take care of the other newcomers.”
“Jade Arcadia’s Gift is still unstable, so you should watch him.”
“Yeah, I know, he said he only developed it last year. Adrian brough spare Inhibitors, so don’t worry. Let’s focus on figuring out what exactly happened to Holly first.”
Seriyah and Marcus brought Caleb to the building’s third floor, which functioned as a hospital. They led him to the end of a hallway, which had another guard stationed in front of one of the doors.
“Mr. Galland,” the guard greeted him, before opening the door.
A doctor approached him as he entered and immediately led him behind a blue curtain.
“Do you see anything?” the doctor asked.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Caleb held up his hand and the woman took a step back. He stared at Holly’s cold body. Her Arcanum was stagnant, not flowing like it normally should. He tried to look for anything that could indicate that she was killed by another’s Gift or Hex, but all he could see was the still blue light coming off her.
“I dont think it’s Arcanum. Did she eat or touch something?”
The doctor shook her head. “We checked the cameras. There was nothing sharp in her vicinity in the half hour between your interview and her death.”
“You said she only died after putting on Inhibitors?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “That’s the strange part. The employees said that she was all giddy when they met her, and she never complained of any discomfort,” she said. “But when they turned on her Inhibitors for testing, she suddenly gripped her shirt and fell to the floor. Almost instantly.”
Caleb had a sudden thought, but he didn’t want to share it until he was sure. He didn’t want them to get too alarmed.
“I’ll help with the investigation. Thank you, Dr. Fern.”
“I wish you luck, Caleb.”
Caleb left the room and motioned for Seriyah and Marcus to follow him back downstairs.
“So?” Seriyah asked as they were walking.
“I’m not sure if she was murdered, but there’s something really suspicious about her death. I’m pretty sure Holly would feel it if there were two holes in her left ventricle…it all seemed too sudden.”
“I’ll pass this on to the detective,” Marcus said. “Anything else?”
“I have a suspicion, but I think it’s best if I approach him myself.”
Seriyah stopped walking. “You’re thinking of Hesper Asche?”
“You’ll see what I mean soon. I need to get back into the interrogation room.”
“Alright,” she said. “Be careful. If he is who you think he is, then he’s a lot more trouble than we initially thought.”
Caleb nodded. “Trust me. I’ll call if anything happens. Besides, Nachtlicht’s team will be right outside.”
“Speaking of calling,” Seriyah said. “I should check up on how Adrian’s holding up…”
***
In Adrian’s 2 years as Head of Internal Security, he’s already had his fair share of odd jobs. During Asphodel’s 40th anniversary, Internal Security became entertainers for the residents. Adrian, who was widely known for his looks and regenerative abilities, was given the perfect role—to be the babysitter for all the untrained Gifted children. Two hundred cuts, seventy bruises, and a broken nose later, Adrian would go on to receive Employee of the Year.
Although, to him, no amount of injuries could’ve mentally prepared him for the situation he was in now.
“He’s sleeping. Don’t move.”
Adrian smiled nervously. During the commotion at Leonid dorms, Amy Taraxa and her lion Bennett called and said they were both feeling distressed. Being the dutiful security guard that he was, he volunteered to comfort the new residents. Unfortunately, that included letting a 190kg lion sleep on his lap.
“I’m not gonna move Amy, don’t worry.”
Adrian hated lions. He loved animals as a kid, but lions were the sole exception. He was extremely terrified of them, even though he’d eagerly approach a tiger of a similar size. Maybe it’s because his elder brother once told him that their uncle—who died of an infection—was brutally attacked by a pack of hungry lions.
“I want a xylophone!”
“And a small piano!”
He looked to his left and spotted the twins, Cindy and Wendy, sitting against the wall a few feet away from him. In the middle was the guy named Jade, who was furiously scribbling on his sketchbook.
“Alright, alright, calm down. I’m not finished with your bracelets yet,” Jade said.
Adrian smiled. “Draw a proper bed for this lion, please,” he said in his mind.
He looked the other way and saw Alice attempting to juggle some balls that Jade had drawn for her. She had just perfected nine, and is now practicing to juggle ten.
“Hey, do you have some spare things in your pockets?”
Adrian turned his head to face Jade again, who was now staring at him. Adrian looked down and frowned.
“Oh, right. The lion,” Jade said. “I’ll figure something out, thanks.”
Adrian nodded his head to the right. “There’s an office at the end of the hallway. If there’s nothing in the trash can, feel free to take some sheets of paper from the drawers.”
Jade stood up and looked at the direction Adrian pointed at. “Thank you. Wait there, you two. I’ll continue drawing in a bit.”
The twins looked at Jade, and then to each other, and started making faces. Adrian chuckled to himself as he imagined their telepathic conversation.
“That Jade guy’s just like a raccoon, always collecting trash.”
“Do you think if he draws trash, he can use it anywhere?”
“That’s stupid! Then he’ll need more trash to draw the trash, too!”
Jade came back after a few moments, holding a trash can full of crumpled up papers and other indescribable junk. He set it down in front of the twins and picked his sketchbook back up.
“You don’t need to color it?” Adrian asked, shifting slightly to get a better look at Jade’s drawings.
“No, but coloring helps it last longer. If it’s just a sketch, it usually only holds for about an hour.”
“What happens if you draw a human, or an animal?”
Jade flipped his sketchbook to the first page, which was filled with paintings of rabbits. “I’ve tried that. Nothing happens. That’s why I mostly draw living things, because there’s no risk of accidentally bringing them to life.”
“How about you try drawing me?”
“I think Bennett’s going to take up most of it,” Jade laughed. “But I do have a sketch I never finished, something I thought I’d save for anyone who catches my eye.”
“And do I?”
Jade shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Hey, focus on the drawing!” Cindy cried.
Jade smiled apologetically at the girl. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry. The bracelets are almost done, just give me a minute. What animal do you want on it?”
“A golden retriever!” Cindy said.
“A lizard!” Wendy cheered.
Adrian’s eyes drifted away when he noticed that Alice dropped one of her balls on the floor. It rolled and bumped into Bennett’s paw, causing the lion to let out a low purr. Adrian froze as the big animal shifted in his lap.
“Please wake up,” he said under his breath.
Amy must’ve noticed his discomfort because she looked up from her book and slid towards the sleeping lion, and gently patted his head.
“Come on up now, sleepyhead. It’s safe now,” the girl whispered.
The lion’s eyes fluttered open and it let out a yawn, before finally standing up and taking a seat beside his owner. Adrian breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, stretching his arms.
“I wonder what’s happening out there,” he thought to himself. “I hope Caleb’s safe.”
As if the universe heard his concern, he felt a vibration on his thigh. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. It was Seriyah.
“Yeah?” he said as he picked up.
“Hey there, Babysitter of the Year. How are things going?” Seriyah asked.
“You know me,” Adrian said. “They’re in good hands. Jade’s keeping the twins occupied.”
“How’s Jade doing? Caleb said that he still hasn’t gotten full control of his Gift.”
Adrian looked over at Jade and the twins. The twins were proudly waving the bracelets that he drew for them.
“I’m keeping my eyes on him, so don’t worry. What about you? Why’d you call?”
“Caleb asked me to check on you. He thinks that Hesper Asche has something to do with Holly’s death. I don’t know what he found out from that guy, but from the look on his face…it can’t be good.”
Adrian ran his fingers through his hair. “Why did Nachtlicht bring Asche straight to Asphodel again? Wasn’t he supposed to hold him at Styx for a few days?”
“I don’t know. I tried to talk to him, but he seemed, I don’t know, kind of distant. One of his squad members said he’s been acting weird ever since they investigated the crime scene. They think he was just shocked, but that isn’t an excuse for completely ignoring protocol…”
“What did the higher-ups say?”
“You know the hierarchy Arcanus Hunters have. ARCANA won’t listen to a Class VII’s report on a Class IX. At least Caleb didn’t have to go all the way to Styx on his own, I guess.”
Suddenly, a thought flashed in Adrian’s mind. “A Class IX captain wouldn’t accidentally ignore protocol. Unless…”
“What is it?”
Adrian stuttered as he tried to put it into words. “Don’t you think that, maybe this was a distraction? I don’t think Hesper being brought here was a simple mistake. It was a diversion.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s a big shot in the dark, but I think that Hesper was able to influence the squad somehow. I don’t know! I’ve seen this kind of thing before in my father’s records. That’s how Ghost was able to roam around so easily!”
“What if you’re right—”
Adrian sucked in a breath. He didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t take chances.
“IF I’M RIGHT, THEN YOU HAVE TO WARN CALEB! NOW!”
***
“Welcome back, Galland. I missed you,” Hesper said.
Caleb looked around in horror. There were soldiers scattered around the interrogation room, some with blood dripping down their faces and arms. Elias Nachtlicht, was right outside the door, but was somehow unaware of what went on inside.
Caleb glared at the man. “What did you do to them?”
“You think I can do anything in these chains? It wasn’t me, I swear. Why don’t you ask that squad leader outside?” Hesper laughed. “Don’t you find it strange that I was brought straight here? Someone of my risk should’ve been kept in Styx, right?”
Caleb shook his head in disbelief. Hesper was right. He didn’t even stop to think about the Arcanus Hunters’ protocol. He ran to the door and called out for Elias, but no matter how loud he pounded, he was met with silence.
“So, what do you think? A traitor?”
“I’ve known Nachtlicht for years. He wouldn’t do this.”
Hesper smiled. “Of course he wouldn’t. Arcanus Hunters are horrible liars. I’ll give you another option to think about, then.
“Are you sure that he was the real Elias Nachtlicht?"