Talia’s eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry and unfocused.

She felt her body ache, a distant thing that she could barely move.

As her sight cleared, she found herself staring at a plain white ceiling, the soft glow of sunlight filtering through nearby windows.

She blinked slowly, trying to piece together her fragmented memories.

The last thing she recalled was the massive Abyssal Torpedo Drake, its jaws wide and ready to devour her.

Then, there was darkness and a surge of power unlike anything she had ever experienced.

Talia attempted to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her, forcing her back down onto the soft pillows.

It was then that she noticed a figure seated beside her bed, their presence both comforting and unexpected.

“Easy there,” Professor Iakopo’s voice came, gentle but firm. “You’re finally awake.”

Talia turned her head to face him, wincing at the stiffness in her neck.

Iakopo looked tired, dark circles under his eyes suggesting he hadn’t slept in quite some time.

Yet there was a warmth in his gaze that Talia had never seen before.

“Professor?” Talia croaked, her throat dry and scratchy. “Where... where am I?”

Iakopo reached for a glass of water on the bedside table, helping Talia take a few sips before responding.

“You’re back at the Water Rider Academy,” he explained, setting the glass down. “We brought you here after... well, after everything that happened in Placid City.”

“How long was I out?” She asked, confused.

“Well,” Professor Iakopo sighed, shaking his head, “I don’t know what happened, exactly, but your body took much more than it could have. You were in a comatose state for six months.”

Talia widened her eyes.

“Six months?!”

The man nodded, taking the empty glass back from Talia and placing it on the closed nightstand.

It seemed like the battle with the massive Drake had almost killed her—or at least that’s how she explained to herself, having been asleep for a whole six months.

She looked down at her wrists, half-expecting to see the glowing light that had covered her skin during the battle.

But they were gone, leaving only the familiar birthmarks she had always known.

“The others?” Talia asked, her voice gaining strength. “Are they okay?”

Iakopo nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Thanks to you, yes. Everyone made it out safely. You gave us quite a scare, though. You’ve been unconscious for long enough that I didn’t know when you would wake up. Only this week, I could detect changes in your Mana that made me believe you might come back.”

It felt like only moments had passed since the battle in the cavern.

She struggled to sit up again, this time succeeding with Iakopo’s help.

“Professor,” Talia began, her voice low and uncertain. “What... what happened to me?”

Iakopo’s expression grew serious, the lines on his face deepening.

He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he clasped his hands together.

“Talia,” he said, his voice heavy with the weight of long-held secrets. “Your mother clearly did something to you.”

“Mom?”

Professor Iakopo leaned forward, his expression grave.

“It’s the only explanation,” he said. “I knew she was after Dark Water. I helped her with that.”

He paused, studying Talia’s face.

“And I suspected from the moment I met you that you had been given Blood Magic somehow to power your own vitality. During my research, it became evident that the only other way to learn Dark Water other than the Dark Water Well would be to use an overwhelming source of vitality. Blood Magic provides that.”

The professor’s brow furrowed.

“However, I could feel, Talia, during your battle that your reservoir of vitality defies logic. There’s nothing that can explain the amount of vitality inside of you.”

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He sat back, running a hand through his hair.

“I’ve done research in the past 6 months, and I found hints and leads of what this might have been caused by. I decided to wait for you to wake up, to ask whether you wanted to know or not.”

Iakopo’s voice grew softer.

“What I told you back in Placid City about your mother is true. I almost killed your father when I learned the truth for myself. And I have to say, I regret not having accomplished what I had set out to do.”

He met Talia’s gaze, his eyes filled with a mix of admiration and concern.

“Your mother, Talia, was definitely a hero in the sense that she might have killed the Kraken for good. But she was also the person to stop at nothing in order to achieve her goals.”

The professor leaned in closer.

“I fear that if you investigate what those marks really are, what kind of power you managed to unlock in Placid City, you might find things about your mother that will make her slaughter of Placid City look like a child’s tantrum.

“I don’t know what kind of person would do something like this to the child in their womb. But if there’s anyone capable of messing with an unborn child, it is your mother, Talia.”

Talia took a few moments to gather her thoughts. Did she really want to know?

Did she really need to know about what Yalena, her mother, the famous Kraken Slayer that she had worshiped for so long, had planned for her?

At this point, it was clear that Yalena had caused all the grief that Talia had gone through her entire life.

It was clear that Yalena was the reason Talia didn’t have the Star Water Affinity but the mysterious Blood Water.

And Professor Iakopo’s question was legit. Did she really want to know? Did she really need to know?

“I do want to know,” Talia said to Professor Iakopo. “I need to know what my mother wanted out of me.”

“Even if it means finding out that your mother was a monster?” Iakopo said.

Talia nodded back. “Even if it means acknowledging that my mother was a monster,” Talia said with a heavy heart. Even saying those words made her feel like a giant boulder had settled upon her shoulders.

She had to rebuild her entire view of life, which had been based on the heroic sacrifice of her mother.

“Is there a chance?” Talia said, stumbling on her words. “Well, I was feared in my village because they thought I was the Kraken’s spawn. Is there any chance that something like that could be possible? That my mother would destroy the Kraken just to generate me out of it, and maybe that’s why I’ve got Blood Magic?”

Professor Iakopo shook his head. “The most likely reason you have Blood Water,” he said, “is because of inheritance.”

“Inheritance?” Talia asked, confused.

“No one must have told you.” The man settled in his chair and ruffled his hair. “It’s commonly thought among great families that your power was passed down because of inheritance. This process is not commonly known, and it’s actually a secret guarded by the great families.”

“So what is inheritance?” Talia asked.

“Since no one before your mother had managed to actually slay the Kraken for good, that never manifested among the great families,” the professor started. “But it is common among nobles to know that fighting a specific type of Abyssal creature for a long time somehow grants a person a good chance of producing an heir with either a Skill or a Class depending on how long and how many monsters had been killed similar to the monsters. Some in my family fight lightning-based monsters before trying to conceive a child, thinking it will help store more power. It’s a very fuzzy process, and not even nobles know much about it. But we have documented across the years that it is a thing. So, the most likely explanation for your Blood Water and perhaps the immense amount of vitality you possess is inheritance. Well, to be honest, it would still not explain all the vitality. I still think your mother somehow tampered with your own body.”

Talia looked on with a frown. “So fighting the Kraken influenced my mother’s pregnancy?” Talia asked.

“I do not know the exact chronological order of what happened, Talia,” Professor Iakopo said with a shrug. “But your mother did give birth right after killing the Kraken. That is the only explanation for your existence. So your mother disappeared right after that happened, and the only person who was there, allegedly, is your father. He is the only one who knows what really happened to your mother. Elder Krakatoa, too, was there, but he doesn’t know what happened to Yalena.”

Talia nodded, trying to metabolize this information. She’d always wondered at what point her mother disappeared, at what point exactly she had been born. No one seemed to know the truth. Back on Solara Island, Talia resolved to talk to Elder Krakatoa. But before that, she suddenly remembered something.

“Professor, I have my father’s journal. I found it in the Darkstorm Sphere. Could it hide some secret about my mother? Perhaps you might know how to unlock it? I tried using my wrist marks, but they never reacted. It never unlocked fully.”

Professor Iakopo suddenly blushed. He said, “Talia, that journal isn’t your father’s.”

Talia frowned. “Whose is it then?”

Professor Iakopo scratched his head and looked away. “I had an intimate relationship with your mother before what happened in Placid City. That journal contained my notes on Dark Water. It’s encrypted to make sure no one else but her and me can access it. I didn’t even know that journal still existed. I did find it among your things when we brought you back,” Iakopo explained.

Talia looked on with her mouth hanging open. “But it says ‘M’ inside of it.”

“Yeah.” Iakopo shrugged. “Your mother used to call me... She used to give me some affectionate nickname, and well, yes. That’s it.”

Talia actually laughed at that. “What? What was the nickname?”

“I don’t remember it,” the professor said, crossing his arms.

Talia couldn’t help but smile at the professor’s discomfort. It was strange to think of him as a lovestruck young man, writing passionate entries about her mother. But it also made him seem more human, more relatable.

Then, something came back to her mind.

“Professor,” she said, looking up from the journal, “what about the bodies? The ones they used to frame you in Placid City?”

Iakopo’s expression darkened. “Ah, yes. Your sister, Riala, uncovered the truth about that. Those bodies... they weren’t recent victims at all. They date back to the Placid City Catastrophe twenty years ago. Yalena’s magic was still preserving them—they did die to my Space Water, but that was twenty years ago.”

Talia’s eyes widened in shock. “But how? Why would someone keep bodies for that long?”

“To frame me, apparently,” Iakopo said bitterly. “Someone went to great lengths to discredit me, to make it look like I was responsible for both the past and present tragedies in Placid City. But thanks to you, the truth came out.”

“Talia,” he said, “if you really want to know more about what happened in Placid City, the power you unlocked – it’s only the start.”

“I know.”

“Well, for the first item of your new life, then, I would like to extend an invitation to the newest School of the Academy.”

“What?” Talia frowned.

“My School,” the man smiled. “I waited for too long in the dark, thinking I had to toil away in isolation before being worthy of showing my face again. You are looking, child, at the newest Elder of the Academy. Elder Iakopo Kane. And I’m asking you whether you would like to officially join my School.”