Chapter 474: What Came After Arvell

The six days passed without any attempt from the world to prevent Damon from reaching the new moon.

He considered that suspicious.

On the first, he trained with Jian Yue until she admitted that his right side had finally returned to normal. On the second, Xue Lian managed to hit him with the shaft of her spear because Damon was distracted arguing with Xue Mei.

On the third, Ester stopped asking whether anything hurt.

That was probably the greatest sign of recovery.

On the fourth, Eir sent a message asking when he would return to the Valley.

Damon replied that it would be after Veyra.

The answer came shortly afterward.

"COME BACK."

He stared at the tablet.

"Was that an order?"

It took a few seconds.

"REQUEST."

"Better."

Another message appeared.

"BRING CAKE."

Damon closed his eyes.

Liora.

Naturally.

On the fifth day, Varos informed him that his partial reinstatement had been approved. He would not yet resume full operational command, but he could participate in the Order’s internal reforms and supervise the removal of the coercive functions from the marks.

Maelor-Serik remained in Vermillion.

Cooperating.

Without a successor.

Without any attempt to change the council’s decision.

On the sixth day, Damon woke before dawn.

The moon was not visible.

It was the day.

When he reached the dining hall, Jian Yue was already there.

Damon stopped.

"That’s concerning."

She continued eating.

"What?"

"You woke up before me."

"I didn’t sleep much."

"Worried?"

"No."

"You use that lie too much."

She raised her eyes.

"You’re going alone to meet unknown people connected to an ancient bloodline who spent decades avoiding the Order."

"When you explain it like that, it sounds reckless."

"Because it is."

Damon sat down.

Aria entered shortly afterward carrying the black tablet and a small folded map.

"No."

"I haven’t even said anything."

"You’re bringing things."

"Return route."

"We already agreed."

"And a second route."

"Aria."

"In case the first one is blocked."

Damon stared.

She placed the map in front of him.

"You’re going to accept it."

He took it.

"I will."

Aria stopped.

So did Jian Yue.

Damon looked from one to the other.

"What?"

"You didn’t argue," Aria replied.

"I’m saving time."

Jian Yue became suspicious.

"That still doesn’t sound like you."

"I’m starting to regret becoming a better person."

Ester appeared in the doorway.

"Take this."

Damon looked at the small case she tossed him.

He caught it.

"Antidotes?"

"Three common ones. One sedative neutralizer and two circulation needles."

"You also think it’s a trap."

"No. I think you attract idiotic situations."

"That’s different."

"Exactly."

He put the case away.

No one tried to accompany him again.

Maybe because they knew he would refuse.

Maybe because he had accepted every reasonable precaution without turning the conversation into an argument.

Or maybe because, after everything that had happened over the past few months, they were beginning to trust that Damon really would come back if something seemed wrong.

Aria opened Transfer shortly after sunrise.

The safe point was several hours east of Veyra, near an old trade road.

Damon crossed.

Before the passage closed, Jian Yue said:

"If you decide it’s a trap, don’t stay just to prove you can."

Damon looked at her.

"That was very specific."

"Because I know you."

"Offensive."

The passage closed.

Damon was alone.

The road to Veyra was peaceful.

By his own choice, he traveled on foot.

He could have moved much faster using energy, but there was no need. He had left early precisely so he would not have to rush.

When Veyra finally appeared in the distance, the sun had already begun to descend.

It was an old city, but not an impressive one.

Low walls surrounded only the oldest districts. More recent buildings had grown beyond them, following the main road and the banks of a narrow river.

Nothing looked like it was hiding a community of ancient bloodlines.

Damon liked that.

He entered without difficulty.

No one was waiting for him at the gate.

No mysterious observer made contact.

No three-line symbol appeared hidden on any wall.

He bought food, asked where the Broken Bell Inn was and received three different directions before discovering that two of them were wrong.

The inn was on a side street near the old center.

The broken bell really existed.

It hung above the entrance, cracked vertically from the top almost to the base.

Damon looked at it.

"At least they’re literal."

He entered.

The place was crowded enough to be inconvenient and empty enough that someone would notice if a fight started.

Good place.

The owner barely looked at Damon.

"Room?"

"I’m meeting someone."

"Second floor?"

Damon stopped.

The man continued cleaning a glass.

"You’re not the first today."

That could be bad.

"How many?"

"Two."

"Description?"

The owner finally looked at him.

"If you want information about customers, pay."

Damon placed a coin on the counter.

The man took it.

"Old woman. Younger man. Went upstairs separately."

"How much younger?"

"Forty, maybe."

"Armed?"

"Everyone in this city is armed."

Fair.

"Thank you."

Damon went upstairs.

The second floor had six rooms and a small common room at the end of the corridor.

The door was open.

He did not enter immediately.

A woman was sitting near the window.

Completely gray hair, tied behind her head. Dark skin, a face marked by age and hands that looked like they had worked far more than someone connected to a mysterious ancient bloodline should have in Aria’s exaggerated stories.

Damon recognized the description.

The woman who had delivered the letter to the merchant.

The second occupant was a man around forty years old, with short black hair, simple clothes and an old scar crossing his chin.

Neither of them stood.

The woman pointed toward an empty chair.

"You came."

Damon remained in the doorway.

"You already knew."

"No."

She pointed toward the window.

"We saw you coming in."

"Less interesting."

"It usually is."

Damon entered.

He did not close the door.

The man noticed.

Did not comment.

Damon sat down.

The woman observed him for a few seconds.

"My name is Teyra."

She pointed toward the other.

"He’s Oren."

Oren inclined his head.

"Damon."

"I imagine you know."

"We know the name."

"How much more?"

Teyra smiled slightly.

"Are you going to dislike us if we start answering questions with questions?"

"Probably."

"Then let’s avoid that."

She settled herself more comfortably.

"We know you’re the son of a vampiric bloodline and an incubus bloodline. We know someone tried to install an artificial structure inside you. We know it was removed. We know three ancient structures began responding after that."

Damon became still.

That was already more than he had expected.

"How?"

"Part came from the Order."

"The Vermillion records aren’t public."

"We don’t need the Vermillion records."

Oren spoke for the first time.

"We need people."

Damon looked at him.

"You have agents inside the Order."

"No."

"Then?"

"People leave the Order. Doctors talk to other doctors. Merchants transport equipment. Patients return home. Large institutions never keep information as well as they believe."

Damon thought of Saela.

Orven.

Varos.

Halven.

It made sense.

"So you’ve been monitoring Serik."

"For a long time," Teyra replied.

"Why?"

"Because Serik monitored people like us."

Damon became attentive.

"Like you."

"Not the way you’re thinking."

"You don’t know what I’m thinking."

"You’re thinking of an entire community of Maerin’s descendants hidden in some valley."

Damon fell silent.

Teyra smiled.

"Everyone does."

"Aria would."

"Who’s Aria?"

"Doesn’t matter."

Oren almost smiled.

Teyra continued:

"Arvell ended."

"The records said the population dispersed."

"Correct."

"Then the symbol?"

She discreetly touched the small pendant hidden beneath her collar.

Three curved lines.

"Survived."

"As an identity?"

"As a principle."

Damon waited.

Teyra explained:

"The three lines never represented a specific family. Nor a species. Nor a pure bloodline. They represented three possibilities coexisting without one needing to eliminate the others."

Damon looked at the pendant.

"Compatibility."

"In part."

Oren added:

"Choice too."

That was far too familiar.

"Maerin?"

Teyra nodded.

"She existed. Lived in Arvell for some time, long after leaving Eir. Had children."

"How many?"

"Five known."

Damon had not expected such a direct answer.

"Descendants?"

"Many."

"And you are?"

Teyra looked at Oren.

"Maybe."

Damon frowned.

"Maybe?"

Oren answered:

"We don’t keep complete genealogies."

"By choice?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because someone always starts using genealogies to know where you came from. Then uses them to decide what you are. Then decides who you should have children with."

Damon immediately understood.

"Serik."

"Serik wasn’t the first."

Teyra leaned slightly forward.

"Maerin left descendants. They had children with people from other bloodlines. Those children had others. Some lost almost all the ancient structures. Others kept parts. Some developed new things."

"So you don’t know who’s descended from her."

"We know some."

"But it doesn’t matter."

"Exactly."

Damon leaned back.

That already answered an important question.

"Arvell wasn’t a bloodline refuge."

"No."

"It was a community."

"Yes."

"Why did it disappear?"

Teyra looked through the window.

"Because it worked."

Damon fell silent.

She continued:

"Arvell was useful while people needed a place where no one tried to correct their bodies. After a few generations, living hidden began creating another problem."

"You were defining people by the fact that they were different."

Oren nodded.

"Exactly."

"So they dispersed."

"Gradually."

"The trade records."

"Last connections."

Damon thought about the routes Orven had found.

"That’s why there’s no home."

Teyra smiled.

"Now you understand."

"So the letter saying not to search for your home..."

"Was literal."

"It doesn’t exist."

"It doesn’t exist."

Damon started laughing.

"Aria is going to hate this."

Teyra continued without knowing who Aria was.

"There are families. Small groups. People who stay in contact. Some traditions. Nothing like Arvell."

"How many?"

"No one knows."

"Hundreds?"

"Probably more."

"Thousands?"

"Possible."

Damon stared.

That was much larger and, at the same time, much less impressive than he had expected.

There was no secret city.

There was no intact ancestral population.

There were people.

Mixed.

Scattered.

Living.

"Why did you call me?"

Teyra looked directly at him.

"Because you stopped."

"Searching."

"Yes."

"That was enough?"

"It was necessary."

"But not enough."

"No."

Oren rested his arms on the table.

"Also because your body seems to be doing something we know."

Damon became serious.

"You want to examine me."

"No."

The answer came from both of them at the same time.

Damon waited.

Teyra almost seemed amused.

"That was quick."

"Experience."

"We don’t need to examine you."

"Then what do you want?"

"To tell you something Eir probably doesn’t know."

Damon became attentive.

Teyra touched her own chest.

"The structures you call ancestral don’t have to keep opening."

He said nothing.

"Three may be everything your body wants."

"Maybe."

"One may disappear."

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"Disappear?"

"Yes."

"Because of a problem?"

"Not necessarily."

Oren explained:

"Sometimes a path opens to resolve an incompatibility. When other systems learn to perform the same function, it closes."

Damon thought of his shoulder.

Of the compensation that had disappeared when the injury healed.

"Are there records of that?"

"Experience."

"Yours?"

Teyra raised her sleeve.

Beneath the skin of her forearm were very faint lines.

They did not look like roots.

Nor veins.

Three different paths met near her wrist.

"I had four connections when I was young."

Damon looked.

"Now?"

"Two."

"Lost capacity?"

"Some."

"Problem?"

"No."

"Your body decided."

"Yes."

Damon fell silent.

Teyra lowered her sleeve.

"That’s why we sent the invitation."

"Just to tell me I don’t need to keep waiting for more things to appear?"

"Also."

"What’s the other part?"

She smiled.

"You really don’t like going around in circles."

"No."

"We wanted to know whether you would understand without turning it into loss."

Damon thought.

"A week ago, maybe not."

"And now?"

He leaned back against the chair.

"If it disappears because it’s no longer needed, then it disappears."

Oren discreetly nodded.

So did Teyra.

Damon noticed.

"It was a test."

"No."

"Your face."

Teyra laughed.

"Maybe it was a little."

"Everyone has started doing that to me."

"Then there must be a reason."

Damon ignored that.

"Anything else?"

"Yes."

"Naturally."

Teyra became more serious.

"Don’t turn people like us into an answer about yourself."

Damon had not expected that.

She continued:

"You can meet some. Learn records. Exchange experiences. But there is no manual for what your body should become."

"I already knew."

"It’s different to hear and accept."

"I know."

"Maerin left no method."

"She left descendants."

"Yes. Not disciples."

Damon liked the distinction.

"Then what did she leave?"

Teyra thought.

"A phrase."

"Which one?"

The woman smiled slightly.

"When the body offers a door, you don’t have to walk through just because it opened."

Damon became still.

Oren observed his reaction.

"That means something to you."

"A lot."

The connection near his heart remained silent.

The abdominal one too.

The lower one did not react.

Nothing inside him tried to respond to the discovery.

Damon liked that.

"Did she really say that?"

Teyra shrugged.

"Maybe."

Damon made a face.

"What do you mean, maybe?"

"It was attributed to her almost one hundred and fifty years after her death."

"So it could be made up."

"It could."

"That considerably reduces the impact."

"It’s still good."

Damon thought.

"Unfortunately."

Teyra laughed.

The sun had almost completely disappeared when Damon realized how much time had passed.

No threat had appeared.

No one had tried to touch him.

No instrument had appeared.

No demand had been made.

He looked at the two.

"And now?"

"Now you leave," Teyra replied.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"That’s it?"

"Were you expecting initiation?"

"No."

"Ancestral secret?"

"A little."

Oren spoke:

"We have recipes."

Damon stared.

"Recipes?"

"Some are old."

"Aria is going to kill me if I come back saying Arvell’s great secret is cooking."

"Then don’t tell her."

Damon smiled.

"Will you contact me again?"

Teyra thought.

"Maybe."

"Can I?"

"No."

"Direct."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because we’re still not going to tell you where we are."

Damon nodded.

"Fair."

She took a small piece of wood marked with the three lines from her pocket and placed it on the table.

"If you ever receive another letter with this, you’ll know it came from us."

Damon did not take it immediately.

"Can I take it?"

Teyra smiled.

"We’re offering it."

He took it.

"Thank you."

He stood.

Oren did too.

Teyra remained seated.

"One thing, Damon."

"Naturally."

"We aren’t what remained."

He waited.

"We’re what came after."

Damon looked at the symbol in his hand.

Understood.

Not remnants of a better bloodline.

Not survivors of a correct model.

Just people who kept changing after Arvell ceased to exist.

"Good definition."

"We know."

Damon left.

Went down the stairs.

The innkeeper barely looked at him.

Outside, Veyra remained exactly the same.

People were returning home.

Shops were closing.

Someone was arguing over the price of fish on the corner.

No ancestral revelation had changed the world.

Damon began walking toward the edge of the city.

He took the black tablet from his pocket.

As expected, the signal was practically nonexistent.

Even so, there was an old message from Jian Yue that had probably arrived while he was still close enough.

ALIVE?

Damon smiled.

He put the tablet away.

He would answer when he reached the Transfer point.

There was no rush.

For the first time, he had met people connected to that part of his own past and walked away knowing less about what he was supposed to be than when he entered.

That was exactly what he wanted.