13

  Power & Conspiracies

  Adam lay slumped on the chair, completely exhausted, his breathing low and strained, with blood and something thicker gathering at the back of his throat. He spat it out instinctively, but it only smeared down his chin and dropped onto his chest in a thin, red line. He’d been stripped of his shirt, his body battered and covered in small cuts and dark bruises. All ten of his fingers had been broken, one kneecap busted, and one of his eyes was swollen shut from the heavy blow he’d received, but he was still conscious… just barely.

  The Bronze-Ranks had obeyed Julius’s last order to the letter. They showed him no mercy as they continued the torture, slowly working their way to the rest of his body after breaking his fingers repeatedly, and then crushed one of his kneecaps, never once allowing him to lose consciousness no matter the pain they inflicted. Adam wasn’t sure if minutes or hours had passed since Julius left. Everything had slipped into a blur and his vision swam in red. The agony in his shattered knee consumed him, drowning all other pain, even the intense throbbing of his broken thumbs and the eight fingers twisted at grotesque angles. The blood had stopped flowing long ago, drying on his hands like flaking paint.

  The knights hadn’t asked questions, they just wanted to break him, and Adam knew that there was nothing he could say that would save him, they would just cut out his tongue as Julius had ordered. The pain was the worst thing he had ever known, an overwhelming agony that threatened to break his sanity. But even through the torment, he didn’t beg. He screamed, he cursed, he thrashed against his tormentors, but he didn’t beg for mercy. That would have done nothing to ease his suffering, and he refused to give them the satisfaction.

  He would rather die…

  With effort, Adam lifted his head to look at the Bronze-Ranks surrounding him. One of them stood directly in front of him, and the other two were positioned by his sides. The Silver-Ranks had left with Julius, leaving only the four of them in the room.

  Adam fixed his stare on the Bronze-Rank in front of him, the man still holding the bloody hammer he’d used to shatter one of his kneecaps. He appeared to be in charge now that Julius and the Silver-Ranks were gone. He was a middle-aged man with an overgrown mustache prominent on his face. Adam deeply loathed him. He was the one who’d handled most of the torture, and even now he was looking at him like a slab of meat, wondering what part to carve next. The other two were just as guilty, of course, with one healing him whenever he was close to mercifully slipping into unconsciousness, the other one striking him whenever he thrashed too hard. He despised them all, but the mustache knight most of all. He’d memorized their faces. Somehow, he would make them all pay dearly.

  “He’s a tough one,” the mustache knight said evenly.

  The second Bronze-Rank knight, a younger man with shaved head—the one who’d been striking him over and over—let out a snort. “Think he beats the record?”

  “You mean that demi-human? He lasted two whole days before he started squealing like a pig, begging us to stop,” the mustache knight responded and nudged Adam’s broken knee with his boot. “This one is stubborn, I’ll give him that. But I don’t think he lasts that long. We haven’t started pulling out his teeth, that usually gets them begging.”

  “I agree,” the shaved head knight said. “He doesn’t last the night.”

  “I think he does last,” the healer chirped in, standing at Adam’s right shoulder. He was another young man. “Look at him, he’s glaring at us. There’s still fire in his eyes.”

  The shaved head knight chuckled softly under his breath. “A bet then?” he said in a casual tone. “One gold says he doesn’t make it past tonight before he starts begging.”

  “I’ll take that. I’m telling you, this one is going to last,” the healer said.

  Adam listened to the knights exchange, and every word stoked the hatred and rage simmering underneath his pain. The way they talked about him, their laughter, their wagers, their cruelty, it was like they didn’t even see him as a person, just something insignificant, like a toy they could use, break and discard at will. His muscles trembled with the force of his fury, his jaw clenched until his teeth ached, and that darkness he carried swelled inside his chest. They were wrong. He would correct them. They were the ones who were worth nothing, not even dirt to be walked on. They didn’t deserve to exist in this world.

  The hunger to kill them, to make them feel even a fraction of what they had done to him, swept through Adam’s mind like a sudden flood. He wanted to see their smiling faces deformed into masks of horror and despair, and their laughter twisted into cries of pain. He wanted to hurt them badly. He’d never wanted anything more in all his life.

  The desire rooted itself deep inside Adam’s mind, feeding on his pain, his anger, his burning hatred. The darkness inside him rose higher, heavier, surging from his chest to his throat. It was like a hand closing tight around his throat, he couldn’t breathe. The darkness swallowed him whole, and his mind echoed with only one thought, one desire.

  The mustache knight glanced at him and nudged his broken knee once more. “Still glaring. Maybe I should start pulling those eyes out since—”

  Adam barely heard the rest, he didn’t even acknowledge the knight. A sudden chill crept over him, tightening around his chest and prickling his skin, as if his own blood had turned into ice. The air also grew heavier, vibrating faintly around him.

  “Do you feel that?” The healer asked with a frown.

  The temperature in the room dropped lower and Adam felt it first, a strange energy bubbling inside him, sliding through his veins like icy water searching for a way out. Then he saw the thin, black mist leaking out from his skin, first from his fingertips, then curling up to his arms and swirling around his shoulders. The air hummed, and the room grew cold enough that he could see his breath. The knights stood frozen, looking at him in confusion.

  Then Adam exhaled a quiet breath…

  In an instant, a sudden burst of dark energy exploded outward like shockwaves from a massive bomb, completely shattering the chair he sat on and hurling the three Bronze-Rank knights across the room, slamming them into the far wall with enough force to crack the plaster. Even he hit the floor after the chair’s destruction, momentarily disoriented. But slowly, he rose back to his feet. The agony in his body had dulled, not gone, just muted, drowned beneath something far stronger, something hungry and ancient. His broken fingers moved with soft pops as he clenched his hands into fists, and he stood upright despite his shattered knee. They weren’t healed, but he could move them now.

  The air grew heavier as the darkness spread thicker around him, his entire body now leaking black smoke. It was like all the shadows were no longer content to simply cling to the corners of the room, they were reaching for him, recognizing him, pulling themselves toward the one who now resembled their long-lost master.

  Adam didn’t know what was happening, but the energy flooding through his entire body felt overwhelming, like a nuclear charge swelling inside his chest, one wrong breath away from detonating and destroying every single thing. His senses muddled, every sound, even his breathing felt so much louder; his sight too, clearer than they’d ever been even in the dim light. His emotions were scattered, and some didn’t feel like his own, like the dread and shock he sensed. The sensations crashed together chaotically, clawing for space in his mind. But despite the turmoil, one thought, one fierce desire, cut through the fog clearly.

  The knights… they had to die.

  Adam watched the three Bronze-Ranks stagger to their feet, immense fear and shock drawn clearly on their faces. Quickly, he realized some of the emotions he sensed, the ones that weren’t his own, they were from the men, he could almost smell it on them. But despite the fear that gripped them, they drew their weapons, two swords and one mace.

  The mustache knight stared at him in shock. “…What are you?”

  Adam didn’t answer. He just stared at the men like they were insects, so far beneath him that didn’t deserve his words, or even his attention. But after everything they had done, everything they had said, he would deliver judgement. Adam felt like a god about to punish some ants that had bitten him, the task was beneath him, yet he wanted to see their eyes as the light drained from them, he wanted to hear their screams, he wanted to watch their faces in the moment they finally understood the grave mistake they had committed.

  The shaved-head knight recovered from the shock first and charged toward him with a loud shout. Dark energy surged from Adam’s hand, pooling like liquid shadow. He raised his arm instinctively and a jet of black flames shot out from his palm.

  It engulfed the knight and he thrashed wildly, slamming head first into a wall before collapsing and rolling across the floor. The black flames consumed his flesh, even after his cries of torment ceased and he stopped flailing, he still continued to burn. When the flames finally vanished, nothing was left of the knight but a charred corpse on the floor.

  Panicked, the healer’s face drained of color and he tried to run to the door, but Adam moved, just a step, and he crossed the distance in the blink of an eye. He didn’t know how he moved so fast, but he just wanted to block the escape, and he was there. The healer ran straight into his chest and stumbled back in horror. Adam didn’t give him a chance to react after that as his hand clamped around the man’s throat, lifting him from the ground. Bones cracked under his grip, and the knight kicked and scrambled, but Adam barely felt it. With a single twist, he snapped the man’s neck and let him drop like a discarded doll.

  He turned to the mustache knight and the man stumbled backwards, horror widening his eyes as he waved his mace. “Stay back! Stay back! Sir Julius—”

  Adam stepped forward and the Bronze-Rank swung wildly at his head, but he caught his arm mid-strike. He squeezed hard and bones cracked beneath his grip, the arm bending at an unnatural angle and bones jutting out. The man shrieked and Adam extended his other hand to clench his throat, cutting off his screams. Not now… they would come later.

  “How long will you last, I wonder,” he whispered in a low voice that didn’t sound like his own. It was stronger, forceful, even the air shook under its intensity.

  The mustache knight shook his head violently and his lips trembled as tears streaked down his ugly face. He stared at Adam like something he’d never seen before, like he was death itself. His face had gone ghastly pale, and his eyes seemed ready to burst out of their sockets. That was exactly what Adam wanted to see, the raw despair of a man recognizing his own powerlessness, the complete surrender to whatever fate Adam chose for him.

  “Please… I beg you. I—”

  Adam didn’t wait to hear the rest of his words. He flung him across the room and he slammed him into the wall with a force that shattered at least a couple of ribs. Before he could begin to pick himself up, Adam was there, standing over him. He stomped on the knight’s leg, crushing bone, and the man’s screams tore through the room as he begged for mercy. Adam seized him by the head and drove it into the wall once, decisively. The scream cut off, the skull caving in with a sickening pop as blood sprayed across the stone.

  Adam took a slow step back, standing alone in the room, breathing quietly, his entire body shaking, not from exertion, but something else. The black smoke that surrounded him had thickened even more, spilling into every corner of the room, and energy surged through him, buzzing under his skin like trapped insects searching for a way out, it was as if nothing he’d done had diminished it. The energy felt bottomless, endless, impossible to contain. It wanted to break free. It wanted more. Adam gritted his teeth, trying to hold it down, trying to force it to settle, but it was like trying to stop a sneeze with his bare hands.

  The pressure inside him built, stronger, and stronger. It felt like his body was tearing apart as the power threatened to erupt. “Stop!” he gasped to himself, to the darkness.

  Suddenly, the entire world went dark. A massive explosion of shadow erupted from his body, shattering the stone walls like glass and splitting the floor open. A wave of pure black energy tore through the room, swallowing sight and sound, swallowing the building, swallowing everything in a single, violent release. Then the distant sound of explosion.

  A deafening silence fell afterward.

  Adam lay in the rubble, the room—the entire building—everything was completely destroyed, reduced to shattered stone, splintered wood, and dust. Above him, the night sky stretched wide, and the moon hung low and bright. Adam stared at it, barely breathing, his body trembling as the last traces of energy hummed weakly through him. Slowly, the world began to blur, his eyelids growing heavy, then finally, he slipped into unconsciousness.

  For the first time…

  ***

  Elsa had just met with another one of Elliot’s contacts, a baker from the lower district. He was a short, pudgy man with a mean face and shifty eyes, like an old fox. Elsa didn’t trust him, but he was completely docile to Elliot. According to her second-in-command, the man was a law-abiding citizen, but in the past he had worked with the wrong sort of people, and now those same people were after him for reasons Elliot didn’t share. Elliot protected him and his family from them, and in return the man provided information. He had a wife and children, so it was dangerous to lie and risk Elliot withdrawing his protection. That was the reason Elsa believed him—despite his untrustworthy appearance—when he told them that he hadn’t seen or heard anything about someone matching Adam’s description.

  He was the third of Elliot’s contacts that they’d met. The other two, a brothel owner and a street urchin, hadn’t seen or heard anything either. Night had fallen and they’d gotten no closer to finding where Adam had been taken. Elsa was panicked out of her mind, her emotions frayed. Her jaw hadn’t relaxed once since afternoon, and she couldn’t take a step without turning her head, desperately searching for signs of him in the crowd. Elliot had probably noticed her fear, but he hadn’t said a word, and honestly she wouldn’t have cared if he did. Adam had been missing since the afternoon, probably being tortured. Even if he could somehow hold out, she couldn’t help but worry about the shape he was in.

  “I have contacts in the next district,” Elliot said as they walked down the street. “If he was taken off the street, someone must have seen… or at least heard about it.”

  Elsa nodded faintly, even though she was already losing hope in the plan. The longer they spent going around in circles searching for a lead, the more Adam suffered. Should she go to the King’s Hand? Try to get answers forcefully? She hadn’t wanted to earlier, but there might not be a choice anymore. Elsa knew there would be no turning back if she took that step, the least that would happen was a treasonous charge against her. She wasn’t afraid of it though, she’d always said that would be her final move if the Hand ever touched the inn, but did that promise extend to Adam? Was he worth destroying everything for?

  Elsa didn’t know the answer to those questions, or maybe she simply didn’t want to acknowledge it. But the mere fact that she was even considering something so drastic said enough. It showed how deeply these new, strange feelings she had already ran, how easily he had slipped past her defenses in such a short time, without even seeming to try.

  By the Divine…. she was truly lost.

  “Commander,” Elliot said quietly after they’d been walking for a long moment, and he didn’t glance at her. “Even if we do find the boy, we should be prepared for…”

  Elsa’s eyes blazed and shot him a hard look. “He’s not dead,” she said sharply, not even allowing him to finish his words. “We still have time.”

  “Commander, why do—”

  The rest of Elliot’s words were cut short as a sudden tremor tore through the ground, making the lampposts shudder and the windows of nearby homes rattle in their frame. Elsa froze, and she wasn’t the only one. For a while, the entire district fell silent. People stopped mid-step, their conversations cutting off as their heads turned in confusion.

  Then—BOOM.

  A deep, thunderous explosion tore through the night air. Windows shattered, a few nearby children screamed in terror, and somewhere down the street, a dog bolted away in panic and overturned a large crate. The cobblestoned ground shook for a second time as a strong gust of wind swept through the street, causing Elsa’s cloak to snap violently behind her. Her head shot toward the source quickly. She didn’t need to think, she just knew.

  The explosion… it had something to do with Adam.

  “That came from the industrial district,” Elliot said in a loud voice, his face colored with shock and alarm. “What in the Divine’s name—“ He stopped as he noticed Elsa was already moving toward the explosion. “Commander!” He dashed after her.

  Elsa raced down the street. She wanted to sprint at full speed, but instead she kept a controlled pace so everyone could see a Gold-Rank running, not a blur, which would only fuel the panic of the startled crowd who still hadn’t processed what had just happened. Her heart hammered in her chest at the thought of what she’d found waiting, a mixture of dread, hope, and fear, coiling tight around her mind. She might feel certain that the explosion had something to do with Adam, but how exactly had it happened? Was he safe from it?

  Elsa still didn’t know how he had survived in the forest, but she had the feeling that whatever had happened there was connected to what had just occurred here.

  Her instinct warned her to be careful, that she might be running into danger, but she didn’t listen to it and just kept running. She turned a corner and the night lit up faintly with drifting dust and the glows of lanterns being ignited across the streets. She heard voices in the distance, people calling for help, others crying in panic and alarm.

  “Commander,” Elliot called after her, his tone tight with worry. He’d clearly arrived at the same conclusion she had. “If this was him… what the hell did he do?”

  Elsa didn’t respond. It was the question she’d just been wondering about. If this was caused by Adam, then just what was he? How was he able to do something like this without magic? Was she running toward an ally? A threat? Or something else? As she rounded the last corner that led to the industrial district, a second gust of cold wind rushed past her, and her stomach dropped at the sensation of it, then she saw the site of the explosion.

  Where a large warehouse and three smaller buildings had stood this morning, there was now a heap of rubble with smoke rising from the shattered remains, even some of the surrounding buildings had been affected by the violent blast. The street was heavily littered with debris; broken beams, bricks, and stone. Strangely, Elsa noticed that there was no sign of fire, or anything that might be able to cause this level of destruction.

  What exactly had happened here?

  There was a small crowd already, normal civilians and guards alike, gathered some distance away, pointing, shouting, too terrified to approach.

  “Commander…” Elliot called, voice muffled, as if he was struggling to breathe.

  Elsa spun around to see Elliot down on his knees, his eyes wide with fear and sweat beading on his brow. He had one hand clamped over his nose, his entire body trembling.

  “Elliot!” Elsa hurried and dropped to his side. “What’s wrong?”

  “This smell…” he choked out. “It’s like the forest.”

  Elsa’s jaw tightened. It was no longer a suspicion, it was certain now. Adam caused the explosion. She didn’t know how, but Elliot’s reaction was all the proof she needed. He had probably used a similar power in the forest, the destruction hadn’t been anywhere this severe, but it would explain how he’d managed to survive. Only two questions stuck out to her now. The first was how he had come by such power? He had no trace of magic, she’d tested him with the Diviner, and it couldn’t be deceived. The second question was if he had known about this power all along and lied to her? If so, that alone might be enough for her to finally consider him a threat, even if she didn’t want to. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind, she would deal with them later. Right now, she just needed to find him.

  “Elliot,” Elsa said calmly and rested her hand on his shoulder. “You look pale, go back to the inn for now, inform Yara and Katryn that we know where he is now, they must be worried sick. Also, don’t tell anyone that Adam might…” she hesitated for a moment, not sure what to say. She didn’t know enough about what was happening with him. “Just don’t tell anyone about him… not until we figure things out for ourselves first.”

  Elliot nodded, seeming even thankful for a reason to leave.

  After he left, Elsa turned and hurried toward the rubble. She climbed over broken slabs of stone, her eyes darting frantically around the destruction, searching for Adam. He was probably buried underneath, but she knew it was dangerous to just start pulling debris and flinging them aside, he might get crushed. She stood still a moment, slowing her heart rate, listening intently for any sound… then she heard a faint breathing.

  She moved swiftly toward the sound, pushing a large beam away as if it weighed no more than a pebble, then she saw him. Adam lay half-buried, body limp, face smeared with blood and dust, his chest rising in uneven breaths. He looked broken… exhausted.

  For a moment, Elsa’s heart stopped and she sank down to her knees, her body finally sagging with relief so deep it nearly put her to sleep. She’d never felt this way before.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Adam…” she breathed, her voice low, breaking.

  She reached forward with a trembling hand, brushing his cheek, brushing dirt from his face, her fingers shaking so violently she could barely control them. It was the first time she’d touched him, she realized and quickly pulled her hand away, as if she had been caught doing something terrible. Her eyes lowered down his body, and she saw his injuries.

  “By the Divine…” she whispered. “What did they do to you?”

  He had really been tortured. She’d known he might be from the start, but seeing the evidence on his body was a different pain entirely, and she felt her anger threaten to rise to the surface, but she forced it down quickly. There would be enough time later to hunt down the perpetrators. He was alive, that was the only thing that mattered right now.

  Behind her, she heard footsteps and she turned her head. It was a person she hadn’t expected to see, whose mere existence vexed her deeply, Julius. But why was he here? Had he been close when the explosion happened? He wasn’t exactly known to be eager to help.

  “Julius,” she said slowly with her brows drawn tight.

  The man’s gaze stayed fixed on her, wary and guarded for some reason she couldn’t explain. Slowly, it softened and dropped to Adam. He seemed almost thoughtful, then after a moment, that false, repulsive smile slid across his loathsome face.

  “Elsa,” he said in a warm voice. “I suppose you’re here to steal the credit for all my hard work? But you’re too late. I’ve already found the abducted children. I was on my way here to apprehend the men behind it, then I heard the explosion…” He looked around the devastation. “Must you always be so forceful? I doubt there’ll be any evidence to collect.”

  “What are you talking about?” Elsa frowned, shaking her head in confusion.

  He ignored her question and gestured to Adam. “Who’s the boy?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you put innocents in danger? Or was he the one responsible for this?”

  Elsa eyes pressed tighter, her confusion deepening. She didn’t understand even half of what was happening here. Julius had found the abducted children? The same ones she’d been trying to find? He had been looking into the case? Did he know she had been looking into it as well? How much did he know? She had suspected that other knights were involved in the atrocities taking place in the kingdom, but she hadn’t considered there might be some working honestly to uncover the crime, let alone that Julius would be such a person.

  The man was vain, lazy, arrogant, and utterly self-serving, with enough pride to fill a thousand kingdoms. He’d been the last knight elevated to Gold-Rank before her, and he had nursed a bitter grudge from the moment she was declared to the kingdom. It was as if he’d expected to be the last Gold-Rank the kingdom would ever see. When he realized that she’d earned the public’s admiration, he had attempted to befriend her, though it was little more than a ploy to get into her bed and add her to his long list of conquest. She had rejected him, strongly and perhaps even a little embarrassingly, and that blow to his fragile ego was something he never forgave or forgot. If knight-ship was earned solely by character, he never would have become one. He was far from a decent person

  Elsa had also heard rumors of his cruelty and abuse. There were plenty of allegations leveled against him, but half of them were dismissed for a lack of evidence, the other half were retracted. Elsa had one time suspected that the people who retracted their allegations might have been pressured or threatened, but again, there was no evidence. But regardless of whether the allegations were true or not, Elsa believed that there was something deeply twisted about the man, something he tried his hardest to hide behind that nauseating smile and false charm. He hadn’t yet realized they only made him more detestable to people who saw him for what he was, or perhaps he’d realized but just didn’t care.

  All of that was why Elsa found it hard to believe he’d been actively working to find the missing children. But what reason would he have to lie about something like that? And he’d said the men behind the kidnapping were here, and considering this was where Adam had been taken, he would be right. What exactly was happening here?

  She needed Adam to wake up…

  Elsa opened her mouth to ask Julius questions, but before a single word could escape her mouth, a group of guards arrived, five Silver-Ranks. They must’ve been drawn by the explosion. One of them froze the moment he saw Elsa kneeling beside Adam.

  “Commander Elsa! Injured civilian!” the guard barked, immediately signaling some others she couldn’t see. “Send for the healers! Quickly!”

  Julius stepped away immediately, as if there was nothing left for him here, and that knowing smirk remained on his face as he left. Elsa still had questions, but she didn’t think to stop him, she was more than glad to see the back of him. She could piece things together after Adam woke up, the man didn’t need to be here. He rubbed her the wrong way.

  She turned her head and saw two healers running over with a stretcher, their white robes fluttering, their hands already glowing with pale light. They weren’t knights who just used healing magic, they were full time healers, exactly what she needed right now.

  “Oh Divine…” one whispered after seeing Adam’s condition.

  The other knelt beside Elsa. “Commander, allow us.”

  Elsa shifted back a little to allow them to work, but she stayed close, close enough that her knee still brushed Adam’s arm. Her eyes never left him. The healers poured magic into his body, trying to seal open wounds, fix internal bleeding, stabilizing his breathing… but Elsa could see their agitation growing by the second. Something was wrong.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked sharply in a worried tone.

  The healer beside her swallowed nervously. “Commander, his body is responding, but only slowly. He’s been healed, over and over again… They broke him, and they healed him each time. Something also happened to him, I don’t know what, but… it drained him past normal physical limits. This level of exhaustion isn’t natural. It… it feels as if his body underwent a violent surge of mana and then collapsed in on itself.”

  A chill crept down Elsa’s spine at the words she heard. They’d broken him, only to put him together and then break him again. She didn’t ask how people could be so evil and cruel, she knew the reality of the world already. Still, what she’d heard stirred an ache deep in her chest and a tear almost slipped down her cheeks. All he wanted was to go back home, he shouldn’t even be involved in this, he wasn’t from this kingdom. Yet he’d had to suffer through something like that, for simply trying to help. And it was partly her fault, she had brought him to the kingdom. If she hadn’t, none of this would have happened.

  “Will he survive?” Elsa asked so quietly, unable to keep the strain from her voice.

  “Yes,” the other healer said quickly. “But he needs time… lots of time.”

  Relief washed over her so strong and so suddenly she had to close her eyes and just breathe deeply for a moment. “Get him to the infirmary,” she ordered after the breath.

  The healers nodded and carefully lifted Adam onto the small stretcher. Elsa rose and gave a final order to Silver-Rank knights to take care of things here, then she followed after the healers, not sparing a single glance at anything else but Adam. The infirmary was a fair distance away, but in their haste, they got there very quickly. They brought Adam to one of the recovery rooms, and there seven healers worked on him together.

  It took several hours, but the healers succeeded in steadying his breathing, mending his broken bones, and sealing his wounds across his body. They left the bruises on his face untouched, explaining that after everything he’d been through, some things were better left to heal naturally. The healers left soon after, leaving the two of them alone. Adam was still asleep from sheer exhaustion, but that was normal, it was the consequence of draining one’s energy through magic. Though a few could force their abilities beyond that point, doing so was incredibly difficult and dangerous; in place of energy, they risked burning their own life. There were many who met their end that way. Adam had come perilously close to that threshold, which was strange, given that he wasn’t supposed to have magic at all.

  Elsa hadn’t given it too much thought, but now that she had calmed down, her mind circled back to the moment she’d heard the explosion and felt the ground tremble beneath her feet. An impact like that had probably been felt across half the kingdom; a Gold-Rank or higher tier adventurers might be able to produce something that powerful, was that what he was? And then there was Elliot, she’d only seen that kind of fear on his face once, back in the forest, and that also involved Adam. What kind of magic did he possess? What deity had blessed him? Why didn’t the Diviner sense anything? Elsa considered what to do when he finally woke up, should she pretend she didn’t know anything and see whether he would tell her? Or should just ask him straight about everything and why he concealed it.

  Elsa took a deep breath and relaxed. That was for later. Right now, her concern for him took precedence. She sat beside his bed, arms crossed tightly and her eyes fixed on his handsome face. She didn’t leave him once, and didn’t let anyone else in, not even the other knights who tried to approach with questions about the explosion. She told herself that she was protecting him as she’d failed to do before, and while that was true, the bigger reason she just didn’t want to leave him. He was completely out, and there was nothing she could do to stir him awake, he had to wake on his own. Elsa wasn’t used to feeling helpless. It was an unfamiliar, maddening sensation clawing her chest. She leaned forward and brushed a strand of hair from his forehead, not caring too much this time as they were alone.

  “What are you doing to me, Adam…?” she whispered.

  Hours passed by in silence, and every so often she spoke softly, more to keep herself sane than anything. Elliot arrived, bringing updates from Yara and Katryn. They’d wanted to know what happened to him, especially after the explosion, but he had calmed their fears and told them she would explain. Elsa offered her thanks, and then quickly sent him away to rest as he still looked pale and shaken. That was another thing she needed to understand about Adam. The way Elliot reacted to whatever he’d done wasn’t normal.

  Another thing to keep for a later time…

  Elsa continued to watch him through the hours. The healers checked on him twice, both times confirming he was stable, just exhausted. Elsa stayed awake the entire time, her eyes not closing even once to rest. She didn’t even realize when morning came. It was only when Adam’s breath hitched that she straightened up, her heart slamming against her ribs.

  “Adam?” she whispered and leaned close. “Adam… can you hear me?”

  His brow tensed and a groan escaped his throat. Then slowly, he opened his eyes.

  ***

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” Elsa asked worriedly. “They said you’ll need lots of time.”

  Adam gave a small nod. “I’m alright, really.”

  It was morning. He’d woken up just a moment ago, surprised to find himself in this world’s version of a hospital, and even more surprised to find Elsa by his side. He glanced at her again, and saw her emerald eyes dulled, and something about the way she sat on the edge of the chair, her posture sagging with relief, told him she’d been there a long while.

  She really did care for him.

  He was always surprised whenever he realized, because she did things that went far beyond what he expected. They weren’t overly close, she should have no obligation to be this worried for him, to give him clothes, to sit with him for god knows how long while he was unconscious. Or was there some other reason behind her actions? Did she actually like him? Someone like her? He doubted it. But whatever the case, he was fine. He felt a little sluggish, but other than that he was alright. He had no problems at all.

  “Do you remember what happened?” Elsa asked quietly after a while, looking deep into his eyes for some reason. “I found you unconscious in the rubble.”

  Adam hesitated giving an answer. He remembered everything—Julius, the agony of his torture, the blinding rage and hatred that had taken shape inside his mind, the immense power that had surged through him, how easily and violently he’d killed those knights, and then the explosion that ripped out from him. He remembered it all with perfect clarity, but how much should he tell her? It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, after everything they’d been through, he did… somewhat. But he knew nothing about that power he had felt, and talking about it could be dangerous. It wasn’t water, earth, or even light magic like she had, it was different, nothing like the other magic he had seen or read about.

  What if it was something considered heretical? How quickly would her concern turn to dismay, or worse, hatred? He still remembered that priest’s reaction when he’d merely asked about resurrection magic; he couldn’t risk that happening again. Elsa wouldn’t be as easy to handle as the man had been. But what if his concerns turned out to be no issue and she could actually help him figure things out? Shit, he couldn’t decide…

  Adam let out a deep breath. “I had a hunch I wanted to check out, but I ran into these knights. There was a Gold-Rank among them… he caught me.”

  “Gold-Rank?” Elsa asked with a frown.

  He nodded. “His name was Julius. He seemed to be their leader,” he said and saw a quick flash of recognition in her eyes. “He gave the order to have me tortured.”

  “Julius… that snake,” she muttered with disgust, as if merely saying the name alone was bitter on her tongue. There was also a sharp anger rising in her green eyes that he didn’t understand, but she settled it down quickly with a deep breath. “Of course he’s involved. I met him where I found you. He told me that he’d found the children.”

  “What?” Adam gasped and almost reeled back in shock. Why would Julius lie about that? Had the children even been found? He couldn’t understand the angle.

  “I didn’t believe him either,” Elsa said. “But we can deal with that later, tell me how you managed to get away, and why were you unconscious?”

  This was where things got complicated. Adam still hadn’t decided how much to tell her or whether to even say anything at all. He drew in a breath as he remembered the power that had flowed through his body, the way the world had bowed beneath him. For a moment there, he had felt like a god, limitless and untouchable. He could still feel a trace of it even now, a faint pressure in his chest. The power was quieter, but not gone.

  He knew he could reach it again, if he focused.

  “I didn’t get away. I… killed them, the three Bronze-Ranks Julius kept to watch and torture me,” he said quietly. Elsa stared at him, stunned, but he continued before she could interrupt. “I’m still not sure how it happened, I just felt so angry… and before I knew I was moving faster, punching harder. I was filled with some kind of energy, I don’t know what it was, couldn’t control it, it just felt… too much. That was when the explosion….” He let his voice trail off, she could figure out the rest. She had found him in the rubble.

  It wasn’t the whole truth, but it should probably be enough—enough to satisfy her without revealing what even he didn’t fully understand. Adam watched her carefully as he finished, wary of the slightest shift in her expression. Instead, a small, soft smile appeared on her face, warm in a way that almost disarmed him.

  “I see,” she said in a quiet voice. “It seems you can use magic after all, Adam. The same thing probably happened in the forest, you just weren’t aware of it. The only mystery left is what kind of magic it is and why the Diviner couldn’t detect it.” Her smile softened further, relief easing the tension in her voice. “Still… I’m grateful you survived.”

  Adam was a bit suspicious. She seemed to accept every word he said easily, as if she already knew and only wanted to hear what he would say, like some kind of test. Either way, telling her something was the correct decision. It would have been too fishy if he was at the center of another strange event and claimed not to have any memory again.

  “Yeah… me too,” he said quietly.

  Elsa rose slowly to her feet and drew in a long, steadying breath as if she was forcing herself back into the role of commander. “You should rest for now,” she said, her voice firm but gentle. “We’ll talk more when you’ve fully recovered.” She gave him a last look, half relief, half something he couldn’t define, then stepped toward the door.

  Adam settled back on the bed, but he barely had one thought before the door swung open again and Elsa reentered. Her expression was different, the relief that had been on her face just a moment ago was gone, replaced completely by a face tight with worry.

  “Adam,” she said quietly, “can you walk?”

  He stared at her with narrowed eyes, then nodded slowly. “Yeah… why?”

  She gave a nod, though something in her eyes told him she wished the answer could have been no. “I just received word. The King’s Hand wants to speak to us..” Her voice dropped to a low murmur as she gave him a look. “We don’t have a choice.”

  Why would the King’s Hand want to speak with him? The explosion? Did the man know that he caused it? No, something told him that Elsa wouldn’t be the first face he saw if the man was aware of that. In any case, he would have to tread carefully.

  Adam pushed himself off the bed and put on some fresh clothes left by the bed. He was a little tired, but steady enough to stand on his two feet. Elsa quietly moved to his side, hovering close. She didn’t touch him, but he knew she was ready to catch him if he faltered.

  “Adam,” Elsa said as they began to walk, keeping her gaze forward. “When we meet the King’s Hand, don’t make any accusation, and say nothing about the explosion.”

  He said nothing and simply nodded in understanding.

  They left the infirmary and walked in silence until they reached a castle keep. Adam had never seen one before. It was towering, enclosed by high walls, with a single large gate as its entrance. This was where the royals lived, he wondered what they were like. He drew a deep breath and shook his head, quickly clearing the thought from his mind. They weren’t here to sightsee. Expectedly, Elsa knew her way around the place and she led him through the gate and down several corridors, and not a single guard stopped to question her.

  They reached a heavy oak door guarded by a pair of knights. One of them knocked once, then opened it for them. Inside, the King’s Hand sat behind a desk, several parchment and sealed documents arranged neatly before him, and he wasn’t alone. Standing off to the side of the room, still wearing that familiar, ugly smile, was Julius Darro.

  Adam’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth hurt, and the dying ember of his hatred flared instantly to life. He almost charged forward, but Elsa shifted subtly in front of him, as if sensing his intention. His fists curled tight, and he forced himself to breathe, but even that did nothing to calm him down. Only when he remembered the vow he’d made did his fury begin to settle. As satisfying as it would be to attack him here, it wouldn’t be enough.

  Julius needed to writhe in torment… anything else was mercy.

  The King’s Hand gestured toward the two chairs set before his desk. “Have a seat.”

  Elsa went first, and Adam followed her lead, taking the chair beside hers. His gaze settled on the Hand of the King, and he studied him closely, for the first time. This was the man Elsa believed was behind everything, and at a glance he looked like an average middle-aged man with dark hair and some gray at the sides. Adam didn’t know a single thing about him, not even a name, but he instantly felt that Elsa was right. There was something lurking in the man’s heavy blue eyes as he observed them, it wasn’t cold or calculating—that could be natural for someone in his position—it just felt deeply sinister.

  “Commander,” he began, his voice level and calm, “Julius informed me that he had been investigating a string of child abductions throughout the kingdom, and he succeeded in locating and freeing the victims. According to him, he had also tracked the mastermind behind the kidnappings to the industrial district, ready to apprehend them.”

  Adam’s eyes narrowed and he saw Elsa grip the chair’s armrest. What kind of game were they playing here? Every word that left the man’s mouth was complete bullshit. How could Julius rescue children they’d abducted in the first place? Were they trying to sweep the whole issue under the rug because he and Elsa knew the truth and were onto them? Was that what this was about? He’d half expected threats and a bribe, not this…

  The King’s Hand continued and his tone sharpened considerably. “However, before he could arrest the suspects, an explosion occurred, destroying the site and any evidence it might have contained.” He looked at Elsa accusingly as he finished speaking.

  Julius sighed deeply. “A tragic loss, truly. All of my hard work, undone in a moment of recklessness,” he said. “I can only hope none of the culprits escaped.”

  Fuck this guy… Adam didn’t think he’d ever hated anyone as much as he did him.

  Elsa’s jaw clenched. “I didn’t cause that explosion,” she said evenly. “I arrived after it had already happened. There are countless witnesses who saw me arrive.”

  “Is that so? Then tell me commander, what caused it?” the man demanded in a low, heavy voice. “That explosion injured dozens, and the kingdom’s coffers will bleed dry to repair the damages. The king himself has charged me with finding and punishing everyone involved, knight or not.” His gaze shifted from Elsa to him, sharp as a blade. “You were also found at the scene, were you not, stranger? What business did you have there?”

  He was getting tortured, for fuck’s sake, and the bastard was questioning him as if Julius hadn’t already told him that. But Adam held his tongue, Elsa had warned him not to make accusations. And he also understood now why she’d told him to stay silent about the explosion. This was all Julius’s doing. The knight didn’t know exactly what had happened, but he believed that either him or Elsa had caused the destruction, and he and the King’s Hand clearly intended to use that as an excuse to punish them. It didn’t matter whether it was in defense of their lives, they had caused destruction, that was enough.

  They just needed to pin it on one of them…

  Adam drew in a quiet breath. ”I was kidnapped and brought there, but I managed to escape. I don’t know what caused the explosion, I didn’t see what happened… I was caught in the blast trying to get out, then Elsa found me,” he said cautiously.

  If Julius had claimed the masterminds behind the child abductions were at the scene, then the fact that Adam had been a victim there shouldn’t be unbelievable. Elsa could also testify that he’d actually been abducted, and by extension Elliot. He was solid.

  “Help him understand better, how was it you managed to escape?” Julius asked in a low voice, eyeing him from where he was leaned against a bookshelf with his arms folded across his chest. “I’ve heard the men could be quite… vicious.”

  Adam considered his words for a moment, then raised his shoulders in a shrug. “Got lucky, I guess. Their leader just happened to leave for some reason,” he replied and calmly met Julius’s gaze. “Shame he wasn’t there though, might have been caught in the blast and spared me the effort of looking for him. No… that would have been too merciful.”

  A sudden silence fell and Adam felt Elsa bristle beside him.

  Adam didn’t show any fear. He just watched Julius’s face as he said the words, and when he saw the man’s smile crack a little, he felt a tiny sense of satisfaction. Good, he got both the message and the threat. It was tightly veiled, but he had just confirmed that he was responsible for the explosion, and he did it on purpose. He wanted Julius to know he wasn’t powerless, that dying in the explosion would have been mercy. He wanted him to know he still remembered the vow he’d made, and that he fully intended to follow through on it. He wanted him on edge, always watching his back for when he might come for him.

  By the sudden, heavy silence that floated around the office, Adam guessed both Elsa and the King’s Hand had also recognized his words for what they really were. But since it wasn’t an actual confession, Adam figured he was safe from being charged with a crime.

  “Hmm, interesting,” Julius muttered and his smile straightened.

  It was not lost on Adam that Julius didn’t ask any question about what this so-called leader he’d encountered looked like. It should have been the next natural question if he was pretending to be this dutiful knight, but it seemed as if he was done pretending.

  “Interesting, indeed,” the King’s Hand added. “I have heard lots of things about you, stranger. You were found in the forest, were you not? This is the second time you’ve stood at the center of… complications. Our kingdom values stability, and those unable to respect that are highly encouraged to seek their fortunes beyond our borders.”

  Adam recognized the phrasing for what it was, a political warning to leave wrapped in diplomacy. But leaving wasn’t an option, not yet. Not until he’d learned everything he needed to know and done all he had planned, including climbing that tower.

  He could do that now, he just needed to raise his tier first.

  The King’s Hand exhaled slowly, as though the entire conversation had been a mild but expected inconvenience. “Well,” he said after a moment passed. “Your statements will be added to the report. The Crown will continue the investigation into the explosion, and the king will be informed of your… perspectives.” His sharp eyes drifted between the two of them, lingering on Adam for one heartbeat too long. “For now, you may go.”

  Elsa stood immediately, and Adam rose after her, and though he kept his expression neutral, he felt the weight of the Hand’s gaze digging into him like daggers.

  Julius pushed off the bookshelf and unfolded his arms. “A shame, that we couldn’t get clearer answers today. But I’m certain they’ll come to light soon enough.”

  Adam took that to mean it wasn’t over, that Julius would try to find out exactly what kind of power he had. He ignored the knight, Elsa did as well, though he caught the faintest tremor in her hands. She led them out of the office, and down the corridor, then she finally released a breath. Adam knew she’d been worried, but he realized just now that it was more for him than herself. As a Gold-Rank, she’d probably done this dance before, but he hadn’t.

  “That was dangerous,” she muttered. “You basically confessed.”

  So, that was the problem. She had told him not to say anything about the explosion and he’d all but told them that he caused it, even if he didn’t actually say it.

  He gave a half smile. “But I didn’t.”

  Elsa glanced at him. “Adam,” she said, her expression set into a frown and her tone serious now. “Whatever else Julius might be, remember that he’s a Gold-Rank knight. It’s not a title that’s easily given. He won’t take kindly to the threats you made.”

  Honestly, Adam hadn’t given it much thought, but could he beat a Gold-Rank knight in an actual fight? That power he’d felt, it made him feel invincible. But was it comparable to a Gold-Rank’s strength? It could be that he’d felt that way because he’d been a mundane human just moments before, and then he got his first taste of power; like a child excited for his first backflip when there were real gymnasts in the world. Either way, it didn’t change anything for him. His intentions were the same. He’d made that vow when he thought he was a mundane human, so even his power was only a speck; it wouldn’t stop him.

  Julius would suffer, nothing in this world would stop his vengeance.

  Elsa released another breath and looked forward again. “In any case, it seems things are settled for now, at least on the surface, they’re trying to bury their crime.”

  “What do you mean?” Adam asked.

  “You’re too much of an unknown, Adam,” she answered gently. “They don’t know who you are, what your plans are, whether you’re working for someone, and that was even before the explosion. Something like that only raises more questions, and it also draws too much attention. Other Gold-Ranks could be tempted to look into it.”

  “So they’re planning to lie low,” Adam said thoughtfully. “The missing kids would continue to raise questions, so they brought them back, or rather Julius rescued them. That’s their cover story. They know we can’t do anything, even if we know it’s all a farce.”

  She nodded. “We have no proof of wrongdoing,” she whispered.

  “Then we lost,” Adam said.

  Elsa gave him a long, meaningful look. “Did we? There was no sign of demi-human slavery, and they released the abducted children. I wouldn’t count that as a loss,” she said gently. “And I don’t plan to just drop everything and move on. I still intend to bring them to justice, just as they still plan to be rid of us for good. Trying to punish us for the explosion was a last gasp attempt, but I don’t expect anything else to happen soon.”

  Adam couldn’t argue with that. She was right, but he just hadn’t expected her to be a glass half-full kind of person. He let his mind drift to the released children and he considered whether they might know something about their abductors, but if they’d been safely returned, then Julius, the King’s Hand, and everyone involved must be confident the children remembered nothing. Some kind of memory-wiping magic? Or had the kids been hidden away in some dark room? That thought raised its own questions. Why hide them? What was the point of taking them then? Maybe this went much deeper?

  Fuck… maybe this entire kingdom was better off destroyed. He considered all the innocent lives, but strangely, even that didn’t diminish the appeal of the idea.