The old phone suddenly rang as its tune gradually grew louder the longer it was left unattended to. Elais picked it up, not necessarily to answer it but mostly to end its endless jingle that he wasn’t fond of. The sound that followed was even worse. 

“Oh, Elais you picked up!” Adrienne exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

“What,” Elais snapped, lacking any mental energy to spare for her antics. He hoped that whatever reason she had called him for wouldn’t result in him instantly hanging up. He sure wanted to, regardless.

“So, so rude,” Adrienne dismissed. “Anyway, I have more intel about the cults. If you didn’t want to hear more about that, then that shall be so.”

Elais’ eyes widened upon hearing the news, almost dropping the phone in shock. After six years of fruitless research and investigations, and to hear that Adrienne somehow managed to collect intel was irritating, especially considering that she hadn’t really been in contact until now. 

“Then come over to discuss it,” he replied. 

“I can’t leave the house, for reasons I cannot disclose. Especially given this is all confidential, I couldn’t bring it over even if I wanted to,” she answered.

“Then I’ll be over in a second,” Elais groaned, reaching for his coat before he left the home.

He arrived at the rustic home, noting that it seemed a lot more worn down than his first visit. He knocked precisely three times before being invited by the researcher. She invited him to sit down by the digital screens she had lowered in the main room, the numerous mannequins and wires seeming to have doubled from his last visit. 

“And what’s this all about?” Elais asked, gesturing to the screens presented before him.

“So, I believe that I may have discovered the cult’s hideout,” she said as she zoomed into the location on the digital map presented on the screen. 

Elais looked at the location, noting that it was in a rather obscure and random part of the country. “And how did you come to this conclusion?”   

“Oh, so I’ve been using this energy scanner and found mysterious outputs of energy. Only discovered it recently, so it means they’re up to something now,” she replied, flicking a few switches as something whirred behind her.

“I’m surprised you have this sort of technology with you,” Elais said, looking over at the foreign piece of technology. It was a rather sizable piece of metal, consisting of a random assortment of radars and buttons. It definitely wasn’t present when he first visited the home.

“My family has been using it for a while in a bid to search for sorcerers using the newfound dark magic,” Adrienne explained, adjusting the levers of the energy scanner. “We’re never short of innovation in this household. You could honestly use some.” Her golden-cat eyes beamed as she smirked.

Elais raised an eyebrow as he continued to stare at the energy scanner. “What were they doing with that kind of technology to look for sorcerers, though?” 

“They were magical authoritative figures. They had access and authority to use such things.” Adrienne explained as her hand waved in an odd gesture. 

“I see. I’ll head to the location soon, then,” Elais responded as he analysed the digital map, noting it down for his own reference. He turned to face the door as he readied himself to leave.

“Thanks for your efforts in helping take care of the girl. I’ve also been meaning to tell you that I made a minor development regarding your immortal dilemma,” Adrienne voiced as she turned to face him as she opened up her leather notebook. 

Elais paused in his steps.

“It’s a possibility that it wasn’t just magical involvement, but a physical one too. If one were to transcend the natural order of life to become immortal, they’d have to force their physical bodies to undergo a change of physical makeup,” Adrienne continued, tapping her notebook.

“Could you clarify further?” Elais queried as he turned to face her, the sunlight peeking through the windows making his amethyst eyes shimmer. 

She smiled in satisfaction at his response. ‘It’s just a theory for now, but if the new dark magic is capable of forcing changes in a physical body, it definitely could transcend the physical world as well,” Adrienne explained. “To control the world and how it works, that sort of thing.”

Elais noted the information mentally. “And how may this affect Yura, considering she's supposed to be related to the new dark magic?”

“If the dark magic were responsible for her powers, it may be affecting her growth, physically or magically.”

Elais’ eyes widened slightly. “Her magic reserve hasn’t grown in six years..”

“Then that’s a sign she underwent some form of forced change of physical makeup. Otherwise she would’ve had some form of growth, even if it were a little,” Adrienne explained as she waved her finger around. 

“So she really would be an experiment to them then,” Elais said under his breath. His worst theory essentially had been confirmed right before him.

Adrienne nodded as she clasped her hands together. “Correct. We won’t know why or what for until we do something about them. And you’re the only person guaranteed to come out alive.”

Elais raised his head and noticed an array of framed photos on her wall beside the screens. A particular photograph stood out to him, but not in the way he expected. It was a portrait of a young woman in a white lab coat, styled with a black collared shirt underneath it as she wore her pastel pink hair tied up in a messy bun. 

He’d met them before. But not by choice. 

The overwhelming scent of antiseptics and chemicals brought him to his consciousness. He opened his eyes and desperately sought for answers. What was happening, where was he now? But most importantly, why. He struggled to escape from the coolness of the metal that lay underneath him, realising that his limbs had been constricted rather firmly. If there was something he understood, it was that he wasn’t here by choice.

A silhouette leaned over him, as he turned his head to the side. Their light pink hair was in an unkempt bun that shone slightly under the dim ceiling light, their lab coat almost blinding his eyes as they slowly turned to face him.

Their grim face only darkened as her smile grew unnaturally wider, spreading from cheek to cheek. “Oh, you’re awake now. Now you’ll start screaming, what fun that’ll be,” she purred. She clicked the bloody pliers in her hands, holding a clean scalpel in the other. 

And before he could register that she’d already commenced the experiment, he violently jolted as he let out a scream, with the warmth of his blood staining the cold table.

“Do.. you know this person by any chance?” Elais asked, taking in some deep breaths as he pointed to the portrait in front of him. He did not mentally prepare himself to anticipate facing his past so directly, nor suddenly. 

“That’s the person who started all of this research, but she went missing after a while apparently,” Adrienne answered as she looked over the photographs. “It’s a shame since her work went unnoticed and unacknowledged by the government despite the progress she made in advancing complex magical theories.”

Elais noticed another photo of the researcher holding hands with another woman as their cheerful memory had been captured in the snapshot. Her long brown hair that curled at the ends and her matching earth-toned eyes that radiated beautifully under the sunlight, and her warm smile that made his heart feel lighter whenever he had a bad day. Her beauty mark situated under the corner of their eye, and her soft heart-shaped lips that made him feel like the luckiest man in the world. 

The ringing of her soft laughter from his memories grew louder the longer he stared at the photograph.

It couldn’t have been real, surely it was nothing more than a coincidence. 

Yura.