The Good News and The Bad News

"I am a witch!"

After venting her frustration at being mistaken for a vampire, Vanessa declared it with pride, standing tall. But her words abruptly silenced Elara's laughter.

Smiling, Elara stood, effortlessly phasing through her own projected form as she approached Vanessa.

"Miss, oh-so-alive witch," she mused, tilting her head. "I didn't quite hear you. Could you repeat that for me?"

Vanessa cleared her throat. "Ah, Miss, I was merely saying—how could someone like me possibly have the honor of being a vampire?" She sighed dramatically, pointing to her teeth. "See? I don't even have those majestic fangs of yours."

Alvin, meanwhile, barely registered their exchange. His narrowed eyes were fixed on the image floating before him; he noticed something flickering deep within the projection of his mind.

'What is that…?' Uneasiness crept into his heart, noticing something unknown in his mind.

Behind the intricate web of nerves and tissues, a vague, purple, shadow-like mass hovered.

Curiosity got the better of him.

Raising a tentative finger, Alvin reached out to touch that mass only for the projection to suddenly expand.

The brain zoomed outward as if reacting to his touch, and startled by the unexpected shift, Alvin immediately pulled his finger back.

Watching the now-magnified brain, Alvin saw each muscle movement it made, each neuron pulsing as if sending signals.

Vanessa's voice pierced through the air, "That is the very essence of your being."

Alvin turned to look at her. She stood as composed as ever, but what caught his attention was Elara, the woman latched onto her arm like a leech, drinking blood.

But the next moment she let go of the arm with a frown on her face and turned away, much to his confusion. Before he could think much about it, Vanessa added.

"That is your soul."

"My soul." Alvin repeated those words and looked back at his soul. 

He observed the two glowing masses of energy that hovered within his body. Unlike his physical organs, they seemed to exist independently, untethered by any flesh and bone or even a single nerve.

"The red energy you see is your soul," Vanessa explained, gesturing toward the vibrant mist. "The purple one beside it… that is the foreign power that hijacked your ritual."

She exhaled, eyes glinting with intrigue. "The good news? This energy is accelerating your growth—faster than any vampire I have ever seen."

Alvin shivered slightly under her intense gaze. She gazed at him with such intensity that he felt like a lab rat.

"Take Lady Elara's growth rate, for example," Vanessa continued, tilting her head toward the other projection.

Alvin followed her line of sight. Elara's body, the projection, had similarities to his own; she had also absorbed energy mist from the surroundings, which also gave her a substantial boost in power.

Alvin also noticed that the pulse of power through her body was a bit slower than his own.

"This pulse, you see— this is the process by which the vampires grow stronger as they age," Vanessa elaborated. "But based on my calculations, your body is developing at three times the speed of my lady's."

While speaking, Vanessa glanced at Elara and retrieved a handkerchief to wipe away the lingering traces of blood from her arm.

"This unknown energy is fueling your transformation," she went on. "You are already reaching the peak level of a newborn vampire, even though you have just been transformed."

Elara turned around to face the projection and hummed, "And the bad news?"

Vanessa pressed her lips together before stepping closer. Raising her hand, she pointed toward the figures, and a faint thread emerged—connecting Alvin's soul to Elara's.

"This… is the bond the ritual created," she murmured. "And because of it, my lady… you have also been affected by the power."

Elara's gaze darkened.

"I have noticed the increase in my strength. I feel… stronger than before. I have even completed another cycle of blood force and formed the second blood crystal. But..." she admitted, flexing her fingers to test the newfound energy. "How is that the bad news?"

Vanessa hesitated. Then, with a flick of her fingers, she zoomed in on Elara's projection.

Unlike Alvin, three energy clusters resided within her.

Elara's sharp gaze instantly locked onto the purple mass nestled beside the silver and red mists.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered something unsettling.

It wasn't moving.

Unlike the silver mist actively coursing through her body, empowering her, the purple energy remained eerily still.

"As of now, I don't know what it's doing," Vanessa admitted grimly. "But it's simply waiting for something before it acts. That alone makes it bad news."

A heavy silence settled between them.

"Can you remove it?" Alvin asked with a solemn look on his face. Elara was his savior, and he did not want something to happen to her because of him.

"Not unless I kill her." Vanessa's response was flat, without hesitation.

Elara scoffed. 'Was that a disappointment? Are you disappointed that you couldn't kill me? Rebellious maid!!!'

Alvin clenched his fists. "Why is it different from what's happening to me?"

Looking at what was happening in Elara's soul, Alvin could not help but wonder if what was happening to him was really a good thing or if he was keeping a ticking time bomb in his soul.

Vanessa sighed. "I need more time to research it. With the resources we have right now, I can't determine what other effects this energy may have."

Elara walked back to her chair, leaned back into it, and spoke with an air of indifference that concealed her emotions. "There's no point in worrying. We can't do anything about it for now."

She turned away, looking out of the plane's window at the bright, open sky.

Yet her attempts were not as successful as she thought.

Helplessness? Anger?

Alvin placed a hand over his heart. He could feel it through their bond— her raw emotions.

With a flick of her wrist, Vanessa dismissed the projections. "What are your orders, Miss?"

Elara exhaled slowly, then turned back. "Increase the pace. We're heading back to that place. Sitting here won't change anything."