Chapter 17: The Scholar

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."

—William Shakespeare, As You Like It

---

Lily couldn't move.

Not because she was afraid. Not because she was resisting.

But because she physically couldn't.

The bindings around her wrists and ankles were not metal. Not rope. Not anything a human could have created.

They were roots.

Dark, pulsing, writhing things—veins of the planet itself.

A cage made from Vatra's own essence.

The one thing she could not fight against.

---

"Fascinating, isn't it?"

One of the researchers circled her, eyes bright with something close to reverence.

"A young Eridian. Weak, fragile, incomplete."

He leaned down.

"Powerful beyond reason, yet completely helpless in the hands of those who understand the rules of the universe better than she does."

Lily said nothing.

Because there was nothing to say.

Not yet.

---

She understood now.

Why her powers had failed.

Why she had grown weaker the farther she traveled from Vatra.

It wasn't just because of distance.

It was because she wasn't complete.

Eridians did not "grow" the way humans did. They did not "age."

They became.

But to become, an Eridian had to experience an emotional upheaval. A rupture of self. A breaking of the old to make way for the new.

And she—

She had not broken yet.

---

"We've studied the remains of others like you," the researcher mused. "Traces left in dying worlds, echoes in collapsed stars. But you—you're the first we've managed to hold."

He tilted his head, as if trying to puzzle her out.

"Why you? What makes you different?"

Lily met his gaze.

"I do not know."

"Hmm." He smiled. "But I do."

And then—

his body twisted.

---

It wasn't a transformation.

Not really.

It was a shifting of reality.

The researcher's face flickered—not melting, not changing, but unraveling.

Something else sat beneath his skin.

Something that had never belonged to humanity.

Something that had been waiting.

And then, with a soft, knowing smile—

The Scholar stepped forward.

---

"Ah, Lily," he said, stretching his stolen limbs like a man waking from a nap. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you."

Lily stared at him.

Not with fear. Not with confusion.

With recognition.

Because she had felt him before.

Not in a memory.

But in everything.

---

"I had such high hopes for you," The Scholar sighed, stepping closer. "Really, I did. You had all the right elements. The detachment. The curiosity. The instability."

He gestured lazily around the room.

"And yet, here you are. Sitting at the edge of the abyss, staring down, but refusing to fall."

Lily's fingers curled slightly.

"Why do you want me to fall?"

The Scholar grinned.

"Because that's how we evolve, dear child."

---

He turned, hands in his pockets, as if they were discussing nothing more than a philosophical debate.

"We are not creatures of slow change, like the mortals. We do not grow. We do not adapt. We break. We rupture. We are born in fire and remade in destruction."

His grin widened.

"And you, my dear, have been far too resistant to your own evolution."

Lily did not blink.

"You orchestrated this."

"Oh, absolutely." He gave a small, pleased nod. "From the moment you woke up, I have been nudging you along. Subtle things. A flower here, a whisper there."

He tilted his head.

"You don't think Tilana found you by accident, do you?"

---

The realization settled like cold lead in Lily's chest.

"You led her to me."

"With flowers, no less," he chuckled. "So poetic. So gentle."

His smile sharpened.

"And then, of course, I took her away."

---

Lily felt it.

Something deep, deep inside her cracked.

The first fracture.

But The Scholar wasn't done.

"And then, when that failed to push you far enough, I turned to my backup plan."

Lily's mind sharpened.

"Zane."

---

The Scholar laughed.

"Oh, dear Zane. Poor, miserable, stubborn Zane."

He began pacing.

"It was all so simple. A little misdirection. A little curiosity. A little karmic bond to keep him from running too far."

He flicked his fingers.

"A whisper to the higher-ups to make sure he kept digging. A nudge to his so-called friend, to make sure he ended up bleeding in an alley."

He paused, looking amused.

"You do remember that, don't you? The alley?"

---

Lily's breath stilled.

"That was you."

"Oh, not entirely. His dear friend made the first move. But when Zane was bleeding out, on the verge of death, ready to finally let go?"

The Scholar's grin was razor-sharp.

"I stepped in."

Lily's fingers twitched.

"You saved him."

"I did."

"Why?"

His eyes gleamed.

"Because you needed him."

---

The room felt smaller.

"You made them issue a kill order on him."

"Yes, well, I needed to escalate things."

"Why?"

He smiled.

"Because, Lily."

He stepped forward.

"You are still incomplete."

---

Silence.

Heavy. Suffocating.

And then—

"But you will not be for long."

He lifted his hand.

The restraints around Lily snapped.

She **fell forward—**only for The Scholar to catch her wrist.

"Come now, little one. Let's take you home."

---

Reality flickered.

And then they were gone.