206 THE ATTACK IN THE PARK AGAIN
Valtor stared at Eryn, his voice breaking. "You… you look just like my late wife, Zalira….when she was your age." Tears streamed down his face, unrestrained.
Eryn had never seen him like this.
To her, he'd always been cold, distant and incapable of love. Now, for the first time, he looked human.
"Control yourself," Damen whispered softly.
Eryn took a deep breath. The power of the four Cores of Blood steadied her emotions. Her heart slowed, her expression calm and unreadable.
"I believe you're mistaken, sir, I don't know you," she said quietly, before turning away.
Valtor stood there, his eyes lost in confusion. "I must be seeing things," he muttered. "Too many memories of Zalira…"
But as she walked off, the truth lingered in silence—Eryn now wore the face of her mother, the only one she remembered clearly, when she was younger.
She tugged gently at Damen's sleeve.
"Let's go," she whispered.
And together, they disappeared into the crowd, leaving the past behind….at least for now.
----
Back in his office, Macan Nuralith watched the live feed in silence, smoke curling from his half-burned cigar.
"That's Valtor Veyran," his assistant said, leaning closer to the screen. "Eryn Veyran's father. He doesn't recognize her either."
Macan nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on the image of Damen and the young woman walking away. "she's just a familiar face," he muttered. "There is nothing to worry about."
He leaned back in his chair, memories surfacing like ghosts.
When the Veyran family had sent him Eryn to atone for Carl's death, he hadn't hesitated. Vengeance was the only thing that kept him alive after losing his son.
Making the girl who had caused Carl's death to suffer felt like justice.
Turning her into a test subject of human-alien fusion served both his wrath and his ambition. The alien DNA experiments needed new volunteers, and she was perfect: young, strong, and completely at his mercy.
Injecting her with alien blood was his way of avenging Carl while advancing Nuralith science.
But like most other experiments before her, Eryn had failed.
The success rate of the experiment was low.
Her body rejected the mutation, her human genes breaking down under the alien strain. She was left to rot in the shadows of a forgotten warehouse, confined inside the Nightmare Machine…becoming a living corpse sustained only by technology.
Macan took another slow puff and exhaled, watching the screen flicker before turning it off. "You were supposed to die in that machine, girl," he said under his breath. "Whatever's walking beside Damen Dark now… it isn't you."
Then he paused. "As to you Damen Dark… it isn't over between us."
------
Eryn was quiet the entire ride.
Seeing her father again had stirred emotions she thought she had buried long ago. He was the only family she had left…yet he was also the one who had offered her to the main Veyran family, condemning her to the alien experiment that nearly killed her.
When she asked for air, Damen understood.
"Kail, Liorea," Damen said as they exited the armored van near a close-by park, "you two head back to HQ. I'll bring Eryn later."
"Sure thing, Big Brother," Kail replied, giving a small grin driving the armored van away.
Once they were gone, Damen and Eryn walked in silence through the evening streets until they reached a lake. The waters shimmered under the pale lights, rippling softly against the wind.
It was peaceful and rare sight in Silver City.
They sat by the shore, watching the faint reflections of airships glide across the surface. It reminded them both of another sky…the alien world of Anu, where they once sat side by side beneath a storm of stars.
Only a year had passed since then, but it felt like a lifetime.
Eryn had changed from a sheltered princess of Melrose city into a fugitive experiment carrying alien blood.
Damen had gone from an unknown drifter to one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures in Silver City.
"I wish Mother were here with me," Eryn said softly.
Her voice carried weight, but there were no tears. She had become too strong for them.
"She's with you," Damen replied, his eyes fixed on the water. "Even if you can't see her."
Eryn leaned against him gently. "Yes… I think so too."
Damen didn't move.
He had never been good with emotions. His childhood had taught him not to trust anyone… not love, not promises, not even kindness.
Only a few people had ever broken through that wall: Nicaesa, Kail, Zairgid and now Eryn.
But Eryn was different.
She wasn't just another ally or friend. There was something else…something he couldn't name.
A pull. A vow. A curse.
He remembered Zalira's dying words: "Protect Eryn. Always."
Maybe this strange attachment wasn't his own. Maybe it was her mother's final spell binding him to her fate.
He sighed, pushing the thought aside.
Yet just as the tension began to fade, Damen's instincts stirred. A faint ripple in the air—something unseen, unnatural—brushed against his senses.
He straightened slightly, his eyes narrowing toward the dark trees across the lake. "Eryn," he said quietly, "Stay close. Something's not right here."
----
"Come out now… I know you're there!" Damen shouted, his voice echoing across the park.
From the shadowed trees, three figures emerged, cloaked in black with tall, twisted witch hats, their presence radiated malice.
"You are not too bad… you can sense our presence," one said, his voice cold and sharp, "but too bad…you'll both die today."
"Turn back now, witches," Damen warned, "or your fate will be the same as those who died here a year ago."
The trio hesitated, recalling the infamous attempt on Zairgid Aukouma in this same place by the Syndic of Fracture.
"But there was no way he could link that event to us," They thought.
"You are not Zairgid Aukouma," another muttered.
"No, I'm not," Damen replied, his eyes narrowing. "Why is the Syndic of Fracture bothering me?"
"How do you know we are from…?"
Damen already scanned them on his Live view, their identities and rankings flashing in his mind:
Name: Mirrose [Syndic of Fracture]
Strength: Rank BMeta: Rank AA
Description: Mirror reflects meta skills back like an echo.
Name: Nullrose [Syndic of Fracture] –
Strength: Rank BMeta: Rank AA
Description: Creates an anti-meta field, nullifying powers.
Name: Fearose [Syndic of Fracture]
Strength: Rank B Meta: Rank B Psychic: Rank AA
Description: Amplifies fear and conjures illusions.
Damen had faced this organization before during the ambush of Zairgid…but now, the target was him. And these weren't ordinary assassins… they were all Ranked AA.
"Damen Dark, is it? You are more troublesome than we've been told," the third said with a smirk.
Eryn's eyes widened. "Who are these people?"
"Brace yourself," Damen warned. "One of them can manipulate fear and create illusions."
Eryn smiled faintly. "I may have been a crybaby once, but now… I've grown stronger. I must survive."
"Good," Damen nodded, readying himself.
He snapped his fingers, sending a controlled lightning bolt streaking toward Mirrose. The attack was small… it was merely a test.
Instantly, a mirror appeared before Mirrose, intercepting the lightning.
"Hahaha! There is nothing that my mirror cannot take," Mirrose laughed. The bolt soon bounced off the reflective surface, now aimed at Damen.
Damen merely brushed it off with his hand. His body was immune to most lightning.
But then the air shifted.
"See if you are still so arrogant without your powers", Nullrose said.
A strange, strangling force descended around them, dampening their abilities. Meta powers fizzled and died in the field…Origin's anti-meta field had enveloped them.
"This… this won't be an easy fight," Damen muttered, his senses sharpening.
Eryn tightened her grip on the cores inside her chest, readying herself for the fight of her life.
The lake reflected the night sky, but its calm surface belied the chaos now unfolding. The Syndic of Fracture had come—and there would be no mercy.
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