The blue glow over Corvalis faded like a dying pulse.
For a moment the city skyline shimmered faintly, towers, chimneys, and ward-spires etched against the night sky, before darkness reclaimed it.
Thomas Black stood motionless in the corridor of the Kane estate, watching the distant light disappear beyond the windows.
Behind him, Petra and Lucien Vale were doing the same.
No one spoke.
Then Lucien exhaled slowly.
"That," he said, "should not have been possible."
Black didn't turn.
"Yet it happened."
Petra's voice was quiet but urgent. "What exactly did we just see?"
Lucien stepped closer to the window, peering toward the southern districts.
"A grid pulse."
Black nodded slightly.
"Yes."
Petra frowned. "You mean the inheritance grid?"
Lucien's expression darkened.
"Yes."
"But the southern anchors aren't active yet," she said.
"That was the council's public statement," Lucien replied.
Black finally turned away from the window.
"And Alabaster Kane was not a man who relied on public statements."
Lucien gave a humorless laugh.
"That's one way to phrase it."
Black reached for his coat hanging from the hall stand.
"Where are you going?" Petra asked.
Black slipped the coat on and adjusted the collar.
"To the source of the pulse."
Lucien blinked. "You can't know where it came from."
Black opened the estate door.
Cold night air spilled into the hall.
"I don't need to," he said.
He stepped outside.
"Someone in this city just triggered a magical siphon."
He glanced back at them.
"And crime scenes rarely stay hidden for long."
The ride into the southern wards was fast and uncomfortable.
The carriage wheels rattled across the canal bridge as they crossed from the aristocratic north into the crowded districts below.
Corvalis changed quickly once you crossed the water.
The elegant stone boulevards gave way to narrow streets and stacked apartments. Lantern light flickered across crooked rooftops, and the smell of late-night cooking fires drifted through the air.
Even at this hour, the southern wards were awake.
Tonight more than usual.
As the carriage turned down Ember Street, the driver slowed.
A crowd had gathered ahead.
People were standing in the street, talking loudly and pointing toward something on the ground.
Petra leaned forward.
"Something happened."
Black opened the carriage door before it stopped moving.
"Stay close."
Lucien followed him out.
The night air here carried the faint smell of ozone.
Black noticed it immediately.
Residual magic.
The crowd parted slowly as he approached.
Not out of respect.
Out of curiosity.
"Let him through," someone muttered.
"That's the investigator from the Kane estate."
Black ignored them and moved toward the center of the street.
Then he saw the body.
A man lay on the cobblestones beside a damaged arc-lamp, his limbs twisted slightly as if he had collapsed mid-step.
His skin had the same pale gray tone Black had seen once already.
Petra stopped beside him and whispered, "Oh."
Lucien crouched down.
Black already knew what Lucien would find.
But he watched anyway.
Lucien turned the man's wrist gently. There, faint but unmistakable, was a small glyph tattoo burned into the skin.
Lucien's expression tightened.
"I know him."
Black folded his arms.
"That was quick."
Lucien looked up.
"He works for the Kane estate."
Petra blinked.
"What?"
"He's one of the maintenance engineers," Lucien said.
"For the inheritance grid."
The surrounding crowd murmured nervously.
Black crouched beside the body.
The cobblestones beneath the man shimmered faintly with residual energy, thin blue lines like fading lightning veins spreading outward from the corpse.
Black removed a small brass lens from his coat pocket.
Petra had seen it before.
His detection lens.
He held it over the body.
The glass flickered softly as magical residue came into focus.
Petra leaned closer.
"What does it show?"
Black rotated the lens slowly across the man's chest. Energy trails appeared within the glass.
Spiral patterns.
Drain vectors.
He lowered the lens.
"Siphon event," he said quietly.
Lucien stood abruptly.
"That's impossible."
Black looked up at him.
"You keep saying that."
Lucien pointed at the corpse.
"He's not part of the Kane bloodline."
Petra frowned.
"How can you be sure?"
Lucien didn't hesitate.
"I reviewed the family registry myself. All inheritance-linked personnel are documented."
He gestured to the body.
"This man wasn't one of them."
Black studied the corpse again.
"Perhaps the registry was incomplete."
Lucien shook his head.
"No."
Black reached forward and gently pulled the man's collar aside. The lantern light revealed something unusual just beneath the skin.
A faint scar.
Thin lines forming the outline of a glyph.
Petra leaned closer.
"What is that?"
Lucien's face went pale.
"That…"
He swallowed.
"That shouldn't exist."
Black traced the scar lightly with his finger.
"Explain."
Lucien ran a hand through his hair.
"It's a graft."
Petra blinked. "A what?"
"A magical graft," Lucien said quietly.
Black looked up.
"Implanted magic."
Lucien nodded reluctantly.
"Yes."
Petra stared at the body.
"You mean someone tried to give him magical inheritance?"
Lucien nodded again.
"That symbol is a crude replication of a bloodline glyph."
Black's voice remained calm.
"So he wasn't born with magic."
"No."
"But someone modified him."
Lucien exhaled slowly.
"Yes."
Petra stepped back, stunned.
"That's illegal."
Lucien gave her a flat look.
"It's worse than illegal."
"Why?"
"Because it rarely works."
Black studied the corpse again.
"But it worked well enough to attract the siphon."
Lucien didn't answer.
Which was answer enough.
Black stood slowly.
"So the siphon plate wasn't targeting a Kane heir tonight."
Petra frowned.
"Then why drain him?"
Black gestured toward the faint glyph scar.
"Because someone wanted to see what would happen."
Lucien closed his eyes briefly.
"A test."
Petra whispered, "A test for what?"
Black looked toward the rooftops of the district. The ward-spires in the distance flickered faintly.
"For power redistribution."
Lucien stared at him.
"You think someone is trying to create artificial inheritance?"
Black slipped the detection lens back into his pocket.
"I think someone stole the most powerful magical transfer device in the city."
He looked down at the corpse again.
"And they're experimenting."
The crowd behind them had grown restless.
A few people whispered nervously.
"Is it another magic attack?"
"Is it safe?"
Black ignored them.
Instead he examined the street carefully.
Small sparks of residual magic still lingered in the air.
The siphon had been powerful.
But unstable.
Which meant the user probably wasn't experienced.
Lucien spoke quietly.
"If they're testing the plate…"
Black nodded.
"They'll do it again."
Petra looked between them.
"But why here?"
Black gestured around the district.
"Because no one important lives here."
Lucien frowned.
"That's a grim way to look at it."
Black shrugged slightly.
"It's a realistic one."
Then, a sharp crack of magic split the night.
Everyone froze.
Blue lightning flashed across a rooftop three streets away.
The crowd screamed.
Black's head snapped toward the source.
Lucien whispered, "That's impossible."
Petra grabbed Black's sleeve.
"Another siphon?"
Black shook his head slowly.
"No."
The energy pattern was different.
More chaotic.
Lucien stared at the rooftop.
"That's not a siphon."
Petra's voice trembled slightly.
"Then what is it?"
Black's eyes narrowed.
"A discharge."
Lucien's stomach dropped.
"You mean…"
Black started walking toward the distant building.
"The test subject survived."
Petra blinked.
"But the man here—"
"Was the first attempt," Black said.
Lucien felt a chill run down his spine.
"And the second?"
Another crack of blue lightning burst into the sky.
Stronger this time.
The rooftop tiles shattered.
Black stopped in the middle of the street.
His voice was quiet.
"Someone just received a large amount of magic."
Petra whispered, "How large?"
Lucien answered.
"Far too much."
The rooftop across the district exploded in sparks of blue energy.
And somewhere above the city, someone was screaming.