Eberrune, Mistwatch
It had been a week since Ed had found The Conspirer in the alleyway. For the past week, he had been closely monitoring its actions. As someone who had been busy studying the Conspiracy's behavioral patterns, this was quite exciting, but he could not say that aloud in front of his girlfriend.
Clara had been giving him the cold shoulder for the past week, but she was also slightly getting attached to the monster he had brought home. She gave it her old clothes and even did its hair. They had also bought lenses to hide its eyes, like miniature suns glowing in the dark.
Currently, the monster looked exactly human. They were even teaching it proper etiquette, and it learned at a terrifying speed, but he still had his doubts about the creature.
As a researcher, he had to consider everything, and looking at the situation in the alleyway, he was sure there was more to it. He went back to check the alleyway for a dead body, since he had been drawn by the scent of blood the previous night.
But there was no body in sight. What he found was a pile of mucus, hairs, and some blood here and there, which only made him question the nature of The Conspiracy.
He was currently buried in a worn-out, leather-bound book. Clara and Sunphire were out. Sunphire was the name Clara had decided to give the monster because of her eyes.
With Sunphire's appearance, he wondered if that was how the high-ranking members of the Conspiracy infiltrated the human world. If so, did all of them have definitive traits that separated them from regular humans, like Sunphire?
If so, was that trait fully manifested in the eyes only, or was it hidden away? Or maybe they had a way to suppress said trait and only manifest it on command? Many questions assaulted his mind. In the end, he placed the book down and stared into the distance.
The world was in turmoil, and he could feel it. Something big was coming, and he had to find a way to preserve the human race. Otherwise, he feared they would all be wiped out within the next twenty decades or so.
"What is it that I'm missing?"
Burying his face in his palms, he tried to run over important pieces of information he had acquired.
[They evolve.]
After partially witnessing Sunphire's transformation in the alleyway and seeing the rate of her growth over the past week, he deduced that the Conspiracy evolved. That was how they slowly infiltrated the human world.
[I need to report this to the higher-ups.]
He stood up and went to grab his cellphone on the counter. He dialed a number and waited as the phone rang.
(Hello?)
"Secretary Chan, can you please connect me to Father Lucien?" he responded. There was silence for a short while, and then a deep voice spoke from the phone.
(Edmund, to what do I owe the pleasure of having you contact me today?) The father's voice was deep and yet calming, like a parent addressing his child.
"I have made a groundbreaking discovery in the Conspiracy hierarchy and rankings, and I thought you should be the first person to know," he said.
(Come to the cathedral right away.) The father's voice was filled with excitement. Apart from being a father, he was also a scholar and his mentor.
"See you soon." Ed dropped the call and ran to the bedroom to change his clothes into something more appropriate.
He wore a black shirt, a pair of dark jeans, and white sneakers. He took his worn brown leather jacket and was about to leave the apartment when Clara and Sunphire walked in.
The two women were having a leisurely chat, but they paused when they noticed Ed. Clara looked him up and down and asked,
"Going to see Father Arkwright?"
Ed nodded. Sparing him only a single glance, she walked past him, followed by Sunphire, who waved at him. He smiled and left the apartment.
Eberrune, Mistwatch: The Cathedral
Ed sat quietly, waiting for the father's response. On the way to the cathedral, he had thought up a way to break the news to the father. He saw that labeling it as a theory would put him in safer waters, where he would not be interrogated endlessly by the church and the government.
Father Lucien Arkwright was a man in his late forties. He had perfectly cut black hair and beard. His greenish eyes were lost deep in thought. He was a man of lean stature with not too much muscle mass. He wore his clergyman attire, and his office shelves were filled to the brim with religious books and ancient history texts. The leather-bound book he was reading was from the man's collection.
Of course, his office was neatly packed, and it maintained the scent of freshly picked roses every time he was there, yet there were no roses or plants of any kind in the office.
"That theory is very plausible. What led you to that conclusion?" the father finally spoke, breaking the silence.
"The deciding battle between the champions of old and the Conspiracy. I went back to our religious texts, and that is where I noticed it. The religious texts were always so descriptive about everything concerning the systems and the Conspiracy, yet they never mentioned high-ranking Conspiracy.
"That had me thinking. By looking at the rates of attacks and the amount of damage the Conspiracy caused back then, it was astronomical. They left everything in ruins and attacked everyone and everything.
"From the rates of the attacks, I deduced that they were simply disorganized and without a shepherd. They were like lost sheep. Over the thousands of years, they became more and more organized until today, where we have Conspiracy in our ranks. What could the possible answer be?" He ended his explanation with a question.
"Evolution," Father Arkwright responded softly.
Taking a deep breath, the father's expression was solemn. He knew that if Ed's theory was correct, how many of the Conspiracy had evolved to the pinnacle of their cursed race? How many of them were above the humans' pinnacle of power? Maybe ten? Maybe a hundred? Whatever the answer, it meant total annihilation of their race.
"But it is just a theory," Ed added with an embarrassed chuckle.
"Everything we know about the Conspiracy was regarded as theories by the masses at first. Over the years, those same theories from thousands of years ago are now absolute truths."
Ed smiled and said nothing, awaiting the father to talk or dismiss him. With this theory being planted, he could only wait for it to blow up within their research department and to the rest of the System Bearers alike.
"Your work is commendable. I will take this theory and submit it to the church. Keep up the good work," Father Arkwright said with a warm smile.
Ed got up and bid the father farewell. On his way out, he bumped into someone.
"My apologies—" The words stuck in his throat as soon as he saw the person he had bumped into.
"Watch your step," the man he had bumped into spoke as he walked past him.
The door to the father's office shut, and Ed stood in the hallway, shocked. The man was Vaelkor, Eberrune's military commander and one of the nation's strongest individuals. No one could deny the man's accomplishments. He was hailed as the nation's youngest general and one of the few people in the world to take on a high-ranking Conspirer and live.
He held the title General of the Dead because of his system path, Shadow Reaper, and the branch he specialized in, Necroshadow. Rumor had it that he was a ruthless man who hunted down high-ranking Conspiracy.
[What is he doing here… Sunphire!]
Wasting no time, he immediately ran out of the cathedral.
Clara and Sunphire were in the kitchen, preparing dinner, when all of a sudden Sunphire staggered. Clara reacted instantly and caught her before she fell.
She was breathing heavily, her temperature flared up, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Fear and panic gripped Clara's heart as she watched Sunphire's fangs elongating. The contact lenses they had bought to hide her eyes burned up, and her sun-like eyes glowed brighter than they normally did.
Crack!
That was the sound of her bones snapping. Clara jumped back as she stared at Sunphire transform in horror. She resisted the urge to attack, afraid of hurting her.
"I do not know what is happening, but I know you can fight it. I know you can," tears began streaming down Clara's face.
"It hurts, sister. It hurts," she groaned in pain. Seeing the girl look at her with pain in her eyes broke Clara's heart. She clenched her fist and took hesitant steps forward.
"I'm here," she whispered. "It will be okay." The last part was for her.
Thirty minutes later,
Ed burst through the door, out of breath. His eyes scanned the room in panic. Spotting Clara alone, he panicked even more, and when he was about to speak, she raised her hand and shook her head.
"She's sleeping. Keep it down."