Bella studied his face for a moment. Mothers had a strange ability to sense when something was wrong.
Bella knew that someone had roughed Quinir up the day before. When she saw him come home with bruises, she had assumed it was nothing more than a quarrel between boys his age. She never imagined that he had been beaten so badly, or that one of his ribs had been seriously injured.
Quinir had hidden the pain well. Not once had he shown it on his face, even yesterday , when Bella carefully cleaned and dressed the wounds on his arms.
Rick had gently stopped her from asking too many questions.
"Don't pry too much," he had said with a small smile. "Boys his age have their pride. They won't like anyone seeing them when they're like that."
Trusting Rick's judgment, Bella had let it go.
But now, seeing the exhaustion in Quinir's eyes and the way he moved with quiet restraint, a faint worry stirred in her heart.
"You look tired," she said softly." you can sleep on the sofa I'll take care of your father , don't worry."
"I'm fine."
He walked closer to the bed and glanced at Rick again.
The machines continued their slow rhythmic beeping.
Rick hadn't moved.
Not even a little.
Bella lowered her gaze.
"The doctor said they are still monitoring him," she whispered. "They don't know when he'll wake up."
Quinir nodded slowly.
"We'll wait."
He pulled a chair closer and sat beside the bed.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The hospital room was quiet except for the sound of the machines.
Quinir's mind drifted back to the boy he had brought in. and his thoughts were swirling back to all the strange phenomenon that was happened these past few days.
A nurse stepped inside.
"Excuse me," she said politely. "Are you the one who brought the boy from the riverside?"
Quinir looked up.
"Yes."
The nurse hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"The doctor would like to speak with you."
Bella looked confused.
"What boy?"
Quinir stood.
"I found someone unconscious near the river while I was outside."
Bella blinked in surprise.
"You carried someone here?"
"He was injured," Quinir replied simply.
Bella didn't question further.
Helping someone was exactly the kind of thing Rick would have done.
"Go," she said gently. "I'll stay here."
Quinir nodded and followed the nurse out of the room to the other room.
She knocked lightly before pushing the door open.
Inside, a middle-aged doctor stood beside the hospital bed, studying the monitor.
The boy Quinir had brought in was lying there, still unconscious.
Several wires were attached to his chest, and the steady rhythm of the machine filled the quiet room.
The doctor looked up when Quinir entered.
"You're the one who brought him here?"
Quinir nodded.
"Yes."
The doctor adjusted his glasses.
"Where exactly did you find him?"
Quinir paused briefly.
Images of the riverbank flashed through his mind.
The strange light.
The smoking ground.
But instinctively, he pushed those thoughts aside.
"Near the river," Quinir said simply."I found him lying there."
The doctor studied him for a moment before nodding.
"I see."
He turned his attention back to the boy.
"We tried to run a proper examination," the doctor said, sounding slightly puzzled. "But we ran into a rather strange problem."
Quinir frowned slightly.
"What kind of problem?"
The doctor gestured toward the boy's clothes.
The dark fabric was threaded with thin silver strands that faintly shimmered under the hospital lights.
"We tried removing his clothing so we could perform a full checkup," the doctor explained. "But the material wouldn't come off."
Quinir blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"We couldn't cut it," the doctor said.
"There are no seams, no visible fastenings, and even medical scissors couldn't get through the threads."
He shook his head slightly.
"It's as if the material is fused together somehow."
The nurse beside him nodded.
"We didn't want to damage anything or risk hurting him, so we had to run the scans with the clothing still on."
The doctor sighed.
"Honestly, I've never seen fabric like this before."
Quinir looked at the boy again.
Up close, the silver threads almost looked alive.
For a moment, he could swear they faintly shifted under the light.
Just then,
The monitor beside the bed suddenly gave a sharp beep.
The doctor turned quickly.
"Hm?"
The boy's heartbeat had suddenly increased.
Quinir instinctively stepped closer.
The boy's fingers twitched.
A faint whisper brushed against Quinir's mind.
…Touch him…
Quinir frowned slightly.
He hadn't heard anyone speak.
The doctor and nurse were busy looking at the machine.
…Hold his hand.....Almost distant.
Quinir's brows tightened.Did someone say something?
But before he could question it further, his body moved almost on its own.His hand slowly reached toward the unconscious boy.
He held the boy's hand.
The moment he touched the boy's hand ,
A sudden warmth surged through Quinir's chest.
It spread quickly down his arm.
Straight into the boy.
A faint pulse of energy flowed between them.
Quinir's eyes widened slightly.
What is this,
The boy's body suddenly jerked.
The monitor beside the bed began beeping rapidly.
The nurse gasped.
"Doctor!"
Before she could finish,
The boy's eyes snapped open.
He sat up abruptly, which made all the machines attached to him fall down because of the force he sat up with,
The sudden movement made the nurse jump back in shock comedically.
"Ah!"
The doctor nearly dropped the clipboard in his hand.
"What in the?!"
The boy blinked several times, slowly looking around as if he had just woken from a deep sleep.
The room fell into stunned silence.
Then the doctor slowly turned his head toward Quinir.
His eyes narrowed.
"You said he was unconscious when you brought him here."
"He was," Quinir replied honestly.
The doctor folded his arms.
"And suddenly the moment I start examining him he wakes up perfectly fine?"
He was seething with anger and also turned to the nurse, " and you. Didn't you check him before sending him in?!"
The nurse tried to explain and almost cried, she saw with her own eyes when Quinir sent the boy in, the boy was really unconscious, she checked the boys pulse herself so she knew he was not well , she tried to explain while looking between them awkwardly.
The doctor scoffed.
Quinir frowned.
"What?"
The doctor shook his head in irritation.
"You two thought it would be funny to waste hospital time."
He grabbed his clipboard from the table.
"I don't appreciate being made a fool of."
"Doctor, wait—" the nurse tried to say.
But he was already walking toward the door.
"If you want to play pranks," he muttered angrily, "do it somewhere else."
The door slammed shut behind him as he stormed out of the room.
Silence filled the room again.
The nurse stood there awkwardly.
Quinir slowly looked back at the boy.
The boy was staring directly at him.
His almost gold and Translucent eyes were wide with disbelief.
Because he had felt it clearly.
The power that had flowed into him just now.
It was unmistakable.
The power of an Ancient bloodline, same as him.
And the one standing in front of him, he can sense it.
The boy remained silent for a moment.
Confusion flickered across his face.
His gaze moved around the room slowly, as if he were trying to understand where he was.
Then his eyes returned to Quinir.The disbelief in them had not faded.
If anything, it had grown stronger.
Quinir studied him carefully.The boy clearly knew something.About the power.About what had just happened.
Quinir spoke quietly.
"Do you know what's happening?"
The boy didn't answer.
Quinir continued, his voice steady.
"You knew about that power just now, didn't you?"
The boy's expression changed slightly.
His lips parted as if he was about to speak.
For a brief moment, it looked like he might explain everything.
But then,
He stopped himself.His brows tightened slightly.Almost like he had remembered something important.
The boy slowly pressed his lips together and looked away.
Quinir noticed it immediately.
He had a thousand questions in his mind.But the boy clearly wasn't ready to answer any of that.So Quinir decided to start with something simple.
Something harmless.
"What's your name?"
The boy looked back at him.
For a moment, he hesitated again.
Then he spoke.
" Aetherin" He said in a small voice.
he name sounded unfamiliar.
Not like anything from this city.
Quinir nodded.
"I'm Quinir."
For a moment, Aethrin simply stared at him.
The disbelief still hadn't left his eyes.
Because one thought kept echoing in his mind.
How could someone from this world…
Carry the power of an Ancient Bloodline?
Just as the boy was in deep thought, the nurse from before came in rubbing her temples.
"I don't know what's going on but it seems like you guys pissed of the Doctor kids, I know you are right next door. so I can speak with your mom later," she said looking at quinir and next she turned her attention the boy on the bed and told him.
"I need you to give me your parent's phone numbers. We need to speak with them."
Quinir turned and looked at Aetherin, Aetherin just looked at him while blinking innocently.
They just stared at each other for a few seconds.