"You should not say odd things about people, Seris. It is not polite."
Elira sighed but kept working.
Seris didn’t say anything anymore.
She knew her mother would not believe her.
Elira had never been able to smell ’it’.
But Seris always could.
Ever since she was little, she could tell when someone had ’that’ scent.
Some guards at Estenwald had it. Nisha Hall was one of them.
And sometimes, ’he’ had it too.
Unlike others, the scent emanating from him was purer and pleasant. Maybe that was why she liked being around him.
Seris turned away from the kitchen and walked back to her room.
The scent was still lingering there.
"Why is it coming from our room? This is the first time something like this happened, and I doubt it is because mom opened the window."
She stood in the center of the room, eyes narrowing.
Her fingers tingled.
She did not know how to explain it, but she felt like she could do something with the scent.
Almost like she could grab it.
So, she reached out.
Her hand stretched in front of her, palm open.
Nothing happened.
She stayed like that.
A few seconds passed. Then more.
Still nothing happened.
But she did not stop.
She focused on the feeling of the strange tickle in her fingers, and the invisible scent in the air.
She tugged on it.
And then it happened.
Thin white wisps started to gather.
They gathered slowly at first, like mist seeping through a crack.
They twisted and curled, rising from the corners of the room and floating toward her palm.
A pale white orb—gaseous, like fog shaped into a sphere—formed just above her skin. It pulsed faintly.
It hadn’t been there a moment ago.
"This is it."
The source of the scent.
She stared at it silently.
Just then, footsteps came rushing down the hallway.
"Seris, did you get ready—"
Elira’s voice cut off the moment she entered the room.
She froze in the doorway.
For a moment, she just stood there, staring at her daughter with wide eyes.
Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
The orb hovered gently over Seris’ hand, drifting slightly as if caught in an invisible breeze.
It felt ’otherworldly.’
Elira had a bad feeling about it.
"...What... Seris... what is that?" Elira finally managed.
Seris turned to look at her. "This is the thing I can smell. Can you smell it now, Mom?"
Elira did not respond right away.
She took a step forward, slow and cautious, as if approaching a live wire.
Her eyes did not leave the orb.
"Seris, honey, let go of the orb," she whispered.
"Okay," Seris replied.
The orb disappeared.
Elira grabbed her daughter swiftly and hugged her, worried.
She checked her all over to make sure she was not injured.
"...what was that?" she sighed.
"This? I told you, mom. It’s the source of scent that I always spoke about."
Elira paled when Seris raised her palm, and the white orb condensed above her palm.
This time, Elira moved instinctively, and swatted it away before her daughter could be injured.
The orb scattered.
Elira felt a strange tingle on her hand when she touched the orb.
And...
"Mom? Why did you do that? It’s hard for me to create this. Don’t knock it down."
The orb appeared before Seris’ palm again.
Elira felt like she would have a heart attack.
That orb was definitely not something normal.
Elira couldn’t smell it like Seris, but she did feel ’something’ from that orb.
She couldn’t put that ’something’ into words.
But it was the same feeling she had when her husband disappeared in the flash of light.
She took a breath, then quickly pulled out her phone.
"Who are you calling?" Seris asked.
"Lyra," Elira said. "I need to ask her something. M-maybe she can help"
Seris said Nisha Hall, the guard Adrian brought for his son, had the same scent as this white orb.
Maybe they would know what was happening to her daughter.
...
MC’s POV
A Few Hours Ago
We had finished breakfast about half an hour ago.
The sun was already high enough to warm the stone paths between the garden hedges, and a soft breeze stirred the trees now and then.
It was quiet, and peaceful.
Mom was sitting in the tea pavilion near the pond.
She had a book in her lap but was not reading it.
Her gaze kept drifting over to us—me and Dad—like she wanted to step in, but knew she shouldn’t.
Dad and I were standing near a cluster of trimmed hedges at the far end of the garden.
There was enough space for us to move freely if we needed to.
"Why aren’t we going to your house yet?" I asked him, acting excited like a child should.
"The flight is after lunch," he replied simply. Then he added, "But right now, there’s something more important."
"More important?" I repeated.
I already had a good idea of what he meant, but I tilted my head and tried to look like I didn’t.
"Yes. I’m going to teach you two things today. First, how to use your Hollow Eyes. And second, a defensive technique [Varren’s Dominion Wall] that will help you protect yourself."
I was stunned.
I expected the training for hollow Eyes.
But Varren’s Dominion Wall?
’How does he know Varren?’
Varren, the Sword King.
He was a famous figure in Wageah. His swordsmanship was unmatched.
I still remembered seeing his sword on the battlefield.
It was powerful, and domineering.
It was shocking dad knew a technique of Varren.
’And he is going to teach me that?’
"Looks like you are excited about learning Hollow Eyes," he said, mistaking my surprise. "But before we start, there’s one rule you need to follow."
"Rule?"
"You can’t tell anyone that you have Hollow Eyes. Not your friends, not your instructors you will learn under in the Daelthorn House. No one outside mom and me should know. Understand?"
"Okay," I said.
His expression softened just a little.
He reached out and ruffled my hair.
"Good."
Then he took a step back, and his expression changed completely.
His friendly demeanor disappeared in an instant.
The warmth I’d gotten used to around him was gone.
It wasn’t like he was trying to scare me, but the shift was impossible to ignore.
The man standing in front of me now... wasn’t just my father.
His shoulders squared, his posture straightened, and his eyes dulled.
The grey in them looked colder now.
I could feel it. This man had killed before, probably enough to lay a river of blood.
"There are five stages of Hollow Eyes," he began. "Each stage unlocks a new ability. Some of them are passive, some require training."
He raised a hand and tapped just below his left eye.
"First stage is the one you’ve already awakened. It enhances perception, and improves eyesight far beyond normal human levels. You’ll start noticing things that others can’t.
"But this is just a byproduct. The actual ability of the first stage of Hollow Eyes is different."
He took a step closer.
"If you focus your mental energy into....."