Kaelen stood frozen under High Arcanist Lyra's piercing gaze. The air in the observatory hummed with energy, both from the strange machines and from the woman herself. Her offer hung between them—a chance for knowledge, a risk of becoming an experiment.
"What would these tests do?" Kaelen asked, his voice quieter than he intended.
Lyra's eyes, bright with a hunger for understanding, didn't waver. "They would measure. They would listen. Your power is a song I have never heard before. I wish to learn its notes." She gestured to a large, crystal disc set into the floor, etched with glowing silver lines. "Please, stand there."
It wasn't a request. It was the polite tone of someone who was so used to being obeyed that she didn't need to command. After a heartbeat, Kaelen stepped onto the disc. The crystal felt warm under his boots.
Lyra moved to a control panel, her fingers dancing across glowing runes. The devices around the room hummed louder. A soft, blue light rose from the disc, scanning him from head to toe. He felt a faint tingling sensation, like a gentle static charge.
"Fascinating," she murmured, her eyes fixed on a holographic display that sprung to life in the air before her. Lines of data and energy patterns Kaelen couldn't understand flickered across it. "The Umbral energy doesn't just surround you. It is woven into your very cells. You are not a container for power. You are the power."
The scan ended. The blue light faded. Before Kaelen could step down, Lyra picked up a small, clear crystal from her desk. It began to glow with a soft, warm, golden light.
"A simple Lumina crystal," she explained. "It holds a tiny spark of pure light energy. The most basic form of the Solis Aspect. Hold out your hand."
Warily, Kaelen did. She placed the glowing crystal in his palm.
The moment it touched his skin, a violent reaction occurred.
The crystal's gentle glow flared into a blinding, searing white light. At the same time, a shock of cold, sharp pain shot up Kaelen's arm. The Umbral energy inside him roared to life without his command, a surge of black smoke erupting from his skin to coil around his hand and the crystal, trying to snuff out the light.
It was a silent, furious battle between light and dark happening in the palm of his hand. The pain was immense, a deep, fundamental conflict. He gasped, his fingers trembling, but he didn't drop it.
"Remarkable!" Lyra breathed, leaning closer, utterly captivated by the violent reaction. "The opposition is absolute! Your nature rejects it completely! But you are containing it… you are forcing a balance…"
Through gritted teeth, Kaelen focused. He remembered his training with Valeria. Control the energy. Do not let it control you. He pulled on the raging Umbral power, not to attack the light, but to form a barrier, a shell of pure darkness around the crystal, isolating its energy from his own.
Slowly, the searing pain faded to a dull throb. The light was still trapped within the black sphere he had formed in his hand, its glow barely visible through the shell. He was holding a miniature eclipse.
He was breathing heavily, sweat beading on his forehead. The effort had been greater than any training session.
Lyra was watching him with something like awe. "You didn't just negate it. You didn't destroy it. You captured it. Contained it. This… this changes many of my theories." She looked from the dark sphere in his hand to his face. "Your potential is not just in destruction. It is in control. Absolute control."
She took the encapsulated crystal from him, placing it carefully on a stand. The black shell held. "This is only the beginning. There is so much more to learn. How you interact with other Aspects… the true nature of your Curse…"
The door to the observatory slid open with a quiet hiss. Commander Valeria stood there, her arms crossed, her expression unreadable. Her eyes took in the scene: Kaelen, pale and sweating, Lyra with her glowing instruments, the contained crystal on the stand.
"High Arcanist," Valeria said, her tone neutral. "I see you've begun your examination."
"Examination is a crude word, Commander," Lyra replied, not looking away from her data. "I am conducting a dialogue. And the subject is proving profoundly eloquent."
Valeria's gaze shifted to Kaelen. "Are you alright?"
It was the first time she had asked him that. He nodded, still catching his breath. "Yes, Commander."
"Good." She looked back at Lyra. "The Council requires your presence. A matter concerning the Veil's eastern fluctuations."
Lyra sighed, a sound of profound irritation at being pulled away from her work. "Very well." She turned to Kaelen. "We will continue this soon. Your cooperation has been… invaluable."
As Lyra gathered her things, Valeria stepped closer to Kaelen. "Remember what I said about choices," she said, her voice low enough only for him to hear. "Knowledge is a tool. But not all knowledge is meant to be uncovered. Some doors, once opened, cannot be closed."
She left with Lyra, leaving Kaelen alone in the vast, silent observatory.
He looked down at his hand. The skin was red and tender where the light crystal had burned him. The echo of the pain was a stark reminder. Lyra's tests were not games. They were dangerous. They poked at the very core of what he was.
But she had also seen something no one else had. Not a weapon. Not a key. Not a curse.
Control.
He had contained the light. He had held two opposing forces in balance.
It was a small victory. A painful one. But it was his. And for the first time, he felt a flicker of something beyond survival, beyond being used.
He felt a flicker of understanding.