Chapter 435: The Primary Bearer

The golden point on Damon’s arm stopped pulsing.

For one second, that seemed good.

Then it began to rotate.

Not physically.

The small mark remained still on his skin, but Damon felt something inside it reorganizing direction, priority, and distance.

He raised his arm.

"It’s searching."

Xue Lian approached.

"For what?"

"I don’t know."

Vorn, still on the floor, answered before he could.

"It isn’t searching."

Damon looked at him.

Vorn looked terrible.

Separating Adaptation had stripped away years of artificial corrections. Blood still ran from the open wound on his arm, his breathing was heavy, and his hands trembled.

Even so, his eyes were fixed on the golden point.

"It’s calling."

Silence.

Damon frowned.

"What’s the difference?"

"Searching assumes Dominion doesn’t know where it is."

Vorn leaned his back against the wall.

"Recovery means it does."

The gold shone.

A message appeared.

PRIMARY BEARER: LOCATED.

Damon closed his eyes.

"Of course."

Ester immediately began treating Vorn.

He tried to push her away.

She drove a needle into his shoulder.

"Don’t touch me."

"You’re bleeding."

"I can—"

"You can’t anymore."

Vorn looked at his own arm.

The wound really was staying open.

That seemed to offend him more than the pain.

Damon pointed.

"Welcome to the mortal club."

"I’m still intellectually superior to you."

"You’re recovering fast."

Ester pressed a bandage against his arm.

"Both of you, quiet."

Xue Mei was looking at the tree.

Now white in some places.

Black in others.

Adaptation had not disappeared.

It had been redefined.

Separated.

The environmental lines passed through the trunk without concentrating in anyone.

"It stayed."

Xue Lian nodded.

"As a function."

"Without a bearer?"

"Without an owner."

Damon heard them, but his attention remained on his arm.

The golden point stretched.

A line appeared.

It did not point west.

Or north.

Or in any horizontal direction.

It pointed downward.

Damon looked at the floor.

"No."

Vorn saw it.

His expression changed.

"That’s impossible."

Damon smiled without humor.

"Have you been using that phrase a lot?"

"I’m not joking."

"Neither am I."

Xue Lian looked at Vorn.

"You recognize it?"

He did not answer.

Damon approached.

"Vorn."

"The records."

"Which ones?"

"The earliest ones."

Vorn looked at the golden line.

"They spoke of a lower facility."

Ester stopped.

"Deeper than this?"

"Yes."

Damon looked around.

"We’re already buried beneath half of Arven."

"Not physically deeper."

Xue Lian understood.

"Another fold."

Vorn nodded.

"A sealed layer."

"Did you find it?"

"No."

"Did you look?"

"For nineteen years."

Damon remained silent for a moment.

Then looked at his own mark.

"Then I guess we just got the key."

Ester immediately turned.

"No."

"I only stated a fact."

"Your face stated it too."

The gold pulsed.

The floor responded.

Everyone froze.

There was no spatial tear.

No door.

A single golden circle appeared beneath Damon’s feet.

He jumped out of it.

The circle followed him.

Damon looked down.

"That’s rude."

Vorn lost color.

"Get away from me."

Damon looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because if it’s using you as authorization..."

The circle expanded.

It passed over Vorn.

Nothing.

Xue Lian.

Nothing.

Ester.

Nothing.

Xue Mei.

Nothing.

Then it reached the tree.

The reaction was immediate.

The wood opened.

It did not split.

The roots rose from the floor and moved apart, revealing stone where there had been no passage before.

A symbol appeared at the center.

Golden.

Dominion.

Vorn went still.

"It was here."

Damon looked at him.

"You slept on top of it for twenty years."

"Don’t say it."

"I have to."

"No."

"This is too funny."

"I’m going to kill you."

Ester tightened the bandage.

Vorn screamed.

"First learn how to heal normally again."

Xue Mei laughed.

Xue Lian was less interested in the humiliation.

She crouched in front of the symbol.

"It isn’t an entrance."

Damon became serious again.

"What?"

"It’s an access request."

The golden line on his arm connected to the symbol.

A message appeared.

RECOVERY REQUIRES WITNESS.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Witness to what?"

Nothing.

Xue Lian went still.

"Maybe choice."

Damon looked at her.

"Dominion doesn’t seem like the type that asks."

"No."

She touched the floor without touching the symbol.

"But the original system did."

"This is artificial."

"Built by copying the original."

Vorn spoke behind them.

"The earliest models still preserved some rules."

Damon turned.

"Refusal?"

Vorn thought.

"Maybe."

Xue Lian became serious.

"There was no Refusal in Shen Liang’s facilities."

"No."

"But maybe not because they didn’t know about it."

Damon understood.

"Because they removed it."

Vorn looked at her.

"That would be consistent."

"Then this version may be older."

"From before the removal."

The word WITNESS continued glowing.

Damon looked at his arm.

"It wants someone to confirm that the bearer wants to return."

Silence.

Ester crossed her arms.

"Then we do nothing."

Damon agreed.

"Yes."

Everyone looked at him.

He frowned.

"What?"

Ester narrowed her eyes.

"You agreed too quickly."

"Because it makes sense."

"That worries me."

Damon ignored her.

"If the primary bearer is alive or conscious, let them choose."

The symbol remained.

Nothing changed.

Damon spread his hands.

"There."

Then a voice answered.

It did not come from the mark.

Nor from the tree.

It came from beneath them.

Low.

Female.

"I chose a long time ago."

Everyone froze.

Vorn stopped breathing for an instant.

Xue Lian stood.

Damon drew his sword.

Ester looked at him.

"You just said you would let her choose."

"Choice doesn’t eliminate caution."

The voice spoke again.

"Finally."

Damon closed his eyes.

"Another person using that word."

The stone cracked.

A golden line appeared.

Then another.

The floor began separating into six segments.

It did not collapse.

It opened like a mechanical structure buried underground.

Cold air rose.

Not Xue Lian’s cold.

Dry.

Lifeless.

Preservation.

Damon looked down.

A staircase descended.

Short.

It ended on a circular platform.

And beyond it stood a transparent chamber.

Vorn went still.

"I looked for this."

"We noticed," Damon replied.

"For nineteen years."

"That makes it funnier."

"I hate you."

"Mutual."

They descended.

Vorn tried to follow.

Ester blocked him.

"You stay."

"No."

"You can barely walk."

"These records are my life."

Damon looked at him.

"That’s exactly the kind of sentence you should reconsider after today."

Vorn fell silent.

Even so, he descended.

Ester cursed and followed him.

The lower chamber was different from everything above.

No tables.

No cells.

No blood.

No instruments.

Only one capsule at the center.

Vertical.

Made of dark crystal.

Golden lines ran along its edges.

Damon stopped.

Inside was a woman.

Very light hair.

Almost silver.

Pale skin.

Tall.

She wore something resembling an old white robe.

Her hands were crossed over her abdomen.

Eyes closed.

Xue Lian lost color.

"I know that face."

Damon turned quickly.

"Who?"

"I don’t know."

"That was contradictory."

"I recognize her."

Xue Lian approached the capsule.

"But I don’t remember from where."

Vorn walked to a wall.

There were inscriptions.

He began reading.

Then stopped.

Damon noticed.

"What?"

Vorn did not answer.

"Vorn."

He raised a hand.

Pointed.

A single line.

PRIMARY BEARER — COMPATIBILITY: 93%.

Silence.

Damon approached.

Below it was a name.

Not scratched away.

Not erased.

Complete.

AURELIA VALCAIR.

Damon went still.

"Valcair."

Xue Lian touched her own chest.

An incomplete memory tried to surface.

A faceless man.

A white room.

Another child.

Not her.

An older girl.

Light hair.

Blood.

Xue Lian staggered.

Xue Mei caught her.

"Mother?"

"I saw her."

Damon looked over.

"When?"

"Before the memories Shen Liang erased."

She stared at Aurelia.

"She was with me."

Vorn read the rest.

"State..."

He went silent.

Damon lost patience.

"Speak."

"Recoverable."

Ester approached the capsule.

"That doesn’t mean alive."

"No."

"Pulse?"

"I can’t check through this."

Damon looked at the golden symbol.

"The system considers her a bearer."

Xue Lian answered.

"Because she is still a reference."

"Even without a beating heart?"

"Maybe."

Damon remembered his own conversation with Xue Lian in the Tomb.

Existence as reference.

Name.

Memory.

Structure.

A preserved body could be enough.

"She may be dead."

"Physically," Xue Lian said.

"But Dominion still recognizes Continuity."

Vorn looked at her.

"Without the Continuity core."

Damon became serious.

"Then it isn’t Continuity."

Xue Lian understood.

"It’s preservation."

The capsule pulsed.

A golden message appeared.

PRIMARY BEARER CONFIRMED.

Another.

STATUS: VOLUNTARY SUSPENSION.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Voluntary."

Xue Lian went still.

The third message appeared.

REQUEST RETURN?

Damon did not answer.

Vorn looked at him.

"You’re the witness."

"I know."

"Then?"

Damon looked at Aurelia.

"I’m not the one who answers."

The system remained still.

Vorn frowned.

"She can’t answer."

"Then she doesn’t wake up."

"Damon."

"If it requires a witness and she can’t choose right now, the answer is no."

Xue Lian agreed.

"Yes."

The golden point on Damon’s arm burned.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD IN EXECUTION.

Damon closed his eyes.

"This is starting to piss me off."

The entire capsule lit up.

Ester stepped back.

"We didn’t touch it!"

"I didn’t touch it!"

"Miracle!"

The golden lines entered Aurelia’s body.

One pulse.

Nothing.

Another.

Nothing.

Third.

The woman’s fingers moved.

Everyone froze.

Vorn stepped forward.

"Impossible."

Damon pointed.

"Now you can use it."

Aurelia inhaled.

The sound was small.

Weak.

But real.

Xue Lian lost all color.

"She’s alive."

The capsule opened.

Ancient air escaped.

Ester reached her first.

She supported Aurelia before she could fall.

The woman was far too light.

Damon remained at a distance.

The golden point on his arm glowed.

Aurelia breathed again.

Then again.

Ester touched her neck.

"Pulse."

"How much?" Damon asked.

"Barely there."

"But?"

"It exists."

Aurelia’s eyes opened.

Golden.

Not completely.

A thin black line crossed the iris.

Dominion.

She looked at Ester.

Then Xue Lian.

Stopped.

For several seconds.

"You grew up."

Xue Lian went still.

"You know me."

Aurelia smiled weakly.

"Knew you."

Damon stepped closer.

The golden eyes immediately shifted to him.

Her expression changed.

Not surprise.

Concern.

"No."

Damon stopped.

"That seems to be the official greeting in this story."

Aurelia tried to stand.

Ester held her.

"No."

"He shouldn’t be here."

Damon looked at his arm.

"I’ve heard that a lot too."

Aurelia ignored him.

"You carry Dominion’s mark."

"Unfortunately."

"Selection found you."

"Destroyed."

Her eyes widened.

"Continuity?"

"Also."

"Adaptation?"

Damon pointed upward.

"Redefined."

Aurelia fell silent.

Then she began to laugh.

Weakly.

Painfully.

But genuinely.

Vorn looked incapable of understanding.

"You’re laughing?"

She looked at him.

"Who are you?"

That hurt more than anything else.

Damon smiled.

"That was excellent."

"Vorn."

No recognition.

Aurelia looked back at Damon.

"Then they failed."

"Partially."

The gold on his arm pulsed.

The black line in her eyes responded.

Aurelia lost her smile.

"No."

Damon became serious.

"What?"

"Dominion isn’t recovering me to replace you."

Silence.

Xue Lian understood first.

"Then why?"

Aurelia looked at the golden point.

Then at Damon.

"Because I was put here to stop it from finding a better vessel."

Damon went still.

Aurelia closed her eyes for a moment.

"I wasn’t the primary bearer because I was the best candidate."

She looked up again.

"I was the lock."

The golden point shone violently.

A message appeared before all of them.

PRIMARY BEARER RECOVERED.

Aurelia began to tremble.

Ester held her.

A second message appeared.

INHERITED RESTRICTION DETECTED.

Aurelia went pale.

"No."

Damon drew his sword.

"What restriction?"

She looked directly at him.

"My job was to keep Dominion ownerless."

The gold exploded.

And the final message appeared.

INITIATING RESTRICTION REMOVAL.