Chapter 358: An Abomination To Nature

"A human womb cannot sustain a demon’s child."

The words hung heavily in the silence of the room.

For several long seconds, Aliana’s mind simply refused to process them.

She remained perfectly still, staring at Cillian with the same confused, expectant expression she had worn before he dropped the bombshell.

Then, slowly, her lips parted but nothing came out.

She closed them again and swallowed hard before asking, "But... I’ve seen in movies... cults members choose a human to give birth to the devil’s..." Her voice trailed off, her gaze drifting slowly toward Gavriel as she whispered, "...child."

Cillian cleared his throat. "Those are all false, Aliana. The truth is that a human is incapable of conceiving a demon’s child. A demon’s soul cannot be born into this world, nor can a human body sustain the powers of a demon. It simply isn’t possible."

"As for the devil..." Cillian paused, his eyes shifting to Gavriel.

Aliana turned to Cillian, "What about the devil?"

"Not just anyone can carry the devil’s child," Cillian explained carefully. "Only the devil’s true mate is capable of carrying his child, because his power exceeds all others. Even a normal demoness could not survive it."

Cillian tried to reveal the facts as gently as he could, but the truth was, there was no gentle way to deliver something like this to Aliana.

Moreover... sooner or later she needed to know.

Once again, Aliana fell silent.

This time, she couldn’t seem to find a single word.

Slowly, her gaze dropped to her lap.

"I see..." she whispered.

Cillian felt his back growing damp with cold sweat as he watched the array of emotions flash across Aliana’s face within a span of seconds. He could only curse Gavriel in his mind for making him deliver news like this to her. His brown eyes moved from the quiet, withdrawn woman to the man holding her.

Gavriel looked like he had turned to stone with his gaze fixed entirely on his wife.

Cillian could only sigh internally for what felt like the hundredth time at the sight of them. He silently prayed to the cosmos that this would not become yet another source of chaos in their marriage, especially after they had only just weathered the revelation of Gavriel’s true identity together.

Meanwhile, Gavriel observed Aliana while waiting for her to say something... anything to indicate how she was feeling.

But as seconds stretched into agonizing minutes.... she remained still.

He tried to reach for her emotions, but once again, he met a solid wall blocking him out... giving nothing away and making him more anxious with each passing second.

Unable to endure it any longer, he called softly, "Baby?"

Aliana quietly lifted her head. A small smile appeared on her lips, but it looked strangely hollow.

She blinked rapidly before letting out a soft, almost empty chuckle. "Well, that..." She paused, her throat working. "That explains it."

Gavriel could feel how rigid her frame had become in his arms, and he couldn’t fathom what was going on inside her head.

Whatever she was feeling, she was doing a terrible job of pretending she was fine.

"Ana... maybe we should discuss the rest later-"

"Why, Gav?" She turned her head to face him directly, and Gavriel froze under the sheer, freezing calm in her light grey eyes.

Another humorless chuckle escaped her. "It isn’t as if communication is your strong suit, is it, dear husband? It’s only a matter of time before something... crucial slips through the cracks."

She flashed him a sweet smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "We wouldn’t want that, now would we?"

Gavriel swallowed lightly before glancing at Cillian, who sat equally paralyzed in his chair.

"Let’s finish the discussion," Aliana announced calmly.

But she paused. "Ah, wait... let me get comfortable first."

She wriggled slightly against Gavriel’s hold before looking up into his icy-blue pools. "My back is starting to ache, Gav. Please let go. I would prefer to sit properly."

At that statement, Cillian knew just how royally screwed Gavriel was.

He watched as a deep crease formed on Gavriel’s forehead at his wife’s request.

Clearly, Gavriel had no intention of letting her go, but Aliana wasn’t having it either.

"Gav? I am serious. My back is really hurting."

Seeing how firm her tone was, Gavriel reluctantly unwrapped his arms from around her waist and Aliana wasted no time settling beside him on the sofa.

Ignoring both men’s intense gazes, she simply flipped her hair lightly off her shoulder.

"So... where were we? Right, they are trying to create a new species. A mix of human and demon. Well..." She paused, her eyes widening slightly as the thought struck her. "Isn’t that... what I am?"

Both Cillian and Gavriel raised their eyebrows at her sudden question.

Aliana’s eyes darted between the two of them. "I have a demon soul and a human body. Doesn’t that make me a hybrid?"

This time, Gavriel answered. "You are different, Ana. Your situation may appear similar on the surface, but it is not the same. You were born naturally. What they are doing is an abomination against the natural order itself."

His expression darkened. "Not only have they tampered with human bodies to make them turn into something that can transform like that creature we saw in Aria, but they seem to have experimented on human souls using black magic as well. In theory, they might be a hybrid, but in reality... I am not sure what to call them anymore."

Silence settled between them as each of them mulled over the new revelation before Cillian asked, "What would be their motive for doing something like this?"

Gavriel’s features hardened, his voice dropping into a low, grave tone. "Creating a new species only ever means one thing. Someone wants to build a civilization of their own."

A wave of shock passed over Aliana and Cillian.

Before either could process the weight of that statement, Gavriel added, "Whatever their end goal is, the salvageable records I found indicate that their project is almost complete"

"Complete?" Aliana’s brow furrowed. "I thought they had already succeeded in creating something new."

Cillian, who was listening intently, spoke up as the truth dawned on him. "Those weren’t finished results,"

"Huh?" Aliana gazed at Cillian in confusion.

"What Gavriel means is... the creature you saw back in Aria was just an early stage of their experiment," Cillian explained gently. "They have been running test trials to perfect whatever it is they are trying to create."

Aliana felt a cold chill run down her spine.

She turned back to her husband, her voice barely above a whisper. "And you believe they are about to complete the final version."

"Yes," Gavriel answered grimly, holding her gaze.

"This is not good," Aliana murmured, worry etching deeply into her features. "Why... why are they doing all of this? What would happen to our world if those things began roaming the streets?"

However, there were still things Aliana needed to know, so Gavriel spoke softly. "When I first learnt about this, you weren’t aware of my world or the things that existed beyond yours, so I kept certain things to myself. But now, there is something else you need to know."

"What?" Aliana asked, her heart beginning to race.

"It concerns what Evelyn and Ivan told me about the disturbance happening in their world," Gavriel replied.

"Their world?" Aliana frowned. "Where are they from?"

Gavriel looked at her for a moment before answering, "They are from alternate universes."

Aliana felt her jaw drop slightly at the mention of alternate universes.

All her life, she had heard and read theories about parallel dimensions, but she had never imagined such a thing could actually be real.

Then again, almost everything that had been unfolding in her life would have sounded completely unbelievable if she hadn’t personally witnessed and experienced it.

Taking a long, deep breath to steady herself, Aliana met Gavriel’s gaze. "All right. Tell me everything."

Gavriel then told her everything Evelyn and Ivan had disclosed about their world, explaining that it was a realm rich in magic and home to countless magical species, unlike their own world, which was predominantly populated by humans and where magic existed only in fairy tales and ancient legends.

"Ivan mentioned that rifts have been appearing in their world for the past fifty years, pulling countless people from their world into ours. Similar occurrences have also been happening from our end, meaning people from this world may have been pulled into theirs. Because of this, parts of their history have become intertwined with ours, such as the mythology section in the Aria museum we visited."

"This is... unbelievable," Aliana murmured in utter awe.

"Hmm... Ivan and Evelyn came to our world specifically to investigate these rifts before they stumbled upon the missing humans and everything that followed," Gavriel explained.

Aliana paused, her mind racing to connect the scattered clues. "Wait... if they crossed over to investigate, does that mean Ivan and Evelyn can travel between dimensions at will?"

"Yes. That is what Ivan told me," Gavriel confirmed.

"That’s amazing. It’s hard to believe someone could simply cross dimensions like that," Aliana commented, clearly fascinated by Evelyn and Ivan’s abilities.

Just then, something else clicked.

"Wait a minute! What if... what if people from Ivan and Evelyn’s world have been used in the experiments as well?"