Toward midnight, Room 404 in Block D groaned with the rhythmic hissing of the steam pipes, as usual.
Elian had passed out from exhaustion hours ago, buried in a deep sleep. As the scrawny boy's peaceful breathing echoed through the dim room, Vane sat cross-legged on his bed in silence. He had stopped by the infirmary after the confrontation in the corridor to have his burned shoulder re-bandaged, but the skin beneath the linen felt as if it were still being seared by a lingering flame.
Lyra Corvus... Vane thought. He knew he had made the right move by leaving her behind in that corridor. Had he threatened her with death, her morbid curiosity might have twisted into a lethal enmity. By drawing a clear line and leaving her to process the situation alone, he had transitioned her from a threat into a confused spectator of his game.
"The time has come," Lysandra whispered. The divine, ancient authority in her voice cut through Vane's thoughts like a blade. "It is time to release that little spark you stole. Merely hoarding it in the stomach of your dagger will not make you stronger, Vane. You must temper it into your own blood."
Vane took a deep breath. To avoid making any sound that might wake Elian, he folded a clean strip of bandage and placed it between his teeth. How do I begin? he asked internally.
"An ordinary human's aether veins are as thin as hair," Lysandra explained. "But you are not ordinary. When the Black Hole finally awakens, common veins will not be able to bear that colossal mass; you would detonate in seconds. You must expand and forge your veins into steel. This stolen fire of the Pillars will be your blacksmith's hearth."
Vane closed his eyes. In the depths of his mind, he pried the rusted door of his dagger open by a single millimeter.
Instantly, an agonizing pain shot from his stomach through his veins like a bolt of lightning. It felt as if someone had injected molten lava directly into his bloodstream. The burnt flesh on his left shoulder began to roast all over again, but this time, the fire was burning from the inside out.
Vane's body convulsed violently. He bit down on the cloth, his jaw aching as if his teeth might shatter. Beads of sweat poured from his forehead, soaking the sheets. Every breath felt like inhaling shards of glass and glowing embers.
"Endure it..." Vane groaned to himself, forcing his mind to detach from the physical agony. He remembered his mother's scream on that rainy night. He remembered the desperate betrayal in Kael's eyes. He remembered King Vorian's cold, calculating gaze—the look of a man who viewed his own son as nothing more than a suicide bomb to be deployed on a battlefield.
Pain was merely fuel for Vane's resentment. He would not die until he dragged those who forced this hell upon him down from their majestic thrones.
"Do not let that weak bastard blood burn away!" Lysandra roared, her voice laced with a feral excitement. "Let that fire forge your veins like a blacksmith's hammer! Merge the stolen power of the Pillars into your own frail potential. Your veins must expand! They must be forged of steel to carry the absolute destruction that will tear through them when the Black Hole awakens!"
Vane's body continued to tremble. That single sip of the Third Pillar's pure fire clashed with the "worthless" bastard blood in his veins. Yet, instead of destroying it, the flame was expanding and hardening it. Vane could feel his blood violently evolving, breaking free from the limits of a common vassal and forcing its way toward the dense, heavy aether capacity reserved for noble heirs.
After hours of this silent hell, the fire in his veins finally subsided, merging into Vane's own aether.
Vane spat out the blood-stained bandage and collapsed onto his back. He stared up at the dim ceiling, his physical body utterly drained and his muscles turned to lead. Yet, through his veins coursed a new power—heavy, dense, and tingling with an unprecedented intensity.
He was no longer just an expendable pawn; the weak wood inside the pawn was slowly, steadily turning into unbreakable steel.