“Whoever your boss is, they’re wrong,” he said, pushing the Hybrid away. “Finding a way to access it assumes that there’s magic inside me somewhere. Which there isn’t. Is this all the information you have? Is this what you’ve been holding around my neck all this time, leashing me along like a dog?”
Something flickered in Yuki’s storm-gray eyes. The wind was picking up, and he raised his voice to be heard. “They found a way to imbue normies with magic.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s not exactly the kind of magic you’re thinking of, but it’s still power. It works similarly to the Exorcists’ magic in principle.”
“How’s that possible?”
“They’ve been experimenting with a new spell that’s similar to the one the girl cast on you.”
That spell had caused Rui’s spiritual energy to transfer to Yiran and allowed him to do magic. But it didn’t exist anymore. Zizi had tried to replicate it and failed. Did he lie? Yiran didn’t think so. Zizi might’ve detested the Exorcist Guild, but he had worked with them eventually, and he hated Revenants even more. He wouldn’t switch sides.
The Hybrids had tried to capture Zizi once, and the mage hadn’t been seen in a while. Ash said he’d run off to escape further Guild punishment for his rogue activities. But Yiran knew better: Zizi would move heaven and hell before abandoning Rui. Which could mean only one thing.
“Did your friends kidnap Zizi?”
“I wish.” Yuki scoffed. “That asshole took out my wings once. Now that I know how his spiritual weapon works, it’ll be payback when we meet again. I heard your former associate is missing in action, but it has nothing to do with the Hybrids.”
“Then where did the new spell come from? What other mage are you holding prisoner?”
“There’s no other mage as far as I know. All I heard is there was a transaction behind the scenes. I’ve only seen the spell in action once. There was a kid, a runaway they took in. They made him feel like he was one of the gang, then they asked if he wanted to truly be one of them, and guess what?” Yuki raised an eyebrow at Yiran. “Kid said yes. Imagine that.”
Yiran wondered why anyone would want to be a monster. But as he stared at Yuki standing there in all his glorious, forbidding beauty, Yiran started to understand. Despite living in the shadows, the Hybrids seemed like superior creatures with power and control. If the runaway boy had left home because of a bad situation and he was feeling helpless, it would have been easy to tempt him by welcoming him with open arms.
It seemed like consent was important to the Hybrids. They’d asked the boy before they transformed him. Which made sense if they wanted to build a loyal army. Followers who believed in a self-righteous cause were more dangerous than those who believed in money. Whoever the Hybrid leader was, they knew what they were doing.
“They cast the spell and transferred some of a Revenant’s yinqi into the kid,” Yuki said. “The spell worked, and the kid transformed.He settled quickly, and he didn’t give in to any of the early impulses to feed indiscriminately. He’s one of their success stories.”
That means there were failures.What happened to the normies who had agreed to the transformation, only for the spell to fail? The fact that the Hybrids were using yinqi from actual Revenants made the whole thing more macabre.
“What does all this have to do withmysituation?” Yiran said.
Yuki didn’t reply. He had stepped to the edge of the rooftop.
It’s not exactly the kind of magic you’re thinking of, but it’s still power....The spell worked, and the kid transformed.
Horror crawled over Yiran’s skin as he put two and two together. “Are you suggesting that I turn myself into a Hybrid Revenant?”
“I’m presenting an option, a way to gain power,” Yuki said. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? This new talisman can be used again and again. It worked on others. It could work on you.”
“What the actual fuck!” Yiran shouted. Wind rushed against his ears as he backed away to the stairwell door. He had to tell Ash about this.
“I know why you carry that glove with you all the time, even though you can’t use it anymore,” Yuki said, walking toward him. “I know how it feels to be helpless and chained to your fate. I’m trying to save you, Yiran. I’m trying to give you the power you want to control your life.”
“Shut up! You don’t understand anything.”
But Yuki had struck the heart of his true desire.Magicwas just a word he bandied around.Powerwas what he wanted. Magic was a means to that end. Power over others who did him wrong, power to protect himself,to control his own life. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it? And if Yuki’s suggestion worked...
Yiran shuddered, repulsed by himself. How could his own wretched mind consider the option even for a fleeting moment? How could he give up his humanity?
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Yuki said abruptly, stopping in his tracks. The wind whistled loudly like a creaking door left ajar.
Yiran kept his eyes on Yuki, afraid that if he turned his back, something might happen. Still, he sensed that Yuki didn’t want to hurt him. Trouble was, Yiran had a bad feeling he would get hurt anyway.
It’s not an invitation to the evil lair.
Yuki was telling the truth. It wasn’t an invitation.
