Chapter 117 | The Disinfection Lamp | Kael
I woke up in pain.
Not chest pain. Something more spread out, deeper—like reorganization pain. Like someone pulling out my nerves one by one, cleaning them, and shoving them back in.
"Don't move."
A voice. A child's voice, but with an adult tone.
I opened my eyes.
The ceiling was white, but not stone. Something smooth, man-made—plaster? Under me wasn't a mattress, but something harder, yet surprisingly comfortable. I tried to turn my head, but my neck was stiff.
A face appeared in my view.
A little girl. Black curly hair, ice-blue round eyes. She wore white clothes, but with the de Noct family crest.
"Who are you?" My voice sounded like sandpaper.
"Adrian," she said. "Last generation Gatekeeper of the de Noct family in the human world."
She stood up straight. Only then did I notice her height—about four feet three, but her posture wasn't childlike. She walked to a table on one side of the room, picked up a glass, and drank water. Her movements were graceful, precise, like three thousand years of practice.
"Human world?" I repeated.
"Side B," she set down the glass and turned to look at me. "Or, in your words, 'below.' My father, my father's father, have been guarding here. Waiting for someone to fall from Side A."
"Waiting for me?"
"For you, or any de Noct with the Patricide Blade." She came closer, her small hand on my forehead. Ice cold. "When the blade recognizes its master, we felt the ripple here. So I sent the letter."
I tried to sit up.
My ribs protested. But the chest wound—the one the Patricide Blade left—had actually healed. Only a pink scar remained on the skin.
"You healed me?"
"No." Adrian pulled her hand back. "I only temporarily locked your essence loss. Real repair, you have to do yourself."
She paused.
"With that."
She pointed to a corner of the room.
There stood a machine. Not blood-crystal, not magic. Human technology—metal tubes, wires, a chair. Like an electric chair. Above the chair hung a lamp, not giving off warm light, but some purple, sharp—beam.
"UV-C wavelength laser generator," Adrian said. "Your people call it a disinfection lamp. It can break down a vampire's cell connections, but also—if the power is right—can rebuild them."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning," she walked to the machine, her small hand patting the metal tube, "your essence shattered into three pieces. One was absorbed by the perfect 'him,' one remains in the wound, and one—"
She looked at me.
"—was lost in the void. Without the third piece, you can't be a complete Gatekeeper. But UV-C can temporarily simulate that piece's frequency, making the other two pieces think the third piece is back."
"The cost?"
"Pain." Adrian said, her tone flat like she was talking about the weather. "Beyond anything you can imagine. And the risk—if the power is too high, you turn to ash. Too low, nothing happens."
The door opened.
Leah rushed in. Her wings—I noticed—were being held down by something, folded behind her, no longer glowing. She wore human world clothes—an oversized black coat, probably borrowed from someone. When she saw me moving, her eyes went red.
"You're awake."
"Just woke up." I said, reaching out my hand.
She rushed over and grabbed it. Her fingers were warm, alive. Through the Bloodbond—I was surprised it was still there, though weak—I felt her fear, her exhaustion, and her—
anger.
"Who is this girl?" She asked, not looking at Adrian, but the question was clearly meant for her.
"Adrian." The little girl answered, unbothered by Leah's tone. "de Noct family agent. You can call me butler, or warden, or—"
She paused, the corner of her mouth curving up.
"—great-great-great-grandmother."
Leah froze.
"What?"
"Kidding." Adrian said, but her eyes weren't smiling. "By bloodline, I'm a distant relative of Kael de Noct's descendants left in the human world. The Gatekeeper bloodline passes through the mother's side. My body stopped at ten because of the Gatekeeper's curse—the closer to the Door, the slower time moves."
She walked to the window. Outside was the city at night, lights stretching out like a sea.
"Three thousand years," she said. "My father guarded. My grandfather guarded. My great-grandfather guarded. We guard this Door, waiting for you to come from Side A. Because we know that one day, Side A will rot, and the Gatekeeper must make a choice."
"What choice?" I asked.
Adrian turned. Her ice-blue round eyes looked straight at me.
"Choose whether to let Side A's people in," she said. "Or whether to let Side B's people out."
The room went quiet.
Leah's grip on my hand tightened.
"Xiao Qi said," I spoke, "the two worlds are crashing into each other. If the Door isn't sealed, they'll fuse. If the Door opens—"
"Fusion is a disaster." Adrian cut in. "Side A's energy will burn through Side B's technology. Side B's physical laws will tear Side A's magic apart. But staying separate isn't possible either—the barrier is already broken."
She came closer, her small hand pulling something from her pocket.
A chip. Human technology.
"So," she said, "we need a third path. Not sealing the Door, not opening the Door. But—changing the Door."
"Changing the Door?"
"Make both worlds' Doors into two-way valves." Adrian said. "Energy can be exchanged, but won't flood. People can pass through, but need permission. Rules set by the Gatekeeper, not by the network or natural laws."
She looked at me.
"This requires Gatekeepers from both worlds present at the same time. Side A's, and Side B's."
"Xiao Qi is on Side A." Leah said.
"Not enough." Adrian shook her head. "Xiao Qi is temporary. She has no family bloodline. The true Side A Gatekeeper—"
She pointed at me.
"—is you, Kael de Noct. The Patricide Blade recognized you. Your blood opened the passage. You are now Side A's only legitimate Gatekeeper."
I went quiet.
For three thousand years, I refused to be a Gatekeeper. My father did it. I ran. I cut away my weakness, left it in the ruins, and fled to the capital to be a prince.
And now, this Door had caught up with me.
"What if I refuse?" I asked.
Adrian didn't answer. She just walked to the wall and pressed a button.
The wall turned into a screen.
It showed images from Side A.
Obsidian Moon Academy. Night Owl Tower. The capital.
And—
the Moon-Eater.
It was no longer at the Spiral Spire. It was moving. North. Toward the capital. Each step cracked the earth, made the sky bleed. And behind it, the black ocean of Light-Eaters spread.
"If you refuse," Adrian said, "Side A will be destroyed within seventy-two hours. Then Side B loses its barrier, exposed to all void creatures. The human world—"
She looked out the window.
"—will become hell within a week."
Leah stood up.
Her coat slipped off her shoulder, showing her silver-white wing roots. The feathers there were falling out—in the human world, the Progenitor bloodline had no energy source, so it was eating itself.
"What do we do?" Leah asked.
Adrian looked at her. For the first time, her eyes held something other than judgment—a warmth.
"The Door-changing ritual," she said, "requires light and dark together as energy. Silver Moon and Waning Moon. But the problem is—"
She turned to me.
"The Waning Moon is too waning. Your essence shattered into three pieces. One piece in the Side A ruins, one piece on the perfect 'him'—you absorbed him, but the fragment didn't merge. And one piece—"
She pointed at my chest.
"—in the Patricide Blade's wound. It's rejecting your other parts."
"Then how do we fix it?" Leah pressed.
"Need something." Adrian said. "Only the human world has it."
She walked to the door and opened it.
A man stood outside. Wearing a white coat, glasses, carrying a metal case. Not a vampire. Human. But his expression wasn't like a doctor's, but like—
a soldier's.
"UV-C wavelength laser generator." Adrian said. "Commonly known as: Disinfection Lamp PLUS. It can break down a vampire's cell connections, but also—"
She looked at the human.
"—can rebuild them. If done right."
The human opened the metal case.
Inside was a complex machine, tubes, wires, and a—
chair.
Like an electric chair.
"What if it's done wrong?" I asked.
The human spoke for the first time. His voice was rough, like it had been burned by fire.
"Done wrong," he said, "you turn to ash."
Leah stepped between me and the machine.
"No." She said. "I don't agree."
"Leah—"
"I don't agree!" She turned, her silver-gray eyes burning with anger and fear. "You just woke up! You almost died! Now you want to sit in an electric chair? No! We'll find another way!"
"There is no other way." Adrian said, her voice calm. "At least, not here."
She paused.
"Unless," she said, "you're willing to go back to Side A. Through the passage. But the passage is unstable now, seventy percent chance you'll get teleported into the Moon-Eater's mouth. Want to try?"
Leah froze.
I looked at her. Her wings were shaking, feathers still falling. Her face was pale. She was weakening in the human world too, just slower than me.
I looked at the machine.
Then I stood up.
My legs were still weak, but I stood. I walked to Leah and cupped her face with both hands.
"Remember?" I said. "In the wilderness. You said you chose to stand with me."
She looked at me, her eyes wet.
"I remember."
"Now," I said, "I need you to help me make another choice."
"What?"
"Choose to let me sit in it."
Her tears fell.
"I hate you." She said.
"I know."
I kissed her forehead. Cold. Dry. Like kissing weathered stone.
Then I turned and walked toward the machine.
The human—doctor, soldier, whatever—started adjusting the equipment. The tubes hummed with a warm-up sound.
Adrian stood at the control panel, her small hands moving across the keyboard.
"Ready?" She asked.
I didn't answer.
Because at that moment—
through the Bloodbond, I felt a violent surge.
Not from Leah. Not from Side A.
From outside the window.
From this city.
Something dark was waking up.
And it was watching us.