Chapter 38 THE INCUBATOR'S CLOCK
When Valeria picked up the scalpel, her hands were shaking. It wasn't the tremor of a surgeon; it was the terror of a sister.
"I'm going to cut it out," Valeria said, her voice a hysterical whisper. "I'm going to rip that thing out of him."
The infirmary lights were still flickering. Kael lay on his back, his chest heaving like a bellows. That lump on his chest... it was moving. Writhing under the skin, making space for itself. Kael's teeth were clenched so hard that blood seeped from his gums.
"Don't," Kael rasped. "Val... don't."
"Quiet, you idiot!" Valeria brought the scalpel down onto the blackened lump.
The moment the metal touched the skin, the lump defended itself.
A shockwave of black, electric energy erupted from Kael's chest. Valeria screamed as she was thrown backward, the scalpel flying from her hand. Her hand was burned. The scalpel hit the floor as a molten lump of metal.
"You can't touch it," Dorian said. His voice was dead. He stood at the foot of the bed. "That thing isn't physical. It’s bonded to Kael's life force. If you cut it, you cut Kael."
Serra helped Valeria up. "Dorian is right. It's a parasite. It protects the host."
"So what do we do?" Valeria shouted, tears washing away the blood on her face. "Watch it grow inside him? Wait for it to eat him?"
Kael writhed on the bed. "Kill me," he said. His voice was clear. "Dorian. Kill me. Don't let me turn into that thing. I can't be like Lorden."
Dorian walked to the side of the bed. He knelt by Kael's head. There were no tears in his eyes; that stage had long passed.
"I'm not going to kill you," Dorian said. "And I'm not letting that thing take you."
Dorian ripped the remaining buttons off his shirt. He exposed the seal on his own chest. The seal was vibrating with a violet light, resonating with the presence of the parasite inside Kael.
"What are you doing?" Serra asked, sensing the danger.
"Buying him time," Dorian said. "Kael doesn't have a seal. So... we will share mine."
(SHARING THE SEAL: THE RISKY BOND)
Dorian placed his hand over his own seal, digging his nails in until he drew blood. Then he pressed that bloody hand onto the lump on Kael's chest.
"Bind to me," Dorian commanded. His voice shook not just the room, but the magic itself. "My blood, your blood. My seal, your cage."
The room instantly turned freezing cold.
Dorian’s body went rigid. His face contorted in agony. The suppressed, ancient energy from his own seal flowed from his arm into Kael's body.
Kael screamed. But this time, it was a scream of relief. The black lump on his chest shrank back when it met Dorian's dominant Alpha energy. It stopped moving. The black veins turned grey.
When Dorian pulled his hand away, he stumbled. Serra caught him. Dorian's skin had turned grey. He had given half his life force to freeze the parasite in Kael.
"It stopped," Valeria said, looking at the monitor. "The lump didn't disappear but... it's sleeping. It's not advancing."
"How long?" Serra asked, struggling to keep Dorian upright.
Dorian answered, gasping for air. "Twenty-four hours. Maybe less. My seal can't hold two parasites. When my power runs out... both will wake up. And they will eat us both."
(THE NEW TARGET: UNDERGROUND)
The room went silent. Twenty-four hours. The death clock was set.
"Lukas," Serra said, turning to the corner where Lukas was hiding. "That signal. You said it came from under the palace. Where is the entrance?"
Lukas opened his tablet with trembling hands. "In the old blueprints... there's a ventilation shaft called the 'Blind Well' beneath the palace foundations. But it's been sealed for centuries. Going down there is suicide."
"Lorden went down there," Dorian said, straightening up. "And they will come out from there."
Dorian turned to Valeria. "You can't keep Kael here. Take him to Silas's cabin. The forest air slows the parasite. Serra and I..."
He looked at Serra. There was no pleading in his eyes; there was a command that said 'stand with me'.
"...we are going down. To the source. We will find Lorden and make him rip that seed out of Kael."
"Or," Serra said, checking the silver knife at her waist. "We kill Lorden and scorch this curse from the root."
Kael wheezed on the bed. "Hey... leave me a gun. If... if I turn into that thing..."
"You won't need a gun," Valeria said, kissing Kael's forehead. Her voice had hardened. "Because your brother and sister-in-law are going to bring that hell down on their heads and come back."
Dorian and Serra left the infirmary. There was no palace anymore. No politics. Just that dark well under the ground and one day they had to win.