Eberrune, Mistwatch
It has been a week since Ed had found The Conspirer in the alleyway, for the past week he had been closely monitoring its actions. As someone who had been busy studying the Conspiracy's behavioral patterns, this was quite exciting but he could not say that aloud in front of his girlfriend.
Clara had been giving him the cold shoulder for the past week, but she was also slightly getting attached to the monster he had brought home. She gave it her old clothes and even did it's hair, they had also bought lenses to hide it's eyes like miniature suns glowing in the dark.
Currently the monster looked exactly human, they were even teaching it proper etiquette. And it learned at a terrifying speed, but he still had his doubts about the creature.
As a researcher he had to consider everything and looking at the situation at the alleyway he was sure there was more to it. He went back to check the alleyway for a dead body, since he had been drawn by the scent of blood the previous night.
But there was no body in sight, what he found was a pile of mucus and hairs and some blood here and there. Which only made him the question the nature of The Conspiracy.
He was currently buried in a worn out leather bound book, Clara and sunphire were out. Sunphire is what Clara had decided to name the monster, because of her eyes.
With Sunphire's appearance he wondered if that was how the high ranking members Conspiracy infiltrated the human world. If so did all of thhem have definitive traits that separates thhem from regular human like Sunphire?
If so was that trait fully manifested in the eyes only, or thery were hidden away. Or maybe they had a way to suppress said trait and only maifesst it on command? Many questions assaulted his mind, in the end he placed the book down and stated into the distance.
The world was in turmoil and he could feel it, something big was coming and he had to find a way to preserve the human race otherwise he feared they would all be wiped out within the next 20 decades or so.
"What is it that I'm missing?"
Burying his face in his palms, he tried to run over important piece of information he had acquired.
[They evolve.]
After partially witnessing Sunphire's transformation in the alleyway and seeing the rate of her growth the past week he deducted that the Conspiracy evolved, that is how they slowly infiltrated the human world.
[I need to report this to the higher ups.]
He stood up and went to grab his cellphone on the counter, he dialed a number and waited as the phone rang.
(hello?)
"Secretary Chan, can you please connect me to Father Lucien." He responded, there was silence for a short while and then a deep voice spoke from the phone.
(Edmund, to what do i owe the pleasure of having you contact me today?) The father's voice was deep and yet it was also calming like a parent addressing his child.
"I have made a ground breaking discovery in Conspiracy hierarchy and rankings, and i thought you should be the first person to know." He responded.
(Come to the cathedral right away.) The father's voice was filled with excitement, apart from being a father he was also a scholar and his mentor.
"see you soon." Neil dropped the call, and ran to the bedroom to change his clothes into something more appropriate.
He wore a black shirt, a pair of dark jeans and white sneakers. He took his worn brown leather jacket and was about to leave the apartment when Clara and Sunphire walked in.
The two women were having a leisurely chat but they paused when they noticed Ed, Clara looked him down and asked
"Going to see Father Arkwright?"
Ed nodded, Sparing him only a singble glance she walked past him followed by Sunphire who waved at him. He smiled and left the apartment.
...
Eberrune, Mistwatch: The cathedral
Ed sat quietly waiting for the father's response, on the way to the cathedral he had thought up of a way to break the news to the father and he saw that labeling it as a theory would put him in safer waters where he won't have to be interrogated endless by the church and the government.
Father Lucien Arkwright is a man in his late forties, he had perfectly cut black hair and beard. His greenish eyes, were lost deep in thought. He was a man of a lean stature with not too much muscle mass. He wore his clergyman attire and his office shelves were filledd to the brim with religious books, ancient history texts. The leather bound book he was reading was from the man's collection.
Of course his office was neatly packed, and it maintained the scent of freshly picked roses every time he was here yet there were no roses or plants of any kind in the office.
"That theory is very plausible, what led you to that conclusion?" the father finally spoke breaking the silence
"The deciding battle between the champions of old and the Conspiracy, I went back to our religious texts and that is where I noticed it the religious text were always so descriptive about everything concerning the systems and the Conspiracy yet no way did it mention high ranking Conspiracy.
That had me thinking, by looking at the rates of attacks and the amount of damage the Conspiracy caused back then was astronomical, they left everything in ruins and they attacked everyone and everything.
From the rates of the attacks I deduced that they were simply disorganized and without a shepherd they were like lost sheep. And then over the thousands of years they became more and more organized until today where we have Conspiracy in our ranks, what could the possible answer be? " he ended his explanation with a question
" Evolution. " Father Arkwright responded softly.
Taking a deep breath the father's expression was solemn, he knew that if Ed's theory was correct then how many of the Conspiracy had evolved to the pinnacle of their cursed race.
And how many of them were above the humans pinnacle of power, maybe 10? Maybe a 100? Whatever the answer was. It meant total annihilation of their race.
"But it is just a theory." Ed aded with an embarrassed chuckle.
"Everything we know about The Conspiracy were regerdedd theories by the masses at first, over the years those same theories from thousands of years ago are now absolute truths."
Ed smiled and said nothing awaiting the father to talk or either dismiss him. With this theory being planted he could only wait for it to blow up within their research department and to the rest of the System bearers alike.
"Your work is commendable, I swill take this theory and submit it to the church. Keep up the good work." father Arkwright regarded him with a warm smile
Ed got up and bid the father farewell, on his way out he bumped into alsomeone.
"My apologies-" The words stuck in his throat as soon as he saw the person he had bumped into.
"Watch your step." The man he had bumped spoke as he walked past him.
The door to the father's office shut and he stood in the hallway shocked. The man was Vaelkor, Eberrune's military commander and one of the nation's strongest individual. No one could deny the man's accomplishments, Hailed as the nation's youngest general and one of the few people in the world to take on a high ranking Conspirer and live.
He held the title, General of the dead because of his system path Shadow Reaper and the branch he specialized in Necroshadow. Rumor had it that he was a ruthless man who hunted down high ranking Conspiracy.
[What is he doing here... Sunphire!]
Wasting no time he immediately ran out of the cathedral.
...
Clara and Sunphire were in the kitchen preparing dinner when all of a sudden Sunphire staggered, Clara reacted instantly and caught her before she fell.
She was breathing heavily, her temperature flared up and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Fear and panic gripped Clara's heart as she watched Sunphire's fangs elongating. The contact lenses they had bought for her to hide her eyes burned up and her sun-like eyes glowed brightly than they normally did.
Crack!!!
That was the sound of her bones snapping, Clara jumped back as she stared at Sunphire transform in horror. She resisted the urge to attack afraid of hurting her.
"I do not know what is happening but I know you can fight it, I know you can." tears began streaming down Clara's face.
"It hurts, sister it hurts." she groaned in pain, seeing the girl look at her withh pain in her eyes broke Clara's heart. So she clenched her fist and took hesitant steps forward.
"I'm here." +she whispered "it will be okay." The last part was for her.
30 minutes later
Ed burst through the door out of breath, his eyes scanned the room in panic. Spotting Clara alone he panicked even more and when he was about to speak she raised her hand and shook her head
" She's sleeping, keep it down."