Orion's curiosity gnawed at him like a restless beast. He couldn't understand how Xander had managed to get his hands on the elixir—a special and supposedly impossible item, according to his foster father.
To Orion's surprise, the answer came not with a confession, but with the most mischievous and infuriating smile he had ever seen stretch across Xander's face.
"That's because it doesn't exist," Xander said bluntly, his tone dripping with smug amusement.
"What?" Orion's eyes widened, disbelief flashing across his face. "B-but you gave—"
"What I gave your fool of a brother," Xander interrupted, a cruel smirk tugging at his lips, "who thought he could cheat fate and escape what every single one of us who was once a Veilborn had to go through, was nothing but diluted alcohol in a cologne bottle I brought to this backwater town."
The words hit Orion like a slap. A cold shiver rippled through him as his shoulders sagged, his gaze falling to the dirty floor of his cell.
"D–diluted alcohol… in a bottle?" His voice trembled. "B-but he trusted you. Eden trusted you! And because of that trust, he gave me up—he let me, his only healthy family member, take the fall for what you did."
Xander only chuckled, utterly unfazed by the accusation. "And thanks to both of you," he said, brushing invisible dust off his coat, "I get to go on with my assignment without any hiccups. Well… almost without hiccups." He sighed dramatically. "I still have to deal with the bitch who nearly ruined everything by not telling me who she really was. Now I've got to convince her to keep her pretty little mouth shut until I leave this damned town a month from now."
He took a deep breath and groaned. "Speaking of that bitch… she's probably waiting for me at the place I hinted we'd meet, so I should go have that talk now."
Xander turned, heading for the exit, but just as he took his first few steps, Orion's voice sliced through the silence.
"Wait a minute!"
Xander paused mid-step and glanced over his shoulder, his eyes shifting toward the small barred opening of the cell door. From his current angle, he couldn't see Orion's face anymore—only the top of his head.
"If there's no real elixir," Orion said slowly, his voice shaking with dawning horror, "then that means Eden will undergo the test when the wave of rebirth hits and—"
Xander cut him off sharply.
"If he has enough ego to see through the first test, and if he's skilled—or lucky—enough to pass the second, then he'll become one of us. A Foci." Xander's tone grew colder. "But if he isn't lucky, if he fails the first test, then he'll become a chaos-driven, murder-hungry Wraith-Liar. And as the ones assigned to this town, it's our job to deal with him."
"You'll kill him," Orion whispered, his tone heavy with sorrow.
"Or," Samuel interjected softly, "there's a third option."
His voice carried a strange sympathy, and it drew Orion's attention immediately. "A third option?" he asked, desperate for even a sliver of hope.
Samuel nodded. "He could pass the first test but fail the second. If that happens, he'll die peacefully—like falling asleep. No battle, no pain. Just… gone." He paused, his voice dropping lower. "That's assuming those who become Wraith-Liars still retain their consciousness, and it's merely overwritten by their new hunger for destruction."
For a fleeting moment, hope flared in Orion's chest—but it was extinguished just as quickly. His face fell, the color draining from it as despair returned to consume him.
He wanted his brother to survive, not die — even if it was peacefully in his sleep.
Xander chuckled mockingly. "My gosh, Samuel, if you wanted to give the little shit some hope, you could've made it sound better. Tell him something like maybe his brother might last long enough in the second test to outlast the duration entirely—to survive the month, come out the other side unchanged. Neither a Foci nor a Wraith-Liar. Just… a defective Veilborn." He rolled his eyes dramatically.
Orion's head snapped up. "I–is that possible? Could someone go through both tests and come back without changing?" His eyes gleamed with fragile hope.
"I wouldn't hold my breath on that," Marcel interjected, his deep voice breaking through and prompting Orion to face him.
"What do you mean?" he asked eagerly.
Marcel folded his arms. "We haven't been Foci for long, and this is our first assignment under the Supplementary Military Corps, but even we would've heard stories if something like that had ever happened before. No one—no one—has ever gone through the tests of rebirth and surpassed the month-long duration to return as an ordinary Veilborn. Could it happen someday? Maybe. There's still so much mystery surrounding the wave of rebirth and its test. But as of now, it's nothing more than a fantasy." He exhaled slowly. "If I were you, I wouldn't cling to that hope. Your best chance is that your brother passes both tests and becomes a Foci."
Xander burst into laughter again, almost doubled over.
"Sorry, but that scrawny, feminine-looking brat surviving both tests? Not happening. If it were this bastard here," he said coldly, zero concerns for Orion's feelings.
Gesturing toward Orion, Xander said "Him maybe. He's got that mix of ego and grit that might push him through. But his brother? Please. The boy was convinced he'd fail before the tests even began. That's why he came begging me for a miracle that doesn't exist. Someone like that—someone who doubts himself that much—doesn't stand a chance at surviving the first test, which is all about willpower and ego."
He turned fully and stepped closer to Orion's cell, regaining his view of the boy. "I guess it's good you're locked up in here," he sneered. "You won't have to watch your brother become the monster he's destined to be… and you won't see us mow him down while we do our duty protecting this town."
He grinned darkly. "But hey, maybe your brother's delusional and isn't even a Veilborn at all. We'll know soon enough when the wave of rebirth hits, won't we?"