Virginia was more concerned about the eting happening sowhere upstairs than the Aureate itself in front of her.
A room full of people trying to figure out what to do about an Aureate reappearing after years of classified absence, not yet knowing that the person who had extracted him had also cleared an Aberrant dungeon three days prior. When those two pieces of information arrived in the sa room, the eting was going to change its shape entirely.
It was truly an otherworldly ss.
The entire dical ward paused for a mont when she walked in, quietly taking a mont to acknowledge her presence before the doctors, healers and nurses got back to their duties.
Aris was laying in a bed on the far end, hand covering his eyes, the posture of soone who was exhausted of the whole situation.
Amari Stormborne was sitting in a char beside him.
She wasn’t particularly doing anything, simply watching the dical professional do their work with the quiet air of soone who was still processing what had happened. She had turned to look at Virginia when she entered, seemingly loosing interest as she was now back to studying the treatnt.
Virginia quietly walked up to them, giving Amari a curt nod before sitting on the side of the bed.
"So?"
Aris voice was muffled when it ca out.
"I just want so sleep."
She looked at him—at the hand over his eyes, at the soft line of his jaw, at the particular quality of stillness in the rest of him that wasn’t at rest so much as a decision to stop moving for a mont. It was unnerving, the contrast of him being so controlled to the clumsy boy she used to know.
She internally scolded herself for letting such a thought surface.
"They aren’t going to let you go anyti soon." She said after a mont. "I’d suggest getting a nap in while you can."
This made him look at her, he took his arm off from his eyes, shooting a glare.
Which looked... a little cute coming from him. If she had to be honest.
"There’s soone dying next to ." Aris mumbled.
Amari quietly chuckled.
Virginia turned to look at the group of professionals huddled around the bed the Aureate was on.
"How did you even find him anyway?"
Aris didn’t say anything for a long mont, quietly staring at the ceiling.
"It was a spontaneous gate opening, I went in thinking it that it might break open before it had the ti to manifest the seal."
Virginia nodded.
"And?"
"And what, the first thing i saw when i went in was that guy getting jumped by a moving mass of flesh, which slled as horrible as it sounds, by the way." He paused for a mont, a shiver seemingly going down his spine as he relived his experience inside the dungeon.
"The dungeon seed more interested in since that guy, Aureate or whatever, was actively one foot into the grave. Brought ti for the clear and escape with him."
She nodded again, letting the silence settle around them for a while as she thought.
"What about the classification?" She turned to Amari.
The woman was an old acquaintance of her, which was a good thing. Being a Halcyon, there was barely any awakened on this country that she hadn’t t one way or another. Even among them, Amari was still quite the distinguishable figure. A veteran S rank despite her young age, and a dazzling portfolio. On top of which, being a Stormborne, a family that was a vassal of the Ashbornes until they split off to build their own legacy a few decades ago.
She didn’t speak imdiately, studying Virginia for a short mont as her brain worked furiously out of sight. She had that sa quality that heirs of noble families had, that quiet, rigid tension surrounding their every mont, every interaction.
"The rank was hard to determine, there wasn’t any real leakage apart from the common turbulence." She said finally.
Virginia’s eyebrows rose by the littlest bit, impressed.
Eye balling a dungeon rank asurents was... sothing.
"From what i could see, it clearly had intent."
The silence settled like the gavel of a judge.
There it was. The confirmation they all were reluctant to make.
"So it’s true."
Amari quietly nodded.
Virginia let out a long exhale, studying the commotion around the bed of the Aureate as she wondered about how to quell this fla.
"What about that guy?"
"He’ll live."
"Not that. Isn’t he supposed to be sixty years old?"
Amari didn’t reply.
Instead Aris did.
"Ti was broken inside that place."
She turned to him.
"What do you an?"
"I was in there for more than ten minutes," Aris looked at Amari, quietly considering his words before speaking. "Outside, it looked like only a few seconds had passed."
"So we have a dungeon where ti was broken, which conveniently appeared in front of two S ranks, while actively being an aberrant dungeon, which miraculously housed an Aureate that was supposed to be dead sixty years ago?" She sighed, "Sounds about- Why are you looking at like that?"
Aris was staring at her with visible confusion.
"Two S ranks...?"
Virginia blinked.
"Oh..."
The quiet groan that the young man let out would have made people wonder what kind of horrible fate had fallen upon such a poor soul.
Virginia herself too, was a little impressed at Aris’s luck in finding himself stuck in so many ssy situations.
She had forgotten in all this ss, despite being an Ashborne, this guy was still far removed from the new politics between clan legacies. Especially the ones surrounding private S ranks.
She let out a chuckle, shaking her head. And then, slowly rose from the side of the bed, pulling out her phone from the pocket of pants.
"You guys stay here, i have to make a couple of calls. I’ll be right back."
"Bring sothing to eat when you co back."
She gave Aris a nod, a light, reassuring smile stretched on her face as she turned around to walk out of the room.
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