Unmade Chapter 34: Chapter 34: a old tale

Read chapter 34 of Unmade by churro on NovelPedia.

Vale rose from his hospital bed but did not stand immediately. Instead, he sat still for a few quiet seconds, eyes half-lidded, focusing intensely on his surroundings. He could feel it. The energy he had sensed in Rose and Evelyn earlier, dense, bright, unmistakable, was not limited to them. It filled the entire room, embedded in the walls, humming softly in the air like invisible mist. But something about it felt… wrong. Or incomplete. When Vale turned his attention inward, he sensed four distinct wells of that same energy within himself: Ember, perched beside him; his metallic right arm; the armor that clung to him like a second skin; and the bone-like implant embedded into his left arm. Yet each source felt restrained, sealed, as if they were prevented from accessing their full potential. His gaze shifted to Ember. The small wyvern held only a faint amount of energy within its body, but the world around it seemed to respond, energy naturally gathered toward the creature like moths to a flame. It was not inherent power Ember possessed; he was absorbing it, drinking in the ambient force as though born to do so. As Vale focused deeper, both women noticed the distant look on his face. Rose gently tapped his shoulder. “Are you ready to go?” she asked. Vale blinked, returning to the present, and nodded. “Yeah. Sure.” He smiled lightly at the two women and rose to his full height. He towered over them. His armor, black leather reinforced with dark metal, had reappeared on his body as though woven from the air itself, yet it carried no weight. The same was true of his metallic arm. Despite its size and complexity, it felt lighter than his flesh, as if crafted for effortless movement. Rose and Evelyn began walking out of the hospital room, and Vale followed. The hallway outside was long, built of faded white stone. Staff in crisp white uniforms moved briskly through the corridor, tending to their duties with practiced efficiency. One woman in particular drew Vale’s attention. She sat behind a cluttered desk, black hair streaked with darker strands, a cigarette dangling lazily from her lips, despite clearly being indoors. She looked exhausted, deep bags beneath her eyes, but her beauty remained sharp even through her fatigue. It took her a moment to notice the three of them. When she did, she jolted upright, eyes widening. She hurriedly crushed the cigarette, tossed it into a bin, and reached beneath her desk with frantic hands. “Miss Rose! I, I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you back so soon. I thought Vale would need more time to recover.” Her pale fingers sifted through piles of documents. “I’ll get his paperwork immediately. Just, one moment.” Rose chuckled softly. “Don’t worry too much, Bianca. Even I didn’t expect Vale to recover this quickly. There’s no rush.” She leaned on the counter. “How are your kids? They settling well at the academy?” Bianca nodded as she searched through the papers. “Yes. Korin and Maelis are doing very well. Korin especially, he’s finally learning to control his connection thanks to the academy’s instructors.” She paused as her fingers landed on a folder. “Truly… thank you again. Without that academy, my children, and many others, would likely…” Her voice thinned. “…they would likely die due to their own instability.” She bowed her head. Vale frowned slightly. 'Die due to their own instability?' The idea unsettled him, but given how little he knew about this world, it wasn’t something he could dismiss. Rose took the documents from Bianca with a grateful nod and a warm smile. Then she turned to Vale and handed the stack to him as they continued walking. He accepted them, raising a brow. “What are these?” Surprisingly, Evelyn answered instead of Rose. “Your medical documents. Bianca has an ability that lets her sense the internal structure of a person’s body. Somehow, it worked on you as well.” Her voice softened slightly. “She studied your anatomy the entire night while you were asleep and spent the rest of