CHAPTER 134: FOUNDATION OF LIES

The workshop was quiet.

It was late, so late that the usual buzz and clatter of the Academy had faded into a distant whisper. The only sounds in the room were the low, steady hum of Vanessa’s runic calibrator and the soft squeak of the cloth in Jonah’s hand as he cleaned a set of empty Essence Vials. They worked in a comfortable silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts as they prepared for the dangerous infiltration of Aethelred Bio-Mechanics.

Jonah polished the same vial for the third time, his hands moving automatically while his mind was a million miles away. The smooth, cool glass felt slick beneath his fingers. He stared at his own reflection in it, distorted and strange.

He thought of the Bureau’s plan How cold and efficient it was. They weren’t trying to end him with a monster or an assassin. They were trying to turn him into a product line.

Click.

The vial slipped from his numb fingers, clattering onto the workbench. It didn’t break, but the sound was loud enough to shatter the silence.

Vanessa looked up, her forehead wrinkled with concern. The sharp focus in her eyes disappeared, replaced by a gentler look. "Jonah? You okay?"

He didn’t answer right away. He just stared at the vial, at the empty space inside it waiting to be filled.

"What if they succeed?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. The question felt heavy, like a secret he was afraid to speak aloud.

Vanessa set her tools down carefully. "They won’t."

"But what if they do?" he pressed, finally looking up at her. The fear he’d been holding back all night was plain on his face. "What if they figure it out? What if they create another me... but without... me?"

The thought felt like poison in his gut. "A monster," he choked out, the word bitter in his mouth. "A monster that can do what I do."

He saw it so clearly in his mind. He imagined a being with his power, his unique ability to weave life from the essences of other creatures, but with none of his memories. A creator with none of his pain from the Undercroft, none of his promise to the dying Broodmother, none of his sorrow for the loss of Shard. Just an empty, soulless shell with a godlike ability, following the orders of the cruel, ruthless people who had made him. It was the most terrifying thing he could possibly imagine.

Vanessa stood up and walked over to his side of the workbench. She didn’t touch him. She just stood there, her expression firm.

"They can’t," she said again, her voice stronger this time.

"Vanessa, you saw the data," Jonah argued, his voice cracking. "They have my blood. They have a sample of the source code. That’s all they need."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "That’s where you’re wrong. That’s where they’re wrong."

She reached out and gently took the vial from the table, placing it back in its rack. Then she turned back to him, her eyes locking onto his.

"Your power isn’t just about the ability to weave essences, Jonah," she said, her voice low and intense, cutting through his panic. "Anyone with the right blueprint could follow a recipe. The Bureau is filled with brilliant scientists who can follow recipes. But that’s not what you do. You’ve never just followed the rules."

She leaned closer, her presence a steady anchor in the swirling storm of his fear.

"It’s about your choices," she said softly, her words hitting him with a gentle force. "It’s about feeling the Broodmother’s pain and making a promise to create something beautiful and peaceful in her memory. It’s about feeling Shard’s loyalty and making the hard choice to sacrifice him to save everyone. It’s about your empathy, your instincts... your soul."

She took a deep breath. Her eyes shone with a strong faith that truly amazed him.

"They can copy the code from your blood," she said, her voice ringing with absolute conviction. "But they can’t copy the creator."

Her words hit him with the force of a physical blow, but it wasn’t a blow that hurt. It was a blow that shattered the fear, breaking it into a thousand pieces. He stared at her, at the fierce loyalty burning in her eyes, and felt the crushing weight on his chest begin to lift.

She was right. The Bureau saw his power as a machine, a piece of technology to be taken apart and reverse engineered. They would never understand that the machine was worthless without the heart that powered it.

A wave of gratitude washed over him, so strong it almost knocked him down. Their bond had grown so fast, from a library meeting to a mountain fight, to a stolen kiss in the arena chaos. But this moment, this quiet moment of shared understanding in their workshop, felt more real and more important than all of it. This was a true partnership. She was his anchor.

The silence returned, but it was different now. It was filled with a shared understanding.

"So how do we beat them?" Jonah asked, his voice steady again. The fear was gone, replaced by the familiar resolve of a survivor.

Vanessa’s expression turned thoughtful, her brilliant mind already shifting from emotional support to tactical analysis. "By knowing you better than they do," she said. "They’re working off the assumption that you’re a product of the Divine Serum, just a better version. All of their research will be based on that lie."

Jonah nodded slowly, the pieces clicking into place. "So we need to find the truth."

"Exactly," she agreed, a spark of her usual excitement returning. "We need to get ahead of them. To track their work, we have to finally understand the one thing they never will."

She looked at him, a new mission objective forming between them.

"We need to figure out the true, fundamental nature of your power."