The Supreme Mage in a Loser's Body

Ch 14 - Evelyn Shaw's Test

Kael woke with the black glass still beside his hand.

He had wrapped it again before sleeping, but he could remember the face that had appeared inside it without looking. The body had been prepared for him before his final battle. Someone on Earth had known enough about Soul Crossing to create another path toward Ethan years earlier.

He did not know yet how those two things were connected.

His phone vibrated on the table.

Evelyn had sent a message asking whether he was awake.

Kael answered, then waited.

She called a moment later.

“We finished checking the objects from the warehouse,” Evelyn said. “There are several things our people can't identify.”

Kael pushed himself higher against the pillow. His ankle still hurt when he moved it, though the swelling had gone down since the previous night.

“You want me to look at them,” he said.

“Yes,” Evelyn replied. “Director Shaw also wants to meet you.”

Kael looked at the wrapped glass.

“Why?”

“She has questions about what happened in the warehouse,” Evelyn said. “And about you.”

That part did not surprise him.

“Will the protection around my family stay in place while I'm gone?” he asked.

“Yes,” Evelyn replied. “Nothing changes there.”

Kael agreed to go.

He left the black glass inside the hospital envelope.

Elena did not like him leaving again while he was still injured, but she stopped arguing after Evelyn arrived and explained that he would be inside a secured office.

“You call if you're staying longer than they told you,” Elena said.

“I will,” Kael replied.

She looked at the support beside his injured ankle.

“And don't pretend that leg is fine.”

“It isn't,” Kael said.

Elena paused.

“Good,” she replied. “At least you're learning that answer.”

Maya helped him to the door. Thomas remained near the counter with his own injured leg raised.

“Be careful,” Thomas said.

Kael nodded.

One of the people assigned to protect the family remained across the street as Evelyn drove away.

The Graybridge Protection Bureau was not where Kael expected.

Evelyn took him to an ordinary office building near the center of the city. The businesses listed near the entrance included an insurance company, a property office, and a medical supply firm.

Kael looked at the building before they entered.

“This is the Bureau?” he asked.

“Part of it,” Evelyn replied. “The public doesn't know the secured floor exists.”

They entered an elevator after Evelyn showed identification to the guard.

She pressed the third-floor button, then placed two fingers against a narrow metal plate beside the controls.

Kael felt the small movement of magic inside the wall.

The elevator passed the third floor, slowed, then stopped between levels.

The doors opened.

“You added another stop,” Kael said.

Evelyn stepped into the corridor.

“The floor was built into the building,” she replied. “The magic only stops people from reaching it unless they have permission.”

Kael followed her.

The method was simple. That made it useful.

The floor beyond the elevator looked more like an investigation office than a place for mages. Several people worked behind glass walls. Evidence boxes filled shelves along one side, while two rooms contained machines Kael did not recognize.

He sensed magic from only a few places.

Most of it came from objects rather than people.

A woman left one of the offices and walked toward them.

Her dark hair had begun turning gray near the temples. She wore no uniform, but a thin metal bracelet around her wrist held a small amount of stored magic.

“This is Director Helen Shaw,” Evelyn said.

Kael looked toward the woman.

“My aunt,” Evelyn added.

Helen stopped in front of him.

“Ethan Cole,” she said.

“Yes,” Kael replied.

Helen looked at the support in his hand, then at the bandage around his forearm.

“You were examined after the warehouse?”

“Yes.”

“And you still came.”

“You asked me to.”

Helen watched him for another moment.

“I asked Evelyn to bring you,” she said. “I wasn't sure you would agree.”

Kael did not answer.

Helen led them into a smaller room.

A metal frame stood near the far wall. Three round pieces had been fixed around its center, with wires running toward a screen beside it.

Kael stopped near the doorway.

The stones inside the machine carried weak magic.

He understood their purpose before anyone explained it.

“You want to test my core,” he said.

Helen looked toward him.

“Yes.”

Evelyn turned slightly.

“You didn't mention that before I brought him here.”

“I decided after reading the warehouse report again,” Helen replied.

Kael kept his attention on the machine.

“What does it do?”

Evelyn answered.

“It detects where magic is stored inside the body,” she said. “It also checks the channels around the core.”

“It does not remove power?” Kael asked.

“No,” Evelyn replied.

Kael studied the frame again.

The machine was too weak to examine a soul. It would detect the core he had formed inside Ethan's body, but little more.

“I'll do it,” he said.

Helen seemed to expect more resistance.

She called a technician into the room.

Kael stepped inside the frame.

The technician activated the machine.

A pale light passed over his chest.

Kael felt the small core inside Ethan's body react.

He did not hide it.

The machine completed the scan.

The technician looked at the screen.

Then he ran it again.

Helen moved closer.

“What is wrong?” she asked.

“There is a core,” the technician replied.

Evelyn looked at the display.

“But?”

The technician enlarged one section.

“The channels don't match.”

Helen looked toward Kael.

“What does that mean?”

The technician pointed to the screen.

“A person born with an inner core develops around it from childhood,” he said. “The channels grow with the body. Even if the person never learns to use magic, we can usually see the pattern.”

He moved his finger to another result.

“This body doesn't have that.”

Evelyn looked at Kael.

The technician continued.

“A transferred core would look different. The body usually resists it. There should be damage around the center or the channels.”

“And there isn't?” Helen asked.

“No,” the technician replied. “The core is new, but it is stable.”

Kael stepped out of the machine.

The result was what he expected.

Ethan had been born without a core. Kael had formed one himself after entering the body. He had opened the channels slowly because forcing them would have damaged the body beyond repair.

The Bureau had no record of that method.

Helen waited until the technician left.

“Where did the core come from?” she asked.

Kael picked up his support.

“I agreed to the test,” he replied. “Not to answer every question.”

Helen did not move.

“A core requires energy.”

“Yes.”

“Some people obtain that energy by taking it from others,” she said. “There are methods that can weaken a victim permanently.”

Kael looked at her.

“There are.”

Helen's expression changed slightly.

“You know about them.”

“I know they exist.”

“And have you used them?”

“No.”

Helen watched him.

“Then tell me where your power came from.”

Kael did not answer.

Evelyn stood near the machine.

“He didn't kill anyone at the warehouse,” she said.

Helen looked toward her.

“That doesn't explain the core.”

“No,” Evelyn replied. “But if we're going to accuse him of taking power from someone, we need more than a machine giving us an unfamiliar result.”

Helen looked at Kael again.

“You expect this Bureau to protect your family,” she said. “I need to know what kind of person we're protecting.”

Kael rested both hands on the top of the support.

“My family was being watched before I borrowed money from the Iron Vipers,” he said. “Silas Trent escaped. The Circle of Ash has been active in this city for years.”

Helen remained silent.

Kael continued.

“If I explain everything I know, can you guarantee that information will never reach them?”

“No,” Helen replied.

“Can you guarantee no one inside your organization is working for them?”

Helen's mouth tightened.

“No.”

“Then I will answer when I know my family cannot be used against me.”

Evelyn looked between them.

Helen did not argue immediately.

“You don't trust us,” she said.

“I trust Evelyn more than I did when she first followed me,” Kael replied. “That is not the same as trusting everyone she works with.”

Evelyn gave him a brief look but said nothing.

Helen turned toward the door.

“Come with me,” she said.

The next room held locked cabinets and several steel tables.

A man wearing gloves had already placed a group of confiscated objects on one of them.

Kael counted twelve.

Several were stones. Two were pieces of damaged metal. There was also a broken bracelet, a small knife, a piece of dark wood, a cracked disk, and a black box.

Three empty trays had been placed beside them.

Helen stopped at the table.

“If you won't answer questions about your past, you can at least show us whether your knowledge is useful,” she said.

Kael looked at the objects.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Separate them,” Helen replied. “Harmless. Uncertain. Dangerous.”

“Without touching them?”

“Yes.”

Kael moved closer.

He studied the first stone.

A weak magical trace remained on the surface, but there was no power stored inside.

“Harmless,” he said.

The evidence officer moved it into the first tray.

Kael examined the second.

“This one held power before,” he said. “The inner lines are damaged. It cannot hold anything now.”

The officer moved it beside the first stone.

Kael turned to the bracelet.

Part of the original pattern remained.

“It was used to strengthen the body,” he said. “But half of the pattern is broken.”

“Dangerous?” Helen asked.

“No,” Kael replied. “Not unless someone repairs it.”

The bracelet went into the harmless tray.

He examined one of the metal tools next.

There was no active magic inside it.

The symbols cut into the handle were only decoration.

“Harmless,” he said.

The cracked disk required more attention.

Kael followed the damaged pattern with his senses.

“This one should not be used,” he said.

Helen looked at the object.

“What would happen?”

“The power has nowhere stable to go,” Kael replied. “If someone fills it again, it could burst.”

The disk was placed in the uncertain tray.

Kael continued.

The small knife carried no magic. The piece of wood contained the remains of an old tracking mark. One pale stone held enough power to make a person sleepy, but not enough to cause serious harm.

Then he reached the black box.

He stopped.

The box was small enough to fit in one hand. There was no visible lock, though a thin line ran around the lid.

Kael felt the magic beneath the surface.

It was stronger than anything else on the table.

“Dangerous,” he said.

Helen did not ask the evidence officer to move it.

“What does it do?” she asked.

Kael studied the hidden pattern.

There were two parts.

The first waited near the lid.

The second was buried deeper.

“If the box opens incorrectly, the mark inside releases its power toward the person standing nearest,” he said.

Evelyn looked at the box.

“Enough to injure them?”

“Enough to kill them.”

The evidence officer moved his hand away from the table.

Helen looked toward him.

“You tried to open this?”

“Yes,” the man replied. “Not by hand. We used tools.”

“How many times?” Kael asked.

“Several.”

Kael looked at the surface again.

“You couldn't damage it.”

“No.”

“That is because the box is not locked by strength,” Kael said.

Helen stepped closer.

“What is it waiting for?”

Kael followed the second pattern.

He could tell that it was meant to recognize something, but the design was too weak and too old for him to understand immediately.

“A condition,” he said. “It might be a person. It might be a type of power.”

Evelyn looked toward Helen.

“How long has this been here?”

Helen did not answer at once.

“Eighteen years.”

Kael's attention returned to the box.

“Eighteen?”

“Yes.”

“Where was it found?”

“That file is restricted.”

Kael looked at her.

“Then I can't tell you more.”

Helen seemed dissatisfied.

“You already know it can kill someone.”

“That was visible in the mark,” Kael replied. “The lock is different.”

The evidence officer reached for a pair of handling tools.

“I'll put it back in storage,” he said.

He brought the tools closer.

Nothing happened.

Then Kael spoke.

“Wait.”

A small movement passed through the magic inside the box.

Kael looked at it.

The officer stopped.

“What?” Evelyn asked.

Kael did not answer immediately.

He watched the hidden pattern.

It had changed.

“Move the tool again,” he said.

The officer did.

Nothing happened.

Kael kept watching.

“Stop.”

The pattern shifted again.

A quiet click came from inside the box.

Everyone in the room became still.

Helen looked at Kael.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

Another click sounded.

The lid lifted slightly.

The evidence officer stepped back.

Evelyn stared at the opening.

“That box has never opened,” she said.

Kael looked at the pattern inside it.

It had not reacted to the tool.

It had reacted when he spoke.

The lid rose farther.

Helen did not move closer.

“We've had that box for eighteen years,” she said.

Kael kept his eyes on it.

The last part of the lock released.

The box opened.