"And that's what I know so far," Riven said as he sat across the table from the old man whose face was in a state of shock and bafflement.

  "They...they...they," he stuttered, unable to get the almost taboo words out of his mouth.

  "They turned you into a 'Failed Royal,'"

  "I only know my grandfather had a hand in it."

  "Why do you think that?"

  "Because when I was incapacitating him, he recognized me immediately despite how much I changed, something you couldn't do even with those eyes."

  Shooting a glare at him for that jab, he wanted to say something but ultimately passed on it.

  "So you think others had a hand in it?"

  "Yes, my grandfather doesn't have the know-how, resources, patience, or enough pull in the governing house. To do something like this."

  "Do you think he'll tell you anything?"

  "Not without some torture," he replied plainly.

  "Of course," he said, unsurprised by the response.

  After that, a long silence wafted over them as the doctor prepared to ask his next question.

  "How do you feel?"

  "What do you mean?"

  Taking in a long and deep sigh, he rephrased the question. "What's happening to you in this state of possession?"

  Looking at him for a long moment, Riven actually did something human; he scratched his head.

  "I don't know that it worked completely," he answered.

  "What do you mean?"

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  "I'm still me. I am still self-aware. I don't feel like anything has changed aside from this heavy weighted sensation I feel on my body and my magic," he explained as he raised his hand, and a ball of smoke formed.

  "What about—?"

  "My emotions too," he answered before he could finish his sentence. "Though I don't know whether it's out of shock or a result of the possession, they feel detached or smothered.

  Rubbing his chin that was filled with straggly hairs his last week's shave missed, he thought, "He's right; if it was full possession, he would be more like a puppet than anything self-aware. He speaks like one, and his face too, but," he said as he remembered that flicker of emotion he showed when he grabbed his lab coat earlier.

  "He's still human," he concluded.

  "But who in the world would try to make a failed royal, and who is the spirit that's sitting over his soul?" he muttered as he lowered his shades once again to see the gray flickering presence that was blocking out Riven's true color.

  "Do you kn-

  "No," Riven answered, answering the question before he even finished his sentence.

  "I have no idea what spirit is possessing me or what realm it came from, but whatever it is, it hasn't made any attempts to take over so far."

  "You think it might have something to do with your family line. Because you seem very adept at using the magic so far," he pointed out, referring to the seal and how skilled you have to be with your magic to pull something like that off.

  "That..." he said before taking a moment to pause as if trying to find the right words. "It's like muscle memory," he uttered as he opened his palm, letting out smoke before condensing it into a ball that rolled around him thoughtlessly in the air.

  "It feels like I've had these powers my whole life," he said as he made the ball take the shape of a paper airplane.

  "That's amazing," the doctor couldn't help but utter as he watched in amazement and took in the depth of what he meant.

  "But you're right," he stated as the smoke faded away like a movie screen. "Maybe there is more to it," he said, bringing the conversation to its end.

  "I'll go out after I get information out of my grandfather," he said as he got up from the table and started to walk to the door.

  "You're going to him?" he asked, standing up from his seat.

  "Yes, I'll be back soon. If they wake up before I get back, keep them locked up downstairs," he said as he opened the door.

  But before he could close it, the old man called out his name. Turning around, his gray hair was glowing in the moonlight and somehow making his eyes shine.

  The sight almost made the doctor lose his words in his mouth, but still they came out.

  "My condolences to your family."

  Staring at him for a brief moment that felt like it stretched on into forever, he finally opened his mouth and said, "Thanks," which came like a breath.

  Turning around, he walked a few feet off the porch before materializing his wings, the action sending shivers and jolts down the doctor's spine.

  "He looks like a—," but before he could finish that thought, Riven flapped his wings once and shot up into the air at tremendous speed, causing the door to slam shut from the takeoff.

  Shades abruptly flying off his face, they revealed tears that he quickly wiped before he muttered.

  "Damned brat."