ShadowBound: The Need For Power

"Mystical scents, huh?" Mystica said, her tone light but her eyes sharp. "Yeah, humans give them off. But those scents aren't something you can sniff out with your regular old nose. And honestly, no human alive today can smell mystical scents."

She smirked, tilting her head. "Except your kind."

"You mean dark magic users?" Liam asked.

"Nope, a bunch of soulless mannequins," Magnus said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course dark magic users, genius. May their edgy souls rest in peace."

"Dark magic? He's one of those?" Dove purred, her grin curling like smoke.

"I thought I mentioned that," Mystica said with a casual shrug.

"You said 'shadow boy,' not 'last dark magic user,'" Dove said, her eyes lighting up like a mad scientist spotting a new lab rat. "Oh, this is divine. I can finally run some real experiments." She stared at Liam like he was a rare diamond… or a bomb she couldn't wait to set off.

"You're not testing anything on him, Dove," Mystica said firmly. She turned back to Liam. "Anyway, yeah — sensing mystic scents was something only dark magic users could do. How exactly? No clue. It was just something they were naturally born with."

Liam stayed quiet, gears grinding in his head. "I see."

Mystica smirked. "So, your sniffer finally woke up and it's messing with your regular senses, huh?"

"Yeah and no," Liam said.

Mystica raised an eyebrow. "Yes and no? Elaborate, darling."

"Sure," Liam said. "I think I've been using it for a while... I just thought it was normal. Back in the Forest of Kyrell, my myst sensitivity sucked, so I relied on my eyes and nose to track creatures. It worked until my myst senses caught up over time."

He crossed his arms. "Eventually, those tactics felt useless… until recently, during my midnight training with Lady Seraphina."

"Wait, wait, wait—Seraphina is training you?" Magnus said, eyes wide with mock jealousy. "Lucky bastard."

"Shut up, clown. I wanna hear this," Galen said, waving him off lazily.

Liam kept going. "During those sessions, I went back to my old habits — using my nose to find her. I enhanced it with myst to sharpen it. Worked fine, no issues… until two days ago."

He let that hang for a second. "I bumped into Assistant Headmaster Gordon. And for the first time, I caught a mystic scent without trying to. And it wasn't anything like Seraphina's… or any other human I tested it on after."

At the mention of Gordon, Mystica's playful smile faded into a hard, cold line. Her aura shifted, sharp enough to slice the air.

"Gordon?" she said, voice low. "By bumped… what do you mean?"

"Nothing serious," Liam said, shrugging casually. "Just ran into him in the hallway."

"Screw that garbage," Galen said, leaning forward, his red eyes locking onto Liam. "Tell me something, kid. What kind of scent did you pick up from that snake bastard?" His voice was lazy-smooth, but it had the same razor-sharp bite Mystica carried.

"Disgusting," Liam said coolly. "Everything about it reeked."

"Disgusting?... Oh-ho, broody boy, I need that nose of yours. Come on!" Dove practically sang, jumping up and dashing toward the back of the chamber.

"Where to, Dove?" Mystica called after her.

"The lab, obviously!" Dove yelled without even turning around. "I need the kid to take a whiff at Aveline's corpse — prove my theory!"

Mystica's brows pulled together. "Prove your theory? Wait... you don't mean—"

"Yup, my Empress," Dove said with a mischievous grin as she threw open a door leading to the spiraling staircase downwards. "We might have Gaia hybrids lurking in this academy."

Silence crashed into the room for a beat before Mystica sighed.

"Liam, let's go," she said, already striding toward the open doorway. "You two can tag along if you want," she added over her shoulder to Galen and Magnus.

"Nah, whatever it is, you'll be a dear and tell me later," Galen said, stretching out on the couch like a lazy cat.

"Same here. Have fun with the corpses," Magnus said, giving a two-finger salute.

Without another word, Mystica and Liam slipped down the stairs into the underground lab.

In seconds, they hit the bottom, and the scent of chemicals and cold metal kissed their noses. They could hear something clattering around — metal striking metal.

Dove was already there, fussing over the body of Aveline, trying to arrange it properly on a steel platform lined with experimental tools.

Liam stepped closer. His eyes narrowed at the corpse — half-human, half-Gaia demon, just like he remembered.

"Alright, broody boy," Dove said, clapping her hands together. "Sniff it out. I want you to smell the death right out of her and tell me if it matches what you picked up from Gorbin, or whatever his shady name was."

"Wouldn't it not even have a scent? It's been dead for a while," Liam said, eyeing the grotesque thing.

"Exactly why I said sniff the death out of it. Now get to work, emo prince," Dove said as she moved off, rummaging through a nearby cabinet, clearly hunting for something else.

Liam shrugged. "Alright, fine," he muttered, stepping a little closer to the platform.

He pulled in a slow breath, held it, then exhaled before daring to catch the corpse's scent.

And just like the nightmare he didn't wanna relive, it hit him — the exact same stench as Gordon, but twisted, fouler, almost rancid enough to make his skin crawl off his bones.

Without thinking, Liam stumbled two steps back, his hand clenching around his own throat, trying to ground himself as the revolting scent flooded his senses.

"Yeah... same as Gordon," he said, voice low, strained. "But this one's way worse."

Dove beamed like she'd just won a prize. "Knew it! I knew those hybrid freaks would stink to high heaven! And lucky us — or unlucky, depending on how you wanna look at it — one of them's in cahoots with Sylvathar right here in this academy."

"Yeah, and honestly?" Mystica said, her sharp gaze flicking to Liam. "I'm kinda thrilled it's that snake bastard Gordon. Now I don't have to pretend to be nice."

"We could ask your nosey talents how to sniff out the others too," Dove said, practically bouncing with excitement.

Liam, finally pulling himself back together, blinked and asked, "Uh, excuse me, but... can someone explain what exactly you're talking about?"

Dove waved a hand at the corpse like she was showing off some weird, cursed artwork. "See that mess over there? Used to be a woman — until she made a deal with a Demon Lord, got a lovely dose of Gaia blood, and became that," she said with a dramatic flair. "Now, there are more just like her roaming across all three kingdoms, wearing human skin like it's fashion week."

"Liam," Mystica said, stepping closer, her voice dropping to something almost reverent, "your nose — it's gonna be the key to finding these hybrids hiding among us. And maybe... just maybe, it'll lead us straight to Sylvathar himself."

Liam stood frozen for a moment, Mystica's words settling over him like a heavy cloak he couldn't quite shake off.

"Sorry, but that's not happening," he said, his voice calm, even. "Tracking down a bunch of freaks? Not my thing. Besides, depending on how you want to handle this, the chances of society finding out I'm a dark magic user go through the roof."

"You're missing the bigger picture, Liam," Mystica replied, her voice hardening with quiet urgency. "People in Amthar, driven by greed for power, have practically sold their souls to a demon lord. They've been transformed into something they might not even recognize — and that kind of disruption? It can tear apart our realm. Your ability to sense myst through scent... isn't just like any other form of myst perception. If it were anything like that, someone—me or any knight on the platform—would have picked up on Gordon's foul presence."

Liam's gaze flickered back to the corpse, then returned to Mystica. "Now that you put it that way... I might just offer my help."

"But I'll only do it under one condition."

"Name it," Mystica said, her eyebrow arching in curiosity.

"I need something — anything — that could help me break through my bottleneck," Liam said. "A few days ago, I realized I've hit the peak of my current mystic level. I'm not about to stay stuck at the bottom of the tier. I need your help to ascend."

Mystica studied him for a moment, a slight smile playing at the edge of her lips. "You never cease to amaze, my little shadow. Reaching a bottleneck this fast is impressive.

"Well, if that's all, no problem, darling. I'll make it happen. But I'll need you at the top of your game. And you'll have to build up your tolerance to that... disgusting scent. Because, depending on how this goes, you might end up smelling countless others. And I don't want you passing out from the stench." She added.

"Fine by me."