Dignity [2]

Liam froze in the middle of putting on his clothes. He had just told her he was changing clothes and to wait outside, why did she come in? When he saw the blood and saw that she had passed out, Liam's mind went into vapor lock. He wanted to both check on her and put his clothes on at the same time.

<What's this? Oh she's bold, I like it! Why are you standing around? She just saw some random Ajusshi's Hubae [1], no big deal put your pants on.>

Liam finished getting dressed and grumbled in a voice that only Noona could hear, "are you going to move to speaking pure Korean before long? Just speak normally you weirdo."

<Your Neural Stability seems to improve when I put more Korean words into my speech patterns. I figure it probably has something to do with- Oh, can't mention THAT, wow 4% loss at once! Did anyone ever tell you that you wear your heart on your sleeve? Well, not on your sleeve, but in your neurons.>

Liam shook his head helplessly as he went over to help Luna. While shaking her gently and wiping her face with his last clean shirt, he couldn't help but notice how soft her skin felt in his hands as he held her. She seemed almost bonelessly soft.

Luna's eyes fluttered open. She stared for a moment without focus before muttering something that sounded like the number "fourteen." She then regained clarity in her eyes and with a startled YIP! …vanished.

Liam was stunned. He looked around for a moment. She had completely disappeared. He focused his eyes, enabling his vision to fully open to the known light spectrum. Off in one corner, with her face covered with her hands, Luna was shaking her head left and right vehemently.

"That's impressive, I could only see you on the Infrared spectrum. How did you do that?" Liam spoke gently as he put his hand on her shoulder. Luna froze and looked up in horror, directly into Liam's Ocean-blue eyes.

"You…you can see me even through my Glamour? You haven't even activated any gene energy."

"Uh, yeah. What's a Glamour? Gene energy? Is that the stuff those snak…Ipili had?"

"Glamour is the Huli genetic energy. We can harness our Glamour to create minor illusions, bending light. We also can make ourselves go invisible for a short duration with that. Ipili use Conquest, not Glamour. Their genetic energy gives them great regeneration and physical prowess." Luna seemed to recover a bit of her composure as she answered Liam's questions.

"Genetic energy. Hrm." Liam thought for a moment and asked, "Does it come from your cores then?"

"Yes, although different races have their cores stored in different locations as well as different energies. The less impacted by the Fera one's genetics are, the stronger their genes and the larger their cores. That means more powerful genetic abilities."

"Wait, so you can tell how pure someone's genes are by their gene powers? Is there any other way?" Liam seemed visibly excited as this information was completely new to him. His mind rolled with countless questions.

"Yes you can, but the easiest way at a glance to tell someone's genetic purity is to…well…to compare them to you."

Liam stopped. "Me? What do you mean?"

Luna sighed, seemingly frustrated for some reason. "The purer our genes, the closer to the Ancestors we will look. You, as an ancestor have the purest genes. So, the more our own racial features are subdued, the more we look like you."

Luna had been praised for how much she looked like one of the Ancestors and the strength and purity of her genes her entire life. People even hinted they thought she might have awakened a true ancestral bloodline and be a 100% pure genetic reincarnation of an Ancestor. Yet, now that she had met a bonified Ancestor, who could use seemingly any gene energy, she realized just how short she had come.

Liam spoke without realizing this and said, "So according to your scale, for yourself, you're probably at what like 95% pure genetics? Just your tail, whiskers, and ears are different."

Luna hung her head in shame. 5% might not seem like a lot, but as one got closer to the core genes of the Ancestors, more powerful genetic abilities would be unlocked with every single tenth of a percent.

Being 5% off was the difference between the sky and the mud to her. Luna was about to speak again when Liam shook his head vehemently.

"That's the biggest pile of nonsense I've ever heard."

Luna's eyes widened in disbelief. But Liam continued, "If I'm an Ancestor like you said, and you unlock more genetic powers the more your genes resemble mine, and your physical attributes reflect more upon looking like me, then why do I not have any genetic energy like all of you?"

Luna looked panicky and asked without regarding Liam's feelings, "What do you mean you don't have any genetic energy? You have to be an ancestor, I've never seen anyone who looks like you do, and you have the ancestor mark Nan tol-" Luna shut her mouth in horror as she realized she had said something she shouldn't have.

"Ancestor mark? What? Where?" Liam looked at his own body with confusion and then sharply looked back at Luna. If someone had told her something about him, that meant they knew about him before she entered the valley. Was it someone linked to Shouxian Haoyu?

Liam suddenly stood and formed a blade with his left arm. His eyes grew three shades darker blue, almost black and cold malice radiated off his form.

'He is…broken…' these words echoed in Luna's mind as she trembled before the man. She quietly whispered "My Nan is a Star Clairvoyant of the tribe. She told me after a scrying to search for the man who carries the world on his arm; stood upon by a proud eagle that wept the sky was not big enough, and pierced by the weight of the anchor of responsibility to protect."

Liam's mind fell into chaos. She was talking about…his tattoo? A Star Clairvoyant? He was confused, but at the least it didn't sound like some cheap plot to win his trust. It was simply too absurd for something that Shouxian Haoyu would plan.

As the blade in his arm faded back into his skin, the temperature in the room seemed to warm to the slightest degree. Still reserved, Liam spoke:

"So you came here, exposed yourself to the Ipili, and expected me to save you because your faith in this Clairvoyant? I was just a tool to fight your battle for you as long as you appeared helpless. I must say, you really are a Fox."

Liam said the words with venom in his voice, his anger at being used by the first person he had reached out to in millennia was evident.

"No, Liam, you don't understand. I wasn't using you-" Luna tried to defend herself, but Liam cut her off.

"You should leave. I am…unstable… and…angry… right now. I don't think we should meet again."

[1]. Korean words. Noona (older female relative) said Luna "saw some random Ajusshi's (older man's) Hubae (Little Brother)." In other words, she saw his weewee.