Nick’s mind went blank for a moment upon hearing Lauren’s words. Save his mother? Why wouldn’t he want to do that, it’s what he has been trying to do for the longest. Yet, if Lauren could save her why hasn’t she done it already?

Nick’s gaze floated to his mother who laid on the same bed as him but her skin was ghastly pale. Veins appeared all over her body like they were ready to burst.

Her breathing was stable for now, but he wasn’t sure how she came to this state.

His eyes drifted back towards Lauren.

“What happened to her?”

Nick was looking for answers and judging by the look in his eyes Lauren could see he’d do anything for them.

“Her group was attacked. Somehow some demonic beast made it through the outskirts of the city but luckily I got there in time to save them. If not, then you’d be without a mother and i’d be without a sister.”

Lauren paused as she looked past Nick towards Olivia.

“The damage to her body wasn’t anything major, instead it was the poison that entered her system. It caused one to hallucinate and feel things that never occured, causing a person to go insane if not treated quickly. In everyone's case, they all managed to retain their sanity and now are recovering. However, your mother is a different case. She must have tried to expel the poison on her own straining herself in the process, or something else must have happened. Whichever the case, it made her illness act up.”

Lauren stopped here as she bit her lower lip.

“But, there are five years remaining before she can recover her legs. And, what’s with her skin looking like that? It’s as if she’s dying.”

Hearing Nick’s shaky voice, Lauren recalled what Olivia told her the day they met a few months ago.

‘He doesn’t know. I never told him.’

Lauren remembered that day when she told him Olivia was shaking. She was afraid of what would happen once he found out.

‘You’re really planning on leaving things like this? Are you actually going to make me tell him?’

Lauren thought to herself as she uncrossed her legs.

“Do you know the name of her illness?”

She asked Nick as she stared at him.

Nick took a second to answer her.

“Yeah, Torrence.”

Lauren sighed.

“No, that’s just what she told you for your own wellbeing. She said you were a good kid, but she never wanted you to risk your life for her which is why she told you something that’s not true. She’s not afflicted with Torrence, if she were, there would be no need to be held down by Klyde’s chains. Her real illness is called Evanescence. It slowly eats away at the host body, draining them of their essence and life-force. They slowly start to lose function of their body, until they are paralysed from head to toe. Then they die, but something else rises in their place. A vicious parasite that feeds on the essence in all beings that move. It sucks them dry, and continues to grow in strength.”

The look on Nick’s face showed how confused he was. Lauren already started, so there was no going back now.

“There was a case like your mothers before, but the host died in three years. After the parasite was born it killed almost a million people, growing too strong for any normal EXO user to handle. If it wasn’t for him, then there’s no telling how things would have turned out.”

“Him?”

Lauren looked up at the ceiling. Memories started to come back to her. She looked back at Nick, but he could see she was holding back some tears.

“It doesn’t matter, it was just a friend of ours.”

“Anyways, I just want to let you know that Klyde is not the only one who has a treatment for your mother. He might be the only one who holds one in the United States, but we also have one.”

Lauren pulled out a box of cigarettes from her pocket. Taking the unlit cigarette out from her mouth she place it back in the box.

“Why save her now? Why not before?”

Nick questioned Lauren.

“You were just planning on letting her suffer through all of this? What sort of sister, family does that?”

“You don’t know anything!”

Lauren shouted but took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm herself down.

“I tried to help her, I really did. You think I want to watch her slowly lose her life? It's all her fault, she should not have fallen in love with a villian. She gave up everything, all for one guy.”

“Klyde?”

Nick hurriedly asked Lauren as she stopped talking.

Lauren shook her head to the side, it wasn’t him.

“While Klyde can be considered a villian, he’s not the one who caused her to fall into the state she’s in. When she met Klyde, she was already broken inside. Olivia became a different person after that man, and after he fulfilled his goal he tossed her to the side. Klyde was just a person she crossed paths with, but you know how these things go. The girls always seem to fall for those bad for them, and Klyde was no different. Olivia was already on the verge of losing everything when she met Klyde, but she could have still been saved. I reached out to her then, but she ignored me and our family.”

Lauren rolled her eyes as she got up out of the chair.

“If you want to know what happened, then it’s best you hear it from the person who was in the middle of it all. I’ll ask you again, do you want to save your mother?”

Lauren approached Nick’s bed side as she asked him.

“I just want to know one more thing. Why now?”

Lauren carrassed Nick’s head as she smiled.

“Because of you.”

Nick’s face showed he was confused again so Lauren explained.

“When your mother abandoned her past life, she gave up her connection to her family. She never got permission from the leader to leave, so he said she could never return and that no matter what happened we couldn’t help her. Leaving our family is a big deal, you don’t just leave without going through the trial, but your mother did. She never faced the trial, she just vanished.

However, years later I met her again and then I found you. She seemed to be better than before, and her personality changed. Now that you’ve grown and can make decisions for yourself, I thought it’s only right I ask you. Will you return with me and face your mother's trial?”

Before Nick could answer, a person opened the curtains to Nick’s room.

He was a tall, handsome man with black messy hair and gentle black eyes. He glanced at Nick for a moment before he fully focused his attention towards Lauren.

Lauren smirked when she saw him.

“Well, if it isn’t Klyde.

“What are you doing here?”

Klyde asked her as he stared directly in Lauren’s hazel eyes.

Lauren took a step towards him, she was just a bit shorter than him.

“Visiting my sister and nephew, you?”

Klyde’s black eyes started to glow red.

“I told you what would happen if you were to step foot in the US again. Now leave!”

Sparks seemed to fly between Lauren and Klyde as neither of them budged.

“I’m not afraid of you, and your rules don’t apply to me.”

“I dethroned your family once, beating you hardly seems like a challenge.”

Lauren’s eyes turned silver for a split second but changed back to hazel.

“You’re not even worth the trouble Klyde.”

Turning to Nick she grinned.

“We’ll meet again, when there are less annoyances around.”

Lauren said to Nick before she bumped past Klyde.

Klyde brushed off his shoulder where Lauren bumped into him and looked at Nick. He reached into his suit pocket and grabbed something before he threw it at Nick.

“I told your mother i’d reward you if you reached the top three. You were close, but you were one of the top in the freshman competition. Remember our deal, i’ll save her life.”

Klyde turned to leave after he said what he had to.

Nick glanced at the object Klyde threw and saw a pendant that looked like a star. In the middle was a ruby crystal, and the star itself was black.

To Nick, this pendant looked ancient, he wondered where Klyde got this from and what did it do.

He couldn’t grab it, his left arm didn’t move no matter what he tried and his right one was in too much pain right now. All he could do was look at it.