Ecliptica Tower was the kind of place where money didn’t just move, it lived.
Ninety-seven floors of glass and light, guarded by walls of security and decor polished enough to reflect your own hesitation.
rlin passed through it all silently. His invitation was enough to part every checkpoint like a whisper.
The elevator humd upward, smooth and quiet, until the world outside beca nothing but streaks of light below.
Ding.
The doors opened to a single corridor lined with dark marble. At the end, a glass lounge lit by low amber light.
A figure waited there, standing by the window, city sprawling endlessly beneath him.
"Mr. Everhart."
Adrian Kael turned. The man’s presence still carried that sa quiet dominance, the weight of command sharpened by years of power.
He wore no tie tonight. His jacket was unbuttoned, the faintest trace of exhaustion beneath the sharp lines of his expression.
"Chairman," rlin greeted, his tone calm but wary.
Kael gestured toward the table already set for two. "Sit."
rlin obeyed, the leather chair soft under his hands. A faint classical lody drifted through the room, piano, low and deliberate.
Kael sat opposite him, pouring a asure of wine into both glasses.
"You don’t drink, do you?" he asked, voice smooth.
rlin t his gaze. "Not much."
Kael nodded, pushing one glass aside. "Then it’s here for ."
For a while, silence filled the room again, the sound of the city far below echoing faintly through the glass walls.
Finally, Kael spoke.
"I had my team brief on you again."
rlin raised a brow slightly. "Again?"
Kael’s lips curved faintly. "After last night’s board eting, you piqued curiosity. A boy, what are you, seventeen?, owning eight percent of Invoke." He swirled the wine. "Not sothing one overlooks."
rlin didn’t respond imdiately. He’d learned sothing about Kael already: he wanted silence, because silence revealed more than words.
Eventually, rlin said, "I just saw potential."
Kael chuckled. It was a low, heavy sound, not unkind, but not friendly either. "Potential. You invested when no one else did. Our valuation was half of what it is now. Either you’re very lucky... or you know more than you let on."
rlin’s tone was level. "I read patterns. I trusted them."
Kael’s eyes narrowed slightly, amused. "Patterns? Or people?"
"Both," rlin said simply.
That earned a small nod of approval.
Dinner was served quietly, silver trays, polished cutlery, a al that was too expensive to have a taste. rlin ate little; Kael didn’t seem to eat at all.
When the staff withdrew, Kael leaned forward, clasping his hands.
"Mr. Everhart. There’s sothing we need to discuss, off record."
rlin stayed still. "I’m listening."
Kael studied him. His eyes were storm-gray, cutting through pretense.
"You handled the prototype."
It wasn’t a question.
rlin kept his tone even. "I was curious. It was offered."
"Indeed." Kael’s fingers drumd lightly on the table. "And?"
rlin thought about lying. But Kael would see through that instantly.
"...It’s not like anything I’ve seen before," he said slowly. "It doesn’t draw from mana, and it doesn’t seem to rely on any affinity system."
Kael’s expression didn’t change, but sothing in his eyes sharpened. "Go on."
rlin hesitated. "It feels... foreign. Too precise. Too advanced."
Kael leaned back. "You have a good eye."
He set his glass down. "We’ve spent the last year trying to replicate that core. It ca to us through a third party, and our best researchers can’t determine its source. Not even Hale could. You looked at it once and noticed what they couldn’t describe properly."
rlin didn’t reply.
Kael continued, his tone quiet but steady. "There’s a reason I called this dinner. I want you to join Invoke’s internal board."
rlin blinked. "...Pardon?"
Kael smiled faintly. "Not as a shareholder. As a consultant. A direct analyst on our weapon developnt division. I’ll compensate you well, of course."
The words hung in the air like bait.
rlin knew better than to react.
"What do you want from exactly?"
"Your insight," Kael said smoothly. "Your... intuition. You see things differently. And Invoke could use that right now. We’re expanding faster than ever, but expansion without understanding leads to collapse. You could help us avoid that."
rlin’s gaze drifted briefly toward the window, toward the endless sprawl of city lights.
"Why ?" he asked quietly. "There are smarter people. Older ones."
Kael smiled thinly. "Because none of them unnerved Helena Vos with a single sentence."
rlin exhaled slowly through his nose.
’So that’s it,’ he thought. ’He’s testing the edges of my knowledge.’
But there was sothing else there too , a flicker behind Kael’s composure, sothing that wasn’t just corporate curiosity.
Maybe Kael did know where the Lazarus core had co from. Maybe he just wanted to see if rlin would confirm it.
Either way, this wasn’t a dinner. It was reconnaissance.
He leaned forward slightly, eting Kael’s eyes. "I’ll think about it."
Kael’s smile didn’t waver. "Do that. But don’t take too long. The world moves fast, Mr. Everhart. I intend to move faster."
They sat in silence for a while longer, the hum of the city faint between them.
Finally, Kael rose, adjusting his jacket. "Enjoy your evening. You’ll hear from soon."
rlin stood as well, nodding faintly. "Chairman."
As Kael left, rlin stayed by the table a few seconds longer.
The wine still glimred faintly under the light.
He stared down at his own reflection in the glass, the reflection of a stranger pretending to belong in a story he was never supposed to enter.
’He knows sothing,’ he thought. ’Maybe not what I am. But sothing close enough to be dangerous.’
He turned, slipping his hands into his pockets as he walked back toward the elevator.
The door closed behind him, sealing away the dim amber light of the lounge.
As the elevator began its descent, rlin’s phone buzzed.
A single ssage appeared on the screen.
Unknown Number:
"You shouldn’t have touched the Lazarus core."
The ssage vanished a second later, replaced by static.
rlin stared at the blank screen, expression unreadable.
"...Yeah," he murmured. "I figured that part out."
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