Chapter 15: The Offer
The room stayed quiet for a few seconds.
No one moved.
Ayo and the man stood facing each other. Yagazie stayed close, watching both.
"You've been watching me," Ayo said.
The man nodded once. "For a long time."
"Why?"
"Because of what you are."
Ayo lifted the file slightly. "This?"
"Part of it."
Yagazie frowned. "Then explain the rest."
The man walked closer. Not too close. Just enough to be heard clearly.
"You are not random," he said to Ayo. "You are not an accident. You are the result of years of work."
"Ayo didn't react"
But his grip tightened.
"What kind of work?" Yagazie asked.
The man glanced at her. "Containment."
Ayo's eyes narrowed. "Containment of what?"
The man paused.
Then answered.
"What's under this city."
Silence.
"Adagbenu," Ayo said.
The man nodded. "So you've seen it."
"A part of it."
That's enough.
Yagazie crossed her arms. "You're telling me the government built a whole system just to hide another city?"
The man shook his head slightly.
"Not hide."
A pause.
"Control."
Ayo stepped forward.
"And I'm part of that control?"
"Yes."
"Explain."
The man took a breath.
"Years ago, something changed beneath this city. The energy, the structure, the… activity. We didn't understand it fully, but we knew one thing."
He looked directly at Ayo.
"It was waking up."
Yagazie spoke quietly. "So you started experimenting."
The man didn't deny it.
"We needed a way to connect to it. To monitor it. To influence it if necessary."
Ayo's voice dropped. "So you used people."
"We used volunteers at first."
"And when that failed?"
The man didn't answer immediately.
"That's when you made me," Ayo said.
The silence confirmed it.
Yagazie shook her head slowly. "That's not control. That's madness."
"No," the man replied. "That's survival."
Ayo looked down at the file again.
Then back up.
"What happens now?"
The man's tone stayed calm.
"Now that you're active, things will move faster. The crack in the sky? That's just the beginning."
Ayo already knew that.
"I felt it," he said.
"Good," the man replied. "Then you understand the risk."
Yagazie stepped in. "Say it clearly."
The man did.
"If Adagbenu fully reconnects to this city, everything changes. Structure. Reality. People."
"How bad?" she asked.
The man held her gaze.
"Total collapse."
Ayo didn't look surprised.
"Then you need me."
"Yes."
"And if I walk away?"
The man's expression didn't change.
"You won't get far."
A pause.
"Not because we'll stop you."
Another pause.
"But because it will."
Ayo understood.
The pull.
The connection
.
The thing beneath the city calling him.
Yagazie looked at him. "Ayo…"
He didn't respond immediately.
"So what's your plan?" he asked the man.
The man answered simply.
"You come with us."
Silence.
"And do what?" Ayo asked.
"Help us stabilize the system."
"That system created me."
"Yes."
"And you expect me to trust it?"
"No," the man said.
A pause.
"We expect you to understand the consequences if you don't."
Yagazie stepped forward. "This isn't a choice."
The man looked at her. "It never was."
Ayo exhaled slowly.
Then—
The lights flickered.
The ground shifted slightly.
Not enough to knock them down.
But enough to feel.
Ayo's head tilted.
He felt it instantly.
"That's new."
The man's expression changed for the first time.
"What is it?"
Ayo looked toward the floor.
"It's moving."
A deeper sound followed.
Low.
Heavy.
Closer than before.
Yagazie stepped back. "That's not normal."
"No," Ayo said.
"It's not waiting anymore."
The lights flickered again.
Then went out.
Darkness filled the room.
And from somewhere below—
Something hit.
Hard.
The floor cracked slightly beneath their feet.
Yagazie grabbed Ayo's arm. "Tell me that's not what I think it is."
Ayo didn't answer.
Because he already knew.
"It found us.