I felt the presence of two people. I couldn't see them because the dragon-man had put a sack over my head. He guided me to sit down. Someone removed the sack from my head. That's when I saw the man sitting in front of me. He was a tall man, about 2 meters, with long white hair down to his shoulders and a very short beard.
—My apologies that we couldn't meet until now. You probably have a lot of questions on your mind, and I don't blame you... I would too.
The way he spoke could be considered mocking and unserious.
—I asked Mr. Andreas, aka Mr. Dragon here, not to reveal too much information, because I wanted the honor myself.
Andreas, as I now heard his name for the first time, stood next to the couch like he was this man's bodyguard. He seemed to have recovered and even changed his attire. He wore a light golden dress shirt and pants, a white vest, a new pair of round glasses, and his hair was neatly slicked back.
—My name is Hamura Kharatsumi, and I'm the one responsible for your existence, Mr. Y.K. I won't call you a 'subject' anymore because now you're part of society, but I also don't want to be the one to name you, so I'll just call you that.
So I guess that's what I'll be called.
—I'd appreciate it if you made yourself comfortable because we'll be here for a while. he said as he picked up two glasses and a bottle of whisky.
He poured the drinks and continued speaking.
—You see, we live in a world that's not always as rosy as it seems. Ordinary people live simple lives, believing their choices matter in determining leadership. But in reality, they're just picking puppets. Unfortunately—or fortunately, rather—those who know how 'broken' this world is are seen as crazy or conspiracy theorists. The ones who truly know are forced to maintain this charade for the general public, to make them believe everything. In other words, to manipulate them. I'll now get to the point without dragging out this foolish speech. I'll explain it in the simplest way possible. Since the beginning of time, a small group of people stood at the top of society and ruled it, until one day, their ideas changed, and they said, 'fuck it,' and split into two sides. The reason wasn't just ideological differences, but mostly greed for power. These sides kept fighting but never in public, always hiding in the shadows. They don't have exact names, but those who know of their existence call them the Easterners and the Westerners. The difference between the two lies in how they manipulate the world: the Easterners use punishment and brute force when things don't go their way, while the Westerners dumb people down to make them easier to manipulate. Now back to you—what's your role, you ask? You are a project put into action by the Westerners to destroy the Easterners from within. Each Western member is assigned a certain field: finance, media, military and defense, energy, and medicine. I'm in charge of the military and defense, which is why you're under my care. The plan was for me to pose as a defector to the Easterners, earn their trust, and send them a weapon to use against the West.
He pointed at me as he spoke.
—But in reality, it was all a charade so you could eliminate them from within. That's why your transport was destroyed—on my orders. This is where the plan I made with the Easterners comes into play. I revealed the initial plan to them in order to fake your death—at least for a few days—with the purpose of sabotaging the West from within. I knew they would send Phantom, but he wasn't informed of the second agreement, only the first. He was a sacrifice the Easterners were willing to make. The plan involved his death, which did happen, but I didn't expect you to become the host for his obsaiadan blade.
Everything made sense so far, but now I was confused—why was he doing this?
—Now that you're here, the next—
—Why are you doing this? I interrupted.
—I wasn't expecting that question.
—Is taking this risk really worth it just for power? To become the enemy of the entire world?
—I'm sorry, I guess it's my fault I didn't justify my actions. You might not believe me, but I'm not doing this for power—I'm doing it because I don't like the direction society is heading. I don't care who rules the world. As long as they steer it in a direction I enjoy, everything will be fine.
It seemed like a lame reason.
—Where were we... Ah, yes, these Easterners want us to destroy some points of interest held by the Westerners. This is where Phantom's ability comes in. The Westerners know about his power, but now that you possess it, it's a different story. We need this ability to ensure nothing gets traced and our plans stay hidden. That mostly applies to soldiers. Vehicles will be stolen or borrowed from our boys in the East, and weapons come with the soldiers. Still, there's one more thing. For the third time, I'll make a deal—this time with you. After we strike with these attacks, will you help me take down both sides?
It was an interesting proposition.
—The way you betrayed both so easily—how do you know no one will betray you now?
—That situation won't arise. The only people who know about the plan are you, Andreas, and my Eastern contact. Andreas won't betray me because I raised him like my own son. My contact won't either—it would be absurd. And you, Y.K., won't betray me either—especially after what you've just heard. Same reason as the others. But the goal is different. They want the power that comes with ruling the world. You, on the other hand, want to find your life's purpose.
—And how can I be sure you won't betray me?
—You're free to believe what you want, but you don't really have another choice except to trust me.
Somehow, he hit the nail on the head, and he was right—I couldn't do anything. But I still had unanswered questions.
—Can you explain one more thing?
—Of course.
—What are all these paranormal things happening, all these abilities?
He stood up, took his glass, and walked to the window, pulling the curtain slightly so only he could see out.
—Remember when I said we live in a 'broken world'?
—Yes.
—That wasn't metaphorical. The world we live in—the universe, or rather the omniverse—is imperfect, for some unknown reason. This imperfection can manifest through anomalies called 'leaks.' These leaks represent energy coming from God-knows-where into our omniverse. They come in two forms: positive and negative energy. Both can materialize in two more forms: living (like you and Andreas) and object-based (like the obsaiadan blade). These are forms of negative energy. Not much is known about the positive kind except that it can also take on both life and object forms. Positive leaks are much rarer than negative ones. However, they started occurring around your birth and intensified even more a few months later when Andreas was born. That's why some say you'll bring the apocalypse, plus Nostradamus's prophecy, plus the fact that you were born in 2000, the first of the new millennium. Nonsense—look, it's been 18 years and no end of the world.
—Still, why did that obsaiadan blade go into me automatically?
He took a sip from his glass, turned to me, and said:
—You're special... Just kidding—sort of. These obsaiadan blades have a sort of consciousness and tend to seek out what's called a 'host' to fuse with, like what happened with you. If they don't find a host right away—which happens most of the time—they look for a bearer, in this case, Phantom. But not just anyone can be a bearer—the blade can reject you. That's what I meant by 'consciousness.' One more thing—you can tell if someone is a host by their eyes. If you haven't noticed, your eyes are kind of purple. It's normal. That's about it. That went quicker than I expected.
—You don't shut up. said Andreas.
—Hey, don't be rude to your old man! Anyway, jokes aside. Remember those points of interest the Easterners care about? Well, we'll have to take care of them, so you boys better get ready for what's coming.
He placed his empty glass down, looked at me, and said:
—So you don't like Johnnie Walker?
-Y.K.