Chapter 222
Could you?
IAM looked between the two of them, eyebrows slightly raised in suspicion. There was something being passed back and forth between Kai and Thor, a silent exchange just out of reach of him.
He tilted his head, the faintest crease forming between his brows."What exactly are you talking about?" he asked, his voice was even, but laced with a thread of guarded curiosity.
Kai didn't answer. Instead, she stood up wordlessly, smoothing the front of her long dress as if to signal that the conversation had officially moved on. Without a word, she turned on her heel and made her way across the café, her bracelets softly clinking with every step.
Thor stood up next, flashing IAM a small shrug and a lazy grin as he gestured for him to follow. "Come on," he said casually. "You'll see."
With a breath, IAM rose from his seat and trailed after them, weaving through the lightly crowded café. The soft hum of background chatter and the clinking of utensils filled the air, but none of it registered. His eyes stayed fixed on the two ahead of him.
They arrived at the front counter, which was far more luxurious than IAM had initially expected for a café. It stretched wide, with a sleek marble top and glowing, modern fixtures set into the wood. Behind it stood a man who looked more like the owner of a private bank than a barista.
He was older, but with a sharpness to him that defied age. His mustache was freshly trimmed, it suggested either vanity or military discipline—or both. His silver hair was slicked back neatly with gel, not a strand out of place. The expensive suit he wore was flawlessly tailored, the dark fabric hugging his figure. A shimmering watch peeked from under his cuff, catching the overhead lights with every movement of his wrist.
He was a descendant of the Sorcerer.
He smiled at them, a wide and welcoming, flash of a set of teeth that were too white.
"Hello, what would you like?" the man asked, his hand lifting in a small gesture toward the menu.
Kai glanced at Thor, who barely glanced at the menu before replying, "I would like a tall glass of beer—with ice."
The man paused mid-motion, his brows knitting slightly. "We don't serve beer here… and even if we did, putting ice in it would be rather unusual, don't you think?"
Thor only smiled wider. "But isn't it your job to satisfy your customers? Give me a beer, and this time… I want honey with it instead."
The man's brow arched higher. "Honey? That's even stranger. Explain to me why you ask for such impossible things when you already know you won't find them?"
Thor placed a palm against his chest. "It is to fill the hole in my heart—with anything from the unusual to the strange. I wish to drown myself in bubbles of beer, in the bitter taste of something other than regret, in coldness not born from me. I wish for a beer, I wish for ice, I wish for honey."
A few seconds of silence followed, the two men holding each other's gaze like a duel of quiet stubbornness.
Then, almost suddenly, the man opened the small door behind the counter and gestured behind him. "Now that I think about it… I believe we do have beer. It's in the back. Check for yourself."
Thor grinned. "I knew it." He stepped inside, followed by Kai and IAM right behind him.
The man quietly closed the door again, remaining at the counter, his hands folding neatly as he watched them disappear into the back.
IAM watched as Thor pushed open the door and stepped into a narrow storage area, the faint smell of supplies and other stuff lingered in the air. At the far end was another door, this one equipped with a keypad.
Thor quickly entered the code with ease. The lock clicked, and the door swung open, revealing a stairwell that led downward. They stepped down the long, dimly lit staircase until they arrived at a large underground arena.
Rows of desks and high-tech consoles stretched across the room, each one manned by people working with intense concentration. Screens of varying sizes displayed maps, schematics, security feeds, and streams of rapidly changing data. The soft glow of monitors illuminated their faces, highlighting their movements.
Cables ran along the ceiling and walls, disappearing into conduits and panels, while lights marked emergency exits and pathways. The low hum of servers and computers created a constant, almost meditative drone. Despite the space's size, the atmosphere felt intimate, like a hidden nerve center tucked beneath the bustling city above.
One of the staff glanced up and called out cheerfully, "Oh! Kai! Thor! How are you two doing? It's been a while since I last saw you! And… who's the kid?"
"Good to see you too. Why don't you take a ten-minute break? I'd like to use your monitor for something," Kai said with a wave, dismissing them politely but firmly.
Without question, the staff members quickly left, giving the trio space. Thor shut the door behind them, the faint click echoing through the room, providing a sense of privacy in the private, secretive world hidden beneath the streets above.
IAM, who had been quiet the whole time, finally spoke up. "What's the reason you brought me all the way down here? What do you want to show me?"
He wasn't exactly shocked by the hidden room—Thor had already hinted that Hojo wasn't just a café—so the place didn't feel like a surprise.
Kai glanced over her shoulder as her fingers flew across the keyboard. Lines of code, filenames and password stubs scrolled past the screen so fast IAM could barely focus. A map window blinked open, then closed; a waveform pulsed; a list of timestamps flickered and vanished.
The room smelled faintly of ozone and coolant, the low hum of servers filled the gaps between people's breathing.
Thor folded his hands and met IAM's eyes. "What we're about to show you is… well, we're not a hundred percent sure what it is ourselves," he said, voice low. "But it looks like a recording attached to the files on the Circle of the Accursed."
Kai didn't look up. "It's interesting. It might give us a sliver of insight. It doesn't tell us much—it's not a, just an audio—but it sounds like a conversation between two people. No one knows how old it is, or why it was recorded. We don't have context. Only the sound." Her tone was flat but focused, like a scientist describing an anomaly.
She paused at the right file, fingers hovering, then turned to IAM. "I'm sure it'll pique your interest. Want to hear it?"
IAM paused for a second. "You brought me all the way here…" he said, the sentence trailing like a question.
"Good," Kai said. "But whatever you hear—stays here. You don't spread this." Her words were an order wrapped in a caution.
IAM nodded. There was a small flare of anticipation under the caution, like the moment before a plunge.
Kai pressed the play button.
Silence filled the room for a few seconds—then, through static and a hiss of background noise, a voice came through. It was deep, rough, and the words hung like a corpse.
"Could you murder the world?"