Chapter 160: An Evening at the Diner (Part 1)
After expressing that they’ve covered enough for the day, Zeris calls the meeting there. Ember and Forest voice that they still have questions, but Zeris shuts them down, informing them that it’s almost nightfall, they still need to eat, and they’ll need all the rest they can get for tomorrow. Although that answer didn’t satisfy their hunger to learn more, Ember and Forest grudgingly took Zeris’s advice.
As the survivors awkwardly get up and shuffle out of the room, Alex asks Zeris and Kane, “Why aren’t you two getting up?”
With fewer people in the room, Zeris replies, “Your father and I have some things to discuss. Head to the lounge. There’s food already prepared in the fridge. All you gotta do is heat it up.”
“And what are you going to do about Sc—Armaros?” asks Ember, looking at him as he passes through the doorway.
“Nothing,” answers Kane. “He can’t use his powers, and the cottage is locked down, so he’s free to go wherever he wants. Now get outta here.”
Ember clicks her tongue and walks out of the room, Alex trudging behind her.
With the door closing behind them, Zeris turns to Kane with a wide grin.
“A sixth joined?”
“It’s a bit of a long story. He… he reminded me of Aley.”
Zeris looks away, the smirk gone. “I see. No wonder you allowed a sixth to join.”
“I’ll start with the meeting we had with the paragons. One way or another, we will be fighting a war very soon.”
Zeris sits back as Kane recalls what has happened to him throughout the day. From the paragons learning about the shard stash to fighting some thugs after his bounty to meeting Damon, Kane doesn’t leave any details out.
“He sounds cool, but are you positive roping Damon into this is for the best?”
“No, but he’s close to becoming an advanced wielder. There’s loads of tech out there nowadays that can disguise or conceal an iris shard, but no tech can prevent the vision from a wielder that’s at a higher stage. I could tell he has a soma ability, and soma abilities can always offer great support in either offense or defense.”
“Yeah, he also has connections to the underworld… but you’re playing with fire. You sure you told me everything about that meeting?”
“I did.”
“So why are you pushing this all of a sudden? You’ve been so patient all these years, and Racafi won’t attack us for the time being, you know that.”
“I do.”
“Is it divination? Or is this all coming from wanting to help your son?”
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“I’m not sure. He won’t even look at me unless he’s pissed off.”
“Yeah, I bet that’ll pass.”
“I bet it won’t. If I were in his shoes…” Kane shakes his head. “I should count myself lucky that he’s still at least communicating with me.”
“What’s with you, Kane? Why is this getting to you now? If what you say about Racafi is true, we need to take out the Queen before they can, and we can’t do that if your head’s not in the game.”
“What are you trying to say? You’re not the one who has to look at the face of the person who killed your wife and daughter and pretend things are normal. And not only do I have to look at him, but it was your idea to keep him alive. And not only that, you want us to be allies now! You’re telling me I’m supposed to fight alongside a guy who wants to kill me and Alex?!”
“Damn right. You brought me into this whole mess; this rebellion was your idea. So figure it out.”
Kane rubs his lips together, “And you helping that Hazel girl has nothing to do with your emotions?”
With Zeris going silent, Kane adds, “You think I wouldn’t have noticed how familiar she looked? She looks damn near identical to your dead girlfriend.”
“That has nothing to do with my choice to pass her,” quickly says Zeris, meeting Kane’s gaze. “She earned it. If she hadn’t proven herself, she would’ve died. You know that’s true.”
“And if you hadn’t gone out of your way to train her, she would be dead,” says Kane, getting up and walking toward the door. “I guess we’re both lucky the paragons are here. Otherwise, we would’ve already paid the price for tripping up on our pasts. So get your shit figured out too.”
As Kane exits the room, Zeris exhales and stares into space in deep thought.
***
After tending to Queen Divine and Iasa’s needs all day, an exhausted Ryker finally retreats to his private room in the palace. Locking the door behind him, the Asian man takes his mask off and turns it over to look at it. With no mouth, the mask was primarily white, with gold designs around the left eye. Taking a deep breath as he studies the mask, Ryker’s mouth slightly curls into a smile.
Roaming over to his bedside, Ryker delicately placed the mask on his desk as he started to undress. Trying to think of all the possible avenues they could take to keep Iasa safe from Racafi, Ryker stood under the showerhead far longer than usual. Once Ryker finished washing up, he moisturized his clean-shaven face before he started dressing to go into town.
Wanting to wear neutral-colored clothes to avoid attracting attention, Ryker throws on some jeans, a white button-down shirt, and a beige jacket to conceal his firearm. Once ready to leave, he grabbed a slim silver ring with a blue design around it from his desk and slid it on his left ring finger. Suddenly, a portal large enough for a human to pass through opened beside him.
Inside Lord Right and Lord Left’s private quarters is a secret gateway, available only to them if they desire to leave the palace. These portals were mainly created so the hands of the queen wouldn’t risk giving away their identity by roaming the palace halls without their masks. Additionally, the hands can use the gateways to return to their quarters; however, to leave or enter, the individual must be wearing the silver ring given to them.
By walking through the portal, Ryker can be teleported into five possible locations in Saneth. The gateway determines which output location is the least active and only allows Ryker to teleport to the other side once no one is within line of sight. These preset portals around Saneth can only be seen and used by those wearing the ring, so they aren’t visible to the public, nor can they be accessed.
Passing through the portal, Ryker immediately finds himself in the output location he’s most familiar with. He isn’t standing on a busy street but on an empty footpath beside a building. The three-story building to his left used to be home to a storage company that went out of business a few years ago. Behind the brick wall to his right is a neighborhood where some residents live, the voices of children playing a game filling the background noise.
The light from the streetlamps increased as Ryker advanced toward the main road.
Sepana is only a few minutes down the road… they got good food.