Chapter 161: An Evening at the Diner (Part 2)

Opening the door and walking through the front entrance of Sepana Diner, a lively dinner rush was in full effect. As a host approaches, Ryker quickly looks around and recognizes every table is being used.

A host approaches, “Hello, sir. Is it just you tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” says the host, craning his neck to scan the room. “We have a seat at the end of the bar if that’s alright?”

“Works with me. Thanks,” replies Ryker before making his way over.

Walking past the backs of those at the bar, Ryker begins thinking about the next meeting with the paragons again before he’s dragged out of his thoughts by a familiar voice.

“Hey! Ryker, over here!” shouts General Tailor, waving his hand.

Locating General Tailor, he’s seated at a booth with General Lacina and General Fields, all wearing casual clothes like he is. Once General Tailor realizes he’s caught Ryker’s attention, he gestures for him to join them.

After letting the host know, Ryker approaches his colleagues' booth with a warm smile.

“Marcus… ladies, how you all doing?” asks Ryker, sitting beside General Tailor.

“Good,” replies General Lacina, taking a sip from her Margarita. “How about you?”

“Yeah! How’s that promotion going?” General Tailor adds, his breath already smelling of alcohol as he gives Ryker an overly aggressive slap on the arm.

“Look,” Ryker quickly says, glancing around the diner. “I know it’s pretty common knowledge amongst us, but let’s not discuss this stuff in public.”

“Oh, come on! Lighten up!” says General Tailor, tilting his glass to General Fields, who is looking over the menu. “Thanks to Ivy, we might actually be able to send those bastards back to Racafi with their tails tucked between their legs!”

“They won’t just leave now that they know about the shards,” quietly says Ryker. “And how do they know?”

“Hey,” says General Lacina, catching Ryker’s eye before slightly nodding her head toward a waiter approaching.

Ryker stops talking and shifts his attention to the bearded waiter.

“Hello, sir, my name is Damon. What would you like to drink tonight?” asks Damon, handing Ryker a menu.

Quickly finding the drink section and scanning the list, Ryker says, “Damon, I’ll go with the uh… I’ll just get water, actually.”

“Okay–”

“Nah… nah, get the man an old fashioned!” states General Tailor.

Damon looks to Ryker, and Ryker glances down momentarily before taking a breath.

“I’ll have the old-fashioned,” he says with a forced smile.

“Hell yeah, man! That’s what I’m talking about!” shouts General Tailor, taking another drink.

“Alright, an old-fashioned coming right up. Do you guys need anything else?”

They all give Damon a silent shake of the head or hushed rejection, and Damon nods before leaving.

Once he’s out of earshot, Ryker asks without looking away from Damon, “Have you guys seen him here before?”

“This is my first time coming here,” says General Lacina. “Marcus might know.”

General Tailor squints at Damon, who is passing along the order to the bartender, Key.

“Not sure. I don’t recognize him, though.”

“Hm…” hums Ryker, using orasi only to be surprised by what he sees. Scanning the rest of the room, Ryker thinks to himself.

I never thought of using orasi here before… but I should have. A couple of iris-wielders are scattered around, but most are still in stage one. There are a lot of non-wielders, which makes sense, but why… why is the bartender an advanced wielder? And that Damon guy is an evolved wielder… odd.

“You guys, you should orasi…” calmly says Ryker, a little confused.

The other generals use orasi and notice the same things Ryker did.

“The bartender is an advanced wielder?” says General Lacina softly.

“Really? I can’t see that,” says General Tailor.

“Neither can I,” adds General Fields.

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“You two are advanced wielders, so if you can’t see her core… she must be using tech to block orasi,” says Ryker. “For those with the money, having that tech is not uncommon. But she’s a bartender… how can she afford it? And what about our waiter? We can all see he’s an evolved wielder.”

“It is unusual, but they could just be refugees from Taliarusa,” says General Fields.

“Marcus, I’m drawing a blank on the bartender's name. Do you know it?” asks Ryker.

“The regulars call her ‘Key',” replies General Tailor. “I don’t know if that’s her real name or not.”

“I see.”

Under the bar, a subtle red light starts to blink, catching Key’s attention as she finishes making Ryker’s drink.

“Hey, Damon,” shouts Key, flicking off the light as Damon passes by.

Damon walks up to the bar, and Key places the Old Fashioned on the countertop.

“Here, that man’s drink is ready. I gotta go in the back for a few. Ring if you need me,” says Key, looking down toward her fellow bartender. “Alicia, can you cover for a couple of minutes?”

Alicia enthusiastically nods as she cleans a glass, and Key turns back to Damon.

“Like I said, ring me if you need to. I’ll be back soon,” says Key before leaving the bar and heading down the hall to the bathrooms.

Passing by the bathrooms, Key looks back over her shoulder before she enters another room with a sign labeled ‘Employees Only’. Inside was a simple storage area with spare ingredients, drinks, tables, and furniture. However, connecting to the storage room through a hidden door was a surveillance room.

Adjusting two tables so the table legs were in specific spots on the floor, multiple small squares started glowing on the ground. Crouching down, Key placed her hand on the ground for it to be scanned. Once verified, a corner of the room opened up, leading into another area. Walking through the created opening into the surveillance room, the doors closed behind Key as she greeted her best friend.

“What’s up, girl? Thought you said you wouldn’t be back for two more days?” warmly says Key, walking over to Pola.

Jumping up from the couch she was relaxing on, Pola hugs Key.

Standing at average height, Pola has almond-shaped, mahogany eyes and wavy, long sunset orange hair. Under her clothes, there’s a subtle flex in her muscles and a jagged scar across her forearm. Wearing her usual sandy-beige jacket and sturdy boots well past their glory days, Key finds comfort in the familiar scent of cedar that always seems to follow Pola.

But perhaps the most defining trait about Pola is that she can’t audibly speak or hear. During her trials, Pola’s vocal cords and eardrums were damaged beyond repair. However, thanks to Key and her connections to the black market and underworld, she found an ability that gave Pola her own way of communicating.

The realm ability Pola wields is called ‘Sonic Cipher’. It allows the user to create a realm where they can interpret the vibrations of sounds around them and translate those sounds into signals or onomatopoeias. These translations can come in the form of speech bubbles, text boxes, or symbols. Not only does Pola get alerted about the direction in which she picked up a new sound, but if she’s looking in that direction, she can see a visual representation of the translation.

Pola also controls who can see the translations inside sonic cipher. In combat, she only uses her ability to benefit herself or her allies; however, if she is speaking casually with other people or friends, she can also allow them to access sonic cipher. If others have access, Pola can communicate with them using speech bubbles, her unique form of talking.

Ending their friendly embrace, Pola steps back, and words appear beside her head as her mouth moves without emitting noise, ‘I gathered everything we needed faster than I thought I would.’

“Oh, good shit. Is that why you signaled me?” asks Key, noting the bag of chips on the couch.

Pola shakes her head, ‘No. I only got back about an hour ago and came in through the back door. I'll tell you what I learned about Queen Divine later, but we have more pressing matters. I picked up on something from the security cameras in the diner. The man who just asked for an old-fashioned… he can tell you’re an advanced wielder.’

Key raises her eyebrows and glances at the collection of small surveillance screens. Damon is on his way to the booth with Ryker and the generals.

“Are you for real? I didn’t know your power could be applied through technology…”

‘It can. As long as somebody is inside my realm… if I know where they are, I can see what they’re saying. Through walls and everything, so I don’t have to be there in person.’

“That’s badass. When’d you learn you could do that?”

‘A few weeks ago. But listen Key, that man is no ordinary citizen, and he’s not the only one at that booth who could tell you’re an advanced wielder. It was brief, but the other man at that booth called him over by the name of “Ryker”.’

“Ryker? As in General Ryker? One of Kane’s old colleagues?”

‘Yes. And the man next to him is General Marcus Tailor. The two women across from them are General Ivy Fields and General Ryan Lacina. That booth consists of some of the most powerful people in this country, and they all now know you’re an advanced wielder.’

Key takes a deep breath, “They got some damn good disguises, but I guess I only half-looked at 'em while working. Was there anybody besides Ryker who could see through my Hantz Tech?”

‘General Lacina could. The other two weren’t able to. Oh, and I should add that the drunk man mentioned something about a promotion for Ryker.’

“A promotion from being general? He must be… one of the hands of the queen, then. Shit… whew, okay,” says Key, pausing for a moment. “I check everybody when they walk in. I didn’t see iris cores inside any of them, so they must also have Hantz Tech concealing their cores. General Ryker and General Lacina must be master wielders if they can see through my Hantz Tech. General Tailor and General Fields are probably advanced wielders if we can’t see each other's cores.”

‘Correct.’

Looking back at the screen, Damon is talking with the booth of generals now after having delivered the old-fashioned drink.

“What are they talking about?”

‘They’re ordering food right now. The drunk man just ordered the Oogy Special. Isn’t that your new addition of turtle soup?’

“Mhm… people love it, but I’m not a fan.”

‘Don’t you adjust the menu?’ asks Pola, chuckling.

“Yeah, it’s there 'cause it brings in business, but you won’t catch me ordering that. Ah… f*ck me. They’ve already seen that Damon is an evolved wielder. The Hantz Tech I gave him is useless, but at least they won’t think he’s wearing any since they can see through it.”

‘Damon?’

“The waiter. Long story short, Damon attacked Kane earlier to steal his legacy core, but Kane decided to spare him. He ended up joining our crew.”

‘Uh, okay.’

Key clicks her tongue, pressing her hand against the wall to open the door again, “I’m sorry, Pola. I gotta get back out there before they get more suspicious of me. How long can you keep your realm active without them knowing?”

‘As long as they’re inside the diner, my realm will stay up. I’ve extended the perimeter to just beyond the diner so they wouldn’t be able to see it with orasi.’

“Smart thinking. Just keep watch here. If anything goes wrong, don’t be afraid to abort. I can handle myself. Oh, and later, we also have some stuff to talk about regarding Racafi.”

‘Roger that. See you later.’