Zalcien was, in the grand scope of things, a forgettable place. A city large enough to be considered one of the core members of the Alliance of City-States, but far too small to be of any importance. It had its vote when it came to the presidency, but some of the otherwise smaller cities and villages that did not were more famous and richer, to the point that in the past few years, many would have debated over Zalcien's right to keep its position as one of the fifty city-states had it not been for the fact that nobody cared about Zalcien.
It didn't help that Zalcien's greatest achievements in the national mind were the fact the city had to be completely replaced over 150 years ago after a terrible Super battle and that it had been almost overrun by a monstrous flesh monster that was barely stopped only a few decades after that, leaving unsalvageable areas behind filled with monsters and whose former inhabitants had been left behind, deemed too compromised to be worth helping. It went without saying the mayor of the time wasn't reelected, and that the problem was too costly and controversial for following mayors to bother even thinking about. Leaving the slums and their inhabitants to themselves with a secured barrier constantly guarded to keep an eye on them was cheaper than going through a massive purge that only spared the innocent, innocent which then would have to be relocated while the purge and the following reconstruction work went on, innocent which would need to be educated to be able to find work in the civilized world... No, it was better and easier to let things be as they were.
Of course, just because the slums were meant to be quarantined didn't mean there was no travel between the two parts of the city, quite the contrary. Most villainous groups large enough to have multiple hideouts had at least one in the slums somewhere to go hide in if things turned sour, some monsters occasionally found their way past the barricade, and you always had the odd screwball who had a secret lab they needed to be hidden from the law or a place to source... Questionable materials. The Patcher's greatest creations weren't made with corpses left in the slums.
There was within the slums a place, located deep enough to avoid the disapproving gaze of the Union but still close enough to the rest of the city that anyone would be willing to go there without fear of the things that hid in the dark. In fact, you could see this strange building from the streets of the proper Zalcien over the walls and fences of the Black Border, and from within the building, you could look down at the people living actual lives in the clean streets of what felt like another world. This building, of course, was the Black Bank - more specifically, Zalcien's branch of it.
The building was brutishly simple and yet mesmerizingly complex. From afar it simply looked like a five stories-high black cube, a perfectly smooth one at that, but a closer look revealed so much more, you only needed a good eye or to run your hand or equivalent appendage over its surface to discover how intricate it was. What appeared at first glance to be smooth black marble was in truth a single block of a strange cold black material, not quite stone but not metal either, and it was covered in countless engravings with a light coat of golden paint applied. Runes from innumerable countries and magical systems, curses and blessings from various gods, prophecies of fortune and demise, eldritch words and written Truth... Whenever someone familiar with magical languages approached it, it wasn't uncommon for them to only look at the ground to avoid the sight of this magical abomination that went against logic and common sense, as well as to avoid the headaches and soul wounds the view of such a powerful structure covered in unimaginable enchantments could cause. The Black Bank was one of those things that only the mundane folk could appreciate without suffering from an existential crisis.
It had no hole, no door to enter, one simply had to walk through the black material while thinking of entering the building to find themselves in a much more bearable yet incredibly luxurious reception, walls of pristine white marble, an illusion of the infinity of the cosmos replacing the ceiling with a crystal luster illuminating the room from the chain of diamonds it hanged from, tiles of gold on the floor covered by a carpet made from a skinned Long dragon - famous for their length and wingless flight - which led to a giant desk made of pearl plates and unicorn horns decorations and legs. Standing behind the desk was a rare sight, a true celestial.
The humanoid entity had a body like porcelain, it was tall and thin with elongated limbs, and the average human's head would only reach its midriff. With its arms at rest, its hands reached its knees, it wore a toga made of golden threads with a large hole in the back to let through its pair of large feathered wings, each as tall as it was, made of silver feathers closer to jewelry than organic matter. Above its smooth and featureless face rested a floating ring of flowing mercury gently spinning on itself, a light glow resembling letters occasionally appearing every now and then.
The celestial was absent-mindedly rubbing its nailless fingers together when a black-haired human man in a three-piece suit entered the room, materializing from the wall, and the tall figure's eyeless gaze fell onto him.
"Master Blake, you have finally returned. I hope your little outing was entertaining."
The man chuckled as he lightly shook his head.
"Come on now Nanyet, I called after each transaction. You know exactly how everything went."
"Perhaps, but I know you love the sound of your voice, master Blake. I wouldn't deprive you of the chance of talking about your adventure."
The man chuckled once more, a small light sparkling in his eyes and their oddly pitch-black irises.
"Careful there, Nanyet. If I didn't know any better I'd say this was sarcasm."
The celestial gracefully placed one of its hands over the spot where a mouth should have been.
"Pardon me, master. The intricacies of the mortal plane are confusing for one such as I."
"Don't worry, I understand. It's only been what, twenty years now?"
"Eighteen years, five months, four days, eleven hours, fifty minutes, and two seconds now, master."
"My, how time flies. Did anything noteworthy but not worth calling me occurred while I was gone?"
"No, nothing aside from the predicted lowered influx of clients, our planned loan discussions for the day which I have already taken care of, and the sending of the letter informing mister Runar of the sanctions you deemed fair."
"No visit from our mystery VIP yet?"
"No, mister Silhouette has not visited the bank between your encounter with him and your return now. If I may, it has only been-"
"Spare me the exact count, please, Nanyet."
"-it has only been a few hours since your offer. Taking into account his previous reluctance and your display of strength, I do believe it will at least take a few days for him to grow comfortable enough to come to us."
"Aaah, you're right, you're right. Still, one can hope."
"Hope is meaningless, master Blake. Fate is shaped by actions and the randomness of chance, without the appropriate powers, dreams and will cannot influence those events."
"You know, sometimes I feel like you should be the Black here. Oh, you must-"
"I have already scheduled an appointment with your hairdresser to 'fix' your ruined haircut, master. I did so as soon as you reported it had been damaged."
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"Right, thank you Nanyet. Well, if there's nothing urgent for me to do I will return to my managerial duties."
"Do you refer to doing nothing productive and calling it supervising, taking credit for my work, or doing actual managerial work by interacting with myself and the other employees to best know what they need to be more efficient and to help solve problems while otherwise letting us be mostly autonomous?"
"Nanyet."
"Oh, did it sound like sarcasm again? My apologies, master."
"You know, there's a reason why I don't allow you to speak without authorization when the family's around."
"Oh, what interesting timing."
"What?"
"Your aunt is currently calling in your office, master. Office which holds the teleporter to which your suit is linked and that you could have used to come back without needing to enter through the main door and interacting with this instance of myself."
"I'd love to talk some more, but if she's calling I better get to it. Thank you for the hard work, Nanyet."
The celestial nodded as a beam of light descended from the cosmos above and engulfed Blake Black, disappearing after a few seconds and leaving no trace of the human behind.
In another room of the Black Bank, the same beam of light reappeared, and from it exited the man. As the light dissipated once more he simply walked on the platinum planks that made the floorboard and ignored the various furniture made of amber, geodes, and gems, instead directly approaching the sole wall of the room that wasn't made of solid gold and covered in paintings, instead, it was a smooth and spotless dark reflective surface, bar for one spot where a round green light gently pulsed every second.
As soon as he was within reach, Blake taped the green light with his finger, and the entire reflective wall was replaced by a flat view of a dark room lit by countless candles hazardously placed on the ground and wooden tables nearby, strange circles and pentagrams of various sizes drawn with a suspicious red substance on many places on what could be seen of the walls and floor, all made of stone bricks. In the center of this sight, right in front of Blake, stood an elegant woman.
Her pale skin and slightly pointed ears would have hinted at a person of elven descent, but her ruby eyes and the elongated canines poking out of her black lips betrayed the illusion and revealed the vampiric truth. The mature woman was slightly taller than Blake, her ebony hair was styled in large braids, and she wore what could only be described as a crimson victorian dress fit for a noble lady. Her smile would have been beautiful and fit for a court had it not been slightly too smug to be proper.
"Blake, dearest, it is always a pleasure to see you."
The man had his usual business smile ready before the call had even begun, for dealing with a Black without being prepared was foolish.
"Aunty, it has been some time. I hope all is well on your side?"
"Oh, same old, same old. Some of the local peasants are starting to think about revolting and storming our lovely estate, could you imagine?"
"You know I have no reason to get involved so long as they don't get the Bank involved, aunty."
"Of course, of course, Blake. It is not as though I need your help in this matter, though my estate is my property alone I have still the talents and wits any proper Black Bank manager requires. Speaking of, how goes your career in that small town? It was somewhere in that Alliance of City-States, was it not?"
"Yes, aunty, and it is Zalcien, one of the fifty voting cities. As for my career, all is going well."
"Oh? A little bat told me you had some trouble not so long ago. Something about an unruly customer, and that you had to interfere yourself? If that little celestial of yours isn't right for this work, I could always lend you one of my thralls, or perhaps even one of your cousins if you're willing. They could always use some experience before their turn to uphold the family legacy comes."
"Do not worry for me, aunty. The minor event you are speaking of has already been taken care of, and the reason I decided to involve myself isn't related to any danger or threat the dissident posed."
"Oh? You have piqued my interest, Blake."
"If you have been paying attention during our calls, you may remember the local company Xenocorp that I mentioned now and then."
"It does ring a bell, dearest."
"You may also remember that they are working on several secret projects that go against ethics and morals, projects which they plan to implement themselves and or sell to their dear investors?"
"I think one of your cousins did mention something about a biological weapon that could revolutionize necromancy being worked on in Zalcien during one of our receptions, now that I think about it."
"Project Thanatos, yes. It isn't my favorite, I believe it is too unstable and likely to go out of control, but it isn't what I wish to talk about. No, the project at play here is a miracle even the great Noir Black would look upon in wonder."
"Come on, Blake, do not get overconfident. I doubt Zalcien has anything that might interest him."
"Project Null. A plan to create the perfect assassin and spy, a creature holding all known Aspects and powers from every noteworthy bloodline. An Omni-Aspected entity that would be loyal to its master and no one else."
"Oooh, Blake, dearest, there are plans for projects such as this one every year, and they all, always, fail. In fact, now that you speak of it, I do remember you mentioning that this very project failed from what the CEO of Xenocorp told you, correct?"
"Indeed, he did tell the board of investors the only stable prototype which had managed to live more than a week had supposedly used all of its resources and life energy to escape and died and disintegrated not long after. We were all quite annoyed at this result, but I am doubly so now that I know that he lied to us."
"Because there never was a successful prototype?"
"Because the prototype is alive."
For the first time since their discussion began, the vampire looked surprised and, if one looked deeply into her eyes, awed.
"How can you be so certain, dearest?"
"Because I saw it myself. The man I punished was trying to capture it, though I doubt he was aware of the actual value of what he was going against. It is a miracle, aunty. I saw it myself, all nine Aspects working in harmony, not simply coexisting by staying in different parts of the body or constantly fighting for dominance, but truly working together and supporting one another's efforts, even passively. The creature itself seems unaware of how to truly use this potential, from what I saw it mostly relied on Will, Body, and Soul when fighting, though it did use Transformation to permanently disable opponents and prepare items. It even opened a shop, aunty, to sell its Transformed items, improved by its numerous magical signatures and Creation and Destruction working together to improve and rebuild materials."
On the other end of the screen, the vampire's fingers lightly shook.
"Is this some sort of trick, Blake?"
"Aunty, you know the rules I have to follow due to my powers. Fae laws won't allow me to lie."
"Why speak of it to me, Blake? Why tempt me with such a valuable prize? Did you perhaps already capture it? Are trying to sell it to me? How much? I'll give you anything, no, everything."
"No, I did not capture it or claim ownership of it, aunty. It appears it developed a soul at some point in its development, a sapient soul. Fae laws forbid me from owning a sapient creature without it or its legal owner or tutor's approval, and due to the circumstances, I cannot simply buy it from Xenocorp since its escape cut off the ties it had to them. Even if I did buy it, I noticed a blessing in its soul. Something faint and discreet, hidden from most and the creature itself, but it is still there and its nature dictates Project Null already belongs to this god."
"We could still buy it, Blake, even if it means involving more members of the family. This is too valuable to give up. Give me a name."
"I doubt even our beloved Noir Black can convince this god to sell, no matter the things he offers."
"The name, child."
"Malamia."
"Are you sure?"
"They may be one of the gods that interfere the least with mortal affairs, but they are still one of the oldest known gods. Confusing them with anything else is out of the question."
"Then why tell me any of this? You know I'm not held back by your laws. Is that your plan? Do you want me to turn that thing into my thrall? I will come right away."
"No, I see a spark of potential in that soul. I believe it may be more beneficial for us to let that creature be for now, and reap the boons of its long-term growth as partners rather than master and slave. No, what I want is for you to put a leash on my dearest cousin. Once she finds out about its existence, I have no doubt chaos will ensue."
"Which- Ah, that one. But why should I help you when I could just go to your little Zalcien and search the city myself? I already have a few bats there, it won't take long for me to find that Project Null you speak of."
"Why, aunty, did you forget the fae laws of fair exchange? All of the information I just gave you is priceless as you said yourself, and now you have a debt to me."
The look of sheer horror on her face almost made him laugh.
"No. No. No no no no no-"
"In exchange for telling you about Silhouette, you will help me keep its existence secret, won't try to interfere in its life and plans, and will prevent any of your children in Zalcien from hunting, capturing, hurting, or killing it."
The facade of a beautiful woman fell as the vampire's flesh and bones twisted in her wrath to reveal a ghoulish creature of death and suffering screeching in rage.
"I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS BLAKE!"
The man simply swiped his finger on the magical mirror-screen hybrid and let the screams of the vampire fade into nothing as the sight of the dark bloody room was replaced by a black reflective surface once more, pleased with himself.
"I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us, Silhouette."