I hopped onto the flight to Vegas, it was time to get this party started.
The boss finally gave me the clues, after I expertly manipulated him into giving them to me.
…
"Fredrick. Why is Jeffrey constantly getting away?"
I stood up and sighed.
"Because you don't trust me."
The boss frowned and was now forced to look up at me.
"What do you mean? You're our miracle product. Something I could've only wished for in my darkest and wildest dreams. Fredrick, you are perfect. Perfection in human form. Of course I trust you with the mission."
I folded my arms over my chest.
"Oh yeah?" I said, giving an exaggerated sigh. "Then, why haven't you given me all the clues?"
The boss froze. His frown reformed onto his face and he shook his head slowly.
"Because you aren't ready."
It was my turn to shake my head in disapproval.
"Well, I'm going to need them now."
The boss shot forward in his seat, reaching his hand for my face, but fell short.
"No! Absolutely not!"
"Why? You said you wanted me to catch Jeffrey. He has the clues now, since my incompetent father let him get away."
The boss frowned.
"And you can't just follow him?"
I gave him a dubious look and a short laugh.
"Ha! You're not serious, right?"
The boss stared back at me.
He was serious.
"If I'm constantly following Jeffrey, I'm constantly behind him. He gets to make the choices. I have to guess where he's going based on nothing. If he pulls that shit he pulled off last time he wanted to board a plane and leave a state, at best I'd have to make a 50/50."
"You should be able to predict his thought pattern."
The boss shot back, clearly trying to undermine me.
"Predict his thoughts based on what? Say I get to wherever he's going next after him and he already has the magic item. We have no idea how it works. What if our magic blockers aren't enough? What if there's another clue only he gets? What if it bypasses everything we have?"
I leaned in, watching the words dig into him like claws. "Or maybe it's the one item that can counter me. Then what?"
Silence.
"Even if none of those are issues," I continued, "how am I supposed to predict his thoughts when I'll be arriving after him? All I'll know is that TJ is standing in my way, and Jeffrey has tickets to every damn plane in the airport. Good luck figuring out where he's going next."
The boss froze, the wave of truth rolling over him, crushing everything he holds dear to him: control.
He needs to be in power, and I wasn't going to let that happen.
"You're scared of me, aren't you?" I said, closing the distance between us, inches away from the boss's face. "You know how much you need me. With Viktor gone, I'm your only hope anymore. If I leave, which I can and will, you will not have anyone else to finish your ultimate goal. I am putting my foot down. Give me those fucking clues, or I will walk out of these doors and never walk back through them."
I could see the boss trembling. His fists were white-knuckled, his jaw so tight I swore I heard his teeth grinding. He was about to break something.
"You ungrateful little shit," he spat, starting to rise from his chair.
The boss said with a sneer, starting to stand up from the chair. For a second, just a second, I wondered if I was making a mistake…
I turned and started walking towards the doors.
"WAIT!"
The boss's voice resounded out throughout the room, and a chair flew past my head and slammed into the wall, breaking on impact.
I paused and turned my head, but not my body.
"I'll send you the clues. Complete your mission. Get out of here."
I walked out of the room with a smirk on my face and my phone in hand.
However, only I knew how difficult it was to wear that smile… and how difficult it was to make the decision to even walk into this room in the first place.
Unfortunately, the satisfaction I got from hearing the words "Complete your mission" was immeasurable.
…
Leaning back in my chair, I took some time to relax. I observed the people around me.
Teenagers watching a movie, businessmen reviewing their reports, young couples napping on each other's shoulders, parents showing their kids how far above the Earth's surface we were.
Normal everyday lives. What a concept.
It was so peaceful.
Something I would never be able to experience for myself.
I reviewed the messages the boss had sent me after our encounter.
He sent me a file containing the rest of the clues.
Test your fortunes where it seems,
A piece to sacrifice for your own.
Where people come to collect dreams,
Be prepared to lose a bone.
This is what I had to work with. This is what was under "clue3.txt"
Yet, I knew exactly what it meant. There were plenty of other ways to interpret this, but the truth couldn't hide from me.
The first line referred to gambling in some capacity, so I immediately thought of casinos and Vegas. The next line also reinforced this idea I had, but also led me to think that chess was involved somehow. Normally I would immediately dismiss this idea, but after everything that happened with Aion in the Maze of Archon, nothing's out of the picture. Third line was just a different way to talk about gambling, however it also made an allusion to the American dream, which further proved to me that it was Vegas we were looking at.
However, the last line was interesting. I feel like there's already enough information there to let people know that they need to go to Vegas, but the only way that line could be interpreted is just how risky gambling is.
Unless…
It could be a warning, that this item will be the most dangerous yet.
Something else… why is this one called clue #3? Is there a certain order?
It would help with the idea that magic items interact with each other.
But it also means…
Wait a fucking second, I know that's not who I think it is.
But as soon as I saw her, she turned to face me.
Couldn't mistake it, it was really her. 2 rows in front of me to the left.
"Mom?"
She put a finger to her mouth and made a shushing face, before winking and turning back around.
There was something else at stake here, far more dangerous than just the mission.
When I last saw my mom, it was a few days before I met Mark for the first time.
She told me a lot of things that day, but the most important one stuck with me throughout all these years.
"When you see me again, something dangerous will be happening. It will be big, and you'll likely know what it is before it happens. It's not something we can do alone, but something we'll have to do alone."
To this day, I still have no clue what that means.
Except now… I do.
The me in the past would have been blind to the truth, only looking at what would logically make sense, not emotionally.
While I still have a long way to go, I can see the truth clearly now.
She is going to save me from the Arcane Syndicate.
My mother likely found out a truth that I haven't yet figured out, and she wants to stop me from going down a rabbit hole I don't want to go down yet.
I tried to go back to thinking about what I was thinking about earlier, the clues, the boss, Jeffrey, but… I couldn't. My head was spinning and, my chest was tightening.
It was her, finally her.
The plane finally landed and I stumbled off. I quickly scanned the airport, then turned to the direction I saw my mom walk off in.
She was waiting around a corner when I finally caught up with her. Her face was worn with stress, but still the same face I got from her. Her dark skin gleamed in the sunlight raining in.
"My son."
She finally said with open arms and I embraced her.
"I've finally found you."
I felt a tear spill onto my head.
After what felt like an eternity, we finally separated.
"My boy, look at how much you've grown and changed. We mustn't dwell on this, however. They are still after us. My child, there is something happening right now bigger than both of us, involving the Syndicate. We have to go. Now."
I nodded, although I still didn't understand the intricacies of this, and I still wanted to catch up with my mom, but it can wait for another time.
As we were leaving the airport, I saw something I didn't want to see.
Out of the corner of my eye, unmistakably so, it was him.
I saw TJ, and he was making his way towards us.
I had to stay calm, and somehow inform my mom about the situation.
She noticed TJ even without me saying anything, perhaps my increased pulse alerted her of something. She quickly steered us away from his direction.
"Mom, why are you here, and what's this have to do with the magic items and the Syndicate?"
She quickly shook her head before responding.
"It's okay, I'll explain everything later. Just know, there are levels to everything that even you don't know about."
…
We finally arrived at a safe house that my mom had been renting for a bit under a different name.
"So… what's with… all of this?"
She smiled and handed me a cup of tea. Something else she promised me a long time ago.
"Well. There's a lot. Buckle up because this will be a wild ride."
I nodded.
"Let's take this from the beginning. Back when I was forced to marry your father. He picked me to marry simply because he liked the color of my skin. I was never fond of him, but back then, I really didn't feel anything, so I let it happen. That was back when I was still loyal."
I nodded, a serene aura seemed to fill up the room. It was finally happening, something I had been waiting for so long.
"Slowly, I realized the Syndicate's goals. Obviously, you and I and everyone else had been instilled with the ideology that you need to be 100% loyal at all times to the Syndicate or, it will lead to your doom. Humans are all the same, monsters who hide behind lies and are disgusting creators, blah, blah. You've already been through this."
"Yeah, hasn't changed." I confirmed
She nodded, gazing out the window, deep in thought.
"Well, turns out there's more they're keeping from you. They told you the mission was to get all the 4 magic items, which will help them "fix humanity" by getting rid of all humans, replacing humankind with their genetically bred super humans. Whatever they told you, it's a lie. They were going to kill off all humans, including you and Viktor, keep a few they like, then try again. You guys were nothing more than pawns from the beginning."
I sat there, stunned, feeling like my soul had just left my body.
"What..?"
Was all I could manage, but she continued.
"That's not all. Once your father and the rest of the original group thought the clue led to Dubai, there was no changing the boss's mind, even though I figured out that it was Jefferson High way before everyone else. After that, I was done. I had to set my plan in motion, or I'd never get another chance."
"Your plan?"
"My plan," She nodded again, peering restlessly at the vastness of the night sky that engulfed us. "I had to fake my death. I knew that none of them would turn around, and assume I died in the crossfire. After that, I did some research."
"So… that's how you learned everything you just told me."
She nodded.
I struggled to stand up, and when I did manage to pull myself free from the shackles of the cushions, I crashed back down. My breathing was ragged, and I felt my entire world slowly ripping itself apart.
I don't know who I am anymore.
"One more thing," My mom said, slowly creeping back towards me. "I'm sorry to have to dump all of this on you like this, but I know you can take it."
I nodded and swallowed before I could throw up.
"It's alright."
I said grimly, my voice low.
My mom stood in front of me.
"Viktor's alive."
Shock waves rippled through my body, then the hysteria started kicking in.
I let out a short laugh, then rage consumed me, turning my view red.
"Viktor's alive? That son of a fucking bitch…" I let out, cackling like a maniac. "If he's been alive all this time… what's he playing at? What does he want?"
I gripped my face until my hands turned numb, and I felt blood rush down from my forehead.
Viktor, the man I once respected… he abandoned me.
I had accepted Viktor's death. I had mourned him in the only way I knew how—by surpassing him. If he's been alive this whole time… what does that make me?
I told myself I never needed him. I was wrong. I still need an answer.
My mom simply looked away, her face was an expression of sorrow.
"I don't know where he is, but I know what he's doing."
"What's that?"
I said threw closed teeth.
"He's doing something very important to him. Now, we have to let him go. The magic items should be our top priority. If anyone else gets them, the world is doomed."
I stood up.
"I don't know how I'll get through this, but I will. I already have a plan."
My mom turned to face me, wearing a beautiful smile that shone against the darkness of the surrounding world.
"That's my boy."
I turned towards the entrance of the safehouse.
TJ and Jeffrey were out there, doing who knows what. The boss now knows that I'm using him instead of the other way around, meaning the Syndicate may end up being my worst enemy, rather than my home. Mark is out there, Viktor is out there.
It almost feels like the whole world is against me, yet… I know I can take it on.
I used to think I was hunting Jeffrey. I was wrong. I was hunting something much worse… it was my own reflection.
For the first time in my life, I wasn't chasing orders. I was chasing the one thing I never understood…
The truth.
If I am going to become perfect, there's a truth I haven't faced yet that I am going to need to. In order to face this truth, there's something I have to do.
I need to find Jeffrey.