Nick was surprised as Chloe led him out of the plaza and away from the cathedral, didn’t Vassago have an office inside the giant building he himself had built? Chloe seemed to notice his puzzlement and answered before he could ask.

“Vas likes to stay as close to his workshop as possible. He very rarely uses his office inside the cathedral.”

Chloe then led Nick down the street after street, moving further and further away from the central plaza of Agoetia. Eventually, Nick and Chloe made it to a building near the edge of the small city. The building wasn’t very large and certainly wasn’t anything grandiose, not quite what he had expected from such a prolific architect. It was a charming, modern-looking cottage. Wooden panel walls, a decorative stone foundation, a slate roof, and plenty of glass. It was simply gorgeous, without even taking in the cute gardens that flowed around the building. Chloe then led Nick off the street and down a paved garden path, giving Nick plenty of time to admire the quaint little flower beds flanking the pathway. He could tell that there was a lot of love and care being dedicated to them.

When they reached the door, Chloe knocked and waited for a moment. When they got no reply she turned on her heel and started walking around the building. Curious, Nick followed behind her, not yet questioning anything. Once they rounded the building Nick saw a more expansive garden, this one filled with more spectacular looking flora. The first thing Nick noticed was the complete lack of lawn, there were no stretches of green. It was all trees, flowers, and shrubs, with small paved paths winding between them. Nick was almost mesmerised by the display of colours. Trees with leaves of differing colours, flowers arranged in intricate patterns, and the shrubs have been grown into almost gravity-defying shapes.

Chloe led him down one of the small pathways, seemingly having chosen a random one. They followed along for a bit until Nick spotted an area that had been walled off with a large wooden fence, as they got closer Nick could hear the sound of running water and murmured voices. Hearing this as well, Chloe took a different path that led them toward the walled area. As they got closer Nick recognised one of the voices. It was Jeremiah.

“Well Vas, we’ve outdone ourselves again.”

“We have Miah. It took a while to get it right, but finally something to remind me of home.”

Nick and Chloe had followed the path until it lead to a small wooden gateway with a tiled roof. The tiles looked old, with thick moss growing across them. Nick then had his breath stolen by the gardens he and Chloe stepped into. Perfectly trimmed bushes surrounded by beds of small white stones, a small flowing river that had a small waterfall that ended in a small pond, all penned in by a thick copse of short pine trees. Nick had visited a few Japanese gardens in his life, but none of them had been as picturesque as this one. Nick felt his body relax a bit as he took it all in, the calming sounds of flowing water and the harmony of the nature here serving to lull him into a peaceful state.

“Oh, it appears we have some guests.”

Nick then finally noticed two men sitting on some stones near the pond. Nick almost didn’t recognise the two of them. Gone were Vassago’s dark robes that Nick had seen him in, replaced with a large button-up shirt and some thick khaki pants. Jeremiah still looked ancient, but he looked more at place here, dressed in similar clothes to Vassago. If Nick didn’t know the status of these two men he would never have been able to guess it from their current appearances.

“Ah, this the young chap I was healing this morning,” Jeremiah commented, “good to see you’re up and lively already.”

“Chloe, lovely to see you as ever. Nick, I was hoping you’d come by sometime time soon,” Vassago said with a smile.

“Nick’s gone a gotten himself into some problems with Paimon and her lot. He asked to have a meeting with you, one of Paimon’s tried to stop him,” Chloe explained.

“Ah, so I can expect an angry Paimon knocking on my door late at night? Well, what’s done is done I suppose,” Vassago said with a slight sigh as he got up. “Let’s head inside shall we?”

Vassago then led the two of them back to the house, leaving Jeremiah in the garden, who seemed perfectly content to stay where he was. Just before they went inside, Chloe politely excused herself saying she had to get back to work. Vassago waved her off with a smile and led Nick inside. Nick fell in love with the place all over again, the interior design was amazing. Nick was left feeling cosy but not overcrowded, the rooms were just open-plan enough that it didn’t feel cramped, but not open enough to feel isolating. Nick immediately wanted one of his own, this place was perfect.

Vassago chuckled. “Certainly is the best interior of any of my projects. Also happens to be the one I had the least of a hand in. You can thank Miah for this one. I’m much better at the externals you see.”

“It’s definitely the best I’ve ever seen. Markedly better than the Cathedral that’s for sure,” Nick said without thinking, realising too late that what’d said was rather rude.

“I’d have to agree with you,” Vassago laughed, “That damn building took so much time and effort that by the time I’d finished I was very lazy with the interior. Certainly a regret of mine, but everyone’s too entrenched now for me to overhaul it.”

Vassago shuffled into the kitchen and grabbed two mugs, filled them with water and plopped two team bags into them. He then led Nick to a lounge room and took a seat on a couch. Nick sat on a couch that was across a coffee table. Vassago started drinking his tea, but Nick was hesitant. His last experience with tea hadn’t been the most pleasant of occasions. Vassago noticed his hesitance.

“It’s a good blend I promise, I grew it myself. Nothing like that garbage Paimon throws around.”

Nick decided to trust the man and took a sip of the tea, immediately happy with his choice. It was a lovely blend, nice and refreshing, it even made his mind feel a little sharper. Unlike the tea that Paige had served him, which had lulled him with its sweet taste and eventually dulled his mind. He was a big fan of Vassago’s tea. Nick and Vassago sat in silence for a while, both of them just enjoying their tea. Eventually, Nick seemed to remember why he had come to see the man.

“I have a few questions about the Executioners.”

“That’s not usual. Where do you want to start?”

Nick blanked for a moment. Where did he want to start? He really should have been putting a list together, that would have made things easier.

“What’s the goal of the Exes?” Seemed like as good a place to start as any.

Vassago sat on the question for a while, not rushing to answer. After an especially long sip of tea, he answered. “Well. Openly, the Executioners were created five or six years ago. Are you aware of the history here in the Complex?” Nick shook his head. “Ah, well a brief history lesson then. It was roughly 21 years ago that most of us found ourselves in the Parklands. Back then, it was only the Parklands. There was no car park, no hotel, and most importantly, no classes. Farming was almost impossible, only very few people had the actual knowledge and skills to farm and there were very few areas of suitable land. Once people had formed groups, large fights broke out over these knowledgeable people and the farmable land.

“It was once large communities formed and things began to settle that things got worse for everyone. Have you heard about the Black Hoods yet?”

Nick nodded. “Briefly, I think they were the mysterious people who were handing out food?”

Vassago smiled sadly. “If only that was all they did. But yes, the Black Hoods would deliver food frequently, but only ever just enough to feed everyone. Of course, people never do share equally. Some people hoarded the food, leaving others to starve. Once it became a serious problem, there was a serious solution. The earthquakes started. These weren’t the same as the current Earthquake, like the one we just had. These didn’t return things to a certain state, they just brought destruction. Whenever a certain community got too large or hoarded too much food, there would be an earthquake that destroyed it all. Then people started to go missing. Entire communities would just vanish overnight. It was a time of fear and panic, groups were too scared to gather. It was a strange kind of peace, nobody wanted to be in too large a group or have too much food, so they shared with other small groups and quickly parted ways.”

Vassago paused to take a sip of his tea. Nick saw a deep sadness in his eyes like he was reliving a terrible memory. Nick said nothing and let the man have his silence, instead he processed what he had just heard. So there had been no hotel when everyone got here? When did it come about? It partially explained why it felt like so few people had been deep into the car park, which was something Nick had been questioning to himself for a while now. If they had 20 years to grow stronger and explore, why did it feel like making past the 60th floor was so uncommon? At least know he knew they didn’t have 20 years, but it still felt like too little progress had been made.

“10 years Nick,” Vassago suddenly spoke, pulling Nick from his thoughts, “That’s how long we all spent in the Parklands. It was in that 10th year that everything changed. See, everyone had just gotten used to the strange nomadic lifestyle in the Parklands, even the fact that anyone you knew could just be gone the next day. It’s rather crazy how most people just got used to it with enough time, I guess that’s why they say humans are the most adaptable creatures.” Vassago chuckled. “Anyway, it was on the 10th year things changed. We just woke up to a different world. The worst earthquake we’d ever experienced. The Parklands were just as pristine as we’d first found them. Then there was the worst part, one in five people were just gone. It’s hard to even remember it, it was the most people that had ever been lost to the night. The only saving grace was the fact that it was the last night that anyone went missing, though I know many people that still sleep afraid of who will be gone in the morning.

“This is where things pick up though, so stay with me,” Vassago chuckled, “it’s rare that I get to recount everything like this. That morning people discovered the ramps, you see the car park and hotel had always been visible they were just completely out of reach. Of course, after ten whole years, plenty of people had tried to cross the gap, but nothing worked. There was an invisible barrier of sorts that prevented anything from even getting close. But now, now there were these massive concrete ramps that gave us access to what had been just out of reach. The first few trips had been disastrous, the untold horrors of the car park had been unleashed on us. Though eventually, people made it to the hotel and became the first settlements that claimed floors.

“What followed was the Class War, a bloody conflict that lasted three years. It was during the war that the Executioners were founded. Dantalion approached and gathered a number of us for an explicit purpose. He wanted to make it to the bottom of the car park, convinced that the answer to all of the suffering would be found down there. He had certainly picked a particular bunch, myself included there were seven of us. The Council of the Executioners,” Vassago smiled, “We all had different strengths, but together, we founded a faction that wanted no place in the war. A faction laser-focused on a single goal. When we announced ourselves the conflicts paused and a ceasefire was called. Dante managed to convince everyone to work for a common cause. Not that it lasted.”

Vassago then looked at Nick. “Well, does that answer your question?”

Nick didn’t answer and instead took some time to process everything he had just heard and pick it apart. Something wasn’t right. “Why does it feel like only the Hogs are still delving deep into the car park? And they’re definitely not doing it to reach the bottom, they have their own goals.”

Vassago sighed. “Well. The Executioners' goal is still to reach the bottom floor, the faction has become rather splintered though. Any progress towards the goal has become rather stagnant.”

“Why is that?” Nick asked.

“You know, let me prepare some food, I have a feeling this is going to be a long conversation.”