“Pardon, the what?” I said as I put down the business card.

Theodgar’s expression darkened. He questioned me about my reaction without saying a word.

“It’s a very, very long story.” I spoke as I tried to win some time to think as to how best to explain it to him. “When we met in Geneva – No, that’s not really the best place to start. Six months ago-” I cut myself off before I could reveal anything too drastic.

“Perhaps it would help if I explained my relationship to them first.” Theodgar interrupted before I had had the time to blurt anything else out. “I came in contact with them during the war. When we won, and order was restored, I decided to infiltrate their ranks to gather information on their upcoming plans. At the time, I, like many other veterans, was afraid that the war had not ended, but simply shifted in nature. After all, even today, despite all the legislations and stupid rules, people are still limited in what they can achieve by what they were given at birth.”

I nodded, as I myself was all but too aware of how this social system worked. Despite being more than qualified for any data analysis job, I had been politely told to go look elsewhere by every single reputable data company in Paris. Someone like me who could not fight was considered a major liability in those contexts.

“The Corinthians had a long-term plan. They were led by several extremely competent men and women and supported by a handful of high-rankers, amongst whom I counted myself. They had a general idea of what they wanted to do, and cooperated closely with the Global Guard Alliance, and national military organisations.” Theodgar continued. “They picked up the pace twenty or so years ago when a certain young prophet joined their ranks. Around the same time, your mother passed.”

Theodgar paused and looked to the side. He sighed heavily, before continuing.

“With her, I lost my vision. I could no longer see the point in living in this twisted and corrupted world, where no matter how hard you tied again and again to eradicate that evil, the innocence of the world that was before never came back.” He briefly paused. “Do know that fully joining them was not my first choice, as I considered integrating your side of society first. But … amongst many other reasons, the Church of Corinth was the one to offer me a sense of community and belonging. I believed as little in their ideals as they believed in me being human. We were more than allies of convenience, and perhaps if some of them had bothered to say ‘hi’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ a bit more often, my ties with them would have run deeper.”

“You talk about them in past tense.” I interrupted.

My tone mimicked my serious expression. There were several factions mentioned in the novels, but none of them had the same scope that Theodgar was attributing to this Church. There seemed to be more at play here, and I was getting somewhat worried that I had gotten myself involved in something bigger than Huang and his storyline.

“Before seeking you out, I took care of a few things.” Theodgar replied as an unsettling smile briefly pierced through his serious facade. “Let’s just say that they no longer have any bases of operations in North America.”

“I met this Solomon person in Geneva.” I said as I tapped the business card, hoping that my tone was enough to suggest that America was not the only place this church had been at. “He … got killed.”

Theodgar raised an eyebrow, encouraging me to continue.

“He was trying to make an S+ ranked child into a human weapon. But he was killed, I-” Suddenly, the memory of that man’s blood-soaked dead body flashed through my mind, and my head began spinning.

I leaned with almost all of my body weight onto the table, trying to calm down.

“He is dead.” I muttered, lining each word with as much certainty as I could master. “But what I mean by that is that this Church seems to have spread in Europe as well.”

Theodgar nodded.

“I see what you’re saying. I was not aware of a base in Geneva, as that had not been my reason for being there. I do know they have several more camps in China, and it would not surprise me if they built something in Southern America as well.”

Theodgar took another long sip from his whiskey, as he looked somewhere to the side, avoiding eye contact.

“Perhaps I should be taking care of that first.” He spoke. “They can’t have more than 200 people per location, so if they don’t close down the teleportation circles, it shouldn’t take longer than a handful of days. But then, perhaps after America, David would have invested into better copies…” Theodgar muttered, thinking out loud. His mouth twisted into a displeased expression for a brief second. But then he suddenly looked up at me again, and his expression had returned to a neutral one. “You shouldn’t concern yourself with that. I personally guarantee that they are and will no longer be any threat to you. And if you do feel insecure about the Church of Corinth, and are not able to come in contact with me, as much of a stuck-up fool as Vincent is, he will be able to deal with them.” Theodgar attempted to reassure me.

At this point, the Church of Corinth wasn’t what worried me anymore. Rather, it was the fact that this man seemed confident enough in himself to think that he’d be able to ‘take care of’, aka kill, several hundred people in a few days. Those numbers were on pair with what Huang’s team could do, but they were a large group with varied skills that all completed one another.

I rubbed my temple, as I felt a sudden jolt of pain in my head. It was as if someone was preventing me from thinking such things about Theodgar.

“Are you alrigth?” he asked.

“It’s nothing.” I replied with a quick hand gesture. “If you don’t mind going back to this business card, did you only show it to me to warn me about that organisation?”

Theodgar nodded.

“I heard they were targeting certain high-rankers, and known relatives of high-rankers. Whether I like it or not, Vincent is a public figure, and once I found out that you were alive, I wanted to make sure you stayed that way.”

I nodded, then said:

“I think I have encountered them before. In Paris that is. It’s a fairly long story, but it’s one that has led me to-” I paused. I wasn’t sure I should be telling him about Cain. I was afraid it would change his perception of my character.

“Has led you to?” he asked, as he played around with his empty whiskey glass.

“To lose all hope in the French police.” I replied, as an artificial sad smile flashed across my face. “They were not practically good at kidnapping or killing me, but they did give me one hell of a fright. I was walking home one evening,” I began the retelling of everything that had happened with those thugs in Paris.

By the time I was finished with my explanations and Theodgar had clarified a few more things about this organisation and his role within it, we were just about the only guests left in this restaurant.

Theodgar asked me if I wanted to leave, in his usual silent fashion as he nodded towards the exit with a raised eyebrow. I nodded in response, but there was one last thing I wanted to ask him:

“Theirs is something I don’t quite follow. You said you fought in the war alongside my mother, but it has ended over 70 years ago. And I remember my mother being quite young.”

“And you wouldn’t give me a day over 50?” Theodgar asked with a smirk. “Unfortunately Laura, this is one of those subjects that are not discussed in any company, even by men like me. I will say this much though, nowadays the only way to look as good as I do can only be found in isolated sea-bound dungeons.”

“Huh.”

“I will cover the bill. Excuse me for just a moment.” Theodgar spoke as he got up.

I didn’t pay much attention to him, as several pieces of this whole puzzle finally clicked in my mind. Theodgar was immortal. That would explain the phrasing of his little speech about high-ranker earlier, as well as the dates that would otherwise not line up. Him mentioning the sea dungeon linked all of this to ‘immoral immortality’ as immortality was obtained there by consuming an item hidden away in the ‘Vanished Mountain’ which was in fact an underwater with a dungeon entrance at its ‘peak’. Him telling me not to bring up the ani-mages and immortality suggested that those were likely linked, and erased from media and history by some organisation. It was safe to assume that this organisation was not the Church of Corinth, as Theodgar seemed confident enough in his ability to neutralise them. I wondered if it could have been one of the factions brought up in the book, although I struggled to think of anything that would have a bigger scope than his international secret organisation.

“Shall we?” Theodgar asked as he returned.

“Yes.” I replied. “if there ever need for me to come in contact with you again, I presume you don’t carry around a cell phone?”

“You presume correctly.” He replied with a smile, as he slowly headed back towards the exit. “Do you know how to use a Soul Mirror, or Soul Cards as I believe they are called now?”

“Yes?” I replied. I vaguely remembered the name of that magic item from the book.

When he pulled out a rectangular gem the size of a pocket mirror from his pocket, I remembered exactly what this item was. He ran his finger along one of the long edges of the gem, slicing it open against the hard crystal. His finger healed the second he pulled it away, but his blood remained on the surface of the magic item, as it slowly infiltrated into it, changing its colour from clear to a dark, almost black, blue. He handed me the thing, and I did the same.

Luck - 1

My blood took a bright green hue as it spread through the crystal. As soon as the two colours came into contact, the gem twisted on itself, and emitted a bright glow, before splitting into two.

“That’s one way to do it…” I spoke, impressed by what had happened.

“I will be keeping busy these upcoming weeks, but I do look forward to our next meeting.” Theodgar said with a warm smile.

He handed me the Soul Mirror, and a small yellow gem for the teleportation circle. For a brief moment, he looked like he was about to pat me on the head, but decided against it after the questioning look I gave him.

“It was a pleasure meeting you.” I extended my hand. “Everything you’ve said; that we discussed, it was very helpful.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Laura.” He said after shaking my hand. “I truly do hope we will meet again soon, perhaps even with your brother.” He bid me farewell, with a warm expression, before heading to the teleportation circle.