New Magic
Salvador can only be reached via old-school analog landline. Sure, he's got a nano-computer implant like everyone else, but he ignores incoming calls on that unless it's urgent. So I dug out the phone he'd given me ages ago, jury-rigged a connection, and rang him up. The conversation was straightforward: tell Serena we know who she really is. That way, we'd get her full cooperation, no holding back.
Of course, Salvador objected. Playing dumb about her identity had already netted us a steady stream of intel. And the risks? Massive. If Lüthen caught wind of her betrayal, they'd crack open her skull and read her memories. That would put not just him, but my entire team, in the crosshairs.
Still, I held firm.
-Serena doesn't crave power.
-She's content just staying alive.
-Power's just a means to that end. She doesn't live for it.
-You see that too, Grandpa. That's why you keep using her.
-I can protect her.
-Think long-term—
Salvador eventually approved my plan. He didn't drop his suspicions—hell, it was more like certainty. Serena would betray us someday. The second things got dicey, she'd turn her back on me and Salvador and run to them.
But maybe now... it didn't matter anymore. The era of scraping by on corporate leaks was fading. A new age was coming, and at its forefront would be Enoch, Angela, and me. That's how Salvador saw it, and that's why he agreed.
-Enoch, Angela. Just trust me.
I'd cleared it with my two comrades too. With their firm yes, I could speak freely this time. And so, right now.
“Serena.”
I said her name. I'd forgotten to loop in Enoch and Angela, but that might work in our favor anyway.
“Your answer?”
“Shit...”
Cold sweat trickled down Serena's spine. The calorie bar she'd wolfed down in the car threatened to come back up. What the hell was pressing down on her shoulders? Invisible, but undeniably real—a force pinning her body. Like a giant's hand. Or a beast's paw. Ominous. Heavy...
Serena shook off the distractions and rolled her eyes. Enoch and Angela looked stunned too. Had they just now learned her secret? No, that wasn't it. They hadn't expected me to drop it here, now. A spur-of-the-moment move? Without consulting Elder Salvador?
An escape route? ...None.
Megacorp directors always carried a brain bomb for quick suicide. But Serena hadn't. She wanted to survive, no matter the cost. As long as she lived, nothing else mattered. No suicide chip for her. No regrets now.
She still had no intention of dying. She'd wriggle out somehow and live to the end. Hunchbacked against the wall, shitting herself, whatever it took.
“I know about the magic.”
She spat the words through gritted teeth and attempted a hack. No brilliant glow like Angela's. Serena's tools ran silently. Her director seat at Lüthen wasn't handed to her—it came from wits sharp enough to turn the tide, computational power rivaling Aegis elites.
Three seconds to overload the synapses. Then she could bolt.
Or so she thought.
“Ung...?”
Tap-tap—I fiddled with my suddenly dead headset, pouted, and yanked it off.
“I'm not gonna kill you, Serena.”
Her face went ghost-white.
“...Y-you. Your implants.”
“Yeah, none.”
How the hell did you get into Eden? Why haven't they flagged you yet? There was that crackdown on Southpeak crossings just recently...
Right... there was that incident back then...
Serena's retinas lit up with a neat list of Southpeak incidents from crackdown season. Her eyes snagged on the bridge collapse between Southpeak and Westtown. Labeled a Chrome Psycho terror attack—a Lüthen chimera breakout. Media spun it, but the board got the real report.
Serena remembered it well. At first, they blamed Viktor Kral. But no. Just a freak 'accident.' A staffer left the holding pen open. The chimera slaughtered ECPD... then vanished without a corpse.
Serena blinked slowly. The retinal data cleared. No need to dig further—she knew who'd cleaned it up.
“...Noise.”
The inexplicable 'phenomenon' rumored to escalate the Lüthen-Zailek war.
“Yup.”
Tzzzzzt—Noise rippled around me. A blurry haze you couldn't quite focus on. Staring hurt your eyes, that kind of unease.
“Viktor Kral.”
A disarmingly sweet voice drifted from within, soft and even.
“We sprung that guy too.”
To Serena, it was more chilling than a demon's whisper.
“The chimera traces left in the Wasteland? My handiwork.”
Innocent as could be, she claimed the spark that ignited the war.
Viktor too. That mess had Serena walking a tightrope—if they didn't find him, HQ would cut her loose.
A director from one of the Big Three vanishing? That kind of weight.
“Zailek's Mu-Geuk? We borrowed those.”
Southpeak's third lab too. The chimeras underground. The terror attacks and raids after. Everything in Southpeak. Every corporate-linked incident.
We did it all.
I dismissed the Noise, rattling off the disasters. Each one a dagger to Lüthen or Zailek's gut. Without them, Lüthen would've crushed Zailek. Or vice versa.
Put it together, and it looked like I was balancing the war. Dragging it out on purpose. Bleeding them dry in a long slog.
To reach whatever lay beyond...
“Whaddya think?”
What do I think? What the fuck kind of question is that?
She wanted to snap it, but her lips stayed sealed. Rage? Fear? Some nameless emotion clamped them shut.
“This situation sucks for you, right?”
“...You're the one saying that?”
“Yup. I know, so.”
Every word felt like a lie now. Like she knew Serena's thoughts and was dragging them out for kicks. Sick hobby.
“I'll help.”
Even that, she couldn't trust.
“Hand over this intel and let me live? Is that it?”
“Living's your whole goal, Serena.”
“...How'd you know that?”
“Magic shows me everything.”
“Hah.”
She scoffed, but couldn't tear her eyes away. Too seductive, those words. I know you want to live, so I'll help. A lifeline out of this mess.
“...Before the price, the why. Why me? To help Lüthen, just head to the Southpeak branch. So why bother with me?”
“Seemed fun. Curious too.”
Bullshit answer. Who trades with a megacorp director for shits and giggles?
She just won't spill...
Last scrap of pride, and it crumbled. Still, her mouth wouldn't open. What do I have to do? The words stuck like glue.
Maybe because she believed I wouldn't kill her. But why that belief?
Her head spun. Sensing it, I jumped in.
“Wolha Corp. Offshoot from Neonic, founded and built by their second-in-line bastard son. Still uses Neonic's IP.”
Serena's eyes widened slowly.
“Can't get Viktor back? That intel buys you time. Plus, they sent a bodyguard team to Southpeak—you can owe them a favor.”
“...You can just use me like that?”
Too much at once? I let out a soft sigh. My answer, as always, short and sweet.
“Figure it out. Do it right.”
No need to imagine what happened if she fucked up. Besides, I didn't see her as a one-use card anymore. Not after learning about Neonic ties. Wolha had to survive now. Milk it for info.
“The price... what's the price?”
“Magic.”
A spark bloomed at my fingertip. Ye-Sword, forged by a purged lead researcher. No massive rig, no implants—she conjured real magic.
“Find the magic Lüthen stole from me.”
The tiny flame sprouted horns.
“I'll reclaim it. You just tell me.”
“...A-and after?”
“After?”
Questions flooded her mind. Why was it mine? What was I? Why seek it? How'd she even know magic existed...?
She shoved them down, zeroed in on the big one.
“Once you reclaim all Lüthen's magic... what then?”
“I'll destroy Lüthen.”
No emotion in the voice. Sleepy, serene as ever. Like toppling a sandcastle.
“Then rebuild it, of course.”
A chill silence filled the office. Serena stared, forgetting to breathe. After a beat, the flame shaped an exclamation point and scattered.
One floated over my head too, it seemed.
“Oh, one more thing for you, Serena.”
She got a question mark instead.
“Fix this.”
Unlike before, real feeling laced my voice.
“It's precious.”
More important than crumbling Lüthen. Repairing my busted headset mattered more to me. Probably actually did.
“Quick.”
She had her answer, but it only confused her more. Still, Serena moved. Survival trumped the mental chaos...