Chương 40: Act 1, Chapter 40: Black and white

Day in the story: 8th October (Wednesday) I was just finishing a round of card-throwing drills inside Dam's private underground training hall—my newest anchor. The metallic clang of cards embedding into reinforced walls echoed around me. I'd restocked the deck recently, each card now painted with new symbols: perfect human ears and intricate eyes, all sketched from memory with fine attention to anatomical precision. Those I decided to simply call eye-cards despite their duality.

They shimmered slightly under the low, industrial lighting—art and weapon fused as one. That's when I felt it: the electric current I'd painted across the doorframe of the Finest's hall, a silent tripwire of my own making, fractured. The line broke. A breach and return of the Authority I stored there.

"Take me with you!" Dam shouted before I could even straighten up, eyes lighting with anticipation, his voice echoing off concrete and steel. He looked almost too eager, like someone craving chaos for breakfast. For a heartbeat, I wondered what he'd become if he ever ate actual chaos. Probably something with teeth in all the wrong places.

"Alright, let's go, big guy." He gripped my shoulder with one of his enormous, hairy hands, smiling ear to ear. I focused on the painting of Penrose's Finest inside my Travel Grimoire. One breath, one flick of intent and we were gone. A heartbeat later, we emerged inside the Finest's office.

"Anybody here? Hello? I came in to talk. Just to talk," came a muffled voice, low, repetitive, echoing softly through the walls and doors. I tilted my head, catching the rhythm with my magically enhanced rabbit ears.

"You hear that?" Dam shook his head, until his own ears shifted and elongated, transforming into floppy, twitching rabbit ears. Of course. I stepped to the nearest wall and ran my fingers along the painted eye-nerves. Be my eyes, I whispered to the wall and in an instant the world expanded, split-screen visions opened across my mind like a cracked mirror, each shard showing me new angles. There he was. Calm and composed. He moved down the corridor with that casual grace only born from extreme violence kept at bay.

"Shiroi is here. The unraveler," I told Dam.

"Let's fight him," he said instantly—no tension, no fear.

"You can handle him without touching?"

"I'm pretty sure I can touch him just fine," he said with a grin.

"But yeah, I'll keep my distance if you need me to. So… we fighting or what?"

"Maybe. Him being here opens some doors for me. I want to talk first. If things go bad, you fight him solo and I blink out. Deal?"

"Deal, girl. Let's do this." We moved through the corridors, Dam hulking behind with quiet excitement. The hall gave way to the central art gallery, where Akira, Ken, Shiroi, whatever name he preferred, still strolled with disarming serenity. I opened the doors and stepped into view.

"We came to talk, as you wanted, Ken." He froze. His head turned slowly, until his gaze landed directly on mine.

"You've changed your outfit. Added a rabbit emblem, boots, minor armor modifications." A faint smile touched his lips.

"Fantastic craftsmanship, Alexandra."

"So you know now," I replied, stepping fully into the light.

"I had my suspicions," he said, voice calm, deliberate.

"When Robert gave me a list of Penrose's employees and I saw your name, well. I didn't know it was you I fought by the river… but now I do."

"You also fought me after our meeting with Ms. Honey," I said, eyes narrowing, "and chased me and my partner through half the city on a motorcycle."

"Well… that, I didn't know," he said, tone even.

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't play innocent." I kept my voice sharp, watching him from multiple painted angles. The surreal perspective, the way I could see him from above, from behind, even catch glimpses of myself and Dam standing just behind, gave everything a strange, theatrical weight.

"You seemed hell-bent on killing us" I continued.

"Not exactly someone just coping."

"It's an act, Alexandra. A mask. It helps me live with the things I've done." He looked at me now, not coldly, not even with regret. Just… tired.

"I don't enjoy the killing."

"You sure played the part well."

"So did you. Many parts, it seems." I shrugged.

"We could go like this for a while." He nodded slightly.

"We could."

"So why did you come here?" I asked.

"What changed?"

"I wanted to talk," he said.

"Because all of this—this entire spiral—is a misunderstanding. And if we don't stop it now, we all go over the edge."

"You want to tell me that you and Robert are the good guys?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"That this was all to stop Eve?" That hit him like a blow. His body flinched, barely perceptible, but the paintings caught it. A tightening of the jaw. A stillness in the breath. His voice, when it came, was quieter.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"The only person who knew," he added, "is dead."

"You mean Beatrice?" His expression cracked, just for a second. A flicker of confusion, shock, maybe grief.

"Yes," he managed.

"I meant her." Then, more cautiously, "Can you talk to the dead?"

"Let's say I can." He stared at me, as if I'd suddenly started speaking in tongues.

"I don't know what to say to that."

"I still don't believe it," I added.

"But it's true," he said.

"And I thought you were out of moves, that you'd go to Eveline next, maybe try to cut a deal. That's why I came. You can't. She already ruined Robert's plan. Now she'll kill him too… just like she did Bea." Bea. So he was in love with her. And she… with Robert? Or maybe she played us both. Maybe he was the one all along and I just didn't see it.

"That was our plan," I said.

"Do you have a better one?"

"I can destroy the necklace," he said with quiet certainty.

"I know I can. I'm close. Without it, Eveline is nothing." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"How can you be so sure?" I asked.

"I can feel the Authority of this thing," he said.

"It lands within my Domain, everything is a material, one way or another. I can decompose it soon. I'm close. Us working on that suit together helped more than you know, it was novel, it was inspiring. I can do this, Alexandra." I wanted to believe him. Reality, I really did. He sounded like Ken again—the same guy who helped stitch my new skin together. But whether Ken or Akira was the mask, or if both were, I couldn't say. Trusting people felt like setting traps in my own chest.

"What if she finds out you have the necklace?" I asked.

"She'll just take it back. Restart her grand experiment."

"That wouldn't have been a problem," he said, tone tightening, " if not for your little marketing campaign, Usagi. She thought I was dead. Now?" He shook his head.

"I can't be sure. My face was everywhere." So it wasn't pride. He hadn't been posturing. He'd been hiding.

"Well, excuse me for defending myself," I snapped.

"You were trying to kill me."

"You were resourceful," he admitted, almost a compliment.

"Fortunately, I've been electrocuted before. My mark knew how to handle it.

"His gaze fixed on me, measuring.

"You still haven't answered my question. What if she comes for it?"

"Isn't that your plan too?" He shot back.

"You want her to come for it, right? If she goes after Robert, I'd defend him."

"I assumed you wouldn't be stupid enough to bring the necklace into play."

"It'd be my only shot at making her spare him."

"Then you are stupid." He felt that one. His voice dropped.

"Why are you even talking to me, then? Just using me again? Another move in your shadow game? At least I was honest when I fought you. I did it to protect the last person I cared about. And you?" He took a step forward.

"You cheat. You hide. You obscure and manipulate and steal. You play people like they're chess pieces." From one of the painted eyes, I saw Dam shift. A subtle flinch. His stance changed, looser now, uncertain. That unnerved me more than Ken's words. He wasn't sure we were on the right side anymore. Neither was I.

"I'm judging your character," I told him.

"I hope by a different measure than your own." Ouch. That one hit deeper than it should've.

"Did you try to destroy the necklace within your Domain?" Dam interrupted, his voice level but direct.

"No. I can't access it. I'm under a Debt to Eveline." His eyes dropped, the weight of that truth obvious.

"When she still pretended to be a friend, we were in Ideworld together. It was bad. We almost died, though I now think it was all orchestrated by her. Still, I was reckless and said something like,'If you don't mind, I'd prefer not to visit Ideworld ever again.' It was offhand." He paused. Swallowed.

"She used that. Twisted Robert's Domain against me, made it a vow. Now, anytime I try to enter Ideworld through a portal, I'm treated like a Sleeper. The portal closes immediately after someone else enters. I've tried every time I've seen one."

"What happens when you're advancing?" Dam asked.

"It's only happened once since this mess began. My Domain called me and during the advancement, I could move freely. I thought the curse had lifted, but… the moment I returned, the portals shut me out again." Dam nodded slowly, processing.

"I asked because everything you do inside your Domain is aided by your Soul core," he said.

"You're stronger there. Maybe you could destroy the necklace inside it, even without relying on advancement."

"I just told you, I can't access it. And I wouldn't dare try a guild gate. If I broke it for personal use…"

"Oh, they'd do more than just end you, boy," Dam muttered, his gaze shifting toward me. I understood what he meant. But I didn't trust Shiroi. Hell, I wasn't even sure I trusted Dam yet, despite everything he'd done for me.

"So, you see," Shiroi continued, "advancement is my only way in. I'll bring the necklace into my Domain when the time comes. I'll destroy it there. All I ask is that you hold off. Give me time."

"I'll think about it," I said, walking to the wall and touching the spot where the eye-nerve painting was. I pulled the Authority from it, extinguishing the extra sight.

"Tell Robert he has at least 24 hours of peace. I'll talk with my boss and contact you. Now give me your number." He dictated it. I memorized it without writing it down, habit. I'd store it later.

"Now go," I said. He nodded once, tense but respectful and walked out slowly. Not quite sure if Dam would let him leave in one piece. To be fair, neither was I. Judging by Shiroi's glances, most of his caution was aimed at Dam.

"Change of plans, big guy," I said once we were alone. I dashed back to the door, re-infused the alarm-wire with a touch of magic, then returned to Dam and laid my fingers on his arm.

"Please don't resist." He didn't. Just stood there, solid and calm. I opened the Grimoire to the page showing Shiroi's workroom and with a breath and a whisper, I called on the world to move. And it did.

"I kind of hoped for a fight," Dam muttered, eyes scanning the quiet apartment.

"But this guy didn't seem bad. Not bad at all."

"We're in his place," I replied, walking ahead.

"And I'm about to become the bad guy now. Help me find the necklace, will you?" Dam stopped cold and stared at me like I'd just asked him to butcher a kitten.

"You can't be serious, Alexa. Why?"

"Penrose wants the necklace for himself."

"You're going to give it to him?" The disappointment in his voice hit harder than I expected.

"Oh, Alexa… Phillip used to be someone else, someone with ideals. I'm helping him out of an old debt… or maybe more for your sake now. But I see it clearer every minute: he's lost. First he wants to take a Domain by force, now he wants a necklace that would give him five?" Dam stepped closer, more serious than I'd ever seen him.

"This power… it corrupts, like all power can. He sees us as gods, Alexa and he wants to be one. But he'd misuse that power, I'm sure of it." Was he right? I'd seen Penrose do cruel things, ruthless things, but always to other cruel, ruthless people… right?

"He uses you, child," Dam said.

"And he'll discard you the moment you're no longer useful. Hell, I bet he'd rip your power from you if he could, without a flicker of remorse."

"He taught me everything I know," I said quietly. But even as I said it, I didn't believe it.

"Not everything. The way you see the world, the way your Domain awakened, that wasn't his doing. That was you. Trust that." I'd followed Penrose so long I'd stopped questioning him. Blind loyalty. It felt easier than thinking for myself. But trust is a trap. And the world isn't made of black and white. Dam was right. He was probably right.

"…Let's say that it's true. What should I do?"

"Tell him you searched the place. Tell him you found nothing."

"He'll still go after Robert's operations. He'll tell Eveline everything, just like he planned."

"You don't have to take part in that," Dam said gently.

"Not anymore." But I knew that wasn't true. Not entirely.

"He'll make me take part, one way or another. He'll threaten Peter. Or someone else close to me. I'd have to uproot everyone and disappear just to feel safe."

"I'll help you," Dam said.

"With all of it. I promise."

"You want to kill him?"

"I want to talk him out of this madness." He looked almost sad as he said it.

"Robert doesn't want this war. Eveline doesn't care about Penrose. Let them settle it, like they planned." I shook my head.

"He won't listen. You said it yourself, he's chasing something he once thought was only a fairy tale. And now he's seen it. He'll never let it go. And it's my damn fault for showing it to him." Dam nodded slowly.

"Then first things first," he said.

"Let's leave. Let Shiroi focus on advancing. If you don't want to risk moving him into his Domain, don't interfere." I took a deep breath.

"And then?"

"Take me to Penrose's bunker. Let me talk to him."

"Okay, Dam, talk to him. Try to persuade him," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. My other hand rested on the Grimoire, hanging loosely from the chain at my belt. Send him to the bunker, I thought. The world shifted, but only for him. In the blink of an eye, Damien vanished. I, on the other hand had a different plan altogether. I tore through Shiroi's apartment like a woman possessed. Every nook, every cranny, every corner, I checked them all.

I looked under the beds, behind every painting, inside every spool of thread and fold of fabric. I found a hidden safe above the chimney, but it was empty, like every other damn place I'd thought to search. I didn't know how soon Shiroi might return, but I could feel that moment creeping closer, pressing at the edges of my awareness. Finally, I turned to the one place I hadn't yet searched: his wardrobe. I began to sift through every single piece of clothing he owned, inch by inch.

And there it was, tucked away in a hidden pocket of one of his flawlessly tailored suits. The necklace that started all this madness. Pearls threaded with silver, shaped into a dragon curled protectively around five pristine white eggs. Each egg a treasure in its own right, each one a link to a Domain, a source of power. It was more than an artifact, it was a masterpiece. In its place, I left something for Shiroi to find. A message, of sorts. Then I took a slow, deep breath…

and with a single thought, vanished into my Domain.

Each following morning started with training alongside Dam. He'd managed to partially succeed in what felt like a miracle—talking Penrose into postponing his plan by four days, buying time for the de Marcos to sort things out themselves. Beatrice had done her part. She'd successfully located Eveline, though we hadn't made a move yet. Eveline had spent most of that time at the de Marcos' vacation home, weaving her own web and pulling her own strings. Penrose believed I was busy searching for the necklace.

Shiroi, for his part, seemed entirely consumed with advancing his Domain. But I… I had been working on something else entirely. A true masterpiece. The culmination of sleepless nights, frantic preparation and every scrap of insight I could muster. And now, on the evening of the third day, I had just finished it. Every piece was in place. It was time to set the plan in motion.