Kiara's eyes settled on me. "Riki Akiyama?"
I nodded. Why was my father there?
Saymon focused on him. "For the next steps, go to Nobody's Land and give this to Cron." He handed him the Five of Wands.
Riki turned the card in his hands, pocketed it, and headed toward the exit. His stern features concealed pride, entwined with an understandable exhilaration. Here, he had what he wanted. Freedom to manifest his desires. No GMC to stop him. Nobody to deny him what he wanted.
Netheria was where Riki wanted to be. They provided the means to achieve his goals. He would play their games. After all, Riki had never wanted to be king. He wanted to satisfy the perversity at his core. The sadism in his heart. The inhuman subjugation of everyone unworthy. All beneath the veil of a greater purpose: the good of science, progress, humanity's future.
The chill down my back intensified as Riki passed us, head held high. Looking at someone meant acknowledging their existence. Inconceivable. Only he deserved his own attention.
Riki smoothed his hair back. As he passed me, mint filled my nostrils. The same smell from my childhood. The smell of a father who had never wanted to be one. He left without looking at me. Would it make a difference? He had never seen me. Could look me in the eyes and still fail to recognize me.
My fingers hurt from how tightly I clenched them. Why did I still care about him?
Kiara closed the distance to Saymon. "What the fuck is this?"
He breathed out a vile little chuckle. "Like the surprise?"
She grabbed his collar, eyes dangerous. A lioness facing a fox. "Tell me every last fucking thing that's going on." Kiara released him.
Saymon burst out laughing, straightened his coat, and ambled toward me. "Funny. Same expression you had when…" He smiled.
Same expression? When…? What did he mean? I held his merciless gaze. The shiver intensified with his hostile presence.
He rested a hand on my shoulder. "Needed to know which side our Akkie was on."
I held my breath. Side? What was he talking about? I wanted to push his hands away. Couldn't. The enormous pressure of his dark aura was almost unbearable.
Kiara raised an eyebrow and displayed the Eight of Cups between her fingers. "'Abandoning an emotional bond in a doomed relationship. Sadness. Grief. Emptiness. Unknown future. Ungovernable.' Thought the message was only about Trix and Vorovskoy mir."
Saymon gave a ruthless grin. Stepped away from me. "Always meet my expectations, Kikky. I confess, I'm fascinated. Our Akkie saved Trix from such a tragic fate. Can the apprentice truly surpass the master?"
Apprentice? Master? What did I have to do with this? Nothing he said made…
No.
Saving Trix? Of course. Everything made sense. My blood boiled. I bit my lips. "I-it was… it was him…"
"Yes?" Saymon's foxlike features gleamed with delight, as though I were an amusing attraction.
Fury grew inside me. "H-he made Mentis Imperium, didn't he?" I already knew the answer. Only Riki would resurrect something so terrible.
Saymon gave a whistling chuckle and headed toward Kiara. "This is more fun than I expected… ♪ Kikky's right about Trix and Vorovskoy mir. The foundations have started trembling. What happens now?" He sat on the jeweled throne and rested his chin on his hand.
Kiara stared at him with bloodthirsty eyes. "I give zero fucks about this shit! Manipulate me or Akiko into one more of your sick lil' games, and I'll…" Her jaw tightened. She shackled her rage.
Once again, they spoke in the intangible.
Saymon raised two fingers and narrowed his friendly eyes. "Two quartelunas to do my favor. Bring me what the key guards, and I'll tell you the name."
Kiara pressed her lips together and gestured for me to follow.
It took me a while to react. I followed.
We walked silently through blood-soaked streets until we reached Tentro.
Entered our room.
Flames flared from Kiara's clenched fists.
I stood against the door. My mind empty. My blood boiling. Searched for a way to soothe the anger. Tried to understand why this was happening. Breathed slowly, dissipated the fury, and cleared my understanding: my life was at stake. Yet I was part of Maia's world. Everything that had happened was a prelude. None of it compared to what I was about to experience. What I was about to discover.
Kiara approached and seemed to notice the tangle of confusion inside me.
I met her gentle eyes. "I understand. I may be naïve about this world, but not about people."
She held my hand. "Know you have a lot to process, but we're outta time. Your contract goes active again in two quartelunas. With Aurums hunting you, failing to terminate that shit in time will fuck our situation."
The contract. Easy to forget amid everything. I nodded.
"You get that you're part of this world now, right? Doing better than you think." Kiara gave a friendly smile. Walked around the room. "Remember when I mentioned incorruptible nanosystems? Well, the place we need to go, where we'll find what this key opens…" She displayed the Joker card. "Has one."
I sat on the sofa and removed my mask. The gleaming card distracted me. "What place?"
"In Zenith. Parliament, to be precise."
My eyes widened in disbelief. "P-Parliament?"
What was she saying? Parliament was the safest, most important place in Brasil.
It housed the headquarters of the Aether Network's Assemblies. State archives. Historical, security, and nanotechnology data from Brasil and its partner countries. Zenith and Centrália's Motherboard. Not to mention the 150G nanotechnology serving every connection in the Americas.
"Y-you're planning to go in there?" I could barely believe what I had heard.
The seriousness on Kiara's face opened into a smirk. Became a mocking laugh. "No. I'm not. You, though… yeah."
Me? What did she mean? Had to be a joke. True, she had mentioned it before, but I thought she was joking. Why had I thought she was joking? I had already forgotten! I shook my head. "W-what do you mean?"
She brushed dust from her shoulder. "Obvious, right? You're from Zenith. Have a status nobody'll question. Know how special your pass is?"
Goodness. None of it made sense. Me… Zenith? I shifted restlessly. The thought of returning came like a torrent. I came from there, yet felt alien to it. Perhaps I wanted to stay away. I couldn't go back up. They said once you were on top, you never wanted to descend. How could I return to Zenith after everything I had experienced? No. Time to focus on the present.
"Do you really think I'll do this? I mean, look at me." I gestured at myself. "I'm nothing like you. Or Maia, Trix, Saymon, Cron, Denden. Any mercenary!"
The android rubbed her forehead. "And except for Maia, nobody else could get in there. Not Saymon. Not his fucking androids! Not me. Not another mercenary!"
I bit the inside of my cheek. "Hard to believe. You're all so well prepared. I-I'm… do you think it's too risky? What if I do something wrong? Fail? What if…"
"Akiko, you really think you're unprepared for this?!" The way she looked at me… gave me a confidence I lacked. Realizing that left me a bit embarrassed.
I'll be honest. I trusted myself completely as a doctor. But who was I in that world? They had always lived that way. Trained and indoctrinated from an early age. I had discovered that life only a few lunations ago. And there was Saymon, controlling official Aether Network androids!
Why not… understanding lit up like a bulb. Only now did I get it? Had I wanted so badly to be part of this world?
I composed myself. I had visited Parliament a few times. Walked those corridors. Stood beneath that spotlight. Back then, though, I had gone for lawful reasons. I was far from a threat. Now, one wrong step would kill me.
It couldn't be that bad. Maybe… I barely knew what Kiara would ask of me. Well, she must have a plan. She always did. Right?
I sighed. "Okay. How do we do this?"
Kiara ran her fingers through her hair and raised one finger. "First, we need Parliament's latest nanoblueprint. All Zenith locations' nanoblueprints are nanoencrypted. Only chief architects have the encoded files. Thirty-five cycles ago, a lot of data was stolen. Including the blueprints from back then."
A vague memory of the event surfaced. I had been a baby when it happened, but studied it as an adult.
The Aether Network tried to cover it up. Failed. Whoever did it remained anonymous. I had accessed some official documents, but the evidence was insufficient. The event created enormous insecurity in Brasil. More than an attack on the Aether Network, it was an attack on a whole nation. A nation considered untouchable. If someone could hack the Brazilian Parliament, who was safe?
The Aether Network's premier, Lorenzo Cardoso, said the police had arrested those responsible. They renewed and reinforced Brazilian nanosecurity. Life happened. The subject faded into oblivion.
Kiara snapped her fingers. "Hey. Listening? Pay attention. The Aether Network's left those nanotechnologies' security outdated. The nanoencryption's obsolete. Hackable now. Some of them just happen to be in the Patriarch's possession."
My lips parted. "W-was it you?"
Kiara burst out laughing and shook her head. "No. The files just happen to be in the Patriarch's possession."
If it wasn't them, who? Who was responsible for the greatest nanohack in the Americas? What had they done with the information?
"Relax. We won't need to see him." She waved calmly. "C'mon. Need to visit an old friend. His mood's better at night. Like a cat. Actually, he has quite an interesting history with Maia." Kiara winked.
I frowned curiously and followed right behind.