“I had a feeling that you’d deny it first. Now I feel like a fool for bringing so much evidence to back up my claims.”

“Thought about it. One way or another someone or something will know. It can be used against me. I don’t like the idea of it. And I got found because of chance. That’s some bullshit luck. And I have to ask this. It’s been like one hundred years since then. How come you are all concerned about this damn face.”

The Ghost from the past smoked.

“You weren’t officially dead. Babylon's Database had every Enforcer that worked under CASE from 1950 to 2000 recorded. Not to mention that you worked with us back then and impressed Ford despite being neutralized by whatever that thing was back then.”

“Gotta say, Strato. Didn’t think that you’d turned yourself into a fully borged monstrosity.”

“I was dying. Most of the team had enough of fighting and  didn't become like me. They offered me this to compensate for my service for my country.”

“So only you now?”

“Unfortunately, they want this old man to keep working. It isn’t bad. But most of the time I just sleep and think about dreams.”

“What about family?”

“They are doing fine. Once in a while I would get a call from my grandchildren. They think I’m retired and exploring the world.”

“I gotta say this. I don’t like Blackmail.”

“Oh, I understand. Not that I’d force you when you can just throw fire from your hands and CASE will come to you.”

“How long have you been monitoring me?”

“When they sent someone to you, we discovered you. Had a feeling so I started searching because of the familiar face. I had my men follow leads and then to my surprise a person with the same face was asking for his death certificate. Those people are easily convinced by money.”

“Paid them a lot?”

“Enough to get a house outside of the city and live without care for ten years.”

“Damn. I guess I paid too little.”

Strato grins. That synthetic skin of his crumpling as his face moves. Robert Oswald leans back and crosses his arms. His face was as blank as a sheet of paper.

“You have a lot of stories to tell. How you stayed alive after all these years surprises me. Ran two scans on you and I can’t feel any bioware on you. Not a single implant. So is it safe to assume that you have reached the status of a true mage?”

“Nope. Not at all. I just slept for one hundred years. Found myself dumped in a landfill and the world changed.”

“You didn’t look like you were struggling to me.”

“Maybe because I had previous experiences with living like this. I was hoping to live a quiet life but you guys keep appearing in front of me. First, the Detective, and now a fully cyborg operator. Do you even have any organics left in there?”

“Just the brain.”

“I can’t live a life that’s quiet. But I’m not going to abandon that either.”

“Don’t. It’s not like I’m here to force you into joining us. See, we lack Magicians, and unaffiliated Magicians are hard to find. And Wraith needs people who can fight monsters.”

“Is that so?”

“World’s changed. We are managing by overwhelming them with Tech. But there are cases where a Magician would be wonderful to have. A CASE Enforcer that slept for one hundred years, rising to become a platinum delivery boy, working for an infamous fence–sitter like Pei. You have the skills. You have the magic. It’s hard not to be interested.”

Robert Oswald glared. Strato calmly faced him.

“If you associate with us then I will make sure that no one would know that the Enforcer, Robert Oswald, still lives. And even if they did know, it’s not going to matter when Wraith is backing you.”

Strato chuckles.

“You fit well with the name of our Task Force. You are a dead man, Robert Oswald. A Wraith with an unfinished business. You take the form and likeness of the dead.”

Robert leans forward.

“I don’t like being collared.”

“You would have come back to CASE if that was right. You know what I can offer you, Robert Oswald. I can offer your own background and history. No one will think that you are the same guy a hundred years ago if you decide to be friends with us. Of course, by agreeing, you would become a friend of our Association. A member that can be requested to come and do some work for us. You will be paid generously as well. What is there to complain about?”

“Getting shot in the head.”

“I can tell that you’re wearing a charm. Didn’t even know that you knew how to make one.”

“I just forgot, I can even do illusions now.”

“Fascinating. Are you sure that you haven’t reached Magehood?”

“Nope. I was unfortunate enough to sleep inside an icy crystal after I got comatose. If anything, I have a question. Why was I thrown in a landfill?”

“CASE hadn’t had good days. Magic’s an esoteric practice and there is tech that is easier to use than magic. And even if you have magic, it might not work because of the interference of technology. And getting into their places of learning without the proper bloodline or connection leads them to giving up on the practice of it. Why spend years learning how to fire a fireball when a gun could do that for you? It’s a dying practice, but is still useful.”

“Sounds like you don’t need a magician after all. Just bring more guns and you can do it.”

“I worked with you. You know how to fight and from what I can tell from your rampage here. You haven’t lost your touch. Nice work with the Detective.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Anyway, I wish to recruit you as part of the company. We will pay you for your service and you will get an appropriate rank.”

“What? No starting from the bottom?”

“You will get my referral. I will make sure that you will get a proper rank within it.”

“That’s generous of you.”

He takes something out of a flash drive.

“Slot it. You’ll understand.”

Robert takes it and inserts it into his desk. Activating his smart glasses, he takes a look at the information coming out of the drive.

“Korium…”

A familiar crystalline compound found and made in Earth’s deep mantle composed of dielectric materials, ancient metals, and anomalous compositions that needed five hundred years to be understood. Dangerous reactive rocks and formations that were discovered back in his past life because of a certain accident where mega-cities, covered in magma, were still functioning despite having no clear source of power.

Named Corium, then later turned into Korium to be differentiated from the material that it was similar to.

It was a material that can be extracted from geothermal fields. 

Korium can be extracted from mantled fields. Volatile materials that are considered the natural occurrence of nuclear fusion core. It was a material that shouldn't exist in this era yet. A material that brought mankind to the stars and powered the generation ships that left for the Andromeda galaxy in hopes of a better future than a world where the sky can melt them.

“Familiar with it?”

“Unfortunately, I am. Is Earth already dried up?”

“It isn’t, we can still rely on certain technologies. But Korium is a material that has been studied for one hundred years now. You could say that it is the reason why there is so much progress in one hundred years.”

“It’s dangerous. It will be the end of us.”

“I wonder. Have you heard it from her?”

He thought deeply. He didn’t remember asking anyone about Korium. Then Robert saw the Information presented to him through the smart glasses.

Gia Silva, founder of LORES Consortium, and head researcher of all technology that has progressed. Involved in many technologies, a prodigy that couldn’t only be found once in a lifetime.

She was a woman that he had protected once.

“She’s something else.”

“Miss Silva is obsessed with the improvement of technology. She has ideas that are beyond our understanding and the recent years made it possible for her to become even more wonderful. She is a woman of power, and also of seclusion. She does not go out a lot and has stayed in her own shelter that is always more advanced than her peers.”

Gia Silva has become quite the figure.

And yet the appearance of this woman remained somewhat the same.

Empty eyes that remained until even now.

No, it was different back when he met her, but this time the pictures show that this woman, who had grown beautifully, remained dead and lifeless. As if she cannot find the light she’s looking for.

“She has little interest in politics and does her own things. She has the connections, the manpower, and even the wealth of an entire country, no, possibly even more. It doesn’t help that she’s a Magus of her own right. A true Magus that wields this kind of power got even Uncle Sam worrying.”

“I don’t think you’d be reckless. Or do you have anything to strangle her?”

“Not at all. Gia Silva is uninterested. She is a merchant at heart and nothing bothers unless it gets in the way of research and her own work.”

Robert had been running as a merc almost every single week that even if he had died earlier, he still had enough trouble to proudly call himself as a Veteran. Even the mission that he last took before getting shot in the head was to be impossible until it was done. It cost the entire band of hardened mercs who were called the most professionals of the professionals.

And yet the information he’s getting from Strato here is quite impressive itself. An owner of a Megacorp and a True Mage as well. Just that alone puts her into the sights of many people. Not to mention she seems to own an island that isn’t aligned with any nation. Her own Micro nation where the only leader would be her until she gets sick of it.

“Then I hope we won’t get tangled by her.”

“We? Ah, did you accept it?”

“You’re offering something hard to refuse. Denying it would be the stupidest thing that I’d do. If anything, I don’t know why you’d go this far to recruit a delivery boy.”

Strato pauses and looks away.

“I guess I just want to have someone who I know to fight with. As you know, not everyone wants to live forever. I accepted this ‘gift’ from my country because I thought I could do more… Just think of this as a whim of an old man that wanted to bring back some old memories. It’s not everyday you find a brother back from the dead. Though, I do feel sorry for ruining your peace.”

“You should. I was planning to spend the holidays bothering my favorite bartender.”

“You seem close to her.”

“She’s a good person that can’t be found easily in this cesspit of a city.”

“An anomaly in this city.”

“I’m fortunate to have met good people here. Of course, If I was a pessimistic bum, I think the reception would be far too different.”

Robert’s face softened at the thought of his bartender friend. Honestly, his whole feelings for her can summed up pretty easily.

He wished to be friends with this naggy and yet kind person.

No, if anything, he’s weak to people like her who are rough inside, but was a bit caring inside. Robert was a sucker for people like her and he doesn’t intend to just take it for granted.

One death is enough to convince  him of that.

And technically, when his soul was shredded by that spell back in 1997. Sleeping for so long, he might as well have died and came back to life again.

Even the Deadman that he met before waking up seems to have implied that.

“I hate saying this, but I’d like it if you'd come with me and meet some of our colleagues.”

“Guess I’m not going to go to that Christmas party.”

Strato reaches out his hand.

For a moment Robert could recall seeing this man. Strato who fit that bearded and well-built operator type with a left arm full of tattoos was now truly different. There are some similarities, but he can’t hide the implant lines fully. 

“It’s good working with you again, Deadman.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Strato.”

They were Wraiths that held unfinished businesses.

A name fitting for dead men like them.

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