The man in the dimly lit room, staring blankly at the wall. His thoughts were consumed with worry and fear. He felt like he was against the world, like everyone was conspiring against him. He couldn't shake the feeling that had been growing inside of him for weeks.

The contact with Sir Gregory Hawke meant he had to connect with the current representative of CASE. Kato had thought long and hard about his connection with the Commission of Supernatural Entities. He had to be free from them and his connection with Strato made it possible to do it.

Kato loosens his shoulders. He opens his eyes. The all-sense that he has been honing worked through the sanctuary that he entered. The appearance of the sanctuary did not meet the expectation that Kato wanted to see. Modern buildings with incandescent lighting, ventilated, with a source of electricity that relies on the elemental source that runs the sanctuary and is being fed with the arcane-energy from the world. Moving on the path, catching the glances of the Enforcers and Officers that run the sanctuary. It came to Kato that the technology they wear, although not so advanced, seems to be powered minimally. Settling his eyes on the center of the place where he was told to meet the representative of CASE.

The young man overlapped the old immediately. Kato feels like the person who was still young and somewhat arrogant had changed too much. The way he stood and expressed his emotions did not match with the young man that took him to see that creature.

Simone’s face that had a steel on it softened. “When you got knocked out by that explosion. Encased in that ice, I thought you would wake up, eventually. I am glad that I was right, Enforcer,” Simone said with his hand extended to Kato.

Kato shook his rough hand. “God had a plan and I guess it wasn’t my time,” Kato said, his voice laden with a soft tone. “Of course, waking up a hundred years later in a landfill made me wonder if you guys abandoned me and left me to rot. I heard I got displayed like a collection?”

Guilt shows on Simone’s face. He opens his mouth briefly before closing it back. It is clear to Kato that he did not know how to reply to the fact that he was on display and got lost. Kato shrugs calmly, settling down while scanning the environment..

“You’ve aged,” Kato said, his voice laced with sincerity.

He shrugged with a complicated look in his eyes. “I’ve dealt with a lot of anomalies in years. One has to grow up to take on the mantle that I carry. But you have not aged.”

Kato looked down. “That seems to be the case. I have reached the stage of a Magus and yet I feel like I am being pulled by strings. It is a feeling that has not left me.”

“I was told,” Simone assured him with a look. “An Outsider has taken an interest in you. That would explain the irregularities that I felt with you.”

Kato could tell that there was something that Simone couldn’t get out of his mouth. Suspicion formed inside Kato, but he pulls it back. Simone, who glimpsed that, seems to have formed words he could speak already. The oratory skills that he had formed in years revealed.

“It is the explanation that I can conclude.”

“Well, that is one way to look at it.”

Simone nodded. “I can see that you have not come here to rely on CASE. Our oaths do not behold you, and I doubt I can persuade you.”

Kato pocketed his hands. “I just don’t like to belong to anything.”

“And yet you are working with Uncle Sam.”

“He pays a lot.”

“Salary, eh?”

“And other benefits.”

Simone laughed. “I will not force you to join our organization again. With your status as a Magus, it would be impossible to force you into our fray. I appreciate you letting me know you walk the earth, Oswald. It is not every day that you learn that someone of our age still lives on.”

“Life expectancy is quite high now.”

“It is.”

Simone leads him to a place where they can sit. A bench that overlooks a training ground where the young students are being taught by a man that was clearly of old age despite the late middle-aged looks that the man has.

“He is 200 years old. This place has been a sanctuary that has taught for so long already.”

Kato saw a part of his face that was clearly not part of him. One good look of his all-sense and he could tell that he had suffered an injury that made him teach instead of being out in the field. It made Kato wonder why he had bioware instead of replacing his flesh through magical means.

“Curious about that face? We are running out of magic.”

“I have heard that one.”

“Indeed, but in your case, you were molded anew.”

Kato leaned on the bench. “I guess Sir Hawke is quite talkative of what happened to me.”

“He is,” Simone said, his elbows leaning on his lap. “The Sir has taught me in dealing with the affairs of the world. It also came to me that you have tricked the man that I had sent in Lux. He was a keen-minded man. I doubt that he would have failed.”

“I didn’t want to be found by anyone,” Kato has a pensive look on his face. “I had good fun living a normal life. Unfortunately, I slipped up, and I made a mistake by getting curious about my death certificate.”

Simone let out a chuckle. “I guess at the face of technology, you can slip up. I had always believed that you were far ahead of us.”

“Not really. I doubt I can call myself that when a certain someone is currently being lauded as the genius of the century.”

“Gia Silva,” Simone said, his voice entwined with steel. “She has become a figure in the world that has become a thorn in everyone’s eyes. To think that she’d become someone who would decide the fate of the world."

Kato’s mouth twitched. “You don’t like her?”

“I am not fond of women that have abandoned a part of them. However, I will admit that she has the qualities that I can respect. She has always gathered the attention of CASE and her rise to power is something that we have not thought possible.”

“She joined the Commission, didn’t she?” Kato rubbed his knee.

“She was a good soldier and one of the few that kept their magic after the bug ate the energy. It was when the world has tilted to technology that she revealed her cards. I may not agree with how she made it. However, I gladly acknowledge that she has influenced this world with her clever schemes and plots.”

Kato looked down. That sense of inferiority that he threw on the back of his churned. He liked to believe that he had come to terms with it, but hearing the admiration in Simone’s voice that he once again realized that Gia Silva’s name was a name respected and feared. She was an idol to be feared and admired by this side of the world and her achievements have made a mark. His heart ached. He didn’t enjoy comparing himself to her. And yet it made him feel like he can’t stand by her. He knows that she’d disagree with his thoughts, but being separated made it clear to Kato that he wasn’t a pillar that she could lean on while taking on the world. She might not have said it, but the implication that he would become her weakness hurt more than being told.

How do you even catch up after one hundred years? His face somewhat became his because of the Deadman, but the face of the woman he loved was nowhere to be found. Then again, he never fell because of her face. He fell for her because in that dark place with a burning sky. She was the light that kept the fire of his heart alive. She was the hearth that kept him warm. Her actions in the Convocation and the way she behaved made him realize she has changed, or that this was a side that she already had. He has been coming to terms with that. It was unfair to hope that she’d stay the way she was without knowing the experiences she had for the past years. Although she wishes to go back to their home. He realizes she also cherishes the citizens of Wisteria, the Island Nation she founded.

She has a lot of sons and daughters who have become her pillars. And it was overwhelming to think how he would have these sons and daughters. They heard nothing of him. Knew nothing of him and through what he had seen from how her people acted. They believed in her like how fanatics would. She might not have wanted it that way. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that others have seen her as this venerable lady. 

One side worships the ground she walks while the other side would be glad to put a bullet on her head.

Simone noticed Kato’s silence. “Something on your mind?”

Kato cleared his throat. “She’s impressive. But can she really take on the world?”

“She can. It’s not about whether Wisteria can handle the pressure of the world. It’s that she has a country and the people that have been spread over the years that acts as her support. What makes her dangerous isn’t the technology she offers. It’s how she can bend the will of others to her bidding and persuade them that she is their ally. You cannot fight alone, and that is something she understands well.”

“Everywhere I go, it seems that everything that comes out of anyone's mouth is her.”

Simone crossed his arms. “When you summon a demon into this realm. People tend to notice. It doesn’t help that she has everyone by the balls. Her words hold weight and she has enough power to convince factions to ally to her. They might speak against her, but in the shadows they are lured by the promises she gives.”

“She’s a good businesswoman.”

“She owns a Consortium that has not failed to make its investors and partners happy. I admit that working with her has been tempting. She offers more and even if she runs out of ideas. She’d be a voice that one would need to pay attention to. I have seen geniuses, but she’s just in a league of her own.”

“You respect her truly.”

“I do. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that she had some things. I can’t judge her because I understand why she would do so. I cannot agree with her methods and perhaps CASE cannot and never will agree with her. Which leads me to the question whether you are here because of her.”

Kato’s face turned into stone. “I want to know which side you will be on.”

“We are not on anyone's side. Our interest lies in the fact that she has summoned demons to our realm. Intentional or not. She has done the deed. Kato, the end of the century comes and seers have started talking about the possibility of another millennium bug. Back then, we eliminated the factions that did not agree with the Nonmagi Pact because of the danger they bring to a world that has less magic.”

Simone stood up and faced Kato. This time not as the person that he knew, but as Simone the Magus, the Guardian of the Commission.

“And right now Gia Silva is the most dangerous of them all. The Clans are anxious whether they would survive if another millennium bug comes. They would become easy prey to the Lady and that they fear that if such another anomaly comes. Who could stop her weaves? What is the guarantee that Gia Silva would not harm this world?”

karsev

My sched has been stacked, but I'll try to release a chapter a week.
Thank you for reading!