Chapter 82: Let us Proceed

The window stretched floor to ceiling, a modern sheet of reinforced glass with a faint blue tint that filtered the afternoon light. No frame interrupted the view, just seamless transparency that made it feel like standing at the edge of the building itself.

Beyond it, Naija City sprawled out in muted colors, the streets below busy with mundane life that had no idea what walked among them.

Yime stood closest to the glass, her arms crossed, gaze fixed on a lone figure moving down the street. Jorg stood beside her, hands clasped behind his back, his expression unreadable. Orel leaned slightly forward, orange-tinted glasses catching the light as he tracked Makun’s every step.

Behind them, silent and still as a shadow, Amelia stood with her back to the wall, eyes half-lidded but watching everything.

Makun walked with a new sport bag slung over his shoulder, black with gray trim, the weight of it pulling slightly to one side. Inside were the book and the pendant, wrapped carefully and tucked away. He moved slowly, his gait steady. He didn’t look back.

“Are you sure, Orel?” Yime asked, though her tone suggested she already knew the answer.

“Of course I am,” Orel replied, his voice calm and certain. “And he needed some time to mull over everything anyways.”

Yime nodded once. “Let us proceed as mentioned then.”

Jorg said nothing, but his gaze lingered on Makun until the young man turned a corner and disappeared from view.

…..

Makun walked slowly across the streets of Naija City, his body still aching from the past few days. He saw an ice cream vendor on the corner and was compelled. He needed some ice cream, and he had nothing much left on him. The VEB had given him his remaining 3.50 dollars that he was not even sure was the exact amount.

He proceeded to the vendor. It did not matter if it was the remaining amount or not, as long as he had the money. An ice cream bowl was 2 dollars. He bought it.

“Vanilla or chocolate?” the vendor asked, a middle-aged man with a graying mustache and a stained apron.

“Vanilla,” Makun said.

The vendor scooped slowly, used to the motion of scooping ice cream from years of experience. “You look like you got hit by a truck.”

Makun blinked. “What?”

“Your face, the bandages on you. You look rough, kid.” The vendor handed him the bowl. “Bar fight?”

“Something like that,” Makun muttered, taking the ice cream.

“Let me guess. You won?”

Makun paused, then nodded slowly. “Yeah…. I won.”

The vendor grinned. “Good for you. But next time, duck.”

Makun almost smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He paid, took his remaining fifty cents, and walked off, already licking the ice cream.

While walking, his thoughts reverted to the night talk he had with Yime and Jorg. The proposal he got from her to join the MIO. He had wanted to give his answer right away. It was not as if he had a choice.

However, Yime had said he could take his time before responding. She said that he did not have to accept right away and he was okay with that.”It needed better consideration, so he had accepted her suggestion to think it over.

What he did not expect was for Jorg to come by early in the morning and ask him to go out.

That surprised him… it was more of an annoyance than surprise. If he was about to become an MIO agent, shouldn’t they care more for him? Lodge him? Show him the benefits?

Why did it seem like they were trying to show him how he had nothing without them? No money, no relations, no place.

Yeah, I forgot about that, Makun thought.

The past few days had been crazy for him. He had spent them fighting, being wounded, sleeping, fighting.

He had forgotten that his mundane, normal life was that of a poor person with crazy debts he had to pay Atlantic Records, and no home. By this time, he had reached the main garden at the center of Naija City.

The space opened up before him, a wide green expanse dotted with oak trees and flower beds. Kids ran across the grass, chasing each other while their parents sat on benches, watching and laughing. A small fountain bubbled at the center, water catching the afternoon light.

Yeah, where can I stay? Makun thought. I mean, Hope Rest Shelter.

Makun knew he had no other choice but to accept that. He wanted to go back right away and tell Yime he was down to work with them. However, he would appear too desperate. He needed it to seem like he really mulled over the situation.

He knew MIO was going to be a new beginning for him, and he could not wait to start.

I can’t fuck this up, can I? he asked himself.

Anyway, the book.

I could not open it. Now I am an Apprentice. I should be able to get a look into it.

He stood up and went to an area of the garden where no one was, tucked behind a cluster of bushes near the western edge. He took the book out of the new bag the MIO had given him.

Similar to how he did in the past, Makun opened the book, his spiritual sight active.

VOOOOO!

He saw a huge amount of energy leave his body and enter the book.

It was his Ashe, red chaotic Ashe. Makun could see it penetrate the book, and the book started gaining his Ashe’s color. The cover took on a red hue, while the pages changed and took on a light reddish tone.

Makun was flabbergasted. The very first time he had read the book, he had not even noticed anything happening with it. He had just collapsed.

The second time he read it, he had activated his spirit sight to see what was happening, and he had barely seen energy leave his body to enter the book.

However now, the amount of energy being absorbed by the book was a lot, and the transformations happening to it were out of the norm.

It kept sucking, wanting to suck him dry, suck everything out of him, wanting him to release that substance it craved so desperately.

Makun could not hold up anymore and jerked his hands, flinging the book forward as if the thing had burned him.

The book tumbled through the air, spinning once, twice, before slamming into the grass with a dull thud. It landed face up, pages splayed open, and for a moment, nothing happened.

Then the pages turned.

It was as if an invisible hand flipped them one by one. The red glow intensified, pulsing outward in waves, and Makun felt his Route Core lurch in response. He panted, his breath coming short, while his vision blurred. He stumbled back, gripping a tree for support, watching the book settle on a page near the middle.

The glow faded. The pages stopped moving.

Makun stared at it, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his temple.

What the hell was that?

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