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There was an important announcement on the news: blue avians had made an assassination attempt on Mr. Park, the CEO of Carbon Peak. Luckily, he was with Mister Hoffman and Big Chief at the time, and with their quick thinking, they managed to scare the blue avian away before it could do any serious damage. The restaurant they were in suffered some monetary losses, but no lives were lost; though, six employees working for the CEOs were hospitalized as a result of the attack.
“What are you thinking about, Wendy?” an aged voice asked.
Wendy shifted her gaze away from her news-playing tablet and onto the queen. “I was thinking it was quite a coincidence Sam asked me for restaurant recommendations, and the restaurant I recommended to him happened to be attacked by a blue avian.”
“He’s been gone for ten years, hasn’t he?” Queen Annabeth asked. She was holding a small dog in her arms, Squishy Jr., which was actually older than its namesake was when the original Squishy had passed away during a collision with the claws of an eagle named Birdbrained. “Are the blue avians still chasing him?”
“It seems like it,” Wendy said. “Why else would one show up at the capital the moment he arrives?”
“Perhaps he’s the blue avian,” Queen Annabeth said and scratched Squishy Jr. behind its ears. The old woman nodded at Wendy. “I’d like you to figure out what he’s up to, see if there’s anything we need to be aware of.”
“Alright,” Wendy said. “I’ll get to it.” She connected with her tablet through her Sahasrara and sent a message to Sam, asking him to meet up; he had been gone for so long, so shouldn’t they catch up for old times’ sake? Sam’s reply came surprisingly quickly, and Wendy stood up. “I’m going to meet him at his place.”
“Be careful,” Queen Annabeth said. “Ten years isn’t that long, but it’s enough time to change someone.”
Wendy nodded, keeping the aged woman’s advice in mind; perhaps only someone as old as Queen Annabeth could say ten years wasn’t a long time. “I’ll prioritize my safety,” Wendy said. Sam had changed drastically after only a couple of months in Et Serpentium. Now that he went off on adventures throughout Oterra, who knew how much Sam had changed after a whole decade?
The trip to Sam’s home was uneventful. Despite him not being around to maintain it, the villa was impeccably cared for with swept grounds, shiny windows, and unblemished walls thanks to the graylings who had been left behind with the sole purpose of keeping the place clean and livable. As agents of entropy, they weren’t very happy with their jobs, but as servants to their master, it wasn’t like they could refuse.
Wendy got out of the car and nodded at the driver, who backed out of the driveway and left to park by the road where there was plenty of space considering most the of the land around the region was privately owned by Sam—though, some delinquents did frequent the area since the property was known to be haunted by graylings. Wendy scanned the area before heading towards the entrance which opened for her immediately. A pair of black, glossy lenses stared at her before the grayling behind the door stepped to the side.
“Welcome, guest of the master,” the grayling said. It gestured with its whole arm for Wendy to come in. “He is expecting you.”
“Thanks,” Wendy said and nodded at the grayling. She knew from experience they didn’t mind how they were treated. One could be polite or rude, and the grayling would react in the same calm and logical way even if they were physically abused. She hadn’t heard of graylings retaliating for poor treatment either; from what she read of their minds, they simply didn’t have many emotional centers. They didn’t get angry or excited or happy or upset, but Wendy decided to treat the graylings politely despite the lack of consequences for treating them poorly.
“Right this way,” the grayling said as it shut the door. It blinked out of existence and reappeared in front of Wendy. “Please, follow me closely. It won’t be good if you stray.”
Wendy wondered what Sam was hiding in the house for the grayling to make that kind of statement. “What’ll happen if I stray?” Wendy asked while reading the grayling’s mind. Evidently, it didn’t know what would happen if one entered the forbidden areas of the house because the areas were forbidden, and no grayling would break the rules to figure out why. However, the grayling did know one would possibly suffer a fate worse than death if they did.
“I’m not sure,” the grayling said, “but you won’t like it.”
Wendy observed the place, which seemed more like a hotel than a home with its shiny tiles, spotless walls, gleaming lights, and furniture without any imprints or creases on their surfaces. The interior might’ve looked nice, but there was nothing inviting about it as if the place were meant to be on display rather than lived in. Eventually, Wendy ended up in a room where Sam was sitting on a balcony with the sun shining over him.
“Hello,” Vercedei said in Sam’s voice, the twin-headed snake and the rest of Sam’s familiars hidden under the illusion Werchbite had created. “It’s nice to see you again, Wendy.”
Wendy stared Sam in the eyes, and a golden light washed over her vision, clearing her thoughts. She had attempted to read Sam’s mind, but instead, she had been blinded by an unknown force. A furrow appeared on her brow as she tuned out of Sam’s mind, but her vision didn’t return. The golden light covering her view squirmed and wriggled as if something elongated and thin were underneath a golden tarp. The movements of the worm caused Wendy’s vision to swirl and condense, forming geometric patterns that shifted when Wendy focused on them, preventing her from remembering what they truly looked like. A voice entered Wendy’s mind; it was low, but as it spoke, its voice echoed repeatedly until it became a roar, the only thing existing within Wendy’s consciousness, “Stay out of my domain.”
Cold sweat ran down Wendy’s back as she froze like a rabbit in front of a fox, afraid that a single movement of hers would cause the wrath of the entity within Sam’s head to bear down on her. Was Sam still Sam if something like that was living inside of his mind? The golden haze covering her vision gradually decayed, and she found herself back in the sterile-looking room. She looked at Sam and pursed her lips, a bit hesitant to inspect him further if even just visually.
“What’s the matter?” Vercedei asked for Sam. “Didn’t you say you wanted to catch up for old times’ sake? Why aren’t you saying anything after seeing me again after so long?”
Wendy took in a deep breath through her nose. She was usually the one causing people to be frightened when they looked into her eyes, not the other way around. “It’s nice to see you again, Sam,” Wendy said. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking through mind reading, and she couldn’t read his vibe either. It was almost as if he didn’t actually exist. She took a seat at a table separating her from Sam. “How have you been these past few years? Have your blue avian troubles been cleared up?”
“Pretty much,” Vercedei said. “I can’t get rid of them, but they can’t get rid of me either, so we’re living peacefully, but I imagine the peace will only last until one party develops a way to get rid of the other.”
“They can’t get rid of you?” Wendy asked. “I would read your mind, but there seems to be something in there that doesn’t appreciate when I do that.”
“Oh, you’ve met Nwaps,” Vercedei said. “He’s a familiar that appeared when I absorbed the golden foundation of the Venusians.”
“You did what?” Wendy asked. Out of habit, she formed a connection with Sam’s mind once more, but she recalled what had happened earlier and disconnected it right away. The golden foundation of the Venusians was supposed to be an item even more important than the GMC was to the reptilians, and Sam had absorbed it? Wendy recalled the big fuss that the mantids had thrown when their heritage pillar had disappeared. Was Sam behind that too?
“I’ve been going around Oterra,” Vercedei said, “just to see what the world was like. While I was traveling, my talent definitely caused people hardships and grief. However, I’m going to use my talent for good now; I’m going to make the world into my ideal vision, a better place for everyone.”
Wendy had a feeling Sam was going to get more out of this meeting with her than she was going to get out of him. “I see,” Wendy said. “Well, I wish you good luck with that.”
“You should help me,” Vercedei said. “I’m going to start a company, one strong enough to stand within the winds of Oterra. I’ll hire individuals from all over whether they be reptilian, mantid, Venusian, grayling, or even blue avian, and we’ll focus on world domination through commerce, cultural exchanges, and, of course, force.”
“How exactly do you want me to help you?” Wendy asked. She crossed her arms over her chest. “My services don’t come cheap.” Even if Sam did possess power strong enough to contest against a blue avian, she wasn’t going to allow herself to be intimidated or shortchanged. Mind readers were scarce, and even locating one would be a challenge.
“Join my company,” Vercedei said. “What will it take for you to leave Monarch?”
“I won’t be leaving,” Wendy said and shook her head. “Queen Annabeth is like family to me.”
“I understand,” Vercedei said. “So, if something happened to Queen Annabeth, you’d be willing to leave Monarch?”
“That’s not what I said,” Wendy said, her reptilian eyes staring at Sam.
“So, even if Queen Annabeth were no longer in Monarch, you’d still stay?” Vercedei asked. “What would be your reason then?”
“Are you planning on doing something to Her Majesty if I refuse to join your company?” Wendy asked, ignoring Vercedei’s question.
“Who’s to say I haven’t already done something?” Vercedei asked before chuckling as Wendy’s expression darkened. “Don’t worry; you can stay in Monarch even if you become my employee.”
“Not according to my contract,” Wendy said.
“We can have that adjusted,” Vercedei said. “The graylings make quite a formidable legal team. Since there’re so many of them and they understand each other so well, they can work around the clock, picking up where their colleagues left off perfectly. They can definitely overwhelm Monarch’s legal team until they cave in to our demands.”
“Are you really determined to do this?” Wendy asked. “If you openly poach employees like this, the six big companies won’t take that sitting down.”
“I’m not scared of them,” Vercedei said. “Just the other day, I had a minor scuffle with Mr. Park, Mister Hoffman, and Big Chief. You probably heard about it—an assassination attempt made by a blue avian on a big company’s CEO, that’s what the media is calling it.” A smile appeared on Werchbite’s illusion’s face. “If the six big companies have no solutions for defeating blue avians, then what can they do to me?”
“So, now that you’re powerful, you want to lead humanity?” Wendy asked.
“Precisely,” Vercedei said. “That’s the natural order of things, no? The six big companies are only where they are now because of the strength of their CEOs. Power determines one’s social standing. When I was talentless without power, I was at the bottom, living by the rules determined by the top. Now that I’m the strongest human, naturally, I should be the one standing at the top and determining the rules. If anyone has a problem with that, they can fight me.”
“A lot of people will be impacted,” Wendy said. “Have you thought through the consequences?”
“Of course,” Vercedei said. “However, the problems of others are theirs, so they should be the ones to resolve them. The waves caused by me rocking the boat with my company are the trials and tribulations they’ll have to face in life. They could always prevent these troubles from happening, but they’ll have to kill me to stop them.”
“You’ve changed,” Wendy said, “but I shouldn’t be surprised; it’s been ten years.”
“Change is the only constant in life,” Vercedei said, the illusion of Sam nodding. “So, what will it be? Are you going to help me, or are you going to stand against me?”
“It feels like a foolish decision to go against you,” Wendy said, “but at the same time, I’m loyal to Her Majesty.”
“You can convince Queen Annabeth to work under me,” Vercedei said. “If you don’t wish to see us collide with one another in the future, that’s what you’ll have to do. If the queen becomes my employee, you can still be loyal to her while working for me.”
“The best of both worlds, huh?” Wendy asked and leaned back in her seat. She stared at the table in front of herself and frowned. Life was more important than money—to some people. To others, money was worth dying for if the amount reached a certain threshold. Wendy knew Queen Annabeth was someone who would die for her principles—in other words, she was like an old and stubborn goat—but perhaps there was a way to convince Her Majesty to turn Monarch into a vassal company.
A furrow appeared on Wendy’s brow. Was she really taking Sam’s offer seriously? Had she been that intimidated by the entity living within Sam’s mind that she felt like Sam was an unstoppable power, something akin to destiny and fate? Did something plant that thought in her subconscious? She felt a little off, but she couldn’t identify what was wrong with her.
“Take your time to think about it,” Vercedei said. “I still have to get in contact with the mantids and reptilians.”
“I will,” Wendy said and nodded her head.
“I gave you a lot to ruminate on,” Vercedei said. “You probably want to talk out your options with Queen Annabeth, so I’ll let you go now.” The illusion of Sam clapped his hands together. “See my guest out.”
“—love you so-o-o-o~.”
Wendy didn’t have time to react before the scenery around her shifted. She had been sitting on a plush chair, and now, she was in the backseat of the car she had taken to get to Sam’s place. Music was blasting, and the driver had his eyes closed while singing into his phone.
“And I will—gah!” The driver flinched and jumped up in his seat, slamming his head into the ceiling. “Sorry, sorry. I knew you could turn invisible, but I didn’t think you’d be able to slip into the car while I wasn’t paying attention, ma’am.” He cleared his throat. “What’s our destination?”
“Return to headquarters,” Wendy said after taking a moment to collect herself. That was one of the rudest ways to see someone out she had ever experienced in her whole life. As for Sam, well, it seemed like he had become a whole different person. Or perhaps that was what he was truly like underneath his weakness, and once he became strong enough, he didn’t have to hide it anymore. If only she could read Sam’s mind to understand what he truly felt; was he even there anymore, or had the entity replaced his mind completely?
Wendy stared out the window while the driver stepped on the gas. Sweeping changes happened all the time where landscapes would change, where species went extinct, where natural disasters made places uninhabitable. Oterra, like Earth, had experienced several mass-extinction events where only a few measly inhabitants were left alive. If Sam really had been replaced by a higher-dimensional being that could fend off the blue avians, perhaps Oterra was doomed to suffer a drastic decline in population. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to join Sam if he ended up achieving his goal, but if he failed, everyone on his ship would go down with him. In the first place, did she really want to help someone with no morals conquer the world?
Wendy shook her head. In the end, it was up to Queen Annabeth; she’d make the correct decision after hearing all the details just like always. One had to make consistently good choices to survive for over three hundred years during an extinction event. Wendy considered informing the queen right away, but she decided it’d be better to speak with her in person.