I fell asleep draining my energy into my disastrous outburst.
Doubt woke me in the middle of the night — the kind of doubt that has no specific question, only weight, that settles in your chest with no sign of retreating. Falling back asleep was a greater challenge. I managed it well into the morning, and when I did, it wasn't rest but surrender.
By then, reports were coming in of progress on the raids against the supposed factories Neura controlled. Neutralized. With a ease that was surprising enough to make me doubt Neura had been too deeply involved in them. I mean — just thinking about him makes me furious. I feel the grinding of my own teeth, the vibration spreading from my jaw through my entire skull, and I have to stop myself before it escalates into something that breaks another piece of furniture.
I needed to clear my head.
The opportunity came in the form of a notification from Conrad — who for some reason even I can't explain I had saved in my contacts. In it he explained that locating the sword would take longer than expected, and that while he delivered the thorough reprimand his senior officers deserved to secure every possible fund for the mission, he recommended all guests enjoy for the day the wonderful destination that was Virginia.
That sounded far too patriotic.
Right after, Axel spoke in the old group chat we had. His exact words:
"I wasn't calling for a parliamentary gathering of gentlemen with the aim of seeking the Holy Grail."
Celia responded by asking what he'd been smoking this time.
No herb, our queen — Axel replied. Just a sublime liquor brought by the Vikings that rejuvenates the soul and purifies the heart. A full-fledged elixir of every rule in existence.
I stepped in.
— In other words, without all the fuss: do you all want to take a trip around the city together?
Celia: "That seems to be what our wizard advisor is trying to communicate."
Axel: "Advisor I may be, but I perform no magic. I am simply exemplary and magnificent in the most divine way possible."
There was a brief silence in the chat — the kind that comes from the expectation that someone else is about to speak.
Nadia chimed in.
— You're being your most insufferable today, Axel.
Axel responded almost immediately:
— Nadia, I didn't know you could be this cold toward me. Did I freeze your warm heart?
— Axel — Nadia replied —, I've been a fan of paranormal things my whole life. You genuinely used to treat me like a delicate flower. I think that might explain why you're still single.
Nobody said anything for a stretch of time that turned out to be fairly specific.
Then Axel sent a sticker: a video game character with a mustache holding a wine bottle with the resignation of someone drowning their sorrows.
— This is getting way too dramatic — I wrote.
Celia: "Alright. See you at 1 at Pentagon City. It's a reasonably well-known point of interest, it'll do us good."
Everyone agreed. Axel added before signing off:
— I will fulfill our ceremony, but my judgment will be clouded. Please continue to trust me.
Nobody responded to that.
◈
That place, compared to the years of poverty back in my country, made everything pale in comparison.
It was incredible. A shopping mall replicating itself in the same space, floor after floor, with the kind of quiet abundance that belongs to places that take for granted they have always existed. Axel told me its real name with a hint of visible pride:
— This place is the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City.
— Don't people just call it the Pentagon City Mall? — I replied.
— It's a common name among the locals around here — said a voice beside me.
Celia. She had appeared from some blind spot with the naturalness of someone who hasn't done anything remarkable, though Axel looked at her with the expression of someone who had just processed that he hadn't seen her arrive.
Nadia's presence became visible a moment later — this time slipping through everyone's blind spot, including Celia's, who looked at her with something that was genuinely close to surprise:
— Nadia. Even though we've already gone out once, it amazes me how unnoticed you move. No offense.
— None taken, really — Nadia replied —. I just don't like standing out too much.
Axel continued the conversation with a shift in tone he didn't announce — suddenly more direct, without the chat's grandiosity:
— Hey. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk openly while we're here. About the vision from the fragment. It's a topic I feel we need to address. — A pause. — To reconcile that vision with our own understanding.
Nobody contradicted him. Nobody needed to.
It was exactly what all of us had been avoiding since Auren had opened his fingers and the fragment had fallen back into its magnetic field.