Excitement quickly transformed into fury when he noticed his guest was late. He refused to consider the possibility until he curiously inched his head toward the massive clock in the library.
“What could I have expected differently…?”
The days he spent hoping to get another shot at interacting with the boy went up in smoke. Like a typhoon sweeping past terrains, an invisible spectre moved at lightspeed, unleashing a mercurial dagger to inflict mortal harm upon him. Like an assassin’s attempted flawless execution, its movements sent shivers down his spine–
“Ho–”
“Please respect the other trainers in the library. I do not wish to repeat myself.”
Sensing the tip of a knife at the back of his neck, Neptune quickly regained his composure. The rules were simply…rules after all.
“Sorry.”
Neptune wondered if the librarian was secretly an intelligence agent in disguise.
“Please respect the silence in the library, trainee.”
“...I understand.”
“This is for you.” The librarian handed a book over, which seemed more like thrusting with applied force.
Cocking his head to the side, he grew curious.
“This is a request from earlier.”
“I should have known.” Upon recognising the book’s title, Neptune felt the invisible wound deepen with the mental turmoil inflicted by his spiralling, out-of-control thoughts. The mere fact that his guest refused to meet him in person–to rely on a proxy instead–made his blood boil, transforming his face into a ripened tomato.
“You said something, trainee?”
However, he understood. Quelling the rage, he smirked defeatedly. Unlike most ignoramuses who placed themselves above others, he could empathise with the boy’s actions. Why would someone like him ever take a nobody seriously? A person with no nobility. No social standing. Nothing.
Why me? Why wasn’t I born–
“Thank you for this. See you again soon.”
If only the roles had reversed, would he have done the same?
*
“That’s odd. Where is she?”
Silence. Nobody greeted him in the living room after he reached home after another week of wasting his life in Ravens Camp. Looking at the clock, he wondered where his mother could have gone. There was no chance his mother could develop an uncharacteristic change in routine that quickly, too. The markets were closed by eleven in the morning. Also, noontime during summer did not merit a visit outdoors under that sweltering heat.
Stomps filled the hallway.
“Big bro, you’re back!”
“Hey–”
Unlike the past few times when he felt warmth hearing his siblings’ voices, something did not feel right. He wanted time to himself. And he desperately wanted it now. His cold, brown eyes darted toward his siblings as Pluto knocked him down from a shoulder tackle.
Now’s not the time for this. Get lost, both of you.
Lying on his back from the tackle, his hands automatically ruffled through Pluto’s hair.
“Have you seen Mom?”
“Mommy went to work!” Pluto flashed a grin, raising his completed homework from school for Neptune to review. “Big bro, help me see if I made any errors!”
Neptune thought he had misheard. “Work?”
“Yes! Mommy has prepared food for us in the morning in case we’re hungry.”
On the other hand, Jupiter started gorging on the fruit platter their mother had prepared in the fridge.
Neptune turned his attention to the hungry devil. “Jupiter, let me check your homework.”
“I’m not done with it yet,” Jupiter frowned, “Big bro, I hate school.”
Neptune chuckled to himself and walked towards Jupiter. “Alright, I’ll help out with your homework later. Let big bro take a rest first.”
“Alright, big bro.”
“See you later, big bro…”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Neptune changed out of the military uniform in his room for an oversized shirt. The Camp Administrators had enforced all trainees to wear their uniforms when booking out, a decision made during the mass measurement-taking exercise’s conclusion.
I wonder. What’s next?
Glancing at the military uniform on his bed, he folded it nicely and placed it into the soiled clothes basket. Peeping into his younger brother’s room, the twins were quieter asleep than awake.
“All’s good. The coast is clear.”
Exiting his bedroom, Neptune stood in front of a wall. This particular wall didn’t have any doors or anything worth looking at. There weren’t any display cabinets, paintings, or artworks on the wall. Simply put, it was a plain-looking wall.
Placing his hand forward, a voice only audible to him spoke.
“The passphrase.”
He reactively looked past his shoulders to check his surroundings.
“Tartarian.”
The beige-coloured wall distorted into a corridor in plain sight. The breakdown of base states as they transformed from one form to the next was a miracle his father created with his genius.
“Verification approved. Welcome back, Neptune Smith.”
The voice died down as Neptune walked across the corridor. The beige wall formed again, obfuscating the corridor it hid from the other side. An unlocked door with the sigil of a jade dragon imprinted awaited him.
Click.
And a lab came unveiled, hidden from plain sight, with every making of a genius’s property–from books to unutilised computer parts. A hidden dimension within the compound of the Smith household, worthy of an investigation–if it ever gets leaked.
“Alright, where do I start?”
Neptune walked over to the bookshelves to single out various copies of books. He had read these books countless times, leaving indicators on a few pages to revisit them; these indicators had colour markings based on the genre’s types. With his mind set on that family, he immediately got to work, putting on his blue-light-resistant glasses.
“Let’s see what I can find today.”
“Shit, what time is it already?”
Neptune had forgotten about dinner preparation after getting engrossed in his study. If anything else, his younger brothers would get angsty when they found out there wasn’t anything to eat. Taking the time to tidy up the room before leaving, Neptune placed the stacks of paper he had written stuff on the study table.
“All’s good.”
Locking it up after one last glance, Neptune walked through the corridor, which distorted away as he weaved right through it back to the other side of the wall.
“Hmm…?”
He hummed out loud as he walked past his siblings’ room. It was uncharacteristic of them not to occupy their rooms outside of mealtime.
“Son, you’re just in time for dinner.” He heard his mother call out to him from the kitchen.
“Mom! You’re back. Oh, erm!” Neptune placed his hand behind his head in embarrassment. “I’m sorry you had to cook. I wanted to prepare it but had some loose ends to tidy up.”
“No problem, my son,” His mother patted him endearingly. “I’ve forgotten to tell you I have started working.”
That was certainly unexpected.
He suppressed the urge to raise his eyebrows.
“I have received an appointment with the Atlantea Central Bank.”
His mother scooped a massive serving of poached Atlantic Salmon onto his plate. He would usually support the plate with his hands, but the measly weight caused the plate to tilt in his trembling hands.
“My friend, Alexis. I think you met her at the Sapphire Market. She gave me a role after our chit-chat.”
Neptune didn’t realise he had stopped eating, clenching the spoonful of fish angrily.
“Alexis informed me of the Federation’s plans; she figured that with my history in finance, I would make a great fit.” She noticed her son’s ghastly expression, “My son? What’s wrong?”
“N-n-nothing.”
He wanted to walk away and process the information, but his mother called out to him. His mother’s affectionate tone switched to a stern one. “Neptune Smith.”
“...Yes?”
“Stop right there.” She knew the answer but still asked. “What were you doing in the study room at this hour?”
Neptune looked at his brothers, noticing their eyes were peeled onto the screen. The coast was clear for him to speak his mind.
“I was researching the Temporeans. I find it coincidental that your old friend would suddenly partake in the activities of us mere subjects.”
“Wh–”
The blunt response caught his mother off-centre as she lost her footing for a second.
“The Federation recently admitted its part in the New Atlantis Project.”
“Th-that, I’m aware.”
“So when are you telling me the truth of what happened to my father?”
His mother swallowed hard and looked away. He knew the Federation's unveiling of the truth was merely the tip of the iceberg.
“Mom, I’m asking you–”
“Whatever you do, I hope you don’t cross the line on this topic. Whatever you have researched on them, keep it to yourself. Please do not share it with anyone. For your safety.” She turned her head toward her sons in the living room. “And for them, too.”
“Then, is it true?”
“Yes. If I know what you’re referring to, then yes. That’s enough for tonight. Please have your dinner before it gets cold.”
“You haven’t told me about what happened to my father!”
“Now’s not the time for it, I fear.”
Fear? He blinked once and noticed his mother’s lips trembling. Neptune had one last question before he returned to hell on Monday.
“Why is there a Central Bank again?”
The acceleration of their mass burial site had begun. Things had rapidly transitioned in the Federation, and nobody could stop studying the steps they had taken into hell. His mother helped herself to a glass of wine to quell the guilt before her lips parted one last time.
“Another day, my son.”
Neptune eyed the crimson liquid with disdain. “Mom, please watch yourself.”
“I will.”
An empty bottle near the sink reminded him of his mother’s old addiction. A recount of his father's in his journal when she promised to give it up after giving birth to him.
And for her to pick it up after all these years seemed like an omen.
