Chapter 76: Bilocation

  Casten Vorrick had a younger brother, Theo Vorrick.

  A brother who knew he wasn’t in line to inherit the control of House Security and the title of Prime—which was rightfully passed down to Casten as the eldest—and chose to serve as an Obsidian Crow.

  Surprisingly, seventeen years ago, when Theo was just twenty years old, a tragic event occurred. For unknown reasons, he took his own life, using his issued handgun.

  The Vorrick family had not only managed to keep the news around his death relatively private, but they also made sure—through carefully executed tactics—that most people forgot he even existed. Apparently, his suicide brought the Vorrick household great shame.

  His life, and death, weren’t some highly guarded secret—the information was out there for anyone who cared to search for it—but they just weren’t widely discussed or publicly acknowledged. Today, seventeen years later, even less.

  That was what Alice said.

  Normally, when an Obsidian Crow retires, their suit goes through a reset so it can be used by a new recruit. In Theo Vorrick’s unique case—the first Crow to die on duty—instead of resetting the suit, the decision was made to leave it exactly as it was, as a gesture to honor his memory.

  In other words, the suit was just permanently retired.

  Given that, and as long as one of the three High Technicians did not reset Theo Vorrick’s configuration on the thirteenth suit, no one else should be able to use it.

  That was what Riven said.

  And despite not being a Crow for the past year and a half, he swore that the decision hadn’t been reversed and that there was no new Crow bearing that suit.

  “If there was a new thirteen, Libra would’ve learned about it. Trust me,” he said, summing up what he knew about Obsidian Crow #13.

  That was great and all, but the reality was starkly different: Obsidian Crow #13 was the one targeting and killing me each time I watched a Memory Fragment.

  This could only mean one thing—the suit’s configuration had been changed after all.

  Who was able to use it now? A great question.

  Why had Crow #13 said he was following Prime Vorrick’s orders when he likely wasn’t even someone on the force? That was another great question.

  Not sure what to make of it, I decided to stop thinking about it for now. This question was supposed to clear things up for me, but instead it just added even more uncertainties.

  Our lift ascended slowly toward the tenth floor, the hum of its machinery serving as background noise. Suddenly, Alice broke the silence, her gaze fixed on Riven.

  “I have to say,” she began, “your plan to reach the other side of the Census Archives through the cafeteria is so rubbish it’s laughable really.”

  Riven raised an eyebrow, surprised by the criticism. “Why?” he asked with a casual tone.

  Alice sighed, shaking her head as if the flaw in his logic was obvious. “You assumed the cafeteria would be empty because we’re past lunch, but aren’t you forgetting something?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “The attack! What if the people were evacuated there? Surely an open space like a huge cafeteria would be the perfect place to evacuate people to.”

  Riven and I exchanged a brief glance. He responded with a short, amused laugh, while my expression remained neutral even though I knew why he reacted the way he did.

  Turning back to Alice, Riven’s smirk lingered. “Listen, I know you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth—Skyhaven Royalty—but surely you’re not that na?ve? Do you really think House Civics cares about its Orlinth workforce?” He shook his head, not waiting for her response. “No. The answer is no. The Blood Storage gets evacuated to nearby sections, but the rest of the building just keeps on working like nothing is happening.”

  Alice looked at me, disbelief written across her face. I nodded in support of Riven. “He’s right.” Then, I turned to Riven, adding pointedly. “But I just want to point out that you’re Skyhaven as well. Seems kind of twofaced from you to judge her.”

  He scoffed at that. “But I'm no royalty. And besides, I lived as an Orlinther for the past year and a half. I know the struggle.”

  Comparing a year and a half here with Libra’s backing to entire lives on this miserable platform was a stretch, but I chose not to voice it.

  Riven turned back to Alice, speaking with irony. “Oh, and by the way, that’s rich coming from you.” He pointed at the handcuffs that bound us together. “What was your grand plan there? What did you think would happen when you cuffed yourself to him? That we’d just stay at KNOWING because you threw a childish tantrum?”

  Her eyes darted around nervously as she tried to defend herself. “Just because I panicked and didn’t think this through doesn’t mean you get to lecture me about it. You’re a damn terrorist!”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Riven’s gaze hardened. “The real terrorists are the despicable Dalton Rose, Casten Vorrick, and the rest of you oligarchs!”

  Alice responded with frustration, her voice rising. “I hate the way our world is as well!” she snapped. “And I wish I could’ve changed it and made it a better place. But what you’re doing—what Libra’s doing—is horrendous. You kill so many Foundry residents with your attacks! You don't really care about the people!”

  Riven was about to retort, but I felt like I had to stop this. This was going nowhere.

  “Can you both stop?” I said, waving a hand between them.

  The entire argument just struck me as pointless, considering that Alice’s perspective was so deeply misinformed. But especially because in a few hours, I’d be dead, and their exchange will never grow into anything more than that.

  I quickly added. “We’re on our way to Valdemar. Each for their own reasons. The rest doesn’t matter.”

  My words seemed to have the desired effect. Both Riven and Alice nodded and fell silent, their argument dying away. They remained mute until our lift had finally reached the tenth floor.

  When the elevator doors slid open, Riven was the first to step out. He moved swiftly toward a metal door, identical to the one we passed through to reach the ground level’s elevators. With caution, he cracked it open and surveyed the area beyond. After a quick assessment, he muttered to himself, “Not many people. Good.”

  Riven then turned to us, his gaze settling on Alice, followed up by a frown. “Yeah, there’s no way people would believe you’re a prisoner. Even if they don’t recognize who you are, you’re way too clean to pass as a criminal.”

  Alice opened her mouth to speak, but Riven cut her off, shifting his attention to me. “Don’t you have something to cover her face at least?”

  I blinked. “Like what?”

  Riven shrugged in frustration and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. Something? You’re supposed to grab things out of thin air from some pocket dimension or something. Valdemar does it all the time.”

  It was clear that Valdemar hadn’t exactly kept his time loop capabilities hidden.

  I let out a sigh, feeling a bit exasperated. “Then you should know that in order to pull out an item, I’d have to store it first. And it’s not like I expected to need a change of clothes.”

  Alice eyed us both with confusion and suspicion but didn’t say anything.

  Riven exhaled sharply through his nose. “Eh, fine. We’ll just have to be really quick.”

  Alice broke her silence. “How far is the opposite set of elevators?” she asked.

  “Not too far, but it’s not exactly close either,” Riven replied. “We’ll need to make our way through most of the floor—not just the cafeteria.” He looked at Alice with a stern look. “And don’t you even think about—”

  “Shut up,” she interrupted, cutting him off. “I’m not stupid. I joined you of my own free will.” She paused to steady herself with a deep breath. “I’ll keep my head down as much as possible. To avoid standing out too much.”

  Riven sighed, relenting a little. “Well, it’s something, I guess.”

  He then opened the door and motioned for us to move. “You two need to walk in front. Otherwise, it’ll look suspicious. I’ll guide and tell you which turns to take as we move. Just don’t forget to look guilty.”

  With that, we began making our way toward the cafeteria.

  We passed through a wide hallway, with closed doors lining both sides, turning in the direction Riven pointed us to each time. The entire floor seemed to be dedicated to feeding the facility’s workforce. Each room served a specific purpose: some were used to store dry goods, others acted as freezer rooms for meat, and two large spaces housed the kitchens. Considering that over a thousand workers reported to the Census Archives daily, it made sense an entire floor would be needed for meal preparation and storage.

  As we walked, we encountered several workers returning from a late lunch. We also passed by Ironwatch Enforcers and some automatons, mainly the Iron Enforcers. Despite Libra’s ongoing attack at the other side of the building, these Enforcers appeared calm and unconcerned, as if certain the disturbance would not affect this floor. We managed to pass them without any questions—a few words from Riven were enough to sate their curiosity.

  “It’s wild,” Alice muttered. “The place is under attack and no one bats an eye.”

  Riven chuckled. “Welcome to Orlinth, Lady Verldson. A place were people are so used to being shit on, they just embrace it.”

  Then we reached the cafeteria's entrance. It had seven swinging double doors, each designed with a circular window. The sheer size of the entrance made it clear just how many workers depended on this space every day.

  Riven stepped ahead of us, slightly pushing one of the doors open. Almost immediately, he froze. Suddenly, he stepped backward, making sure the door closed without making any noise.

  “What the fuck?” he muttered under his breath, his tone sharp with surprise.

  “What?” I asked, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he leaned closer to the door and peered through the window.

  His eyes widened in disbelief. “How the fuck is he here…?” he whispered, confusion growing.

  Curious and a little apprehensive, I moved closer and cautiously peered through the window myself. The cafeteria was mostly empty, but in its center, briefing a dozen of Enforcers was none other than Casten Vorrick.

  “B-But he’s supposed to be down in KNOWING,” I stammered, unable to make sense of what I was seeing.

  Alice, puzzled, nudged me gently aside so she could look through the window too. Her confusion was as clear as ours. “That doesn’t make any sense. How did he make it here so quickly?”

  I turned to Riven. “I thought this was the fastest way to get here,” I said, my tone slightly accusing.

  Riven’s eyes remained wide as he considered the possibility. “It is. The only other way for him to get here would be with the Cogwheels at the entrance, but that would’ve taken him much longer than it took us.” He shook his head abruptly, as if trying to snap out of his shock. Regaining his composure, he spoke. “Fuck it. Let’s go back and retrace our route. If he’s here, it means he’s not on the ground level. We’ll make our way to Valdemar through there. It’ll take some time, but I’d rather not face him like this.”

  I nodded, recalling the unbelievable strength of even a suit-less Casten Vorrick.

  Alice hesitated for a moment, as if she wanted to call out to Vorrick for help instead of leaving. But eventually, it seemed that her curiosity about the truth behind her parents’ deaths had won her over once again. She nodded too, and together we quietly made out way back the way we had come.

  We had barely been back in the hallway for two minutes when a sudden noise caught us off guard. Before we could even pass by the Enforcers we’d seen earlier, a series of sharp, loud steps marching echoed from ahead, just beyond the next turn in the hallway. The distinct clinking of metallic boots and legs striking the stone floors was impossible to mistake.

  “Fuck,” Riven muttered in exasperation. Without hesitation, he opened the door of the room closest to us—a storage room—and quickly ushered us inside. Once we were in, he locked the door behind us and placed his ear on it.

  We pressed ourselves against the walls and sacks of flour and potatoes, holding our breath as the sound of dozens of metallic limbs thundered past the door.

  Amid the tense sounds, one voice rang out above everything else—unmistakable and commanding. Despite our confusion, there was no denying its identity.

  “They’re on this floor! Make sure you find and neutralize them without hurting Lady Verldson!” Casten Vorrick barked the orders.