The final phase of his plan? What could that mean? I figured out that up until this point, he planned on taking revenge against Jeffrey and killing him, but what if he planned something far beyond that? I decided to text him back, try to get some more intel from him?
F: Final phase?
It didn't take long for Vik to respond, he probably predicted this if I had to guess.
V: Yes, I'm going to take Jeffrey to the Maze of Archon. If I die, you will have to finish collecting all the magic items without me. If this is the end, I want to tell you something, Fredrick. You are the closest I've ever come to loving someone. I almost wish we actually were brothers. I'll be off now.
Quite an emotional message, especially coming from Vik. Didn't know he could feel this kind of emotion. I understand his sentiments, and I also would be glad if we were actual brothers. But, that's not the case. Hopefully Vik comes out on top, since I don't know if I want him gone just yet.
F: Understood. Best of luck.
And with that, I fell asleep.
…
I woke up the next morning with a growing sense of unease forming in my stomach. Vik's last message kept replaying in my brain. It almost felt like he was saying goodbye, like he knew he was going to die? I'm not sure, but I started to get a little worried. Strange… worried? That's a feeling I'm accustomed to feeling. I guess it makes sense, I've always been rather fond of Vik.
Just then, I heard someone knocking on my door.
"Come in." I called.
The door opened and I saw Rebecca hurry in.
"Fredrick, the boss needs you. ASAP."
…
"Fredrick." The boss leaned forward in his chair.
When I arrived, I was whisked away to a dark room. There was a round wooden table, but the wood was painted black. Rebecca was seated next to me at the table. Sitting at the head, was the boss. His dark glasses seemed to loom endlessly.
"We have received word that Viktor has left Jefferson High, so we can only assume he's got the watch. You will be transported back there to deal with the person who found it, assuming Viktor even lets them live. Nonetheless, I intend to let you, and Viktor if he chooses to, enjoy the rest of the school year there. You two have done a great job so far. After that, I'm going to send you two after the final two magic objects. Those being the Ring of Reminiscence and the Mask of Alteration. Once we get those, we will eradicate the human race and replace them with perfect human beings. It will be up to you and Viktor to teach them."
I sighed with relief, feeling what felt like the weight of the world lift off of my shoulders. Viktor and I could easily teach the next generation, since we went through the same program. Finding the final two objects would be nearly impossible, since Viktor and I are the only people to even come close to solving all the riddles and clues.
"Thank you, boss."
The boss nodded, then waved his hand to dismiss me. I turned around and started making my way towards the door before I heard him call out to me.
"Fredrick!"
I turned halfway around, hesitating.
"Yes, boss?"
"I am going to send you back to Jefferson High, right now. Pack up your bags, Rebecca is going with you."
I nodded.
"Alright, boss."
I finished and began walking back to my room, Rebecca in tow. She was brimming with excitement, nearly jumping as we opened my door.
"I'm so excited!" She shouted. For a second, I almost thought she was a little kid. I smiled slightly then wiped it off. "I'm finally gonna be able to do something!!"
I started packing up my clothes and other necessities before responding.
"Yeah, I'm sure it'll be interesting," I turned towards her to see her reaction, but she was frowning. "What's wrong?"
She sighed, then crossed her arms over her guard uniform.
"Ugh! That's such a you response. Trying to gauge my reaction, all the time to develop your profile, saying this will be 'interesting'. I'm tired of it, I want a normal human response, Fredrick!"
I paused. I know not all humans are as intelligent as I, but this would've been an interesting scenario, right?
"Sorry, but that's just how I am. If you want someone normal, they aren't hard to find. I think I'm plenty fine not being normal, since normal humans are disgusting."
It was her turn to pause and think. It was clear she really wanted to debate this, but what I said was hard to counter.
"That's not true. Most humans are fine, it's actually a very small portion that actually commit crime or do bad things."
She looked so proud of her response. How unfortunate.
"That's not what I mean. Humans, at their core, are monsters. No matter who it is or what's going on, sooner or later they will reveal their true colors. These true colors are lies, deception, manipulation, abuse and so much more. You need to stop trying to find the good in something that cannot be good. That's why I exist. I am going to be the light to the darkness of mankind. If all humans were as perfect as I, we wouldn't need to lie. This is the future I hope in."
She sat down, stunned.
"I… I need to think about this… We're not done here."
"I'm sure we're not."
I continued packing, letting the tension in the air linger. For the life of me, I still couldn't see what she saw in humans. There is no better part of them I need to look for. However, I am a man of my word. At Jefferson High, I will look for the good side of mankind. However, at this point, nothing can stop the boss's mission. I am going to find the other two objects, and I'm going to get that watch from Viktor.
This got me thinking, if Vik and Jeffrey are going to the Maze, I wonder what game they're going to play? If they play the same stone betting game I played, I'm gonna have to ask Vik about his winning strategy, since he doesn't have an opponent that can use magic to see his stones that he can hide.
Looking back at it, I'm proud of my strategy. Figuring out everything I did and using Aion's cheating to my advantage was impressive. In fact, it was perfect. If I didn't have my magic blocker, I doubt I could've won. Even with it, finding the only way to win in such a scenario was still difficult.
I didn't have time to finish thinking. I had everything packed up. Swinging my backpack on my shoulder, I nodded to Rebecca, who was still deep in thought.
"You ready?"
She snapped out of her daze and looked around before remembering where she was.
"Yeah… let's go," She rubbed her eyes, then stood up. "I'm ready."
She stood up slowly, collecting herself.
"Must've done a lot of thinking, huh?" I mused.
She smiled.
"That's the most human thing you've ever said," Then she stopped. "But, yes. I have done a lot. We will continue this discussion later."
"I agree, the boss is waiting."
We both exited the room and made our way to the airplane hangar.
…
Back in Virginia, I was finally reunited with my temporary room from before. I don't know what it is, but a part of me really missed it. No new text messages from Vik yet, though, and that got me a little worried. I hadn't realized Jeffrey could put up such a fight. Of course, Vik would never in a million years lose to someone that isn't me, not my Viktor.
The room itself was pretty small. It was located on the third floor in a 5-story apartment building. There was a bed in the corner, a desk next to it, a small table in the middle, and a small closet on the other side of the room. Not much, but I don't need much else. Besides, boss offered me a bigger room, but I declined. Didn't want to go wasting his funds.
Rebecca's room was right next to mine, but hers was a fair bit larger. She had higher demands for a room than I. Jefferson High had already let it for the day, and it was a Friday, so we had some time to get used to the area before having to return to Jefferson High.
We spent the next few days exploring town, getting ourselves used to the place. I met a few familiar faces from Jefferson High, but I didn't see any sign of Jeffrey. We did actually run into Emma, though, who at first seemed a little sad when she saw us, but was fine after Rebecca told her that we were siblings. I had no idea what she was trying to do, but at least no one was mad. She showed us her favorite spots in town and told us about town secrets, such as how the police give out free donuts if you have all As. It was a rather pleasant experience, but I was a little bummed at not being able to find Jeffrey or Vik. I kind of had hoped Vik took care of the situation and left Jeffrey to die, or maybe he felt bad and spared him, but barely. Nonetheless, I didn't find either of them.
Sunday evening, Emma, Rebecca, and I were all sitting at a café dinner table, waiting for our food to arrive, when we started talking about this specific topic.
"So, Emma," I started, turning my gaze towards her. Her cheeks turned a little red when I did so. "Have you heard from Viktor or Jeffrey recently?"
She turned her head up and to the right to ponder. This told me she wasn't lying, since looking to the right accesses the memory part of your brain. The left side is the creative side, meaning you would be forming a lie.
"Can't say I have. After Viktor won the student council debate, he had a talk with Jeffrey, and they went off somewhere together. Jeffrey looked crushed, but he went along. I haven't seen them since, want me to ask some of my friends if they've seen any of them?"
She turned back to me with a look of slight concern in her eyes. Rebecca sat back, reserved for now, although I could tell there was a lot she wanted to say.
"Yeah, that'd be great. I'd really appreciate that."
She smiled back and pulled out her phone.
"Okay! I gotchu," Then she turned her gaze towards Rebecca. "So, why weren't you here the first time Fredrick came here? I mean, you are siblings, after all."
A lot of ideas formed in my brain, but Rebecca swiftly and calmly responded to her.
"Oh, I was on a trip for dad for a bit. That's why Fredrick was gone for a bit, we had to finish that up real quick, no biggie. I'm sure you'll be able to help us out with getting adjusted."
Her face was skeptical for a bit, then her eyes started to sparkle.
"Ohh, I got it! Yeah, of course I can help the two of you!"
After that, our food arrived, and we ate in relative silence, then went back to our respective places. Rebecca, however, came inside my room with me.
She was giddy with delight, laughing like a child when we entered.
"Ooo, Fredrick, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend! Got my hopes up for nothing. No matter, she's cute. Definitely a keeper."
I shot her a nasty look before opening a book.
"Shut up, Rebecca. She's not my girlfriend, she's my informant. Besides, romance isn't a thing for me."
She looked at me for a second before responding.
"Romance isn't a thing for you, eh? Why not?"
"Well, obviously I can't love someone. Not unless they're as perfect as me."
"What if that someone is someone you can make perfect, but not perfect as in a super genius like you, but someone perfect for you to spend your life with. Someone who makes you feel whole."
"There is no one in the world like that."
"You don't know that. If you open up, you could see something in someone that no one else sees. She's very fond of you. Why don't you give her a chance?"
"I thought about it, not really interested. She doesn't spark anything in me. If I were to somehow love someone, I'd like it to be someone who can make me think. But for now, I'm rather content to be the person I am, alone. The only person alive I need is Viktor, he's the other part of me."
"That's not true, Fredrick. I think if you give her a chance, you'll learn a lot about humans that you don't know."
"Impossible, I already know all there is to know."
"No, you don't. You haven't seen what it's like to love, and that's an enormous part of being a human."
I thought about that for a second. While I did experience love from my parents, I never really reciprocated it. If she was right, and Emma did like me like that, maybe I should give it a try. Maybe she could teach me something I didn't know."
"You know what? Fine, I'll give it a try."
She smiled, knowing she had finally won an argument with me.
"Thank you, Fredrick. Also, do you know why I was so cold with you at first?"
"Why's that?"
"I was curious how you'd respond. Your entire life, you've been treated like a God. I wanted to see what you'd do when someone didn't like you for some reason you didn't know. Sadly, it seems that I'm not fit for the tough girl act, since you saw through that so easily. I want to help you, Fredrick. I don't want what Viktor did to me to happen to anyone else."
"I see."
With all her business done, Rebecca bid me farewell and made her way back to her room. I sat down and turned on the television that was on the desk. Nothing interesting was on the news. I waited for a bit, hoping for any sign of Vik.
Finally, after about an hour of waiting, I got a call.
It was Viktor.
My heart started racing, something that didn't even happen when I was in the Maze of Archon, betting my soul. I smashed the 'accept call' button on my phone.
"Vik! What the fuck took you so long? I've been so worried." My voice shaking, trying to keep my concern out.
Nothing.
Complete silence.
"Vik, come on, man! What's going on, you won, right?" My nerves were growing so much, I felt like I was about to pass out.
More silence.
"Vik, this isn't funny! Where the fuck are you?"
Finally, after a few more seconds of silence, I heard a familiar voice from the phone.
Although, something was wrong.
That wasn't Viktor.
"I'm sorry, Fredrick. I have some bad news for you."
The voice wasn't Viktor at all…
It was someone I have heard before, though.
"Jeffrey Thompson."
"Shush, I am trying to tell you something!" His voice was full of muse.
I couldn't bear it. I let all the anger flow through my veins. All the emotions I didn't know I had were let out of me all at once.
"What the FUCK did you do to him?"
"Well, it seems you've figured it out."
Viktor is dead.