Chapter 19: Secrets of the Core

Rion descended the platforms of the LCC, the Levicita Control Center of the Floating Island, with firm steps, but his mind was a whirlwind. Calen’s words from earlier echoed in his head. He hadn’t managed to tell him everything. His friend, in his typical rush, had judged without hearing him out.

Calen didn’t know, or maybe didn’t want to know, that Sienna had been talking to a dangerous-looking man. "Dirk or Drik" or something like that, was his last name. A man who looked like he belonged in the shadows rather than in the light. And what unsettled Rion the most was the subject of their conversation: a young woman from a wealthy family who had disappeared. Sienna hadn’t seemed surprised at all, in fact, she seemed to know exactly who the man was talking about. But there was no way Calen knew anything about this… or did he?

As he adjusted his levitation gear, Rion sent a quick message to Calen:

"Hey, sometimes you don’t listen to me. When I saw Sienna at the bar, she was talking to some shady guy, Drik or something. He asked her about a missing rich girl, and Sienna seemed to know who it was. Maybe you know something? Let me know."

"That should be enough," Rion thought to himself, pocketing the device. "If something’s off, Calen will catch on."

Sometimes, the side characters have to take care of saving the world, he mused with a bitter smile.

The interior of the LCC was a maze of steel and glass, illuminated by a faint green glow from the stabilizer cores. Rion wasted no time descending to the lower platforms, where the main radiation core of the island lay.

After a quick scan of the machine parameters, everything seemed normal, just as he expected. Nothing out of place. But Rion knew a trick like this wouldn’t be visible on the surface.

“It’s clear they wouldn’t leave it exposed,” he muttered, adjusting his levitation gear.

With a confident smile, he started inspecting the emergency stabilizers, small cores of bright green fluorescence surrounding the main core. These devices served as backup batteries in case of critical failures. However, Rion knew they had been modified years ago during the last system overhaul.

Removing one of the stabilizers, he noticed a small but crucial detail: the main core had been swapped out.

“Ah-ha,” he whispered, a mix of satisfaction and worry crossing his face.

Where the original core should have been, there was now an external stabilizer of reddish-orange hue. It was a clever trick, designed to gradually reduce the core’s power and extend the tilt of the island without the systems detecting any anomalies. A silent sabotage that fooled even the operating system into thinking everything was in order.

“The only one who can modify the main core is Valtheris,” Rion thought, frowning. “But the stabilizers… that’s something only a few of us know how to handle.”

The memory of the heel prints on the main platform came rushing back to him. There were only two people who could have been involved: himself or someone who had worked directly with Valtheris during the rebuild six years ago. Someone like…

“Tessa,” he whispered, disbelief and anger filling his voice.

She had been his supervisor back then, Valtheris’ right-hand woman. The pieces were falling together in an unsettling way.

Rion returned the cores to their original positions, ensuring everything was back to normal, and prepared to tell Valtheris. But just as he activated his levitation gear to rise, a deafening crash above him stopped him in his tracks.

A heavy metal staircase crashed down toward him, striking him hard on the head and side. The impact threw him off balance, and his body plummeted several meters, landing on a lower platform with a sickening crack.

Dazed and bleeding from his mouth, Rion tried to move, but a sharp pain in his ribs and left arm kept him on the ground. He could barely breathe when he heard footsteps approaching.

“You shouldn’t have come alone,” a female voice said, firm and cold like steel.

Rion looked up and saw Tessa, clad in her levitation gear. Her slender yet powerful form was outlined against the green glow of the core, her face unreadable.

“Tessa… you bitch,” Rion spat, blood dribbling from his mouth.

Without bothering to respond, Tessa landed near him and bent down to open a hatch in the floor. It led to an empty void beneath the island.

“Now, shut up for good, Rion. It’s a shame, I always had a certain… fondness for you,” she said in a tone that was almost bored, as though she were dealing with a minor inconvenience.

With a look of disdain, Rion spat again, this time toward the ground near her.

“You never had fondness for anyone, Tessa. Just for that damn cripple. She’ll be your ruin, and everyone’s. You’re still…”

Before he could finish, Tessa kicked him sharply in the ribs, sending his body tumbling into the void through the hatch.

Tessa’s slender figure stood motionless as she watched him fall, devoid of any passion. With a final glance at her former partner, she turned and continued with her plan.

There was no room for sentimentality. The mission had to go on.