Chapter 28 - Fallen Mask

Flo had spread the files across the main table. Energy readings, field reports, Ghost Detector records and copies of documents recovered from the Authority facility covered almost every available space.

Cae stood across from her. Amelia was beside him. Flo pointed at the map.

"These are the places where the Lost Beings appeared."

Her finger moved from one mark to another.

"The storefront. The mountain. The warehouse. The Eastern District."

Cae looked over the records. The locations were familiar. Too familiar.

"These match the Authority reports," he said. Flo nodded.

"They do."

She placed another document beside the map.

"This one has the same locations. The same dates. The same times."

Cae read through it. There were signatures at the bottom. His uncle's. He looked at the next page. Another signature. Another order. Another location he recognised.

His expression changed slightly.

"Where did you get these?"

"From the building Hugo and Trista found."

Cae looked back at the map.

"What exactly are you saying?"

Flo hesitated.

Then she took a breath.

"The Lost Beings weren't appearing randomly."

Cae said nothing.

"They were being used."

His eyes moved back to the documents.

"Used for what?"

"We don't know everything yet. But we know someone was taking Lost Beings, amplifying their emotions and sending them into specific areas."

Amelia folded her arms.

"And those operations were connected to the Authority."

Cae looked at her.

"Connected how?"

"Orders. Field records. Energy readings. The same locations appearing again and again."

Flo pushed another file toward him.

"And this."

Cae opened it. He recognised the handwriting immediately. His uncle. For several seconds, he didn't turn the page.

"Flo."

"Yes?"

"Are you saying my uncle ordered these operations?"

"I don't know if he ordered every single one."

She looked at him carefully.

"But his name is on the documents."

Cae closed the file. The room became quiet. He had known his uncle for most of his life. He had trusted his judgement.

Even when the Authority gave him assignments he didn't fully understand, there had always been an explanation. Sometimes incomplete. Sometimes complicated. But there had always been one. Now there was a collection of documents sitting in front of him that did not fit. Or perhaps they fitted too well.

"I need to speak to him."

"Cae?"

"If these documents are genuine, I need to know why."

Amelia stepped forward.

"You shouldn't go alone."

"If I bring the Defence Squad, he will know something is wrong."

"And if he is actually behind this?" Amelia asked.

Cae looked at her.

"Then I need to know that from him."

Flo stared at him for a moment.

She looked worried.

"I don't like this."

"I know."

"Cae..."

He looked at her.

She seemed to be searching for something to say. Finally, she only said,

"Be careful."

He nodded.

"I will."

[1 Hour Later]

Cae stood outside the Authority Head's private office. The corridor was almost empty. He looked at the closed doors. Then at his reflection in the dark glass beside them.

For years, he had known exactly who he was supposed to be. A NightGlower. A member of the Authority. His uncle's nephew. Someone who followed instructions. Tonight, he wasn't sure which part of that remained.

He knocked.

"Come in."

Cae opened the door. His uncle looked up from his desk.

"You're late."

"I was at the Observatory."

His uncle smiled faintly.

"Again."

Cae walked further into the room. His uncle watched him carefully.

"Have you found something?"

"Yes."

Cae placed a folder on the desk. His uncle opened it. His expression barely changed.

"Interesting."

"You know what this is."

It wasn't a question. His uncle closed the folder.

"You've been looking through restricted records."

"I found them while investigating the disturbances."

"You weren't authorised to investigate them."

"I know."

His uncle leaned back in his chair. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Cae said,

"I know about the field tests."

His uncle's expression remained calm.

"The mountain."

A pause.

"The lower district."

Another pause.

"The Lost Beings."

His uncle looked at him for a long moment. Then he smiled.

"So."

Cae waited.

"You finally noticed."

The words settled heavily in the room. Cae kept his expression controlled.

"I wanted to hear it from you."

His uncle stood.

"You were always going to find out eventually."

Cae said nothing. His uncle walked toward the window.

"You have been useful to me, Cecilius."

"I was helping the Authority."

"You were helping me."

Cae's jaw tightened.

"Why?"

His uncle turned toward him.

"Because this country is being held back by people who were never meant to control it."

Cae remained silent. "King Balquez."

His uncle laughed quietly. "A man without an ability."

"The Royal Council."

"Ordinary people making decisions about powers they cannot even understand."

"And the Defence Squad?"

"Another leash."

Cae looked at him.

"You used me to weaponise innocent civilians for your own purpose. There were also some ability users amongst them, so why them?"

"Some people were always going to be hurt."

Cae's hands tightened at his sides. His uncle continued.

"And afterall, their lives were worthless anyways."

"So you converted them into Lost Beings?"

His uncle's expression became colder.

"I just used them as weapons against whoever stood in my way. I gave them a purpose their lives so badly lacked."

Cae felt something inside him sink. He remembered the faces. The confused people. The frightened people. The ones who had insisted they had done nothing wrong.

He remembered every soul he had separated. Every body he had left behind because he had been told they would be returned. Every time his uncle had said,

"Your work is done."

Cae looked at him.

"What happened to them?"

His uncle's expression barely changed.

"You did your part."

"That wasn't my question."

His uncle stepped closer.

"You are asking questions you should have asked years ago."

Cae stared at him.

"Where are the souls?"

"Safe."

"And the bodies?"

"Contained."

"Together?"

His uncle didn't answer immediately. That was enough. Cae felt his stomach twist.

"You told me they would be reunited."

"They will be."

"When?"

"When the time is right."

Cae took a slow breath.

"What is your end goal?"

His uncle smiled.

"Now you're asking the right question."

He walked back toward his desk.

"To kill Balquez."

Cae said nothing.

"The King will lose control."

"And then?"

His uncle looked directly at him.

"Then ability users will finally rule Cirnia as they were meant to."

The room felt suddenly colder.

"You want to overthrow the King."

"I want to correct a mistake."

"And everyone without an ability?"

His uncle's expression hardened.

"They will live under our protection."

"Protection?"

"Yes."

Cae looked at him.

"Or control?"

His uncle laughed.

"You've been spending too much time with that girl."

Flo. The name wasn't spoken. It didn't need to be.

"She has filled your head with questions."

"She made me look."

"And now you think looking is enough to understand the world?"

Cae remembered Flo standing over maps. Flo asking questions. Flo crying when someone was hurt. Flo refusing to walk away. Flo seeing things nobody else could see.

His uncle had spent years telling him what things meant. Flo had spent months asking him to look at them himself. Cae finally understood the difference.

His uncle smiled.

"You have always been different, Cecilius."

Cae looked at him.

"I know."

"You have two abilities. You understand what that means."

Cae's expression remained still.

"I thought it meant I was supposed to help people."

His uncle's smile disappeared.

"You were supposed to help us."

Silence.

Cae looked at the man who had raised him.

For the first time, he didn't see the person who had taught him NightGlow. He saw the person who had decided what his power was supposed to mean.

"Tomorrow," his uncle said, "the final sequence begins."

Cae didn't move.

"You should be there."

"I will be."

His uncle smiled.

"Good."

Cae turned toward the door.

"Cecilius."

He stopped.

"You haven't forgotten who you are, have you?"

Cae looked back at him.

"No."

Then he left.

The walk back to the Observatory felt longer than usual. When Cae finally opened the doors, Flo and Amelia were still awake. Flo stood immediately.

"Cae?"

He didn't answer. He walked to the table and placed both hands against it.

Amelia moved closer. "What happened?"

Cae looked at them. "He admitted it."

Flo's face fell. "All of it?"

Cae nodded. "The incidents. The experiments. The Lost Beings."

He swallowed. "He wants to overthrow the King."

Flo didn't say anything.

"He wants ability users to control Cirnia."

Amelia's expression hardened.

"And the people who don't have abilities?"

Cae looked down. "He called them people who needed to be ruled."

Flo slowly sat down. Cae remained standing. "I believed him."

Flo looked up at him. "You didn't know."

"I still did it."

She didn't answer immediately.

"I separated their souls from their bodies." His voice became quieter. "I told myself they would be returned."

Flo reached toward him. Cae looked at her hand. Then took it.

"I should have asked."

Flo squeezed his hand. "Then we'll ask now."

He looked at her.

"Tomorrow night." Flo nodded. "We stop him."

Amelia added. "Together."

Cae looked between them. For the first time in years, he wasn't waiting for someone to tell him what the right thing was. He already knew.

"We have twenty-four hours."