In the morning, Gay readied himself to return to the Order to report his findings. Though reluctant, he had to agree with Brian. She would return, and he would be unable to stop Her. He wasn’t as powerful as he was, and Gay doubted his followers could effectively combat Hers.

  She had a cunning mind, a drive that was nearly unstoppable. She had a plan for humanity, a promise to one day conquer the stars. However, the new golden age demanded sacrifice as payment. It needed a new system to replace the old with an idea that matched her image of what humanity should strive for.

  Gay saw himself as a traitor in a way. He couldn’t help but see the irony of being in the Order Diplomatics yet also secretly working in the background against the Order’s interest. But he had to. While he understood the importance of the Order, he also knew change had to happen. How She envisioned that change would happen or how it should be conducted was something he struggled to find comfort in. The best he could do was try to make it less bloody than it needed to be.

  Even while She slept, even while She had no physical control of the situation. Her plans were right on track and there weren’t any clear signs of it stopping. Gay could sabotage Her plans. Force everything She carefully constructed to fail. But if he did that, he would only doom humanity. He never doubted the good that would come from Her plans, he only dreaded what she would use them for.

  ‘Your heading off already?’ A secretary said to Gay the moment he hopped off the elevator to the first floor.

  ‘I have business elsewhere. Tell Brian I say my goodbyes.’

  ‘Doctor Leichenberg also wished you a Merry Christmas, sir. He also just wanted me to tell you that he enjoyed his conversation about apple seeds.’

  ‘Appleseed.’ Gay corrected with a grumble. He hoped he would leave the building while Brian was asleep so he could depart without having a conversation with him. However, the old man was wide awake. Gay didn’t care about appearing rude to others, but he knew Brian would use that moment against him the next time they had to interact.

  As he turned around to head off, he noticed Doris near the entrance. Gay approached her while he probed her mind for any information. He realised Brian was telling the truth when he said she only knew magic as an energy source and nothing more. However, it seemed that the information she was given was recent. The oldest file she read about magical energies was only a decade old, and it was written in a style associated with the Order Magica.

  ‘Mister Gay… can I help you?’ Doris stuttered, being caught off guard by his intense presence.

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  ‘I want to talk to you about last night.’

  Doris held her books closer to her. ‘About dark matter?’

  ‘The files. Where did you get them?’

  Gay had already known the answer. Brian was the only person who gave them to her five years ago. She even had to go through intensive trials to be able to withhold that information. However, that wasn’t what he was looking for. He was waiting to see if she would lie.

  There were a few methods of manipulating the memories of people. Total erasure was common and widely used. However, when dealing with information and knowledge that could kill a person. Sometimes the best thing to do was to bury that memory deep into someone’s psyche. A buried memory could be dug back up depending on the situation or when the information from a memory is required to combat certain threats. Either by uttering a phrase or performing a familiar action.

  Some Butterfly Legion units would expose themselves to dangerous knowledge and bury it. Either to become effective sleeper agents or a magical time bomb. A crude method to fight, but one that had won battles in the past.

  It doesn’t mean it was flawless. A psychic like Gay would be able to view that memory. Lying about a particular memory would indicate two things to him. It could mean her being provided the information became a buried memory, or it could mean she is actively withholding information from Gay because there was something else going on that he was unaware of.

  ‘Brian gave them to me when I took the job.’ Doris admitted before darting her eyes away. ‘Sorry, I can’t speak much on it as I’m under a NDA.’

  Gay paused, further probing her mind for further information. However, he had no reference point. He couldn’t find anything that could make him suspect that Brian went against the agreements of the Order. Nor could he find any way of how she acquired Order Magica documents.

  If he had to guess, he figured there were other members of Her agents in the Order that he is unaware of. It was time for him to go hunting. A guiltless cull, some might say.

  ‘No, that is all I need to know. Thank you, Doctor Zimmermann.’ Gay said before he bowed. He left the building, satisfied that he didn’t need to kill anyone. Yet even though he was fortunate enough to not sign a few death warrants. He was unsatisfied about the trajectory of the world and where it was going. A golden age was coming, but it wouldn’t be his idea of one.