Cain was sitting in the VIP cabin of a luxurious train named *Vehicle of Maharajas*—a remnant of the glorious era before the War of Continental Superpowers.
Most of the attendees at the Chairman's funeral were still stranded in the mountain village, waiting for flight confirmations. Even wealth couldn't guarantee stable flight schedules. Only a handful, even amongst the elite would choose the erratic privilege of aerial travel.
The air currents that the planes relied on changed frequently, often in seemingly chaotic patterns. Advanced calculations were needed to predict the shifts, but their accuracy rarely exceeded forty percent.
Flights had to be escorted by military jet fighters, as the skies were not rolled by humans —strange, predatory things also rode the winds.
Despite this, some elites and high-ranking officials still opted for flight, chasing the adrenaline of sudden weather shifts and aerial beast encounters.
Cain despised flying. He preferred trains. Though even the fastest trains couldn't rival the speed of planes, the uncertainty of air travel often meant trains were only a few days slower on average. But due to his position, he was forced to travel via planes if necessary.
Normally, someone in Cain's position wouldn't waste even an hour on unnecessary travel. But this trip was different. Someone *special* had proposed they take the train—to buy a little more time to catch up.
*Tok tok tok.*
"Come in, John," Cain said calmly.
The door to the cabin opened quickly, revealing a teenager with green eyes, porcelain skin, and the signature EmberWake black-silver hair.
"Wanna grab a drink from the bar?" the young man asked, excitement flickering in his gaze.
"Wait till you turn twenty in a few months," Cain replied evenly.
"You're no fun anymore," John grumbled.
"You can drink all you like if you abuse your position. Go ahead. Let the rest of us gather some dirt on you," Cain said, voice calm but laced with subtle warning.
"Someone as capable as you wouldn't stoop to cheap tricks like throwing dirt behind my back," John chuckled, closing the door and sitting opposite Cain.
He placed a folder of documents on the table between them.
"I'll be blunt," John said, straightening his back, his demeanor shifting.
"I'm going for everything EmberWake has. I'll strip the rest of my clan of their influence. I'll push for you to be approved as my vassal. After I marry Delilah noona and we have our first child, I'll leave her. I'll make sure you two can meet in secret, maybe even start a family together in some remote corner of the nation. All I ask is your help in taking control." Said John, with no hint of nonchalance he had before.
Cain's voice stayed even, but his right eye gleamed coldly. "At least don't talk about Delilah like she's property. She's your future wife—and a world-class scientist."
If Cain hadn't been wearing his mask, John might have seen the rare, suppressed fury etched on on his horrible face.
"I'm in a position to treat most people however I like. With your help, I could treat the whole world however I like," John said, then added, "You and I—we're alike. Even if you hate hearing that. We've both been chained, made to do things we never wanted, even if we refused with our very being." John said with intense emotions leaking with his voice. And then said calmly after a pause:
"Join me, and I'll give you Kasper. Join me, and I'll give you all the secrets you've ever wanted."
He placed a flash drive on the table.
"This is to show my sincerity. Not even many in my clan have access to this. Use it. Get your answers. But don't take too long—every second you hesitate gives the others time to unite against us, to cage us again."
John stood, gave Cain a long, meaningful look, and left.
Cain stared at the flash drive, then at the folder of documents beneath it. Names filled the pages—some familiar, some not. Institutions he'd heard of, some he didn't and others buried in silence. Even the orphanage he grew up in was listed. So were codenamed projects funded by EmberWake—some he knew of, some entirely foreign. Scientists, military generals, government officials—it was a map of a world far deeper than the one he'd thought he knew and wished to rule.
He skimmed the documents, then slid the flash drive into the inner pocket of his suit, letting it rest near his troubled heart. His eyes turned to the window.
Outside, the silhouette of TianShan receded slowly. The longest mountain range in the world, it split the largest continent in two. Within it stood the world's highest peak—Zenith. The door to the abode of the gods.
To Cain, EmberWake was like TianShan. A place where power gathered and ruled. But beyond it lay a wilderness—a chaos—capable of devouring humanity whole.
He leaned back into the plush cushions of his seat and propped his feet on the table, atop documents that held the weight of nations. If only it were that easy to trample over the things he hated.
He stared out the window again, wondering whether he'd return to the mountain village in time to participate in the restoration of the Bamboo Village.
According to the Chairman's will, all funeral attendees were to return to rebuild it. They would plant the Core Bambo—a mutated fungus that used bamboo as a host to form a new species.
The Core Bambo would grow tens of feet tall. The tallest would be reserved to form the central pillars of the future EmberWake Chairman's residence. Then smaller bamboo would be woven into the structure using sashimono.
Then a fungicide would be sprayed—first to drive the fungus into a frenzy, spreading it rapidly across the structure, and then again from outside, forcing the fungus into a fatal trap. Its death would harden the bamboo into a material as tough as concrete.
That fungus was a testament to EmberWake's advancements in bioengineering—and this was only the surface.
"Walking atop corpses to reach their goals. How fitting of typical EmberWake," Cain thought, a small grin forming beneath his mask.
His mind drifted to the past. To simpler times, his desires limited to a expensive home, a stable career, and maybe a quiet life with Delilah.
Before EmberWake. Before the mask. Before betrayal became routine.