Turnner exited the elevator and entered the lower floors of the agency. He is surprised by the normalcy; everyone is acting as if chaos didn't erupt yesterday. The strange events that took place did reach the news, but they didn't seem to cause any panic among the citizens.
The agency even released a report saying it was likely the effects of a God, but people took this as the norm and moved on. But Turnner couldn't help but notice that people were unaware of what actually happened, so he questioned Death about it as he walked down the hallway, "Why is everyone behaving this way? Aren't they aware of the debt-maker? or the fact that their eyes were blackened."
"That's because I made everyone bewildered by the events that took place yesterday. When they regained control of their bodies, it felt like everything happened instantly, and they had no recollection of what happened."
"I see." He replied as he entered Noria's office. She was sitting at her desk signing papers, when Turnner walked in and said, "I believe you requested a meeting with me."
Yes, I did, and you're late."
"Is this about the Debt Maker?"
"What else would it be about?" she asked, looking up at Turnner. "What's the situation?"
"He's dead. Today me and my accomplice sorted him out."
"How? He seemed almost unkillable." she answered as he looked at another piece of paper on her table.
"All humans are subjects of death and must face it at some point in their lives; his time came to face death, and now he's dead."
"What proof do you have to show that he's dead?"
"Surely the event yesterday would have given you a good Idea of the outcome."
"It's still not enough. We need physical evidence if we are to proceed with the deal."
Turnner smiled, pulled a key out of his pocket, and put it on her table. Noria looked at it as Turnner spoke: "This belonged to the Debt Maker. I found it in the blood pool created after his body was torn apart." Noria sat up in her chair, her eyes fixed on the keys. "It opens the doors to a warehouse somewhere in Australia, the coordinates are written on this key. Inside the warehouse, there's a filing cabinet containing all the jobs Pertroski has ever done and any important information he wanted to keep to himself. I wouldn't have this if he wasn't Dead."
Noria picks up the key and examines it. Fine, I'll alert my higher-ups about the Debt Makers death and give them this key."
"That's good to hear, and tell them to accept the deal quickly because a tragedy is approaching." Turnner answers as he turns to walk out of the room.
"I didn't dismiss you."
Turnner stopped walking, "I forgot to mention I don't take orders from you, Noria, unless absolutely necessary."
"I know you're not going to listen to me, but I just wanted to warn you." Turnner turns around and looks at her as she continues. "Don't think for once that you have the government in the palm of your hand. There are those far above you who would just take Theatom if they wanted to."
Turnner opens his mouth to answer but closes it and walks out of the room. As he walks down the hallway, he ponders what Noria told him, and as a result, he doesn't notice Toktio sitting on a chair as he walks by.
Toktio called out to him, "Mr. Turnner?" He stopped walking and looked back. He's seen the face but doesn't know why Tokito would be calling to him. "I have a question about the Debt Maker." Tokito states.
"If this is about whether he's alive or not, you should know he's dead."
"I see. I honestly thought he couldn't be killed, but that's not why I called you." He looked down at where his pinky finger would be, but it wasn't there; instead, it was wrapped in white cloth. It was the finger that, for some reason, never regenerates. "My contract with the Cutting God also states that if I wanted to summon him or use his full power, I would have to receive a permanent cut on my body that wouldn't regenerate. He promised to cut off my hand the next time I used his full power."
Turnner became intrigued by what he said and took a seat. "So the Debt Maker took the hit for you?"
Ye, back in the massive training room, he took the slice instead of me." Tokito looked at Turnner and asked, "Why would he do that? Who was the Debt Maker really?"
Turnner braced his head on the wall and began to speak. "To be honest, I never really knew him until recently, but from what I gathered, The Debt Maker was a man who had a deep interest in paying off all of his debt, whether conceptually or physically. His mother became very poor back in the great recession of 1824, which made them slaves; they had to depend on other people. So when he got enough money to take care of his mother and himself, he started paying everyone he felt he owed things to. This is where it all began. He eventually gave his mother a large amount of money because he felt he owed it to her. In a sense, it made him feel free."
"So by paying people money, he felt like he no longer owed them anything."
Exactly, and although I don't know all the details, somewhere along the way he ended up in a contract with Debt God, and that's where things went south. He went into a contract where he had 100 years to pay off all his debt; if he failed to do so, the Debt God would kill him. He had two years left to do it."
"Is that why he came after the Theatom."
Likely, but you see, the Theatom isn't what they think it is; it can't right someone's debt."
"Why not? Didn't you kill a God with it."
"I did, but that doesn't mean I can rewrite the world or remove Debt. The moral of the story is that some goals are better left unattained and others not sought after."
"Why?"
"Because the end result is often not what you think it is."
"Do you have a goal?"
Yes, I do."
"Does it fall under that category also?"
Probably, but just like the Debt maker, I'm chasing after it."
Meanwhile, back at Turnner's apartment, people from the Cornerstone agency are checking his apartment from top to bottom, searching for something. Amelia enters the study room and takes notice of the red book on the table. She picks it up, opens it, and reads the synopsis.
It's about a king who wants to fix his corrupt kingdom, but he can't because the corruption is too great. However, he hears about an item that can completely rewrite everything and fix the corruption, so he takes interest in what he's told and receives a piece of this item. With renewed vigor, he set out on a journey to find this item so that someday he could fix his kingdom. Amelia liked the synopsis, so she closed the book and took it with her.