At the Tower's headquarters in Brasília, Commander Ava was rushing down the hallway toward the main meeting room, holding dozens upon dozens of folders. She entered the room, where two newcomers and interns, Cole Fuller and Nicolas, were seated around the table. As she approached, she placed the folders on the table.
"Sort these folders according to the files about the possible connection between the Conclave and the Foundation, and the suspicion that Rod Sugg, the president of the Brazilian Tower, might be involved with the Conclave," she instructed, her expression serious.
"The president is with the Conclave?" Nicolas raised his eyebrows.
"Just check the files, okay? There are other important documents in these folders, so make sure to sort them carefully and don't mix anything up," Ava ignored Nicolas' question, preparing to leave the room.
Before she could fully close the door, Cole raised his voice. "Commander, where are you going? We can't be left without full supervision, remember? We're interns."
Ava paused for a moment and looked at the two of them. "I'm the commander in charge of all activities, analyses, and direct operations of the Tower in this country. You're under my authority, so no one is going to bother you, even if you are interns working alone. If anyone asks for me, tell them I went to the Containment Center to talk to Tahiko. Understood?"
The two interns nodded, and Ava left the room, leaving them alone with the folders.
After a few minutes descending to the vast, high-tech underground area of the Containment Center, Commander Ava walked with her impeccable posture until she approached the cell where Tahiko was imprisoned.
There, she heard the punches he was throwing against the cell wall and waited for a few moments before revealing herself.
"Is it like this every day?" she asked, crossing her arms as she appeared in front of the cell.
Tahiko stopped punching the wall and stared at her with a cold gaze. "If you're here to try to convince me… it's not going to work," he replied in a sharp tone.
"I won't take long. I'm here just to offer you a proposal: cooperate with the Tower, like your 'friends'," she paused slightly, emphasizing the word.
"Who said I'm friends with them? We met in Dynami, when you people from the Tower failed to save thousands of lives."
"We had no choice in that situation. I'm not discussing that anymore, Tahiko," she replied firmly.
Tahiko laughed, a cynical and contemptuous laugh. "I hate being moralistic because I'm a fake moralist, but who cares? I'm a bearer. It's normal for bearers to be arrogant, narcissistic, inhumane... But you humans, you can't even use the humanity you have."
"I didn't come here for speeches. I came to see if you will cooperate or not," Ava rolled her eyes, showing some impatience.
Tahiko stepped closer to the bars of the cell, his face hardening. "I'm not going to cooperate with you," he stated.
Ava remained impassive but decided to change her approach.
"Right now, Koji and Saik are fighting the Conclave. They're helping us. If you think I don't feel anything about the Tower's failures in saving lives, you're wrong. But if you decide to help us, I know we can neutralize a common enemy."
"The Foundation..." a spark of interest emerged amid Tahiko's anger.
"Yes. Intelligence has discovered that the Conclave may be linked to the Foundation. I know you hate the Foundation as much as we do. Maybe even more."
Tahiko remained silent, staring intently at Ava without revealing his thoughts. The silence between them was thick, almost tangible, and she realized he wouldn't give an immediate answer.
"I'm not forcing you to decide right now," she said, pulling a small notebook from her jacket. "If you change your mind, write something on the first page. If you refuse, leave it as it is. Hand it to the guard, and he'll inform me of your answer."
She handed him the notebook and a black pen, which Tahiko took without breaking his cold and serious gaze. Ava turned and left.
Back at the Tower headquarters…
Nicolas was examining the files, carefully sorting them into organized piles on the table. Cole was also focused, until something caught his attention. He picked up a specific file.
"What the...?" he murmured, incredulous.
"Did you find Rod's papers?" Nicolas asked without looking up.
"Rod? Who's Rod?"
Nicolas raised his voice slightly, "The president of the Tower, you idiot! Rod Sugg!"
"Oh, right…" Cole shook his head. "No, I didn't find anything about him. I found something else…"
Nicolas finally looked up, curious. "So, what is it?"
Cole looked at the file in his hand. "Koji… his last name is Fuller."
"And what about it?" Nicolas raised an eyebrow, indifferent and confused.
"My last name is Fuller too… Cole Fuller," he said, pointing at himself.
"That's cool! Dude, you've got the same last name as a bearer. That's awesome!" Nicolas responded with unexpected excitement.
"Cool?! No, man! Don't you get what this means?"
Nicolas shrugged. "It means you have the same last name."
"Yes, but there's only one Fuller family line in the entire world… There's no other Fuller family."
Nicolas finally processed what Cole was trying to say, and his face showed a spark of realization.
"Wait… you're saying you and Koji are…?"
"Yeah…" Cole interrupted, feeling the weight of the discovery. "Looks like we're related."
The Fullers (852 -) were one of the ten great millennial families in history, and one of the four still existing today, whose trajectory had been wiped clean by some kind of temporal cleansing. Their few remaining members were considered ghosts of a lineage on the brink of extinction.
The millennial families had arisen from ancient clans and, over the centuries, had cultivated an aura of power and mystery around their knowledge. Their influence extended not only to the physical world but also to the so-called non-human world. The existence of the so-called Writs and Pacts had long been whispered as mythology. These treaties, which linked the world of men to incomprehensible forces, only became widely known in the 5th century, precisely in the year 422.
That year, a small group of wanderers, fleeing the decline and chaos that engulfed the Roman Empire, found an ancient manuscript in a refuge in distant lands. The pages of the manuscript, yellowed with age, described shockingly direct accounts of Writs and Pacts, mystical agreements between humans and entities that, at the time, were relegated to legends and superstitions.