by Hugo Damas
“The items retrieved by the Shadow are secured?” Griff asked.
“Yeah, dad,” Adolfo said, happy to say something helpful.
“Good.”
“What did she mean, dad?” Adolfo asked, and Griff stared onward, uninterested in replying. So the boy pressed, of course, ever the curious one. “She seemed to indicate you were betraying her for a personal reason?”
His curiosity was why Griff had chosen him in lieu of Jeff.
Jeff. He never found anything of worth in the women, their mothers, but being a father might very well be the only thing he had found happiness in. Or joy. Whatever it was, he valued it greatly. I have to find a way to kill Falk safely. I’ll make that my priority for the foreseeable future.
“Dad?”
Griff shivered, and snapped at his son. “Who cares?! No, it isn’t personal, you think she’s the reason I want to set up a shadow government that rules over the world? You think she’s why I built and led the Tech Guild to become what it is? Why I betrayed the Shadow Conclave and risked everything against the Beasts? You think your father would do all of this for the sake of her affections?! Or lack thereof?”
No matter what Adolfo really thought, he knew what answer to give. And still, “she seemed to think so!” Adolfo said, apologetically. Almost in a whine.
Griff’s hand grasped the top of his cane, making it squeal. Adolfo noticed it and knew what it meant.
“I’m sorr--”
“She’s lost,” Griff growled. “I beat her. I beat all of them. Each and every one of them ignored me and thought they could manipulate me. Just have me do as they willed. But they were wrong. Your father beat them all, and after all this time, that Eliza can’t accept that I’ve let her go. Moved on. That I care about something more than I care about her.”
Adolfo nodded and stepped back, but Griff wasn’t done. He turned and stepped towards him.
“All these decades, she was convinced she was first in my life, even while I was NEVER first in hers. She was convinced that she was always going to hold that position regardless of what happened. That I would never prioritize anything or anyone else. She was convinced I became part of the Shadow Conclave, and helped build it up, because she wanted me to. Not because I wanted to for myself. Not because I also respected Katsuo more than I’ve ever respected anyone, and that I wanted to respect his sacrifice. No. It has to be about her.”
Griff shoved the bottom of his cane into a crack in the floor plating, making a weird, breaking clank. Adolfo glanced down with worry but Griff had none. He used the stumble to back Adolfo into a corner, and then settled his stance.
“Remember this lesson, son. You and your goals are more important than anything else in this world. Even me. If I’m not helping you meet your goals, leave. If you need to take me down, do it. Don’t ever do what she thinks I’m doing, which is to slave after another person’s interest.” Griff grabbed at his son’s head, gently, and made him stare him in the eyes. The poor boy was shy and had trouble meeting people’s eyes, it was the main thing they had to fix.
“You understand?”
Adolfo, holding a serious expression, heartily nodded. Slowly, he smiled at him, and seeing his son smile in adoration made Griff himself grin happily.
“Learning, right?” Griff asked, slapping him in the face, however mildly.
“Yeah,” Adolfo said, giggling. “Any orders you want me to take back down? I’m guessing you’ll want to think.”
Griff nodded. “Good boy. Yes. Tell Jason that if he listens to anything the Shadow or the Circus Freak say, I’ll have his hide. Same thing to Natalia. Tell Roger to send one more guard for each.” Griff took a breath. “And one more to watch over the Mad Genius and the Street Rat. Tell Daniel over there that he better ignore any sound they make. And I mean any. That door opens under no circumstances.”
Adolfo nodded and turned around. “I wish I could make them understand,” he said, as his parting words, “that they should just help you. You think there’s a chance I—”
“No,” Griff said at once. “Do not go near any of them, and I mean that, Adolfo. You will give your messages and you’ll come back instantly. You can learn how I think by how I bounce my thoughts off of you.”
Adolfo gave him a heartfelt smile. “That sounds great.” And he left.
Griff looked out his window. It was a big panel, but it had a screen for when he didn’t want the sun burning him.
The city was, as ever, enveloped in industrial mist. Most of it was produced by them right there in the Tech Guild, and it made the city wonderful, in his opinion. Easy to look at and recognize. It was a sign of development, of technology, which was always the advantage of anyone who ever took part in any kind of conflict.
Britthan would be just fine, and the Tech Guild would be more than fine.
That was Griff’s life goal. His dream.
Griff squinted his eyes, knowing he had a lot to think about. Yet, he had to admit that a part of him was truly pleased at Eliza’s agony. He couldn’t help it, but he didn’t have to like it.
“This isn’t for you,” Griff told those parts inside him. “This is not about you.”
He took a breath and reflected on his plan, and what actions he would have to take.
All of it was for the sake of his ambitions. For the purpose of grasping the future that he envisioned for the world.
“This is not about you,” Griff said to her.
Afterword
Thank you for reading and rest assured, this is not a trilogy!
I invite you to continue reading into the second and final book, the Light of Humanity.
What I like about this epic is that I truly think it keeps getting better. The characters get more interesting, and events all the crazier.
The Beasts will continue their rampage and stop at nothing until they have obliterated everything that is humanity, and our heroes have nothing but unanswered questions and arguably failed missions, and of course, betrayal.
And they’re not heroes at all.
Really quick, I want to give special thanks to all my friends and supporters. In particular, I want to thank my parents, Yanko, Rafael, Henrique, and Irene, all whom have given my previous books their time and attention, or given me words with which to support my drive to write, or both. It’s great that I could come to a point where I can publish a work of this magnitude.
It is not much, but it is incredibly significant to me.
Gratitude to you, as well. I hope you have enjoyed this book, I hope you will enjoy the second, and I hope you will let me know about all of it. @Kuzcopia if you want to reach out.
Please leave a review!
H. D.
