Lorien opened his eyes slowly, barely getting used to the shallow white warehouse light. He contemplated several men from the syndicate surrounding him. As he tried to move, he only found himself in the very same chair he had untied scrap seller Aristarchus from.

  Neither him nor the man with the red tie were seen anywhere near the floor. Instead, one grunt simply mopped the remaining red that still stank on some of the concrete floor.

  Peaceful, the interior of the warehouse contrasted sharply with the scenes that had transpired right before. The reason sat in a wooden chair right in front of him.

  Jor'Sen was drinking from a cup while one of his subordinates nervously polished his dark boots. Calm and serene, the man was just waiting patiently until he noticed Lorien waking up.

  "It only took you several minutes."

  By that point, Syndicate leader Jor'Sen had already identified Lorien as the very youngster he saw at the police command. At first he was amazed by how such a young person could obtain such a reputation. He quickly understood given Lorien's recent actions.

  Lorien still tried to wiggle in order to free himself. He had been restrained with metal chains.

  "...where are they?" he questioned the man upfront. Jor'Sen replied calmly.

  "We took them both away. They were no longer needed."

  In the meantime, Jor'Sen leant forward to study Lorien's expression and reactions, a common practice in his line of business. He saw the obvious alterations. He was also able to sense an immense amount of guilt.

  "You would excuse my lack of manners by having you tied," Jor'Sen explained before taking a sip from his tea. "We couldn't explain what really happened before we arrived. I am aware that you just woke up; would you still mind?"

  Unbeknownst of who he was talking to, Lorien simply shut himself silent.

  "Let me start for you then. One of my subordinates was missing half an arm, because it apparently turned into dirt. There is this weapon," he signaled one of the nearby grunts to show it, "and the door, both showing signs that they dissolved. The only conclusive thing I found was this interesting cube, and you."

  Panic seized the boy as soon as he saw Jor'Sen holding the Nebuchadnezzar's vault. He was already thinking that he had let it fall into the wrong hands.

  "This is an artifact unlike anything I have seen. You see, I am fond of collecting these sorts of pieces myself. This design with its inherent lack of any seeming contraption or purpose—would you mind shining some light on what it is?"

  By that point, one of the grunts pointed his weapon to the boy's head, which he felt as cold and heavy.

  "You said the man with the red tie was your subordinate… So you are from the Syndicate?"

  "That is correct," Jor'Sen replied, adjusting his golden frames into place.

  "You are no good then…" Lorien said, almost falling unconscious again. He was only woken up by that sudden sense that he was being obsessively observed.

  "You may as well say so, but aren't you the one who likes to hang around his victims? Both that woman and the man with the red mane were people you gave some of that gold dust to?" Jor'Sen questioned. "Speaking of, did you run out of it? I was able to see what you did in the black market district on my way here. Several mongrels fought tooth and nail, only to notice that they were fighting over something that wasn't really what they thought."

  Back then, after hearing Laplace talk about the expectations of value, he realized what had transpired thanks to the transmutation gold. He decided to turn it all into something of a similar alloy.

  "Brass…" Jor'Sen himself completed it. "At first glance it may look shiny like gold, glittering bright. In reality it's nothing but copper and zinc combined."

  Just like Laplace told him before, people expected the rich to own things of value. Lorien payed around with those expectations and figured that the people would expect to receive gold from the Almoner, which was just enough to get by for his con. As a result, nobody got richer than they were. No problems of value were created at all.

  "It only shows how ingenious you are despite being so young. Bold too. To think that you considered yourself capable of taking on my organization alone, or did you have any more accomplices? We will find them all sooner than later."

  "No. I was alone…" he replied without thinking. "But it doesn't matter now… it seems like I wasn't able to help anyone—only caused despair and trouble…" He remembered the apartment torture of Aristarchus, the imprisonment of the innocent, and the manifestation of Anti-causality.

  "I have no interest whatsoever in judging you," Jor'Sen confessed. "My only interest lies in finding that there is more to this world than I have been told—the essence of divinity that sparked the order from old up until now."

  "You mean the Power of Transmutation?"

  Interest lit Jor'Sen's eyes just by that mention. "Is that what you call it?"

  Lorien simply looked down on the floor, reflecting on his own actions. "It is something that shouldn't be wielded by anyone, even if you have good intentions."

  "I'll be the one to judge that," the Syndicate leader replied coldly.

  By that point, Lorien understood that Jor'Sen didn't know how to activate the divine powers of the Vault. He was most likely planning to bargain or threaten him for it.

  "How do you control this power of Transmutation? With the artifact?"

  "I just… normally imagine what I want, and it becomes that, sort of."

  "So it is like a wish-granting device?" Jor'Sen tried to learn.

  "I would say it is a paradox of infinite contention, which has many uses, one amongst them being containing the power to change the world." Lorien repeated Laplace's words.

  Jor'Sen immediately recognized Lorien establishing his superiority in knowledge of the topic.

  Ignited by his curiosity, Jor'Sen held the device and closed his eyes, imagining several things. Nothing happened in the end.

  It didn't work?

  Lorien recognized when Laplace brought up the apparent connection that the object had to him. He never thought until then that the power of transmutation had only chosen him.

  "It seems like the power of transmutation is only drawn to me," the boy concluded in front of Jor'Sen, who immediately frowned upon his attempt.

  "If I was you, I would measure your next moves carefully," the man threatened. "You are saying that if I am to give this to you, you will show me the spark of the divinity that I have been looking for? Do you think I am naive enough to give it to you knowing what it is capable of?" Jor'Sen stood up, getting close enough to Lorien.

  "There isn't another way to know."

  In the end, Lorien was right. It was a choke point for both him and Jor'Sen. While the Syndicate leader risked setting up a similar scene with his men, Lorien risked becoming the transmutation puppet of the syndicate long term.

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  Besides, the boy knew transmutation and the adverse effect were dangerous. He recognized that such power couldn't fall into the hands of Jor'Sen, or anyone else by that sake.

  Was he going to be able to endure torture and potentially death for such power not to spill into the world? The answer most likely went against his human instinct for survival. Still, if there was anyone capable of thinking outside the box, it was no one but him.

  On the other hand, Jor'Sen had been in pursuit of such interest for so long that he cared more about confirming its sole existence than gaining control of it.

  "Very well, you will show me what I want."

  Nervous, the various Syndicate members on guard observed as Jor'Sen ordered for the boy to be untied. He handed the brass cube into his hand.

  Lorien remained tense as he saw Jor'Sen stepping back while his men stepped forward, pointing at him.

  As he held the cube, Lorien observed his very own reflection. His expression was withered from exhaustion. Unlike all other times, the cube felt heavier than usual—perhaps the weight of the consequences of his own actions.

  Thanks to the time he remained asleep, Lorien recovered some of the energy necessary to perform one more transmutation. And, he just happened to know what object to transform.

  After taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, the boy manifested the white sparks once more, leaving everyone present in awe.

  "So it is real. It is possible… to become a god!" Jor'Sen confirmed his lifetime dream, his dark eyes barely able to overcome the surge of power overflowing from the youngster.

  A power that shouldn't be wielded by anyone… Lorien reflected on his own words, now feeling a straight connection with the divine authority to change the world.

  In the middle of the storm surge, Lorien tried his best to focus on the cube he held in hand. Ironically enough, the Vault had been the object he held the closest for quite some time, hence developing a natural understanding of its essence.

  Needless to say, destroying the cube was the one way he thought about sealing away the power bestowed to him.

  As he tried to manipulate the brass cube, Lorien found himself falling into the same familiar vision from back then. This time, the streets from the daylight east port district were completely empty—thus only him and his other self remained.

  "Why… am I here?" Lorien asked, completely clueless to why the vision was occurring again.

  "This is a place that is very close to our consciousness, but you can think of it as somewhere along the actual insides of the cube." His other self explained. "I can see that you want to destroy the Nebuchadnezzar's vault. Is that your answer to changing the world?"

  "I don't think the world needs something that only brings forth chaos." Lorien confessed to himself, to which his other self seemingly agreed.

  "Still, the Vault isn't something you can destroy quite easily. Even if you destroy the carcass, you still have to destroy everything that's contained with it, which isn't possible for your current self."

  Suddenly, Lorien felt like a fool once more for thinking that he could actually intervene and change things for the better.

  "Then It was all for nothing…" he finally concluded, resigned.

  But his other self seemed to have another idea in mind.

  "I can help you destroy the remaining part of the Vault from inside, though not for the same good-hearted intentions as yours. I must ask again if you really intend to destroy the Vault. Once that happens, there is no going back."

  "I understand…" Lorien said, holding his head high. His other self nodded slowly.

  Back in the warehouse, Lorien observed the white lightning condensing all around the vault, its surface slowly dissipating into the air. His other self, also surrounded by the sparks of creation, extended both his arms right before the reality inside the cube started to shatter.

  To think everything would still end up going your way, Laplace… Lorien's other self thought before disappearing with the rest of the other reality.

  In the present, Jor'Sen didn't do anything to stop Lorien from destroying the vault. Once the transmutation finished, the ornamental brass cube simply vanished, as if it had never existed. It was also at that very moment when Lorien stopped feeling the echoes at all.

  Something had changed deep within the inner workings of reality.

  Red lightning?

  Jor'Sen was the first to acknowledge the difference between the phenomena as anti-causality started to manifest right around one of the crates. The grunts, significantly horrified and threatened, backed up as they bore witness to the wooden crate twisted, compressed, and transformed into a purple colored umbrella.

  A long silence followed. By Jor'Sen's orders, one of the grunts picked the object and opened it.

  "Fascinating, it really is!"

  His excitement only lasted until the red lightning manifested even more. Lorien himself startled at the multiple manifestations of anticausality happening all around him. While one of the crates turned into glass, the other objects changed into very distinct things as well.

  Only Lorien knew the dangers of the adverse effect and the things that could unfold from it.

  Eventually, it didn't take long before the red sparks manifested around a couple of grunts. They both tried their best to run and get rid of it—only encountered horrible fates. One of them became a statue of salt that broke down due to his own inertia. The other man vanished until there was nothing left of him.

  "You, how do you stop this?" Jor'Sen finally told Lorien. The boy himself had no idea of what was happening exactly. Was that all of the accumulated effects for the transmutations he performed? Was it because he destroyed the box that the power of transmutation went out of control?

  Regardless, the manifestation of anti-causality didn't seem to stop. Instead it only grew more and more. By that point, Lorien took advantage of the chaos in order to get off the Syndicate's grasp.

  "What are you doing, someone stop him!" Jor'Sen shouted, angry.

  As soon as he got out of the building, Lorien observed that the anticausality had begun manifesting even outside of the warehouse—having extended to other places along the shipyards; and the incomplete ships as well.

  Workers observed in awe before they suffered from the changes nearby. The iron foundations collapsed while the supports turned into amalgamations of different objects. Some workers saw their body parts turning into other things, or they simply vanished from existence.

  No, No! … this is not what I wanted! He lamented as he ran away.

  His thoughts had to stop the moment he observed a large shadow casting over him. Lorien took one big leap to the side in order to evade the enormous metal cargo container that fell from the sky.

  That was not the only thing to appear and disappear randomly. Entire buildings from the nearby slums were completely erased from existence while things from other places were simply brought there.

  A ship that was travelling near the border with the Sidereal Theocracy found itself in the middle of Low Liceas, crashing into several buildings along with most of its crew.

  Lorien even bore witness to a public transit bus falling and crushing some unfortunate worker that didn't get away in time.

  As he ran in the streets, he even saw a hand sticking out from the concrete, one that belonged to someone who appeared in the middle of a wall—not having any way to escape the chaos.

  Just when he was about to rush for help, Lorien got grabbed by a man wearing a shiny silver helmet, armor coverings, and what seemed to be a shield and a spear.

  "Di immortales! Quid fit, per Iovem?"

  "I don't understand what you are saying!" Lorien replied, quickly getting off to help someone nearby that got stuck beneath the continuous tracks of a military tank.

  The soldier kept insisting on the boy, but a sudden loud bang made him stop. He simply fell to the ground, bleeding.

  He had been shot by Jor'Sen himself, who continued the pursuit for Lorien despite everything going on. Some of his men did as well.

  He had no option but to continue running across the streets and pathways of Low Liceas, which had turned into a glitching reality—a labyrinth of complete materialistic chaos. There was no time to stop, think, or help any of the underworld citizens suffering around.

  The only thing he could do was to dynamically find shortcuts from the waste, trying his best to run faster in the persecution.

  At some point, Lorien got stopped by a man's hand who got in his way. It belonged to Mosses, who raised his other hand to shoot at a couple of syndicate men before pushing the boy into cover.

  "Larissa is in the plaza. Come on, you need to go!"

  Even if he didn't understand how he managed to come across, or why he happened to hold a gun, Lorien nodded and left the man shooting against the Syndicate men.

  The black market plaza was no different than the rest of the slums. Larissa was helping a child who saw his friend turning into a wooden statue, insisting that he should run as fast as possible.

  Deep down, Larissa knew that there was no place any of them could run. Whether they survived was a matter of pure probabilistic luck.

  Once there, Lorien immediately recognized Larissa. He tried to run towards her while he yelled her name, over and over again. The woman also took notice of this and started to run towards him.

  However, just before their hands could touch, the entirety of the slums got covered in the red light. As a consequence, Lorien immediately felt his feet taking off the ground. Everyone else did as well. Gravity had turned itself upside down. Everything started to fall towards the lower city's ceiling.

  "Larissa, ?No!"

  As they fell separately, Lorien could only repeat the same thing over and over again.

  "... This is not what I wanted! … It is really not!"

  He continued to fall upwards, seeing all the widespread devastation from above. Lorien cried, closing his eyes, not wanting to see more.

  He didn't care for what happened to him once he finally finished falling. Yet, when he did, he was still alive.

  Feeling uneasy, he began to open his eyes again, just to notice that he was in a completely different setting. It was a city, somewhat similar to the New Liceas central district but everything seemed more advanced.

  In fact, the more he observed, the more he seemed to recognize everything about it, especially the green sign hanging from a streetlight, which marked the crossing of 34th street with 8th avenue.

  The road vehicles parked on the sides, the asphalt streets, the busy worksites, the vapor coming off from the vents, and the towering skyscrapers with windowed facades…

  "New York City…" Lorien mentioned out loud, with the name coming purely from intuition, or perhaps more.

  There was something also significantly different around the setting. The normal blue and grey sky had been overturned by crimson. The flow of cars had been stopped. All the bystanders seemed to be running for their lives in one direction.