The view from the top floor of Apex Academy was no longer a city.
It was a chaotic collage of existence.
Through the swirling grey mists of the restoration Kaelen Thorne watched a T-Rex snap its jaws at a hovering police drone.
In the distance the medieval towers of a lost kingdom pierced the sides of a neon skyscraper from Timeline Delta.
The Han River had turned into a river of liquid mercury from a world that had mastered cold fusion only to be liquidated by the Court.
The air was a suffocating cocktail of woodsmoke ozone and prehistoric oxygen.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[REALITY LOAD: 1300%]
[WARNING: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF SECTOR EARTH 01 IS AT 4%]
[ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE: 22 HOURS]
Kaelen Thorne stood at the window his silhouette framed by the flickering lights of thirteen overlapping worlds.
He felt the weight of twelve billion ghosts pressing against the Alpha Heart in his chest.
He was no longer just a man.
He was a Living Database of Extinction.
Mr. Thorne.
Lia Sinclair stood behind him her hands glowing with a deep unstable violet.
The void within her was vibrating so hard that the floorboards beneath her feet were turning into fine white sand.
I can't hold it all she whispered her voice sounding like the static between radio stations.
The hunger... it's not mine anymore.
I'm feeling the hunger of twelve other worlds.
They want to be real again.
Kaelen turned away from the window.
His charcoal suit was now inscribed with silver runes that glowed with the light of the dead.
He adjusted his glasses but the frames were now made of a material that didn't exist in any of the thirteen worlds.
Hold the line Lia Kaelen said his voice calm and cold.
You are not a girl anymore.
You are the Lead Receiver of the Dead.
If you collapse these thirteen worlds will fold into a singularity and the Reader will lose the channel forever.
Silas Vesper emerged from the corner of the room his form flickering like a glitching movie.
Master the students are terrified.
The Rank F students from the Shadow Scholarship are being possessed by the memories of the other worlds.
A boy from the engineering department thinks he's an elven prince.
A girl from the infirmary is starting to speak in binary code.
It's not possession Silas Kaelen said walking toward his desk.
It's Asset Integration.
Kaelen sat in his chair and opened the Sovereign Ledger.
The holographic display was a mess of red alerts and overlapping graphs.
But Kaelen didn't look at the chaos.
He looked at the Synergies.
The Multiversal Court thought they were dumping trash into my office Kaelen whispered his eyes glowing with a predatory gold.
They thought thirteen failing companies would be a burden.
But they forgot that in a merger the most valuable things are the Patents.
Kaelen's fingers moved across the keyboard with a speed that blurred his hands.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: THE CROSS WORLD MERGER]
[NOTICE: YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO STABILIZE THIRTEEN REALITIES USING A SINGLE CORE]
[WARNING: THIS REQUIRES A TOTAL SYSTEM OVERHAUL]
Suddenly a rhythmic pounding echoed from the ceiling.
It was not the sound of a monster.
It was the sound of a heavy industrial hammer hitting the sky.
The white clouds above Seoul began to peel back like old wallpaper.
A man descended through the tear in reality.
He wore an orange reflective vest over a suit of grey iron.
He carried a massive wrench that glowed with the blue light of the Prime Source.
He looked like a construction worker for the gods.
Stop the work! the man bellowed his voice sounding like a megaphone in a thunderstorm.
I am The Foreman of the Head Office.
I'm here to serve a Condemnation Notice on this sector.
The Foreman landed on the balcony of the Academy his iron boots cracking the marble.
He looked at Kaelen and then at the thirteen worlds clashing in the street below.
This sector is a safety hazard Thorne the Foreman said spitting on the floor.
You've got too much weight on the foundation.
The gravity of thirteen worlds is dragging the entire server down.
My orders are to perform a Controlled Demolition.
Kaelen Thorne did not move from his chair.
A controlled demolition? Kaelen asked his voice a low lethal hum.
That's a very expensive way to handle a zoning dispute Foreman.
It's not a dispute the Foreman laughed raising his glowing wrench.
It's a foreclosure.
I'm going to disconnect the mana relays and let the void take the whole mess.
The Court is tired of your litigation.
They want a clean slate.
Kaelen looked at the wrench.
He recognized the blue light.
It was the same light that powered the [Original Architect].
Lia. Silas. Don't touch him Kaelen commanded.
If you hit him he'll claim Workplace Violence and trigger an immediate reset.
The Foreman grinned. Smart boy. You know the rules.
Now step away from the terminal and let me pull the plug.
Kaelen Thorne stood up slowly.
He didn't reach for his ledger.
He reached for a small silver pen on his desk.
I'm not stopping you Foreman Kaelen said walking toward the balcony.
But before you pull the plug you should look at the Ownership Map.
Kaelen tapped the sky and a massive holographic blueprint appeared.
It showed the thirteen worlds.
But they weren't just stacked on top of each other anymore.
Kaelen had woven them into a complex Interlocking Debt Structure.
Look at the pipes Foreman Kaelen whispered his obsidian eyes glowing with a terrifying white light.
I've re routed the mana relays from the prehistoric world through the futuristic power grid of Sector 88.
I've used the magical contracts of the elven kingdom to insure the tech patents of the cyber-city.
You can't just 'pull the plug' on Earth 01 anymore.
The Foreman's grin faded as he scanned the holographic map.
What... what have you done?
I've created a Cross-Collateralized Reality Kaelen said.
If you delete Earth 01 you trigger a default on the prehistoric sector.
If that world falls it snaps the mana cables of the futuristic world.
It's a chain reaction Foreman.
If you pull the plug here you'll blow the fuses in Forty Other Sectors that are currently using my Ledger as a clearing house.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[SKILL ACTIVATED: THE POISON PILL DEFENSE]
[NOTICE: THE WORLD HAS BECOME UN-DELETABLE WITHOUT TOTAL SYSTEM CRASH]
The Foreman's wrench flickered and died.
He stared at Kaelen with pure hatred.
You... you've turned the apocalypse into a Hostage Situation.
I prefer to call it a Mutually Assured Bankruptcy Kaelen said.
Kaelen stepped onto the balcony standing toe to toe with the iron giant.
You want to demolish this world?
Go ahead.
But the moment you hit that button the Head Office loses its entire portfolio in this quadrant.
And I don't think your boss is going to give you a promotion for starting a multiversal recession.
The Foreman lowered his wrench his shoulders sagging under the weight of the realization.
The Court was right about you Thorne the Foreman whispered.
You aren't an Auditor.
You're a Sovereign Terrorist.
I'm an Accountant who was given a bad deal Kaelen replied adjusting his tie.
And I'm here to renegotiate.
Kaelen looked at the Reader at the invisible gaze in the sky.
The Interest Level on the screen was pulsing a deep aggressive red.
[READER SATISFACTION: 95%]
[NEW ASSET UNLOCKED: THE MULTIVERSAL TOOLBOX]
Foreman Kaelen said.
Since you're already here and you have the wrench...
I'm hiring you to fix the foundation.
The Foreman laughed. Hiring me? With what? I'm an agent of the Head Office!
You're an employee Kaelen said.
And I've just purchased your Unpaid Overtime Debt from the Central Bank of Heaven.
According to my records you haven't been paid for three thousand years of server maintenance.
Kaelen held up a golden contract.
Sign this and you become the Chief Engineer of the Ledger.
Refuse and I'll file an Unfair Labor Practice lawsuit that will freeze your iron suit for eternity.
The Foreman looked at the contract then at the thirteen worlds below.
He looked at the golden countdown in his own vision.
Fine he spat signing the air with his glowing wrench.
But you're going to regret this Thorne.
Once the foundation is fixed the Court will send someone much worse than a Foreman.
I'm counting on it Kaelen said.