Chapter 76- Onwards

The next morning, Sol woke earlier to the smell of bacon and eggs. He sat on his back and thought about the previous day. He was glad his sisters found out but at the same time it was bad.

“Morning sleepy head,” Lucia teased.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Those guys deserved that last night. I enjoyed every second of it.”

“Right,” Sol said as he remembered flaying the slavers. It wasn’t his proudest moment but by Odin they deserved it. He threw on some running clothes and headed downstairs. Summer had made a nice breakfast for him.

“What’s going on?” Sol questioned, she had never made him breakfast.

“I was thinking last night. That if the Immortal is my brother then I should look after him.”

Sol sat slowly down at the table. “What does that mean?”

She shrugged as she placed plates with an array of food down. There was fruit, bread, pancakes, eggs, bacon- he never realised his sister could even cook.

“Can we do some training today?” she asked.

“Me too,” June said as she walked in, she wasn’t wearing baggy clothes.

“What is actually going on?”

“You’re the Immortal,” June said. “That’s a big deal.”

Sol started to eat the breakfast cautiously, he was majorly freaked out. He thought his sisters would be upset- but no. For some reason, it had invigorated them- inspired.

“I’m going to go for a run first, then we can get some training in.”

“I’ll come,” Summer said as she ran upstairs.

Sol let the fork clang loudly on the plate, he couldn’t tell whether he was dreaming.

“I’ll come too,” June added.

Once he was alone in the kitchen, Lucia cleared her throat. “It’s like you lit a fire they didn’t know they had.”

“Is that good or bad?” Sol asked, he was in limbo.

“Women are often more driven than men. If you could kill 50 slavers they would kill more. Think of it more like sibling rivalry.”

“So I’m competing with them now,” Sol remarked, stuffing his face with bacon.

“Aren’t we all.”

Summer and June returned downstairs, their hair were in ponytails and they wore tight fit clothing; they had determined looks on their faces.

“Are you two alright, about yesterday?”

“Sol,” Summer said. “You’re the fucking Immortal, I still can’t believe it.”

“Did none of that bother you?” Sol questioned.

She shrugged, leaning on the wall. “Yeah, at the time, but like- we want to be like you, not the Unwanted part but we want to become like you…”

That was the first honest thing Summer had ever said to him.

Sol sat back in his chair. “How about you June?”

June looked down to the floor. “I’m with Summer on this. Plus, you need us to be strong- we are family.”

Sol weakly smiled. “I think mum and dad would be proud if she saw you guys right now.”

June returned the weak smile with a few tears in her eyes.

“Right, so you guys want to become strong?”

They both nodded.

“I’m not gonna slow down for you.”

They still both nodded.

They headed to a nearby park together and Sol broke off into a fast jog. His sisters kept at the same pace as him- or tried too. June was the first to start sweating, and dropped off after three laps of the park. Summer did at five.

After his tenth lap he found his sisters slumped over a bench together. Sol hadn’t even broken a sweat. His sisters tried to get up again but Sol instructed them down again.

“Don’t push yourself, know your limits,” Sol explained.

“You do this every day?” June asked.

“Not everyday. When I have free time,” Sol replied.

She fell back against the wooden bench. “I need to work on my fitness.”

“You did better than I thought you would do.” Sol stated. “Now for some training.”

He expected his sisters to complain but they both seemed up for it.

They went back home and he put them through a brutal training session. They learned faster and worked together. He was impressed, they reminded him of when he was younger.

At mid-day, he got a phone call from Sharp.

“Hello? Sol said.

“Hi. How are they?”

“Surprisingly spirited. What can I do for you?”

“Actually, the scientists have discovered something. We are at the pinnacle of achieving the whole process.”

“That’s great.”

“Would you like to come by and see it?”

Sol looked at his sisters who were drenched in sweat but going over fighting techniques.

“Yeah, I can. Are you free tonight too? I’m imagining June wants to see you.”

“Absolutely, will the rest of the team be in attendance?”

“They agreed last night,” Sol said. “Send me the location and I’ll head over now.”

“Right, just a forewarning, the mana scientists are a bit strange.

“Can’t be that bad,” Sol replied.

Sharp chuckled on the other end of the line. “I’ll text you the details, see you soon.”

Sol walked back into the gym, finding his sisters beating a poor punch bag to its limits. “I’m going out for a bit. Are you guys free at six, the teams coming over?”

“Here?” Summer asked.

“Yeah, it’s about time you met them.”

“Ok, I’ll clean up.”

Sol looked at her. “... Thanks?”

“Where are you going?” June asked.

“Mr Demy has made a breakthrough in our investment, I’m going to check it out.”

“Huh. Mr Demy is an investor?”

“Yeah, me and him are doing it.”

June blushed. “He’s so dreamy.”

Sol rolled his eyes and closed the gym door. He threw on a navy jacket and cargo trousers and headed to the location Sharp had texted him. He arrived at an old building, it looked to be a university from before the Great Merge. The walls were stained with years of dirt but it didn’t take any from the grandness of the building itself.

It was in the education side of New London and young adults were walking around. He saw Sharp waiting outside, he looked rather excited which for the man was surprising, he always kept his cool.

“Sol,” Sharp said as he noticed him. “How is June?”

“Good, they seemed fine.”

“Perhaps them finding out about you was more substantial than the kidnapping.”

“That would make sense... So this is the building.”

“Wonderful isn’t it, 18th Century Earth, first used as a facility to train doctors. If you would like to follow me.”

Sol nodded and he followed the man into the building. There were people running around at high velocity, it wasn’t exactly a large building.

A woman turned the corner, she was speaking to herself and didn’t even look up.

“Professor Keller,” Sharp said.

The woman stopped abruptly and looked up. “Mr Demy,” she said, putting on a bright smile.

She was wearing a lab coat and casual wear underneath. She had a striking face and her body was slim. She was wearing small heels and her hair was put in a messy bun with a pen holding it together.

“Sol, this is Professor Keller, she is the senior lead of the operation.”

“You must be the other investor,” she said. “Thank you so much. The news gave us an extra morale boost.”

“I didn’t expect you to get things done so fast,” Sol said.

Keller looked slightly uneasy.

“Sol, it is not entirely finished yet,” Sharp reminded.

“I know, I don't know anything about this so catch me up.”

She looked a little taken aback. “You don’t know anything? At all? About shield technology?” she questioned aggressively.

“Keller, I don’t have to remind you but this is the 50% shareholder.”

“Oh, yes, sorry. Did you tell him?”

“I know,” Sol said. “How many people have tried and failed?”

“And you still invested,”

“Keller,” Sharp said with a hardened tone.

“Sorry, Mr Demy, it’s been a stressful few days.”

“I understand, would you mind showing us your most recent work.”

“Follow me please,” Keller said as she held her tongue while turning around.

Sol took in the building and unusual machines from the small sights he saw from walking down the hallway. Everyone was wearing lab coats and was furiously working. They went down a small set of steps and ended up in a large domed conservatory. Inside was a huge machine that had hundreds of wires running into it.

“Keller, thought you said you were- oh, Mr Demy, you came so soon,” an old man said.

“Yes, well, when Professor Keller told me that she had made a breakthrough on the theoretics I came as soon as I could.”

“And the man behind you?”

“I’m Sol,” Sol said casually.

“The other backer,” Sharp added. “May we watch the test?”

“Of course, we were just starting.”

They moved behind a thick wall of glass and the scientists in the room all sat at stations with dozens of monitors and buttons. Sol felt like he was in a movie. The sounds of electricity charging ran through the conservatory.

“So from what I was going on about going last night,” Keller said. “It was the mathematical rune formations that we couldn’t accurately guess without thousands of attempts which would take us decades, but the one I’ve found appears to link perfectly with the projection and multiplication runes.”

Sol had no idea what she was talking about.

“This should work theoretically, I put the designs through to the engraving team and this is the first test we are running on it.”

“You seemed so adamant last night?” Sharp questioned.

“I am, it works theoretically; based on the principles of mana-space relativity.”

“Well, we shall see,” Sharp said.

“Are we all ready?” Keller said to the room. “How are you with mana density, Mr Sol.”

“It’s just Sol, and fine.”

“Right, start charging,” Keller ordered.

The whole room rumbled as mana pulsed through the hundreds of cables towards the machines. Sol looked at Sharp with unease but the man's calmness spread to him. The conservatory started to light up from withinside the metal structure in front of him. He held onto a rail as it started to shake more.

“Start the infusion process.”

The shaking stopped and the machine in front started spinning.

He saw Keller was watching a 3d projection of something he knew nothing about.

“It’s entered the runes!” a scientist exclaimed.

“The rune is holding!” Keller shouted. “It’s taken it all! Cut power!”

The machine slowed its spinning and Keller rushed out near it and slammed a lever down. A section of the machine opened out and there was a stone which had a projection shield around it. The runes inscribed on it looked intensely complicated.

“We did it!” Keller shouted.

The projection field cut out immediately but the scientists seemed absolutely thrilled with joy. Sol had no clue what was going on; Sharp was smiling and clapping.

“Didn’t it fail?” Sol asked him quietly.

“No, they completed the hard part. They rediscovered shield technology,” Sharp said, grinning madly.

Keller came back into the protected area,.“We did it Mr Demy! We finally did it!”

“Congratulations, I knew you were different,” Sharp said. “Your name will be written in history books for time to come.”

The scientists started cheering and hugging each and that was when Sol and Sharp left them.

“I can’t believe this only costs 10 gold a month,” Sol said. “Seemed like it would cost triple that.”

“I know,” Sharp replied. “They all work for free.”

“Sorry- what?” Sol questioned.

“There are thousands of these people trying to discover it. The amount of failures is incalculable. The pay they get is a proportion of the company stocks upon the discovery, which we haven’t made yet.”

“So they have more of a push to make it?” Sol asked.

“You could say that, yes. The money they will receive now will be worth a fortune once we can finish it up and start producing it.”

“So how much will they all have?” Sol asked.

“10% in total, split between them. Professor Keller- the senior lead will have 2% of that. We will be very rich men.”

“How rich?” Sol asked.

“Equal to the Evergrand family.”

“Holy fuck,” Sol stated. “They’re worth-” he couldn’t even fathom their wealth. “My sisters will live like queens.”

“Not yet, Sol, there are many more problems to solve and business deals to do. We will need to keep this secret. As I said, the hardest part is done, they need to measure calibrations then we will need to open a factory, then marketing, then offer stocks and-”

Sharp got ahead of himself, he seemed more stressed than the scientists now.

“Hey,” Sol said. “Whatever it is, we got it. What will our company name be?”

“I haven’t actually thought of that,” Sharp replied as he scratched the top of his head.

“Demy Immortalem,” Sol said. Someone had told him the latin wording for his alias once.

“Latin for yours- cross my name- Sol that is awful. I might as well make it up with a game of scrabble.”

Sol laughed. “What are you thinking then?”

“Onwards, that was the name I came up with as a child,” Sharp said.

“Onwards…” Sol thought out loud. “The newest technology to hit the market, by Onwards.”

“To progressive and better the lives of all living beings,” Sharp added.

“I like it, you’re not going to go all evil villain on me?” Sol questioned.

“Perhaps,” Sharp joked. “With the amount of wealth we will run into we could buy an army, a city even.”

“I don’t want to turn soft,” Sol joked back.

“Good point,” Sharp added. “However, with how much trouble you run into I doubt you possibly could.”

“Yeah, it’s like I’m the main character,” Sol said.