The Northvale Key

Episode 2

The message consisted of only three words, but it was enough to turn the entire atmosphere in the room cold and lethal. Welcome Back, Mr. Northvale. Your First Order?

Cassian stared at the message. His fingers, which had been rough from the warehouse dust, now felt incredibly light upon the keyboard. He took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with a light he had long since deliberately extinguished.

"Time to stop hiding," he muttered, his voice hoarse yet filled with unshakable authority.

Just as he was about to type his first command, his phone rang on the desk. It was a call from Lianna. Cassian picked it up, trying to steady his voice to sound like the usual loser she knew.

"Yes, Lianna? Where are you?"

"Cassian..." Lianna’s voice on the other end sounded choked, punctuated by stifled sobs. "Cyrus... he just kicked me out of the office. Grandma took his side. I don't know where to go."

The world seemed to stop spinning for a moment for Cassian. He clenched his fist under the table, his nails digging into his palm.

"Don't worry, Lianna. Stay there. Wait for me in front of the lobby," Cassian said in a soft voice, even as his eyes stared sharply at the hundred-million-dollar balance in front of him.

"But Cassian, they deactivated all my card access... I can't call a taxi, I don't have—"

"Wait for me for ten more minutes," Cassian interrupted with an incredibly calm tone, a tone that made Lianna fall silent for a moment because she had never heard her husband speak with such strength. "Starting tomorrow, no one will be able to touch you."

Cassian cut the connection. He looked back at his laptop screen. The Northvale Syndicate network was ready. Global fund access was open. He began to type.

Identity: Agent D. Target: Cyrus Ashworth. Operation: Liquidity Test.

Enter.

As he stood up from his chair, a flash of lightning struck the night sky, illuminating his face through the window. There was no longer the dusty 'Note-Taker' Cassian. The man standing there now was the shadow ruler who had just awakened.

Cassian grabbed his jacket and stepped out, just as another notification arrived on his secret phone.

Request Accepted. The Entire Structure of the Valerian Group is Now Within Our Surveillance Radar.

The Digital Crypt of the Ancestors

The lingering ring of the signal on Cassian’s laptop screen felt like a pulse beating again after fifteen years of dormancy. The man leaned his back against the creaking wooden chair, his eyes unblinking as they watched the lines of green code crawling across the screen. Every second brought information capable of shaking the very foundations of the world economy.

"Encrypted connection stable," a synthetic voice from the laptop speakers sounded heavy, as if coming from behind the mists of the past. "Scanning genetic lineage. Verifying Northvale protocol base structure. Please speak, Mr. Northvale."

"How much did they leave for me?" Cassian asked. His voice was raspy, more like a ghost's whisper than a leader's instruction.

"The entire world in numbers, Sir. But to be more specific..." The screen flickered violently. Zeros began to appear one by one, lining up ruthlessly behind the number five. "Current and tied assets of the Northvale Syndicate reach a total accumulated value of five hundred billion US dollars. Physical gold reserves are under the authority of Bunker Eleven. Do I need to display the details of real estate holdings on the Asian continent?"

Cassian closed his eyes tightly. Five hundred billion. That number was too vast to fit into the logic of someone who, for the last three years, had only been given a lunch allowance of fifty thousand rupiah by his mother-in-law.

"Save the details," Cassian murmured. "Who else can see that this key has been activated?"

"Only me, the host system. However, Sir, any movement of funds will leave an energy trace on the financial markets. The Coven entity will realize the return of the 'Shadow Emperor' if you are not careful. Do you feel afraid?"

Afraid? Cassian stared at his own palm, which still bore old scars from the attack that night. The smell of blood and the fire from the night of his family's m******e suddenly filled his nose again. If I press the enter button, I'm not just taking the money. I'm taking the target that has been on my back all this time.

"If I don't go in now, my wife will end up on the streets because of trash like Cyrus Ashworth," Cassian answered sharply. "Is that worth my family's bloody history?"

"History is just data, Sir. The future is your command. Are you willing to accept the Northvale destiny in its entirety?"

Cassian took a deep breath. The image of Lianna's sobbing face on the phone earlier was the most fatal trigger. The security of his simple life had already been destroyed, not because of his actions, but because of others' greed. If the world wanted him to be a financial monster, then so be it.

"Authorize the identity of 'Mr. North.' From now on, every asset in this city is my chessboard," Cassian commanded. His hands moved quickly over the keyboard, typing a series of passwords known only to the purest Northvale bloodline.

Click. A faint mechanical sound came from inside the USB port. The red light on the key turned into a calm, glowing white. All the data on the screen now transformed into a global capital market graphic map moving in real-time, far more sophisticated than any Bloomberg terminal Cassian had ever seen at the Valerian Group.

"Acceptance of destiny confirmed. 'Mr. North' identity active globally. Congratulations, Sir. You are now the richest and most hunted person on the face of the earth."

Cassian stared at the screen coldly. "Give me a small proof that this power is real."

"According to the 'Rebirth' protocol, emergency access worth one hundred million US dollars has been deposited into your encrypted sub-account. This fund is the first test capital. Do you wish to eliminate Cyrus Ashworth immediately tonight?"

Cassian saw the hundred-million-dollar figure glowing in the bottom right corner of the screen. A thin, lethal smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"Don't be in a hurry," Cassian replied calmly. "Physically vanishing is too cheap for him. I want him to see his kingdom crumble brick by brick, without knowing that my hand is the one pulling the foundation."

Cassian’s phone on the desk suddenly vibrated violently. It wasn't from Lianna. A message notification appeared on his phone screen from an unknown number. The message consisted of only four short words.

Welcome back, Little King. -The Root Iron.

Cassian’s blood felt like it froze. He stared at the message for a long time, his breath hitching. Who knew that he had just unlocked that key in the very same minute? The shadow of a mysterious woman with a gaze as hard as iron began to loom in his mind.

"Identify the sender of this message now!" Cassian commanded his laptop.

"Warning, Sir," the AI voice sounded with a sigh full of statics. "Sender data is protected by the highest level of Northvale protocols. That person is someone from within your own organization. Someone who might be waiting for you in the darkness of the Valerian office lobby right now."

Cassian grabbed his jacket, ignoring his laptop which was still glowing brightly. He ran out of the apartment, his heart pounding not because of his newfound wealth, but because he realized that the war he had avoided for fifteen years had now officially knocked on his door.