The Holo Earth

Chapter 25

Liam's footsteps echoed through the empty house, each creak of the floorboards sending a shiver down his spine. The silence pressed in on him, broken only by the faint hum of his high-end electronics—once a source of pride, now a mocking reminder of danger.

The air seemed to thicken. Liam's heart raced. Something was different, wrong.

"Hello?" he called out, his voice wavering. No response, just the oppressive silence.

A chill ran down his spine as he noticed his breath misting in the suddenly cold air. The room's edges blurred, as if reality itself was coming undone.

"Zolok?" Liam whispered, more to himself than expecting an answer. He instinctively reached for the pendant that was no longer there. The silence stretched, unbroken. Then, just as he began to think he'd imagined it all...

A low chuckle seemed to emanate from the very walls. "Missing something, Liam?"

Liam spun around, searching for the source of the voice. "How... how are you here? I don't have the pendant anymore."

The air shimmered, coalescing into a nebulous, ethereal form. Zolok's presence filled the room, oppressive and dominating.

"Oh, Liam," Zolok's voice dripped with amusement. "Still clinging to your quaint notions of how things work?"

A chilling laugh filled the room, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "Oh, Liam. You still understand so little." Zolok's form pulsed, growing more defined. "The pendant was never about our connection. It was an invitation, a team uniform, a brand mark on a cow, a mark of ownership, if you will."

Liam's mind reeled. "But I thought—"

"You thought wrong," Zolok interrupted. "It's not necessary for our connection, but it communicates our relationship to other Xenumia. Like Ivonne, Jon's wife. She has a pendant from an allied Xenumia."

"Where is it?" Liam asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Don't worry, it will be returned to you," Zolok said, his tone mockingly reassuring. "But for now, I'm having more fun with it being... elsewhere."

A chill ran down Liam's spine. Before he could respond, his phone buzzed in his pocket and he reflexively pulled it out.

The headline made his blood run cold: "Mayor Evans Withdraws from Re-election Amid Library Scandal."

Liam's stomach churned as he read further. The scandal he had reported had ruined Evans' career, leaving Sheila Medina—a corrupt real estate magnate with a history of suspected bribery and extortion—as the only remaining candidate.

"Ah, I see you've received the news," Zolok's voice dripped with cruel satisfaction. "Quite the turn of events, isn't it? Oh, and did I mention? Sheila has a pendant like yours. She's on Team Zolok."

The implications hit Liam and he stumbled back, catching himself on the edge of the desk. "What have I done?" he whispered, more to himself than to Zolok.

"You've played your part perfectly," Zolok replied, his ethereal form pulsing with what seemed like satisfaction. "Now, about those plans..."

Liam's brow furrowed in confusion. "Plans? What plans?"

Zolok's presence seemed to darken, filling the room with a palpable tension. "Don't play coy, Liam. The AI plans. Your grandfather's magnum opus. The very reason I chose you in the first place."

A cold dread settled in the pit of Liam's stomach. "But... but those are just theoretical designs. They're incomplete. Why would you want them?"

"Incomplete?" Zolok's laughter was like ice scraping against Liam's nerves. "Oh, Liam. Your grandfather was far more brilliant than you give him credit for. Those plans, in the right hands, could ruin your world. And I can't allow that to happen."