RD 3 Ch 30 (Patreon)

Chapter 30

Circe leaned back in her chair, fresh from overseeing the installation of the Hellgate anchor into Bran's demon trap. She was not an impatient woman, but she was feeling a little bitter at the moment as she played with her long blue hair and stared out the window for a moment.

Four months had passed with no sign of Bran.

Almost as if she could see through walls, she glanced in the direction of the Vault. Bran had left behind a number of his crafters and non-combatants from the Mul Branova, but he had taken anyone with a penchant for fighting with him.

With Gloria absent, the Nestors had turned to her to handle matters related to the Initiated. After all, Bran's mother and Thorin were off, being utilized by Circe to clear the instances that were meant for Bran and the Mul Branova. However, his disappearance into the Vault had lasted far longer than anyone had anticipated.

The whole reason she had even moved to Vein City had vanished. She couldn’t help but be bitter. Though, he’d be back soon, she hoped.

"So, are you satisfied?" Carmen asked, settling into a chair in Circe's office. The old mobster was patient, but also expectant of her praise. He had pride in spades, she knew how to handle these types.

"It's wonderful. Thank you, Carmen, and thank you for all the help your family has been offering. With Bran's extended absence, as well as your daughter's, things have been busier than I expected." An understatement of the century. Setting up a detection system for instances in North America was hard enough without putting out fires daily.

Carmen laughed good-naturedly. "It's not a problem. We're happy to help, especially since I assume I'll be getting good use out of much of this once it all comes online. That room is essentially a giant barrel we're going to fill up with demonic fish and take pot shots at one after the next."

Circe couldn’t help but nod, it was going to be incredibly useful.

The room was like an inverted castle turret, a column of heavily reinforced concrete with the Hellgate Anchor placed in the center and about ten feet of buffer. It provided enough room for the demons to step away from the Hell Gate, but not much more than that.

Above, the place was filled with arrow slits, once again reinforced extensively with Bran's inscriptions. On the ground level, there were two narrow doorways where experts could be placed to clear the room as needed. Anyone, regardless of their strength, could simply hang out around the arrow slits, raining their attacks, magical or mundane, down on the demons below, while the two experts cleared the demons out in swaths and helped level everyone involved.

"I think we'll both be using it. I've even moved some of my people from the Heroes Clan here to take advantage, especially if Bran doesn't return by the time it's in full operation." Circe added, she wondered what had gone wrong.

Carmen waved his hand dismissively. "We still have plenty of time, Circe. It'll be about a year before it comes into use. I don't think Bran will take that long."

"I should hope not, but he said a month or two at most, and now it's been far longer than any of us expected." Circe put her hands back on her desk.

The vault was currently under 24/7 surveillance. There hadn't been an iota of movement from it, and Circe couldn't help but worry. She reached into her drawer to check the talisman Bran had given her. It was still intact, which meant Bran and Nyx were safe. "Still, I can't help but worry about timing. Bran has built so much, only to take all the people who were supposed to use it and disappear."

Carmen nodded, pulling out his own talisman from his pocket. Circe suspected it was synced to Gloria. "I would be just as worried as you. Possibly even more, since it's my baby girl in there. However, I have learned in my short time to trust Bran. He'll pull through," Carmen said, slapping his knees and groaning as he stood. "But we can't wait. There's too much we have to do, so if you'll excuse me, Circe, I'm going to get going. I look forward to becoming an initiated and vitality keeping any more age away."

Circe nodded, letting him leave without stringing the conversation out. As soon as Carmen left, one of her people entered the room. "Circe, we have a guest."

The branch leader of the Hero's Clan laced her fingers and leaned back in her chair. “You're nervous. Go ahead, whoever it is, let them in." Circe answered. It was unusual for him to be on edge.

"It's from the Borrson Clan," Her man said hurriedly, causing Circe to narrow her eyes dangerously.

"Bring a steel-framed chair for him." She instructed.

"Of course, at once." The man rushed out, returning with a chair. 

A small shudder of the building announced the arrival of the Borrson clan member as he stomped through the building. He may not have intended to stomp, but all the Borrsons were so heavy that buildings always seemed to shake.

When the giant of a man entered the room, Circe's eyes narrowed dangerously. He was over nine feet tall with shoulders as broad as an ox. He was well known to Circe, after all, the two of them shared similar positions in their respective clans. "Vidar, what are you doing here?" she asked, removing all emotion from her voice. Vidar needed to be handled carefully, the man was not known for his patience and the Nesters would be pissed if they had to rebuild this building.

"I should be asking you that question," Vidar retorted. He glanced at the steel-framed chair and thumped himself down, causing the floor to shift. The impact was impressive considering the floor was made of concrete and rebar underneath the wooden façade. 

"I am here managing several tasks for my clan," Circe waved dismissively. “This isn’t new and you know this already.”

"Ah yes, managing things for your clan, as you sit in a newly-made fortress built up by a bunch of gangsters. Let’s add in that I hear there's an exile from my clan that's been around here and his wife. Though, she is a Heros, your involvement in all of this, that I do not understand," Vidar said, smiling dangerously. 

Vidar was a wild, red-haired man with a thick beard and tan skin that rippled with muscle. Even sitting, he was probably taller than Circe standing. He should be treated like the wild animal he appeared to be.

"I didn't know the Borrsons were one for word games," Circe said. "Spit it out, Vidar. What are you doing here?" He was a direct man when it came down to it.

"I came to investigate," he said casually, though the man wasn’t exactly a good actor. Circe could tell how feigned it was. "After all, a branch leader of the hero's clan making movements catches our interest. North America has been a bit of a neutral zone unless you are planning on changing that?”

“It catches your interest when it's around Thorin, doesn't it? Or perhaps, maybe you're more interested to understand why Elle Heros isn't dead, especially considering the Borrson clan sent a woman to assassinate her?" Circe challenged, she wasn’t in a mood to beat around the bush.

Vidar's face fell. He wasn't very good at hiding his emotions, but he quickly snapped his face back into a jovial smile. 

"I hadn't heard about all that. After all, I wouldn't be involved in something as petty as assassinations. Certainly not of a hero's clan member, no matter how defunct she seems to be from her own clan," He eyed Circe.

"Exactly," she continued. "Why would you bother with two exiles spending time together? I think it's wonderful that they've both found something interesting." 

Vidar narrowed his eyes. "You know, there's also this rumor of a rather large young man having made a startling impression on the Heros clan lately." Vidar pulled out a photo of Bran. "He's got that big frame, squared jaw.” Bran looked just like a Borrson in that picture. It also meant that the Heros Clan had more spy issues because that photo was of the rebuild after the demon attack.

“Yes, kind of like Hercules," Circe said quickly, not letting him get to her. 

Vidar waved the photo around. "No, no. He looks like, oh, who is it? Ah, right, that exile, Thorin." He smacked the photo down on the desk as if to give her another look. "It is unacceptable for the Heros clan to come after the Borrson clan's blood. You leeches will not get your fangs in us." 

Circe only leaned back, a giant, genuine smile gracing her face. Vidar wasn’t going to back down, so why not get aggressive. Bran could handle himself. "Oh, well, you're half right, but half wrong. Did you know Bran Heroes awakened the Golden Titan bloodline?" 

Vidar's face froze, his jaw tensing up before the solid steel chair’s arm rest warped loudly.

"I know, even I was surprised that after he went through the Heros clan blood he was able to reach a Golden Titan SSS rank bloodline. You know, amongst the clan, he's gotten quite a high status, especially for being so young." Circe continued, nodding along. “The Heros Clan will take wonderful care of him.”

"No," The large Borrson man growled.

Circe couldn't help but smile as she rubbed Bran in Vidar's face for multiple reasons. She knew she was now putting Bran in danger, though the truth was she was more likely putting the Borrson clan in danger.

Bran had a certain knack for working his way out of everything, and she doubted it would be any different if he were to go head to head with one of the five clans. And also, she couldn't help but get one up on Vidar. He was an asshole of the Borrson clan and had tried to take more than one of her Odyssey teams out.

If he really went all out against Bran, then Circe would intervene.

"Well, if he has awakened a Titan bloodline, then that proves he's a Borrson," Vidar said, the solid steel-framed chair warping further.

This is why she had several spares.

Circe's smile only grew wider, seeing that she was irritating him. "Unfortunately, he was born with the Heros Clan bloodline, not simply a Titan. It was only after the Heros Clan awakening that he got the Titan bloodline. Also, it has been the Heros Clan that has nurtured him while he's already become aware that you sent someone for his mother."

Vidar’s face turned dark.

Circe's smile grew wider and wider. "I do wonder who he would actually consider family," she pondered aloud while tapping at her chin, enjoying watching Vidar's expression grow more and more furious. 

"Where is he?" Vidar demanded. 

Circe shrugged. "Gone. He's been missing for four months. I'm actually quite irritated with him myself.” Now she took the target away from Vidar, hopefully Bran stayed away long enough to make the Borrson irate that he couldn’t find him.

“You could tell me where he went. I would appreciate that. Such a talent, and he's gone missing? No the Heros Clan would never lose one that they got their teeth in." Vidar's irritation shifted to genuine confusion.

"If you knew Bran, you would understand. He is not someone that can be held down even by one of the Five Clans. Did you know he reached level one hundred in two weeks?" Circe answered.

Bran was very much a wild mustang. Having inherited such a powerful bloodline, he used that strength to do his own thing. It was best to let him run rather than try and leash him to any one cart.

She could only smirk at the increasingly frustrated expression on Vidar's face. "This fortress I'm currently in," she waved around, "was actually his idea. He's the one who spent all of the effort to have it built. I'm sure he'll return one day." 

With the knowledge Bran was not currently present, Vidar stood up to leave. The Borrson wouldn’t even end the meeting with pleasantries after being upset.

This time, Circe was fairly sure he was actually storming his way out, judging by the way the floor shook even harder. Yet, she couldn't help but smile.

To some degree, she wanted to see Bran and the Borrson clan's tribe leader go head to head. She was certain Bran would surprise her and likely everyone else, especially if he came out of that vault with any sort of advantage. 

He was the kind of man that she expected to walk out of that vault, possibly several times stronger than when he entered. She didn't know how he could do that in a place like that. But four months of opportunity? Circe raised an eyebrow and scoffed at the idea. 

"Bran is going to become a monster," she thought. The longer he was gone, only meant the more monstrous he’d be when he left.

Circe let out a sigh at that thought, some tension leaving her. He’d be fine and surprise her when he came back. Now, he just needed to return so she didn't have to do all of the work herself.