The air in the office was thick with the scent of ozone and ancient dust.
It was a sensory whiplash.
One moment Kaelen Thorne had been standing in the heart of a dying sun surrounded by the jagged code of a dissolving universe.
The next he was standing on a stained beige carpet.
The walls were covered in wood paneling that hadn't been fashionable for thirty years.
A single fluorescent light flickered overhead buzzing with a low rhythmic hum that felt like a migraine in the making.
Kaelen did not panic.
He adjusted his glasses and looked at the man sitting behind the massive clunky desk.
The man named Saturn was older with a crown of white hair and a sweater vest that looked profoundly ordinary.
He was currently typing on a mechanical keyboard the clicking sounds echoing like distant gunfire.
You're staring Kaelen Saturn said without looking up from the glowing green text on his CRT monitor.
I know it's a bit of a downgrade from the Solar Core.
But I've always found that the most important decisions are made in the smallest rooms.
Kaelen walked forward his charcoal suit looking wildly out of place in this relic of a room.
He looked at the name tag on the desk.
SATURN. PRIME AUDITOR.
Kaelen activated his [Eye of the Debtor].
[WARNING: ANALYZING UNIVERSAL CONSTANT]
[DATA UNAVAILABLE]
[REASON: THE TARGET IS THE SOURCE]
Kaelen felt a sharp sting in his eyes as the System refused to categorize the man before him.
The System was his ward now but even a guardian could not audit the one who wrote the law.
You called me here for an audit Kaelen said his voice echoing in the small space.
The Original Architect fled. The Widow was repelled.
Why involve yourself now?
Saturn finally stopped typing and looked up.
His eyes were a deep tranquil blue that felt like staring into the bottom of a calm ocean.
I involve myself because the books don't balance Kaelen.
Saturn stood up and walked toward a filing cabinet in the corner.
He pulled out a thick folder and tossed it onto the desk.
It landed with a heavy thud that released a cloud of paper dust.
In the original timeline you were a failure Saturn said.
You were a Rank F logistics officer with a life expectancy of thirty four years.
You died in the mud of Seoul exactly as the script required.
But then you came back.
Saturn leaned over the desk his blue eyes boring into Kaelen's obsidian ones.
Regression is a very expensive service Kaelen.
It requires a massive amount of 'Causality Capital' to rewind a world.
The question I've been asking is: who paid for your second chance?
Kaelen's heart seal pulsed with a cold white light.
I assumed it was a System anomaly Kaelen replied.
A glitch in the Great Recital.
Saturn laughed a soft dry sound.
The System does not glitch Kaelen.
It is a machine of perfect logic.
If you are here it means someone took out a loan in your name.
And the interest on that loan is currently threatening to bankrupt the entire multiverse.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[HIDDEN QUEST UPDATED: THE ANONYMOUS DEBTOR]
[OBJECTIVE: IDENTIFY THE SOURCE OF YOUR REGRESSION]
[REWARD: PERMANENT ROOT ACCESS]
Kaelen felt the weight of the realization hit him like a physical blow.
He had thought he was the one in control.
He had thought he was the one collecting the debts of the world.
But he was the biggest debtor of them all.
If I was a loan Kaelen said his voice dropping to a lethal whisper then why let me get this far?
Why let me seize the Academy and buy a stake in the Sun?
Saturn walked toward the window but there was no view outside.
There was only a swirling grey mist where the world should be.
Because I wanted to see if you were worth the investment Saturn said.
The High Council of Heaven wants you deleted.
The Shadow Monarch wants you enslaved.
But I wanted to see if an Accountant could do what a Hero couldn't.
Saturn turned back to Kaelen a small sad smile on his face.
The Apocalypse wasn't a failure of power Kaelen.
It was a failure of management.
The Gods were too busy competing for market share to notice the entropy.
But you... you turned the entropy into a business model.
Kaelen looked at the folder on the desk.
The pages inside were shifting changing into a million different languages.
If I'm an investment then tell me the price of my stay Kaelen said.
What does the Prime Auditor want from a Villainous Auditor?
Saturn walked back to his chair and sat down heavily.
I want you to liquidate the Council of Sponsors Kaelen.
I want you to fire the Gods.
The System has become bloated and corrupt.
The Sponsors are no longer helping the worlds grow.
They are just farming them for soul dividends.
I want you to perform a Hostile Takeover of the Heavens and the Abyss.
Kaelen narrowed his eyes.
You're asking me to commit deicide on a corporate scale.
I'm asking you to do your job Saturn corrected.
But there is a catch.
To give you the power to do this I have to officially recognize your debt.
You will be given the [Universal Credit Line].
But if you fail to liquidate the Council within the next three days...
The world won't just be deleted Kaelen.
It will be as if it never existed.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[FINAL OFFER DETECTED: THE PRIME CONTRACT]
[DO YOU WISH TO SIGN?]
Kaelen Thorne looked at the mechanical keyboard and the flickering monitor.
He looked at the grey mist outside.
He realized that everything he had done up to this point was just the training phase.
The real game was about to begin.
I'll sign Kaelen said.
But I have one condition.
Saturn raised an eyebrow. An Auditor making demands to the Prime?
I want the Lia Sinclair Escrow to remain untouchable Kaelen said.
No matter what happens to me her void must be protected from the liquidation.
Saturn paused then he nodded once.
A wise investment. She is your only insurance policy.
Kaelen reached out and pressed his golden heart seal onto the folder.
The beige office exploded into a million shards of white light.