"You don't know?" Nick asked in surprise.
Wyntor just shook his head.
Nick just kept looking at Wyntor in shock.
After a while, Wyntor looked at Nick, and his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "What's with that expression?" he asked.
"I'm just surprised," Nick said. "You always have an answer. Whenever I ask you something, you have an answer."
"It's just weird seeing you not have one for once."
Wyntor snorted. "I'm not all-knowing, Nick. I know more things than normal people due to my background and my familiarity with Kugelblitz, but I still don't know everything."
"I've never heard of anything that a Specter would value more than their own life."
"Getting captured by a Manufacturer is essentially dying to a Specter. I have no idea what a Specter would value above that."
At that point, Wyntor moved backward and scratched his chin.
"But I wouldn't rule that possibility out either," he added.
"So, how do you want to proceed?" Nick asked.
Wyntor remained silent for a while.
"I want to talk to dad first," Wyntor said.
Nick nodded.
"I will talk to him during the evening, and I will tell you what to do tomorrow," Wyntor said. "Just keep observing the Riker Strikers. Also, I want you to make sure that there is truly no opening for light to enter the room. I don't want to worry this much about something just to find out that you overlooked a hole in the wall."
"Of course," Nick said.
The two nodded, and Nick left Wyntor's office.
Nick went back to the Riker Strikers and made sure that he hadn't overlooked anything.
He even climbed all over the house to make sure that there were no openings for some kind of hidden light shaft.
After over an hour of searching through everything, Nick was certain that there was no way for any kind of light to enter the room.
Eventually, Nick went back to Dark Dream and worked normally for the remainder of the day.
The next day, Nick met Wyntor in his office again.
"So, what's up?" Nick asked, sitting down in one of the chairs in Wyntor's office.
Wyntor looked a bit annoyed.
"Dad kept deflecting," Wyntor said.
"Deflecting?" Nick asked.
Wyntor nodded.
"When I asked him if there is anything that a Specter would value over their entire existence, he looked at me with this expression that means he thinks I found something out that I shouldn't have," Wyntor said.
"He kept asking questions, but I refused to tell him any details. After all, this is about my company. If this is something that's worth a lot of money, I'm certainly not going to hand it to Kugelblitz."
"He kept assuring me that he isn't trying to steal my Specter and that he only wants me to stay safe, but I'm not buying that," Wyntor said.
"So? Is there something that a Specter values more than their life?" Nick asked.
"Dad didn't deny that there was," Wyntor said.
A moment later, Wyntor took something out and put it on the table.
It was some kind of red stick that was barely 30 centimeters long.
"He gave me this," Wyntor said.
"What's that?" Nick asked.
"It's an emergency signal for city guards," Wyntor explained. "Infuse it with your own Zephyx and break it. The signal is used for when a powerful Specter has been found outside a Containment Unit."
"The misuse of the signal is punishable by death, and dad made very sure to tell me that several times."
Nick took the red stick and looked at it in wonder.
"I should take that with me?" Nick asked.
Wyntor nodded.
"Dad said that if you are unsure of whether you should use it or not, you should not use it."
"If you need to use it, you will be absolutely sure that you will need to use it. That's how he phrased it," Wyntor said.
Nick took a deep breath, but in the end, he pocketed the thing.
The words that Wyntor had spoken made Nick very worried.
"And now?" Nick asked.
"Now, you are going to break into that room and find out what's in there," Wyntor said.
Nick took another deep breath and nodded.
The two of them ironed out the details of how they were going to proceed, and then it was time for Nick to leave.
"Nick, don't die," Wyntor said.
"I'll do my best not to," Nick answered with a nod.
Eventually, Nick went to the headquarters of the Riker Strikers again.
By now, the headquarters felt much darker and more dangerous to Nick.
The closer he got to actually entering the room, the more nervous he felt.
The way Vernon had talked to Wyntor made it seem like Nick was getting involved in something that was vastly beyond his level.
Nick kept watch over the entrance to Riker's room for several hours.
Eventually, Riker left the room again with Monica.
Nick took a deep breath and quickly entered the room on the third floor.
Quickly, Nick created several holes in the floor below the bed.
He had to make sure that enough light fell into the room below this one.
After all, Nick didn't want to come into contact with the Nightmare right now.
Then, Nick turned into fog again and slowly moved through the cuts he had made.
He turned back into his corporeal form and readied his blade.
Nick's heart rate reached incredible speeds.
This was it!
Nick rammed his blade into the corner of the room and made a long cut.
Nick's eyes narrowed when he saw nothing through the cut.
This confirmed it.
The room was completely dark!
Additionally, Nick felt that his ability was still active, which meant that nobody had noticed him.
'There's no way back now!'
Nick created several more cuts in the floor to make sure that Riker's room had enough light for Nick.
And then, Nick turned into fog and floated into the room.
Now, Nick could finally see the room.
It was empty.
No desks, beds, chairs, or whatever.
It was completely empty.
Except for one thing.
In the middle of the room was some kind of… stone circle.
There were four big stones in the middle, which were surrounded by seven stones in a circle.
Outside the stone circle was another stone, but this one was quite bigger than the others.
It was almost perfectly round and nearly 20 centimeters high.
Nick did not like what he was seeing.
It felt insanely creepy.
Eventually, Nick turned back into his human form and landed in the room.
'Is this what Vernon talked about?' Nick thought.
Nick wasn't completely sure.
He thought this would be what Vernon meant.
'Vernon said that I would know without a doubt if I had to use the signal, and right now, I'm not sure.'
Nick looked around the room.
Eventually, Nick gritted his teeth.
He had to confirm it.
Nick took out the signal he had received from Wyntor.
And then, he moved his hand towards the stone circle.
CRRRRK!
The hairs on the back of Nick's neck stood up as he saw the big stone in the room changing shape.
A moment later, the shape of the stone had changed into the shape of a starving child sitting on the ground.
The statue of the child looked so real!
It was almost like Nick was looking at a real starving child!
And then…
The statue's eyes opened.
And Nick's ability deactivated!
The statue looked at Nick, its eyes completely black.
Nick felt like he had been flung into eternal darkness.
"You have the power of the Eternal."
The child's voice echoed throughout the room.
"I will take that power from you!"
"Your power is mine!"