"I’d hate for you to break a hip during an interrogation. Also, are you crazy or what? Why would you suddenly attack me?"
"Because you’re making fun of us."
Samuel answered without the slightest hesitation. The old man was still rubbing his fist as though he was the victim in that exchange.
I pointed at him.
"You attacked me."
"And you deserved it."
"How?"
"By lying."
I blinked.
"What lie?"
"The Ironhart part."
Samuel answered immediately.
"There are no living Ironharts left."
The irritation on my face slowly disappeared. For the first time since waking up, I became serious.
"What?"
"There are no living Ironharts left."
He repeated the statement confidently.
"Every surviving Ironhart was hunted down. Every branch of the family was wiped out. Every stronghold eventually fell. Those who died ended up here."
He spread both arms.
"In the Null Realm."
I stared at him for several seconds. Then slowly rubbed my forehead.
"Where did you get that stupid information from?"
The old man’s eyebrows immediately shot upward.
"Excuse me?"
"I said where did you get that stupid information from?"
Samuel looked genuinely offended.
"Because it’s true."
"It clearly isn’t."
"It is."
"It isn’t."
"It is."
I pointed at myself.
"I am literally standing right here."
"Which is exactly why I know you’re lying."
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Then opened it again. I was not sure how to explain this fact to this stupid old man.
Samuel folded his arms.
"We have records. We know every surviving branch. Every person that managed to escape Eternal capture. There are no living Ironharts. Everyone is dead."
I stared at him. Then pointed at my own chest again.
"I am a living Ironhart."
"No."
"Yes."
The argument continued for several seconds before I finally threw both hands into the air.
"This is ridiculous."
I took a deep breath. Then considered causing pure chaos here. Right then a loud creaking sound echoed through the room.
Both of us turned toward the entrance.
The heavy metal door swung open and one of the hooded figures hurried inside. Unlike the others I had fought earlier, this one seemed visibly rushed. He crossed the room almost immediately and stopped beside Samuel before handing over a tightly rolled scroll.
Samuel frowned and accepted it.
"What is it now?"
The hooded figure didn’t answer. Or perhaps wasn’t allowed to answer. Samuel broke the seal and unrolled the parchment. Initially his expression remained unchanged. Then his eyes moved further down the page.
His frown deepened.
A few moments later his entire body froze. I watched the transformation happen in real time.
The old man’s eyes widened. His gaze snapped toward me. Then immediately returned to the scroll.
Then back to me again.
For several long seconds he simply stood there staring between both as though reality had suddenly stopped making sense.
"What?" I asked.
He gave no response and just continued reading. His eyes moved over the same section twice.
Then a third time. Eventually he lowered the scroll slightly.
"That’s impossible."
I raised an eyebrow.
"What is?"
The old man ignored me. His gaze remained fixed on the parchment.
"How is this possible?"
The words barely escaped his mouth. Then he looked at me again. This time there was no anger.
Only confusion.
The sort of confusion people experienced when two facts they knew to be true suddenly collided with one another.
Samuel looked back at the scroll one final time. Then slowly lowered it. His lips moved. Almost as though he was speaking to himself.
"How can he be an Ironhart?"
Even the hooded figure standing beside him appeared confused by the reaction.
Meanwhile I stood there watching the old man’s worldview collapse in real time and found myself becoming increasingly curious about whatever information had just arrived.
Because judging by Samuel’s face, somebody somewhere had just confirmed that I wasn’t lying.
"Can I look at the scroll?" I asked.
Samuel stared at me for a moment before tossing it over without a word. I caught it easily and immediately unrolled it.
The moment my eyes moved across the contents, my expression changed. There was far more information than I expected.
The first section contained my image along with basic details. My name. My age. The names of my parents. Even the names of my grandparents were listed. Beneath that was the world I originated from: Vaythos.
From there the report became increasingly detailed.
Major events from my life had been recorded one after another. My rise within Vaythos. The wars. The conquest of the world itself. The formation of the Order of Absolute. The expansion into Blue Spiral. Important battles against Eternals.
It was all there.
The further I read, the more surprised I became.
Eventually the report transitioned into information gathered from the Null Realm. My arrival. My movements. The destruction I had caused and the incident involving Verilux.
Whoever had compiled this report had access to an alarming amount of information. Yet something immediately stood out.
There was no mention of Gerald.
No record of our meeting or any mention of his settlement. The omission was so obvious that it practically jumped off the page.
That realization immediately told me something important.
Someone inside the Null Realm was gathering information on a massive scale. Not only information from the Prime Territory but even events occurring within the living worlds. The organization behind this report clearly possessed an intelligence network capable of crossing both realms.
And somehow Gerald existed outside of it. That alone was impressive.
I rolled the scroll shut and looked back toward Samuel.
"So..." I waved the document slightly. "Can we get out of this dark prison cell now?"
Samuel didn’t respond.
His eyes remained fixed on me. The expression on his face had become increasingly strange the longer I read.
"I came here looking for the Ironharts," I continued. "And unless somebody has made a very impressive mistake, I think I’ve arrived at exactly the right place."
The old man continued staring. For a moment he almost looked as though he had seen a ghost.
Or perhaps a devil. Eventually his lips moved.
"But why would they lie?"
The words were so quiet that I nearly missed them. My eyes narrowed immediately.
"What?"
Samuel barely seemed aware that he had spoken aloud.
"Why would they lie about something like that?"
A strange feeling formed in my chest. I slowly lowered the scroll.
"Lie about what?" I asked.
This time Samuel looked directly at me. The confusion remained.
So did the disbelief. But beneath both of them was something else.
"Your death."
I stared at him.
"What are you talking about?"
Samuel glanced toward the scroll still resting in my hand. Then back toward me.
"The reports your parents sent."
My heartbeat slowed. Every instinct told me the conversation had just become important.
"Sent where?"
"To us."
The answer arrived immediately.
"As far as every Ironhart settlement in the Prime Territory knows..." Samuel paused briefly before continuing. "You died years ago."