Nightrise

The car slowed down and stopped at the traffic lights. The driver tapped his thumbs against the steering wheel, waiting for the lights to change.

After a few minutes, the lights changed, but the car didn't move. There was an obstruction just ahead. Two trucks had crashed into each other. The owners were standing on the highway arguing about whose fault it was.

What is it, Mark?" The passenger asked.

"I'm sorry, sir. There seems to have been an incident."

"It Doesn't matter. We've got plenty of time."

The inside of the car was air-conditioned, and the air was filtered twice before it entered. The seats were leather, the windows tinted, the floor thickly carpeted. The passenger was reading a newspaper and there were several bottles of water in the compartment next to him. Even without bullet glass, the thick military-grade armor built into the side panels, and the doors as heavy as those on a commercial airliner, he would have felt secure and stability removed from the world outside. He was the chief executive officer of Nightrise corporation, the most powerful scientific research company on the planet. He was protected.

Nightrise had come a long way in the last centuries. What started as a group of humans on a journey driven by curiosity had turned into a record-breaking, Nobel prize-winning company and was active in the fields of energy-weapon development. It controlled 20 percent of the world economy. Its pharmaceutical wing owned the cures to virtually all the world's diseases. No newspaper or television station criticized Nightrise, because Nightrise had bought them all.

The chief executive was called Oscar Lake and had been working for the company all his life. His mother, Samantha Lake was the previous chief and had been highly regarded until she was killed by a godslayer during her vacation in Moscow. When he heard the news he didn't bother to attend her funeral. He was far too busy and had been brought up with one simple rule: Business always comes first. He didn't like his mother very much anyway. He only saw her a couple of times a year and he was slightly jealous of her success.

Oscar was still a young man, which was just as well because old age like any weakness disgusted him. His curly blond hair had been cut short, in a style that was almost military, and he had the physique of a soldier, the result of a healthy diet and a personal trainer working with him every day at his private gym. Oscar was very proud of his body with every muscle perfectly developed, and he never covered it with anything less than a one thousand dollar suit. Even his nails were manicured, his eyebrows plucked, his teeth artificially whitened. Appearances are important. That was one of the things he learned in business school. And business, of course, was his life.

Even so, he wasn't particularly handsome. Hours spent in front of the computer screen had damaged his eyesight and he now wore wire-framed glasses that sat awkwardly on his face. He had never had plastic surgery but somehow looked like he had.

There was a slightly sweaty, artificial sheen to his skin and everything was stretched a little too tight making it hard to show any emotion. He spoke with a public school accent and there was perhaps maybe a part of him that had never left school. His lips were always twisted in a half-smile. He was very pleased with himself and he couldn't disguise it. But then, he managed to work his way to the highest level of Nightrise. He was even more of a senior than his mother had been at the time of her death. So why shouldn't he be pleased with himself?

He was at the top of his game.

Oscar was not married and had no children of his own. The idea of being close to another human being slightly repulsed him and he particularly disliked women with their soft, flabby flesh, heir emotions, their weakness, and their constant demands. He glanced at the business newspaper lying open on his lap, at the tiny print and endless columns of figures. That was where real pleasure was to be found.

He was excited,

As much as he mistrusted emotion, he couldn't deny it. The chairman of Nightrise had given him a crucial mission to go attend a meeting with the real head of the company--the head giant and he was now heading to headquarters to a full report and to inform the chairman to send a unit to keep guard at the world forge. He was looking forward to this because he had never seen the chairman's face. And the chairman had asked to personally see him after his meeting with the head giant.

Only the top board members knew that Nightrise's success was due to a millennia-old deal with the giants of Jotunheim, the oldest and most powerful giants ever lived.

But he didn't care whether they were evil or good, Oscar hated humanity and he believed he was the chosen one amongst all humans.

The men were able to stop arguing when policemen came in between them and managed to move them out of the street. He blew a whistle, frantically gesticulating, and somehow the traffic managed to unite itself and move forward.

Glancing from his newspaper, Oscar saw men and women of all colors, sizes, heights some dressed smartly in cheap suits and hand-me-down shoes. It was all irritating to see. How could Oscar Lake belong to the human race?

He was way better than a human and he will prove that sooner than he expected.

The car turned a corner and finally. They arrived at a building, with its famous curved front and multiple flags that stood in the plaza that had been named after it.

Nightrise cooperation. California.

He stepped out of the car. And smartly walked his way into the building.

Once he reached the lobby, two armed soldiers were already waiting for him. They saluted and asked him to follow them and that the chairman was already expecting him.

*************

Perhaps it was the air conditioning, but Oscar felt a cold shudder rise up between his shoulder blades. He was glad he was up here enjoying the beautiful view of the California mountains the office had.

"Beautiful. Isn't it?" The chairman slipped in and spoke from behind.

Oscar turned and he was surprised to see a beautiful, black-haired woman with deep blue eyes standing right behind him.

"Yes, ma'am."

He couldn't show it, but he was generally shocked by this. He didn't expect the chairman to be woman. Judging by what he had heard about the chairman, most descriptions matched a masculine figure.

A glass of white wine?"

A bottle magically appeared in her hand.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Please, take a seat."

She moved carefully into the room and poured two glasses, then took her place behind the desk. Oscar took a glass and sat on a leather sofa.

"We should drink to Nightrise and its amazing successes. And the new world that we are about to create with the giants."

Of course. Oscar sipped his wine. It was excellent. He wondered how many hundreds of dollars the bottle would have cost.

"So how was the meeting?" she quickly jumped into the topic.

"It was amazing," Oscar replied

"I heard Khonshu is dead."

Yes, he is." Oscar paused for a moment, swirling the wine in his glass. "He said something about a reincarnated gods, what did he mean by that if you don't mind my asking?"

"Reincarnated gods?"

"Yes, a boy to be exact."

"Oh yes," she remembered. "Though I wouldn't give credit to the boy, it is his father that was the special one. Too bad I had to kill him when he refused to hand over Odin's ring, but he was one of Nightrise's greatest achievements. And lucky for us, some of his greatness rubbed off onto his son. For years we've been studying the boy's DNA--when he was eight we identified unique godslayer qualities within the boy."

"I was just about to retrieve him a couple of days back, but it was too late when I discovered he had been admitted into the Brighton Academy, so the giants chose to take his mother as bait to lure him into a trap as to require the ring."

What does that ring do?" Oscar asked

"The ring does many things, as I have heard. But the giants want to use its power to take down all the realms and put them under their rule."

There was a pause. The two of them sipped their wine.

"Doesn't it ever bother you, Oscar?" the chairwoman asked. "When the giants are finished with us, they'll probably kill us all."

Oscar shrugged. "That won't happen while I'm still useful to them."

"And do you think you are"--she paused-- "useful?"

"I'm sure I wouldn't be here if I wasn't ma'am." Oscar leaned forward, I will do anything to prove myself. You only have to ask."

That's good. The chairwoman set her glass down. Her eyes became hard. It was time for business.