Chapter 20: Contradictions

Elias Crane couldn't focus—his mind felt like a tangled maze. He was certain he'd never heard the name TVA before, at least not in real life, let alone anything about some "invitation."

Yet just last night in his dream, Claw had uttered those letters for the very first time.

He'd assumed the entire concept—the cryptic organization, the rumored invitation—was something his own imagination conjured in a half-lucid fantasy.

So why had it surfaced so blatantly in the waking world?

It felt as though invisible strings were tugging at him from behind the curtains, orchestrating every move. He pictured himself as a marionette, dancing on a stage someone else had built.

"No. I have to get to the bottom of this."

***

Back at his office, Elias closed his door and began piecing his thoughts together. Everything hinged on last night's dream, the moment he met Claw—and the name he'd mentioned: TVA.

The entire cluster of intel had come straight from Claw's mouth:

The TVA was linked to the murder of Claw's father (a Fields Medal–winning mathematician) and his young daughter. According to Claw, the TVA was so hidden, so deeply buried in the shadows of history, that he'd learned next to nothing about their membership, location, or motives, despite years of searching.

Rumor had it only the wealthiest, most brilliant, or most powerful of individuals ever received the TVA's invitation. However…That was all. Just fragments, easily questionable. How reliable was Claw, anyway?

On the surface, it sounded like a high-level, possibly criminal network. If they really conspired to kill a renowned mathematician, it implied they weren't exactly benevolent.

Could they be specifically hunting geniuses—like a sinister offshoot of cosmic law enforcement? The notion felt outlandish, but from Claw's perspective, it fit the fact they'd targeted a Fields Medal intellect.

But a contradiction gnawed at Elias.

If the TVA hunts geniuses or eradicates them, then why simultaneously distribute invitations to join them? How could they be both assassins and recruiters?

He frowned, rolling his chair back and forth.

"And that's not the only contradiction."

If Claw's info was correct—if only the most elite, brilliant, or supremely powerful could receive an invitation—then how did Miranda Harrington end up with one? Yes, she was a rising star in New York's business circles, but hardly some global powerhouse. Even Chase Rivers, the city's top figure, wasn't exactly a world-shattering presence.

So how would Ms. Harrington—a bold yet comparatively small-scale entrepreneur—qualify for a coveted TVA invitation?

"It doesn't add up," Elias muttered. "There's no way she'd meet that threshold. Yet I saw it with my own eyes… She literally walked away with that invitation."

He felt as if he were trapped in a logic loop, a snarl of inconsistencies. The puzzle pieces wouldn't align, leaving him with a headache of paradoxes and half-truths.

Finally, Elias closed his eyes and inhaled. "Maybe all this TVA talk from Claw was bogus. He might've been lying, or he misunderstood some fragment of rumor. None of it's necessarily trustworthy."

The bigger, more alarming question shone through the haze:

"Why would something I supposedly invented in my dream manifest in real life?"

That felt eerily close to a supernatural event. Or at least, to the sort of quantum nonsense one found in the wilder corners of theoretical physics—a realm he had no desire to inhabit.

He reached for his phone and dialed Gavin's number.

"Hello?" came his friend's slightly raspy voice, tinged with impatience.

"It's bad," Elias said quietly. "It's about my dream again."

"What, you're still stuck on that?" Gavin responded, the background noise suggesting he was in a busy showroom—likely pitching a car to a customer. "I've told you—dream stuff isn't real. It's your subconscious." A muffled scuffle and haggling voices escalated behind him. "Just as long as dream elements don't pop up in real life, you've got nothing to worry about!"

"Your jinxed mouth," Elias groaned. "It's exactly what's happening!"

Gavin, distracted by the chaos around him, muttered, "Alright, calm down. I'm slammed at work right now—how about I head over to your place tonight, and we'll talk about thoroughly?"

Then he hung up.

***

The rest of the afternoon, Elias found himself merely spinning in his chair, fiddling with his pen. He couldn't shake the sense of looming threat—something crossing from his dream world into reality.

He was curious, too. Exactly what was the TVA in real life? Did Ms. Harrington's envelope connect to the hush-hush group Claw had described, or was it just some bizarre coincidence?

If he wanted definitive proof, the simplest way would be to read that invitation. Then all mysteries would be laid bare. But the chance of him seeing it again was next to nil.

He'd glimpsed Ms. Harrington putting it into a drawer earlier, and her office was guarded with dual keypad locks—Elias was no genuine password expert, no matter his dream persona. There was no chance of sneaking in.

In the dream, he could blow open a steel door with C4 and dash away without consequence. Here, that brand of recklessness would land him in prison, or worse.

Is there any other way to see that invitation? Elias wondered. But nothing came to mind.

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A/N: This 20 Chapter are the first dose for you ;) Waiting for your reviews and comments, ENJOY!!!!