John stood near the center of the space, hands tucked into his jacket pockets as he slowly turned in a circle around the warehouse, his eyes were scanning the rusted beams, old crates, chalk markings on the concrete floor that definitely weren't OSHA approved.
"…where is this?" he finally asked.
Kai leaned against a support pillar a few feet away with his arms folded. "Oh, this little place?" He glanced around as if seeing it for the first time. "This is my base of operations. A place where I can carry out my own personal uhhh…"
He paused, squinting thoughtfully.
"…work."
From above, on a metal catwalk, Tom strolled past sipping casually from a blood bag. "More like live experiments," Tom said, not even looking down.
Kai tilted his head. "Successful experiments," he corrected dryly. John looked between the two of them, then gestured weakly upward.
"…right." He hesitated, then pointed. "And you're… sipping on blood."
Tom stopped mid-step. Looked down.
"What? I can't eat?"
"Oh no, no," John said quickly. "I didn't mean to offend you. It's just well, it's not every day you meet magical entities and vampires and I mean, you can see how this is, uh…"
Kai raised a brow.
"Shocking?"
Then he smirked.
"Traumatizing?"
Tom snorted. "Oi. That's not very polite, you know." Kai ignored him entirely and turned back to John.
"But then again," he said calmly, "you yourself are rather unique. A demigod and all."
John stiffened.
"And that," Kai continued, voice lowering just a touch, "brings us to why you're really here."
He straightened, studying John carefully.
"So tell me John, what do you actually want?"
John blinked. "What?"
Kai sighed softly. "Let me rephrase that." He stepped closer, till he was close enough for John to see the seriousness in his eyes.
"You, John, are one of the most powerful entities on this planet right now. You possess so much raw magic that you could bend reality and no one could realistically stop you."
A pause.
"So tell me, what exactly do you want to do with that power?"
John looked away understanding the question finally before answering.
"I… I don't know," he admitted. "I just want to win the election."
Kai waited as John swallowed hard, then continued, in a much more quiet voice now.
"Ever since I was little, I wanted to be someone people could look up to. Someone who helps. My ambition, my whole life has been about making the world better by taking responsibility. By taking charge."
Even Tom slowed his pacing above, glancing down over the edge of the railing, his blood bag forgotten for a moment.
Kai listened and didn't interrupt or mock him.
When John finished, Kai finally spoke.
"So?" he asked. "Now that you know you literally have the power to make that dream a reality… how do you feel?" He asked as he began to pace slowly around John, his footsteps echoing throughout the warehouse.
"You're already using your power," Kai said calmly, mixing seriousness with that ever-present edge of sarcasm. "You didn't get here by not influencing people. You didn't climb this far without exerting force be it political, social and ideological." He stopped in front of John.
"So tell me," Kai said quietly, "what's the difference now?"
Before John could answer however, footsteps echoed from above.
Travis appeared beside Tom on the catwalk, looked down and he froze.
"…what the hell is the senator doing here?"
Tom looked at him and sighed before siding to answer his question, leaning against the far wall with his hands in his pockets.
"Boss brought him in for some questioning, I think."
Travis glanced over.
"And how's that going?" Tom shrugged.
Before Travis could say anything else, a strained voice cut through the room.
"I didn't ask for any of this," John said quietly. "I didn't ask for this power. For magic. Or to be the child of a supposedly ruthless, uncaring god and a rapist god."
Kai stood across from him, arms crossed, watching him like a problem waiting to be solved. John continued, with a tight voice.
"I don't want it. All I've ever wanted was to win fair and square."
Kai chuckled softly.
"Is that even possible in politics?"
John winced. "Not, not metaphorically. I mean this." He gestured to himself. "This power. I don't want it. It brings misery. And after seeing what Raynard's willing to do…"
His jaw clenched.
"I don't want to end up like him."
There was a pause at that. Then Kai tilted his head slightly.
"What if we could do something about that?"
John looked up, startled.
"You… you can?"
Kai nodded once.
"There are… ways."
He reached behind him and pulled something from his back pocket, holding it up between two fingers.
A bracelet, it's was a simple dark red piece of metal.
John frowned.
"A bracelet?"
Kai smirked.
"Oh no, not just any bracelet. I fashioned this from materials taken from a very special room. The Clean Room"
"It is a place where magic doesn't behave, where it's suppressed, restricted and reduced to nothing."
He brought the bracelet closer to John.
"I reworked those properties. Converted them into something… wearable."
He tapped the bracelet lightly.
"It restricts anything with a touch of magic and magical output. Dampens it to a more minimal level. Not seals it entirely as that would be… unpleasant but keeps it from overflowing."
John hesitated, then slowly reached out and took it.
As he slipped it onto his wrist, the metal adjusted itself, tightening just enough to be comfortable.
Kai raised a hand.
"Brace yourself. I'm about to activate it."
He stepped back and began weaving a spell of not one incantation, but two, layered together, folding inward on themselves like mirrored equations.
"Vescaram Limen.
Dox Restrictum, Dox Lenis.
Flux Divinitas. Divide, Diminish, Bind."
Tom stepped forward and handed Kai an object wrapped in cloth.
When Kai unwrapped it and immediately after seeing it John recoiled.
"What the hell is that?"
It was an old fox skull.
Kai didn't look at him as he answered "Relax, It's symbolic. Representation matters in magic you know."
A bowl of water was placed on the table. Kai lowered the skull into it, fully submerging it, then placed his palm over the bowl.
"Forma Vetus, Forma Nova.
Potentia Non Nego… Temper.
Serva, Non Frange."
The water rippled inside the bowl as the invisible runes on the bracelet flared once then dimmed.
Travis blinked.
"…huh."
Tom's posture also stiffened.
"I don't feel it anymore." John inhaled sharply, then exhaled.
"…wow." Kai's eyes narrowed as he focused on John.
'Almost nothing.'
The overwhelming divine presence emanating from John was gone, reduced to a faint, steady hum.
"It worked," John said softly. "I feel… strange."
Kai nodded slowly.
"It'll ease the pressure. You can remove it whenever you want. Put it back on just as easily."
Internally, Kai frowned. 'That shouldn't have worked that well.'
'Then again… John's power was different. Gentler. Less volatile compared to his father.
"Congratulations," Kai said finally, clapping once.
"Experiment successful."
He turned away, already thinking ahead.
'Interesting… very interesting. It would seem the attachment worked as well'
The bracelet had other potential uses. Dangerous ones.
But for now… Kai's expression darkened slightly.
"Alright," he said. "That's one problem handled."
He looked toward the door.
"Now i think it's time i full focus on Raynard."
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