[Scene:] The Baglio Family's secret estate in Tuscany, Italy.
1.1 The Arrogance of the Ancient
Deep within the Tuscan mountains of Italy, the Baglio Family estate was renowned not for its opulence, but for its ancient, heavy atmosphere of time-worn prestige. Their estate resembled a fortress, surrounded by dense cypress groves that isolated it from the worldly noise.
In the main drawing-room, there were no modern electronics, only a massive fireplace and shelves overflowing with scrolls and antique texts. The current patriarch of the Baglio Family, the shrewd and elderly Donato Baglio, sat at the head of the long table. Dressed in a dark velvet robe, he looked more like a medieval scholar than a modern magnate.
Alistair sat at the opposite end. His presence, radiating the sharpness of modern capital and the ruthlessness of algorithmic power, was a stark contrast to the ancient family's arrogance and decay.
"Mr. Thorne, I hear you are pursuing a 'shadow.'" Donato Baglio's voice was hoarse, tinged with a distinct Italian accent. "A shadow for which you are willing to sacrifice the mining rights of five energy fields. This price piques one's curiosity."
"My price is irrelevant to you." Alistair's tone was concise and direct. "I only require one piece of information: where the Eye of Samos is hidden. And what is needed to unseal it."
Donato Baglio smiled, a smile that mocked Alistair's young, desperate power.
"Mr. Thorne, knowledge is priceless. Especially forbidden knowledge sealed by the Church for millennia." Donato tapped the table with a finger adorned with a large gemstone ring. "Five mining rights will only purchase the starting point of the clue."
1.2 The Clash of Power
Alistair felt a slow burn of anger. He was accustomed to crushing everything with absolute wealth, but before this ancient family, the monopoly of knowledge proved to be stronger than money.
He didn't argue. He simply gave Lydon a subtle nod.
Lydon immediately placed a small projector on the table and activated the imagery. The images showed the entire hidden asset and money laundering chain of the Baglio Family's investments across Italy. This information had been extracted by the Thorne family's Core Algorithm from global financial networks overnight.
"Mr. Baglio," Alistair's voice was icy. "The price I offer you is the mining rights of five fields, and the eternal security of your family."
Alistair's voice suddenly rose, carrying the terror of supernatural coercion: "Should you refuse, I will use one hour to make your family vanish completely from the secular world. Your knowledge, along with your fortune, will be consumed by my algorithm."
This was a brutal threat and counter-move. Alistair used modern algorithm supremacy to obliterate the Baglio Family's monopoly over ancient knowledge.
Donato Baglio's face finally changed. His treasured ancient knowledge was rendered worthless before Alistair's digital hegemony.
1.3 The Forbidden Answer
"You win, Mr. Thorne." Donato Baglio's voice was hoarse with humiliation. He knew that challenging an absolute power like Alistair meant certain destruction.
He instructed a servant to retrieve an ancient parchment scroll. The scroll was sealed within a crystal box, covered in complex incantations.
"This is a record by the ancient Greek Oracle," Donato Baglio said gravely. "The Eye of Samos is hidden on the 'Silent Isle' in the Aegean Sea. That island surfaces only once every ten years, and its perimeter is fraught with time-warping energy."
Alistair's eyes sharpened as he quickly processed the information: Silent Isle, surfaces once a decade, time warp. This was precisely Eleanor's method of seeking permanent escape—to lock herself in a supernatural cage unbound by time.
"How is the seal broken?" Alistair pressed.
Donato Baglio looked at Alistair, trembling slightly, his voice tinged with awe: "The Eye of Samos is the strongest human emotion seal. It can only be unsealed by the highest willing love of the Sealer (Eleanor). Otherwise, the life of the Sealer (Eleanor) must be offered as a sacrifice."
1.4 The Extreme Escalation of the Chase
Alistair abruptly stood up, the air around him seeming to freeze. He finally had the answer—Love or Life. Eleanor had left him an unwinnable ultimatum.
"Willing love, or her life…" Alistair muttered, a smile both pained and fanatical curving his lips.
He knew Eleanor would never willingly love the man who imprisoned her. She had used her own life to demand his eternal release.
"Lydon," Alistair turned, striding toward the door, his voice ringing with unprecedented resolve. "Mobilize all of the Thorne family's temporal research resources immediately. Find the precise moment the Silent Isle is next due to surface."
He paused at the doorway, turning back to deliver his final words to Donato Baglio.
"Mr. Baglio, the mining rights are yours. But remember this: What you sold today was not knowledge; it was your family's freedom."
Alistair left the Baglio Estate, knowing his time was running out. He had to find the Silent Isle before it sank and choose between Love and Death. He would never allow Eleanor's self-sacrifice to succeed. He would use extreme possessiveness to force her to willingly return to his side.
Author's Note:
Thank you for your continued readership and dedication to the consistent quality of this novel. The core conflict is now fully revealed: Alistair must choose between Eleanor's life and her willing love. In the next chapter, we will see how Alistair uses the Thorne family's temporal technology to race against time to pursue the Silent Isle! The extreme angst and high-stakes power plays are at their peak. Stay tuned!
BY : KHChing