Chapter 7: Ferrum
Organisations in the world of conduits serve a complex, layered role. Acting as guardians, powerbrokers, watchdogs, and most of all, political players.
A nation usually has one or more national-level organizations that are in charge of various districts. Just like Ferrum. A national-level organization, quite influential but still not a global power. Ferrum has a breath of Metal. Their conduits control the fragments of metal and use them to their advantage.
An organization led by the world's top hundred conduit, an obsidian-ranked awakened, Hugo Barlow.
--[Prague, Czechia]
Ferrum Bastion. A towering metallic headquarters of Ferrum. One of the marvels of engineering, a triangular wedge tower with walls made of black titanium alloy.
Inside the biocontainment wing, sector-D9, which they often refer to as 'grey coffin', were the bodies of hounds. Held in a magnetic suspension dissection field, floating midair in stasis while scanners mapped their bodies.
And in the surveillance room, bathed in the soft blue-white lighting, behind the glass was Hugo Barlow, watching the bodies of the hounds, hung still in the air.
He had a muscular and big physique, toned with lush black hair, a stubble-beard, and crimson red iris. He wore a black suit paired with grey shirt, that couldn't cover the shades of his big muscles. Hugo was a part-tanker. And a part psyche. A naturally awakened conduit that had dealt with its deity and stood without disrupting the top hundred rankings.
"The residual resonance index on the scene where they were found was...off the charts. The numbers kept climbing, and the core scanner heated and shut down. And a quiet rift, which healed itself by the time it was discovered, suggests the use of a reality veil. And a high-level veil manipulation at that," Hugo's assistant, Virris Rhane, wearing a dark red suit, read the details from the tab in his hands. While Hugo just stared at the bodies of the hounds with his hands in his pockets.
"This, in no way, can be the work of that girl. She awakened just recently, her core's just a flicker. These numbers are...Monstrous." Virris Rhan continued.
"Course not!" Hugo scoffed and indicated at the bodies of the hounds.