The Loser Who Bought The World

Chapter 6 : Shadows of Caligo

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The cold bit into Ethan’s skin like a promise.

Caligo Mountain wasn’t just a place—it was a warning written in stone. Jagged peaks sliced into a slate-gray sky, and the road up was nothing but gravel and the ghosts of secrets.

Behind him, the roar of the private SUV quieted. Jules stepped out, wrapping himself in a thick jacket. “Are you sure this is the place? It looks like a graveyard.”

“It is,” Ethan muttered. “The kind that holds power.”

---

They had followed the map from the Vault, decoding coordinates buried in his father’s old documents. At the end of that trail stood a weathered estate carved into the mountain—old wood, stone walls, no name on the gate. Only a crest: a serpent devouring its own tail.

The Ouroboros.

“This was one of the last safe houses the Nine never found,” Wren said, stepping up beside them. “Your father met the first Gatekeeper here.”

“And now it’s my turn,” Ethan said, pushing open the creaking iron gate.

---

Inside, the place reeked of age and silence. Dust danced through shafts of pale light. But in the center of the main hall, a fireplace crackled to life—already lit, as if someone expected him.

Then a voice called from the shadows.

“Ethan Cross. The man who bought the world, but couldn’t keep his soul.”

A figure stepped forward. Tall. Lean. Wearing a thick wool coat with silver threading at the cuffs. White beard, cold eyes. Hands clasped behind his back like a soldier at rest.

“I knew your father.”

Ethan’s stance tightened. “You’re the Gatekeeper?”

“I was. Once. My name is August Krieg. Your father called me ‘the banker of last chances.’”

---

“You were part of the Nine?” Jules asked.

“No,” Krieg said. “I was part of the rebellion against them. Until your father died and the rebellion fell with him.”

Ethan crossed his arms. “Then tell me what he died for.”

Krieg studied him a long moment. “You want the Ghost Fund. The hidden vault that even the Nine fear. But to earn it, you’ll have to take it the same way your father did—by bleeding for it.”

Ethan didn’t blink. “I’ve bled enough.”

Krieg gave a humorless smile. “Not yet, you haven’t.”

He threw a heavy book onto the table. Its cover was cracked leather, bound in brass, etched with strange coordinates and names.

“Before he died, your father left a key hidden in that book. He said it would find its true owner by bloodline and ambition.”

---

Ethan flipped through it, scanning page after page of coded records. One caught his attention:

> Transaction No. 117 – Codename: Fenwick

Status: Sealed in Zurich Bank under false identity

Holder: Gatekeeper 2 – Title: The Dealer

Jules leaned in. “Zurich?”

Wren nodded. “The second Gatekeeper is already moving the pieces. If we don’t get there first, he’ll bury the trail permanently.”

Krieg tapped the table. “Then move fast. But know this—once you find the Dealer, you’ll be forced to choose: the Fund or your life.”

---

Before they could ask more, the windows shattered.

A blast rocked the hall—smoke grenades. Armed men swarmed through the broken glass. Masked. Efficient. Mercenaries, not soldiers.

Wren ducked behind a pillar and opened fire. “They found us!”

Ethan flipped the table, pulled his Glock, and dropped two of them before they hit the floor.

“Get to Krieg!” he shouted to Jules.

But Krieg was already standing still, arms wide. “I’m not afraid of death, boy. I lived through worse men than these.”

A merc raised his gun toward him.

Crack!

One shot. One kill. Ethan took the bastard down without hesitation.

Krieg blinked, surprised.

“I’m not my father,” Ethan said. “But I’ll finish what he started.”

---

They fought their way to the basement, slipping through a hidden tunnel built for escape. Outside, the snowstorm had thickened, masking their exit.

In the back of the SUV, Krieg tossed Ethan a flash drive.

“What’s this?” Ethan asked.

“My part of the key,” Krieg said. “The first fragment of the Ghost Fund’s location. But it won’t open without the second.”

“Held by the Dealer,” Wren said.

Krieg nodded. “But be warned. The Dealer isn’t a man who believes in morality. He believes in control.”

---

Three hours later, in a Zurich penthouse suite, Ethan stood before a towering window overlooking the glowing city.

The file Krieg gave him was decrypted by the Legatum system. It revealed shocking truths:

The Nine had once stolen billions from collapsing nations.

The Ghost Fund was created as an insurance vault—meant to control the world without lifting a gun.

Ethan’s father tried to reroute it to disarm the Nine and redistribute wealth back to the destroyed nations.

But he was betrayed.

“By someone close,” Ethan whispered.

Jules looked up. “You think it was one of the other Gatekeepers?”

Wren stepped into the room. “Or someone who used to be one.”

---

Ethan turned to the map.

There it was—highlighted in red.

Gatekeeper 2: The Dealer

Alias: Marcus Vale.

Ethan’s jaw clenched.

“Vale?” Jules asked, eyes widening. “You mean—Adrik Vale’s brother?”

“No,” Wren said grimly. “His father.”

Ethan grabbed his coat. “Time to pay the family another visit.”

---

But just as they stepped toward the door, the suite lights flickered—and then went black.

The TV blinked on.

A pre-recorded message played. The image was grainy, old—his father, younger, his voice clipped and sharp:

> “Ethan, if you're seeing this, then you're walking the path I feared you would. You must understand—power isn’t a gift. It’s a curse. The Ghost Fund isn’t just money. It’s leverage. Secrets. Leashes on every government, every man in power. If you unlock it, you become a god. But gods don’t sleep. And they never die peacefully.”

The screen went dark.

Silence followed.

---

Then Ethan said, “I’m not chasing peace.”

He turned to Wren and Jules, voice hard as steel.

“I’m chasing the crown.”