The Mysterious Chairman Keith

Chapter 31

ESSENCES

His fingers tightened around the man’s neck.

“Say his name again,” Manuel said quietly, eyes blazing, “and I’ll make sure time stops for you first.”

The man’s face went red and one could see the kind of panic spreading across his face.

Laura was there instantly.

“Manuel.”

Her voice cut through the chaos as she approached him slowly and placed a hand on his wrist.

“Let him go.”

For a moment, he didn’t move, his eyes were locked on his.

Then he exhaled sharply and released his grip. The man collapsed back into his chair, coughing violently.

Laura turned to the board, her gaze sweeping across them in a deadly manner.

“This meeting is over,” she said. “If any of you attempt to undermine the chairman again, you’ll answer to legal, financial, and personal consequences.”

No one laughed this time, they all exchanged glances and some nodded without knowing.

Tommy leaned back, his eyes gleaming.

Manuel didn’t look at him as he walked out, Laura walking behind him like a shield.

Tommy slammed his arms on the table disappointed by everything that had happened. 

Lucas tried to approach him but he flamed up and walked out as soon as possible. 

___

Soon, it got late and Manuel didn’t return to the villa.

Instead, he drove straight to the hospital.

The corridors were quieter now, and it looked as though there was no one there. 

Christopher was in the small preparation room when Manuel arrived.

He moved with deliberate care, selecting herbs Manuel didn’t recognize.

Manuel watched from the doorway.

There was something different tonight.

The way Christopher’s hands were going over the cup before pouring, even the scent and all felt so different.

Manuel stepped inside.

Christopher didn’t turn immediately, but he knew that it was Manuel. “Rough day?” he asked lightly.

“You could say that.”

Christopher poured the tea, but stopped halfway.

Manuel’s voice was calm as he looked at him before gulping down the tea in his hands.

“What exactly,” he asked, “are you putting in my tea?”

Christopher froze.

The liquid trembled in the cup and slowly, he turned around.

He chuckled when he finally turned to face him, he stared at his hand and saw how dirty they were from the herbs.

There was a cloth close by, so he quickly went over there and cleaned his hand up before walking to where Manuel was seated.

“If I tell you,” Christopher said lightly, “you’ll start demanding royalties for how addicted you’ve become to my tea.”

Manuel didn’t smile, he just stared at him.

Christopher felt a shift in the air immediately Manuel looked at him and he stood at a distance, his arms crossed over his chest. 

He stepped closer as though testing if something was going to happen or not.

Manuel’s gaze was steady now, unreadable. “You’ve dodged that question for weeks,” he said calmly. “Every time I ask, you joke. Every time I drink it, I grow stronger. That’s not a coincidence.”

Christopher sighed. “Manuel…”

“What exactly,” Manuel interrupted, his voice dropping, “are you putting in my tea?”

The hum deepened and the windows outside seemed to respond to him.

Christopher’s shoulders stiffened.

For the first time since they’d met, he looked so much calmer than usual.

“You’re leaking,” Christopher said quietly.

Manuel frowned. “Leaking?”

“Your aura,” Christopher replied, his eyes scanning the room. “You’re not doing it on purpose, but it’s spilling out.”

Manuel glanced at his hands. He hadn’t felt angry. Yet something inside him was burning, pressing outward, responding to the tension like a living thing.

“Then answer me,” Manuel said. “Before I lose patience.”

Christopher stared at him for a long moment.

Then he laughed again, but this time, there was no humor in it.

“Well,” he muttered, setting the cup down slowly, “so much for subtlety.”

He raised both hands slightly, his palms open. “The tea isn’t medicine. Not in the way humans understand it.”

Manuel’s jaw tightened. “Then what is it?”

“A catalyst,” Christopher said. “A bridge.”

The word echoed as Manuel stared at him, a bit confused by what he was saying.

Manuel stepped closer trying to understand him better, everywhere looked a bit different and quiet now.

“A bridge to what?” Manuel asked.

Christopher studied him carefully now, no trace of playfulness left. “Before I answer that,” he said, “I need to ask you something.”

Manuel didn’t like the shift, but he nodded as though that was a ticket to get an answer.

Christopher’s voice lowered. “Do you remember the night you first awakened?”

Manuel froze and his mind drifted to the horror he faced that day. 

The pain wasn't something to speak of in a casual way, it was like fire had poured through his veins instead of blood. He remembered collapsing, remembered screaming without sound.

And something else, he also felt like something was splitting.

“Yes,” Manuel said slowly. “I remember.”

“Before you ever met me,” Christopher pressed, “before the hospital, before the boardroom, before all of this… what did it feel like?”

Manuel closed his eyes as though thinking it through before he answered.

“Like something tore open inside my chest,” he said. “Like I was breaking and becoming something else at the same time.”

Christopher exhaled and shifted closer to him. 

“That’s when it happened,” he said.

Manuel opened his eyes. “What happened?”

Christopher straightened, no longer leaning casually against the counter. He stood taller now.

“Your awakening was too early,” he said. 

“And it was also violent. The dragon vein wasn’t meant to surface the way it did.”

Manuel’s brows knit. “You said early awakenings were rare.”

“They are,” Christopher replied. “But what happened to you is rarer still.”

He hesitated, looking straight into his eyes.

“It triggered a phenomenon,” he continued. “One recorded only a handful of times in ancient records.”

The hum in the room grew louder.

“The birth of essences.”

Manuel felt a chill crawl down his spine. “Essences.”

“Spiritual constructs,” Christopher explained, “bound directly to the host’s soul. Not summoned through ritual and also not created through cultivation.”

He turned and saw Manuel was staring closely at him.

“They’re born.”