2 Copyright © 2016-2017 Nicola Bagalà This book is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). You can freely download and redistribute this book in any format, as long as you credit the author. Any commercial use of this book is forbidden. If you remix, transform, or build upon this book, you may neither redistribute nor sell your work. For further information, please see the page http://www.elynxsaga.com/content/info/legal.html. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Translated from the original Italian by Nicola Bagalà Original title: La Caduta degli Dèi Cover art: ©2016 Nicola Bagalà and Anna Simoroshka Kruglaia The Fall of the Gods - second edition published in 2017 3 Table of contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Acknowledgements What do you think? Coming soon The author 4 CHAPTER 1 London, September 4, 2008. When Yuki stepped off the plane, she inhaled deeply, taking the first breath of a new and hopefully exciting chapter in her life. She was finally free, even if it did come with a little jet lag. She walked out of the Heathrow Airport baggage claim area dragging along a black trolley and looked around until she spotted a man holding a sign with her name among the waiting crowd. “Miss Yuki Kashizawa?” the man asked with a markedly Irish accent as she approached him. “Yes, that’s me,” she answered with a tired but cordial smile. “Welcome to England,” the man went on, stretching out his right hand. “Conor Doherty. I was sent to drive you to the Deverex Tower.” “Thank you,” Yuki said, shaking hands with him. “Pleased to meet you.” The driver nodded and smiled, then insisted she let him carry her baggage. “Pardon my curiosity,” the man asked as he placed her trolley into the cab’s trunk. “Aren’t you by any chance related to Mr Yutaka Kashizawa?” “Yes,” she nodded, slightly embarrassed but amused. She had been asked that same question several times as of late. It felt a bit like being related to a rock star. “I’m his daughter.” “Ah, there you go. I thought so. I mean, you’re so young, and given your family name and that you’re going to the Deverex Tower…” “You guessed right,” Yuki confirmed, getting in the cab. She didn’t think she was all that young at the age of twenty-five. The cab driver got in too, then he hastily rubbed his hands and turned the engine on. “So, your father is the heir of the famous scientist Edwin Deverex, isn’t he?” he said. He had struck her immediately as a very chatty but likeable man. “I bet you everyone in the world envies him! I mean, he got millions of pounds, mansions, houses, steel plants, research labs—and 5 the Deverex Tower! The news of the inheritance travelled around the world.” “So it did,” Yuki answered, not knowing what else to say. “Forgive my lack of discretion, miss,” he went on as he drove away from the airport, “but I didn’t know Mr Deverex had relatives in Japan. In fact, I thought he didn’t have relatives at all—well, he was such a lonely bloke, no one really knew much about him, but—” “Indeed he didn’t,” Yuki interrupted him. “Mr Deverex and my father weren’t related. They were close friends.” “Ah, I see. I wish I had a friend so close he’d leave me such a fortune!” he said with a loud laugh. According to what her father had always told Yuki, Edwin Deverex had always been lonely and reserved. He had only very few friends, and eventually, he had completely stopped keeping in touch with most of them. Yutaka Kashizawa was a physicist, and when he still worked in London, he had been one of Edwin’s professors. Young Deverex had shown extraordinary talent in a number of scientific subjects already as a child. He was as ingenious as he was tormented, and had been Yutaka’s protégé. Professor Kashizawa had always been very close to Edwin, particularly after his parents—Paul and Grace Deverex—were killed in a tragic car crash, leaving behind a vast industrial and financial empire. However, the only thing Edwin had ever cared about was his research. Unlike his father, Edwin was no manager and had left it up to an army of suits and ties to look after his wealth—the very same people who, four years after Edwin’s disappearance, would now continue managing the Deverex empire on behalf of its new owner, Yutaka Kashizawa. “If I may, miss: What brings you to the Deverex Tower?” the driver inquired further, after a short pause. “I’ll be living there for a few years,” she answered. “For the duration of my doctoral studies at least.” “No kidding! You’re going to live in the world’s tallest building! Congratulations! You’re really lucky, miss!” She was really lucky indeed. Yuki had applied for several positions as a mathematics doctoral student in several universities around the world. After long waiting, only Tokyo University and the London King’s College had accepted her application. Yuki’s mother, Misako, had lost more than one night of sleep at the thought of her ‘beloved child’—her only child—leaving 6 Japan to go and live God knew where and with whom. She had spent a few weeks pushing Yuki to accept the position Tokyo University was offering her. A PhD abroad would have been the perfect occasion for Yuki to finally leave her parents’ nest and test her wings, but for some time, she had been tempted to give in to her mother’s plea. She could have spared herself a transcontinental move and all the troubles of living on her own, but then, unexpectedly, her father had inherited Edwin Deverex’s entire fortune. As the new owner of the Deverex Tower, Yutaka had been able to arrange her free accommodations in the skyscraper, leaving her no more excuses to stay in her comfort zone and finally convincing her to accept the PhD position in London. “Wow!” Yuki exclaimed in amazement, looking wide-eyed at the building from behind the cab’s window. The car came from Parsonage Street, which led straight to one of the two vehicle entrance gates of Deverex Park, in the Isle of Dogs. She got out of the car and was greeted by a waiting man with a big smile. “Mademoiselle Kashizawa!” exclaimed the man with a thick French accent. “Welcome to the Deverex Tower! We were looking forward to your arrival.” “Oh… Hello…” she began, hesitantly. “I am—” “Oui, oui,” the funny-looking little fellow hastened to reply. “Your father has already told us everything—do not worry about the cab. We already saw to it.” “I see… Thanks a lot.” “Don’t mention it, mademoiselle,” smiled the Frenchman. He then waved briskly at the bellboy who had come with him and said: “Come on, come on. Get Mademoiselle Kashizawa’s suitcases.” He then turned back to her and continued to smile. The bellboy, dressed in a blue uniform bearing the ‘ED’ badge on the chest and the hat, moved quickly toward the cab and started to unload the baggage. “You don’t need to,” said Yuki, feeling a little pity for him. “It’s not a lot of stuff. I can do it…” “Oh, no, mademoiselle. That would be silly. Oh, but where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Louis Petrier, the concierge.” “My pleasure,” she hurried to reply. She felt still a bit confused. The bellboy had just taken her trolley when the concierge said, “If you 7 care to follow me, mademoiselle, I would show you your suite.” “My suite?” Yuki asked in surprise as the three of them made their way along the path through the garden leading to the entrance of the Deverex Tower. “Mais certainement, mademoiselle. Your father has made all the necessary arrangements to accommodate you in one of the finest suites of the Deverex Hotel.” “He didn’t tell me I’d be staying in a suite. My understanding was I’d stay in a flat.” “There are no flats as such in the Deverex Tower, mademoiselle. The only exception is the flat Monsieur Deverex used to live in. Most of the building is occupied by offices of big companies, shopping centres, pubs, cinemas, theatres, restaurants, car parks, sports centres, clubs… and our hotel, naturellement.” “Well… Mr Deverex treated himself well, didn’t he?” Yuki observed. “Truth to be told, mademoiselle, before Monsieur Deverex vanished, the building was practically deserted. He was the only one living here.” “What on earth would he do with a place like this?” “Nobody knows. It seems Monsieur Deverex was rather the eccentric type. He certainly did not intend to leave the Deverex Tower deserted forever, since it was actually designed to house everything there is now. However, he preferred solitude for as long as he lived here.” “How old is the hotel and all the rest?” “About two years old.