First Intergalactic Emperor: Starting With The Ancient Goddess

Waller held out the keycard. ”Here. You’ll need to register your biometrics—eye scan, voiceprint, and palm. Lock’s not set yet, so you can just swipe this for now.”

”I’ll do that later,” Xavier muttered, taking the card and gesturing toward the door. ”You coming in?”

”Damn right I am. You think I’d let you see this beauty without a proper tour?” Waller chuckled and walked ahead.

The door slid open with a light chime, revealing the interior.

And Xavier just froze.

Reva let out a low whistle behind him.

Waller laughed, ”Yeah. That was my reaction too the first time.”

They stepped inside, and it was like entering another world.

”This,” Waller said with a theatrical wave of his hand, ”is the main hall. Bigger than an entire block of your old second-floor neighborhood. You could park five cars here and still have enough space left to throw a party.”

The ceiling stretched up high, layered in strips of programmable lights that adapted to mood and time of day. The walls were lined with sleek panels—tinted glass, soft glows pulsing beneath their surface. One side of the hall opened into a panoramic window wall, showing the cyberpunk skyline. Towers rising like giants, hover-ads blinking in neon hues, traffic streams moving mid-air in layered circuits.

Xavier walked to the window, eyeing the curved transparent interface embedded in the glass. A HUD blinked faintly into view—weather, security cam feeds, city alerts.

Waller moved ahead. ”Come on, come on. We’ve got six bedrooms and two master suites. Each one comes with auto-regulated air control, bio-adaptive lighting, and pressure-sensing beds. They mold to your spinal structure in real-time.”

He opened one of the doors and let them peek in. The room was massive. The walls could shift transparency, and the built-in console projected a floating interface for entertainment, messages, and even a wardrobe AI. The attached bathroom had a rainfall ceiling shower, anti-gravity drying vents, and a full-body scanner for health monitoring.

Reva raised her brow. ”This is more tech than my whole floor.”

Waller grinned. ”You haven’t seen the kitchen.”

He led them down another hallway and into a gleaming, futuristic kitchen.

”Autonomous cooking station. Can replicate over twenty-five thousand recipes. Smart fridge syncs to your vitals, tracks nutrition, and reorders supplies automatically. Knives? Laser-tempered edge. Oven? Quantum-temp regulation. Even the damn trash bin can talk.

The pantry had storage settings for temperature-sensitive goods and exotic imports. The stove? Plasma-heated with kinetic sensors. The sink? Voice-controlled with a filtration system that analyzed contaminants in real time.”

”And over here,” Waller continued, ”we’ve got a mini-lab. For people who like to tinker. Full of basic tools, 3D printing bay, micro-drone forge, even a basic OS compiler. You know, in case you wanna make your own assistant or hack your coffee machine.”

They kept walking. The private gym was fitted with kinetic-tuned floors, muscle feedback gear, and a training AI. A small embedded server rack in the corner hummed faintly, built into the wall. Xavier’s eyes flicked toward it, and Reva caught the glance.

”Secure?” she asked.

”Quantum-encrypted. Independent grid. You could run your own darknet node from here,” Waller replied like it was no big deal.

Xavier couldn’t comprehend some of the things Waller was describing. It was his first time hearing them, let alone seeing them.

’It seems that I won’t be sleeping tonight.’ Xavier decided to research everything all night.

The hallway had a hidden panel that slid open into a mini-weapons locker. Completely legal, and empty for now, but the fact that it was there said enough about the kind of people expected to rent this place.

’Let’s fill it up tomorrow.’

Near the far wall was a sunken pit zone—designed for relaxation. Holographic projectors circled the ring, allowing one to simulate any type of environment: rainforests, oceans, snow fields. Perfect for meditation, or whatever rich bastards did to feel ”connected to nature.”

Finally, Waller led them back to the main hall. ”No furniture though,” he said with a shrug. ”Standard rule. We leave the layout to the resident.”

Xavier took another look around. The place reeked of clean wealth—cold, silent, high-spec opulence. Exactly what five million in rent per month should get you.

Reva stepped beside him and crossed her arms. ”Well, Angel wasn’t kidding when she said you are unpredictable. Living in a palace like his is a dream for millions of people.”

”Now don’t ask me what I do for a living,” Xavier chuckled.

She smiled. ”Aww sheesh.”

Waller looked pleased. ”I’ll leave you two to it, then. I’ve got to collect some rents and beat some— I mean, I got a meeting in ten.” He tossed Xavier a small card. ”This will link to your apartment’s admin panel. Set the biometric lock soon, yeah? Don’t want some idiot stumbling in by mistake.”

Then he left.

Xavier and Reva were alone now in that massive hall. The lights adjusted slightly, picking up on the lower ambient chatter.

Xavier looked around, rubbing his neck. ”So... what do you think?”

Reva was already moving toward one of the open bedrooms. ”I think,” she said, her voice soft but clear, ”this is where the real part of the date begins.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow. ”What do you mean, real part of the date?”

Reva tilted her head, her white-silver hair falling like silk over one shoulder. ”Don’t play dumb now,” she said, walking past him with a teasing sway. ”We didn’t even check the master suites.”

Xavier blinked. ”You’re really serious about that, huh?”

Reva looked back over her shoulder, smiling. ”You brought me all the way here, might as well complete the tour.”

Xavier shrugged. ”Fine. You asked for it.”

He led her down the hall toward one of the two master bedrooms.

Xavier took out his phone as she cautiously glanced at Reva, who was leading the way. He connected his phone to the apartment’s system and changed the settings and added a timer to the lights of the room they were heading into.

And then, Xavier hid the gun under his shirt.

’I hope I am wrong, but I am not holding back.’