Chapter 14

Armand Moretti, hypatus of Michiel, arrives irritated for an unexpected Dandolo meeting just after his fraught deal with Orso. He finds only a trembling junior ambassador, Alfredo Participazio, who proposes an immediate purchase of the Mountain. Moretti mocks and intimidates Participazio, but a silent figure in a Papa Monsoon mask reveals himself and takes control of the encounter.

The masked man speaks with unnerving authority, recounting private moments from Moretti’s past and stripping his defenses. As the voice tightens its hold, Moretti loses agency and obeys commands: he retrieves a knife and, despite pleading, is compelled to sever his own left thumb. The masked man frames the act as a lesson in powerlessness and demands Moretti sign the sale.

Moretti hesitates, knowing the signature means his death, but the masked man refuses to compel the choice outright, insisting Moretti “learn.” Crushed by fear and pain, Moretti signs the paperwork, ceding the Mountain to Dandolo in a single meeting that bypasses normal protocols.

Afterward, Participazio escorts the masked man through Michiel, bewildered by Founder Dandolo’s orders and the screams he heard. The masked man muses about forgotten tyrants and erased legacies, admiring the enclave’s colors as alarms rise behind them. Moments later, the street crowds react as Moretti, maimed and broken, leaps from the Hypatus Building, sealing the abrupt, lethal transfer of the Mountain.