Rise of the Empire 1: Olympus by Ivan Kal

continued “But every single person in Olympus is there because they are like me. They crave something more than the ordinary everyone else holds as the utmost achievement in life. They want to do things that no one else has done, to be part of something else, even if they themselves don’t know what it is, they hear that call within themselves , and they had the courage to reach beyond the path that they have been put on. Do you understand?”
    “Yes.” She said, and she really did understand. It took this conversation to make her see that the past months while she was working at Olympus were the happiest days of her life, she had always felt the thing that Tomas described, but until now she just didn’t realize it. She had been searching for something, she had jumped from school to school, getting degrees in many areas, always searching for something she herself didn’t realize she needed. And now it seemed like she finally found it with Olympus. “I understand.”
    Tomas smiled . “I know that you do. That’s why I hired you in the first place.”
    “We’ve gone off topic. Why did you really start Olympus? You have accumulated power and yet you don’t do anything with it. All you do is work and expand, and I have access now, I know how much you work every day, you don’t indulge yourself in the slightest, anyone else with your kind of wealth would be spending it as fast as he could earn it. So tell me the real reason for creating Olympus, you have invested in every kind of research man could think of.”
    Tomas looked at the wall to the green field and blue sky projected there , he seemed to be studying it closely. She waited patiently until he suddenly turned his eyes and locked them with hers.
    “ My first memory is of the clear night sky, I was in the wilderness with my parents, this was just before they died, I don’t remember why or where, but I do remember the stars, they are my first and clearest childhood memory. Ever since that moment I have been enamored with them, I have always wanted to reach them, to grasp them in my hand. You asked me why I built Olympus. I built it to fulfill my childhood dream, to go among the stars. Over time, as I grew that dream evolved from my reaching the stars to me taking the humanity with me. Everything I have ever done, was for that purpose, the ship we found has just accelerated my plans, but Olympus is my gateway to the stars.”
    Seo-yun was struck by the intensity of his words, coming from anyone else it would seem as a childish dream, a thing you might say if someone asked what your dream was. But coming from Tomas it had an entirely different feel. This was the man who built a worldwide empire, who could have ruled the world if he so wished, a man who had devoted his whole being to the purpose of fulfilling his dream.
    “And what happens when you fulfill your dream, when you reach the stars?” She asked
    Tomas smiled yet again, but this time his smile seemed lighter, warm. “You, Seo-yun, better than anyone should know the size of the universe, the number of stars in the sky. My dream is one that can never be fulfilled, a goal that can never be reached, and that is precisely why it is a dream worth reaching for.”
    Hearing his words, for the first time in a long time Seo-yun felt like her life was on a path that was right for her. She looked at Tomas, in his green eyes she saw a glint of something, a drive unlike anything she had ever seen. She looked at his face, his words were that of a madman, and perhaps he was a bit mad. He had to be, to do what he had done all for a childhood dream. There were easier ways to reach the stars, he could have become an astronaut, but instead, he conquered the world, and chose to bring all of humanity with him on the journey towards his dream. 

Chapter Six
    “So, what are your plans?” She asked.
    “I have many plans, few that are already in motion, others that will be in the close future and even more that are still a