I walked through the well lit streets of Red River, the city I had lived in my whole life.
The city lights gave the place a soft almost relaxing hue , i took in the atmosphere taking a moment to tighten the mask around my face a simple black cloth , then i closed my eyes and breathed falling in a meditative state as i felt the natural pull towards the center of the city , like a compasse's nature is to be pulled to the north, a variants nature to be pulled towards the pit.
I turned my head , I knew where my internal compass was pointing at the estuary at the centre of the city , the most direct way into the first levels into the pit and to the city beneath.
However to enter you'd have to be a licensed descender , and to get a license before 18 i would need my guardian's permission and i knew mom would refuse , moreover as a licensed descender my movements would be strictly controlled and the boons of the pit would be restricted to me , since the descender ecosystem was one infested with nepotism and stigmas , it was hardly ideal for someone like me , besides why would i waste time with shallow people like them?.
I attempted to redirect my internal compass to point away from the estuary and find a level 1 distributary that may have opened in the city , level 1 distributaries would open up frequently around an estuary and would also lead to the pit albeit with a lot more risk at play.
I needed one that formed near the outskirts and slums.
Cities like red river that were built around estuaries , were heavily surveilled to look for any leakages that may occur to premotive seal areas off and call for variants to come and seal the newly opened distributary , but places like slums had no defenses whatsoever
As i turned towards the direction my compass had pointed i heard the door opening behind me as i quickly hid in a nearby alleyway and turned to get a better view , i saw jacob coming out with a duffle bag hanging on his shoulders , he had earbuds on and his eyes were wistful , he didn't stay for long and immediately walked away towards city centre , it would be a lie to say i wasn't curious but i had my own things to worry about.
I turned and began walking to the outskirts of the city , i passed downtown and my mothers law firm and even the shop where she bought my sandwich , it was still open even at this hour and had some customers , nurses from a nearby hospital by the looks of it , the waitress was a very attractive woman with a pale skin and black hair , almost gothic but she didn't wear makeup.
I took note and continued to walk , eventually the bright lights of the street lamps gave way to a sodium orange glow of older street lamps. The atmosphere changed as the air became stagnant.
I looked around the houses clustered together in no particular order , with tight alleyways in between them , the whole arrangement was akin to an ants' nest , and the metaphorical "Ants" were also present.
Several of the city's homeless population lined the street in varying states of squalor some were covering themselves in rags or huddled to fend of the cold , others were passed out in the alleyways with bottles clutched in their hands and empty syringes on the ground, their veins pumping black.
As I continued forward I saw a young boy around Jenna's age trying his best to drag an older man who was on the ground, his back against a wall and liquor bottle in hand.
The boy tried in vain to drag whoever the man was to him , his father? or brother? , despite the hopeless nature of the situation the boy continued unrelenting in effort driven by the need for food or a desperate attempt to cling to what little love that world had given him , eventually his efforts paid off.
The man opened his eyes with a mad anger in them , he grabbed the boy's head in one palm and thrusted the boy's head straight into a telephone pole , as the boy let out a screech of pain and sadness , he fell to floor a sobbing mess.
I tore my eyes from the scene and continued on , similar scenes of misery entering my eyes again and again as I followed my internal compass , I quickened my pace in response.
Eventually s stopped in front of a warehouse , the warehouse had the letter R3 written on it , with red ink i couldn't tell if it was blood or not, it stood for Red River Run which was a criminal gang consisting of particularly dangerous members from the vagrant and homeless population that operated in Red River , known for their excessive violence and zeal when it comes to derailing construction and reparation attempts by the city at any opportunity claiming the city to be theirs by right
For explanation the land Red River was currently situated in was near large swaths Of what used to be farmland.
40 years ago this farmland was cultivated by farmers who formed towns the colonies and lived of the land the area as a whole was called Red River Run or Red river county called so because of the rivers stained with red sand that flowed through the region.
However then a few kilometers upstream a rank 3 distributuary opened up and the as the amorphous energy known as brackish water seeped into the water supply and started poisoning the soil making it unsuitable for growing crops or rearing cattle.
The farmers came together and requested the descenders association, specifically the aegis division to come and close the distributary , so they could still salvage their livelihoods.
But by the time they arrived the distributary had already become an estuary and became a priceless resource that could be harvested , this being around 10 years after the pit appeared , with the world's governments vying to use the pit to gain global dominance the united states wouldn't ignore it , thus the estuary remained and a city was built around the brackish water poisoned the land completely leaving it barren , and trade prices rose.
A series of several misfortunes later the once proud farmers now made up the vagrant population of the city and the once Red River's that were the symbol of the rich and fertile land ran black.
The liquid residue of brackish water from the river extracted was used to make "Black love" a drug that made their veins blacks
Any attempts made by the city to try to remedy the crisis was met by fierce resistance from the R3 who saw the city authority and descenders association as the main perpetrators for their displacement and suffering and saw anyone from that side as vile enemies who deserved to die.
With variant leaders at their helm the R3 managed to mount successful offensives against them and the situation eventually led to a standstill , which had continued till now.
As I felt the distributory nearing me, I passed by a woman who sat near a pan with a few coins in it. She clutched a baby close to her , trying her best to keep it warm. I passed her without giving a second look.
Better people than me had tried and failed like the fools they were , they'd expected simple kindness and promise of better lives to remedy the situation, but in reality these people did not want better lives , they wanted their old lives back , and if they couldn't get that they wanted recompance for it , and blood was simply the most satisfactory form of payment.
Trying to help these people out of good my heart would only get me killed , and i simply had too much to live for.
Eventually I arrived ,in the middle of the alleyway , a small crack in the fabric of the universe like someone had spilled ink on paper , a black visage in the air with greying edges. As I approached I saw a few others as well, all dressed similarly with masks and bandanas to try and cover their identities, some had gang symbols carved into their attires and some even had armour.
They were all variants who were descending into the pit illegally , like me , they all turned to shoot a cursory glance, before turning back , I slowly approached to not make a fuss and eventually found my place next a woman who was a little shorter than i was , she had blond hair which reached her back and wore a dark green jacket with jeans , like me she also had machete on her hip ,and in addition i saw some silver chainmain like armour covering her torso with a pauldron on her right shoulder in an unelegant hodgepodge of urban and fantasy , I compared her to the girl i saw in the evening "athena" , athena had looked like the heroine of a fantasy manga fighting a war meanwhile the girl in front looked like zombie apocalypse character,
The distributary let out a roar as it began sucking air , as if on que everyone there jumped in like they were jumping into a pool , the girl next to be did the same as i too followed , as i bent my knees and jump forward i felt the ground give way as the world shimmered.
—-------------------------------------------
Amanda laid in her bed sleeping , she had been sleeping since 4 in the afternoon , she didn't intend to stop now , there was nothing That could disturb her slumber now , nothing not a thing.
The door opened as a light burned with the intensity of a thousand suns , amanda immediately extended her hand as a bronze ball materialised in her hand and began absorbing the light ,as it dissipated the Figure at the door turned ok the light as amanda let out a mewl of discontent.
The figure at the door had neat blond hair tied to a ponytail and wore a black outfit akin to a suit with gold outlines.
Amanda looked at him with annoyance and pleading , her eyes asking him to let her sleep.
"Let me sleep"
"No"
Amanda groaned at the answer , spreading her arms on the bed , "what do you waaaaaant, i wanna sleeeeep , ugh go away "Radiant" or whatever lame codename you chose to call yourself"
Radiant crossed his arm , "Is this the prime result of your rebellious streak , being a lazy bum , i thought you left your home because you wanted to be more than just a child of wealth:
she raised A finger at him " no i left home to be free , and this" she pointed at her disheveled Form
"Is what freewill looks like"
Radiant let out a sigh turning his head away "just get dressed" , amanda sighed getting up and going to the closet clumsily taking out her suit and Taking to the bathroom
the bathroom to begun changing , back home she would have a dedicated changing room with a robot to help her change , but she'd left and moved to an apartment downtown , so it took some while to adjust to the downgrade but nothing she thee glorious amanda dyer couldn't handle
" What mail did we get?" she said slipping on her body suit and struggling to clip in various latches
Radiant took out paper from mailbox and looked over it "Letters from your mother reminding you of your debt , letters from aegis , notice from your landlord asking you to pay your rent, and one for me"
"An invitation from the legion?!!" She asked trying again to latch the armor correctly and failing.
"Yes , again despite numerous refusal letters"
"Angh don't mind them , there whores for anyone with a suppression type ability like you , though it's weird for you to refuse them so much i mean , easy access to the 5th layer , favor of the sword pillar , and not a bad paycheck?"
Radiant shook his head with exasperation "Life wouldn't suit me".
Amanda nodded , before stepping out of the closet Space
"how do i look" she was wearing her gold accentuated black body suit with white robes as always.
Radiant sighed " I've requested you don't ask me that , but you missed a spot"
Radiant walked over and fixed the latch of her pauldron as she stood still , radiants eyes had never once shown any interest in her despite their close proximity , it damaged her esteem a little , but at least he did not mean it , unlike her mother
Radiant Stepped back before giving a reassuring nod "So how living alone treating you"
Amanda looked around and spoke "well other than the slight downgrade , the bestest thing ever!! , i mean dude i can sleep in the evening and can wake up an night without hearing of how lazy i am being , i can eat cookies and drinking coffee without hearing how white sugar is bad for my figure , i can speak with a slightly louder tone of voice and nobody even cares , well except for my neighbour but i can tell him to fuck off!"
Radiant listened with a smile as she continued the list until she was finished she looked at the time and remembered how a few people could still lecture her on tardiness
Amanda rolled her eyes before putting his face mask on and turning to him speaking in a commanding tone "greet your superior"
Radiant immediately saluted "Good evening madam athena"
Athena nodded "good , now lets go "
They exited the apartment as Athena closed it behind her , she then grabbed Grabbed arm and caressed one of the bronze orbs on her belt ,her eyes glowed as they were teleported to the city center.
The difference Between the suburbs and city center was like night and day , literally , the night life Of the city was more lively than the day life ,as this was when most descenders got in their gear and came out , and the ordinary people the city knew how to take advantage of that , with restaurants , shopping center , spas , and various Services Catering to variants and to the to the people who could afford to live here.
Robots scoured the streets keeping it clean and cameras kept a close eyes for leakages to intervene and seal off the area , the streets Or led to , or radiated out to dome in the center , the estuary.
Athena and Radiant arrived at the estuary, and the guards immediately let them through, not daring to ask for identification.
As they arrived in front of the door Athena didn't wait and kicked it open all the heads inside turning towards her
They wore similar colors to the pair , black , white and gold , and numbering 50.
Standing on a pedestal was captain Erudite who had taken off her glasses and was rubbing her forehead.
She put them back on and gestured for Amanda to join her fellow teammates she did , and erudite continued.
"Okay so-...wait what was i saying" everyone was silent not saying a word , they hadn't been listening.
I
Erudite scoffed in exasperation before gesturing everyone to leave
"Athena , radiant my office now"
Erudite walked off her secretary in tow as the door to her office opened and shut.
Radiart spoke in a voice of trepidation "maybe we shouldn't antagonise her too much?" Athwna nodded half heartedly "Sure , coffee?"
Radiant hesitantly nodded before joining her.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erudite stood in her room looking through the window into a massive amphitheater , the walls were a clinical stark white , but the floor gave way to a shifting mass of dark liquid , the estuary ,Erudite liked to stare at it for long hours , her ability feeding information into her head , she took out a note book and wrote on it , whenever she was inspired to do so , the door opened as Athena stepped in with a smirk.
"Hey sexy~~" Athena said with a sultry tone that made Erudite's stomach churn.
She put the book away before speaking.
"Amanda I know you don't respect me"
Amanda scoffed and waved her hand "oh of course i respect you silly i simply dont respect your authority"
Erudite blinked "that's the same thing " ,Amanda shrugged before moving to the window.
Erudite followed as they both started at the shifting darkness , they stared before radiant gave a small cough Which broke them out of their trance
Amanda let out a turbid breath as if she'd been holding it before turning "man , my mom would've lectured me on being professional right about now"
"The woman's been giving me hell for the past few days," Erudite said, fixing her glasses.
"Sorry"
"Oh no it's okay that's not what i wanted to talk to you about" Erudite took out a file.
"The situation in wuthering heights has become tense , the unaffiliated groups and gangs have begun taking risks , groups such as the spear of longinus , host of destiny and divine beasts have partook in several skirmishes across the safe zone , thousands are already dead , and smaller groups like six sided chaos are Feeding off the well "chaos" , and even the nomads seem keen to join the fray"
Amanda raised an eyebrow "what are the divisions doing?"
"Nothing , absolutely nothing , ever since layers in the 9th ring were upturned the division are allocating efforts there"
"Wasn't the 9th level famously an icy crystalline wasteland?"
"yes , but the possibly of a 9th tier materials is too enticing despite the chances"
"So let me guess you need someone to hold down the fort? No need to ask ill do it"
Erudite nodded with a smile "ill assign under marshal hughs , or you may know him as the chancellor"
Amanda nodded though her annoyance of not becoming marshal herself bit on her , but she didn't speak of it.
Erudite had her assistance prep Amanda as they took her to the Amphitheater , she looked in front of her seeing the amorphous darkness , she took in a breath.
"Are you scared ?" Radiant asked from next to her.
"All the time" Amanda answered before stepping forward as she felt the space warped around her.