Chapter 2: The SprintJust today, that’s all I ask.Xu kept his head down, the weight of the spear on his back felt like a constant reminder of his own poverty.

  If my life had gone even slightly worse, I’d probably have ended up here too.He passed a Spec leaning against a rusted storefront. The guy looked like a god in his gleaming chrome pting, but Xu could faintly hear the pathetic whine of a cooling fan struggling to keep the suit from cooking the frail sack of meat inside.

  “Halt. You weren’t going to forget to pay your safe passage tribute and honor the legend that stands before you… Were you?”

  Great. Paul.Paul always camped out around here in his nanosuit—if you could call it that. He wore a model that hit the shelves during The Merge. Honestly, it’s a miracle the thing even turned on. He’s been a bottom rung Spec as long as I can remember. He’d always hang around the lesser parts of town—probably just to feel better about himself.

  “Nope, come on, Paul, how could I forget about my favorite ‘idle’? Here, brought you a donut, catch.”

  Xu tossed him a donut from his collection. It was stale enough that it broke rather than bent, but Paul wouldn't notice through his helmet. Either way, he’d always get a little sick joy watching the man clumsily try to take off his helmet to eat it shakily.

  Xu watched him fumble with the seal, his gauntlets ccked against the facepte. Across the street sat a Dice—a kind of impossible no one bothered to be nice to anymore. His skin had turned to thick, grey ste, six inches of useless armored skin that had overgrown until his eyes were practically—maybe even literally— sewn shut by his own body. He didn't even flinch at the cttering sounds of Paul’s suit. Maybe he couldn’t.

  Further down the alley, another one sat naked in a circle of singed, bck concrete. He emanated a faint, but deep, red glow. He was basically a human radiator that everyone gave a ten-foot gap. Not that they had much of a choice.

  Then there was the floating one—tilted at a forty-five degree angle, as still and unmoving as the day physics excluded him. People had draped trash and old rags over him, turning a man into a coat rack of trash, not even a bulldozer could nudge him an inch. The city tried.

  God, how sad. Hmm?A slightly peeled neon-red sticker, its center immacutely clean compared to the surrounding grime, was spped directly over the man’s unblinking right eye.

  It read: AIO Warning: Suspected Apostate.

  Who even has time for that? Find a hobby or something.Xu’s eyes flicked back.

  Paul still hadn’t managed to take a bite.

  Yep. Now I just feel like an asshole.Xu sighed. Paul’s donut was as perfect—and as rock-hard—as it was 30 seconds prior.

  Holy—I can’t.“See you around, Paul. Thanks for keeping the streets uh… occupied!”

  Paul didn’t look up. He was too busy fighting his own chrome coffin.

  The further he walked, the more the architecture began to lean. Buildings piled atop one another—literally. It was like demolition was overpriced, so instead, they built new ones atop them. It wasn’t very pretty, but over here, it wasn’t supposed to be. The morning sun was choked by a deep city smog. It had practically been repced by the seizure-inducing flicker of color that diffused through it at all times of the day.

  “Hey! Give me my shit back, you mangy mutt!”

  Xu didn't stop, but he couldn’t help but gnce.

  To his left, a vendor was trying to pry a purse from the jaws of a man scuttling on all fours. The thief’s eyes were wide and milky, his mouth foaming with something that looked like blue engine coont or maybe a designer enhancement drug. It was hard to tell which was which anymore.

  He paused.

  I… will never understand this pce.Xu kept moving, his boots crunching on a mix of shattered gss and discarded tech-shards. This part of the district felt a little like home. It was his very own neon-lit hellhole. The hum of a dozen overpping, illegally rigged grids vibrated through his skin. Overhead, a leaking coont pipe dripped neon-blue fluid onto a glowing, purple rune, spray-painted onto the asphalt.

  It was a Haste circle—a cracked and fading one to be specific, probably illegally drawn by some burnout scripter just trying to outrun a debt collector.

  A haste or gravity rune. Should I? Hmmm. Could get me to drill faster?Could ALSO throw me into the sky?No. I really shouldn’t, it’s not worth the risk.Xu immediately stepped on the rune. A faint static shock zapped his heel, frizzing his hair, but it gave him zero speed, zero sky time, and more than a little disappointment. A mana robber.

  Typical."Hey, Spear-boy! Where'd you find the little antique? The museum have a garage sale?"

  The shout came from a cluster of Specs huddled under a flickering holographic sign for a noodle shop. They had mismatched mods. One had a hydraulic arm that hissed with a leak every time he moved, but another—probably a Scripter dropout—wore robes stained with grease.

  Was the grease really necessary? The fact you're here is proof enough.He flicked a finger. A small luminous circle of wind smmed into something in front of him, spinning it like a top while the other Specs ughed.

  At least Paul isn’t a psychopath. I know your kind."Keep it spinning, Wiz! I wanna see if he pukes!"

  They were huddled in a circle, ughing as they kicked something back and forth. It was a Dice, or what was left of one. The man looked like a translucent outline of a person who seemed to have lost all his mass. Every time a boot connected with his ribs, he didn't fall or fold like Xu had expected. Instead, he drifted up like a balloon as his mouth opened in an utterly silent, airy wail.

  Hacky-sack. They’re pying hacky-sack with him.Xu’s chest started to burn.What the hell is wrong with these people? How could they—no.A sick weight settled in Xu’s gut. He wanted to say something—to tell the guy with the leaking arm that his rig would look better up his ass, or at least do SOMETHING—but he kept his eyes on the ground anyways. He knew the stories. He knew what usually happens to un-modded locals who try to py hero against a pack of Specs with everything to lose and a battery full of nothing.

  “Don’t mess with this one! Maybe he’z got one of those magic spears that’s been eatin’ us on ez back!” a voice rasped through a voice-box that sounded like a quiet blender of gss.

  “My rig’s gotta leak in it—come over here so I can use those rags to plug it!”

  Oh, I got something else that’ll plug it, you greaser. A spray of synthetic phlegm hit the pavement inches from Xu’s heel. He didn’t turn. He kept his stare locked on the rusted seam of the sidewalk, his grip tightening on the spear strap till his knuckles went white.

  “Check the gait on him,” a Spec with a twitching, optical sensor hissed. His mechanical eye was zooming in and out with a cycle of wet, mechanical clicks. “He’s walkin’ like he’z got somewhere to be. Someone should tell 'em the morgue dun open 'til six.”

  Yeah? One day, I’ll give your whole crew a lifetime pass.The ughter that followed was a cluster of grinding gears and wheezing lungs. Xu’s pulse hammered against the back of his throat, constantly reminding him that his feet were moving away while the abused Dice drifted behind him, helpless. Every step felt loaded with more shame than the st.

  That damn pill—Vrummmm.The tone was a sharp pulsing trill.

  I don’t know why I’m surprised.He pulled out his phone and squinted.

  The screen was barely legible with the sheer amount of neon in his surroundings.

  〔 ???????????????? ????????: ???????????????????? ?????????? 〕

  Xu’s heart stuttered anyway. He swiped to answer, immediately switching to audio, then pressing the cold non-newtonian gss to his ear.

  "Xu," the voice was like gravel.

  "You seem to be missing from morning assembly. Care to expin why you aren't in formation, or should I just mark you down for disciplinary?"

  How far out am I?Xu looked at the floating Dice drifting five feet off the ground, then at the Specs, who were already winding up for another kick.

  "I'm already here, sir," Xu lied, his voice remarkably steady despite the sweat running down his back.

  "Just… in the bathroom. Bad donut. I’m heading to the yard now."

  I can make it. Yeah, 60 seconds."Thirty seconds, Xu. Or I start the clock on your exit interview."

  The line went dead.

  Shit.He gripped the strap of his spear, leaned forward, and started to sprint.

  I don’t know if I–Lee!He stumbled, fumbling his phone out as he ran, almost dropping it twice.

  ????: ??????????????????. ???? ????????????

  He’ll get it. …Probably.Xu didn't run like a Spec. He didn't have hydraulic pistons in his calves to absorb impact. Every time his heels struck his worn-out soles against the concrete, it sent a shock of pure pain up his shins—at least… it usually did?

  Man… why have I felt so good tely?Left.Right wall.Don't trip on the cables.Damn, that was cool—ZAP.The spear was the real problem. As his speed picked up, it couldn’t bend with him. He’d just snapped a cluster of bck cables.

  Eh, it’s probably fine—“I'M GOING TO SKIN WHOEVER JUST CUT ME FROM THE NET.”Probably fine if I run faster. Extra motivation.He burst out of the neon-flooded alleyway and hit the Perimeter Ward.

  Whoosh.The noise of the city died instantly, cut off by the invisible dome of solidified mana that scrubbed pollution from the air. The smog hit the barrier and dissolved into sparkles of harmless light.

  Gone was the blue-and-pink glow of the ghetto, repced by the lush, unnaturally green grass of the scripter training ground. A few floating globes of light bobbed gently in the air, keeping the temperature a perfect 72 degrees regardless of the season.

  Xu cut across the width of the field.

  This is my hell. If I get fireballed by another magical snob again, I’m coming back with a lighter.He jumped over the end of the fence.

  Whoosh.He had crossed back out of the ward into a more natural and somewhat run-down camp. He couldn’t tell which side seemed poorer, only that the scripter’s camp definitely wasn't.

  Up ahead, he could see formation—a “perfect” grid of five cultivators-in-training. At the front stood Vance, facing the bathroom door like a man waiting for a bomb to go off.

  “—hell off my boot… …crying harder.” Bits and pieces of conversation wafted over.

  Lee was on the grass in front of him, hands wrapped around Vance’s ankle, firing a cry of inconsoble desperation. His rapier y snapped on the ground to the side.

  Did he...? God, I love you, man.Negative ten seconds. Which meant he was twenty seconds early—or maybe even twenty-two. Xu veered toward the back of the camp, aiming for a high, narrow bathroom window. He didn't slow down. He couldn't—

  “Hey, whatcha up to, buddy?”

  His colr tightened. His momentum was completely reversed. Xu was yanked backward through the air, his feet leaving the grass before he smmed down onto his back.

  The sky?A head vioted his vision, blocking the sun with a whirlwind of blonde hair.

  Worse, Taylor.“I couldn’t help myself when I saw you sneaking around,” she said, looking down at him with far too much amusement. “You really thought you were a stealth expert?”

  “Not right now. He’s going to kill me,” Xu hissed, his voice was a frantic half-whisper as he scrambled to his feet.

  “Is that right?” Taylor slowly leaned back, catching a glimpse of the yard. “Lee looks like he’s still got—I don't know… maybe five or ten seconds left in him? Man! Is he trying to win a Grammy? You'd think that rapier was his actual bab—”

  “Are you stopping me or just here to gloat?” Xu interrupted, scrambling to his feet.

  “Okay, you caught me. Now let me go.”

  “You know me so well.” She smirked, reaching into her pocket. “Now, hurry and squeeze through your little window. Oh, and here’s a wristband. They put them out on the table this morning—probably to catch you specifically, if I had to guess. You can pay me back ter, loser.”

  She tossed a slim, metallic band at his chest.

  Unstable? Sure, but more than anything, reliable. Thank god for my psychoes.Xu slipped through the window, careful of his spear snagging this time.

  Cli-ck.The snap from his wristband and the bathroom door were perfectly yered.

  Sixty-two. “Oh…Xu?”

  He paused.

  “I hope you’re feeling better after that donut. Go ahead, jump back in the ranks.” He gestured to the door and smiled.

  Something’s off.Xu walked through the doorway and stepped into the grass.

  “Oh, Xu. One more thing…”

  Xu grinned internally.

  “—mind showing me your wristband?” Vance’s voice was dripping in mirth.

  I see your game, old man.Thank youuuuu, Taylor. I don’t even care if you DO dump termites in my room. In fact, go ahead.Xu lifted his arm dramatically, proudly showing off his bracelet-adorned wrist.

  “YOU—are SUCH a… good student Xu. It’s a miracle no one has given you… special treatment.” Vance strained through gritted teeth.

  “Indeed, it’s truly a wonder,” Xu said wistfully.

  Lethal_Resonance