Aetherchase
“The Reintroduction of Aether into the world, along with the discovery that we were not alone in the universe, came as a big shock to the corpo empires. Lucky for them and us, it quickly restored the nature and resources of the world, though maybe the monsters it made of the animals could’ve stayed off-world.” ~ Nameless Samurai 13100 CT
As Essen looked out from the corner of the alley he had concealed himself in, he took stock of the corp-sec officers standing between him and his contact. There were at least four that he could see, probably six, as that was the standard size for a security squad, and according to his intel, definitely not supposed to be there. Feeling a slight twist in his gut, Essen began to plan his run, hoping that they weren’t aug’d or spelled. The sickly smell of ozone, plastic, metal, and a whiff of Aether caught in his nostrils as he controlled his breathing into a cycling pattern and sharpened his focus and perception. The world began to slow down as Essen began a slowly quickening breathing cycle; a faint silver-green Aether-fog began pushing from the rapid exhales through his mouth. As he reached the limit of his focus limit, he began channeling his Aether into one of the small carved charms on his wrist, a silver-heeled boot with fairy wings; he watched for all the lines and runes to light up before speaking his intent into the void.
‘Zephyr Rush’
The world went from slightly slow to a crawl as tiny Silver-green wisps of Aether began to flow from his body. He started his move immediately, blurring at almost double his average speed out of the alley and through the slightly crowded streets of the Mid-level block he was on, counting the seconds before the buff enchantment wore off.
‘Ten,’ Leveraging all the training he had received, he kept his run as quiet as possible as he weaved between the pedestrian traffic on the street, The Zephyr Charm successfully allowing him to close the distance, and his controlled silent run keeping him hopefully undetected until the very last moment. He managed to blur past the corp-sec officers, closing the distance to the small stall his contact stood outside of. He crashed into them, knocking them to the ground. Rolling out of the collision, he had a small padded black courier’s bag that he had secretly grabbed from them in the crash. Not even bothering to glance back at the contact, having seen the officers begin to react, he decided not to try to drop the payment and get out of there.
‘Seven,’ Somehow continuing his momentum as he pulled the strap over his shoulder, he dipped through the gap between stalls and began a mad dash for the three-way intersection a few meters behind his objective, now starting the actual run part of his job. ‘Hopefully, my Zephyr Charm can hold up for the two or so uses I can get out of it without risking a Mind Zero.’ He looked ahead and saw the two officers he hadn't known the location of trying to rush in slow motion to catch him.
‘Five,’ Turning his eyes forward as he approached the intersection at top speed, Intending to blend and disappear into the crowds, he caught a glimpse of two more corpo-sec operators pointing his way and a group of four coming from the other direction. These looked armed and armored, which lowered the chance of them not having at least minor buffs to near zero. His breath quickened from the run, slowing his perception further and allowing him to take stock of the options. Considering his dwindling buff, Essen decided to go with his gut and blazed a straight line right into the intersection. Leaping forward into the street at maximum speed, he abandoned stealth for speed and control. He blurred through the first three lanes without incident.
‘Three’, He reacted faster than he thought possible, a whisper of Aether in his ears as he felt and dodged a Levi-car moving almost as fast as him. As the Energy began to waver from his charm, he continued his dash across the street, his superior speed keeping him from being struck by the passing Levi-Cars in near misses and twisting dodges. His fluid, almost cloudlike movement allowed him to maintain as much speed as possible for the last jump, a slight twist out of the way of a hoverbike flowing into a dive that had him brushing the sky viewer of a levi-car, thankful once more for the Zephyr rush buff from his charm as he twisted in midair to barely avoid a compact levi-car before crashing into a roll on top of the opposing walkway.
‘One,’ Muscles and lungs burning with exertion as the last wisps of Aether began flowing away, and the charms glow started dimming out; Essen struggled to maintain as much momentum as possible, pulling out of his roll and employing as much of the Parkour and Gymnastic techniques he learned over the years as possible and continuing up a walkway, putting as many bodies and shops between him and the Corpo-sec as possible. As Essen continued at speed, he disappeared down an alley, beginning to cross through the different hidden pathways and paths and getting above the streets and having the Aug-necklace around his neck project his route to him, keeping him on track to leave the line of sight of the corp-sec officers quickly. Feeling clear of his pursuers, he pulled the courier bag in front and began to inspect the bag's contents from his contact, looking for the four items his Boss asked him to run from the liaison to her.
“Looks like he managed to secure a couple of extras; wonder if that's the reason for the extra heat,” Essen whispered to himself as he saw a stack of two sleek bio-aug injectors, obviously meant to be used together, as well as a pair of nanite injectors, an elegant long black box commonly used to secure biotech or high quality aug parts. Along with the Data-pad and small container of data sticks, he was supposed to pick up, that was looking to be a good haul. ”Hope Ava gives me a cut of the extra profits or a chance to claim the Aug.” he was closing the bag and moving through the Backways. He caught movement out of his peripherals, realizing that the Corpo-sec goons were still tailing him.
“God dammit, Ava, thought you said there'd be no Sec involved in this one,” Essen’s androgynous voice rang out to himself as he quickened his pace to his destination where he could get back down the twenty floors between the Old Block and the Mid Block he was on in the Merioc Arcology. He continued to duck in and out of the streets as he crossed what felt like a few kilometers.
As he slowed to catch his breath on the deserted streets on the edge of the Block, he felt a sudden edge of danger, almost like a ripple in the wind and Aether around him. A sudden Feeling like an animal being stared down by a predator gripped Essen as he forcibly controlled his breath again, tugging the Aether within him in preparation to recharge his charm. “Dammit,” he cursed, “Only got enough Aether for one more Zephyr Rush without risking Mind Zero.” He began ducking and weaving through alleyways, trying to shake the feeling while still moving in the right direction.
Aether, the mysterious energy of modern cultivation and technology, and the difference between mediocrity and glory in the modern era. It was Rediscovered by humanity in the early 13000s when an Aether-fog meteor pierced the atmosphere and crashed into the coast of the Russio-Cartova empire, which caused Aether to begin leaking into the World again. This return led to Gaia’s re-introduction to the greater galactic concord and a major technological and governmental revolution in the parts of the world spared from the initial crater. The rapid re-growth of new Aether-infused resources, naturalization, and transformation of animals in the area close to the impact zone, as well as the introduction of cultivation through the galactic game and tool known as Nocturne Divin, began to shake and shape Gaia in new ways. This game, requiring one to earn or receive an entrance token to enter, taught the skills, language, culture, and morals considered needed to interact with the galactic concord at large, but also introduced the very real methods to control and build an Aether cultivation in your body, allowing for extending lifespan and increased personal power.
Humans who attained tokens, Called “Dreamers,” began to grow massively in power and transform into other races from the concord due to bloodline integration, hybridization, or other methods. These events, coupled with the new Corporate Organized Conference of Kings, meant a giant leap technologically and a long period of turmoil for humanity as they began their thousand-year grace period from the conflicts and disputes of the concord.
Essen wanted to become a Dreamer at any cost, going so far as to learn and become involved with a local mercenary band to earn money for the Bio-Aug he'd need to access the game. Essen knew that unless one of his friends from the High District gave him one, or he qualified and joined the Gaian Imperial Navy like his older sisters, he stood very little chance of attaining a token, and even then, it would be at most a common grade Token, and still requires a Bio-aug with an Aether network to be accessed, neither of which were things he had or could afford.
In his training to become a runner and the usage of Aether, he had found he had a deeper than standard connection and sensitivity to the Aether and a larger pool than most “sleepers,” as non-cultivators were called. These differences resulted in some interesting side effects to being exposed to it, like the thought acceleration he attained when channeling, which wasn't an average effect, or the weird perceptions and gut feelings the Aether would communicate to him to keep him safe or comfortable.
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Looking at his surroundings and not seeing any sign of his pursuers, he slowed down to check his bio aug and message his boss Ava. Pulling up the visual display on his Aug necklace, he willed through the interface and sent a quick message to his boss Ava, even knowing she was probably busy and couldn’t reply quickly.
Essentia: ‘Ava, we’ve been made. Corpo-sec had the rabbit, and although I secured the package, I had much more heat than expected. I’ve enabled the location tracking on my Aug so you can find me if I have to use enough Aether to Mind Zero. The credits for this better be worth my risk, Ava.’
Content that he had sent prior warning of the trouble following him, Essen’s thoughts drifted slightly to his birthday, which was tomorrow, marking his eighteenth year of life, and as such ready for secondary education or to enter the workforce. Too bad he’d be lucky to hear of it from his parents, who were too busy with their low-tier jobs trying to support their Six kids through primary and secondary education. Maybe he'd get lucky and hear from his older sisters.
Brushing his distracting thoughts aside, Essen felt a spike of intent in the Aether, and trusting his gut, he once again pulled his focus and breathing in line, channeling Aether to the charm and speaking the words to the void ‘Zephyr Rush.’ With the burst of speed and energy flowing through him, he began pushing forward towards the edge of the block he was on, moving towards the sky roads and Byways linking the different blocks and the maintenance tubes he was going to climb down. Essen suddenly felt the need to dive to the side, like the winds were pushing him. Once more trusting himself, he dove to the side right as a rod-like projectile flew through the space he previously occupied. Coming out in a roll, Essen made use of the five remaining seconds of buff to run towards the edge of the byway and block, hoping that luck was on his side and his dive would land him on a lower byway and not down to the ground level. More projectiles of Spike-rods and E-bullets whipped by him and began striking the streets around him as he weaved toward the edge. “Aether-winds guide me,” he internalized as he dove forward off the byway edge.
As Essen fell, he spun around in mid-air, glancing around and seeing that, unfortunately, there was no byway to catch him. He had dove right into one of the empty sky pillars that ran from the top to the bottom of the Arcology. Freefalling at high speed as the power of his charm cut the wind resistance, he focused his breathing and pulled hard on the Aether within in preparation for what would be a very nasty Mind Zero, probably with a side of Mana Burn. He grasped a second charm of carved crystal fairy wings, trying to prepare himself for the cast that would likely cause him to zero out.
Zeroing out, while not dangerous most of the time, to “Sleepers” or non-players of the Nocturne could get severe injuries to their Aether network from overuse of Aether, called Mana Burn. Or they'd suffer the process of Mind Zero, stemming from draining all the Aether in their body. This overuse could twist and tear the Aether paths in your body, causing debilitating harm. Luckily there were many ways to fix that, including the Bio-Aug system he was currently saving up for. Also, serious injuries were rare and usually from things like what he was about to do, emergency charm-casting, or pulling amounts of Aether way above your capacity.
Taking just a moment to enjoy the rush of freefall, he glanced below and saw that he would fall into a building in the Old Block and prayed that it would be abandoned. As the time on his speed enchant again ran down, his fall slowed, as he no longer cut through the winds around him. Clenching every fiber of his being and summoning his focus, he channeled it into the wing charm and spoke to the void right before impact.
‘Grasp of the Aerie’
Aether surged through him, and as his vision became blurred, he felt a twist and burn through his spine and limbs before catching a satisfying glimpse of silver-green feathers swirling around him, signaling the effectiveness of the spell, pulling the package into his arms just before everything went black. He crashed spine-first into the Old Block.
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Essen returned to consciousness slowly, a process of flames and ice, with all the buzzing, twisting pain of his Mind Zero thrumming through him. His retinas burned as he cracked his eyes open, and he saw that he was lying partially concealed in a small pile of debris from the roof he crashed through. A dull ache ran thru his whole body but mostly his back. He was in an unclaimed and abandoned area of the Old Block, having at least landed in an inconspicuous area. Moving slowly and taking stock of himself, Essen was surprised that he didn’t feel any significant breaks or severe injuries besides the dull pain in his back and side. His clothes had torn from the fall and were covered in dirt and rubble, but the worst had to be that he could feel both mana burn and mind zero. His Aether network was all stretched and bloated, feeling like freezing ice, burning flames, little lines of lightning that had been taken and twisted around. But he was alive, and that's an upside. He patted the courier bag he had cradled to his chest, ensuring everything was still intact and had not fallen out.
It took him a few minutes to fully wake up. When a sharp spike of pain flowed into his Aether veins from his Aug, he finally snapped fully to consciousness, his Aug’s optical display jittering and twisting in ways it probably shouldn’t. As he pulled it up, he had a series of messages in his feed, received starting about thirty minutes ago. The first in the series marked urgent, saying:
Ava’nee: Shit, Ess, thanks for the heads up, and still managing to grab the package. I hope it doesn’t come to a Zero, but do what you must, and we’ll cover treatment. That package is looking more and more lucrative. I’ll keep the Girls on the lookout for you at the gate to the Arc.
Then, the most recent:
Ava’nee: Ess, answer me, dammit, I need to know you got away from those Corpo scum; I’m seeing news reports of a shootout.
Gritting his teeth as Essen focused his Aether to write back:
Essentia: Yo, I just woke up, and my Aug and Veins are Fragged; I’ll shoot you a call now.
After sending off his reply, Essen also saw that he had a few missed calls from Ava ranging from about thirty minutes to a few minutes ago. Pushing through the pain, he pulled up the interface and sent out a call, the interface and audio buzzing and twisting, even as Ava quickly accepted the call.
“Essen, thank the goddess, you're alright,” Ava’s smooth, even voice came over the line, ”please tell me you got away clean, and the zero wasn’t too bad.”
“Jeez, Ava,” Essen rasped out, rubbing his temples, “I got out clean and secured the package plus some extras the rabbit tossed in, but it was a nasty Zero with Mana burn on top of that, and while I don't know if my spine is damaged after a twenty block fall it very much feels like it. Whoever’s after this Package didn’t think twice about shooting on a Mid-Block, and I’m very lucky the twenty-floor Aerie didn’t fully zero me. I got so close my interface is Cracked and wavering.”
“Fuck Ess, that’s bad. Get here Quick; I’ll have Doc Reye here for a look at you when you pull in, so all you gotta do is make it to the east gate for the pickup from the Girls'.” Ava’s voice wavered as she spoke, “Take it slow and Safe; that package is secondary to a safe return.”
“Gotcha, Ava, slow and quiet,” Essen confirmed, “I'll be there as soon as possible. According to what I can see on my Aug-map, I don't have to cross any danger zones.”
“Chill then, Ess; I'll see you when you get in, ''Ava responded.
Grumbling his assent and cutting off the call, the next few minutes moving through the busted neon and chrome of the old district were a blur of agony. Feeling constantly on the edge of consciousness, the drive to finish the mission being the only thing keeping him moving. He passed from the dead zone into Neon territory, passing their brothels, clubs, and bars at a slow and concealed pace, blending through the crowds and masking the extent of his injuries. He managed to run into any trouble and passed safely out to the gate, swiping his Aether-sig across to get released into the Shell. As he made his way out the Eastern entrance of the Arcology and into the shell, he kept his eyes open for Ava’s Girls.
Ava’s mercenary band, the Coven, had considerable influence in this area of the shell, as she had a few named and titled aces to keep the rabble away. The Gaia chapter wasn't the Coven’s only branch, and Ava was not their superior officer, but for Gaia, it was their most extensive. The Coven was well known for being predominantly female, as well as having a large number of “Dreamers” or those with Tokens to Nocturne and Awakened networks. This fact, combined with their demeanor and appearance, as well as their code of conduct, made the Coven's territory both lucrative and somewhat safe comparatively.
Pulling the courier bag close and tucking into his jacket against the cold non-filtered air outside the Arcology, he managed to stumble his way over to a group of samurai from the Coven, identifying them by their symbol, a witch hat over an Oni mask, with little horns poking out of the hat. Having recognized One as Luciell, an operator type who had trained with Essen from time to time. Just as he reached the group, he suddenly began to taste the Aether in the air, unconsciously keeping himself alive through Aether breathing, though it burned his pathways more and more. He caught a glimpse of worried glances and a shout as his interface shattered, and he fell into blackness again.