*Act 3, Scene 1*

Thanks to a friendly caravan transporting gems to Metroglade from a local port, Ryan's long journey was merely a day's ride.

"Thanks for the trip, and your opinions on Africa's political climate," Ryan bids as he departs from the caravan.

In front of Ryan lies an advanced technological city intertwined with nature. The buildings twist with the trees, and cyclists skate across the sleek curves.

In bright neon lights: "METRO-GLADE."

Ryan continues into the city, the streets dirty with trash and glowing fluids. "Excuse me, sir?" Ryan asks the first person he spots.

"Um, yeah?" they respond.

"I'm looking for an elf man with a bunch of swords," Ryan claims.

"Dead or alive?" he asks in return.

"Alive, I hope," Ryan confirms.

"Your best bet outta be the police department, your next bet outta be the morgue," the man absconds.

Ryan wanders through the street looking for anything resembling a guard tower or outpost. After wandering for hours, Ryan is lost completely in this silicone jungle.

"You look lost," someone with a deep voice asks Ryan.

"I'm looking for a man," Ryan says.

Ryan turns. Shocked, he sees more machine than man: a chromed-up cyborg with circles for feet, cameras for eyes, and all the muscular enhancements available.

"I call myself Dwayne," he tells Ryan.

"Ryan... is who I am," Ryan stutters.

"You said you're looking for a man, have you any leads?" Dwayne asks.

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"Not really, I thought something or someone could help me here," Ryan says.

Dwayne checks Ryan out, scanning him from top to bottom.

"Fleshy, weak, but you carry a powerful gun. If you're gonna track this guy down, you're gonna need some implants," Dwayne retorts.

Ryan doesn't think and agrees with Dwayne. He takes Ryan to an augmenter, where Ryan plans to receive optical enhancements.

"Welcome to the One-Stop Chop-Shop! Home of chrome upgrades for your organic parts," Dr. Ome greets the two.

"Hello, I have exactly 225 Coins, I need an eye enhancement to track an elf I've never met," Ryan requests.

It costs 200 coins for the upgrade and a special link that gives Ryan a wireless connection to cameras he has access to.

*Act 3, Scene 2*

Ryan spends a minute adjusting to his new left eye.

"Look out," something speaks to Ryan.

With little warning, a creature of pure light bursts through the wall of the Chop Shop, almost obliterating Dr. Ome.

"What is that?" Ryan screams.

"Nothing I can't kill," Dwayne asserts.

Dwayne reveals two long blades from either forearm and wastes no time cleaving into the light creature, every strike simply not making contact with it.

Ryan grabs Dwayne just before an explosion of neon light lays waste to the shop.

Ryan pulls out Malice and aims at the apparition; his left eye forms a reticle which Ryan is all too excited to use.

Blasting off a red bullet, the creature wails, taking an unknown amount of damage. "How did you hurt it?" Dwayne asks.

Ryan, unsure of his own magics, fires a second shot at the light creature. The creature dodges almost as fast as light itself.

Shaken by the blinding speed, Ryan is sucker-punched by the light, burning his stomach, before he's knocked out by a near-lethal left hook.

Ryan blacks out. But his left eye records a fight between Dwayne and the creature which weaved light into lasers, branding the ground everywhere it stuck. Dwayne fought recklessly with wild slashes and swift dashes.

But it wasn't until Dwayne resorted to simply punching the creature did the fight turn. Apparently, its ephemeral form couldn't be cut, but could be pummeled.

Dwayne savagely beat the light creature until the neon faded away, revealing a simple human. Dwayne searched the body and found nothing, but a depleted gemstone embedded in his chest.

*Act 3, Scene 3*

Perhaps it was the intrigue of a new adventure, or simply an intrusive thought, but Dwayne decided to join Ryan's party.

Ryan sends out some remote control drones salvaged from the spy tower to search for the elf. Across all of the Green lands, he could be anywhere.

Ryan decides to take a minute and think.

"What are you doing?" Dwayne asks.

"I have to ground myself; I can get caught up thinking about the future often," Ryan tells him.

"I know what that's like; my implants give me the ability to anticipate almost every possible future from most likely to least. It takes a lot of processing, by the computer, and by me," Dwayne remarks.

Ryan is silent.

"I see things that disturb me every millisecond," Dwayne says.

"Me too," says Ryan.

The two share a moment. It was as though they knew each other long before meeting at Metroglade. They both jerk back, it felt wrong for some reason.

Ryan spends the night at Dwayne's place. They sleep in separate rooms.

In the middle of the night Ryan wakes up to the sound of shambling metal.

"Dwayne?" Ryan whispers

Dwayne says nothing, he falls on top of Ryan, the couch is cramped, but Ryan smiles as Dwayne passes out with his face buried in Ryan's chest.

*Act 3, Scene 4*

While making breakfast from his robotic eye, Ryan discovers a small village called East Main, not on this continent but west of Capital City.

This village is home to many wood elves; from the look of it, they recently freed themselves from Capital City rule.

"No doubt this is the elf's home," something spoke to Ryan.

Ryan thought.

"If we go to East Main village on the northern continent, then there's no doubt the elf will return there," Ryan tells Dwayne.

Dwayne rubs his face, getting off the couch

"The northern? You mean Capital City?" Dwayne responds.

"Not if Capital City doesn't control the entire continent," Ryan retorts.

Then that settles it. Ryan and Dwayne begin a journey to East Main. The closest port is on the coast of New Hexlands.

"Do we need to talk about last night?" Ryan asks

"What happened last night?" Dwayne asks in return

"N-nothing" Ryan dismisses