Aya wakes to the sound of her alarm clock going off the next morning, she groans, rolling over to smack the device until it quiets.

Groggily she falls out of bed, rubbing her eyes and wishing it was the weekend already.

Aya showers, noting her heater was broken again, not that she could afford to fix it with how little her job paid.

She sighs, relaxing into the cold water, letting it wake her up. The end of the month, so close at hand, yet so far.

"I just have to make it through another month." she says in the quietness of her shower.

The girl goes about her daily routine and after a helping of breakfast cereal, grabs her backpack to head out into the world.

On her way down she passes her bitter aunt, the woman sneers at her, turning her nose up as Aya passes her on the stairway.

The brunette pays her no mind, racing past her aunt and nearly flying down the staircase to make her bus.

"Made it." she says in relief

----------

She sits on the bus still thinking about the book's words on the Gods of Moon Valley.

"When you think about it, Fate, luck all those things are all left up to chance and that's pretty chaotic isn't it?" she says to herself.

Aya puts a hand to her mouth in thought.

"One must always be discerning. Did you write that mom?" she asks. "What are you trying to tell me?"

The girl sighs, resting her head against the bus's worn headrest. One mystery after another. Oh well, everyone loves a good treasure hunt.

Aya arrives at the Nue Corp building just in time for her boss to drop a stack of letters into her arms.

"I literally just got here!"

"Urgent deliveries." he says curtly, the sternness in his voice let her know something

"All of them! Did something happen?"

"Above my pay grade, and yours I might add. Now skedaddle, The president wants those on his desk pronto!"

Aya squeaks, rushing to load the letters into her mail cart and take them up the elevator to the top floor, whatever this was it had to be super important if it had her rushing around.

----------

Aya arrives at the top floor to a flurry of whispers, a group of men surround the President, talking in unison much to the man's ire.

Atlas grimaces at the voices surrounding him, all his father's yes-men trying to tell him how his old man would have run the company.

He would fire them all if they didn't have majority shares at Nue Corp and now his latest idea to sponsor the rising giant Lumos inc would have to wait.

"Gentlemen, Gentlemen let us calm ourselves." he says plastering a fake smile. He looks over their old, wrinkled faces, pushing down his seething contempt for them all.

'Nothing but cowards and users.'

"I know you have concerns but if you would follow me to the boardroom I can illustrate my three-step plan to enlighten you on how we can-" something or rather someone catches his attention.

Aya pushes the mail cart in hoping to go in and out of the top floor's lobby without drawing any attention to herself.

The men, she notes, by their well-tailored suits and brand name shoes are all very important people, so important Atlas himself seems pressured by their presence.

Their eyes meet, and Aya smiles encouragingly at him. Atlas returns it, going back to his discussion with the majority stakeholders and leading them into the boardroom.

She leaves the stack of letters on Viviana's table once more, the woman sits quietly, observing the two of them interact. The blonde snatches the mail out of Aya's hands.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"I'll be taking those." she hisses, much like a cat splashed with water.

Aya huffs, walking back to her cart away from all the fancy people and Atlas.

She had better things to do anyway.

----------

"That was fast." her boss says as she returns to the company's basement. Aya sighs, propping the mail cart into place before going to rest on her seat.

"Nue Corp is a fancy development company, why don't we have hovercarts like some of the other corporations do?"

"Because the CEO is a cheap ass." her boss hisses, she watches him flip the page of the newspaper he's reading. "Besides have you noticed what city we're in?"

'He's right.' Aya thinks.

For all the love her mother had for Axen, it was and still is one of the worst places to be in. Behind in all aspects, from tech to news, and with the crime rate skyrocketing far beyond what anyone predicted.

The only reason the wealthy stayed was for the cheap labor they knew they could get away with hiring. Aya balls her fist, breathing out slowly.

"Hey boss," Aya starts.

The man grunts in acknowledgment.

"How come you've never told me your name?" Aya asks.

"It's been a year since you started working here and you're asking this now?" Aya hears the amusement in his voice. She stammers, trying to come up with some sort of excuse.

"Relax, I don't think you need to know my name." He says cooly with unusual seriousness. He flips his paper again, turning to read the next page. "Sometimes a name is a burden, Miss Brown."

"You got a shady past or something?" she asks jokingly. "You can't have always been mail room boss."

Her boss chuckles deeply, hinting at something sinister. Aya narrows her eyes in suspicion, he can't have been someone dangerous right?

"Call this my clean slate." he says. "Everyone's running from something," he says the last part softly under his breath, almost remorsefully.

What could he have done? What was he running from? Aya thinks.

Then again, what was Mars running from?

'I have to leave this city.'

----------

Aya is on her way to the Seelim bus stop when she notices a figure standing under it.

Atlas Nue stands under the awnings of the bus station taking long slow drags from his cigarette. Aya approaches slowly, trying not to startle the man.

"Hi."

Atlas jumps, turning around to find the girl standing beside him.

"Oh, Aya." he quickly douses his cigarette, stepping on it faster than she can say anything.

"I don't really mind." she says. There were many smokers around her apartment, generally, all friendly people just dealing with life anyhow they could.

"It's a bad habit I'm trying to kick." He chuckles.

A moment of silence passes between them.

"So what was that meeting about, you looked rather frazzled." Aya says.

"Frazzled!" Atlas burst out laughing, being caught off guard by her humorous words. "I wasn't frazzled."

"I beg to differ!" Aya retorts. "They were a gaggle of old men and you didn't look comfortable at all!" she says poking him and joining the laughter. It takes a moment for their laughter to subside

"Ah it's just company business, I have some ideas but they're not really taken seriously." Atlas says sadly.

"I know what that's like." Aya sighs."When you are young they assume you know nothing."

"Ain't that the truth." Atlas sighs.

He takes a moment to observe her. He stares at her, taking in the way the setting sun reflects on her skin, how her dark hair falls over the curve of her cheek.

The president's face grows hot the more he stares.

Aya feels his eyes bore a hole into her and looks up to see Atlas staring at her, his face is set in a grim expression, but as their eyes meet again it softens.

"Is there something on my face?" Aya laughs. "You were staring a lot."

"So about that that food-"

The bus pulls up before he can finish his sentence.

"I've got to go, if you play Moon Valley you can friend me on there!" Aya says giving him her player ID.

The bus drives off and Atlas is left to stand in silence. He lights another cigarette taking a drag and blowing out smoke.

"Great."

----------

Aya arrives at her apartment building to see a darkly clad man circling the building. She pauses, shifting to a more stealthy pace as she walks towards the building.

She stops at a wall, hiding with her back pressed against the dusty brick surface. After a moment she peers from behind her hiding spot.

'Isn't that the guy I saw bothering Mars?' she thinks, her eyes scan the man's face taking note of his ashen face and sunken eyes. The hood hides his face but not well enough that she couldn't recognize him.

Aya, retreats behind the wall again, not wanting the man to see her.

'What should I do?'

Aya waits for man the to leave the premises, she watches him speed off in a nondescript black car lacking a license plate.

"I hope they aren't scoping out the place for a robbery." Aya says finally finding the courage to walk up the steps of the house.

She runs up to Mars's apartment, knocking frantically at the door. The older girl pulls it open.

Mars stands staring at her unexpected guest.

"What? Aya?"

"The man from Saturday came back!" Aya blurts as fast as she can, the girl crumples, panting hard from her run to Mars's floor.

Mars's eyes widen at the news.

Earlier today, something told her she was being followed but only now after hearing Aya's words does fear slowly creep up her spine.

Mars glares, forcing down her fear and rushing down to the ground floor of the apartment. Aya tails after her.

"They're gone, he hopped in a car and left!" Aya says. She grabs the girl's arm.

"Mars, who are they?"

"I don't know." Mars says slowly, but Aya knows it's a lie.

"It's alright if you don't want to tell me, but I worry about you." she says hugging the taller girl. Mars hesitantly puts an arm back around her.

"I know you're running from something, but I don't care. Everyone's running from something you know." Aya says.

"It's complicated." Mars says. Aya hugs her tighter.

"It always is."

----------

Aya walks Mars back to her apartment before returning to her own. She gets into bed, thinking about the day's events while setting up her gaming gear.

"One must always be discerning." she says to herself.

She puts on the Revista and finds herself in the world of Moon Valley.