Dante turned and ran for the exit. Hearing the men chase after him, he had two options. Fight them off, potentially incurring the wrath of his parents and the people behind them, or try to escape, in which case he would still invite similar wrath. The agents after him could report his location more quickly with the latter.

Thinking of their combat clothing and equipment, Dante quickly made a decision. He manifested Moonless from his CARD and turned around. The hostel was tucked away in an area that wasn’t too populated with homes, so few people were on the streets.

“You don’t have to do this the hard way, Mr. Sinclair,” the tall, dark-skinned agent said, “Think of everything your family has done for you, given you. We made you. Why resist?”

Dante ignored the man’s chatter and retrieved a pair of steel batons from his backpack, then ordered Moonless to “Attack.”

The pair raced forward. Dante knew that he had to take the initiative here. If he stayed passive, the agents’ superior equipment and training would win them the fight.

The two men glanced at each other.

“So be it,” the African agent said, retrieving a sleek but large V2-brand aether pistol.

Dante was almost upon the men, Moonless right beside him. At that point, Dante ordered, “Cover me!”

Moonless formed an orb of wispy black energy, which shot forward, not at the men, but rather at the ground. The round projectile exploded upon contact, the sheer force tearing the cement to pieces and causing a cloud of dust to rise. To their credit, the men reacted quickly. Dante could see them leaping sideways out of the smoke to regain their line of sight, but this action made the African agent too slow to react when Dante slammed his steel baton into the arm that held the gun. Dante wasn’t sure if the agent set the gun to stun or if his family put a kill order on his head, but he wasn’t risking the worst-case scenario. The man’s arm crumpled under the force of the blow, bending at a strange angle. A roar of pain broke free from the agent’s lungs, but he didn’t give up just yet, kicking Dante’s legs out from underneath him.

Dante lost his balance, falling to the side. He regained control of his movements and turned the fall into an awkward sideways roll. The impact on the cement floor hurt, but he recovered quickly enough to circle the African agent and, in the process, dodge a bullet of aether piercing into the ground. A cold shiver ran down Dante’s back. Yep, Safety’s off.

The young magister spent a moment surveying the situation as he closed the distance again. Moonless was holding her own, but her opponent seemed far more robust and swifter than he should be. Dante figured he had cybernetic enhancements. That was the only way he could keep up with Moonless’ speed enhancements. He gritted his teeth as he went for another swipe with the baton in his right hand, which the agent ducked underneath, barely avoiding what would undoubtedly have been a skull fracture or worse. Dante saw the agent’s now gun-wielding left arm come up almost in slow motion. He knew there was only one way to dodge the coming shot. Dante tapped into the power that made him different from virtually every other human on the planet—his aetheric core. Drawing upon the dark-aligned aether within him, he supercharged his musculature, causing his body to move faster than ever. He swiped his right baton so violently that his body spun in a circle. The blunt steel forced the agent’s left arm to the side with a harsh crack, causing the man to scream.

“We won’t let this go,” the man grunted, his eyes bulging as he forced himself to stare into Dante’s cold eyes through the immense pain he must have felt. “We’ll hound you to the ends of this Earth. You can’t stop us, we’re-”

Both of Dante’s batons came down on the man’s head.

Taking a deep breath, Dante picked up the fallen pistol, then turned towards Moonless’ side of the fight. Moonless was struggling a little. She had created some distance upon seeing that her physical attacks weren’t doing as much damage as she wanted. As her partner, Dante couldn’t let her take this burden alone, so he rushed into the battle, ignoring the aches riddling his body.

Moonless spat another sphere of energy at the man, but the man dodged, and Dante could tell she was starting to run dry. Sweat was matting her fur along with blood.

For a moment, Dante saw red. Then he focused again. The magister aimed and fired a series of aetheric bullets at the cyborg. The agent’s pupils turned an electric blue as he attempted to dodge the shots, only to get blasted in the side by one of Moonless’ projectiles. The attack would have torn a clean hole through a regular human being. Here, it simply burnt through a chunk of the tall man’s torso. Blood sprayed out and didn’t stop flowing. The cyborg crumpled to the side but caught himself. There was no change in his expression, no hint of pain. At that moment, Dante almost pitied the man. He appeared less human than the young magister was.

Dante pointed the gun at his head while the man rushed at him, both hands holding short aether swords. The magister couldn’t afford to get touched by the vibrating blades of aether. Moonless continued to pelt the cyborg with projectiles, but they were getting smaller and smaller, leaving his body burnt and bloody all over, but it didn’t diminish his momentum. Dante fired. The aether bullet went straight through the man’s cybernetic eyes. His body fell forward and left skidmarks on the ground as his momentum carried it.

“Let’s get out of here,” Dante urged his partner. “I’ll heal you up later. We can’t afford to get caught by their reinforcements.”

Moonless understood and allowed Dante to return her to his CARD. He began to run, heading towards the southern outskirts of the city. The young man had entered the city from the north, but the hostel was located near the city centre, meaning that he didn’t have to run across the entire city.

Dante was panting and gasping for breath when he reached the outskirts. He could have tried to get a taxi, but he doubted anyone would want to drive a bloodied stranger outside of the city. Dante had lost anyone still after him, so the young man took a moment to catch his breath. He manifested Moonless from his CARD and sat on the ground before taking off his backpack. He opened it up and pulled out a medi-kit. Inside, there were vials, sprays and bottles, all labelled. Dante grabbed two sprays with the label “Regenerative” and sprayed over Moonless’ wounds, who growled before letting out a yip. Then he got to sorting out his own.

It never gets tiring, he thought, watching as his bruises disappeared and flesh mended itself upon being sprayed. He winced, hissing through his teeth. If only it didn’t hurt so much.

“Alright, Moonless,” Dante said, “I guess you’re probably curious about how I can use aether?”

Kin, family, belonging. Moonless sent him several more emotions and ideas, forcing him to smile.

Dante shook his head. “Okay, I get it, you don’t care.”

The pair trotted off further through the outskirts of Nottingham until they reached more plains. Finding a large mound that grew from the ground like a tiny hill, Dante sat down to rest his legs and think.

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I didn’t expect them to find me so quickly. I understand their urgency. After all, I’m one of their most precious products. But can I really live in nature and hide? That’s now how I wanted to do things. No, instead of hiding and hoping things blow over, I need to find allies.

As soon as he thought this, he remembered a promise he had made the day before. Pulling out his CARD, he selected Nova’s number and called it. Dante didn’t have to wait long before she picked up.

“Hello!? Dante?!”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Dante said.

There was a moment of silence. Then all hell broke loose.

“You bastard! Do you know how worried I was?!”

“I-“ Dante tried to get a word in.

“Yeah, it’s me,” she mimicked his husky voice, “What an asshole.”

Dante winced, while on the other side of the connection, Nova let out a sigh.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said. “I caught myself my first geni partner and am close to making it through New Sherwood Forest already. Where are you?”

“The southern outskirts of Nottingham,” Dante said.

“Did you already get your tier four certification?!” Nova asked.

Dante blinked. He had forgotten all about that. “Uh, no,” he said. “Stuff came up, and I think I have to lay low a bit.”

Another moment of silence. “Hmm,” Nova murmured in thought, “Well if you’re having problems with other people, why not notify the local Arbiter? Helping people is their job.”

Dante’s eyes went wide.

“Nova,” he said. “You’re a genius.”

The girl in question laughed. “I know.”

“Let’s meet at the magister arena later,” Dante suggested.

“Okay,” Nova said, “I desperately need a shower and some real food though.”

“Oh,” Dante said. “Do you want to use mine? I’ve already paid for a room for tonight.”

There was another moment of silence. “…Well, if you’re offering, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Alright,” Dante said. “It’s a hostel on Mansfield Road. Should be easy enough to find.”

“Gotcha,” she replied.

“Call me when you get there. I have to go and talk with the local Arbiter now.”

“Alright, see you later,” Nova said.

Dante hung up and recalled Moonless. That’s right, he thought, I don’t need to do anything. I can leave it up to the Arbiters. They’re way stronger than I am, with their tier 2 geni teams.

He paused for a moment, made sure no one was around, then pulled a new, dark set of clothing out of his backpack and got changed. He wasn’t sure what the situation was like in the city, but considering that there would be two dead bodies on a residential street, he didn’t want to attract too much attention. With that done, he speed-walked back toward the city centre. He spent the following five minutes simply walking, but in the five minutes after that, Dante had to weave around police patrols and cordons. Eventually, he made it to the magister arena, where the local Arbiter had their office and conducted testing for magister certification.

The building itself was already massive, but it was even bigger on the inside, no doubt thanks to spatial aether technology. Dante gazed around in slight awe. The entrance hall alone was richly decorated, with a red carpet, picture frames hanging off the walls, and even a small statue in the centre of the room.

He soon reached the reception area, where a pretty brunette lady was typing on the PC. She looked up at him and paused momentarily, then said, “Give me a minute.”

Dante nodded. “No problem.”

Almost exactly a minute later, several armed men and women entered the entrance hall from one of the doors at the back. Dante had to resist the immediate urge to flee and, thinking quickly, instead put up his hands in surrender. It wouldn’t do to try and escape at this point. He could only hope that the Arbiter would arrive so he could talk to them. One of the armed personnel, a man of medium height with brown hair, forced Dante to the ground and cuffed his hands.

“You’re under arrest for suspicion of murder—anything you say or do may become incriminating evidence. You have the right to remain silent,” the man told him.

Dante blinked. “Um… Can I talk to the Arbiter?”

The armed man looked at him in slight surprise. “You’ll see her soon enough.”

Dante nodded and went quiet as the group led him down a corridor to an interrogation room with a steel table and what he assumed to be a one-way window. It reminded him of detective shows he’d seen, but the situation was too severe for him to smile. Instead, Dante waited patiently. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long. A minute or two later, an armed woman in combat clothing entered the entrance hall from another door towards the eastern side of the hall.

“So,” the woman, who had long brown hair and sharp grey eyes, said, staring him down. “Who are you?”

“Dante Sinclair, ma’am,”

The woman tilted her head at him. “Sinclair as in the V2 Sinclair’s?”

Dante had a feeling he’d be getting that response a lot. “Correct.”

She crossed her arms. “Should I expect a lawyer soon?”

The young magister shook his head. “I came here to talk to you in the first place… Also, this is a little awkward, but I don’t know your name. How should I address you?”

“You can call me Arbiter Campbell.” The woman raised an eyebrow, “What did you want to say? Pleading for mercy after killing two people?”

“No,” Dante said, “My family sent those men after me, and they tried to kill me first.”

Arbiter Campbell’s eyes narrowed, and she frowned. “You’re accusing the richest family on the planet of trying to assassinate their son. A son no one has previously heard of.”

Dante shoved away the irritation that bubbled up at the mention of him being unknown. “Check my records. I’m an official magister.”

“Fine,” the Arbiter said. “I’ll be back.”

With that, she left the room.

Several minutes later, she returned, looking like she’d just chewed on something nasty. “Your background checks out.”

“So what did you want to talk to me about, if not pleading your case?”

“The reason they sent those men after me,” Dante said. “Have you heard of the Cult of Aether?”

The woman’s expression changed, becoming firm and focused on him. “Where did you hear that name?”

“Would you believe me if I said that the Sinclair family heads are leading members of the cult?” Dante asked.

“No,” the woman shook her head. “The Sinclairs might not be the cleanest, but there is no evidence of them having any affiliation with terrorist organisations.”

“Well, it’s the truth,” Dante stated firmly. “They made me in a lab to further their goals of leading humanity into a new age. One under the control of the cult’s leaders.”

The woman gave Dante a look of such disbelief that he almost felt embarrassed.

Instead, he just sighed. “Will this make what I just said believable?”

He closed his eyes briefly and drew upon his internal stores of aether, projecting them outwards as an aura.

The Arbiter flinched back. He saw her almost reach for the CARD holstered at the side of her thigh and was glad when she relented. Dante had no hope of winning a battle against such an experienced magister.

“What did you just do? Was that aethertech?” The woman looked shaken.

“I told you they made me in a lab. I am an artificial human being capable of manipulating aether. And I’m not the only one.”