It was the first time I saw an Achroite up close. Well, technically the second time, given that the first Achroite I saw up close was the Chairman, when he came to visit his top Rebirth School, with a Natural-to-Enhanced conversion rate of 98%, but he didn’t seem that majestic or awe-inspiring that time. Probably since he wasn’t trying to delude anyone into thinking he was a deity as he did when he introduced Eugenex to the world. Or perhaps I had mixed feelings about him, and my bias clouded my view of him.

But Aisha Lexington seemed to have come straight from a utopic arcadia rid of evil and imperfections. With soft, delicate facial features, a graceful build like that of a classical dancer, a translucent snow-white veil that covered her midnight hair, and radiant pecan skin, it was as if she sparked hope in the midst of our misery. As if what little sunlight could seep through the Eugenex clouds that blocked the skies glinted through her veil to brighten our view. And yet, she still looked like a Natural. Most Enhanceds had synthetic hues applied to their bodies to surpass nature, to say that they could do a better job than God. But no synthetic hues marred Aisha. Concern did beam from her eyes, though, no matter how poised and collected she was trying to act.

I wiped my hands on my shirt, but before I took Aisha’s hand, I felt bad for letting her help me when my hands had smashed raw sewage. I could perfectly stand up on my own, so I did just that.

Slight disappointment veiled her face. Maybe she didn’t mind? She wasn’t hovering. One of Eugenex’s benefits. All Enhanceds save the Chairman hovered when they visited the tenements. “Bridger Cael Cavanaugh, I have a—”

Footsteps approached, and a splash of wastewater drenched my legs. Aisha dodged it with ease. Unfazed.

“I’m here for you, deartháir,” Fearghal said. “Ready to kill…” He surveyed the aftermath and didn’t flinch when he spotted the corpses of the Esneas who were going to send me to the afterlife. Their somewhat translucent blood had already crystallized by that point.

That was another of Eugenex’s—for lack of a better word—benefits. If you were wounded, not only would the wound heal faster, the blood around it would crystalize and create an almost impervious ruby-looking scab around it. It didn’t help a lot if you died from said wound, of course. That was why Aisha had pierced the skulls of those Esneas. The only way to block Eugenex’s healing process was by attacking someone’s brain, so it wouldn’t order the body’s enhanced cells to heal themselves.

My brother kicked the corpses, a mix of rage and regret in his face. Not because those guards had died, but because he wasn’t the one who slaughtered them. Then he turned his head to Aisha, almost in terror that he had forgotten the usual formalities. He bowed a tad. “Ágend Lexington,” he stammered, hoping that she wouldn’t have him killed for disrespecting an Achroite. “To what do we owe your presence in this humble tenement?”

Ágend. Master.

Fearghal tried his best to sound like an Achroite, but it came out as if he was mocking their accent, which they rarely used except to brag in front of the Chairman and his sycophants.

A hint of sadness glinted in Aisha’s face, though I guessed it was aimed not so much at my brother but at the fact that society had instilled such terror in people who were equals.

“Those pleasantries shan’t be necessary,” she said with a heavy Achroite accent. But then she smiled. “You can call me Aisha, both of you.” Now she dropped the accent.

My brother gave a short sigh, perhaps because he thought she was going to kill me as well. “The question still stands, Áge— Aisha,” he said. “What brings you to the gutters? And without bodyguards.”

Only the Chairman dared to do that. But solely because he wanted the Naturals to believe him. To listen to him. To turn him into their hope. Their cause.

Most Naturals would have never hurt anyone, though. It was nothing but a handful of wannabe terrorists calling themselves freedom fighters who thought a bloody civil war was the answer. Who didn’t think it fair that they had to take Eugenex to achieve a decent life. It wasn’t. Everyone could see that. But I could not support kidnappings and extrajudicial killings. Those idiots had no moral compass. And they’d ruined the rest of the Naturals’ reputation and good name.

Aisha stepped toward me. “Cael Cavanaugh, I have a job request for you.”

Joy bloomed in my brother’s face. “He’ll take it,” he blurted out. “Whoever needs saving.”

Confusion shone in Aisha’s eyes. “All right…” Her voice trailed off, perhaps because she hadn’t thought it would be so easy.

I turned to my brother. “Let’s just hear what Aisha has to say first,” I said, still not fully aware of what I’d embark on.

“What do you need to know, deartháir?” he said, still radiating happiness. “It’s Aisha Lexington, Cael. Aisha Lexington. Her bank’s the biggest in the country.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “If you succeed, you could immediately leap to Class B, if not Class A. And the money—” He turned back to Aisha. “We’re talking about millions as a fee, right?”

An ice blade froze my veins. “Goodness, Fearghal,” I said, mostly embarrassed. “What’s wrong with you?” I faced Aisha. “Don’t mind him, he—”

Aisha chuckled. “Please do not hold me in such high regard, Cael,” she said. “I have no intention of pretending I’m a deity.” She gazed at her surroundings almost comically. “Besides, we are all the same when nature calls.”

My brother laughed. I didn’t. Out of disbelief that an Achroite would make that type of joke.

“For the record, though, Cael, if you fulfill my job request in a timely fashion,” Aisha said, “you could indeed be looking forward to immediate Class A status, a promise from me to vouch for internal reforms to grant Naturals the same rights as Enhanceds, and a billion dollars so you and your family never have to fret over a lack of means.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I could finally achieve my little sister Ellie’s dream of peace and equality between all. Perhaps she could finally get the operation she needed and open her eyes to a better world. A fairer world. The world she prayed for every day.

My brother grabbed my shoulders again and shook me. “A billion, deartháir,” he whispered to me, giddy. “A billion.”

I almost instantly agreed, but then I thought that it was a little too easy. Suddenly an Achroite arrived and would pay me a billion dollars and help achieve the reforms needed to stave off a civil war and nip that terrorist movement before it infected us all. For one job. If it were several jobs, I’d understand, but just one? It seemed too good to be true, but Aisha seemed trustworthy. More than some Naturals, and definitely more than every other Enhanced. I didn’t want to doubt her, but my mind kept racing through the scenarios.

Would I have to save the creator of Eugenex? The manufacturer of Eugenex? The Chairman himself? Save my enemies? It had never really dawned on me that that’s what being a Class A+ bridger meant, that that’s what saving the Achroites meant. Saving your enemies. Saving those who kept you down. Saving those who thought you an inferior being. Saving those who thought it okay for everyone to die of dysentery and have to smuggle water to survive. Was that really what I wanted to do for the rest of my life? Wrath began to sear my veins, so I prayed for tranquility, because Jesus said we had to love our enemies, so I began to stall, thinking about what I wanted my life to be like.

“W-w-what is it?”

Nothing could have prepared me for Aisha’s job request. It was worse than everything I had thought of.

“My brother, Logan Lexington, he…” She paused a second to compose herself. Tears began to form, but she forced them back into her eyes. She would not cry in public. I wouldn’t either. Made you look weak. “Logan has gone missing in VirtuaNet,” she said coldly, flatly. Perhaps so emotions didn’t overwhelm her. “He was supposed to return home two weeks ago, but that did not happen.”

She stepped right in front of me, seized my hands, and gazed right into my eyes, as if she wanted to peer into my soul, to the point I could see my reflection in her dark-brown eyes. “I want you to find him, Cael. I want you to bring him home safely. I…”

Her voice began to break, so I hugged her. “I’m sure he’s alive, Aisha. He wouldn’t abandon his family like that.”

“Thank you, Cael,” she said, still forcing herself not to cry.

I wanted to help her. I really did. I knew what it was like to hope that despite all odds, one of your family members was safe and sound somewhere, thinking about you. But being a bridger meant I had a high genetic compatibility with VirtuaNet, which meant that whatever happened to me in the virtual world could affect me in the real world, although to a lesser degree.

For instance, if I died in game from a blow to the chest, my heart could stop in real life. And I’d need CPR to restart it. There was a bridger who had tried making money in VirtuaNet, but he got defeated by a sword strike to his neck. When he logged off he didn't die, but he was paralyzed from the neck down.

I had only one option, which made me feel like I’d taken a gravity blast burst to my chest. I couldn’t breathe, and a hammer pounded my heart, but I had made up my mind.

“I… I…” I glanced away. I couldn’t bear to look at her when I told her my answer. “I can’t—”

My brother grabbed my arm, for the first time, truly mad at me. “Are you trying to sabotage your success, Cael? Your life? Abandon someone who needs you?”

I thought about shouting I don’t want to end up paralyzed, but that sounded selfish, so I said, “If I’m in VirtuaNet, who’s going to help the Naturals here? Bridge for them if someone they know gets trapped?” Technically not a lie, as that was one of my concerns too.

But in that moment, the cadavers that pocked our streets became the sole thing I could see. Would I end up like them? Would I let Aisha’s brother end up like that? Because of my selfishness? Because of my fear?

“If you’re worried about what the Naturals will think of you if you succeed, if you help the Achroite whose bank imprisons them for unpaid loans, then be at ease knowing that they already hate you anyway,” Fearghal said. “They loathe the fact that we had food and water while they had to see their families die of dysentery and starvation. They call you rebirth boy. The Chairman’s bootlicker. Only a handful, though. But you can still notice their resentment when you talk to them.” He clenched his fists. “They don’t appreciate everything you do for them.” He then lowered his voice. “Aisha will. Aisha does.”

I knew my brother made sense. On all fronts. And I kept running out of excuses, so I whispered the truth. “What if I fail? What if I…?”

He hugged me. “Then I’ll be there to save you, deartháir.”

I chuckled. Even Aisha smiled. A nice moment. One ruined by a roach that tried to climb up my leg, but still. I stepped toward her. “I will take your job request, Aisha.” A grin brightened her face. “I will find your brother. I will bring him back safe and sound.”

She hugged me. “We have a deal, then, Cael.”

She sent the request through the Standardized Bridging System display. I activated my smartwatch, and a holographic screen emerged from it, displaying my account for the SBS. Big enough for me to read it with ease but small enough so others couldn’t.

Client: Aisha Lexington

Job Request: Find her brother Logan Lexington and bring him back to the real world

alive.

Does Class D Bridger Cael Cavanaugh accept the request?

Accept. Deny.

I tapped Accept, and the request was activated. We then headed to our apartment, where people thought Aisha was a starvation-induced hallucination because no Achroite would ever set foot in our tenement, much less someone like Aisha Lexington. But they realized she was real when she gave them some money to buy black market water bottles and energy bars. Pennies to her, a world of difference for the Naturals. It saddened her that people had to go to such lengths to acquire vital goods, but she had a brother to find. And she would not let anything else distract her.

Aisha drew out a headpiece from a knapsack she was carrying and handed it to me. “So we can communicate while you’re in VirtuaNet.”

After she had explained to me what to expect once I entered the game, I was ready to head in. My heart wanted to rip open my chest, but I wouldn’t let fear defeat me. I had to be strong for my family. For Aisha. For the Naturals I could help. I took one deep breath, soaking in all the stenches of the tenement, and logged in to VirtuaNet.

A needle emerged from my smartwatch and injected me with a substance that put my body in a sort of hibernation state while I played online. Kind of dangerous to be that vulnerable while you played an online game, but most Enhanceds played in the safety of their homes, logging in through their smartwatches, and almost every Natural played in heavily guarded VirtuaNet parlors, where Esneas made sure to keep them safe. They did this under penalty of death, even if an Achroite attacked Naturals while playing. It was the safest place for Naturals to be, ironically. All, of course, thanks to a hefty donation to the Chairman’s Foundation by Lezavre Corporation, VirtuaNet’s developer. And everyone cheered for that.

I could feel how the substance numbed my organs, my senses, my sense of time. I couldn’t make out Aisha or my brother’s senses as my smartwatch scanned my DNA and replicated it for my game character. I thought that it would hurt, but it didn’t. The pain would come later.

It could have been an hour for all I knew, when in actuality, only three seconds elapsed; I managed to note that much before my eyes shut and everything went dark.

I was inside. With that, I was in the Bridge, ready to head to VirtuaNet.