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The clothes department store was packed. Typical on the midday of the week when most school departments in New Rylex were closed. Alicia Pedford hurriedly scuffled her way through the clothes racks and fellow customers on her roller blades. “Pardon, excuse me, coming through.” She built anticipation at each minute rushing closer to her destination.

Gosh I really hope they still have- “Oh they do!” Straight ahead in the distance she saw it - the jacket that she spotted a few days ago. Immediately picking it from the rack she positioned it over her front. It was a beige wool jacket stretching down just over her knees. It was dull compared to the average New Rylex fashion, but New Rylex wasn’t where she planned to wear it. Alicia directed herself to a nearby mirror. Her skin was a slightly darker than the jacket and the side of her long dark hair rested at the shoulders. She glanced at the size tag at the collar. “Awesome.” It was the same size that she had tried on when she first saw it and now that she had just received her pay check she didn’t hesitate to buy it.

Jacket at hand, she skated her way to the cash register. While rolling on her blades, Alicia felt her jeans’ pocket vibrate and heard a small electronic tune. She pulled out her flat cell phone and read the small screen; it was an incoming call from “Jared.” With a pleased grin she answered it still on the move, “Hello.”

“Hey babe, great news!” The voice on the other line responded.

Alicia giggled, “Jared, what’ve I told you before about the whole ‘babe’ thing. We’re only 17 years old, we’re not married couple.”

Jared said playfully, “Ah, that’s right Alicia. We’ve only been going out for seven months, I keep forgetting I can only get away with ‘beautiful.’ ”

Making it to the cash register Alicia said, “So what about this great news, Jared?” She handed over the jacket and her digit card to the cashier.

“This great news, Alicia, is about a certain beautiful gal who is not going to Syrin City Engineering Academy all by herself.”

“Oh Jared, you got accepted too! That’s wonderful!”

“Yeah, I got into the alchemical sub-program and everything.”

“I knew you’d get accepted Jared. And see how worried you-”

“Excuse me.” A male electronic voice interrupted Alicia. Looking across the counter she saw a six foot dinosaur-like creature; it was the cashier. It looked just as much as a reptile as it did a bird with its crest of feathers. The dromea had on a unique head device with small speakers protruding from the sides. Holding up the jacket with a claw the dromea breathed out a mumbled hiss but the speakers said, “Are you purchasing this as a luxury item?”

Alicia nodded, “Yes, that’s correct.”

“Would you like to register for a department card. 10% off for every 50 digits worth of luxury you buy.”

“No thanks, just the jacket’s fine.” Alicia said. A small screen on the counter in front of her then lit up displaying her receipt. She pressed her thumbprint at the side of the screen. The computer instantly read her thumbprint to confirm both her identification and the payment of the jacket. She returned to the phone. “Jared?”

“Yeah I’m here. So Alicia, I was thinking that you and I could go out to eat tonight as little celebration. You know, nothing wild like the dance tubes, something like an actual restaurant. If you want, we could invite some friends. Just say the word and I’ll make reservations at where you want.”

Alicia gathered her shopping bag and card from the cashier, “Aw, Jared, you’re so sweet. As much as I love to have a quiet dinner ‘with just the two of us,’ I already made plans to cook dinner at home.

Jared’s tone lifted with interest, “You’re cooking?”

“Yeah. I’m still in Tower 6 though. I just got out of work a while ago and just bought that beige jacket I told you about. Now I’m on my way to the grocery department to get a few things.” Alicia skated her way out of the clothes department and onto the wide road. The road, more like an enormous sidewalk, was packed with pedestrians either on bikes, roller blades, or skateboards - from older employees in conservative business suits to younger generations where the various bright trendy clothing. The roads were patterned with small areas of trees and benches in the middle and outlined with different businesses and facilities. The height of the ceiling was about 30 meters high and illuminated by a continuous white lights; the top lights over every road on every floor would vary in brightness depending on the hour, simulating day and night. Rows of street lamps would keep the roads at night.

It was about hour before evening and Alicia wanted to make her way home before 18 o’clock. She skated her way onto the center lane of the road where people were rolling through at faster paces. “So yeah I want to get the things I need and get home within the next hour so I have dinner ready for my brothers.”

The enthusiasm in Jared’s voice dropped, “Ah, so one of your bros will be home?”

“Both of them, actually. Charlie has the night off and I threatened Ian to make it home in time for dinner. Jared you’re more than welcome to come to our place and have dinner with us.”

“What? Are you crazy? It’s enough that each of them hate the idea that their ‘baby’ sister has a boyfriend. But Alicia, have you even considered my own safety if I was in the presence of both of them…at the same time?! And aren’t those two always at each other’s throats with lightning bolts. I’m not a rylen. You know as in ‘if I get electrocuted, I can get hurt a lot.’ Not to mention that Ian is mad with swordplay and your other brother, well he just looks at a person and they die.”

Alicia squinted her eyes, “Jared?” she said with an arduous tone.

“What?”

“Stop being ridiculous, Jared. They’re not going to fight because I’ll make sure of it. This dinner will probably be one of the last few times the three of use would be home at the same time before I leave for the end of fall. That’s why I’m setting this up in the first place.”

“Did you tell your brothers that you’re going to Syrin City to study and not here in Rylex?”

Alicia slowed her pace, “I told Ian, but not Charlie. I was planning on telling him tonight over dinner.”

“And you think he’ll be okay with that? How’d Ian take it?”

“Better than I thought. Great actually.”

“That’s cool.”

“Well you might or might not think otherwise,” Her voice sounded hesitant. “See, with me not here in Rylex even Ian has the sense to know that things at home would turn out to be really messy if it was just him and Charlie. And then there’s well…Jared, you remember when I said that the only problem for me moving to Syrin City would be paying rent?” She finished with an innocent tone.

“Uh yeah…and I offered you to stay with me?”

“Well despite the fact that I left that suggestion of yours out when telling Ian, he offered to pay half of it if he moved in with me, that is.”

“What?!” Jared exclaimed, “Your brother’s moving in with you?”

“Yes.”

“But isn’t he already studying here?”

“Ian managed to transfer.” Alicia said as she turned into the entrance of the grocery department.

“So is he planning to pay tuition? You have a scholarship for the engineering school, he doesn’t. It’s not like here in Greymere were the government pays for education.”

“He says he’s got the money. And believe me, he does make plenty.” She said as she maneuvered her way passed different food aisles.

Jared said, “You know, you never told me where he’s getting his ‘big bucks.’ I mean Rylex isn’t exactly a capitalist economy.”

“He just tells me he does overtime on community service,” she said while examining a box of spaghetti.

Jared scoffed, “Yeah right.”

“Why, what do you think he does?”

“Probably something illegal…”

She dropped down her arm holding the spaghetti in response, “Jared!”

“Okay, okay sorry.”

“You know what, now I’m going to make you get along with Ian at Syrin City. And trust me, I know Ian’s a wise ass, but he’s a very honest guy making very honest money.”

---

The small attentive crowd gathered around the center of the wide room which looked more like a warehouse. A single large lamp hung over the middle. Another light source flashed among a sparking clash. Two individual at the center ring, each in a pair of roller blades, locked their swords; the metal blades glowing with static. One of them quickly overpowered the other with a boasted jolt onto his weapon, forcing his opponent to lose grip of his sword.

The opponent’s sword clanked across the hard floor of the arena. By reflex he turned to retrieve it was but was immediately pinned by a blade hovering an inch at his neck. The wielder stared straight at him and shook his head. “Don’t even try it.” The opponent said nothing, only giving a bitter expression to the fact that he lost; he slowly put both hands up in surrender.

Two bystanders stepped into the ring from the surrounding crowd. An older man shouted in announcement, “And the winner of this month’s tournament goes to 7 month champion, Ian!” The crowd roared with cheers and whistling as Ian held his fist up proudly. An attractive woman wearing an outfit striped with glowing neon on her clothes and glittered hair approached Ian to hand him what appeared to be a digit card and a small peck on the cheek.

The announcer continued, “This month the winner receives a stealth deposit of 6,000 digits, and Ian certainly deserves it. What a show’s he’s given us for over 13 months.” The man patted the back of Ian shoulder, “Ian my boy, will we be expecting you to win next month’s tournament?”

Ian wiped the dripping sweat on his forehead and responded smugly, “Well Tom, I’m sorry if I got you’re hopes up but I won’t be around for next month, or the month after. I’ll be moving out of these towers.”

“Moving out of New Rylex? You’re kidding us.” The crowd echoed with surprised moans. “Don’t tell me you’re not getting enough loving here, eh?” Tom gestured to the crowd giving a cheer of enthusiasm.

Ian, shook his head, “Nah, nah it’s not that Tom. Things just come up and I got to go up with ‘em. I have plans to…” An electronic tune went off from Ian’s eye piece. On the screen, the time was flashing while displaying a blinking emergency notice that said, “Must be home in 30 minutes.”

Oh snap. Ian put the card in his pocket and held his sword over his back, clipping it onto the sheath strap. “Gotta go, Tom. Duty calls.” He then raced his way into and through the crowd.

“Well there you have it ladies and gents, a man of few words. Let’s give him a last round of applause.”

Ian made a final wave back as he bolted up the steady sloped hallway. Small white lights evenly spaced across the walls. He eventually made his way to the other end where two security guards stood in front of a wide door, a man and a dromea. Quick to recognize Ian, the man addressed him, “Yo Ian, you’re fight finish already? Did you win?”

Ian revealed his stealth card, “Sure did. I just got to skip the party because of some other business I got.”

The man opened the door and the sounds of a massive audience poured in. “Well Ian, we’ll just see you next time.” Ian slowly coasted past the door on his blades and chuckled. “Won’t be a next time.” He then sped off.

The blurring noise echoed overhead. Ian was right under the bleachers of the New Rylex hockey stadium in the central tower and it appeared to be well into the peak of the game judging by the excitement. Ian left the lower storage room of the stadium where most of the secret gambling events took place. Gambling in general was illegal throughout the country of Greymere. But if you had the right skills and knew the right people and places it was something well worth taking advantage. Ian had all three points covered, taking much advantage over it. He grew to love swordplay would go any lengths to participate and compete.

There was actually an official ‘legal’ martial arts association in Greymere, but in order to join one would have to register. And in order to register, one needs to submit a renewal of background information of the individual as well as the information of their parent or guardian. Ian’s guardian was his older brother, Charlie. Unfortunately Ian couldn’t do anything that would bring any attention to his brother or else Charlie would be in big trouble, and Ian hated him for that.

However, it didn’t stop Ian from doing the things he wanted to. He used to get in trouble frequently with the authority as he used to try to start fights with other swordsmen on the street. Luckily he got the right attention and was introduced to underground duels. An even bigger plus was the opportunity of profit.

To the average citizen, gambling itself was hesitating because it’s almost impossible to use any gained money without the government from finding out. All currency in Greymere, called digits, is processed electronically through a universal financial system. Every citizen has their own account. Any pay checks they make go straight to their account. Any expenses a citizen makes go directly from their account to the business department they purchased from. Finally all traffic flow of digits throughout the financial system is heavily monitored.

But there are exceptional ways to cheat the system thanks to a few successful hacking programs. One is known as the stealth cards - digit cards that can deposit invisible digits. Ian already had well over 70,000 invisible digits stashed secretly in his account.

Ian made his way out of the stadium and then heard a familiar voice, “Hey Ian! Wait up!”

Ian stopped and turned around curiously, “Huh? Oh! Bane, I’m sorry man. Didn’t mean to leave you hanging there.” Ian’s best friend, Bane, was out of breath. He rolled to toward Ian with his arms slouched over his knees. “What…was that all about? At first I thought you and Tom were joking when you said you had to leave. What the hell’s the rush?”

“Sorry Bane. A note on my eyepiece reminded me I got to be home ‘now’ or else I’m Alicia’s going to kill me. She wants to have a little family dinner with me and Charlie.”

Bane stood up straight with a huff, “Aw that’s right, because you and Alicia will be moving out soon.”

“Yeah, but hey, if you want to come, you know you love Alicia’s cooking. And she always makes extra so she wouldn’t mind you coming.”

“Nah, that’s okay man. You have your family dinner. And besides, I got to meet Frank and the gang at the central mall here and then later head to the dance tube.”

“Which dance tube?”

“The one at Tower 2. Don’t you remember?” Bane stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a concert flyer. On it was a picture of the woman in a dynamic dance pose holding a microphone and dressed in her signature shades of light blue. The glowing tips of the front of her long hair showing she was obviously a zalen. Bane said, “Cyan’s going to be singing there tonight. It’s going to be the last concert she’ll be holding this week before going back to Appolis.”

“Ah, that’s right. Completely forgot. Well I might be able to catch the show depending on how full I get from Alicia’s cooking.”

“Alright, then well I won’t keep ya. I’ll see you later.” The two slapped a handshake before skating in opposite directions. Ian called back, “I’ll be sure to save you some leftovers for later.”

“Yeah, rub it in. Oh and you better not pull another disappearing act before you leave to Syrin city.”

“You know I wouldn’t do that.” Ian finally sped off down the road, zooming through the rest of pedestrians. The roads in the central tower were distinct from the other towers in which they were wider with less park islands to take into account the higher traffic. Ian made a left turn after passing a large hanging sign pointing to “DOCKS.”

In the docks there was a web of paths, ramps, and bridges twisting around a huge assembly of monorail stations. Monorails ranged in a variety of sizes from small pod like structures to long chains of cabins. The urban atmosphere was filled with the noise of breaks and engines of monorails coming in and going out. Speakers occasionally went off, announcing arrivals and departures.

One of speakers caught Ian’s attention and made him to run faster. “Last call for the departure of T3-G. Last call for T3-G, leaving to Tower 3, station G.” If he didn’t catch this pod, he would have to wait for another 10-30 minutes for another one and Ian didn’t want to wait, period.

Reaching the top of the final ramp at full speed, Ian aimed at the monorail pod a quick distance in front of him. The door of the pod began to close. Just in time Ian shoved his arm in between to stop and reopen it. He made it into the pod. Huffing for air, he rolled his way to the long circular bench outlining the pod walls. The entire spherical ceiling was a glass window where digital screens would appear at any angle. The pod was packed and the only space to sit was between a dromea and an elderly woman. He took his seat while the pod door finally closed shut immediately began to accelerate; a low humming sound grew in pitch as the monorail increased speed. Within less than a minute, Ian watched outside as the pod made its way out of the station and out of the tower. The pod zipped through a long suspended track running out to the next tower. The track and pod were inside a long translucent tube.

Ian thought to himself Huh, the rain died down. Don’t see that too often. Normally throughout most the year, it would be raining hard enough that the rain pouring down the tube would make it impossible to see outside. But now Ian had a full view outside the towers. Even though the pod’s track was well over 1,000 meters above ground the surrounding towers still loomed, high piercing through the dark clouds that covered the evening sky. Like giant cones the size of mountains, the towers dotted with streaks of light.

Equally extravagant was the natural aspect of the scene. Lightning bolts in every direction flashed as frequently as the rain itself. It was the lightning that illuminated the outside environment. And every strike hit the most predictable spots. Each of the towers had an array of spine-like lightning rods scattered across its surface. The rods served not only as a safety precaution but as a significant energy source. Rods would collect and relay both the electricity and the intense heat of each bolt to power stations below. Though the lightning wasn’t the only power source for New Rylex, no where else on Archsphere could lightning be as frequent to be used as one. Located at the heart of the Greymere peninsula, storms are almost nonstop for a span of 9 months.

Ian lifted his hand and tapped the side of his eyepiece. The screen blinked before displaying a menu of options. He scrolled through and selected “phone links” and then “Alicia’s Cell.”

---

Alicia stood in front of the stove stirring a pot of spaghetti noodles when a familiar electronic tune went off. She turned around to reach for her cell phone on the kitchen counter. The phone’s screen displayed the name, “Ian.” Answering it she said immediately, “Where are you, Ian?”

“Halfway through the track as we speak.”

She grumbled, “You’re going to be late, but whatever.” Alicia resumed her cooking with the phone between her ear and shoulder, “How’d your sword lessons go?”

“Lessons were good as usual. Nothing special. Still have all my fingers.”

“Cool cool, good to hear,” She kept her eyes on the noodles while stirring. “So Ian will you be having any more meets before we leave Greymere? I never did get to go to any of them.”

“You’re not missing anything, Alicia, trust me.” Ian quickly diverted the subject; neither Alicia nor Charlie knew about him participating in underground gambling events, “Is Charlie home yet?”

“He’s on his way too; he called a while ago. He’s making a pit stop at the liquor department to use up the last of his booze points for this month.”

“Use them up? But today’s only the 9th. What, did you already tell him about us leaving to Syrin City yet?” Ian laughed.

She replied sarcastically, “You’re hilarious, Ian. No, I didn’t tell him yet. I told you we’re both going to tell him over dinner.”

“Right, right. Well, just wanted to give you the heads up that I’m on my way.”

“Alright then. You better be here no more than 30 minutes. No more than 30.” she said sternly.

“Gotcha. I’ll be there in 31.” With that said, Ian disconnected.

Alicia signed with an eye roll and put down the cell phone. Finally leaving the noodles to finish boiling she slipped on an oven mitt. She then opened the oven and pulled out a tray of sizzling chicken breast. She whiffed at the steaming aroma and smiled. Thinking to herself, she was actually a little relieved that her carnivorous brothers weren’t home yet; the food would normally be gone by the time she could even set it all up at the table.

The door bell rang. Now, what is it? Alicia wondered who could be at the door. It obviously wasn’t Ian or Charlie; both each had their own keycard. Her friends would normally call. Ian’s friends never visit the house expect Bane on occasion and as Alicia recalled, Charlie didn’t have many friends. “Probably Jared.” It wasn’t the first time he would attempt his little surprises. Maybe he had the heart in coming to spend time with Ian and Charlie after all. She walked down the hall not even bothering to turn on the screen of the door camera to see who it was. She was sure it’d be Jared. Pushing a bottom on the wall the main door slid open. “So, you decided to-” She stopped herself from finishing the sentence. It wasn’t Jared at the door, “Uh, hello sir?”