Mara's footsteps echoed loudly against the damp pavement as she wound her way through the alleys of the down town district. It was almost past midnight, and the city, although much quieter, was still buzzing with life. Neon lights from the bars and late-night diners reflected off puddles, casting a shimmering glows on the asphalt. Above her, the towering skyscrapers reached for the sky, their windows flickering with the lives of the people inside—each one a story she would never know. The puddles too, had frogs making leaps of faith as they chased for mates, splashing water on Mara as they croaked weirdly.
Mara's job at TerraSoft, a rising tech startup, kept her busy during the day, but her nights were often spent wandering in the streets. It was a habit she had picked up after her brother disappeared almost a year ago. Elias had vanished without a trace, leaving only his apartment and a cryptic message on his old phone saying: "Follow the pulse of the city. It knows the way."
Tonight, like many others, she'd found herself following that same invisible pulse, hoping it would lead her somewhere, anywhere that might bring her closer to some clues or answers.
She turned a corner, stepping into a narrower alley where the noise of the city dimmed into a distant hum. The air smelled of wet concrete and something faintly metallic. As she walked, she noticed an unusual flickering light ahead. One of the neon signs, which usually bathed the walls in a steady pink glow, was behaving erratically, blinking in rapid succession before stabilizing again. It was subtle, but Mara had learned to pay attention to such little things.
A figure emerged from the shadows, almost like a ghost.
"You're looking in the wrong places, girl." a deep voice said. The man was standing in the doorway of a small shop, one she had surprisingly never noticed before, despite walking this route so many times. His face was partially obscured by a hood, but his eyes gleamed in the faint light.
Mara paused, a shiver running down her spine. "Who are you?" she asked cautiously, her hand instinctively tightening around the strap of her bag.
The man didn't answer. Instead, he gestured towards the neon sign. "The city's heartbeat. It's trying to tell you something."
Confused but intrigued, Mara glanced up at the sign again. Its flickering seemed almost rhythmic, like a code. She took a step closer to the man, curiosity overtaking her fear. "What do you mean?"
He smiled faintly and turned towards the door behind him. "Come inside only if you want to know. But once you do, there's no going back."
Mara hesitated. The rational part of her screamed to walk away, but there was something compelling about the way this man spoke, as if he knew something she desperately needed to understand. Against her better judgment, she followed him through the doorway.
Inside, the shop was dimly lit, shelves stacked with old electronics, strange devices, and artifacts that looked out of place in a city dominated by sleek technology. The air was thick with the smell of dust and oil.
The man led her to a back room, where an ancient computer sat humming on a desk. Its screen flickered with a strange, pulsing light that mimicked the pattern of the neon sign outside. "This is the pulse your brother mentioned," he said, sitting down in front of the computer. "The city... it's alive in ways you can't imagine. But it's also in danger."
Mara's heart raced. "What does this have to do with him? Where is he?"
The man sighed and leaned back. "Your brother found something he wasn't supposed to—a hidden network beneath the city, controlling everything. He tried to expose it, but they found him first."
Her blood ran cold. "Who, who found him?"
"Those who pull the strings. The Syndicate. And now they already know you're looking for him."
She was ignited and surprised at the same time, her deluded mind started racing. she looked at the shadowy figure, her eyes, gleaming with hope she'd never had since the disappearance of her brother. Back home everybody had believed that her brother was already dead. She held onto her brother's note in secret as it gave her a glimmer of hope to find him some day. A spark in her was ready to undergo an adventure into the deep urban underbelly.
She quickly got inside and the door behind her got closed like a spark plug. She looked straight into his eyes and he started to talk to her.
Cassian: "You've been looking for answers, haven't you?"
Mara (startled but guarded): "Who are you? What are you even, and how did you know me or what i was looking for?"
Cassian: "I'm someone who knows where your brother is—or at least, what he was trying to do."
Mara narrowed her eyes, skeptical. She was both interested and doubtful about Cassian. But she knew he was her only hope if she were to find her brother and uncover the secrets in the underbelly of the dilapidated city
Mara: "And why should I trust you?"
Cassian: "You shouldn't. But if you want to know why Elias disappeared, you'll follow me."
Mara closed her eyes to make a decision, a decision with strict warnings, like a tunnel, with bounds that neither she nor the outer world knew anything about. She knew she could not put full trust in Cassian, she decided to give him just enough trust to enable her get to her brother. Cassias looked as though he could read her mind as she stargazed into the open air outside gleaming through the window . The mmonlit sky was shining on the face of the earth lighting up the dark corners of the streets outside. Mara knew she would miss her workmates and her family. She knew they would start looking for her as soon as they found out that she was missing. Her mother, who was an overthinker and she had no doubt in her that she would file multiple complaints and cases to the local police just like she had done when he brother disappeared. Every week she filed a report to the local police, and they too, grew tired of looking for someone who seemed wiped out completely out of the face of the earth. Still, she had made he decision. She looked up and saw Cassias looking straight into her eyes, he gave him a sigh of relief and she gave him a nod.