The sun had barely risen when Kaius pulled on his tattered jacket. His fingers, still trembling from a sleepless night, fumbled with the zipper, but he barely noticed. His mind was consumed, not by the mess of his room or the disheveled reflection in the cracked mirror—but by the insurmountable problem in front of him.
The human brain was a labyrinth of complexity, and each attempt he made to understand it had only pushed him deeper into confusion. He had been searching for hours, diving through endless streams of data, scrolling through holographic interfaces that flickered within his field of vision.
"Neural pathways… DMT triggers… side effects," he muttered to himself, scrolling faster, the images flashing in front of his eyes.
In this cyberpunk world, Kaius could access the entire network directly from his mind—a neural link that allowed him to search without even moving from his seat. But despite the vast resources of the web, he was hitting dead ends. He scanned everything from pleasure-inducing pills, hypnosis treatments, to experimental drugs designed to regulate the nervous system and prevent overload, the very condition that had taken his mother's life.
But none of it was enough.
I don't have time for this, Kaius thought, frustrated. I need help, but… who can I even trust? He had no connections to anyone with the knowledge or expertise to pull this off.
His father had once been a brilliant engineer, but those days were long gone, buried under years of grueling, menial work. And everyone else in the slums? They were just like him—barely surviving.
He felt like he was drowning in information. Drugs of the future, new-generation THC, trips induced by one-use software that triggered neural pleasure centers. People no longer needed injections. They plugged themselves into virtual highs, their minds transported to other realities. There were substances out there that could control minds, manipulate dreams—but it wasn't what he needed. Not yet.
And while his mind raced through a tangle of possibilities, a deeper thought crept in, wrapping itself around his heart: his father.
"Dad's working himself into the ground…". Kaius felt the guilt pressing down on him.
"I'm stuck in here, chasing dreams, while he's out there breaking his back."
He stood up, pacing the small room. The silence was broken only by the sound of his father's harsh coughing from the other room. Each time he heard it, Kaius's chest tightened.
"I need to do something for him."
An idea sparked in his mind, simple but immediate.
"Maybe I can surprise him… something small, but something that shows I care."
Kaius opened the door to the main room quietly. His father was sleeping on the old, worn-out couch—a relic from better days. It was frayed at the edges, and the fabric sagged where Gareth had spent countless nights collapsing from exhaustion. His breathing was uneven, strained, and his face was lined with deep wrinkles that hadn't been there before. Kaius stood in the doorway, watching his father for a moment.
"I can't wake him," Kaius whispered softly. "He needs to rest."
Turning away, Kaius walked over to the small kitchen, opening the cabinets. Inside, there wasn't much. Some bread, a jar of mayonnaise, a few canned goods. He opened the fridge next, and the cool air hit him as he pulled out a couple of tomatoes. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.
"Maybe I can make Dad a decent sandwich," Kaius thought, a sense of purpose creeping back in.
For a moment, he felt lighter, motivated. It's not much, but maybe it'll give him something to smile about. He searched his pockets and found a few loose Echo coins, just enough to buy a bit more food. The city had long moved past traditional farming; everything was printed now. Artificial fruit, synthetic meats—all designed to last longer, to rot slower. It wasn't real, but it was all they had.
He scribbled a quick holographic message and left it hovering over the table. "Dad—Went to buy some food. Be back soon. –K." He knew Gareth might wake up while he was gone, but at least the message would give him some peace of mind.
As Kaius stepped out into the streets of Neon Edge, the familiar buzz of the city hit him.
Hovercars zipped by overhead, and the streets were teeming with people, their eyes glazed over from digital narcotics. Thugs loitered in the alleyways, their cybernetic limbs gleaming in the dull light of the rising sun.
But today, Kaius felt different. He had purpose, even if it was small. But he was going to make his dad a meal and surprise him with something that wasn't born out of desperation.
Walking through the crowded streets, he kept his head down, his pace quickening as he passed groups of addicts and drifters. Their eyes glowed with synthetic enhancements, their bodies twitching from the effects of neural drugs. They chased pleasure in fleeting moments, living from one trip to the next.
Kaius clenched his jaw so tightly it ached, a fiery glare in his eyes as he tore his gaze away.
"Why? Why?! Why did you all give up?! Didn't you have dreams too?"
The thought burned in his mind, but he kept it to himself.
No one here cared about dreams anymore. Dreams had no place in a world where survival was all that mattered.
As he neared the small food shop, something caught his eye—a figure, slumped against the side of a building. It was a girl, no older than him, lying in the alleyway. Her clothes were torn, and her body was twisted in an unnatural position. One of her legs—a cybernetic one—was completely missing, and her arm, where there should have been another enhancement, was just a ragged, empty socket.
Kaius stopped in his tracks, his heart pounding.
"Wha-"
"What happend to her?"
The girl was barely conscious, her head resting against the wall. Her face was bruised, her lips cracked and dry. She must have been beautiful once—maybe she still was—but now, she looked like she'd been broken by the city itself.
"She might have been robbed", Kaius thought, the words forming quietly in his mind. He took a cautious step forward, unsure of what to do.
"Should I ask if she needs help?" he whispered to himself, glancing down at the broken body before him.
His pulse quickened.
Who is she? And why is someone like her out here, alone, in the slums?
Her eyes fluttered open, just barely, and for a moment, they locked with his. There was something in them—something that Kaius couldn't quite place. Fear? Desperation? Or was it… hope?