The Lower District of Aether was no place for the faint-hearted. The air was thick with the black smoke of waste machines, the muddy streets were littered with technomagic waste, and the decaying buildings were stacked like rusted cubes. Rael stumbled through the dark stalls selling illegal mechanical organs and stolen energy crystals, the lingering energy from the portal still making his head spin.
"Sage... where can I find you?" he muttered, trying to remember the clues Lyra had given him. But the Lower District was a maze, and every corner was watched by hungry spies.
A man in a steel helmet elbowed him. "Hey, upper-city kid! Just got here, huh? Need some protection?" Behind him, three people armed with makeshift weapons were closing in.
Rael stepped back, his right hand trembling. The blue energy pulsed under his skin, but after what happened at Lyra's base, he feared triggering it. "I don't have anything."
"Oh, we'll see about that." The man grabbed Rael's jacket.
Reflexively, blue light shot from Rael's palm, throwing the man into a pile of old metal. But his power was unstable—one of the attackers was burned, screaming in pain, while the other two ran off in fear.
"You monster!" the burned one screamed before passing out.
Rael stared at his hand, nauseous. Blue-purple blood dripped from his nose. I'm not human… But I'm not Arkanis either.
Before he could move, a mechanical hand gripped his shoulder. A girl in a tattered hood pushed him into a narrow alley. "You kill someone in public and then stand there like a lost child? You want to die?"
The girl had a mechanical arm layered in synthetic skin, and her left eye was a glowing green technomagic camera. "You're looking for Sage, right? I heard you shout his name like an idiot."
Rael slumped. "Do you know where he is?"
"Of course. But my information isn't cheap." The girl smiled, showing metal-covered teeth. "My name's Jyn. And you, blue-light kid, will help me steal something."
Jyn led him to a black-market technomagic bazaar, where shadowy vendors sold everything from mini bombs to stolen memories. Amid the crowd, a cart guarded by a three-headed robot displayed Arkanis core crystals—dark red stones pulsing like hearts.
"That's mine," Jyn whispered. "Taken by the local thugs. You can help grab it, right? Just use your light trick."
Rael sighed. "I can't control it."
"Good. So you might blow us all up. But what's your choice? Sage is in the Broken Temple, and I'm the only one who knows the way."
Rael gritted his teeth. With a swift motion, he grabbed the crystal. Alarms blared, and the guard robot attacked. Jyn destroyed one of the robot's heads with a punch from her mechanical arm, while Rael tried to channel his blue energy—but this time, what emerged was a burst of purple fire.
"What the hell?!" Jyn screamed as the purple flames consumed the robot, leaving behind a pool of molten metal.
Rael froze. Pure Arkanis energy.
Before they could flee, the ceiling of the market collapsed. A hybrid Arkanis—human body with a wolf-like obsidian head—landed in front of them. Its voice echoed: "You carry the Queen's scent…"
Jyn pulled Rael. "Run! It's a bounty hunter from the Lumen Faction!"
But the Arkanis hybrid was too fast. Its claws slashed Rael's shoulder, tearing his jacket and revealing a crystal-wing tattoo on his back—the same mark as the Queen's in Kael's hologram.
"Descent…" the creature whispered, suddenly halting its attack. Its red eyes blinked.
"Leave this place. The Lumen Faction has infected the Lower District with spies. If you wish to live, find Sage before the full moon!"
It threw the Arkanis crystal into Jyn's hands, then vanished in a burst of smoke.
Jyn took Rael to the Broken Temple, an ancient structure beneath a collapsed bridge. Inside, statues of technomagic gods were scattered, and at the main altar, an old woman with cloth covering her eyes sat in meditation.
"Sage… I've brought the one you've been waiting for," Jyn said, suddenly serious.
Sage opened her cloth-covered eyes, revealing crystal-blue eyeballs. "Rael… at last we meet." Her voice sounded like the rumble of an old machine. "I once worked with your father. And you—you are his greatest mistake."
From beneath Sage's robe, a hologram projected a map of the Aetheris dimensions, with a blinking point in an unknown location.
"Your father sealed you not to save you," Sage whispered. "But to hide the Aetheris Gate within you."