Salt wind pressed against the morning mist, a damp, clinging shroud that tasted of brine and industry. It carried the low, resonant thrum of massive coastal turbines and, farther out, the distant, rhythmic clang of automated machinery. The sea before them stretched into an endless, grey-green expanse, a restless mirror reflecting the impossible skyline of Nereis Harbor—a city that seemed to breathe technology.
This was the gateway to the deep, the surface link to the true Nereis City rumored to lie five hundred meters beneath the waves.
Gleaming spires of glass and bio-luminescent alloy curved toward the sky, not like buildings, but like the polished, structural ribs of some long-dead metallic leviathan. Beneath this towering canopy, the port hummed with a life of its own. Automated cranes, skeletal and precise, plucked containers from gargantuan freighters. Squadrons of loading drones, buzzing like angry hornets, zipped through the air. On the water, vast ships slid along magnetized rails, disappearing into submerged tunnels with barely a ripple.
Zander stood at the city's primary checkpoint, his hood pulled low to shadow his face. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, he was Vorren. The name felt foreign on his thoughts, a mask grafted over his identity. Between his fingers, he warmed a small, smooth ident-chip—his new life, summarized in a kilobyte of data.
Beside him, Aethros loomed. The creature was a shadow given form, a genetic hybrid of terrifying beauty. His sleek black fur seemed to drink the meager morning light, and his unnatural stillness drew wary, sideways glances from other travelers and security personnel alike. He was a predator in a city of steel, and every instinct in the crowd screamed at them to give the pair a wide berth.
Two armored guards approached, their movements fluid and economical. Their heavy exosuits emitted a faint, steady hiss of hydraulics and recycled air. The salt mist beaded on their polished grey armor. One, designated by the 'Section 7' stenciled on his pauldron, raised a scanner. His face was hidden behind an opaque, reflective visor.
"Identification." The voice was flat, filtered through a speaker.
Vorren stepped forward, his posture deliberately non-threatening, projecting the image of a simple contractor. He handed over the chip. The device blinked a soft blue as the scanner enveloped it in a cone of light. The guard's visor flickered, a cascade of holographic text scrolling across its internal display, invisible to Vorren.
"Vorren, freelance contractor—clearance level two," the guard muttered, his tone bored. He'd processed a hundred such entries this morning. "Purpose of entry?"
"Research," Vorren replied. His voice was steady, pitched just right—a man focused on his job, nothing more. "Field studies and contract mapping. My credentials should be linked from Bio-Systems Engineering."
The first guard nodded, but the other's helmet tilted, his unseen gaze shifting to Aethros. The beast hadn't moved a muscle, but his presence was a tangible weight in the air.
"And that creature?" the second guard asked, his voice a gravelly digitized rasp.
Vorren met the reflective visor evenly, his own expression neutral. "Registered companion. Genetic hybrid, part of my study team. His license is linked to my file."
The two guards exchanged a brief look, a silent communication Vorren couldn't parse. He felt a bead of sweat try to form at his temple, but his training held it back. His heart remained a slow, steady drum. He was Vorren. He was a researcher.
Finally, the first guard gave a small, metallic shrug. "Fine. Keep him tagged and on leash parameters within city limits. Any deviations, and he'll be neutralized. Understood?"
"Understood," Vorren inclined his head slightly.
The security gate released with a grinding pneumatic sigh. Heavy metal shutters, slick with sea spray, rose into the superstructure above, revealing the main concourse of Nereis Harbor. The full hum of the metropolis, momentarily held back by the checkpoint wall, washed over them. It was a symphony of noise: distant sirens, the sharp cries of cybernetically enhanced gulls, the whisper of air shuttles overhead, and the constant, steady rhythm of the sea breathing beneath the city's foundations.
They stepped through into the heart of the coastal metropolis.
The first thing that struck Vorren, as it always did, was the architecture. It was sleek and fluid, almost organic, as though the entire city had been shaped by the tides themselves rather than by human hands. Elevated, transparent walkways, like ribbons of glass, curved above deep canals. The canals weren't filled with dirty harbor water, but with a cultivated, softly glowing plankton that cast an ethereal turquoise light on the structures above.
Holo-advertisements shimmered on the clinging mist, their gigantic, colorful forms promising excursions to the depths. 'Nereis City: The Jewel of the Abyss!' one blared silently, showing a smiling couple in breathing masks swimming alongside a modified dolphin. 'Synthetic Gills - Breathe the Future!' declared another. Automated rickshaws and enclosed single-person transports whispered past, leaving faint trails of blue light in their wake. Everything in Nereis Harbor seemed alive—mechanical yet breathing, metallic but fluid.
Aethros padded beside him, silent and wary, his claws making no sound on the polished walkway. People—corporate drones in sharp suits, roughneck dockworkers with augmented limbs, wide-eyed tourists—parted instinctively, a subtle ripple in the human tide flowing around the dark predator in their midst.
'Too many eyes,' Aethros's voice entered Vorren's mind. It wasn't a sound, but a cold, clear pressure, a thought that was not his own. The mental link was a bond deeper than any spoken word.
'I know,' Vorren answered silently, his gaze sweeping the concourse. 'Just keep your head low. We're ghosts here. We'll be gone from the surface soon.'
A prominent holographic kiosk caught Vorren's attention. It cycled through public information, its light pulsing softly. He stopped for a moment, appearing as just another traveler getting his bearings.
Currency Exchange Rate: 1 Solar = 2.4 Nereis Units (Standard). Average Cost of Descent Pass (Non-Commercial): 1,800 Solars. Housing Capsules (Upper Harbor): 90–150 Solars per night. Companion Licensing (Hybrid/Exotic): 50 Solars minimum, pending classification.
He studied the figures, committing them to memory. The prices were steep, designed to bleed casual visitors, but they were not beyond his reach. Not by a long shot.
Sensei's parting gift echoed in his mind, the memory of that final, quiet meeting. 'You'll need this when the world no longer recognizes your name, Zander. Power is not just what you can do. It is what you can afford to do when others cannot.'
That encrypted account still sat untouched in a dark corner of the SolarNet, a ghost in the machine. It was one of the few tangible things Sensei had ever left him. When Vorren had accessed it earlier that morning, a necessary precaution before approaching the harbor, the digits that materialized on his private reader had nearly frozen him, despite his preparation: 2.7 million Solars.
It was a staggering sum. Enough to live several lifetimes in quiet obscurity. Enough to buy a private island. Or, it was enough to fund a future the world wasn't ready for—enough to buy the kind of access, technology, and silence that his true mission would require.
With practiced ease, he had partitioned the funds. A small, believable portion—just under ten thousand Solars—was transferred to his visible 'Vorren' account. It was nothing suspicious. A traveler's budget. A contractor's operational fund. The rest, the vast, invisible mountain of wealth, lay dormant, protected by layers of encryption that would take a state-level entity decades to crack.
'Let's get this over with,' he sent to Aethros, pushing away from the kiosk.
They made their way through a winding corridor of high-end markets and metallic streets, the air growing cleaner, smelling faintly of ozone and recycled air as they approached the administrative sector. The Registration and Licensing Bureau was a squat, imposing structure of reinforced glass and polished steel, built to withstand a rogue wave.
Inside, the noise of the harbor was muted to a distant hum. Faint vibrations from the city's subterranean turbines traveled up through the foundation, making the glass walls hum at a low frequency. The space was cold, sterile, and populated by a handful of people waiting in silent queues.
Behind a polished durasteel counter, a clerk with thin, silver metallic implants tracing the orbits of their eyes barely looked up as Vorren approached. The clerk's pupils, one biological and one a flickering LED, scanned a data-slate.
"Name?" The clerk's voice was a monotone, sexless and weary.
"Vorren," he said, sliding his ident-chip across the counter into the integrated scanner.
The clerk scanned it. A holographic display of Vorren's manufactured life appeared between them. "Purpose of residence?"
"Temporary stay. Research division—mapping and biological field studies for the Nereis City project."
The machine chimed softly. "Credentials verified, Mr. Vorren. You'll need a companion permit for the hybrid."
"Of course." Vorren gestured to Aethros, who stood patiently at his side, looking for all the world like a well-trained animal.
The clerk tapped rapidly on their console, the metallic implants around their eyes glowing faintly as they accessed a new set of forms. "Species classification?"
Vorren hesitated, but only for a fraction of a second. "Feline variant. Controlled temperament. Designation—Aethros."
The clerk's biological brow arched. The implants just stared. "Rare name."
"He's a rare companion," Vorren replied, his tone polite.
The clerk only shrugged, a gesture of complete indifference. They had seen stranger things come through Nereis Harbor. "The fee is fifty Solars for a one-month surface and sub-aquatic permit. Keep his tracker on at all times. You'll also need atmospheric access to the descent platforms. That's another thirty Solars."
"Acceptable." Vorren nodded and pressed his thumb to the payment pad. The holographic reader blinked green.
"Payment received. You'll receive your ID bands momentarily. They function as your access keys and trackers. Do not lose them. Enjoy your stay, Mr. Vorren."
A slot beneath the counter hissed open, dispensing two sleek, metallic wristbands. Vorren picked them up. They were cold to the touch. He fastened the thin band around his own wrist, the embedded hologram immediately shifting to life, displaying his alias and contractor ID.
He gave the second, heavier band to Aethros. The large beast let out a low, deep rumble in his chest, a vibration of pure annoyance, as the cold metal locked around his powerful foreleg with a definitive click.
"You'll survive," Vorren murmured, just for him.
That evening, they checked into a capsule inn overlooking the harbor. The room was sterile and small, little more than a bed, a sanitation unit, and a single wall of reinforced smart-glass. Vorren gazed out the window, watching the ocean pulse with shifting lights. Energy conduits, visible beneath the waves, pulsed like massive, glowing veins—the lifelines connecting the surface to the sprawling lattice of energy domes and descent tubes of Nereis City, faintly visible as submerged stars in the dark water.
Aethros lay near the door, a position of strategic advantage, watching the silent passing of aircars. After a long silence, his mental voice broke the quiet.
'How long will you keep using that name?'
Vorren leaned back against the capsule's thin bed, staring at the ceiling's dull glow. "As long as I have to," he said aloud, his voice low. "Zander is the man they would hunt. Vorren is the man they'll ignore. A name is just a tool."
Aethros's golden eyes narrowed slightly, visible even in the dim light. 'And if they find out? If the mask slips?'
"Then I'll become someone else."
The beast gave a low, almost approving snort. 'Humans and your masks. You build layers of lies until you forget the face beneath.'
Vorren smiled faintly, his gaze returning to the window. "Masks keep us alive, Aethros. So do shadows."
A pause stretched, filled only by the hum of the building's ventilation.
'You're hiding your real wealth, too,' Aethros observed, shifting the topic. His perception was unnervingly sharp. 'The clerk. The guards. You could have bought their compliance ten times over. Bypassed the queue. Yet you stand and wait. Why?'
Vorren's faint smile curved. "Because wealth attracts the wrong kind of people, my friend. Obvious wealth is a beacon. It screams. True power is silent."
'And you already attract enough of them,' Aethros replied dryly, his head sinking onto his paws, though his eyes remained open and alert.
Vorren said nothing. His gaze lingered on the main descent towers, the pillars of glass and steel that plunged into the black water like spears. They were gateways—to the deep, to the crushing pressure, to the isolation. To his purpose.
Tomorrow, he'd go down there. The next step in his journey awaited, somewhere far below the light.
At dawn, the harbor was already alive with frantic, purposeful motion. Workers in heavy environment suits shouted over the din of machinery. Massive elevators rose from the docks, carrying cargo toward ships that floated on silent, powerful cushions of electromagnetic fields. The Descent Spire, a gleaming column of reinforced glass and tri-phase alloy, stood at the far edge of the port, its purpose unmistakable. It was the primary artery connecting the surface world to the underwater city.
The Spire glowed with a soft blue operational light. Travelers moved toward it in organized waves, guided by drones that zipped overhead, speaking in crisp, synthetic tones.
Vorren and Aethros joined the flow, two more particles in the stream. They moved past the cargo bays and the industrial platforms, the air growing colder as they approached the massive, climate-controlled transit hub.
A voice, sharp and professional, stopped them at the final security gate. "Clearance cards, please."
A uniformed attendant, her face obscured by a data-visor, held up a scanner. Vorren presented his wristband. The attendant scanned it, then Aethros's.
"Vorren, research contractor. Clearance Level Two. Companion—Aethros, classification verified." She glanced briefly, clinically, at the massive creature, then back at her readout. Her pulse never wavered. She was used to this. "You're cleared for descent. Tube Nine will take you directly to Nereis City's upper sector. Estimated travel time, eleven minutes. Your capsule departs in four."
"Understood," Vorren nodded.
As the attendant turned away to the next traveler, Aethros leaned closer, his mental voice a low rumble. 'Her pulse was steady. She sees me as cargo. Better than the guards.'
'Let them see what they want to see,' Vorren sent back, pushing forward.
They stepped into the long, transparent corridor leading to the capsule bays. Tube Nine was at the far end. Beneath their feet, through the thick glass floor, the sea churned. The water was no longer grey, but a deep, pressurized blue, illuminated from below by the dome lights embedded in the harbor's floor. The tunnel itself curved visibly downward, a great, translucent vein leading into the heart of the ocean.
A faint vibration trembled through the walkway as the capsule ahead of theirs sealed with a pressurized hiss and shot downward, disappearing into the depths. Through the thick glass walls of the corridor, Vorren could see the world of steel and sunlight above them begin to distort, its lights winking out one by one, replaced by the rippling blue. Far above, the city of glass and steel receded, its towers fading into the clouds.
The surface world was behind him now—its conflicts, its politics, its endless, watchful eyes. Below awaited a realm of absolute pressure and profound silence, where the rules of force and nature bent under the crushing weight of the deep.
As they waited for their own capsule, Vorren took one last, deep breath of the recycled, open-harbor air. He exhaled slowly, centering himself, pushing Zander down and letting the calm, focused identity of Vorren settle into place.
Sensei's words echoed faintly in his memory, a quiet counterpoint to the thrum of the station. "To command others, you must first master yourself."
He had mastered his name. He had mastered his resources. He had mastered the calm facade that hid the weapon beneath.
A second memory surfaced, from that same final lesson. "Don't just descend, Vorren. Evolve."
The capsule doors for Tube Nine slid open with a soft, permissive hiss.
Vorren stepped inside, Aethros close behind him. The doors sealed, locking with a solid, definitive thud. The chamber filled with the soft hum of energy as the electromagnetic launch system engaged.
Light vanished. Pressure rose.
And the ocean welcomed them home.