Naelii tried everything. Gate maintenance. Messenger runs. Even garbage detail near the raid zones—scavenging scraps from the wreckage. But every job application began the same way: a wristband scan. And every time, her wristband blinked red.
Invalid. No mark. Not licensed.
"Come back when your skin wakes up."
"Or don't."
Her hope drained a little more with each rejection.
It wasn't until the fourth day, as the sun dipped behind the city's jagged skyline, that she caught voices raised outside a pop-up raid zone.
"Still short one runner. Fenix bailed last second. Coward."
"I'm not tanking with four again. Either we grab someone or we reschedule."
A third voice pointed — a hard nod toward Naelii.
"I say we grab that one."
Her heart stalled. The tallest of them — a man with a jagged rune curling like fire down his forearm — studied her with sharp eyes.
"You marked, girl?"
She hesitated. "Dormant. No visible ink yet, but... I've got paperwork."
He snorted, unimpressed. "Yeah, you and every other rat hanging on the edge. Got coin?"
Fumbling, she reached inside her boot and pulled out the last two chipped credits she owned.
One of them shrugged. "Fine. She dies, it's her loss."
They didn't ask her name.
The gate loomed before her, pulsing like a heartbeat forged from static and mist. Metal pylons wrapped it in an electric cage, flickering blue — a relic of ancient tech scientists still claimed to barely understand.
The others strapped on gear and weapons. Someone shoved a blade into Naelii's hand—dull, chipped, scratched from too many fights. They draped her with a thin layer of monster-hide armor that reeked of acid and sweat.
"Just don't scream too loud when you die," the rune-armed man warned with a grin. "It only attracts bigger things."
She swallowed her fear and stepped through the gate last.
The world beyond was cold, colorless, and wrong. The air shimmered oily and thick, like walking through a dream soaked in grease. Rocks floated midair, defying gravity. Shadows slithered across surfaces, even in places where no light dared to reach.
And beneath it all… something stirred.
Not out there.
Inside her.
A low hum thrummed deep under her ribs. A pressure beneath her skin—not pain, but something aware.
Something watching.
Something waiting.
Naelii shook her head, trying to clear the feeling. Probably nothing. Just fear.
She tightened her grip on the useless knife and followed the others deeper into the gate zone.