People bartered on street corners, trading scraps of value for scraps of hope. Some cooked on shaky stoves hooked to a patched grid, the smell of real food cutting through the air for once. Laughter rose from groups gathered outside, easy and careless, as if everyone agreed to pretend the world was still normal. Kids chased a dented soccer ball down cracked pavement while parents watched from porches, their smiles thin and their eyes never at ease.
Bryan knew better. None of this was real. The safe zone only gave the illusion of normal life. Underneath, it wasn't about kindness or community. It was about using each other to get by. And what about the four of them? If they wanted a place here, they had to contribute. The only thing they could offer was hunting fades and bringing back pink fragments, basically putting their lives on the line.
Right then Nevin's stomach growled, and he sighed. Almost like he was thinking the same thing. "Great. So, we hunt or we starve? Guess I'm starving since I can't transform."
The thought hit him hard. In this new world, only the ones with power got to decide their fate. The rest had no choice but to depend on them.
Thomas stayed calm, like he'd been expecting this all along. He gave a small nod. "Don't worry. I already have a plan."
A meeting was held in the hotel building. Thomas had asked his grandfather to set it up. The old man didn't know what his grandson had planned, but he trusted Thomas wouldn't embarrass himself, especially in front of the city's leaders. He spoke to the President, and soon the elders gathered to hear what Thomas had to say.
"Thank you for giving me your time. Don't worry, I won't waste it." Thomas stood at the front, steady and confident. The others sat behind him, still clueless about what he was planning.
THUD!
He dropped a heavy bag onto the table.
Nevin leaned toward Bryan and whispered, "Isn't that the white fragments?"
Thomas raised his voice. "I believe everyone here is interested in our vehicle. I'm here to reveal its secret."
One of the elders squinted. "You mean the vehicle with a safe zone fragment?"
"Yes, our mobile safe zone… Wait, how did you know that?" Thomas frowned. He hadn't seen anyone else with a working vehicle inside the fog. He thought their idea was unique.
But he realized his mistake. If they had managed to think of it, others could too.
"Actually, it wasn't hard to guess," another elder said. They spoke casually with Thomas, treating him like family since one of them was his grandfather. "To make a mobile safe zone, you'd need a piece of the meteor. The problem is no one has been able to break it safely. Even if you're a powerful Glint, once you step inside the safe zone you lose your transformation and power. Near the meteor we are all just normal humans, and ordinary strength can't break it. Using heavy force is too risky. If the meteor shattered completely, the entire safe zone could collapse."
Bryan wasn't surprised. He had tried himself, back at their base. The meteor didn't even scratch. Only Thomas, with his strange new strength, had managed to clip a piece.
"That is why we are here!" Thomas's tone turned firm. "We brought this."
Thomas opened the bag and revealed a pile of fragments. Some were the size of a baseball, one was as large as a basketball. The elders leaned forward, stunned. If they could use these, they could power cars and trucks to move freely inside the fog.
Mr. Cordell his grandfather straightened in his chair, eyes fixed on the glittering pieces. He drew in a slow breath, the room falling quiet around him. "How much?" His voice was steady, but the weight behind it made everyone else hold still. This was the question that mattered.
"Thirty pink fragments for the small ones," Thomas said without hesitation. Then he pointed at the basketball-sized piece, the pride of the collection. "And one hundred for this."
The elders exchanged uneasy glances, whispers passing around the table. One elder finally slammed his hand against the armrest. He couldn't hold it in any longer.
"What? That's outrageous! Do you even understand what you're asking? Five fragments can rent the best room in the city! Two fragments are enough to eat well for a whole day!" His voice cracked with frustration as he leaned forward, pointing at the fragments.
The elder's words echoed through the room, but Thomas didn't budge. His calm stare only made the silence stretch heavier.
That was when the city leader, Dante Graves, finally spoke. His deep voice cut through the tension. "Deal. We may not be able to pay the full amount right away, but give us two weeks for the balance."
The room fell quiet again. Everyone knew Dante's word was final. With the number of Glints under his command, the city had a steady income of fragments. Even Dante himself was a Glint, one of the strongest, so covering the balance in two weeks would be easy for them.
Thomas was caught off guard. It was the first time Dante had spoken since the meeting began, but he didn't let it show. "I don't mind. We'll be staying here for a few weeks," he replied smoothly. In truth, he had no plans to leave, but keeping it open made sure Dante couldn't delay payment.
And just like that, the deal was sealed. The four of them had earned more than a thousand fragments. Dante handed over five hundred on the spot, promising the rest in two weeks.
Of course, Thomas wasn't the only one with a claim. Iris and Bryan demanded their shares, not just from this deal, but also from the stash they'd carried over from their old base. When they gained their Glint forms, they made it clear they could also absorb fragments in the fog.
Thomas had argued at first, but Bryan's blunt reply ended it. "Eating or absorbing, it's the same thing." Thomas had no comeback.
Even so, their share was more than enough. From this deal alone, they had earned enough that they no longer needed to fight fades every day just to survive and could finally live more comfortably in the city.
Somewhere not on Earth:
"Alert! Alert!"
"The provisional hero has received a large number of fragments through trade with other humans," the robotic voice reported.
"What?! He doesn't want to fight fades?! How is he supposed to get stronger like this?!" Argus shot up from his chair, fists slamming onto the console. His face twisted with rage as he paced in front of the screen.
"We tailored his shop to push him forward. We gave him discounts so he would keep spending, fight fades and chasing more riches. And now he just takes fragments from others instead of earning them himself?! What is the point of that?!" He kicked the base of the console, the sharp clang echoing through the chamber.
If Bryan could hear this, he would finally understand why Thomas's shop looked different, why his prices were lower, and why he had food options that Iris and Bryan never saw in their own interfaces.
"What do you want me to do?" the robotic voice asked.
"Remove his discount. No, that is not enough. Double the price of every item in his shop!" Argus shouted, jabbing a finger at the screen as if Thomas could see him. "Let us see if he still has fragments left after that!"
"Affirmative. Removing discount. Adjusting shop prices. Done," the robotic voice confirmed.
Thomas, Iris, and Bryan were inside the fog, not hunting fades this time but absorbing fragments. Thomas stayed with them as guard. Unlike him, Iris and Bryan didn't transform right away. They needed at least an hour of exposure, and during that time Thomas had to protect them in case fades attacked.
Both Iris and Bryan could only absorb three fragments at a time before feeling full. It reminded Thomas of when he first started eating fragments. Back then, three was his limit too. Now he could handle five to seven, depending on how much energy he had spent fighting.
"What's this?" Thomas muttered, glancing at his interface while the others sat still, focusing on the fragments' energy flowing through them.
Bryan cracked an eye open. "What happened?"
"My discount is gone. Everything's more expensive now."
Bryan sighed, half expecting it. "I told you it was suspicious. The system must be correcting it."
Thomas only shrugged. "Then I just won't buy anything."
If Argus could have heard him, he would have lost his temper all over again.
Later, the three returned to the house they had rented. None of them knew anyone in Hope City, so they chose to stick together. Thomas had his grandfather, but he avoided staying with him. The old man had too many complaints about how Thomas lived his life.
The house was large, two floors with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Each of them finally had their own room.
That evening, they relaxed in the living room after coming back from the fog. Nevin walked in, sat down next to Thomas, and leaned forward.
"Thomas, can you help me too? I want to try transforming in the fog."