CHAPTER 24 — WTH x DOES x THAT x MEAN
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
THE RIVER GAP— DOCK 12, ONE HOUR BEFORE MIDNIGHT
The rain came in thin threads that glowed pale blue.
The freight line had stopped at the edge of the known world: a forgotten checkpoint where the river widened into haze.
The boat waited.
No lights, just the low hum of an engine that shouldn’t still be running.
Talla pulled her hood tight. “If this thing sinks, I’m haunting you both.”
Riven grinned, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “You already haunt me. Every time you count money out loud.”
Set said nothing. His gaze traced the water. It didn’t move right The current moved off-pattern — a slow undertow pulling where no channel should exist.
The broker hadn’t lied: no flags, no markings.
Only a pilot hunched behind the console, face hidden beneath a wet canvas hood.
“You going across?” the man rasped.
“Yeah,” Set said.
“You pay?”
Talla held up the pouch. “Seven-five hundred, like the other dork said.”
The pilot’s hand emerged — long, veined, skin gray from the cold.
“Get in.”
UPON THE RIVER — EN ROUTE TO DESTINY
The engine whispered as the boat cut through the haze. Sound died quick here. Even Riven’s usual beat against the railing faded halfway through a tap.
“Don’t like this,” he muttered. “this guys giving me the creeps.”
Talla nodded and looked toward the shore they’d left behind.
Set leaned forward on the railing, eyes narrowing.
“Ever been to Destiny?” Set asked the pilot.
The man didn’t answer.
“Hey. I said—”
The pilot turned slightly. Under the hood, his face was ghostly pale and smooth — too smooth. No pores, no lines, no expression. Just skin stretched tight over something still trying to remember how to be human.
"Nobody goes to Destiny,” the man said softly. “They just forget they never left.”
Riven’s voice dropped. “What the hell does that mean?”
A sharp tone cut through the rain — electronic.
A staccato ping… ping… ping that didn’t echo.
Talla’s ears snapped up. “That’s not sonar.”
The pilot’s hands twitched on the throttle. “Circuits,” he hissed. “patrols.”
The sound around them blinked — literal light pulses, forming grid patterns midair. Hundreds of drones descended through the haze like silver seeds, their blue optics scanning across the water.
“Identification required,” a synthetic voice announced. “Unauthorized vessel detected. Please halt for inspection.”
The pilot’s breath hitched. “No. No, no, no— they scan for bio signatures, tracing.”
Set’s hand went to his knife out of reflex before naturally realizing that was useless right now.
“I can’t,” the pilot said, voice cracking. “They’ll trace my trail— I have to—”
He didn’t finish.
The man leapt from the console, dove over the side, and vanished into the black water with no splash. Just gone.
The boat kept moving, drifting off balance as the drones drew closer.
“Perfect,” Riven let out just about ready to follow. “The one guy who knew where we were going just rage-quit.”
“Shut up and grab the rudder!” Talla barked. She kicked the throttle lever aside, sparks jumping as the console protested.
Set slid in beside her, steadying the drift.
The drones swept lower, scanning the deck.
One of the drones drifted close, scanners flickering in geometric patterns.
A cyan glyph seared across the hull, its light crawling up Set’s arm. It didn’t burn — it sank, etching straight through fur and into skin.
For the first time, Set looked genuinely afraid.
A flash of blue light ran across Set’s face — then died out as Talla, like a sniper using one of her acorn-discs, killed it's power completely.
The remaining drones hesitated. Then their optics dimmed as if someone was watching through them from beyond, then they pulled back toward the shoreline into the haze.
“What the hell is going on out here!?” Riven said this time needing an answer.
The boat drifted until the current decided its fate. The fog began to thin, showing faint flickering light ahead — not Destiny’s eerie shores, but something more familiar.
Talla squinted. “That’s… X’O territory.”
Set followed her gaze. On the horizon, spires of glass and metal blinked between storm flashes — the Neon Districts of X’Omnera, glowing like a city made of lightning scars.
“Better than drowning,” Set said.
X’OMNERA — SOUTH PORT, BORDER OUTSKIRTS
They pulled in at a broken pier half-swallowed by neon runoff from the Nations pulse. The smell hit first — luxury, pleasure, whatever that smelled like. Above, the sky flickered with digital ads for products none of them could afford.
Riven climbed out first. “Our futures looking expensive again.”
Talla slung her bag over her shoulder. “We need cover. Somewhere that doesn’t ask for names.”
Set pointed to a building tucked under the pier’s scaffolding — its sign flickered half-dead, reading LILLY’S LAGERS in sputtering amber.
Music leaked from inside — low bass, laughter that didn’t sound friendly.
“The Hagg cartel drinks there,” Set said.
Talla glanced at him. “And you know this how?”
Set smirked. “Me and Riven come here every time we ditch you.”
Riven cracked a grin. “And every time, she still finds us.”
The trio moved forward, boots splashing against metal grates soaked with rain and mud.
For a moment they shared a laugh that felt like old times — quick, reckless, defiant. Whatever waited inside, they’d face it together.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣