THE x GAP x BETWEEN x AVERAGE x MEN
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
THE HAGG CARTEL — WAREHOUSE
Moments after Gable announced the rail hit
Set didn’t hear the rest of the room.
The world around him thinned into a memory—the moment everything in him learned what real power looked like.
The Conductor.
The man working the High-Noon cargo line the night Set, Riven and Talla left Sylvanna. The man with no visible aura.
No weapon.
No posturing.
Just one palm pressed to the wall…
And Set felt the air leave the cabin.
Aether pressed into the freight car in a way no traveler noticed but every Summoner would.
An invisible pressure scanning the entire car.
A Reading.
A reading so deep the man didn’t need his eyes.
He read every person’s signature like pages in a book.
He read Set’s.
Set remembers the feeling of a predator that could recognize.
Something heavier.
Something deadly without trying.
And the Conductor didn’t even look at him.
He just stated:
"All passengers accounted for. All routes converge."
Set never forgot the tone.
A quiet mercy.
A reminder of how far the gap really was.
Set had known instantly that if he moved wrong that night, he’d die before he touched air.
He’d seen Summoners burn bright.
He’d seen Hunters mask their heat.
But he’d never seen someone erase their presence so completely the world itself leaned in to listen.
Invisible summoning.
The body became the boundary.
Aether controlled so absolutely it didn’t leak, didn’t shimmer, didn’t do any of that.
Masters burned quiet.
Set swallowed once, slow.
Back in the warehouse, Gable’s voice boomed:
“HN-7. Northbound. We take the rails tonight.”
Set’s eyes stayed locked on the black case.
He understood something instantly:
If they tried to hit a train with a Conductor on board…
Triple Kill would die before the doors even closed.
Set looked over at Riven and Talla and spoke as low as he could.
"We're not ready.."
Otto finally spoke behind him, low enough only the three of them would catch:
“Good. Then learn fast.”
Set turned his head slightly.
Otto’s eyes held none of the softness he used in the UCL.
No fake smiles.
No friendly banter.
Just the truth of what they were walking into.
"Remember when I said when the time comes? Well time came." Otto said as a matter of fact. No sympathy.
He nodded toward a group of men that were working on what looked like weapons toward the back of the warehouse.
“I need an Emitter Core. Clean. Untouched. XPA-grade."
" Word says they're stored beneath the Towe—.”
"You want us to rob the XPA?" Riven caught him off. "Cool, and should we dump a few bodies for you too while we're at it?"
Talla’s breath hitched.
Otto's lips pulled into a slow grin.
"Come on, don't act so brand new to this."
Set didn’t smile at all.
He just whispered:
“When do we move?”
Now, Otto smiled with his teeth.
“Tonight.”
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣