"I... didn't dream of the white-haired girl after that... it confuses me. I don't like to admit it, but I wanted to dream of her again."
The buildings of NowaGen sliced the sky like neon blades. Toxic lights—corrosive purples, fluorescent greens, feverish yellows—poured down the façades, reflecting in the oily sludge mixed with the acid rain that evaporated before touching the ground. Dense fog spread through the alleys like a breathing parasite. The air tasted of burnt metal, ozone, and soot.
Beautiful. Rotten. Viscous. The city looked like a sick beast trying to devour itself.
And walking amidst it all was the newest member of a terrorist group known as the "Trash Wolves."
Igyris glided between drones, tourists, workers, and glitching holograms. His steps were too slow for the collective haste of the place—as if he were a human glitch in the city's frantic software.
— Ugh... what day is it, anyway?
He stopped abruptly, staring into the void between one sign and the next.
— Huh... okay... what did I come here to do, again...?
He scratched his head as if swatting away dead thoughts.
NowaGen was "alive"—the kind of life only a sick creature possesses. The Powermagi building was still burning, spitting unstable energy sparks that ascended like mutant fireflies. It was the tourist attraction of the week: catastrophe fresh out of the oven.
Stalls sold keychains made of melted metal. Animated holograms replayed the explosion on loop. Tourists bought T-shirts with idiotic slogans about "survival."
NowaGen. Where even tragedy becomes commerce.
Igyris stood still. Hypnotized by the dance of the flames, which insisted on existing despite the rain and the emergency drones.
A mistake. In NowaGen, stopping is almost a sentence.
— GET OUT OF THE WAY, YOU IDIOT!!!
CRASH!
A shoulder as wide as a door shoved him with brutal force.
SPLASH!
Igyris fell, sitting in the puddle, offering no resistance. The oily water spread in ever-widening circles.
He raised his gaze with the same morbid calm as a corpse waking up.
The brute was immense. A monolith of poorly distributed muscle, cheap alcohol, and gratuitous rage.
VOOOOOOM!!!
A jet bike zoomed by, cutting the air. The shockwave made the puddle tremble.
Igyris didn't blink.
He wasn't looking at the giant. He was looking through him—as if he were just visual pollution.
— What the hell? Did he just push that kid?
— That brute is going to die...
— Uh oh... here we go.
The hunger for violence made the crowd draw closer.
— GRRR... WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, HUH?! DO YOU WANNA FIGHT, TOO?!
The brute was frothing. He just didn't know why.
Vendors stepped back. Tourists pointed cameras. Drones approached, ready to record or intervene—depending on the financial signature of the people involved.
Igyris slowly got up, dripping, as if reborn from a sewer.
So you really wanna fight, you son of a bitch? Come on...
An Arcane vendor tried to intervene:
— S-sirs... I only ask that you move away from my sta—
— SHUT UP, YOU HALF-PINT MAGIC SHIT!!!
The brute lifted him by the collar, the ease of it almost insulting.
Igyris felt it. That vibration. Arcane energy.
But there was something different: for the first time, the Arcane energy didn't make him collapse.
His awakened Plague made him resistant—not immune, nor comfortable—but alive.
The brute screamed:
— I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU, YOU WEAKLINGS!!! THIS TRASH DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE THE POWER THEY HAVE! I'LL TEAR OFF—
CRACK!
Igyris slammed his own back against a metallic post beside the puddle. The sound of his spine cracking echoed loudly through the alleys.
— What?
Igyris sighed, like someone realigning scattered thoughts.
— Shh... ah, yes. I remembered why I came here... to do some shopping... man... I love shopping.
The brute froze.
Treck...
The dry click of a gun being cocked cut the air like a scalpel.
Igyris slid his fingers over the weapon strapped to his thigh.
— So... as I said... I really love shopping.
The brute quickly backed away.
— Tsk... whatever. I'm not looking for trouble.
He vanished into the crowd and the lights that consumed him completely.
The Arcane vendor, catching his breath:
— Th-thank you very much, sir... that bru—
— Oh, shut the fuck up. Don't push it.
Igyris spat the words like venom.
— I don't hang out with your scum of assholes. Damned Arcane trash... don't these guys ever learn that NowaGen isn't for them...?
And he disappeared. In the middle of the crowd, the lights, the sounds echoing from the drones, completely covered his trace.
The vendor only murmured something after ensuring he was gone.
— Igyris, right?... your heart is clouded, kid. Every time you insult me and my people... I feel like you're trying to hide that it's not as empty as you claim it is.
"I've been dreaming of the white-haired girl for about 2 or 3 years... since I woke up here in NowaGen. No name. No history. Nothing. And... I never missed it. But I wanted to understand... why do we dream what we dream?"
Igyris now walked like an armed zombie. The mere sight of the pistol was enough to clear a path between tourists and drones.
His destination: an old clothing store. A surviving anomaly.
The marquee hologram trembled like a dying animal, full of dead pixels. The automatic door creaked as if begging for retirement. The display window exhibited outdated clothes, frozen in time. The air smelled of mold, old fabric, and cheap milkshake.
HISS.
The door opened.
— Huh? Well, lookie here! If it isn't that screwed-up creep, Igyris.
His dead expression brightened. A smile too wide—too sincere or too psychotic—appeared.
— A-ha!!! Well, look who it is, the inspiring bitch!!! How cool, you like shopping too?
Mana Reixys was sitting on the counter, her legs propped up on a box of clothes, drinking a milkshake of a color prohibited by the laws of physics.
Igyris made an immediate grimace.
— Dude... you know that thing has those beetle droppings in it, right?
— I do. — Mana took another sip, impassive.
He shuddered.
— You're bizarre. In this freezing hell... the fog here in NowaGen is almost as toxic as in ChainLand. And look at you: with your arms bare.
— I came to buy clo—
— I know. — she cut him off, too calm. — But you don't have any money. I came to help you, you idiot... and to talk about some stuff.
She tilted her head. Her gaze—surgical. Precise. Unnerving.
— So tell me, Igyris... what's your deal? Are you a psychotic who takes pleasure in killing?
Or...
An empty shell pretending to feel nothing?
Silence. Pure. Awkward. But Mana quickly broke it.
— But... first... why are you wet? Tell me fast. I want to know more about this "empty heart" of yours.
An agonizing silence settled. Only the static sound of the fluorescent lights struggling not to burn out or explode.
Zzzzzzzz
Irritatingly, the sound was the alert to the "unexpected" question as the two stared deeply into each other's eyes. Ten seconds. Pure silence.
Track...track...
The dry crack of the store's freezer.
— Are they okay, mom?
A child asked next to his mother who was staring at the two strangers in the "vegetables" section of the store. That was anything but vegetables.
Vuuuh...
Mana took another gulp of that not-at-all suspicious milkshake. She savored it.
— Guurrrrhhh.
She began to gargle, feeling the acid of that mixture in her throat.
Glulb!
She swallowed. She licked her lips, and thus returned to face Igyris.
— So... I thought you were more talkative... you talk a lot at—
She was cut off, stridently, suddenly.
— Pff...
Igyris let out a bit of air through his mouth. He pointed his face downwards, his hair covering his face. He pressed his hands tightly against his stomach.
— Well? Are you just going to stay quiet—
— HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Igyris laughed non-stop, like the mannerless lunatic he was, a shredded, screeching laugh.
Everyone in the small store heard it, a complete disturbance, an armed young man laughing senselessly, just another vandal. Mana stared at him normally while taking another sip of her milkshake.
— Glulp. Guuurghhhh...
Igyris continued to laugh and bother everyone present.
The shop owner quickly stepped forward, annoyed by the screeching sound, and swiftly pulled out a broom whose handle was made of metal. And with an aggression not expected from an old woman.
— HAAAAHAHAHAHAHA— ARGH FUCK!!!.
CRACK!!!!.
She cracked Igyris's back with a blow that made him stumble forward.
— DAMN IT!!! YOU ROTTEN OLD WOMAN, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE.
He lunged forward, returning the aggression; the old woman didn't lower her voice.
— GET OUT OF MY STORE NOW, YOU BRAT!!! ISN'T IT ENOUGH TROUBLE THAT YOU AND THAT FILTHY GANG BRIN—
Mana's hand gently came forward, warding off the imminent confrontation, the old woman took two steps back, noticing the young woman's intervention. While Igyris stared at her with his generic look.
— What the hell, bitch, are you going to defend the old woman?
Igyris maintained his aggressive posture, now gluing his eyes on Mana.
— Shhh...
She made a gesture of silence with her fingers, signaling to Igyris.
— My deepest apologies, madam! My friend is undergoing an adaptation process. I believe you knew him during his days of delinquency, and truly, he is having trouble re-socializing, but I promise, this will not happen again!
Mana bowed her head in reverence to the old woman. An attitude and sign of education. The young woman's refined appearance. And her noble mannerisms quickly charmed the elderly woman.
— Oh yes... my apologies as well, it's just that, shall we say... he was one of the worst of those damned delinquents...
— Ughh, you old hag!!!.
Igyris, contradicting Mana's words, immediately turned against the old woman once more.
PAH!!!
Mana's hand immediately came down on his face. A sharp slap. Everyone looked. Seeing the shameful scene that was created there.
— Shhh...
Once again, she made the sign for silence. And turned back to the madam.
— I am truly sorry... please accept this as an apology.
She placed 60 NowaCredits on the store's counter. The main currency used in NowaGen.
The city was so far ahead of its time that it already had its own currency in circulation. But even so, it was somewhat rare. In terms of value. NowaCredits were far above other currencies still circulating in the city. Thus, they were extremely rare.
Therefore, it was undeniable that someone with such a high quantity of such coins could only be someone rich, or with living conditions far above average.
— Wh-what???? 60 NowaCredits??? I-I can't accept, my dear, the milkshake you took costs much less than that!!!
The elderly woman recoiled, seeing the amount of money. She had completely forgotten the situation with Igyris. Who merely stared blankly behind Mana, with a gigantic, red handprint covering the right side of his face.
— Please accept it... it is an apology for my friend. And please, I wanted to buy a denim jacket! Even a ripped one is fine. I believe the milkshake and the jacket won't cost even 10 NowaCredits. But if you want, I can pay more!!!
Mana's conviction and politeness in her words were frightening. She spoke with her head bowed, but her voice was firm, full of respect; truly, there was no way to say no to that young woman.
— O-of course.
The older woman accepted.
Igyris and Mana left the store. Walking together through the suburbs and chaos of NowaGen. The sidewalks were more crowded than when Igyris had entered. A considerable mass of people had gathered in front of the dilapidated store to hear the reason for the shouting. But seeing that the two causes of the trouble had left the store, they dispersed.
— Anhf.... man.. I hate nosy people, always sticking their noses into other people's business, right? Hahah..
Mana released the thought lightly. Like a close person. It was noticeable, her demeanor had completely changed with Igyris after the recent events. That "cold and oppressive" woman was gone, replaced by someone lighthearted. Igyris didn't understand that change or her motives.
— So Igyris, what's up, do you come here often? The owner seemed to know you well, huh...
They walked along the busy sidewalks of the big city. Awkwardly dodging the crowded masses. Although Igyris made minimal effort to avoid people. The visible gun on his pants already did the job of avoiding possible conflicts.
Mana, taking advantage of the walk, seized the opportunity to test her aim. Tossing the now empty milkshake cup into an empty trash basket. The residents of NowaGen didn't worry about pollution; it was a useless effort there. And with her other hand, she adjusted the packaged denim jacket under her arm.
Igyris answered her robotically. He had returned to his original state, before feeling "alive" in the confrontation against Khaelis Kaiwen. The apathetic living dead man. A programmed voice, devoid of emotion. Who only answered according to the question.
— I used to steal from that place... to eat sometimes... other times out of boredom. Well, my gang was known in this area... and I doubt they know they're dead. Their bodies are probably still in that abandoned part of the city.
A great disinterest was perceptible, natural. Something that contrasted with his previous personality. That demon had been erased. And what remained was a depressing, empty man.
— And do you want to go get them? Your partners' bodies...
Mana maintained her relaxed, almost fraternal posture. She was visibly seeking to maintain a dialogue with that intriguing being in front of her, to understand him.
— No, I don't, I don't care, hah... I really don't care, I don't remember most of their names, to be honest... there was Jaywen... and that other kid... I don't know. Too many people to remember... hah... too many people.
He didn't even look at Mana as he spoke; he was almost unrecognizable, overcome by the lack of evolution in this short journey since his group was exterminated by Khaelis. As if his discovery. Experience in this short time. The meaning, didn't exist. The phantom didn't have a shred of emotion or development, an empty shell, as always. But for Mana. It wasn't like that. She saw the way he spoke, noticed his mannerisms that were not even cynical or ironic like before, they were empty. But for her, mannerisms really meant nothing. Because she saw a different face of him then. Something that captivated her, and she knew, that it was still there.
— Hey Igyris.
They kept walking, he didn't answer.
— Do you... really want to destroy the world?
Silence.
As if something pierced his chest and swallowed him, all the city noise simply stopped, voices, alarms, the screens, the vehicles.
Everything went quiet for Igyris. He simply stopped when he heard it, standing right there, staring fixedly, frozen, at just one spot. He felt his heart beat. He slowly turned his gaze to Mana. Looking deeply into her eyes.
In the midst of all that noise. Of all the visual and auditory pollution. Their eyes met. Fixed on each other. People passed by. Came and went. But the two remained there, stopped, fixed on a static point.
— Destroy the world... Yes... the first time you told me that... I... I felt... good... I... I don't feel... or care... but... you made me feel when you told me that... it's like...
— It's like they deserve it, right?
Mana's voice completed his sentence, as if completing something else too, the emptiness of his heart.
— Yes... it's like they deserve it...
— Tell me, Igyris...
Her voice sounded seductive, Igyris's heart accelerated, filled... as if something lost had returned, a meaning.
— They hurt you, didn't they?... they took something your heart couldn't replace... Something that will never go back into place, right?
— No... they never took anything from me... I never had anything... I can't lose what I never had... my emptiness... was never filled... I don't know... hahah... maybe I'm just looking for this chaos...
Silence.
He accepted himself like that, Igyris defined himself as an empty demon, who only filled himself with chaos, that's how he saw it, and in his head, that's how he was, nothing more, nothing less. He killed men and more men, and felt nothing. And so he was. Satisfied and dissatisfied, cold and cloudy, that's how he viewed the nature of his heart. A tragic, empty heart.
— Hah... don't talk nonsense...
The silence was broken.
— You... you really don't think you're empty, do you?...
Igyris's heart, completely overwhelmed by something strange. His eyes felt heavy. He didn't know what it was. A totally strange sensation.
"What sadness... your melancholy saddens me, kid!"
— Igyris... before you define yourself as empty... answer me one question.
Thump... thump... thump...
He felt the beats of his own heart, a mix of emotions. He didn't know what they were. His anxiety, and melancholy. Everything was empty to him. Poor child who couldn't identify his emotions.
The question came. His breathing grew heavy... the world stopped.
— Igyris... do you have dreams?
— Yes...
He answered...
— What do you dream about?
It was time, there he would discover what most deeply existed in that heart. Covered by that thick, melancholy, and tragic fog.
— I dream... I dream of a white-haired girl... she's young... she looks about 16 years old... she calls me Igyris... and tells me to follow her... I always follow... she asks how I am... if I'm feeling any pain... and sometimes she laughs, and says how funny I am, even without me having made a joke... we always walk around here... I... I... I don't know... recently... I saw a guy in the dark... I really don't know...
— Igyris... what does she look like?
— She... she has eyes exactly like yours... the same birthmarks... the same ones you have in your eyes...
Mana swallowed hard... her breathing changed... she understood, she understood something that Igyris himself didn't understand.
— Hah... I see... she's pretty, huh...
Mana put her hands in her pockets, taking out Igyris's stone, the same one that had that intense, golden glow that saved them against Khaelis, the golden stone, which even before he knew what it was. He carried it like an amulet, always in his pocket. She raised it, returning it to Igyris.
— This is yours... and this is too.
With a friendly and casual gesture, she bumped the packaged denim jacket against Igyris's chest.
— Hah... you're more interesting than I thought, Igyris...
He held the stone, trembling, while looking at Mana, with eyes he had never had before, it wasn't an empty look. It was loaded, loaded with emotions he had never dreamed of carrying. They shone brighter than the night of that city. And slowly, he watched Mana walk away, entering the crowd, while he was still standing there.
— Well... see you later... don't take long to come back to base, okay? We'll have another mission soon... hah... I can barely wait to hear more about your dreams, Igyris...
She disappeared into the crowd. But even without her in sight, he answered, his head nodding, something flowing.
— Okay... Mana... I'll be home soon.
Thus, for the first time, the empty wraith. Became human. For the first time. A soul in NowaGen saw something other than chaos. And ironically. The demon felt human.
Hours passed.
Igyris, after apparently hours of aimless walking within NowaGen. Headed towards a building in pieces, destroyed and abandoned, completely decrepit. He stared.
— Home sweet home... hah...
And with calm steps, he entered the building, washing his boots in filthy mud puddles that overflowed with his steps. He calmly climbed the building's floors. One step after another. The destroyed wiring, the smell of burnt copper infested the place, the sound of the exposed wires was similar to mosquitoes.
He entered random corridors, which always led to other corridors. Until there were no more corridors at all.
A door. The wood damp, and a space in the middle of the door with a sliding system for whoever was outside. He cracked!
Crack! Crack!
He stretched, and cracked his back.
Crack!
He let out a yawn.
— Ahhn!...
And patiently knocked three times with the back of his fingers.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A voice from inside escaped.
— Damn it!!! I told you, Mana, this place was shit, see, they already found us!!!
The voice was irritated and anxious, but familiar.
— Don't push it, you asshole! You chose this shitty place. Don't put your blame on me!!!
Another voice, female, too familiar, argued with the other voice inside the room.
— Ugh... damn, damn!! Okay, okay... on three we take the asshole out, got it? Simple, quick, let's go.
The two voices started counting at the same time.
1...
2...
3!!!
The door burst open abruptly.
— WE GOT YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!!!
— Ugh... damn, it's just Igyris.
Mana stammered embarrassedly, pointing her pistol at Igyris's head, while Naxel behind held a bat, a defense idea totally inconsistent with a weapons engineer of his caliber.
— Ugh... that was quite nostalgic, wasn't it?
Igyris said with a side smile, strangely good-humored, entering the improvised base/hideout. He threw himself onto the damp, old, and moldy sofa that had previously been in the abandoned building he lived in. He rested his feet on a large pool table that Naxel had stolen from the trash. And once again cracking his fingers, he turned on his improvised computer, which was connected to the wiring of his old "house." The way he managed to move that was inexplicable.
— Wow... look at you, you're in a good mood, huh? Hah... tell me, where have you been?
Mana asked, interested and surprised by Igyris's behavior.
— I... hah... I just took a walk.
— Hah... that's cool, Igyris... really.
Mana quickly turned away, returning to her tasks of calibrating and storing the weapons she had been doing before Igyris's arrival. But his voice interrupted her.
— Hey Mana... thank you... really... I hope I can dream more... I'll tell you everything...
She turned back, smiling. Returning that simple. Yet no longer empty thank you.
— Hah... it's alright, Igyris... after all, dreaming... makes us human...
Igyris returned the smile. Genuine, simple, but, for the first time, he felt at home. Not so empty. A silence fell. Not a negative one, just a small lapse of time, to understand what he felt... necessary, however...
— LOOK AT THAT!!! HAHAH, THE TRASH WOLVES ARE GETTING ALONG!!!
Naxel, in a bizarre way, broke that silence. Strangely. Purposefully...
— WHAT THE HELL!!! I SAID THAT ISN'T THE NAME, IT'S RIDICULOUS!!!!
Mana didn't realize it, but Naxel apparently wanted to avoid that type of silence, to avoid those moments.
— COME ON, IT'S COOL, ISN'T IT, IGYRIS???
As if any spark of humanity coming from their perfect weapon could...
— Arghn it's kinda ridicu—
— IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!
Any spark of humanity or hope. The lack of that selfish feeling of causing and creating pain could end his...
— MY PROJECT NEEDS TO CONTINUE!!!!... hahah... well, let's end these useless conversations and get on with our business.
Mana felt a tightening in her chest, she knew exactly what he was talking about.
— Naxel... so we're going, we're going after him?...
— Exactly... to reach the next stage of my project, we're going after your little toy, Mana... you guys are going to invade the base with Glass Crimsons... we're going after the...
Naxel and Mana finished at the same time. It was personal, as before. The weight in Mana's heart. And the next step for Naxel. The expected point was coming.
— WE'RE GOING AFTER THE EDELGEAR!!!
— WE'RE GOING TO GET... THE EDELGEAR!!!!
Igyris stared at the two, confused by the tone.
— EdelGear? What the hell is that?
Mana rushed close upon hearing this, staring Igyris in the eyes. Taking her hands off her computer keyboards, gripping his tightly.
— The EdelGear... is my destiny.