Cassian was sitting haphazardly on the ashen remains of a bench, fighting against gravity to maintain some semblance of self respect. The world was beginning to wake up around him with the crimson red eyes of the sun daring to wander across the horizon, reflecting against the faint green water to his side.
Across the polluted reservoir the forlorn residents of the outer city began to wake up. Summoned by the alluring promise of a new day. The residents who drifted listlessly by the shoreline were hopelessly gaunt. Spurred on to work solely by the promise of filling their table with real food.
Work in the outer city was… extreme to say the least. From the age a child could reliably function within a workforce they were pushed into menial labor. There was no training, no trajectory and to be quite frank- no hope. To top it all off a role was assigned to you at random, yielding the danger of your job to pure chance. To most of the lost souls who inhabit the visage of a community this is how it has always been, so this is how it will always be.
Day in, day out. The same story was told. It was a requiem that had long been sung, a funeral that was somehow still playing out.
Cassian allowed himself a moment to breathe before forcing himself up - formulating exactly how to navigate the imminent conversation in his head. He was confident in his ability to handle people, however the uncertainty of where this interaction would lead left him more than a little concerned.
Besides, what self respecting inner city guard would see a sentient corpse in front of them and hear me out? He mused to himself.
As he rose from the weak excuse of a bench, he made a sound completely foreign to the human throat, attempting to test if his voice still functioned. Not a soul was close enough to hear him other than the reflection gazing up from the water, silently following his movements.
"..Jesus" he grimaced, glaring one last time at the reflection.
His already hunger stricken build looked even more desolate due to its small height. A fact that has never once won him any favors. A juvenile beard sat around his cracked mouth, crookedly joining with his messy unkempt hair that looked like a mop ingested a bucket of black paint. His scarred features were faintly defined underneath; communicating too clearly the life he had lived so far.
Moving his eyes away from the disaster that remained patiently on the water's surface. He set his eyes on the guarded entrance way to the inner city. The gate itself was nothing incredible having also been a slave to the passing of time. The sizable gray bricks that must have once tried to reach the heavens now crumbled in on themselves.
However humanity raged against this decay as they always do, maintaining a secure entrance way through the gargantuan wall even as it fell to entropy.
Cassian was no fool. He knew clearly that even from this distance the guards would be trained on him. He only prayed that the sheltered lifestyle of the inner city left them with steady hands, so that they may refrain from filling him full of lead before he had a chance to explain himself.
As he walked further towards the gate he feigned confidence he didn't truly feel- reaching into his pocket to draw out a thin white fabric stained with grease.
No one knows where the rumor came from but it was unanimously agreed amongst the rats of the outer city that the action of holding a white fabric was meant to convey peace.
Honestly he considered the concept idiotic, but the last few days had been one idiocy after another - so what was one more?
"STOP THERE."
A rough voice barreled at him from the gate's vicinity. It took a moment to trace the sound's location to a tall uniformed man who stood to the left of the gate, partially concealed by rubble.
Cassian abided by the man's words as he silently studied him. The guard seemed to be on the older side, displaying the years through the barely perceptible graying of his hair. A white soldiers uniform neatly adorned his body, starkly contrasting the surrounding rot. On his chest, the symbol of the half moon sat proudly. Identifying him as a citizen of the inner domain.
"Why are you approaching the inner city" His tone was both firm yet weary.
Collecting his thoughts one final time, Cassian finally spoke.
"Good morning my friend! if you would hear me out but a second"
He managed to shake the anxiety he was feeling out of his voice, leaving nothing but feigned confidence in his words.
The guard frowned slightly, slightly raising his weapon away from the ashen rubble.
"Speak then"
"It might be easier to just show you sir""
As he spoke he lowered his hands slowly - before drawing back the sleeve on his left arm. Hidden beneath the ragged ebony sleeve was the cause of this mess. The luminescence became visible before it did, causing the guards to sharply intake his breath as the light of recognition slowly began to hit his eyes.
Revealed on his forearm was an ornate rune carved in a seemingly impossible blue light, the canvas of his skin yielding to its glow. He wasn't quite sure how to describe it other than being completely alien.
The guard had long since lowered his gun, having come to the understanding of exactly why Cassian had approached him.
"oh…"
There was a long pause.
"Follow me, this isn't something I am allowed to handle"
The man turned his body sharply, hesitating slightly before swiftly walking the gate's direction.
Cassian followed in tow, a single bead of sweat trickling down his neck as the entrance grew endlessly closer.
However before they could cross the gates threshold and enter into the inner city, the guard withdrew a small rectangular object and brought it to his mouth.
"Captain, sir. I need permission to enter gate 1c with a rat in tow".
Soft static echoed from the device momentarily. The sound was similar to the radiation scanners carried by residents of the burrows.
"Polite as always, anyway I hear you. What's going on?"
"Sir, he carries the luminescent markings on his upper forearm. He claims it has been nearly a week since it appeared."
The next silence seemed uncomfortably long, The faint but audible breathing of the guard entwining with the continuous melody of static emanating from the device.
Finally, there was a response.
"Well now ain't that something else. Granted, of course. I will meet you past the gate myself"
While he spoke there were several loud clashes that echoed out the small machine. It was evident the so called captain had begun to move even while the conversation was still taking place.
The man turned back to him holding a vaguely grim expression.
"Alright, I'm assuming you heard that"
He paused momentarily, as if listening for a sound that was not there.
"I want you to practically be conjoined to me as we move through this gate."
Cassian nodded back at him. Stepping forward on to the man's shadow. Seeing his silent acquiescence the guard turned round and crossed the threshold.
From the outside there was nothing abnormal separating the outside from the in. However, as soon as his foot landed past the decrepit gate his vision was assaulted by a strange force.
It was as if gravity increased tenfold, solely focused upon his eyelids. He quickly gave up on fighting it, letting the familiar darkness overtake his senses.
"I can't see.. sir"
He mumbled it softly. Strangely the fear that should have rightly been felt in this situation was not present, replaced instead by a tranquility that was completely foreign.
A sigh echoed a few meters in front of him. Following this he felt a calloused hand grasp his shoulder, guiding him in a specific direction.
"I apologize for my oversight. The security mechanism put in place here must have triggered on you".
"Yeah no shit-"
He quipped back at the man, feeling his old confidence returning to him. There was no reason to be confident in this situation, and yet he was.
"Stupid question probably, but it's not permanent right?"
The hand was removed from his shoulder.
"No"
Cassian simply smiled at the response. A subtle, yet genuine smile that had not touched his face in a long time.
Unbeknownst to him, the man took this moment to draw out a notebook from his pale uniform. Quickly scribbling down a litany of notes.
"Do you notice anything else strange about yourself?"
Cassian pondered a moment. Mentally checking himself over.
"Nope, just the lack of vision"
The hand placed itself back on his shoulder, guiding him once again. He wasn't sure how far they had moved, his concealed senses betraying him. It felt as if they had walked mere meters, while simultaneously feeling like a marathon.
While pondering this his ears began to pick up a faint symphony of noise. Strange metallic sounds he had never heard before mixed in with a cacophony of human voices.
"Alright, we have crossed over- your sight should return any moment now"
As if on cue, the pressure attacking his sight began to reduce. Light once again assaulted the abyss covering his eyes, returning his senses to normalcy.
However, that was not the focus of his attention. Around him an entirely new world had opened up. The sight of which caused a grin to plaster his face, an emotion that didn't have the same strange foreign feeling to it as it did in the tunnel.
He was officially on the inside.