Ash fell like snow over the ruins of Ashenfall.
It coated the twisted metal skeletons of forgotten towers and sifted through the cracks of shattered concrete. The sky was a dull smear of rust and smoke, a permanent bruise above the city. Somewhere in the distance, an air siren wailed a long, warbling note that faded into silence. Nothing ever followed the warning anymore. Whatever disaster it was meant to announce had already come and gone.
Kael crouched behind the wreckage of an overturned railcar, his breath shallow. Just ahead, two Enforcers paced slowly between the wrecks, their steps mechanical, precise. He could hear the faint whir of their exosuits like cicadas buzzing in the heat.
Three seconds left, he counted.
The moment the first Enforcer turned his back, Kael sprang forward. Silent. Swift. His boots barely stirred the ash as he slipped into the belly of a half-collapsed building. Inside, light filtered through broken glass and twisted beams. He navigated the debris with practiced ease until he found what he was looking for: a half-buried locker, wedged beneath a mound of stone.
He pulled out a small crowbar, pried open the rusted latch, and grinned.
Tech.
Old World tech, at that a pair of solar capacitors, a rusted neural interface cable, and a data crystal, still intact.
"Jackpot," he murmured, slipping the crystal into his satchel.
The floor creaked behind him.
Kael froze. Slowly, he turned.
A figure stood in the shadows slim, cloaked, half-hidden behind a support beam. For a moment, he thought it might be an Enforcer. Then he caught a glimpse of green eyes beneath a ragged hood. A scavenger, like him. Maybe younger. Maybe not. The figure didn't speak. Just watched.
Kael gave a half-smirk, backed toward the exit. "Finders keepers."
The figure didn't follow. By the time Kael reached the alleyway again, the Enforcers were gone. He darted into the side streets, weaving through back alleys slick with soot and rainwater, until the towers gave way to squat tenements and flickering neon signs.
This was the Slag District. The place people went when they'd given up or never had anything to begin with.
Home.
He ducked into a crumbling warehouse two blocks off the grid. Inside, rows of repurposed shelves groaned under scrap metal and salvaged gear. Ryn was waiting for him, arms crossed, eyes glinting behind her cracked goggles.
"You're late," she said, tossing him a canteen.
"I'm alive. That's worth more than being on time."
She snorted. "Depends who's buying. You get anything good?"
Kael pulled out the solar capacitors. Ryn's face lit up.
"You little trash-rat. These could power a whole sector cell!"
"I want double for them."
"In your dreams."
They haggled for a minute before settling on a price half in rations, half in trade credit. As she counted out the chips, Ryn leaned in close.
"You hear the news? Enforcers raided the lower spires last night. Burned out a whole nest of 'Readers.'"
Kael stiffened. "That's just a myth."
"Is it?" Ryn said. "One of the bodies they pulled out had ink-stained fingers. Who reads books, Kael?"
He didn't answer. She didn't expect him to.
"Anyway," she said, slapping the credits into his palm, "word is, someone found a ruin one that hadn't been stripped. Near the old rail line. Might be worth checking out."
Kael nodded, but the idea unsettled him. Everyone knew the best ruins were long picked clean. And the ones that weren't? There was usually a reason.
Still.
That night, back in his cramped shelter beneath the water plant, Kael sat by the glow of an old LED lantern, staring at the crystal he'd found. The tech was ancient. Probably pre-Cataclysm. Maybe even pre-War.
He thumbed the edge of it, wondering what knowledge it held.
But the thought didn't thrill him like it once might have.
Instead, it felt like a weight.
Like something watching.
Outside, the ash kept falling, soft and silent.
Somewhere out there, a ruin lay untouched. Waiting.
Kael didn't believe in myths.
But he believed in opportunity.
And tomorrow, he would go find it.