Poverty.

  Violence.

  Drugs.

  Murder.

  Those were some of the words used to describe one of the largest, filthiest holds in the nation. D’Vnora was an incubator of poverty and crime that went unrivaled in the empire. There were two levels to the sprawling metropolis; an entire upper area built on massive plates and platforms suspended above the poorer sectors that were built into a massive crater as ancient as society itself. Standing at the huge entrance to the walled city, one could see the two levels as though they were looking at a portrait showcasing their vast differences.

  Above, it looked like there was life and bustling activity fit for the richest of society – and that truly was who lived in the upper levels. Corporate executives, those who inherited wealth, big business owners, and all the massive corporate entities one could find in a city dwelt on the plates. Down below, there were street gangs, crime syndicates, government housing. It was such a divide in society, that it was sickly poetic the way the city was structured.

  They would often see personal airships and hovercars zooming by overhead, while ground cars like the one they all rode in continued along its dusty dirt path. Both halves of the city erected tall buildings and had hovercraft buzzing around them like insects, but while the city above was polished and glistened with reflected light from the sun, the city below was dull and brown like the dirt it was all set into.

  Traveling farther into the undercity, they looked around at the people and saw familiar emotions draped over their faces. They were suddenly reminded why they were doing what they did; that it wasn’t their fault for ending up where they were. It wasn’t their fault for being born into an unforgiving and selective empire that valued stereotypes and vain image it longed to obtain more than the lives it was responsible for.

  There were many Songrivans and dark elves like Ayela and Kamille living among the poor class of the undercity, and they all looked angrier than ever at the lives they were forced to live. Her heart broke when she looked at their faces, and she wished so badly she could do something about it. Every so often, she would see the mocha-colored skin of a dwarf wandering among them, and she was reminded of Rhaja. How would her late lover feel if she were there? She assumed her heart would break as hard as hers did.

  It wasn’t too long before they arrived a few blocks away from where Thillan’s coordinates were. They exited the cab and quickly made their way into the run down hotel they planned to set up their base in. “My friend rented a room under the name Kaothin,” Asher declared to the man at the front desk.

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  “Sure. Here’s the room key. Next time, come before noon, yeah?” Came the curt and rude response. Asher ignored him and took the key.

  The elevator seemed to take too long to reach their floor, and the journey to their room felt like hours when it was only minutes. The time for her to do what she’d never dreamed of doing before was close at hand; she was going to break in to one of the government’s most secured facilities. She explored fantasy after fantasy of what new story and secret she would stumble across.

  Entering the room, they quickly smashed their phones and set their bags down on the bed. Thillan was there waiting for them, as their plan dictated. The men quickly set up all their secure equipment, safe from the government’s prying ears and eyes. The girls were handed ear pieces connected to a secure line, closed off from any frequency that would be easily detectable.

  “Here’s the plan,” Kamille began. “You two are going to get into the vault. Once you’re in, since Kacyn is the mental one, she’ll glean schematics of the facility from the guards or someone, and lead you to the data servers. This is very important; I’m giving you a device Asher was given from Ruat that can tap into government servers at most – if not, all – locations across the country and in foreign bases. There are programs installed that we don’t even understand, but they’re so user friendly that you don’t need to be a tech-genius to figure out how to use them.”

  “Ruat… Spirit of the ancient creator… The feminine aspect of the maker-god. It’s ironic your leader would pick such a name. I assume they have never shown themselves to you before?” Kacyn asked.

  “That’s correct,” Asher answered honestly. “There’s never been a need before, so we don’t try to look for them. We just go to our next target when they give it to us.”

  “But this time, they didn’t give you the target… You picked it yourself,” Kacyn intuitively pointed out.

  “…That’s right.”

  Ayela wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about this sudden revelation, or whether she should care. Perhaps there was a reason Asher was after it so badly, and that reason ultimately benefitted the darklings. Or perhaps it was an entirely selfish abuse of power. Regardless, she felt in her heart that infiltrating this vault was in line with her own goals, and no matter how selfish or selfless the reasons, it would benefit the darklings and bring the truth of the empire to the public.

  “This vault holds secrets to bring down the empire,” Asher began, answering Ayela’s thoughts. “It’s a center of wealth that the empire holds dear to its heart, and it holds truths that I personally need to confirm for myself. It holds something for Ayela and her religion. It holds something for those that were in Kamille’s and Thillan’s life’s circumstances. This vault has something for us individually and collectively. We were given the means for opportunities just like this one, so let’s take advantage of it.”

  “Right,” Kamille continued. “Getting back on track; you’ll plug the jack from this device into one of the servers, download as much data as you can hold or until the alarms are triggered. Once you’re done, get out and rendezvous with us so we can take a look. As soon as we’ve gotten a good idea of what we have, we’ll take a heavy hitter to Bavylune and broadcast it across the nation.”

  “When we reach Shamol, Thillan will stay in the town. After we finish in the Capital, I’ll depart with the rest of the data to deliver to every cell in every town and city with broadcasting power strong enough to reach a wide radius around it, and we will spend the next few years leaking secret after secret. We’ll take the empire’s crutches from under them, and we’ll get it ready for the collapse of this weak and tyrannical government,” Asher declared with a clenched fist. She saw it in that moment; just how deeply he hated the empire.

  “Let’s get to it, then,” Ayela said with a smirk.