Chapter 2: The Ten-Unit Hunger
Thirteen years passed. New Seattle grew taller, but Carson stayed in the shadows. At twenty, he was a "Ghost-Washer" in the Inner Sector, a man forged by the grit of the streets. He lived in the "Crevice"—a narrow gap between two industrial buildings—surviving by washing luxury hover-cars and shining boots.
He was scrawny, his skin permanently stained with grease, but his eyes remained sharp. Every night, by the flickering light of a stolen battery, he studied his mother's journals. He realized they weren't just about plants; they were about Alchemical Refinement. To the world, he was a beggar, but in his mind, he was an apprentice to the universe.
He had one anchor: Maya.
He had met her two years prior when she worked at a transit kiosk. Carson worshipped her. He would skip meals for days to buy her small luxuries—hot ginger tea on freezing nights or a new synthetic silk scarf. His current obsession was the Apex-7, a luxury smartphone she had been eyeing. It cost 300 units.
He had saved 290 units.
"I'm almost there, Maya," he whispered as he walked through an alley toward her kiosk. "One more shift."
But the streets had eyes. Viper, a Level 9 Mortal Foundation enforcer for the Neon Fangs gang, intercepted him. Viper didn't want a fight; he wanted a "tax."
When Carson refused to hand over his savings, the beating was systematic. Viper's boots, reinforced with Tier-2 Kinetic Steel, shattered Carson's ribs.
"Thanks for the donation, Sparky," Viper laughed, snatching the blood-stained credits.
Broken and bleeding, Carson dragged himself to the Lumina Grand Hotel to find Maya. He needed the one person who loved him to tell him that the money didn't matter. Instead, he found her in the VIP lounge, draped over Viper's arm. On the table sat a brand-new Apex-7.
"He was just a tool, Viper," Maya's voice was like ice, reaching Carson through the cracked terrace door. "A boy like him was never meant to stand in the light. I was just waiting for someone with real power to take notice."
Carson stood in the shadows, his heart hardening into a cold, unbreakable diamond. He didn't scream. He turned away and walked back into the rain. The boy who wanted to be loved had died.