Shadow Slave

On a cold winter morning, two people were making their way through the black slush that drowned a rundown street, piling high near the dirty walls of the cheap panel buildings that clung to each other, as if for warmth. The loud sound of their steps echoed in the dim twilight, making it seem as if a monster was chewing on rotten flesh.

Nephis glanced at the dirt covering her expensive boots, then smelled the air and grimaced. Adjusting the collar of her white coat, she then glanced at Sunny and asked:

"Why are we here, exactly?"

He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged.

"Weren't you told to submerge yourself into how mundane humans live? Well, here we are. This is life, too."

He gestured at the ugly landscape that surrounded them and sighed.

After several years... Sunny was back in the outskirts.

'Brings back memories…'

In the aftermath of the collapse of old humanity, ravages of war and natural cataclysms made most of the planet uninhabitable. To exist in relative safety, people had to congregate in large cities like the one he had grown up in… the Northern Quadrant Siege Capital. Everywhere else was either drowned underwater or looked like a desert.

Of course, life persisted. Some trees and plants were still clinging to life. Large mammals mostly went extinct, but a few species of animals and insects had managed to adapt. However, the damage to most ecosystems was too severe. The earth turned barren, the water turned poisonous, and even the air itself was not safe to breathe anymore.

city incorporated sophisticated water filtration systems, food distribution infrastructure and other means of keeping the population alive. It was surrounded by tall barrier walls that prevented excessive microdust, various toxins, stray remnants of weaponized bacteria, harmful radiation, and other hazards from getting

city in a bubble of breathable air. Of course, each district also possessed its own additional means

but here in NQSC, it was slowly growing. As a result, the city grew, too.

Hence, the outskirts appeared.

and even more time. The colossal, skeletal frames of unfinished barriers had

of people like him had already lived and died outside their protection. The air in the outskirts might not have been as bad as in the desolate wilderness beyond, but it was far from safe. Those who breathed it every day did not tend to enjoy good health

It reeked.

in the familiar stench, Sunny struggled not to follow Neph's example and grimace. He had been accustomed to the smell for most of his life and never paid it much attention, but just a few years of sweet life in the Dream Realm and in the better parts of the city made

deal… it's not that

for human life, as well. The buildings were straining to keep themselves together, clean water was scarce, most food came in the form of synthpaste rations provided by the government. Everything was dirty, worn

to the rest of the city, but in practice, it broke down and malfunctioned so often that getting anywhere with

this turn of events, however, because that gave them the chance to get a good look at people who lived in the outskirts. Just like the slums themselves, the inhabitants looked decrepit. They were all frail, thin, and with unhealthy skin. The

how Sunny had

had left this place, thinking that

'This is so strange…'

outskirts, but now, after traveling through several regions of the Dream Realm and building a life for himself in the city, Sunny suddenly understood that the

encompassed numerous different areas. He had only ever known and explored a small part of them. The only world he had known for most of his life was even smaller

From what she had told him, there were somewhere between sixty and seventy million people living in the outskirts. Twenty percent of the total population of the city existed in these unpleasant conditions, barely surviving as they were slowly ground to