Las Vegas, 2043. Once a city of lights and luck, it has transformed into a high-tech metropolis, pulsing with neon veins and floating transports. Towering holograms flicker above gravity-defying skyscrapers, painting the skyline with illusions of endless progress. Yet beneath this radiant glow lies a chilling hierarchy where power is currency, and those without it fade into the shadows.
At the heart of Voyage City, one of Las Vegas's newly annexed districts, stands STAR Clinic, a sleek, imposing medical fortress built into the neural core of the city. Designed by the legendary genius Lucian Stark and bankrolled by Raymond Rutherford of Wagons Industries, it was meant to be a symbol of futuristic healthcare. In truth, it became the gatekeeper of elitist medicine.
Despite being city-owned, STAR Clinic operates like a private experiment, favoring Beta-Humans and Ability wielders, those blessed or modified with genetic and cybernetic enhancements. For them, treatment is immediate and luxurious. Nanobots erase wounds within hours. Regenerative biotech restores them to perfection. They rest in AI-optimized beds with neural sleep enhancers, lulled by ambient therapy and soft drones.
But for the non-enhanced, for ordinary humans, especially the poor, STAR Clinic is nothing but a cold metallic purgatory.
Inside the lower ward, the air is stale. Flickering lights buzz overhead. Nurses pass by patients without a glance, their footsteps echoing in indifference.
On one bed lies a young woman near death. Her skin is pale, her body covered with burn scars and fractured bones, the aftermath of a plasma explosion she barely survived. Her breathing is shallow, her chest rising and falling only with the aid of a hissing ventilator. Her name is Angela, a quiet girl with dusty glasses and worn-out clothing. At her side sits her only visitor, a freckled girl no older than thirteen. Her eyes, wide and trembling, are full of hope and silent fear as she watches Alice struggle to live.
Across the room, an old woman with sunken eyes clutches the hand of her adult son. His body is ravaged by late-stage AIDS. He shivers beneath a paper-thin blanket, ignored by doctors and machines alike. She wipes the sweat from his forehead with her sleeve, whispering lullabies into his feverish sleep. No help comes. No medical device hums to stabilize his condition. They are on the wrong side of the ward.
The division is clear. The ward is split by a transparent barrier, almost symbolic. On one side, those with means rest on soft gel-beds, surrounded by floating IVs and calming drones. On the other, those without lie in silence, surviving only on time and mercy.
Outside the dome-encased city, the sky darkens as twilight paints it purple. A young boy with snow white hair and a girl with hair as blue as the sky step into the lobby of STAR Clinic. Their presence ripples through the sterile air, drawing glances. They are not patients. They are seekers of truth in a place built to heal, yet twisted to discriminate.
STAR Clinic, 2043. A place where technology saves lives... only for those who can afford to be saved.
"I'm glad you could be here, Angela," Alice whispered weakly, her voice cracking. "It means so much to me that you… are… here."
"Don't speak, Alice," Angela said, her worried gaze fixed on her. "It will only worsen your pain." She held Alice's trembling fingers gently.
"Let me try to heal you," Angela whispered. "I know a bit of healing magic."
She began to chant softly. "Sana, o spiritus silvae, hanc amicam cordis mei, et animam eius in aeternum custodi."
A soft glow of green light spread from her hand, wrapping around Alice's body. The healing began, but the process was painfully slow.
"Angela, stop. You are draining your life force," Alice warned, managing to lift one weak arm to halt her.
"It is fine, my love," Angela smiled faintly. "The god Helon blessed me today with…" She quickly looked around, then reached into her skirt, pulling out a small magic bag. She opened it, revealing a large sum of money. Alice's eyes widened in shock.
"Where did you get this money?" Alice asked in confusion. "Did you… sell yourself again for it?"
"No," Angela said quickly, shaking her head. "I was blessed by a stranger… and by the god Helon." Her voice lowered. "You remember how that man forced us into those defiling things so we could gather enough money to escape the dark continent? We spent everything just to buy our passage."
Alice's eyes watered. "Yes, I remember. The teleportation machine only works for non-humans, so we… we had no choice." She began to weep.
"It's okay," Angela said softly, wiping her tears. "There was nothing more we could have done. We were running for our lives. We must settle here in Las Vegas, live quietly, and one day, bring back our parents."
Alice smiled faintly despite her weakness. "That's true. But… instead of using this money for me, use it for yourself."
"No," Angela shook her head firmly. "I want to use it for you. Watch." She turned to signal a nurse. "Hello, nurse." Angela tapped the glass demarcation lightly, gesturing.
The nurse turned, her face twisting in disgust the moment she saw Angela's pointed ears.
"Don't touch me!" the nurse snapped, slapping Angela's hand away. "You unruly creature! How dare you lay your filthy hands on me!" She immediately grabbed a sanitizer and scrubbed furiously.
"I was only trying to tell you—" Angela's words were cut off as the nurse struck her with a metal tray.
"Do not talk to me, you freak of nature!" the nurse screamed, her face twisted with loathing. "Who even asked me to work today? I should have stayed home instead of being forced to treat garbage like you… and that useless trash over there." She pointed at Alice with venom.
"That is not right," an old woman's voice quivered as she stepped forward. "She is a human being, just like you. You are a nurse, are you not? Are you not meant to show compassion?"
The woman comforted Angela, patting her shoulder gently as she wept.
"You useless piece of trash!" the nurse roared, her aura swelling with fury. Her blood boiled, her voice deepened.
"I am old enough to be your mother—" the old woman tried to speak, but the nurse silenced her with another slap.
"Who gave you the right to speak to me, you hag? Your entire bloodline is a recycling bin of failure, generation after generation pressing retry. You were mistakenly downloaded with a poor connection. That is why your life is nothing but suffering. Your son is stricken with that filthy disease, fitting for trash like you. I will use you and this freak as examples. Perhaps in your next life, you will beg your god to create you properly instead of being born as miserable mistakes."
Energy crackled around the nurse's hand as she prepared to blast both the old woman and Angela.
"Why does this always happen to me?" Angela sobbed bitterly. "Why must I always be hated and discriminated against in this country?"
"Oh God, please help us. Deliver us from this affliction," the old woman prayed through her tears.
Their prayers were answered in the form of a sudden crash. The nurse was blasted backward into the wall, her body slamming with a sickening crack.
"Is everyone okay?" Johnson's voice cut through the chaos as he stepped forward. His snow white hair glowed faintly under the sterile lights.
"Don't you think you took it too far, Johnson?" Rose's voice rang out as she descended into the ward.
"We are fine," Angela said quickly, wiping her tears. "But… the nurse will try to hurt us again." Her eyes flickered with fear.
"Do not worry," Johnson said calmly. "That crazy nurse will not harm you anymore."
"Johnson, get down!" Rose cried out.
The nurse, still alive, shot a burst of energy from her finger. Johnson barely dodged, the blast grazing past him.
"You," the nurse growled, throwing off her apron. "I don't care who you think you are. You cannot act like my boss." Her aura surged. "I may lose my job today, but I swear I will kill all the weaklings in this hospital."
Rose immediately raised her arms defensively, standing in front of Johnson and the other patients. "Not on my watch. I will not let you harm my brother or anyone else."
"You riffraff kids should get out of here!" the nurse roared as her muscles bulged, her body growing taller. A sphere of energy crackled in her palm.
"Tch…" Johnson's eyes narrowed. Inner voice, release three percent of my power, as you said.
But sir, the voice of his will replied, you already removed your limiters today. Doing this could strain your body.
No problem for me. Do it now, Johnson ordered.
The nurse snarled, her fury erupting. "I might lose my job today, but I've had enough. Enough of tending to these pathetic humans. Enough of catering to Beta-Humans. I will destroy you all and burn this place to the ground!"
With that, she unleashed a blast that tore through the upper floors. The building shook violently as explosions ripped through STAR Clinic.