The tall grass swayed softly under the morning light. Dew glistened across the field, catching in Hina's hair as her porcelain body lay half-hidden among the weeds. The city's outskirts were always quiet at dawn, a rare calm before the gangs and drifters stirred awake. For now, no one noticed the unnatural figure resting in the grass.
Then Nash stirred. His awareness slipped from the puppet like a thread snapping back into place. His vision blurred, and when it cleared, he was staring at the cracked ceiling of his run-down apartment.
Nash groaned and sat up from the squeaky mattress. "Ah… back to this dump." He rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms high, joints popping. A strange thing about switching back and forth between bodies was that his puppet never needed sleep, but his real body did. The dissonance made him feel as if he had rested and not rested at the same time.
His stomach growled loudly. Nash frowned, patting his gut. "Right. I may have an indestructible doll out there, but my body still needs food. Figures."
He slipped on his ragged sneakers, threw on a hoodie to cover the worst of his appearance, and left the apartment. The air outside smelled of fried oil and exhaust fumes. He followed the scent to a greasy little restaurant on the corner and pushed inside.
The old man at the counter looked him over but said nothing, too used to broke-looking customers. Nash ordered a cheap breakfast plate with rice, eggs, and some kind of questionable meat and sat near the mounted television. The food came fast, steaming and greasy. He didn't complain. He dug in with a hunger only a man scraping by could understand.
As he ate, the news on the TV shifted from a car crash report to the usual coverage of supernatural sightings. The anchor, a polished woman with perfect hair, spoke in a serious tone. "This week alone, twelve reported encounters with rogue transcenders and supernaturals occurred in the capital. Authorities advise citizens to avoid dark alleys and refrain from traveling alone at night."
The screen flashed with shaky footage of hunters in rune-etched armor clashing with a shadowy figure. Nash chewed slower, eyes locked to the glowing screen. He muttered, "So this is how the world keeps track. They just blast it on the news."
The anchor's voice rose. "In other news, the haunted mansion incident continues to stir public debate. A streamer captured footage of the supernatural entity dubbed the Gutter fiend. What shocked viewers most was not the entity itself, but the appearance of a mysterious supernatural that looks like a woman in the mansion. But people are debating whether the woman is actually a rogue transcender or a transcender that went mad due whatever supernatural she merges with."
The screen replayed the clip. Grainy video showed Hina's body tearing through the mansion halls, moving with eerie grace, striking with inhuman strength. The chat feed from the stream rolled past the bottom of the screen, full of people screaming "WTF is that thing" and "Not a transcender!" The frame froze on Hina's pale face, porcelain skin gleaming under the faint light.
Nash nearly choked on his food. "Wait, that's me? That's how I looked moving around in Hina's body?" He wiped his mouth with a napkin and shook his head. "I kinas look creepy as hell. No wonder they're all losing their minds... Damn. I really do look like something out of a horror movie."
The old man behind the counter gave him a funny look. Nash just waved it off and kept eating.
The news anchor moved on quickly. "And finally, a report from the outskirts. Police confirm multiple drive-by shootings tied to ongoing gang wars. Two member of a gang died on the spot and at least one civilian was hospitalized in critical condition. Witnesses claim some of the shooters displayed abilities consistent with low to mid-grade transcenders. Authorities advise civilians to avoid the eastern warehouses until further notice."
A map appeared, red circles marking gang territory in the outskirts. Nash's eyes narrowed. He leaned back in his chair, thinking hard. "Gangs with transcenders, huh. That explains why the cops keep their distance but the cops should also have some transcenders."
His fork paused over the plate. An idea sparked in his mind. "But if they've got transcenders, that means they've got rune artifacts. Rune artifacts mean money. Money means I stop living like a damn rat." He rubbed his chin. "Yeah. Why not rob the bastards? They're criminals anyway. It's not like anyone's gonna cry for them."
Still, a flicker of doubt crossed his face. The anchor had said transcenders were hard or complicated to deal with. If he messed up, it could be his head on the pavement. But then he remembered Hina standing untouched by bullets and claws. He smiled faintly. "No. With her, I should do just fine."
He finished the last of his breakfast, paid with the last of his coins, and left the diner with a new plan forming in his mind.
---
The rest of the day was spent hunting information. Nash wandered the bustling markets, following signs and asking subtle questions. He learned quickly that rune artifacts were not something you bought in a shady alley, they were sold by corporations with gleaming towers or through state-controlled shops under government oversight.
By the time he found one of the shops, his feet ached. The building was clean, polished, almost sterile. Inside, artifacts glowed behind reinforced glass displays. Nash stared at the price tags, jaw tightening.
"Five… thousand?" he whispered. The cheapest artifact on display, a dull bronze amulet with a weak rune, cost five thousand in local currency. His heart sank. "That's… more than I'll see in a year, even if I had a job."
A clerk in a neat suit noticed him staring. "Are you interested, sir? This one here is excellent for beginners. A simple capture rune, suitable for Grade E nuisances."
Nash forced a smile. "Yeah. Just browsing."
He left the shop as fast as possible. Outside, he leaned against the wall and sighed. "So that's it. No chance of me affording even a scrap of a rune. If I want one, I'll have to take it from someone else."
His eyes drifted toward the east, where the skyline dipped into the ruined outskirts. Factories with broken windows and graffiti-tagged warehouses sat like scars on the edge of the city. That was where the gangs thrived, where the news said the drive-bys happened.
Nash clenched his fists. "Tonight, then. Tonight I'll see if these gangs really are untouchable. If I can rip them off, I'll finally have enough to buy my own damn survival."
He tugged his hood lower over his face and disappeared into the crowd, planning the night to come.