A bulky man was standing next to the large neon door which led to the entrance. He pulled out a large scanner from his belt when he saw them approaching. Both Vi and Jenx were scanned before a small chip was inserted into each of their wrists. The bulky man finally gave a little nod.

“You know the rules. The chip comes out when you leave the party.” They both nodded in return. Slowly he stepped aside, ushering them through the door. Jenx was almost blinded by blue light as he stepped into the huge chamber, Vi at his elbow. The music was blaring, so much so that the vibrations of the base line felt like they were pulsing through him. It was almost too loud to talk, almost too loud to even think. VIPs and direct card holders already populated the upper tiers of the room. Multiple massive glass staircase winded up leading to higher balcony like levels, their floors all made of glass. The blue light pulsed through the glass as if it had a heart beat of it’s own. A stage of some sort of translucent material had been set up, long glowing poles stretching up all the way into the ceiling which towered seventy feet above them. Gwami from the pleasure district were already dancing on them. They wore little to no clothing. Masks covered their faces and they were all covered head to toe in glittering sequins. Jenx supposed that the Gwami’s for the upper class districts like the ones Yasha worked in probably were covered in diamonds instead. He would have to remember to ask Yasha about it later. Vi turned to Jenx now and gave him a little thumbs up before A lining straight to the bar. Jenx glanced around quickly, just on the off chance that he caught site of a bird mask and dark suit amongst the crowd. Throngs of people had begun to swell in as civilians began to be let in through the general entrance. As Jenx moved to turn he suddenly felt a larger body grind up against him from behind.

“What’s up sexy?” A voice said with a sweet drawl, typical of the pleasure district. He spun around quickly to see Yasha there, grinning. Jenx’s eyes widened slightly.

“You changed your hair color?” Yasha nodded excitedly.

“Yeah, I felt like pink would fit me better than purple and I was right. I went from a ten to like...a fifteen.” He gave Jenx a little wink. “You like what you see?” Jenx nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Okay good. You got lucky I liked the pink my man. Red was my next pick.” He reached forward, ruffling Jenx’s hair. “If we both had red hair I would totally outshine you any time we hung out together. People wouldn’t even remember who you were.” He blinked suddenly, as if remembering something important. “Yo I forgot to ask, do you like my outfit?” He spun around once to show it off fully though he didn’t really need to. Yasha’s outfit was extremely hard to miss. There was a suit jacket, a tie, booty shorts and...that was pretty much it. It appeared to be made completely from neon purple and pink lights.

“It looks like you’re a walking street sign,” a voice complained loudly over the music.

“Niby Poo!” Yasha practically shouted, picking up the wiry figure and spinning him around.

“PUT ME DOWN YOU DISGUSTING BUFFOON!” If one could present two polar opposites next to each other it would be Yasha and Nibs. Yahsa of course had been dressed to the nines. His entire body was completely painted white with designs done in makeup twisting their way up his perfect form. A few pink diamonds were stuck onto the skin by his navel and up one side of his neck. Nibs on the other hand was lanky and dressed so plainly that it made him almost stand out amongst the glittering crowd. Nibs was one of the few people Jenx knew that refused to dye his hair or receive cosmetic surgery of any kind. Jenx assumed that hair was still the same light dusty brown as it had been when he was first born into the coding district. Nibs was wearing a scowl on his freckled face when Yasha finally put him down.

“I hate it here. It makes my head hurt.”

“There’s some aux chambers in the back if you need to refresh or gussy up-”

“I know that,” Nibs snapped. “G_D, you act like I haven’t been to literally a million of these.” Yasha glanced around now.

“Yo, where did Vi go?”

“I saw her a minute ago. Last I saw of her she was heading to the bar,” Jenx said with a shrug. Yasha gave a quick nod.

“Yeah, she’s probably busy. I hope Mexy’s doing well and isn’t too stressed. She owes me a BJ.” Nibs’s mouth dropped open.

“D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G!!!!!” Yasha grinned slyly.

“You know me and Mexy have a bit of a history. Once at the Sev55 party two years ago we snuck into one of the bathrooms and-” Nibs promptly plugged his ears.

“I don’t want to hear about it! Please shut up!” Yasha snickered.

“I’m just saying, I may be waaaaaaay out of her league but damn does she give the best-”

“STOP!” Yasha laughed brushing a flop of pink hair out of his eyes before finally retorting.

“Make me.” Nibs rolled his eyes.

“Fuck you.”

“Like you could afford a session.” Nibs rolled his eyes so intensely this time that his eyes practically rolled back in his head.

“There you guys are,” Vi suddenly called, appearing between Nibs and Yasha, She carried a wine glass in one hand filled with some kind of bubbling blue liquid. She gave Jenx a hearty slap on the back.

“Looks like the whole gang's here,” Yasha said with a smirk, looping one arm around Vi’s slender shoulder. Vi’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Oh my G_D guys you will never believe what I just heard!” Yasha leaned forward.

“Oh please, PLEASE, let it be about the prince!” Vi shook her little head.

“Nah, not that exciting. There’s apparently some kind of disease that’s starting to go around.” Yasha stuck out his tongue revealing a little heart tattoo with a diamond stud at it’s center.

“Ew.”

Vi nodded excitedly.

“It gets even grosser. People that have it show absolutely no signs or symptoms. Then all of a sudden one day they start turning grey like their very color is being drained out of them. Then they start puking up blood and their eyes get all bloodshot. Three or four days later they just drop dead.” Jenx’s mouth hung open.

“No way. That’s crazy! They’re sure it’s a disease?” Vi shook her head.

“They don’t know for sure yet. It could be an after effect of some new drug on the market or something too. You never know.”

“That is creepy as fu….oh G_D.” Yasha’s gaze had trailed off, latching onto the dancing Gwami on the pole. “That girl up there is freaking horrible! How are they even letting her up on the stage.” His eyes narrow. “Honestly, if someone tried dancing like that at one of the events I work they would kick her out of the G_D damn pleasure district-”

“We get it! You’re high class!” Nibs snapped. Suddenly Jenx’s gaze caught on a girl standing near the railing of one of the upper tier rooms. She was small and pale, long light green hair braided around her head. For some reason there was something about her...something that called to him like a magnet. It was strange...it wasn’t romantic or even lust filled...it was simply a pull. He gave Vi a little nudge.

“I’ll be right back.” The others just nodded before resuming their conversation. He slipped away, moving up the glass steps till he reached her. It took him a few moments to build up the courage to approach her. When he finally did she blinked when she saw him, staring at him through large silver eyes.

“Um...hello,” Jenx said quickly, still not entirely sure what he was doing. The girl didn’t say anything, simply continuing to stare at him. He swallowed hard, extending a hand. “My name is...er...Jenx...Jenx Jenkins.” She took it giving it a little shake, still silent. Jenx stared at the ground, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. This was a bad idea. “You don’t talk much do you?” The girl shook her head. Suddenly a realization dawned on him. “Or...can you not speak?” A smile grew across the girl’s face and she nodded as if silently saying ‘you got it’. “Wow okay...well at least there’s arcAdia. You can probably communicate with people through there, right?” She nodded.

“Oh really? That’s awesome! What’s your name? I can look you up when you get home and add you to...oh right...you can’t tell me…” he laughed awkwardly. “Sorry.” The mysterious girl gave him a little pat on the shoulder as if to tell him that it was quite all right. When her hand moved Jenx suddenly noticed something odd. “Hey...you don’t have a chip slot in your wrist. How did you get in?” The girl grew still, her gaze locking on something behind him. Suddenly she tensed, her eyes wide. Jenx looked to her startled. “Is something wrong?” That’s when he heard a woman’s voice in his head that, despite its gentleness, felt like someone taking a hammer to the inside of his skull.

‘Run,’ the voice cried. ‘You must run Jenx Jenkins.” Jenx spun around and there, standing before him was a tall suited figure in a bird’s beaked mask. Jenx instinctively went to bow his head but the prince cut him off, snapping at him.

“Not here you stupid idiot.” His voice was different then before, more cold without a hint of the friendliness or ease of before. “Now get out of my way.” He brushed past Jenx with so much force that he almost knocked him over. “There you are you little brat,” the prince hissed, grabbing the girl by the wrist. Jenx stumbled a few feet back, stunned. The girl tried to resist but the prince simply dragged her out from the corner. “Look what you’ve done,” he snarled. “I can’t believe you’ve run away again like this. Do you know how much work it took me and Rifter to find you? I told one person, one fucking person I would be searching the party chambers in this district and that fucking bitch leaked it.” Jenx was staring at them both, attempting to process what was happening. Who was this girl?

“I thought….you needed a disguise to avoid an assassination or something,” Jenx said meekly from behind them. The prince spun around to glare at him through those sickeningly green eyes.

“It’s called a lie my dear, look it up.” He clicked his tongue now turning back to the girl. “I can’t believe you pulled him into this. Did you sense I had been around him and decide to summon him thinking he might be able to help you?” He laughed cruelly. “Come now my dear sister, it’s time to get you back to your room. You don’t want Rifter to worry about you more than he already is do you?” Wait the prince had a sister?! How was that possible...how did he not know about that? How did anyone not know about it? The prince started to push past Jenx but stopped suddenly to glare at him intently. “If you tell a single soul about any of this I will hunt you down and kill you, have no doubt about it. The only reason I’m letting you live at all is that if you die your talent dies with you. Believe me, if it comes out that you know about any of this both you and I are dead.” Suddenly the lights flickered. The music stuttered and crackled once, twice, and then fell dead silent. A sound of surprise swept over the crowd. The lights flickered again. Prince Florzel glanced around, eyes narrowed. “What the fuck-” That’s when a dead body dropped from the ceiling.