I lay back on the couch in our apartment, looking at the status of the nanites.

  [Nanite Swarm Level: 5]

  [Efficiency: 2.5%]

  [3 Skill Points Remaining]

  [Please Select a Skill to Enhance]

  With three skill points to spend, I could select both enhanced sight and enhanced smell, but after the pain I’d felt the first time, I knew better than to activate them together.

  I might actually pass out if I did.

  I took a deep breath and selected [Enhanced Smell].

  A sharp stabbing sensation pierced my nose as I mentally braced myself, the searing pain threatening to overwhelm me.

  I couldn’t stop a scream that forced its way out of my throat. It felt like a red-hot poker was being jammed through my nostrils!

  I barely managed to snatch a nearby pillow, pressing it over my mouth to muffle the scream.

  Then it was over, but I didn’t have time to recover. I clamped a hand over my nose, attempting to block out the city’s pervasive stench as it assaulted my senses.

  It absolutely reeked.

  I doubled over, eyes watering as I nearly hurled. I was picking up the smell of rotting trash in the garbage bin outside of the apartment despite the distance.

  Turn it off! I desperately screeched at the nanites. I couldn’t take this level of revolting stench!

  My senses dimmed a moment later, lowering them to a bearable level, though only just. My nose wrinkled in disgust as I dry-heaved for several more seconds.

  The phantom taste of rotting fish still clung to my tongue.

  Rushing to the sink, I quickly poured myself a glass of water, though it did very little to ease my tortured senses. I looked at the now half-full cup, seriously tempted to snort it up my nose. Anything to clear up that awful smell.

  It would take a while to get used to, but I knew I would, given enough time.

  I forced myself to put down the glass and returned to the couch, plopping down into it tiredly.

  Did I even want to move on to [Enhanced Sight]? Maybe I should wait until I got this ability under control first.

  …

  Or should I just get it over with?

  Having better sight would help me keep Valerie protected when we went out today…

  “Haah…” I sighed. I could do this.

  I quickly activated the next ability before I could lose my nerve.

  Pain shot through my eyes as the room blurred around me.

  It wasn’t as disorienting as [Enhanced Smell], but it still HURT.

  I stifled a groan as the enhancement finished its work, my vision becoming clear once again.

  At first, nothing seemed to change, but as I looked around the room, everything seemed far more vivid than it had just a moment ago. I could pick out spots on the wall I hadn’t noticed before, and after stepping closer, they looked like cleverly repaired bullet holes.

  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; this was the Undercity after all.

  The chime and subtle clink of the apartment door unlocking drew me back to the present.

  Valerie stepped through a moment later. I noticed she was wearing the same white hoodie she had when I first met her.

  The torn sleeve had been expertly repaired, but there is only so much you can do to hide the fact it was torn off by a monster.

  Valerie chuckled as she saw where I was looking.

  “Mr. Forester wanted me to get rid of it because it makes him look cheap, but I managed to convince him that it held sentimental value.” She walked over and gave my head a ruffle, “You ready to head out?”

  “Absolutely.” I smiled as I let her pull me up from the couch.

  A warm feeling filled me as we left the apartment and strolled to the transit system.

  ———

  The train screeched as it ground to a gradual halt, allowing its passengers to disembark.

  “So, did you have any place in particular in mind?” My sister asked curiously as we stepped into the station.

  "Not really,” I winced.

  I’d been so excited to finally have some free time with Valerie that I’d completely forgotten to do any research.

  “No problem!” she smiled, pulling me forward by the wrist, “my coworkers had a few suggestions when I told them about it. They all thought it’d be good for us to have an off day.”

  “Has it been going okay? At Aether’s Flame, I mean?”

  “Much better than I’d hoped, actually.” She nodded, quickly navigating the busy streets. This district was well maintained. As the main trade hub of the Undercity it had significantly more foot traffic than the district we lived in currently. But, despite the bustle, Valerie weaved through the chaos like she had known these streets her whole life.

  “Mr. Forester isn’t so bad once you understand his motives.” She continued. “Plus, working inside a rift is a new experience for me-”

  “Wait, you work in a rift?!” I interrupted in shock, “isn’t that dangerous?”

  My jaw clenched in anger. My brief excursion had deeply imprinted upon me how quickly one could lose their life if they weren’t prepared. The fact that she was being forced to go into such a dangerous place made my blood boil.

  “Whoa now, you’re overthinking it.” She bopped her knuckle against my forehead before I could get the wrong idea, “It’s kind of an open secret of Aether’s Flame, but they have a permanent rift inside the main building that leads to a paradise island with no monsters. There is a high-end resort there and everything. That’s where they have me working. The most dangerous thing there would be the clientele, but they would never risk their only vacation spot in the Undercity just to cause trouble for the staff.”

  “I… I see.” I took a moment to process that. A safe rift? That would explain how they got their money, but why hadn’t I heard of such a thing before? Was it classified information? Or just incredibly rare?

  “You know,” Valerie broke the silence after letting me stew for a moment, “I might be able to get you access for free. I saw a few of the older coworkers bringing friends in like that the other day.”

  “Thanks, but no,” I quickly waved her off, “I wouldn’t want to put your job at risk. From what I’ve seen of the city, you got really lucky to work at Aether’s Flame, despite what it looks like from the outside. Some of the places I researched aren’t much different from slave labor.”

  “You’re right about that,” she chuckled, slowing as we waited for a crosswalk to let us through. “It could have been way, way worse. Oh, here’s the place Zerava mentioned.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  We looked up at the large, neon sign of a catgirl that hung above the sidewalk.

  Kitty Corner… yeah, I could see why the energetic catgirl would suggest this place.

  It looked to be some kind of mid-grade restaurant, but for the life of me I couldn’t guess what they were selling.

  My new sense of smell wasn’t helping much, there were too many different scents in this place. Not to mention the nearly overwhelming tang of cleaning chemicals that seemed to cover every single surface here. But, if I focused, I could just barely make out the sweet aroma of freshly baked sugar.

  “Well, come on then, let’s go inside!” Valerie laughed, pulling me along as she pushed through the wooden door.

  Warm, bright colors greeted me as we stepped inside, the door jingling a single chime that hung from the low ceiling.

  It was small, cramped, and long. Like someone shoved a door and a roof into an alley and called it a business.

  Looking closer, that’s exactly what it was, an alley recently renovated into a restaurant. Though that fact didn’t seem to deter the customers. It was so packed that there was only one table at the far end that wasn’t occupied.

  “Hello!” A loud, rambunctious voice came from a cat-girl sitting behind a small counter that looked almost identical to Zerava.

  A sibling, or relative perhaps?

  “Welcome to the Kitty Corner!” she said with a bright smile, “You must be Val and Nyxia! Zera’ told me you might stop by today so I saved a table!” She gestured energetically to the open table.

  “Come on in! I’ll get your food right away!” She added and rushed to the back, leaving the counter position without an employee.

  “Uh, right.” Valerie blinked, just as surprised as I was at the strange reception. We followed her directions and sat down.

  “I wonder what Zerava told her about us.” Valerie mused as she looked around the quaint establishment.

  I snorted, “Probably something like ‘the pizza gods have chosen my new friends, treat them with honor, lest you perish on my blade!’ or maybe ‘I, the great and powerful Zerava, hath ordained these puny mortals as my subjects. Treat them well.’”

  Valerie burst out laughing at my terrible impression of the energetic cat-girl.

  “You have no idea how accurate that actually is!” she choked out between breaths, “saying weird things like that is basically her entire personality!”

  We laughed and joked for a bit longer, talking about how her job was going, how I was holding up, among other things.

  It was nice to let go and relax after everything.

  I took a breath and let go of the mental restraint I was putting on my new enhanced senses, letting the scents, sounds, and sights of the world in as I scanned for potential threats.

  Glancing over some of the other customers, I could see the subtle bulge of hidden weapons underneath their clothing. Looking closer, I could see the glint of mercenary badges like my own that were hung around necks and belts.

  They didn’t look hostile though, so I ignored them, focusing on the kitchen instead.

  The sounds of hustling kitchen staff met my ears as they went about their jobs, occasionally yelling out orders.

  I had to resist the urge to sneeze as the heavy scent of vanilla and powdered sugar tickled my nose.

  Nothing stood out to me as out of place or odd, so I relaxed into my seat and patiently waited for the mystery meal our host was preparing for us.

  With some time to kill, my mind drifted to why I still had one unused skill point, but nothing to spend it on. Maybe there was some hidden menu, or a secret mechanic I was missing.

  Mentally bringing up the status, I started scrutinizing every detail.

  [Nanite Swarm Level: 5]

  [Efficiency: 2.5%]

  [1 Skill Point Remaining]

  But nothing reacted to my mental prodding. The Enhance Skills section was even missing now. So what was I missing?

  “Helloo, Nyxia? You in there?” I blinked out of my thoughts as Valerie waved her hand in my face.

  “Sorry, I was lost in thought.” I answered, feeling a twinge of guilt as I closed the status.

  “I could see that,” Valerie smiled as her eyes glazed over for a moment, as if lost in a distant memory. “You used to do that all the time back before… well, it’s just nice to see that you haven’t changed much.”

  “Oh,” I didn’t know how to respond. I’d been putting off how I felt about my unique situation for a while now, but the more time I spent here, the more I felt like I was Nyxia, only with memories of my past life to fill the gap left by the amnesia.

  Whether that was due to some grand design or random chance, I did not know.

  It wasn’t hard evidence per se, but the small things, such as similar mannerisms, were starting to build up.

  “You still doing okay?” Concern crept into her voice as the silence dragged on. The small table creaked as she leaned across it to give my hand a soft squeeze. “I just want to make sure you’re not bottling everything up after what happened with the lizard-man.”

  “Oh, that.” — You don’t know that I’ve already killed again — “I’m okay, honestly.”

  Valerie didn’t look convinced, but as she opened her mouth to speak, the door to the kitchen opened to reveal the cat-girl from earlier. She stumbled through the small opening, barely managing to balance a mountain of food piled high on a massive serving tray.

  “Sorry for the wait!” She huffed as she set the oversized tray on the table, completely obscuring it from view, before brushing off her clothes and surprising us both by packing herself into the booth next to an extremely confused-looking Valerie.

  “…Uhh… What are you doing?”

  “Huh? I’m joining you at the table.” She tilted her head at Valerie, like it was strange she asked. “Hey Nyxia, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think your sister might be slightly stupid.”

  “Oookay,” I rolled my eyes at her obvious hint, “You’re definitely related to Zerava. She your sister or something?”

  “Right on the money!” She laughed, patting Valerie a bit too hard on the back. “I’m Fera, Zerava’s my older sister. Nice to meet you both!”

  “Likewise,” I said, letting her overflowing positive energy infect me. With so many armed individuals around, I could afford to relax a bit.

  “Uh, sure.” Valerie added after a moment of hesitation, then, clearing her throat, she gestured to the pile of food, “I see you share Zerava’s appetite.”

  “Yep!” Fera chirped simply and started stuffing her face with an assortment of sugary sweets.

  Surprisingly, even with my enhanced senses, I couldn’t recognize any of them. I picked up one that looked like a flat, misshapen long-john doughnut.

  It honestly reminded me of when I first tried my hand at baking and hadn’t added enough flour. They did smell delicious though, and the hint of familiarity was nice. I took a bite and enjoyed it for what it was.

  I could tell that, even though whoever had made them wasn’t incredibly skilled, they’d made them with obvious passion. It was a nice change from the corporate, mass produced slop infecting the city.

  “So,” Fera asked between mouthfuls, “how do you like the Undercity? You get used to the grime and crime yet?”

  “It’s been difficult,” Valerie admitted with a frown, “I’ve been fine, but Nyxia was attacked the other day. Is that supposed to be normal here?”

  “Hmmm, I wouldn’t say normal,” Fera hummed, narrowing her eyes at me after Valerie’s comment, “but not uncommon if you pissed off the wrong people. Folks here are pretty high-strung, with short tempers to boot.”

  “So just a freak accident then.” Valerie huffed and leaned back in her seat, “That’s good to hear, I guess.”

  I didn’t look up.

  Was it the wrong choice to leave her in the dark? What if I ‘pissed off the wrong people’ while doing merc work and they came after her? Wouldn’t it be better to just be honest?

  Was I even gaining anything by keeping it a secret?

  Or was I just avoiding telling her because I was afraid of how she would respond?

  I already knew the answer.

  I’ll tell her when we get back home, she deserves to know what I’ve been up to, even if I’m leaving out the whole reincarnation thing.

  I didn’t quite feel ready to tell her that yet.

  “Aaanyway,” Fera continued after a moment of silence, “enough with the heavy stuff! You’ll just give yourself indigestion, and I worked way too hard on these to let them go to waste!” She paused to take another bite before continuing. “Besides the normal riff-raff, the only ones you should watch out for is the Syndicate. They’ve been more active lately, especially in the dead zone, the district that had all those random rift breaks a few years ago.”

  “What? A whole district was overrun?” Valerie asked in shock, “How come I’ve never heard of it?”

  “You haven’t?” Fera looked equally confused, “That’s strange. Word on the street is Ordon had some secret labs there that caused the whole thing, but if you haven’t heard anything, it must mean Ordon wasn’t involved?”

  “I…” Valerie went quiet, her eyes flicking around in thought.

  “Don’t overthink it,” Fera gave Valerie’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “You might have been out of the loop on purpose. To protect you or something. That whole incident was so bad the P.P.A. even got involved.”

  “That’s concerning.” Valerie let out a tired sigh, “But also reassuring, knowing the Admin took notice and sent the Agency in to fix it.”

  “Uh, what’s the P.P.A.?” I raised my hand curiously. This sounded like important information to know.

  “The Planetary Protection Agency,” Valerie explained, “they’re basically the Admin’s personal team of problem solvers that fix things if the corporations fuck up too much. Their whole organization is made up entirely of Dragonkin.”

  “Dragonkin? Not Drakanian?” I asked, thinking I’d misheard.

  “Yep,” Fera chimed in, “it may sound similar, but the Dragonkin are much closer to actual dragons. Only real difference between them is that Dragonkin are bipedal like us and not much taller than any other sentient race. Oh, and no wings, but yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

  “They must be even rarer to see than a Drakanian then. Since I haven’t noticed any down here.”

  “For sure.” Fera confirmed, stuffing yet another pastry into her mouth, “All Dragonkin work directly for the Agency, and by extension, the Admin herself. They aren’t subject to the same restrictions we are when using magic or creating new tech. I’ve even heard that they can access a special system that enhances them based on their accomplishments, the ability to cast spells without having to train for it, but those are just rumors.”

  That sounded awfully close to my nanites. But the part about not having to train with magic? Maybe that was something my nanites could do too. I’d have to ask Valerie to show me some magic to test that theory.

  We talked about a few other random things as we finished up the last of the plate, and soon only crumbs remained. Fera had eaten the most by a large margin, but Val and I ate our fair share.

  “Well,” Valerie said, nudging Fera as she attempted to get out, “We’ve got a few more places to try out, so we’ll be taking our leave. It was nice meeting you, Fera.”

  “Same,” she answered, moving aside and letting Valerie up, “Feel free to visit any time!”

  I actually had some money now from Myra selling the Reaver’s magic stone, so I attempted to pay for the meal. But Fera wasn’t having it, insisting that ‘friends eat free!’ so I ended up letting it go.

  I followed Valerie to the door, but just as she was about to open it, a strange sound reached my ears.

  It was like a faint, high-pitched whine that was growing louder in pitch…

  “Get down!” I yelled, diving into Valerie and pushing her away from the door, covering her with my body just before it exploded into a thousand pieces of shrapnel.