Just 5 minutes prior.
Isis and her step brother Taro were walking home from school after having parted ways with Jin. Given Taro had brought some of the gadgets in his bag, Isis felt like looking at them once again.
She scurried through Taro's bag while the former kept a look out for any strangers. Taro's eyes tracked the deep dark alleyways, his behind, and even the top of buildings.
"My dear Brother Taro, really big question," Isis called, her arm deep inside, looking for something very specific.
"And what is it my dear little sister?" Taro replied.
"You never answered why you decided to bring these to school. I didn't think you were the type to go showing these gadgets in public. Let alone Vassari tech."
From what Isis understood about her brother, as gadget-crazed as he was, he knew better than anyone that carrying around such expensive gear out in public space is basically the same thing as asking for it to be stolen.
"Hmmm, well..." Taro gave a thoughtful look, bringing a hand to his chin before answering back. "Part of it was simply because I wanted to see if I could make some twinks with the stuff, I suppose?"
"Twinks?"
His eyes sparkled gold when he spoke. "Ah, yeah! You know how rare it is to find Vassari level tech around these parts, even if we're directly under Halcendre. So I wanted to see what the gold mind of treasures you brought home last night had in store."
"Hmmm, is that sooo? Also, did you seriously bring every gadget in here?" Isis grumbled, recognising a lot of the devices which were stuffed inside the dufflebag. "What am I supposed to tell Jin if we ended up losing one of them?!"
"Relax, it's Vassari tech. Even if we did lose one, they still would sell for a fortune on the market. What surprised me is the fact you guys wanted to rob from a Vassari to begin with. I thought Jin's checkup just occured last week?"
Isis shrugged. "Apparently bad luck has a way of finding him. His district is covering the checkup first in this rotation."
"Oh, seriously? That's got to suck."
"Well, he would've been fine if he had asked for money from us. Personally, I wouldn't have minded."
"So why didn't you offer it?"
"Uhhhhh.... you see..." she averted her gaze. Taro's brow jerked up. Isis nervously laughed as she scratched the corner of her cheek. "He offered wanting to steal from the Vassari's mansion first, and I couldn't possibly say no to that."
"..."
".....Hehe~"
"To think my sister was an idiot..." Taro facepalmed, deadpanned.
"Haha, you know me. Stuff like that is fun!"
"And dangerous. How long have you two been at it for now? Three years, give or take?"
"Yeah, that sounds about right. It was by then that Jin finally knew how to accurately use his powers."
"So he's had it for that long, eh? Why didn't you tell me before?"
"Well... it never came up?"
Isis lit up as she found that what she had looked for inside the bag.
"Ahah! So you DID bring it here!" she celebrated, holding up the guantless, and sliding them onto her hands.
She expected them to loosely flop forward like last time however she was taken off when the gauntless suddenly calibrated its size to match hers.
"Woah!" she yelped. "That's new. Is this the 'twink' that you mentioned?"
Taro shoned a bright smile, proud that his little sister recognised his work. "Yeah! I worked at recess just before meeting up with you two. That gauntlet had some strange features and... concerning, but it seemed to just be something that adjusted towards the user."
Isis caught something off about his words. "What do you mean 'concerning'?"
Taro stopped walking. His expression now darkened before reaching out from his pocket a small box with a cut red wire that coiled from it's bottom. "The second reason I brought it to school was so we could avoid risking it being traced back to our home."
She frowned, then understood. Wait, does he mean...?
"I-It had a tracker on it?" she stuttered.
The colour was drained from her face.
"Obviously it does. This is Vassari technology we're talking about, Isis. Not the stuff from scraps here in Osvain which I make. I had to ensure we didn't get followed. It had been on. I saw it turned on while I was checking the inner components."
It was like a terrible fever struck her as Isis remembered that Jin still kept one of the devices. That pen... it's still with him. A shakened breath left her lips. Her eyes dilated.
"A-And... you mean to say... all of those devices had them?"
"Yeah," Taro nodded, concerned of Isis's reaction. "But I made sure to disable them all at school. Why do you look so distraught, Isis?"
"C-Crap, JIN!"
Isis already began running the other direction at full speed.
***
The first thing Jin noticed when he woke up was the unexpected comfort. A warm glow introduced him into one of the most lavish rooms he's ever laid his eyes on. The smell was pleasent—similar to the refreshing smell of flowers.
"Ah..." he groaned, adjusting to his new surroundings.
Unlike the dirty and neglected Osvain, this room looked well maintenanced. Sleek wooden walls complimented white marble. The flooring was made out of carpet. Bookshelves stood firm against the wall.
Where am I...? he thought, pushing hoisting himself onto his elbows. They sunk into the relaxing couch like well-taken grass.
The, the thought sunk in. His pulse spiked.
"Mum—!"
He urgently got off the couch, fully awake.
"I'd sit yourself down if I were you."
A calm yet soothing voice tickled his eardrums as Jin spotted a man who appeared no older than 20 sitting at a desk. Golden hair shined beautifully. Vivid azure eyes reflected twilight. Behind of was a ray of light that pierced through the gaps of the curtain. Jin felt like he was staring at a divine figure before finally realising.
A Vassari.
There wasn't any better way of telling this man was one. From the clean white collared shirt he wore to the luxurious room. None of this is something he could ever see an Ordinary possessing. Not even in his entire life.
"Amakusa Jin, correct?" the man asked.
"....."
How much time has passed since I lost conciousness? Jin thought.
"Don't feel like talking? Alright then, I'll introduce myself. I'm Vaen Arael."
".....Where am I?"
The way Jin's eyes narrowed into a glare would've terrified most. But not Arael. He calmly spoke up to answer.
"The Bridge of Strata. More specifically, we're in a military base just outside the the Bridge."
Jin immediately recognised the name. The Bridge of Strata was located at the exact centre of Osvain.
All of the districts are directly connected to it. This Bridge was the huge tower which connected between the lower strata and the higher strata, thus giving it the name.
"Do you have any more qusetions?"
Jin silently shook his head.
"You look at me as if you don't recognise who I am," Arael said.
"Should I?"
"Don't you remember? You made great effort in stealing from me the other day."
The other day? The instant that he thought about it, Jin understood. This was the man who ruled over all of Osvain. No one knew his name nor what he looked like so Jin wasn't able to initially dicern his identity. Though, he felt it should've been obvious, given that Osvain was under only one Vassari.
"Now then, won't you sit yourself back down on the couch? It'd be easier to discuss why you're here. Not to mention, you had a terrible burn which was difficult to treat."
A memory flashed as Jin recalled being burnt by an enforcer. A phantom pain hissed as he checked up on his arms which he used to shield himself before.
That was when he finally realised he had been shirtless. He shoved the moment of embarassment away before darting to his arms.
He expected the worse. Torn red skin that would undoubtedly leave scars. But there wasn't even a single scratch left on him.
"How in the...?"
He was sure not many days passed since he was knocked unconcious. For there to be no burns on him felt wrong.
"We had an Exception specialised in healing patch you up. But it's still most recommended that you rest. Officer Kyle tends to be more harsh with things. So I do apologise for the... well, slight troubles you've had to face."
Arael gave a polite smile that was hard to guage.
Jin had no choice but to comply as he sat back down on the comfortable red chair. Even if he tried escaping through the doors, he was in a place that he had never been once before. It'd be futile to try.
"You're an interesting fellow, I'll give you that. You can call me shocked with the amount of cases we've found you to be related to," Arael smirked, amused. He brought out a file which laid on his desk and read the contents aloud. "Despite being a wonderfully gifted student that consistently ranked first in Osvain Education Centre, you were involved in a majority of the theft crimes that occured over the past three years. A grand total of 412 different cases of theft from a hooded boy and his partner. You were mostly known for stealing gadgets which I suppose you sold off to the markets."
"How did you get that information?" Jin questioned.
"With that many tabs on me, I doubt your enforcers would've let that slide."
"It was easy to connect the dots once it was discovered the method of how you did it." Arael turned his laptop over to Jin's direction as a video played of two hooded figures creeping through a corridor. Jin saw it as the time he was sneaking into Arael's mansion. "In all your crimes, you've always been seen coming into a building, yet never out. Almost as if you never existed to begin with. So when my enforcer gave me the report of how you got away from him, I was rather astonished."
Jin unintentionally clenched his fist, feeling as if all his secrets which he tried so hard to keep covered, had been ripped off."My enforcer's sensors picked up on usage of liminal waves which localized around your body the very instant you 'disappeared'. That kind of phenomenon doesn't happen without a catalyst."
"A.... what?"
"We've detected you have a Nexus," Arael said simply, as if the word itself was enough to explain it to the boy.
Jin blinked, expression hardening. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about."