The blue lantern swayed rhythmically, cutting through the fog that enveloped the piles of metal. Kai walked behind Diogenes, trying to match the old man's pace. Every time his shoes stepped on a metal plate, a groaning squeak echoed through the cold silence.
As he walked, Kai observed the figure in front of him.
Diogenes, he thought.
The man was a walking enigma. From behind, his build appeared sturdy despite his gray robes being tattered and stained with oil and dirt. A strange scent emanated from him—a mix of old paper, copper dust, and something cold like dry ice. Coarse white hair poked out from beneath his hood, and the hand holding the lantern was covered in circuit-like burn scars, as if his own skin was a collection of circuits that had once exploded.
While following Diogenes, Kai looked left and right. Massive piles of metal—from tiny, razor-sharp shards to giant, broken frames—towered to form irregular hills. Between these mounds, there were only narrow footpaths. Occasionally, something creaked in the depths, the sound of metal scraping softly like the breath of a sleeping beast. Above them, a dense gray sky was filled with fog, blocking out whatever light might have once existed, making the whole world feel bleak, heavy, and cold.
"Diogenes," Kai called out, his voice still hoarse. "Where... where exactly is this? What kind of world is this?"
Diogenes paused for a moment but didn't turn around. He raised his lantern, pointing toward the gray sky that seemed divided into overlapping, endless megastructures.
"You really are empty, aren't you?" Diogenes chuckled dryly. "This world is called Aeterna. A place floating amidst an eternal fog. You are at the very bottom of this place."
He began walking again, his heavy voice explaining each layer of the sky visible from below.
"At the highest peak, which I couldn't see even in my wildest dreams, sits Sector 0: The World Tree. That is the heart of everything. A paradise of pure data where the High-Archons reside. They say there is no physical form there—only consciousness flowing in perfect code. Flawless eternal life."
"And below that?" Kai asked.
"Below is Sector 1, The Server Capital. The main control center for those who rule this world. Every law we live by down here is decided up there."
Diogenes swung his lantern toward the brighter layers above them.
"Further down, you will find Sectors 2 through 5: The Upper Districts. Cities of light where upper-class humans live. Their lives are guaranteed."
"And... where are we?" Kai asked hesitantly.
"We aren't up there, kid. Those who are 'useful' are in Sectors 6 through 8: The Industrial Hubs, where giant machines turn to support the luxury of the upper sectors. Below them are Sectors 9 and 10: The Beast Fields, corrupted places where discarded data mutates into mechanical monsters. Then there are Sectors 11 and 12: The Deep Web, a lawless labyrinth where criminals and hackers hide behind encryption."
Diogenes stopped at the edge of a steep cliff made of compacted trash. Below, a hissing sound emerged from the cracks in the metal.
"And here is where we are. Sector 13: The Refuse. The final dumping ground. Here, you are no longer human; you are 'trash' waiting to be erased from the world's memory. Although we are actually right next to Sector 10."
Diogenes' pace slowed suddenly.
"There's still more, Sectors 14 and 15: The Virus Domains. Those are no longer considered part of Aeterna. They are a pure, infected hell. They contain nothing but destructive code, memory-hungry viruses, and a darkness that can devour your consciousness in seconds."
Diogenes turned around, his sharp eyes gleaming in the blue light.
Kai stared at the layers of magnificent yet oppressive cities above. He clenched his fists, feeling the residual energy of the crystal he had absorbed.
"How do we start learning?" Kai asked, his tone steadier.
Diogenes smiled faintly, revealing a row of imperfect teeth. "We start by finding food. And in Sector 13, eating means finding the 'mistakes' that others missed."
Their footsteps carried them deep into the belly of Sector 13, past rusted containers and hills of metal scrap. Finally, Diogenes stopped in front of a container with a heavy iron door sealed tight by layers of dust. The old man placed his palm on a cracked sensor panel.
The panel pulsed weakly, as if reluctant to wake up. A small click was heard, followed by a subtle vibration traveling along the door.
"Don't stand too close," Diogenes muttered.
Kai took a half-step back. From the cracks in the door, cold air seeped out, carrying the smell of rust and metal.
With a long groan, the door opened, just enough to reveal the darkness behind it. Diogenes lowered his lantern, the blue light sweeping across the floor inside: rows of old circuits, shreds of cable, and other junk.
"Welcome to my home, Kai," Diogenes muttered as he placed his lantern on a wooden workbench blackened by age.
Kai stepped inside, his eyes exploring the surroundings. He observed the state of the place; the workshop was cramped, thick with the scent of rusted metal. Various tools hung on the walls, looking crude but functional.
In the corner of the room, a cracked monitor flickered to life for a moment, displaying blinking lines of code before going dark again.
Then Diogenes walked across the room and went to a corner, opening a folding cot tucked away there, pulling it until it lay flat. The mattress was thin, but clean.
"For you, it's better than the cold iron floor," he said briefly. "Rest. We start tomorrow."
Kai nodded slowly. He walked over to the cot and dropped himself onto it. The rusted springs beneath the thin mattress squeaked in protest at his weight, but to his muscles, which were screaming in exhaustion, this place felt like heaven. He massaged the back of his neck slowly; the neural pathways beneath his skin felt warm, pulsing in rhythm with his still-racing heartbeat.
Across the room, Diogenes didn't go to sleep right away. The old man sat in his rickety workbench chair, fixing a piece of junk.
"You're not sleeping?" Kai asked.
Diogenes clicked his tongue softly. "I'm used to staying up late."
Kai didn't argue further. His eyelids felt as heavy as lead. As soon as he closed his eyes, his consciousness carried him into a soothing darkness.
Kai woke up suddenly, gasping for breath. He stared at the dark ceiling of the workshop, then swallowed hard and forced his body to sit up, feeling the cold iron creeping into his bones.
"The sun never rises in Sector 13, so don't wait for the rooster to crow." Kai saw Diogenes toss a small crystal into his lap. "Eat that. A low-tier crystal, like the one you ate yesterday."
Kai opened his mouth and swallowed the crystal. Warmth slowly flowed in, restoring the remnants of his strength.
"Get up and come here," Diogenes ordered, pointing to a metal box he had just kicked.
"It's a good thing I still have spares. First, let me make this clear: you don't live here for free. Therefore, you have to follow me to scavenge the remaining crystals in this sea of scrap."
"Before we go out into the sea of junk to scavenge, you need to know what we're looking for, and how to retrieve it without blowing your own hands off," Diogenes said. He pressed his thumb against the box's panel.
Inside, a row of tools with shapes foreign to Kai were lined up.
"In this world, valuable scrap isn't just leftover copper or old iron," Diogenes began explaining, picking up a rod with a faintly vibrating tip. "Everything you step on, you breathe in, even human blood, it's all just data given form. And there's only one source: the purest open-source in Sector 0, at the roots of the World Tree."
"Down here, every sector is just a branch: copies, derivatives, and patches. But data always wants to return to its source. If it's not anchored, it will unravel into fog, into noise, and then fade from Aeterna's memory."
"Because of that, humans here must 'eat' crystals, data fragments that are still stable. Not to get full, but to lock their own forms in place. Without crystals, your body will become a corrupted file: fading, cracking, then erased."
"What unravels isn't always dead. Sometimes it falls into the wrong form: nameless shards of consciousness without owners. They roam the scraps like unauthorized rogue processes. We call them Null-Servants. Not human, not machine. Just residual functions that still want to 'serve' something, but don't know who to serve. They just become monsters that devour everything without ever getting full."
"The true value lies in the pure data still trapped within the electronics discarded from the Upper Sectors. This box is a scavenger's life."
Diogenes shoved the box against Kai's chest.
"This is called a Tool-box; a scavenger's life is in here," Diogenes said.