Darkness was a common theme in Jeff’s life. Born blind, Jeff could see absolutely nothing, but today, it was darker and colder than normal.

“Jeff!”

Mia’s voice was distant. He could barely feel her as he lay cradled in her arms. But she was alive and well, by the sound of her voice. And that was good enough for him as he felt himself getting weaker. He could taste blood bubbling up his mouth and coughed it out. Slowly it filled his lungs and he struggled for air.

“Jeff, no…Please! Come back.”

A robbery. Yes, that was what started it all. He accompanied Mia shopping. And then, he heard the click of guns. The screaming. It sounded like someone struggled against the robbers. She took Mia in his arms and they huddled against a wall. Gunshots fired. The next thing he knew, his back stung and now, here he was. Shot. Dying.

He didn’t even get to tell Mia he liked her.

Jeff tried to open his mouth, but blood bubbled up through his throat and he spat it out.

Cold.

He could barely feel her.

“Jeff! Please… Don’t die,” her voice was growing fainter and fainter. “Not like…”

They say it was always darkest before the dawn. Jeff didn’t know if it was true, but at that moment, a tiny pinprick of light started in the middle of his vision. Growing larger and larger until it consumed everything. His eyes hurt and he moved his lids. Everything was white. Blurry.

And then colors.

Colors?

They all blurred with the white. Becoming more and more distinct as he blinked his eyes.

Could it be? Could he see?

He blinked a few more times. Colors formed into shapes. Shapes into objects.

“Shadow?”

He could see! Was this what the world was like? There were a lot of people selling in canvass stalls. This must what a market was like. Every stall was filled with everything he could ever think of—and things he strangely knew about. It was all familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Where were the cars? Glass panes? He didn’t know exactly what they looked like but he had touched his world all his life, that he had an idea. And why didn’t people have phones? For that matter, where was his?

“Shadow!”

And yet, at the same time, he knew things were the way they should be. This was the Taisao City Marketplace. Taisao City was the heart of the world of Miralai, ruled by the four Magnate Families, one from the four corners of the world. And himself? He was the best thief in all of Miralai. Or at least, he used to be until he was betrayed and caught.

His head snapped to the side, his cheek stung and he saw a few white spots before his eyes. He shook his head and looked at the woman who slapped him. She was cute, if a bit hard-looking. She had a small face and large, blue doe-eyes with black hair streaked with red in several places held down by goggles. She wore a bodice of copper that accentuated her curves and a utility belt slung around her hips. Her ruffled skirt was cut off at the thighs in front and ran to her ankles at the back. Underneath, she wore dark lace leggings and boots. On her arms were leather gloves with gears and pistons attached.

Part of him knew this look was normal. Part of him thought it was a costume party.

“Remember our deal, Shadow,” she hissed. “You will help us complete this mission.”

Nadia. Her name was Nadia. A brilliant Jadetech engineer who also happened to be part of the rebel group in Taisao City.

And she didn’t like him.

“I remember,” he heard himself say. His voice was deeper than he usually heard it, but that was always how his voice had been.

And yes, he remembered. Like he remembered how his name was Roth. Shadow was his alias. He stole and duped people for a living. Killed and assassinated when the job called for it, leaving no evidence except for those that he wanted found. Until his partner betrayed him and he was surrounded and caught.

It was Nadia’s team that went into the Prison Catacombs and got him out, in exchange for helping them steal a Jadeite core that the Zobu Family Magnate was using to power a what a new invention they called the Jadeskin armor, which they would also be taking. He was where he should be.

And yet, he knew he was also supposed to be in a crime lab as an audio forensics expert. His acute sense of hearing meant that he could differentiate sounds better, isolate noise and even echolocate. When he pulled out his memories of what his surroundings must have been like when he echolocated to what it was now, things were just too different.

What was going on?

Both, he felt, were true. But both could not be real, could it?

One was a selfish thief, and the other just took a bullet for a friend.

“I still don’t trust you,” a large, dark man to his right said. He was wearing the same metal-and-leather combination like everyone else, but his was more opulent. Richer. Of course, he always thought that the man was part of—or at least a crony—of the Magnate Families with the way he carried himself. He said his name was Steele, but he had an inkling that was just an alias.

“But you’re the only one who had ever broken in to the Zobu family vaults,” Dai said, “so we have no choice. And you don’t either.”

Dai was old, and his walking on a cane served to highlight that fact. But his movements betrayed him, at least to Roth’s trained eye. Because he could pick up the slightest muscle twitch and movement, he knew that the old man was more than a limping guide. He said he was formerly trained in youdo, but Roth suspected his training led him to become a master of it.

“I know,” Roth answered them. “I’ll help you take the new armor they’re creating and then we’re done. I don’t want to have anything to do with this rebel business. I want to live, thank you very much.”

Steele nodded. “Now, how do we get there from here?”

Roth looked around the marketplace looking at camel- and horse-drawn jade-lev carts hustled back and forth among the tent stalls. A few times, a jade-lev cycle would weave in and out of the traffic of carts and people. Overhead, large airships sauntered in the skies, casting shadows in parts of the city.

In one stall a Kandani was selling a delicacy from their country made from the tongue and liver of a camel. It was a stall where mostly only Kandani visit. Roth looked at Steele. “Easiest way to get in is to distract the man while we get in. You’re both Kandani. It wouldn’t be strange for you to talk to him.”

“So you want me to deceive him?” Steele frowned.

At the back of his mind, Roth grumbled. The man was too chivalrous and honest for his own good. But part of him was elated for the man’s sincerity. Strange, he always thought honesty was idiocy. But then again, he also remembered himself to be blind and with acute hearing in a strange-looking world.

“Just talk to him and don’t let him look at us. There is a sewage system entrance just behind his table where we can get in.”

“And he’s guarding that?” Dai rubbed his chin. “He doesn’t look like much of a fighter.”

“He isn’t. He doesn’t even belong to the Zobu family,” Roth said. “He’s just really protective of his secret recipe that he doesn’t want anyone going past his table. Otherwise, he’ll make a scene and the guards will be on us very quickly. You know how alert they are here at the market. Too many Magnate family interests to protect.”

“And how does Steele get in?” Nadia crossed her arms on her stomach.

“He stays behind. He may be too large and clunky for all the sneaking we have to do anyway.”

“I do not leave my team behind.”

“Technically, we’re leaving you behind. Which is fine since you’re going to be one less problem,” Roth said. Some strange part of him was surprised at his own callousness. What was it with the blind man in his head?

Steele glowered and walked toward him menacingly. Instinctively, Roth stepped one foot behind him preparing for a counter. But before anything could happen, Nadia stepped in between them, glaring at Roth. “No one is getting left behind, and no one is a burden. We got you out, this is our mission, you play by our rules.”

“I didn’t sign up to getting caught again,” Roth grumbled.

“Well, you better think of a new plan, young man,” Dai said. “The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can part ways.”

Roth sighed. A voice scolded him for being too harsh making him click his tongue. Since when did he grow a conscience? Was that blind man a manifestation of some sort of kindness he had he thought he killed a long time ago? He didn’t know, but it was beginning to be a nagging annoyance.

“Fine. Dai, use your limping old man ruse and stumble in one of the stalls. Make as much noise as you can. I’ll put the Kandani to sleep. Make sure when you get to his stall that you look inconspicuous and people don’t see you. People here are very paranoid. One strange movement and people will be looking to investigate on the stall.”