The blanket felt comforting as it sandwiched him with the soft mattress. The room was cold but just the right amount that his body heat was trapped between, suffusing him in a cycle of bliss. He made sure to form bed angels and properly mess up the luxurious bed.

[ Head outside to begin the test. ]

Izo was suspicious but he didn’t mind indulging this weird dream of sorts for now.

When the he left the house, the glare of the streetlight shone on him brightly. It hid the stars and the wider galaxy.

‘Solar power?’

Cars sped by and spewed gas soot that was soon to join its brethren in the sky.

When he stared down to mind the short stairs of the house, he saw the translucent figure of a fish beneath. It swam in its separate under the concrete ocean.

‘Eh?!’

It didn’t matter how he moved, it stayed below him in its lazy swim.

A police siren was heard from the distance. It was going to pass where Izo was.

‘Do they also have a curfew here?’

He hid on the silhouette of the neighbor’s house just to be sure when a blue marlin approached the fish. The fish dove below and a mud bottom materialized. The marlin passed by without any suspicion at the same time the siren zoomed past him.

When the fish came out it had new features. Now, it looked like a brown sardine.

‘Curious.’

The pavement sea changed and new landscapes appeared both close and far.

[ Find the mission target area. ]

*

‘Is this the place little fish?’

It was swimming in a circle. When he passed a junction earlier, it grew still but when he backtracked it resumed it’s swimming.

Izo was currently in front of a supermarket/mall area. It was 9 pm but was still open. Not many people were shopping but lots of cars outside even at this time.

‘Might as well enter.’

“Show me your membership card sir.”

Two security guards approached him before he even got close.

“Uh. Don’t have any.”

“Sorry, sir. Invite only.”

“What seems to be the problem lads?”

“Nothing, Mr. Mayor. Please, shop peacefully.”

“Very well. Here, you look like you could use some money.”

Next thing Izo knew, a handful of bills were in his hand. Beneath him, a black angler passed the sardine, dangling its light bulb lure to it but paying no attention otherwise.

He crossed the street and was confused on what to do. There were no announcements after arriving here.

‘Guess I have to do just that. Guess.’

Izo took out his phone. The search engine spewed out details about this new mall. Its owners, goods and advertisements. An indoor river, a rooftop pool and a basement racing cart. He was completely unable to gain membership here.

Following those were social media posts about how weird the place was. Some accusing it of housing a prostitution ring even.

‘Do I have to investigate this place?’

Looking at the four security guards who was eyeing him now. He wasn’t sure if he was up to the task.

‘This is a dream anyway. Might as well try.’

He remembered the area and journeyed home. On the way, he was searching with the keywords “investigate” “amateur” “safety” and “tips”.

*

Izo reviewed the neighbor’s words.

“It’s the easiest job ever. I just sit around watching videos all day. I even requested to not have a day-off on Sundays but they were pretty firm about they can’t do that for us.”

‘Something should happen now since it’s a Sunday now. If nothing happens, I don’t know what to do after.’

Sigh.

He just has to trust the man since he was the one who works here. Izo was in a hotel across the mall. In front of him was a laptop showing footage of the mall’s surroundings.

He had researched investigation techniques, asked around the neighborhood for gossip and even managed to enter the mall. Of course, nothing much came of it and he only had one clue that he was in danger of missing. His eyelids were not cooperating and his vision was doubling but he persevered.

‘Failing now would waste all my effort!’

It took another hour before he was vindicated.

At 3 am, 4 trucks arrived. He flew the drone he bought over as they unloaded crates of unknown contents. Men moved them briskly with no words and no slowdowns. He didn’t get even a clue on what could be inside.

‘Sigh. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.’

Whatever video or advice he searched for, they were all unhelpful or fantastical. This was the only more grounded way he could do it. A civilian is what he was. He swam in the light blue of suburbs and offices not in this deep black of investigation and espionage.

He looked at the laptop screen exasperatedly. It showed footage from a camera he set up in a different building. As for what effect, he wasn’t sure. Whatever, seemed like a good idea he did.

The last of the boxes where about be brought out. A particularly large rectangular one was offloaded. The box had holes in it, making him focus his attention.

One of the men used a trolley but didn’t move it inside. Instead, it was brought to a white van. The box was transferred in a hurry.

‘Something’s happening!’

He regulated his breathing and tabbed out of the camera program. He plugged a controller and took out a drone. It was a model used for filming thus perfect for viewing things from afar.

His hand was sweating and had a minor migraine but since he practiced flying it, he didn’t botch the take off.

The drone flew four blocks away when the van stopped on a parking lot. A sedan was waiting.

‘Isn’t that the mayor?’

They seemed to be conversing, even shaking hands. Finally, a crow bar was used to open the box and inside was a seven-year-old girl. Unconscious and pale, he made sure to focus the camera on her face.

‘I hope I captured enough detail.’

With a vroom, the cars sped away leaving the night to its silence. This was certainly a breakthrough but how should he make use of this footage?

*

“SHOCKING VIDEO OF LOCAL MAYOR ABDUCTING CHILD!”

“Stupid. That’s obviously a dog. He’s just adopting it.”

“Dummy, that’s a cat.”

“CITY IN PROTEST AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING OFFICIAL”

“MISSING CHILD FOUND ALONG WITH TRAFFICKING RING”

“Why is everyone milking this story?”

“It’s good money.”

He turned off the forum app and switched to a video uploading site. Different news outlets fought to report on the story.

“Investigations are beginning on this now dubbed “Perversion Park…”

“Mall owners are being sued for kidnapping, smuggling and illegal possession of firearms…”

“Former employees which refuse to be named have whistle blown shocking details on the situation. More on 9.”

He had made sure to spread it to every forum, news outlet and even anonymously sent it to the mayor’s political rivals through emails. He bought bots and the help of professional memers to make funny and deep fake nsfw videos to make the story viral. It was thorough and decimating.

By the morning of the next day, it was the household news. The sad part was most of the people didn’t even watch the original video and was going off of other’s outrage. Izo’s campaign was so effective that at this point, the video proof was irrelevant.

[Trial passed! Received “The Concealed Trout” invitation!]

The sardine had turned into a larger fish colored black and brown. It was barely visible and he himself had to squint to find it.

‘It’s done. Can’t believe it worked.’

Izo couldn’t help scratching his head in circular patterns. When not, he was tapping his finger on his lips in contemplation.

‘I guess I did something satisfactory.’

He took what seemed practical in some guides then read some publications by police forces throughout the world and it somehow worked. If the girl didn’t appear, he would’ve gotten nothing. A happy but also confused smile graced Izo’s face.

‘It’s just like 8th grade. I submitted an entry for a competition. It somehow won 2nd.’

He got encouraged to try again next time but ending up not winning anything though. Still, he was happy back then.

[ You have passed. Receiving last part of message.

If you get this, you’ve done well. From this point on, its serious now. Accept to go the Nexus and you will be trained as an explorer, spy and warrior. We will have to spend years here but, in the end, we’ll have enough power to protect Earth. Hopefully.

Also, you’ll gain power, money and a lot more too but trust me. Don’t lose yourself to those things.

-Kaylee Jones]

‘She seems to be the savior type?’

Izo was not the type to let the world burn if he could do something about it. If a certain threshold of danger was met, he wouldn’t mind risk. What attracted him was a sense of curiosity and hope.

For the long duration of this dream, he had not gone back to this future self’s house. It was too real. Too close to what he felt what he would be. Now, withing this mysterious message were clues of something weird. Something that could change his life trajectory.

His father would surely miss him. Maybe not immediately but within his cold heart, he would.

[ Accept the invitation? ]

Irrational. A crazy high as if his whole future depended in what he answered sped his heartrate. Yet even before there was this question, he already knew the answer in his heart.

“Yes!”

*

“You sure you don’t want Elt fruit? It’s pretty tasty.”

“Thank you for offering but I already ate.”

“A friend mine likes these. Only he had got promoted pretty fast so I rarely see him. I helped him a lot. I could also help you. A lot.”

A woman leaves an office wearing a smile that could collapse empires. The glasses framed her long hair and flowing bangs which made her cute but also mature.

“Think about it!”

‘Sigh.’

She had received candies, a mech suit and even ownership to a world since she started working here at the Nexus Central Office a year ago. The attention got even worse when she earned the Most Promising award last year.

[ Detected Scout Milyaa Mendeleyev ]

She hovered her hand on a square indent beside a door.

[ Spiritual print confirmed ]

It opened to a plain office. The only notable thing was the chair. It was special order and was personalized for comfort.

She surrendered her full weight to the desk and massaged her shoulders. Milyaa wished she had a masseuse to target the locked muscles on her back right now.