There's a section of New York where denizens of the underworld sell illegal goods and services. It's an unstable magic corridor located in the Midnight realm quadrant. If Lila can't, or won't tell me what happened to her, I will use other means to learn the truth. Technology combined with occult magick will discern why Evander's scent lingers on her.

As I accelerate onto the turbo road and head towards the unsanctioned quadrant, I feel my anger at Victoria losing its white-hot edge. God knows, she and I both have impulse problems and bad blood over my partner between us. Still, in the fabric of my being, I believe she is telling the truth about Evander. We both love him. His death made me realize how much. My hands grip the steering column. When I find him, I will tell him how I feel.

My fingers fly over the console as I manually program an open flight path and go offline from the mega computers. Sylex must not know my agenda. I visually navigate my flight path and after a half hour, my destination comes into view. Making a vertical drop, I land my hover car. My vehicle is immediately surrounded by a gaggle of street workers hawking their wares, while my senses are assaulted by a bouquet of smoky essence of unwashed bodies and cooking smells. I buffet them with pressurized air from the side panels to repel them, then exit my vehicle. When they see my sheathed sword, the flowing river of bodies clear a wide path for me.

To the untrained eye, Midnight quadrant looks like an innocuous alley filled with exotic vendor stalls that sell edibles from all over the universe. But it's much more. It's a separate rogue faction that shelters untrained outlaws who went rogue instead of being initiated into a faction. Most of the vendors are harmless, hawking imitation life enhancing drugs, jewelry and everything else imaginable under the sun, but several discreet merchants have the power of the universe at their fingertips.

The rain starts up again and I cover my head with my hood. I splash through  puddles of muck and make my way to Marius Tang's outdated, nondescript stand which sits next to a small noodle shop like a brooding box turtle. The ancient Volusion has been my informant in the black market for over a year. Once a feared criminal, he is now on the path to assimilation with his race's consciousness. A process that is similar to Taoism enlightenment who practiced by the ancient Tibetan monks. I am here to see him because he is one of the strongest mages on the planet.

And a gateway to The Oracle.

Inside the cramped shop, a diminutive figure in a brown robe is pulling vials from a shelf. The shop has a delicious woodland smell from his herbs and spices, plus a hint of oxidation. Marius speaks without turning.

"Zoe Harper, there is word on the grid that you have become a rogue Light Worker." He turns to face me. "Is it true?"

I draw the hood from my head, dripping water on the floor. "I am only seeking the truth that Sylex is hiding."

He moves forward on graceful, clawed feet. His cowled head dips as he takes my hands in his and firmly grasps my wrists, turning my palms upwards. I pull my wrists away when his reptilian eyes flick at the red gem embedded in my palm. His inquiry is perfunctory. I know he sees everything with his mind's eyes. A long, solid wrinkle forms on his leathery, grey forehead.

"Finding the truth will be difficult, Light Worker. The power is dead in your hands. You have lost your sacred connection to the ether world. You're as psychically blind as my Xyborg."

The afore mentioned creature stops mixing the volatile liquid concoction it's working with and lifts its sightless gaze. It delicately sniffs the air. The turban-wearing Xyborg makes up for its loss of sight with its heightened olfactory senses.

"You have visions."

"Visions or allusions?" His amphibian-like head tilts a fraction of an inch. "Ah, but you're no longer under Sylex's control. An interesting trade." His eyes dilate with pleasure. "You're awake." His three finger grip tightens on my wrists. "And in danger. Tell me what's happened?"

"I lost my psychic powers, but that's not why I'm here to see you." I pull my hands free. "There's been a disturbance in the Dead Zone. A spike of paranormal activity that I suspect is an uprising of the dead. I found an underground facility of altered Sylex Med beds. Someone is breeding mutated zombies with humans and building an army of hybrids.

He puffs air out of his four nostrils, the equivalent of human widening their eyes in disgust. "Sylex must learn it's dangerous to play God. The monster they create will destroy us all.

"This isn't a game." A fit of sobbing laughter escapes me. "Even the undead are terrified of this thing. The human race is at stake. Whoever they are is exterminating the remaining Terrans and replacing them with an army for God knows what purpose."

Benevolent Sylex. They offered us a poisonous safety.

When it was first revealed, their biophoton life-force energy technology was heralded as granting extended life along with perfect health. The healing force emitted by the med beds were supposed to rejuvenate human cells indefinitely. Instead, their advanced med beds corrupted human genetics and created hybrid monsters that resuscitated after they died. Sylex had continued selling the technology after it had been outlawed.

The undead that resulted from the now illegal med bed technology created the need for a whole new type of law enforcement. Light Workers. We transmute psychic and physical energy and kill these undead creatures.

Med beds are now illegal, but thanks to Sylex introducing them into the health field in 2059, the earth is now a barren world of crumbling technology and genetically engineered zombies.

Not a very nice place to live thanks to our overlords.

I pull the bloodied piece of Lila's blue dress from a small satchel and hand it to Marius' Xyborg assistant, a tunic clad man with black eye sockets, a side effect of too much Xulon spice. The drug costs a fortune and will turn your eyes a golden color, before liquifying them. Xulon drug gives you a glimpse of your future before it blinds you. The drug-addled assistant is a drone who will do whatever he's commanded to for his next fix.

"I need your Xyborg to decode this DNA signature."

He taps my wrist with his credit wand for his payment, then motions for his silent assistant to run the analysis. I shift my weight to my other foot as I watch the Xyborg place the dirty, ripped fabric into a Genetic sampler. Fluorescent green console lights reflect off his goggled face as the machinery starts to hum as it sequences the DNA. I glance at the back room where his business sells jacked up body parts and a cornucopia of mind altering drugs. All hallucinogenic substances. I'm sure the Xyborg has sampled them all.

"I had a vision a savior would come to save this planet. Now you're here."  Marius's elliptical pupils contract as he watches my reaction.

"I need to see The Oracle."

His third eyelid closes, a sign of distress. "That is unadvisable."

"Everything I've encountered has been unadvisable, but the unexpected has not defeated me. I need to see her."

"As you wish, but you will be risking your life. Meeting The Oracle, you will be exposed to your own night shade. Always a dangerous situation, but even more so with your lack of psychic shielding."

He squint, looking up at the ceiling. When I follow his gaze, I see a perfect cerulean blue sky, clear of all pollutants and debris. I can't tell where the perfect light is coming from, but it feels natural and nourishing, like vibrant sunlight. Unblinking, I gaze at it with wonder. When I look down, the illusion of standing in a black void disorientates me, but I center myself by imagining I'm in the eye of a hurricane.

It's as if time has stopped.

Where the shop stood, there's now a pagoda style structure that is centered in the light. The hut has no barriers or doors, but I hesitate before entering the wooden doorframe. There's an aura of power thrumming in the air as if a powerful silent turbine is running inside. I feel psychic energy on a massive scale.

I place my hand on the doorframe.  Immediately, I hear a thought in my mind. Enter. I slip through the wooden archway.

Inside there's a figure sitting on the floor. She's beautifully dark, serpentine and alien. Her eyes are ancient. Gracefully, she rises as the adjacent four walls disappear leaving only endless black space surrounding us.

"Welcome" the figure says. "I've been waiting a long time for your awakening."

"Who are you?" I remember what Marius said about meeting my darker half. "Do you know me?" The figure laughs with delight.

"It's not who I am, but who you will become." She touches the side of my face and I feel revitalizing energy flood my body. "You're inside my mind. I am the source and  center of  Universal Intelligence."

"The center of the universe?" I ask perplexed.

The serpentine woman answers patiently, "No, the center of time."

"Time doesn't have a center."

"This time is not the same as yours. It is from before your time existed."

"How is that possible?"

The fabric of time can be pierced, stretched, and turned backwards by Light Workers; but I am outside that cycle of creation and only a curious observer . "Your name is Zoe Harper and your'e a Light Worker. You came here for help to fight an ancient evil that's attacking Terra. What do you seek, Zoe Harper?"

"How can I defeat this evil?"