Asher's Overworld: Unmasking the Unknown

Asher's hands were a blur, his eyes focused. Thousands of lines ran across his display as he stared intently at the array in front of him. He pushed every ounce of energy into the task in front of him. Time was not on his side…

The room was dimly lit, with only a few lights about the lab illuminating most of the space. The long table, covered with gear and equipment, that filled the middle of the room didn't help with the illumination either. Asher had long since removed all non-essential light sources to limit facial recognition and identification. His whole body ached from years spent hunched over at this bench. The only saving grace was that he did have an adjustable chair that allowed for multiple positions for comfort when needed.

"Sir, are you sure we can't do this remotely?"

"Absolutely not, I won't risk it! We need to be here! And don't call me sir!" Asher snarled back.

"But sir, they could track us here." The young man pleaded. His black hair was slicked back and he wore a blue button down shirt with a pair of black slacks and dress shoes. He looked like he was ready for a job interview but instead found himself trudging through mud filled streets in a small town in North Africa while dodging explosions and gunfire. He hovered behind Asher nervously as he continued to work on the device before them. The device itself seemed to glow softly despite being set against the dark lab wall directly below the hardwood ceiling. It's dull glow seemed to cast shadows around the lab as it sat silently waiting for something to happen…

"I'm well aware of what will happen if we aren't here." Asher said flatly as he continued working. "And believe me, I've taken precautions." He said as he worked feverishly on finalizing his work on the device before him…

The darkness slowly came into view first… then slowly more details came into focus as Asher awoke from his nap. It was still dark outside but it was getting close to evening already. A woman's hoarse voice called out from downstairs… "Asher? Is that you?" She yelled loudly enough that she sounded like she had been screaming forever but her voice still remained hoarse at best even after all these years…

He slowly pulled himself up off his makeshift bed and walked over to his bathroom area where he splashed some water onto his face and rubbed at the crusted sleep from around his brown eyes before heading down stairs to make dinner for her… what felt like ages ago when things were better between them… now she lived upstairs mostly while he stayed downstairs day and night tinkering with whatever latest project he could afford or could convince someone else to fund…

"We're almost finished," Asher said calmly as he carefully placed one last piece into place on the device before them before taking steps backwards slowly towards its edge where stood the young man who hovered near him earlier. "Don't touch anything yet though," He warned gently before moving back behind the device again and walking across its length until he reached another control panel similar to those found on video game systems such as XBox or Playstation 5 . This one had several buttons running vertically along both sides with cable running from underneath it towards the main device in front of them both…