Eastern Tereliva, Outskirts

It is a Beautiful 5th day; the sun is shining brightly in the middle of the sky indicating noon. Wildlife sparsely run through this forest Valley while the rapid rivers largely sewn into the area contradict nature as they stream upwards towards the southern capitol Tereliva. At the rocky side bank entrance to a cave a shallow pounding echoes. Deeper in this cave the clanging gets louder and if you were to trace it back to its source you would find a young man by himself working hard mining the ore in the cavern. The music playing from his headphones drowned out the noise while the light from his lantern reflected off the shining minerals lighting the area vividly as he dugs his pickaxe into the walls knocking large deposits down, he would then smash them into smaller pieces before placing in his several bags whistling along to his favorite playlist. With 3 bags full it looks like had has been there for hours, signs placed around show that this cave has been abandoned for several years now, probably due to the perilous route it takes to get there. He grabs the 3 bags and carries them one on his back and the other 2 in his arms.

As he moves closer to the mouth of the cave the rapid’s waters climbs up his steel and leather greaves almost to his knees. He inhales greatly; A weaker man would have been carried away but due to his experience and weight of the boulders his able to maneuver up the incline of the riverbed against the rapids to his camp site. Now tall trees surrounded him in some areas the branches would obstruct sunlight greatly but in the patch of land where he sets down his bags and made camp was a terrific view of the sky. He began to transfer the contents of the bags into a seemingly self made mechanical levitating basket, large enough to be a wagon. He thinks to himself about all the money that he will make from selling the ore left over from crafting a Micro-Excavator to help him mine more efficiently, he just might be able to afford some premium priced ramen.

He then practices a conversation he is going to have with someone. Placing Ore in the basket one at a time he talks to himself.

"I was able to sell a whole bunch of Ore so I’m not coming empty handed and I already have an idea on a set of upgrades we can work on to bring you back into the limelight, what? Now why do you have to say that.”

 After he finishes packing the now stuffed wagon, he falls on his back removing his burgundy visor from his forehead before he wipes the sweat from his brow and enjoys a deep exhale. That was the hardest work he has done even during his time as a Blacksmith’s apprentice. He looks back at his pile satisfied releasing an exhausted grin from his dirty face the grime leaving black patches on his already dark skin. Suddenly his stomach groans in hunger, he feels faint as he rests on his back staring at the sky. He focuses on the two moons hanging next to each other in the sky almost looking conjoined one being Yellow and one being Red, he always gets deep into thought staring at them.

I worked all the way through lunch. Matter of fact when was the last time I had some actually good food.

His mouth waters as he begins to think about The Rabbit stew at the Kitchen, he frequented back in the Belmouth but the Belmouth was 500 miles East and so was that rabbit stew. He Lamented then trailed his eyes onto a small but meaty lizard. He licked his lips before grabbing a steel hammer off his tool belt. Desperate times call for desperate measures. The lizard had climbed the base of tree when his hammer struck true ending its life. In only a few moments he was cooking the lizard over the small fire he was seated next to. While he waited for the lizard to cook thoroughly, he polished his black steel alloy chest plate, markings and indents easily seen that armor has seen better days. He removes the skewed lizard off the fire he thinks to himself that after this he will drag this heap and meet up with Belvin at Tereliva. He takes a homemade spice combination out of his bag and sprinkles some onto the lizard then begins to chew, he cant hide his indifference toward the flavor of the lizard but he imagines what it would have been like without the seasoning and continues to eat.

In the distance growling’s can be heard. The smell of cooked meat has attracted 5 starving coyotes. The man immediately peeks his ears to the growling and rustling in the trees. As he puts back on his visor, he presses a button located on the side of it switching them into a thermal mode, there he begins to see the predators cloaking themselves with branches and foliage. Another one of his useful creations assisting him in surviving the elements, most visors would have you switch to another set to use a different type of vision, only the high end ones could do 2 but this one the young man made had a night vision mode, a thermal mode and another mode that would prove to be the most useful. Still chewing the gamy lizard, he thinks to himself add some leather, that’s a couple more credits for me. The meats probably no good, they look small. Must be starved. In his culture if you kill an animal you use every part of it but he is not in his homeland and he rather not carry anymore weight. Thoughts of his mother scolding him passed his mind for a moment. Like a part of him punishing himself for what he is about to do.

He reaches over his single fire launcher to grab a rock and tosses it into the bushes a coyote was hiding in. The coyote emerges slinking out of its cover, the man stands up grabbing a hammer off the floor. Slowly the other 4 coyotes crawl out of the bushes hunger painted over their faces. More coyotes? This cant be from the same pack I fought off 3 days again. The man readies himself as a coyote lunges at him and in one fast motion he crushes the coyote’s skull with his hammer. Another rushes at him from the side, he quickly pivots as it sweeps past him missing with its teeth another precise and deadly hammer smash takes out the coyote. Hammers; his choice of weapon in most situations. More likely the tool he’s most comfortable holding, ever since he was young, most young boys played with swords due to its versatility and general ease but this young man has always took the hard route and after years of training to him there was no one who could stop him when he had a hammer in his hand. Having their numbers depletion further the other coyotes fear for their lives and disperse opting to live another day.

These coyotes were starving, which is a rare sight the closer you get to the border to the South Land which was supposed to be free uncolonized land apart from some small villages. The South is supposed to be an agricultural gold mine rich in land and wildlife, a reason the Valkin Empire launched a campaign to obtain it from the small rogue gangs and the larger Haven gang that reside in it. Starving coyotes means the food chain is out of whack, the main cause being a Derelict infestation. Derelicts: creatures cloaked in a Dark Essence that are reanimated animals and even humans. Engulfed in a black smoke that moves like fire. They are not easy to kill and with starving coyotes the man knows that they are in this area running from something. He never had to deal with Derelicts that much back in the Belmouth except when he went D-Hunting for some credits, the defense of Belmouth spread wide and efficient at stopping any hoard before they would reach too deep into the slums, no, it wasn’t until he started traveling west at the start of the month when he noticed how persistent there infestation was. He begins to pack his things quickly when he gets a chill down his spine. Foresight has activated for him he began to see visions of something looking at him through the bushes behind him, more than that he got visions of a giant bright-eyed Derelict surrounded by a burning golden town. He grabs his head with his left hand squinting his eyes closed trying to bring his eyes back to the present, His Natural Lucids had kicked in alerting him of immediate danger.

Looking over his shoulder and into the forest his sees 3 sets of bright eyes staring at him. This menacing presence, when the smokey features of the derelict could be deciphered he drops his backpack and grips his fire launcher cocking it. Usually he hates when Foresight initiates, others with the ability love being able to see moments into the future but the man didn’t like the threat of getting lost in it so he suppresses it every chance he gets. Only few people in the population of the continent around 15% can active the Lucid in the area allowing them abilities while others use machines and physical modifications to connect them. Luckily for him his fatigue allowed the foresight he was suppressing to break through and react to these Derelicts that have taken the form of coyotes.

That must have been why they ran off; a starving coyote would rather die fighting than starve to death but even they can’t eat these things. Only these things can make them refuse their primal instincts. Derelicts are a real problem; damage does not matter unless it destroys a chunk of it eviscerating the bulb like hearts inside of them. If you don’t have the fire power then pray you can either shatter or pierce its glowing weak point but even that’s hard to find since the dark aura its covered by suppress any light coming off its body. These things are known to attack villages, travelers & wildlife in hordes once eaten by one if they do not consume most of you what is left comes back to life and does the same to fulfill an unquenching hunger.

He sizes up the derelicts then smiles thinking about how he’s hit a jackpot. I wonder how many bulbs I can get out of these. Oh, I might be eating real good tonight. The leading derelicts tilts its head before charging at the young man who without delay fires a bomb at the Derelict. The explosion leaves the derelict lifeless with half a body, the greenish tinted smokey aura dissipating from its pitch black husk, the explosion also left a cloud of dust and debris that allowed one of the other derelicts to close in on the man before he could reload the launcher. The Derelict lunges at the man’s head but misses as he ducks, nearly sinking its teeth into his dread. In that instant the 3rd derelict rushes at him straightforward where then he then replies by smashing it in the face with the butt of the weapon. The derelict falls backwards but a tendril shoots from it whipping his face, blood flies from his mouth as he is knocked on his side. He quickly rolls out of the way but stops before he rolls into the fire he used earlier to cook. Beginning to reload the launcher he realizes he has no time as a Derelict closes in on him. He looks at the fire rolls backwards and starts back peddling and as soon as the derelict aligns with the fire the man throws the bomb into it setting it off destroying the derelict completely. No bulbs coming from that one. He sighs displeased but gets back on guard scanning through the debris for the last derelict. There’s no visibility so he taps his visor again and sets it to a D-mode allowing him to see past the dust cloud to the Derelict but not just that, it allowed him to see past the smokey aura of the Derelict and see the glowing veins leading to a large patch of glowing flesh on the middle of its forehead. That is the weak point. He cannot help but think to himself that this was too easy, how he would rather want a challenge. Maybe I should count my blessing, not everyone could survive what I have been through. Especially escaping Belmouth territory, just got to keep surviving. He whispers to himself words his mother would say, tightening the strap on the brown leather glove attached to his right hand. He stares down the derelict as it slowly approaches before motioning into a full sprint, the man rushes at the Derelict as well grabbing another hammer off his belt with his right, once he collides with the Derelict he over-powers it, putting it in a head lock. Before it has a chance to release it tendrils the young man turns the hammer to the claw and buries it in its head leaving it to turn into a lifeless husk.

He drops it and scans the rest of the area with this visor to confirm no more Derelicts, aside from the 2 coyotes and 1 and a half Derelicts whose remains are going to fetch him some nice credits, he was alone. He took off his visor once again and put out a small fire he had started with an explosion using some homemade fire douser. Once he was done, he looked up to the moons again putting his hammers back on his belt. Reminiscing his childhood he recalled playing with a little red headed girl when he lived in the Valkin with his parents. She was his neighbor, their fathers worked in the mines together so they would often come over after work and he would go play knights with their daughter. She would always play so rough, win and whack him over the head, kick him in the shins and get mad at him for not playing rough because she was a girl. when the royal Valkin children would pick on him for being a dark-skinned boy from the Belmouth she would always come flying in with that same sword whacking everyone in the face demanding they fight them both, she got him into more fights that she started then the other way. It was not that he did not want to play rough with her, he just didn’t want her to fight harder and hurt him. He chuckled in the present at that thought. Those 6 years he spent there was some of his favorite before his father died. He remembered the last words she said to him before he left back to the Belmouth.

“Roy, next time I see you better be tougher than you are right now. The weak die in this world.”

Strange for a 12-year-old kid to say but she was not a regular kid, and neither was he. Those two years after Roy’s father passed were the hardest. The Valkin used rogue attack that his father died in to pass an immigration law causing many who could not afford to be citizens to lose their land and flee the Mainland to other countries the Valkin ruled over. Their statement was that due to opening their borders too widely they have been flooded with criminals that want to do only bad to the country. If one could pay to become a citizen then they would be perceived loyal to the Empire. However, the charge for citizenship was far too heavy, the few that stayed without citizen ship were victims to hate crimes including Roy’s mother who was a proud warrior of the Creston Tribes of the Belmouth. Pridefully she fought back when they tried to stop her from making a living selling leather and meat, she fought back when they burned the home her and her husband built for their family, but when they came to their neighbors house, who were harboring them, looking for law breakers, she knew it wasn’t the time for fighting but for leaving if she’s meant to take care of her son and protect the people who stuck their necks out for them. In those 6 years there, Roy had seen his friend take beatings and dole them out but as she tried to hide behind her crimson hair he could see her crying for the first time ever, when he left. As he looked up to the Red moon he thought to himself.

I wonder what Al is doing?

To Be Continue...