Hey there! It's me, the writer. It's been quite long since last time I posted a fanfic here. This year has been quite hard on me. Since I work at a hospital, the current pandemic had me incredibly bussy. Luckily I finally had some free time to write this, and I was really needing the break sigh.
Anyway, this work is going to be a little different from my previous posts. This time, I'm going to be releasing two versions of this fic. One is right here, and the other one will be posted on my account on a different site (archive of our own). The reason for this is that this version could be considered a "censored" version, as the original work contains some themes that are too explicit and extreme for this site.
If you don't want to read any of that stuff, don't worry, as both versions are the same story, this one just had all those explicit contents taken out. Be warned however that there are still some unsettling things for the faint of heart. I hope you enjoy this story 3
The world is doomed.
It sounds like the pretentious speech of a preacher, yet it's not fake. Even after the El Search Party combed earth and heaven trying to restore the destroyed El, the catastrophe took place before anything could be solved. Now the world lied in pieces, being but a shadow of its former glory.
It came in the shape of a purple mist. At first it was seen like an unusual event, something that could have been easily fixed if the forces that governed the world weren't so busy with petty fights. The mist came from a mysterious source and once it enveloped a living creature it would turn it into a husk. An empty carcass that breathed the purple mist and roamed the land in search of other living beings. Breathing the mist produces no effect, touching it wouldn't hurt, however letting it cover your whole body will be the end.
It quickly started to spread all across the world and when the ruling powers tried to do something, there was already nothing to save. Just an empty and barren world, ruled now by bandits and criminals, where the few remaining good people had to hide and fight to survive.
The El Search Party was forcefully dissolved during their mission due to the need to help different parts of the world, but now that the storm had passed they found themselves isolated from their friends. Wondering if everyone is safe and sound, Aisha arrived at Belder. The capital of Lurensia was now a ghost city, covered by dust and filled with vines claiming back what they took from nature. But its quiet atmosphere shouldn't foul anyone, this city became infested with bandits. People that realized a big city would be the first place that survivors would try to flee to.
She kept her head hidden under her white robes. Her clean and well kept outfit clashed heavily with the dusty road she walked across. She inspected the many cars and bikes she found lying on the road but not one of them was in good condition. A working vehicle would be the first thing that would be taken by the bandits. Aisha walked with her wand in hand, tightly gripping the handle and paying attention to every sound and movement around her.
But Aisha wasn't used to this. Normally, Elsword and Raven would be around to deal with any foe that would get close to her. Eve would be able to discover any enemy hiding in a second, and Rena would always hear them coming. But this time, she was alone. She constantly jumped over the sound of the wind across the bushes, or pointed her wand at an innocent lizard crawling around the street. Anyone watching her would have a fun time with her exaggerated reactions, except that fun was not what people would be after.
The mage carried a backpack on her side filled with food and water, and money despite the fact that she finds it rather useless in this world. There's still vending machines and other things that would take coins, but only if they had power, which is a very rare resource to come by. That, and fuel. It was her main worry on this journey. She crossed the ocean with a sail using her own magic to produce the winds, yet the place she was headed towards wouldn't be so easy to reach. Her destination was Altera. Rumours from other survivors suggest that the floating island had escaped the disaster, and despite it being a possibility, the main problem was to get there.
Before the catastrophe, airports everywhere would have a daily fly into the island. It was one of Lurensia's biggest tourist traps: some old Nasod ruins that barely anyone knows something about. Aisha knew someone very knowledgeable about them though. She wondered if Eve was in Altera, taking refuge or trapped without a way to leave. Whatever it was, she wished for her safety as she threaded across the road. But thinking of others is what a survivor shouldn't be doing while traveling across unsafe terrain. Aisha's distractions allowed a group of shady people to surround her without notice. She only realized something was wrong when she saw a man standing in front of her on the road.
He was huge, double than her own size, and had a muscular body that he exposed without any shirt. Ragged pants barely held to his legs pulled down by many different knives and sharp weapons, in addition to the rusty shotgun he had over his shoulder, pointing towards the sky. He stared at her with a smirk on his face.
"What do we have here?" He said.
Aisha tightly held her wand, ready to start discharging fireballs at any moment. Her eyes wandered around for a moment. She was reckless enough to fall for an ambush, now she easily spotted a few hooded figures hiding in the ruinous buildings, with crossbows and guns pointed at her. She started to get nervous as she returned the gaze to the man approaching her.
"I don't want anything with you, let me go," She stated. The man in front of her stoped for a moment before laughing.
"Kids these days sure are funny. You should be more scared, little miss. Surely you don't want anything from us, but that doesn't mean you can just go away like that," He said, moving closer to her.
Aisha scanned her surroundings once more, she saw something that could save her. There was an open manhole not far away from her that she could reach by diving towards it. It may be quick enough to avoid being shot if she does it by surprise. Her eyes slowly wandered between the bandit coming for her and the people hid in the buildings.
She waited for the man to come close and then pointed her wand to the ground. A quiet incantation escaped her lips as a gust of wind surged from the tip of the rod. The wind kicked the dust in the air, creating a smokescreen for her. She saw the man near her coughing while trying to grasp her across the dust cloud. She moved quickly, the initial surprise was soon gone and as she was diving into the manhole she heard an arrow land near her. A gun fired and the whistling of a bullet graced her ear, however she already managed to grab the ladder down. Commotion was heard outside, they'll quickly realize what was going on and chase after her.
Aisha didn't wait to find out if they would chase her or not and ran towards the dark tunnels. A foul smell came from the dry floor, as she saw all kinds of disgusting things drying away on the soil. With a twirl of her wand she conjured a ball of light to shit on the tip of it, casting a ghostly light over the sewers. There wasn't any sound behind her, maybe the bandits didn't want to chase after her after all, or maybe they were waiting somewhere else to ambush her again. She didn't know much about this part of the city, and the landscape now was vastly different from the one she remembered in the past. Without people and activity, this ghost city was almost impossible to recognize.
Aisha was way more alert this time, not wanting to fall into the same trap twice in a day. She wondered if this was how she would be doing the rest of the journey, not being able to breathe in relief even for a moment. She wasn't sure when it would be a good moment to get out of the sewers. Maybe she should continue until the bandits would have given up.
She was quite deep in the tunnels when a rustling sound stopped her. She lifted her wand, casting the weak light further into the tunnel until she saw something moving. It was a humanoid figure, but with a skin covered in black scars. It's eyes were completely white and their mouth was wide open, letting out a thick purple smoke. It was one of the husks that entered in contact with the myst. Aisha wasn't too surprised about finding one in the city, it was actually weird that she didn't find more of them. The thing saw her and started to lurch its way towards the mage. Aisha pondered if she should destroy it or run. The husks bodies were dry and quite flammable, a single fireball would be enough to kill this one, but the noise and the fire might attract more. She wasn't sure how many of them there would be in the tunnel so her best choice was to take a deep breath and start running again. She tried to keep her cool as she looked for an exit. The husk started chasing after her quite soon and despite its fragile looking body it was way faster than she could have expected. She could hear it lunging for her with every step, its clawed hands barely missing her robes.
She finally spotted the light filtering through a manhole in the distance. She would have to push the heavy lid up and that would be hard to do with the husk behind her. Maybe it was time to dispose of her enemy.
There was an additional reason as to why Aisha wanted to avoid fighting. Ever since this catastrophe took place, her magic had been unstable for reasons she did not know. As if the source of her power was being strangled, her spells would either lack strength at some times or be overly powerful at others. Until she had that fixed, the mage decided it was best to avoid any unnecessary use of magic, especially of the potentially destructive kind. But being trapped in a sewer with a husk took priority over that.
She came to a halt and spun on her feet, wielding the wand between her and the enemy. Its claws went towards the metal rod, while Aisha muttered an enchantment. She quickly moved the wand away, causing the enemy to charge towards her, however as she opened her palm at it, a fireball emerged from her hand. It collided with the monstar and as it grew in size, it sent it flying backwards before exploding in a bright display of fire. Aisha didn't waste time and quickly climbed the ladder heading outside. The lid was luckily loose enough for her to push it aside and in a second she was back in the streets.
Aisha didn't even have time to close the manhole back when something jumped over her. Her first reaction was to shield herself with her wand, but the assailant pressed it against her, trapping her hands and her neck under the rod. Her eyes widened in fear after recognizing the very same bandit that harassed just a few minutes ago.
"You little shit, you really thought I would let you go like that?" He said, pushing the wand against her neck. Aisha coughed as she tried to breath. She attempted to push the wand back but with her arms trapped under it, she couldn't possibly beat this huge bandit's strength. She was starting to pass out when she managed to twist free one of her hands.
She reached for his face and scratched his eyes. The bandit recoiled for a moment allowing her to take air again. She quickly tried to turn around and run when something grabbed the hood on her robe, forcing her to fall on her back. She saw the bandit's fist coming down on her and tried to protect her face, but he went for her belly, forcing a gurgling cough out of the mage. Aisha realized that this bandit wasn't going to let her go, she has to use magic once more to kill this man. But her wand was kicked away during the struggle, and doing it with her own hands would be even more unstable. Her decision was rushed as she saw a second fist coming down on her. She closed her eyes and heard a gunshot.
She slowly opened her eyes again to see the bandit slowly falling to the side, completely lifeless. Aisha quickly jumped back to her feet and retrieved her wand, taking a look around. She saw no one, even after waiting for a painfully long minute. Her stomach was rumbling from the beating, and her sight was fuzzy. She was feeling extremely tired, but she had to continue. She couldn't pass out here and despite that, her legs refused to take a step as her eyelids felt incredibly heavy. Just before falling to the ground, she saw two red figures approaching her.