Anyways, to respond to the comments.
Bemanbeast57: "The unknown girl is new but where is Raki"
Read and find out :)))
El Redentor: "It really different from the first chapter, the conversation specially, and then the MC is a Woman, hmm...who will be?, i met a lot of female characters with blond hair and blue eyes, it's getting interesting."
You are the man, thanks for commenting you pump me up. The MC is not the woman BTW, shes a side character who has an important role later.
With that out of the way here is... Chapter 2
A Stranger In A Familiar Land.
"Up in the morning right be 'fore dawn
Roll out of bed and put my jump boots on
Eat my breakfast too damn soon
Hungry as a hound dog by noon
Went to the mess hall on my knees
"Mess Sergeant, Mess Sergeant feed me please!"
Mess Sergeant said witha big ol'grin
"If you wanna be Airborne you gotta be thin"
Raki"I just fell from the sky… and I really felt it…"
Raki slowly opened his eyes, his head was foggy and his vision was blurry.
"What just happened…" He mumbled. Raki tried to look at his surroundings but he couldn't make anything out.
Everything looked… weird…
It was like he struggled to identify shapes at all, his vision was that of a van gogh painting.
Raki reached to his side, grabbed his prototype rifle and pressed what he thought was the emergency release button on his escape pod.
The door came flying off. Following this, Raki crawled forward, still holding the wound on his stomach.
He made his way out of his escape pod and looked back. His pod had landed sideways and one of the engines was still burning.
Raki looked around and noticed that he was in a forest. He felt dizzy and faint.
We tried to move forward a bit but he could barely even walk. His head was pounding, he was bleeding a lot. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stay awake.
Raki limped forward into the forest, he didn't know how long he had walked or where he was going but he just kept moving.
Just up ahead he saw the silhouette of two people approaching him. One of them seemed to be carrying a torch.
Raki reached a hand out towards them and then he fell to his knees, face planting in the dirt.
His vision got blurry and darker, until finally he lost consciousness.
Visions flashed in his mind.
A red door.
A key.
A glowing purple light.
The face of a woman.
A red door.
A key.
A glowing purple light.
The face of a familiar woman.
A red door.
A key.
A glowing purple light.
The face of Clare.
Clare…
Raki woke up with a start
His eyes shot open and he gasped for air.
"Where am I ? Where is Cla-"
Raki held his head for a moment.
"Thats strange…" He thought. "I haven't seen Clare in seven years…"
Raki moved his hand and looked around.
Where am I? He wondered.
As he looked around he saw that he was no longer face planted in the dirt in the middle of the woods. He was in a building, in a bed, with a roof and walls.
Suddenly the door to his room opened and a man stepped inside.
"Oh hello there. I see that you are awake. You must be wondering where you are huh?"
Raki looked at the man feeling puzzled. The man who had entered the room was an older fellow with grey hair and a thin yet maintained mustache.
Were talking full on gentleman's mustache. Like the kind you see the head guys at the circus have. This man clearly had the most eloquent, most groomed, most beautiful mustache this side of the world, it was as if….
Yeah I'll stop...
The man began to speak again. "My son said he saw something fall from the sky, apparently it was spinning out of control. A real show." the man continued. "I saw it too, so we went to investigate the area where it landed. While we were walking over we ran into you." The man went on. "You were in pretty bad shape when we found you, so we brought you back here and I had my wife patch you up."
Raki looked down at his abdomen where his wound had been. He saw that he had been bandaged.
"Th-thank you sir…" Raki responded. "I likely would have died out there if it hadn't been for you. I am in your debt." Raki bowed his head and winced. His body still hurt like hell but he could tell that he was healing.
"Oh, so you speak!" Laughed the man. "There is no need to worry, if I were in the woods alone then I would want someone to help me out too." He smiled. "Say, if you really want to pay me back you can come with my son and I into town and help us bring back some supplies. That is if you are feeling up to it… I wouldn't want your wounds to reopen."
Raki nodded his head "Yeah I think I'll be fine. I'll go with you, it's the least I can do."
Raki turned to his side and planted his feet off the end of the bed.
He slowly stood up, carefully pushing his weight onto his feet. At last he was able to lift himself off the bed and stand on his own.
"Careful there son, don't fall now, it's okay if you want to stay here and heal." The older man spoke.
Raki took a step forward. "I'll be fine…" he winced. "I just have to get some blood flowing, that's all."
The older man patted Raki on the shoulder. "That's good to hear, now c'mon, my wife made breakfast."
With that said the two of them walked out of the guest bedroom and into the rest of the house.
The man's home was surprisingly large, all things considered It was at least two stories tall. The walls were maintained, the floor was made of a polished looking wood.
THe man walked Raki to their kitchen, which was just as impressive as the rest of the house. Standing near the end of a counter was a beautiful woman with flowing black hair.
"Oh, I see our guest is awake." She smiled. "Good morning, my name is Alissa" She beamed. "You've already met my husband Hans." The man turned to Raki and stuck out his hand. "Pleased to meet you" he chuckled. "I guess my manners are poor, I forgot to ask you your name."
Raki smiled and said "It's Raki, my name is Raki."
The man cocked his head "Raki? Now that's a strange name."
Alissa glared at her husband. "Hans, be nice!"
Suddenly Raki heard 2 loud pairs of footsteps from his left.
He turned his head left and saw a young man and a little girl approaching the kitchen from down the hall.
The young man looked to be just a few years younger than Raki. The little girl however, who was currently hiding behind and clinging to the young man must have been seven or eight years old.
"Raki, this is Niko and Autumn, my Son and Daughter." Said Hans.
"Pleased to meet you Niko…Im Raki" Raki extended a hand. Niko firmly took his hand and shook it.
"A pleasure Raki…" Niko responded.
Raki squatted down and got eye level with the little girl.
"And you must be Autumn…" Raki smiled lightly.
The little girl peeked her head out from behind her brother but didn't say a word.
Raki stood up and looked at Alissa.
"Breakfast is ready." She said, laying out food on a table with 6 chairs
The 5 of them sat down together, with Autumn sitting beside Niko.
"So Raki…" Hans began to speak. "Do you happen to know anything about that thing that fell from the sky? We found you close to where we thought it landed, we had to cut our trip short so that we could bring you back here. By the time we were able to look for it again the fire had died out and we couldn't find it.
Raki thought for a moment about what he was going to say.
"I know what you're talking about." He responded. "I was heading over there myself, but it was dark and I ended up falling down a small cliff. That's how I got these wounds, a branch impaled me." He lied.
He felt bad about lying to a family that was treating him so nicely. But what else was he going to say? "Oh I'm a spaceman and I fell from the sky! Just by being here I am putting everyone in a 5 mile radius in great danger! WOOOOoooooOo "
"Speaking of which…" Raki continued "Would you happen to know what happened to the stuff I was carrying?"
Hans's eyes widened. "Oh yeah, you mean your backpack and that weird metal thing? It's under your bed."
Raki nodded and continued to eat. He was trying to keep his manners in check, but truth be told, he was starving.
He just wanted to unhinge his jaw and pour the contents of his plate into his mouth and into his empty stomach.
But c'mon, that's just bad manners…
Breakfast was over with very little else said, besides the occasional small talk from Alissa and Niko. At last Hans stood up. "Well then I guess we'd better get going. Are you still coming to town with us, Raki?" He asked.
"Yes I am" Replied Raki, "And by the way. What town are we near again? My memory is a little foggy."
Hans responded. "Oh thats easy, were just a few miles from Rabona"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Clare"How is she?"
Clare heard Helen ask as her annoying friend walked into the room.
"You didn't kill her, right 47?"
Clare ignored her. She continued to silently stare at the strange woman. Something about her scent was… off.
It had a lingering sense of familiarity almost like traces of Clare's own past were clinging to the woman's skin.
Miria, Clare, and Helen had brought the mystery girl to a nearby abandoned shack; this option was chosen over bringing the woman back to their permanent residence because, if she was unfriendly, then it would be best if she had no idea about the other ghosts' existence.
Clare looked up at Miria who was sitting across the way.
Her hand had healed, the damage was never that bad honestly.
Mirias injury was a result of her reckless curiosity and was a side effect of the blinding light and loud bang.
Nevertheless, Clare still didn't feel bad about punching the woman, who was now suddenly beginning to stir.
"I think she's waking up…" Clare commented.
Miria stood up and walked beside the table which they placed their guest on.
Just then the girls blinked open. "Where am I?" She whispered to herself.
"You're in the North…" Miria responded bluntly.
The woman gasped a little upon hearing Mirias voice.
She turned her head and stared at the spikey haired warrior.
"Who are you?" she asked quietly.
Miria moved closer. "I apologize for our rude meeting. You have to understand that it isn't everyday that we see flaming objects fall from the sky. " Miria crossed her arms.
"You will have to excuse our suspicion but we can't share our names with you until I know who you are first." Miria continued. "You see, my friends and I are in a rather… fragile situation."
The woman blinked "Fair enough…" She replied. "If you really want to know, my name is Riley…" She spoke weakly. "Is it safe to assume that your next question is 'Why did I fall from the sky?"
Miria shook her head. "No it isn't…"
Riley raised an eyebrow "Oh?" She said expectantly
Miria began again "Although I am curious, I have a feeling you won't tell me. My next question is more mundane, I simply wish to know what organization you are affiliated with."
Riley sighed. "I'm afraid I can't answer that at the moment either. But…" She looked at the other warriors in the room, pausing at Clare. "I can tell that you and your friends are half yoma. And judging from your outfits I'd say that you are deserters right?"
Miria didn't respond. Riley turned her head to look at her again. "If you're wondering if I'm affiliated with the organization then I can assure you that I am not." Riley spoke.
Just then she turned her head to look at Clare. "And besides, I believe I already know the name of one of your friends…" Riley said quietly. "I recognized your emblem…" she explained. "You're Clare right?"
Clare's eyes widened. "How did you know my name?"she asked.
Riley smirked. "We have a mutual friend…"
Miria and Helen both looked at Clare who looked completely stunned. "Mutual...friend?" Clare echoed.
"Maybe you don't remember him…" Riley spoke up. "But he wouldn't shut up about you." She continued.
"His name was Raki"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
RakiThe pain in his abdomen was already feeling better.
Sure it still hurt, but it was never a major wound to begin with, in reality he had only been grazed. Nevertheless he was lucky to be alive.
Raki, happy that he didn't have to walk, rode utop a dark brown horse towards the town of Rabona.(well really it was more of a city)
"I wonder if Sid and Galk are still around?" He said to himself. "I wonder if they've seen Clare at all…"
"Hey Raki! Watch your horse" He heard a voice say.
Raki's mind snapped back to reality, he saw that he was Leading his horse a little off trail.
He looked over to his right and saw that it was Niko who had warned him.
"Thanks…" Raki replied, shifting the weight of his backpack higher on his shoulder.
Before he had left Hans's home, he had retrieved his backpack and weapon from under the bed he woke up in. He knew better than to leave a weapon like that lying around.
If that little girl, Autumn, picked it up thinking it was a toy then who knows what would happen.
Raki rode forward. With Hans and Niko on horses of their own to his right.
"So…" Raki began to speak. "What's the situation like around Rabona? How has it been here? It's been a long time since I was last here." He explained
Hans looked over at him. "It's been pretty rough these last few years…" He replied. "Rabonas guard has been weakened a lot, and a large bandit gang decided to take up residence in the area. They've been harassing the people who live around here and there's not much we can do about it…"
"Why hasn't the Rabona guard done anything yet?" Raki asked surprised, "Surely they could send a small detachment out to help." Said Raki
Hans shook his head. "The guard has been weakened a lot due to numerous Yoma attacks… they simply don't have the manpower to spare."
Niko seemed to grow angry upon hearing this. "It's Total bullshit!" He snapped. "They're just cowards!"
Raki looked over at Nico, surprised at his sudden anger.
"If I were in the guard I'd take care of those scum myself. I'd kill every last one of the bastards! It's what they deserve!"
Suddenly Hans smacked the back of Nikos head.
"What did I tell you about talking like that!" He snapped. "Especially in front of our guest!"
Hans looked up at Raki and apologized. "I'm sorry about him. He thinks he's gonna be some kinda war hero!"
"No its… its okay…" Raki replied.
Raki looked at Niko carefully. A memory flashed in his mind. A memory of a man wearing grey, and surrounding him was a brilliant red. For a moment Raki could feel a weapon in his hand, he could feel it being stuck inside of something and not wanting to budge.
Raki remembered having the same attitude as Niko. His own thoughts were almost identical.
Raki could remember it all.
Memories occur when specific groups of neurons are reactivated. In the brain, any stimulus results in a particular pattern of neuronal activity—certain neurons become active in more or less a particular sequence. Memories are stored by changing the connections between neurons.
The brain is powered by blood which is pumped through the body by the heart. The heart is a vital organ for human life, without it there would be no blood flow, which means the cells of the body would receive no oxygen, consequently the being that the cells made up would then die.
The human body can go about 30 seconds without a heart before the brain begins to shut down. It is speculated that anywhere between 1 and 20 minutes is the longest a human can survive and come back to life with no blood flow to the brain.
6 years ago Raki stabbed someone through the heart with his bayonet for the first time. They wouldn't stop bleeding. They wouldn't stop squirming.
The Brain is truly a fascinating thing. It's essentially a mass of meat and liquid that creates consciousness and thought. SO much is still unknown about its complexities and functions. It truly is a magnificent thing.
The matter that creates the brain is nothing more than a bit of grey goop. What an amazing cosmic coincidence it is for something like the brain to even exist. All it is essentially is a mass of star dust that was tricked into thinking.
About 5 years ago Raki found himself stomping on someone's head until it was nothing but mush on the bottom of his boot.
"Raki? Are you alright?"
Raki blinked a few times and regained his bearings. "Huh?" he asked.
Hans and Niko were eyeballing him.
"Yeah I'm fine, it's nothing… let's just keep heading to Rabona." He smiled.
About an hour later the three of them arrived in town. Their original goal was to find some supplies and stock up, but plans were about to change.
As they walked deeper into town, a man backed up into the street, and Raki accidentally bumped into him, pushing the man forward.
The man jumoed up. "Hey! watch it!" he shouted.
Raki turned to apologize but quickly cut himself off as he recognized the person shouting at him.
"Well!" The man shouted "Aren't you gonna say sorry or something?"
"Sid, is that you?" Raki smiled.
Sid backed up, "Wait, do I know-"
"..."
"Raki?" Sid said with his eyes widening.
"Yeah it's me!" Raki replied. "How have you been?"
Sid's mouth dropped "No way! You're almost as big as Galk!" Sid laughed with disbelief. "Wow. I can't believe you're the same kid who clung to uh… Clare's side all those years ago!"
Raki's face became a little more serious at the sound of her name.
"Speaking of which…" Sid continued "How is she anyway? I haven't seen her at all since all those years ago."
Raki looked a little defeated. "I was hoping to ask you if you had seen her…" He replied. "We got split up some time ago, we promised to find eachother again but… it's been a while…" Raki looked away.
"Oh…" Sid said awkwardly. "I'm sorry to hear that, but no I haven't seen her in seven years…"
Raki looked to the side and sighed. Who knew if she was still alive. Who knew where she might be.
Sid recognized the depressed look on Raki's face. "Hey Raki, how about we head over to this bar I know and grab some drinks, you look like you could use it. I was supposed to meet Galk there later, I think he'd be surprised to see you." Sid said, patting Raki on the shoulder.
Raki looked back at Hans and Niko. Hans waved his hand "You're all good Raki! Just come meet us near the center of town in a few hours!"
Raki nodded and smiled. "Thanks, I owe you"
With that said Raki and Sid went off on their own.
About an Hour later Galk met them at the bar and the three of them were drinking and catching up like old friends.
"So let me get this straight…" Galk rubbed his forehead. "Clare was getting made fun of by some other Claymore because SHE was the weakest?"
"Did you kick that other Claymore in the balls? Like when you kicked me?" Sid laughed.
"Sid, Claymores don't have balls…" Raki replied."They're all girls, remember?" Raki laughed.
"Oh yeah…" Sid did a quick facepalm. "I think I've had too much to drink." He laughed.
"Sid it's not even sundown!" Raki chuckled.
"The first step is admitting you have a problem," Galk smiled.
"Shut up…" Sid replied.
"Speaking of sundown, I think it's time for me to go find Hans and Niko. Its been about two hours…" Raki sighed.
"Yeah I think it's best if you hurry…" Galk warned "The bandits like to pick on small groups traveling at night. If you don't hurry the sun will go down and you'll have to walk back in the dark."
Sid rubbed his eyes "Yeah those bastards know exactly what to do. They pick on groups that are just small enough and abduct just one or two people at a time, so that the captain of the guard doesn't think he should waste his men hunting them down." Sid growled.
He slammed another drink down. "They never do enough at any given time to cause a raid, they just keep taking and taking, little at a time. And the captain of the guard is too much of a wimp to do anything about it!"
Galk spoke up "The way our captain sees it, it's not worth risking what little men we have to go and retrieve just one or two people."
Raki gritted his teeth. "Where exactly is their camp?" he asked casually. "I want to make sure I stay away from there…"
"It's about 4 miles north of here…" Sid responded.
Raki looked away. "Well guys, I'll be off! I've gotta meet Hans and Niko."
Sid and Galk stood up. "Hey we'll walk you back to them." Said Galk.
The three of them left the tavern and walked to the center of town.
As they got closer to town they heard what sounded like shouting.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY TOOK HER!" The voice shouted
"That sounds like Hans…" Raki said worriedly.
Raki sped up and rushed to the center of town.
When he reached his destination he saw Hans gripping tightly onto the vest of a younger man with blonde hair. Niko was nearby as well looking completely distraught.
"I'm sorry Hans! There was nothing I could do!" The blonde man shouted
"Colin! You are my neighbor! You could have done something!" Hans screamed.
Raki stepped forward with Sid and Glak by his side.
"Hans? What's going on?" He asked urgently. "Who is he talking about?"
Hans turned to Raki. "They took her Raki! They took Autumn!"
"Who did!?" Raki asked.
Hans's neighbor, Colin spoke up.
"The bandits didn't just take Autumn, they took Alissa too! I'm sorry! Im so so sorry! I rode here as fast as I could!"
Niko snapped out of his trance and looked at Sid and Galk. There were tears in his eyes.
"You two are in the guard right? Please! Please do something about this! You can't just let these bastards keep getting away with this!" He cried.
A bead of sweat dripped from Sid's forehead. His look was serious.
"Look…" Sid started talking "I'll do what I can, but I don't think the captain is gonna-"
"You don't think the captain is gonna do what!" Shouted Niko, "You don't think the Captain is gonna bring these bastards to Justice!? You don't think the captain is gonna save MY MOTHER AND MY BABY SISTER FROM GOD KNOWS WHAT THOSE BANDITS PLAN TO DO!?"
Sid backed up. "Hey calm down! Look! We can only do so much-"
Niko balled his fists and raised one up, preparing to strike the guard in front of him. "YOU'RE A COWARD!" He roared for the whole town to hear.
Just as Niko was about to strike Sid, Raki rached in and grabbed his wrist. "Stop!" He commanded.
Niko looked at Raki with surprise.
Raki's look was serious, his bright look had changed completely.
His eyes looked like those of a murderer.
"Sid…" He began. "You said their camp was to the north right?"
Sid raised his eyebrow. "Raki… you aren't thinking about-"
Raki let go of Nikos fist, unslinged his rifle from his back, and stormed off towards the entrance of town where he had left his horse.
Sid ran after him. "Raki! What are you planning on doing!?"
Raki ignored him.
"Raki! You can't go after those guys alone! It's suicide! There's a reason the guard won't touch them!"
Raki gritted his teeth and walked faster.
"Stay here sid, watch to the North, I'll be back." He replied coldly.
And just like that Raki arrived at the gate, threw himself onto the horse that Hans so graciously let him borrow and rode off to the North.