?
A woman with shirt white hair and pointed ears. Her pale skin shone in the moonlight as an animated stuffed bunny sat on her shoulder. She wore a bourgeoisie-esq blouse. She began to reach at me when a flame engulfed her. "Find me," she said.
I shot up from my bed, the vision of the beautiful woman racing through my mind. I got dressed in a gray long sleeve shirt and light brown pants. I put on a belt, securing my pants to my waist, slipping on a pair of doggy slippers as I stretched my arms out in a loud yawn. I grabbed my M-16, an assault rifle that was handed down from my great-great-grandfather through the men of my family after he returned from the army along with his helmet. They had been decorated with stickers and decals, my favorites being the classic smiley face sticker on the rifle and the ace of spades playing card in the net of the helmet. I took the family heirlooms and walked downstairs with my M9 Barreta, brewing a cup of coffee and toasting a bagel. I cleaned the ancient piece of weaponry as I ate my breakfast, trying to keep the vision in my mind as the details began to slip from my mind's grasp. "Was her hair red or light brown?" I asked myself, my voice cracking from the years of not using it. I grabbed a bottle of honey, quickly downing it to soothe my throat.
I looked out the window that faced the backyard of the suburban house, the graves of my family members covered in snow, more snow falling as it began to pile up high. "I should try and scavenge today, I'm running low on ammunition," I thought, finishing my breakfast, loading a magazine into the relic of a rifle and putting on the helmet. I had colored the helmet for winter camouflage, and had a winter camo coat and fatigues, which I carefully put on before venturing out of my house.
My boots crunched through the heavy snow as I moved through the albino landscape. I moved slowly and carefully, as I knew where to go for certain supplies. There was a convo eve store that used to sell ammunition along with some bolt-action rifles. I entered the store, a light chime greeting me and nothing else. "Good, no one's here," I thought. I grabbed my lockpicking kit as I reached the door to the storage room. I tried the door handle, no point in wasting time if it was picked clean. The handle went stiff, so I got to work. Slowly and methodically moving the pick inside the lock, eventually I felt the pick tighten up, then I used the screwdriver to turn the lock, a click alerted me to the lock being opened. I opened the door, finding an enormous stashan immense stash of ammunition and empty magazines. I loaded up eighteen magazines for the M-16, and ten for the Barretta. Just as I was finishing up, I heard the voice of an adult man angrily proclaiming something.
"Listen up, freak, once we get to the base you'll be out of my hands, so I'mma have some fun with you in a few minutes."
I snuck closer, seeing the woman from my dream. She wore the same clothes, but they were ripped up and worn. She looked worn down and broken. "Hey," I whispered, getting the attention of the woman, a bit of hope filling her eyes. "I'm going to get you out of here, but first I need to kill that prick, so just calm down," I said as I took aim at the corner of the building, the man turning the corner. I released a three-round burst into his abdomen. He fell onto his ass, giving a grunt of pain.
"You little fucker, you wanna be a hero, huh?" The man growled as he pulled out a pistol, firing a few shots at me, two missed, but the third pierced my left arm.
"Shit, he must have body armor, probably Kevlar," I thought as I ran to cover. The man chased after me, firing more shots in my direction, only for me to turn around and fire two more shots at his head, killing the man.
I turned back to the young woman, only to hear her horrified screams. "You're a monster!" She shouted, doing her best to stay away from me.
"I only defended myself, and I was doing it to save you, remember?" I asked, the white-haired woman nodded. I grabbed the keys and pistol, unlocking the woman's restraints and handing her the pistol. "Do you know how to use this?" I asked her.
"N-no, I don't… I've only ever used magic," she said.
"Well I can teach you, some come with me and I'll give you a bed to sleep in and food to eat," I said, trying to ease her nerves.
"Before I even consider going anywhere with you, I need to know why you helped me. I'm not going to go to bed with you, like some desperate princess," the sharp-eared woman stated, pointing her finger accusingly at me.
I laughed, amused by her accusation. "I saw you in a dream I had last night, and by coincidence I see you here when I'm scavenging, so I simply did what was right, that's all. As for my invitation, you look a bit malnourished and could use some food and rest. You're free to go, but Its dangerous to those who don't know their way around," I explained.
She sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I suppose that's enough, the name is Filomena by the way, and what is yours?" she asked.
"Benjamin," I answered. "If its not too much, would you be able to help me carry some stuff?" I asked.
Filomena
I followed Benjamin to his house, carrying a crate of what he called ammunition. I looked back on my time in this unfamiliar place.
It happened three days ago. I had joined Davion, Mirana, and all their friends. As we traversed the land, we were ambushed by humans with cloth-like armor, and some sort of projectile weaponry. As we were being attacked, Fymryn pushed me down the hill, saving me from certain death. I rolled down the hill, only to be captured by the man who was now dead.
"So…" I said, twiddling my thumbs. "What happened here?"
"What do you mean?" Benjamin asked.
"Well all the buildings I've seen are toppled down or just in disrepair," I stated.
Benjamin looked over his shoulder at me. "A few decades ago, there was a war. A war that exterminated 99.98% of the world's human population. Ever since then the survivors have been scrounging for scraps so that they didn't starve."
"How did this war start?" I asked.
Benjamin shrugged. "Don't know. Oh, here it is, I'll get the door," he said, holding the door open for me.
"Where do you want this?" I asked.
"Right here," he said, placing down the box of ammunition in a room with many weapons stored in the metal room. I placed it down and sat at the kitchen table. Benjamin cooking some food for me.
Drysi
"I can't believe it! I'm here, imprisoned, with the Scourge of the Plains! I'd kill her if it was just the two of us, but there are other elves here, and she has become a centurion for the Helios Imperium. I'll check on the elves," I thought as I got up from the cold stone floor. The elves were all together, by the looks of it they were in the same pod.
"Oh, hey Drysi, you're awake?" the youngest of the pod, Fymryn asked as she gave me a hug.
"Yea, just making sure you all are ok," I said, sitting down with them.
"Yes we're alright," Dyfed said as he handed me some soup. I took a spoon and sipped it, the cold of the soup shocking me. I coughed some up as Idwai gave me a hardy pat on the back.
"Are you alright?" Adara asked with a laugh.
"Well isn't that a pleasant sight," the fallen goddess, Selemene, said with a tone seasoned with hatred.
"Back off," Fymryn growled.
"And what will you do? No one here has any abilities beyond that of a mere mortal. For example, the powers that you stole from me, is no longer with you, and even the god empress of Helio Imperium has lost her powers!" Selemene sneered.
"Watch your tongue," the man I came to know as Kashurra said as he rose, confronting Selemene with a glare.
"Or what? You can't do anything more than me!" Selemene shouted.
"That's enough, we're all stuck here, so we should all get along," Luna, or more accurately, the Scourge of Plains, said as she stood up. Her body was covered in scars of many different kinds.
"That's funny coming from you, Scourge," I laughed.
"Listen, I know not all of us have had the best of relations, but can we all not go at each other's throats for five minutes?" Mirana said as Marci and Davion nodded, each one sitting to either side of her.
"Agreed!" A voice from the uninhabited corner of the cell yelled out. All heads turned to face the source of the voice. Suddenly two large bricks shifted to reveal a human-sized nook in the wall where a disheveled man who was covered in tattered blankets.
"Who are you?!" Everyone, myself included, shouted as they surrounded the man. He didn't seem alarmed, but rather happy.
"I'm just a man! I should be getting a message soon, and if you all can keep it down for a few days, then you all are welcomed to join in my escape," the man whispered.
"You're going to escape?!" Fymryn asked.
"Shhhh!" the man replied. Just then a small bird flew in and landed on the man's head. The man quickly captured it, slowly and carefully taking off a small scroll that was tied to one of the bird's leg. The man silently unravel the scroll only to reveal a series of dots and lines on it.
"Can you read that?" Auroth asked, the dragon-turned-woman instantly confused, the human known as Bram peeking over her shoulder.
"Is this all some sort of sick joke you played on us?" Lina asked, her sister, Rylai sitting with a dragon knight known as Kaden as the man shook his head.
"No, its a code, and it looks like our liberation is far sooner than I thought," the man said with a smile. The racoon-like humanoid by the name of Nico Hieronimo decided to speak his mind.
"A well created code, no?"
"Indeed," the man replied. "Its a type of code that takes many forms, and is very useful when words can't be heard. I remember I was in deep snow base in Antarctica for about a week. On the last day of my stay people on the research crew I was on started…" the man paused, as if fearful of continuing the story any further. "To disappear, only tattered clothing and stains of blood in the snow remained. I remember I took shelter in one of the structures. I heard banginig from the other side of the structure."
"Why didn't you let them in?" Rylai asked.
"They weren't at the door. I think they were trying to keep who or whatever it was outside. It was only a few years later when I started studying Morse Code that I understood what the message was," the man looked up, tears running down his cheeks in horror. "Stay put. Arm yourself. Run."
Everyone in the cell was silent, I could feel the goosebumps rising on my arm. "My condolences," the Invoker said with a small bow.
"Thank you. The name's Jack by the way," Just as he said the sounds of explosions could be heard in the distance.
"Well, Jack, it looks like your people are here," I said, crossing my arms.
"Indeed," he said, rising to his feet.
Hey y'all! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Comment if you have any questions or anything that interests you! Thanks for reading!