Chapter 1: A Beautiful World
The falling sensation did not end once the man was through the hole in reality. In fact he had an idea of how fast he was falling once a white blur that must have been the moon crossed his vison. While turning downwards he spotted the water he was about to land in. The huge splash in the lake made by the human startled several crows, which promptly flew away in all directions. Somehow the gasmask had remained tight on man's face, which saved him from drowning and allowed a clear view of a nearby shore. Although the heavy backpack dragged him down the metro dweller was able to crawl onto a small beach. The thick boots he wore, now filled with water eventually reached an area just short of a small forest. Exhausted from his battles and running in the world he had just exited, the man stripped off his heavy bag, gasmask, boots, and leather jacket. The breath of actual fresh air gave the weary human just enough energy to hang his belongings on some tree branches before passing out on the smooth sand.
The morning was magnificently bright the next day. It nearly blinded the man lying on the sand. The rays heating the man's pale skin made him feel stuffy and sluggish. The smog filled skies he was used to did not emit such an intense warmth. The clothes and equipment the man had draped around last night still remained much to his satisfaction. The leather jacket would only be hindrance, so it was left in its place. In its stead the traveler dawned a thin grey coat his mother had given him. The buttons were brass and the collar had a blue trim to it. The nomad assumed that his urban camouflage pants would unfortunately only be helpful at night.
After eating some rat jerky, filling his canteen with fresh water, and adorning his worn combat boots the young man gazed at the sun reflecting off the lake and the lush, green forest surrounding him. A gorgeous place indeed the scrounger thought to himself as he looked at the reflection of a pale, green eyed man with short dark hair in the clear water of the lake. If he did not find some kind of human settlement soon the scavenger imagined hunting wouldn't be extremely difficult. The thought of using his weapons made the man begin to take into account how much ammunition he had. The Kalash or AK-74 assault rifle had 120 rounds, his revolver given to him by Uncle Ulman had 24 rounds, and finally the young man found he had only 10 shells for his double barreled Duplet. Remembering the shotgun had saved him in many situations the misplaced warrior slung it on his shoulder and started his trek into the forest.
Drawing a compass while taking a sip of water the man noted he was heading northeast. Within in an hour a wide trail was found and lead him to see another person a great distance away. Usually wary of others the voyager cautiously approached her in the tree line along the dirt road. While getting closer he saw that the individual had their back to him and noticed that a long sword was sheathed under the person's cape. The assumption arose that it was a woman due the style of her short blond hair and her body shape. Taking another step to confirm this unfortunately snapped a stick at the young man's feet. The sword owner quickly drew their blade and shifted themselves towards the noise in one instantaneous movement.
'It is a woman, and a young one,' the man said concluding she had to be in her early twenties. ', Her eyes are silver…how strange.'
The young man took note that the woman wore ornate iron padding on her shoulders, wrists, waist, and also wore iron boots. Besides her armor the lady also sported a white, skin tight jumpsuit with a black collar. Still crouched down in the tall grass the man decided it was time to show himself. Arms raised the son of the metro stood up and slowly strode towards the armored woman. She gripped her sword tighter as he stopped a few meters in front of her.
"State your business," said the female crusader in English.
The Russian explorer though he had been taught English, but had not spoken it for some time. It had been nearly a month since he had his home station and even there he only spoke English with his friends and mother. The entire look of the woman also suggested that this was a time of castles and knights like the fairy tales the wasteland roamer had read as a child. Minding the woman's growing impatience he began to grasp the words he was looking for.
"My name is Dimitri and I c-come from ah um… d-distant land," the young man began with a heavy Russian accent. "I was chosen to e-explore these t-t-territories on behalf of my k-kingdom so, would you k-kindly tell me which d-direction the nearest town is?"
"Obviously you are a foreigner for I don't recognize your accent, also approaching me without much hesitancy is something not many humans do," the blond lady stated. ", I am heading toward a village not too far off in this direction."
When she pointed Dimitri noticed there was something off about the iron-clad woman. A certain sensation of heat or power seemed to be seeping from her chest. Believing his mind to be playing tricks on him Dimitri readied his next question. The maiden turned away and began to take a step making the stranger lightly grab her arm. Revolving to face him the silver eyed slayer was surprised that the man wasn't afraid of being so close, let alone touch her.
"I'm sorry," he quickly blurted while relinquishing the woman's arm. "I just wanted ask if I may ac-accompany you?"
"If you wish," replied the lady in a low voice. "Now that I dwell on it I believe I should give you of some essential knowledge about these lands before you're killed or horribly maimed."
"Is that so?" murmured the man.
"First of all the most important thing to know about is Yoma."
"Yoh-ma?"
"Yoma are monsters that appeared long ago and have a craving for human flesh. They take on human forms and speech to integrate themselves among populations and systematically consume everyone until there are none left."
A after a moment of interpreting the information for the Russian still struggled to understand the larger and more complex words Dmitri pictured the Yoma as humanoids with extra hair, claws, and an elongated face. An expression of empathy for the woman appeared on the metro dweller's face for he had faced many similar horrors above and within metro tunnels.
'Surely Nosalisks are much larger and stronger than such cowardly beings that need to hide among a crowd,' Dimitri thought to himself.
"Is there any d-defining features of ye-Yoma when they are in dis-disguise?" the foreigner enquired.
"No. That is partially why my kind were created by the organization," declared the female crusader. "I am half Yoma and half human which provides me with the ability to sense Yoma essence."
"I see…so that is why approaching you seemed ah-unusual,"
"Yes, but despite the distrust between my kind and humans our mission given by organization is to protect humanity from the Yoma threat," confessed the blond guardian. "There is even a law that should one of us ever kill a human the punishment is death."
Dimitri felt sorrowful for the female warrior. Immoral men would be allowed to take advantage of the law she had stated. A large enough faction could perhaps pillage and murder whole towns yet these stout protectors wouldn't be allowed to stop it.
"Now that you know the truth do still desire we travel together?" questioned the armored maiden.
"Cur-certainly, it seems you need as much pruh-protection from wicked men as I do from these Yoma beasts," said the curious explorer reverently. "Also, um, I n-never did ask for your name."
"It is…Clare," muttered the guardian reluctantly.
The time on the trail seemed to pass faster as the two warriors strode on and spoke more about the Yoma, Clare's powers, and her kind's history within the Organization.