25
Chief Sakami came bursting in through the flap of her tent.
"We...We have a problem."
A round table was set; in attendance, the Chief, the Veteran, Rhiem, Riu, Tiana, and a Guild Seame representative.
"Alright, here's the situation." Chief Sakami swept her robed arm over the table. As the huge sleeves of the yukata flew over the hardwood table, under it, appeared a map of Rubine Settlement Dasiokas, number 135.
"Dasiokas has fallen." She looked up with a grimace on her face. On the map, a red pastel X had been drawn over where Dasiokas was.
"Chief..." Rhiem spoke up, his eyes downcast. "It's not a surprise. Dasiokas has been under siege for years by Archeria. There were rumors that Rubine High Command was abandoning it... but the Rubina news propaganda always said that they were doing everything they could to save it."
He shook his head. "They were left to die."
Chief Sakami bit her lip, and her face turned from grimacing to worrying. Rhiem could then see from the bags under her eyes that Sakami had not slept in several days...
No girl, so young, should ever have to be so stressed, he thought.
She finally spoke.
"If only it were that simple. See, Dasiokas was saved at it's eleventh hour. By the Guild Proper."
Riu frowned, and glanced at Sakami.
"What is the Guild Proper?"
Tiana spoke this time, "They're another guild of hunters. Officially, there are one-hundred, seventy-eight guilds in active service as of this moment."
She looked out at the group of surprised faces.
"I had to learn all this from my diplomacy training." Tiana smiled a bit. "Anyhow, there are only three guilds that are large enough to make any significant impact. The rest are little more than local mercenary bands. The largest and most influential are Guild Seame, Guild Oilang, and Guild Proper. Of the three, Guild Proper is the largest and the wealthiest, while Guild Seame is the smallest, and least influential. They-"
"HOW DARE YOU!" The Guild Seame representative stood up, and slammed his fist on the table, as Rhiem and the Veteran both drew their weapons, and stuck them to the Seame Representative's neck.
The Representative hesitated, looking at the weapons, and slowly continued. "We... may be few, but we make up for that in heart and fire! Don't underestimate Guild Seame..."
"Representative Solyas." Chief Sakami fixed him with an angry stare. "No one is underestimating your guild. Now sit. down."
Her eyes narrowed.
It was a strange sight, to see the grown man get scared, and then back down to such a small girl.
"I'm sorry. I was out of line."
Chief Sakami returned her stare to the center of the table, her hands folded in front of her.
"As the Chief of Guild Oilang, I have a responsibility not only to rid the area of rampaging Archeries troops, but also to check the other guilds, so that one or the other may not grow too strong." She closed her eyes in shame. "I'm sorry to say that I have failed in the latter aspect. The Guild Proper now has more power than all of the other guilds combined."
"Can they contend with the national powers?" Rhiem asked, "Are they an international threat?"
Sakami shook her head. " is the last thing they have left to accomplish. One-on one, the Guild Proper would be crushed by Rubina or Archeria. But with those two warring, they just might be able to accomplish something."
She returned her gaze to the map of the area around Dasiokas. "They have saved Dasiokas 135. Under international law, they have two weeks to return the territory saved, in return for double the estimated value of the land and people in it's current condition. But..." Sakami bit her lip. "The current value of Dasiokas is pitiful. War has ravaged any material value it once had. The approximate value of Dasiokas is close to nil. I don't know what Chief Htu is planning, but it cannot be good."
She looked up. Her small index finger swept across Rhiem, Riu, and Tiana. "I'm sending you three as an envoy to the Guild Proper. You will find out what is going on in Dasiokas and report back to me. Try to feign diplomatic negotiations for as long as you can, but information is the top priority. We will be preparing for the worst here in Ootya."
The Veteran stepped up, a concerned look on his face. "Lady Sakami! Why are you not sending me out? We don't know what will happen!"
Sakami turned to the Veteran, and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Higa. I need you here to protect Ootya. Exactly because we don't know what will happen."
The Veteran opened his mouth, about to protest, but closed them in acceptance. "I understand, Lady Sakami. I'm sorry."
Chief Sakami looked out to the rest of the people. "The rest of you, please depart tomorrow morning. I'm sorry this is so sudden, but this situation cannot be procrastinated. Good day." Chief Sakami stood up, and then turned to the back, followed by the Veteran.
The Seame Representative stood up, and bowed to the retreating figure of Sakami, and then, too, left.
Riu got up, glanced once at where Sakami once was, and then ran over to catch up with the Seame Representative, who was briskly walking outside, in the midday noon.
"Um... Mister Solyas!" The Seame representative looked at Riu, and then smiled, still walking. Riu had to jog to keep up with him.
"Ah...you. I'm sorry I was so... passionate during our meeting. I didn't mean offense, but we Seame are a proud lot."
"No... not that, but Mister Solyas, what... what do you know about... *huff!*... guild proper?"
Representative Solyas glanced at Riu, puzzled. "An odd question for one so young. But no doubt appropriate in your situation...hm... Guild Proper... well, it's less of a guild now, more like an army."
"What?"
"Guild Proper was created as a more organized answer to the usual amalgam and mish-mash of skill and equipment that most other guilds normally provide. They took only expensive contracts, and uniformed their men in the best equipment available today. Rumor has it that through the extreme average difficulty of their contracts, that they uniformed skill to a certain level. Meaning, the weak in there died."
"..." Riu glanced a bit downwards.
"I'm sorry, am I scaring you?"
Riu shook her head.
"Nowadays, everyone who can afford the Guild Proper hires them. Their Guild Knights and Shadows do deliver results, I admit." He looked at Riu, with a very serious face. "But there have been changes. Lately, Guild Proper has stopped taking contracts. We don't know what's going on with them, but anything they pull, we'll stop it!"
He stopped. A jeep, engine running, a hunter from Guild Seame at the wheel, was waiting for Representative Solyas.
"I'm due. It was a pleasure speaking with you, young Riu. I have to go."
"Thank you..."
She looked around. There was no one around her; everyone was getting ready for combat.
"What? You've traded away my precious weapon?" Master Vulcan frowned, looking at the twisted remains of the Fallen Tigress. "And what is this monstrosity?"
The wind blew heavily today. A cold fog had set onto the area, sending the place to sub-zero temperatures in an instant. As the forge was a large amount of aerial platforms, there was no protection from the freezing winds.
Rhiem said nothing. He just kept on looking at his destroyed weapon. The cold fog of Vulcan's forge matted Rhiem's dust-blond hair down, and he stared blankly out at space.
"Hm... whatever struck this gun struck it with incredible force. This black metal is not ordinary steel; I think I have only a small amount of this at hand. Hm..." Master Vulcan lifted the Fallen Tigress; as he did, an extremely small black and yellow gear fell out. The design was that of digital camo, and a lion was inscribed at the bottom.
"..."
"What is it?"
Vulcan picked it up, and held it up to the light. "It's a Faux Gear. High-level Rubine tech. They use it in their EXTiger models and their CUNarga models to replicate the movements of real animals. Who gave you this weapon again?"
"The Wandering Merchant." Rhiem stared at the tiny Faux Gear. "He traded it to me for my Combat Rifle."
Vulcan closed his eyes, and folded his arms. "Ah. Him. Heaven knows where that man gets half his wares. His ability to get whatever he needs is unnatural; it's like he's sold his soul to the devil."
"Can you fix it?"
"Yes. And I can do more...hand me that blade on your hip."
Obediently, Rhiem pulled out his machete, and placed it on the workdesk.
"Leave. For just a moment. I will be done soon."
Rhiem got up, and walked off to another section of Master Vulcan's aerial forge.
A half-hour later, Rhiem heard the heavy footsteps of Rhodes, Vulcan's huge robotic manservant, walk over to Rhiem.
Rhodes tried to grab Rhiem by the neck, but he ducked, leaving the robot to walk back to where Vulcan was, fist clenching an invisible collar.
Rhiem stepped in, looking at Vulcan, who had Rhiem's reborn weapon in his hands.
"This... it was the Fallen Tigress before. Now... I dub it, the Vicious Tigress." Rhiem's machete had been affixed to the underside of the barrel, like a bayonet, but attached to what looked like a grenade launcher under it.
Rhiem picked it up, gently. Even the beautiful engraving on the stock had been repaired, and gold leaf had been brushed onto the valleys.
He switched the fire mode to the grenade launcher, and held it up to Rhodes, automatically.
KAM!
The machete flew at the juggernaut, curving in the air. Rhodes reached up to grab the machete in mid-flight; the fingers closed around the edge, but the blade sliced through metal and leather, and struck Rhodes in the breast. The juggernaut stumbled back, fingers flying in the air, blade a foot deep in the chest. Rhodes touched the machete for a second, before it zipped back, zipping through the air, and back onto Rhiem's gun.
"..."
"Well?"
"It's good."
"Good? That's all you have to say, boy?" Vulcan took his glasses, and peered into Rhiem's unmoving eyes. "Something on your mind, boy?"
Rhiem shook his head.
...tell anyone that I spoke with you about this, and these two beauties die by me...
"Ugh!" Rhiem held his hand to his head..
...It's my drug, what I live for...
Rhiem bit his lip, his mouth in protest, begging to tell someone, about that night, his eyes in furious concentration...
...you be nice and good, and let the pain and fear of attack eat you inside out.
"Ah-"
SLAP! Vulcan slapped him.
"Ow."
SLAP! He hit him again.
"Rhiem!" Master Vulcan grabbed him by the collar. "Wake up."
"...Sir. Thanks."
Vulcan huffed, shaking his head, and turned, bringing Rhodes with him.
"You're welcome. Come. I have one more thing for you.
Vulcan and Rhiem came to a large roofed area of Vulcan's forge. Under the roof was completely dark, nothing could be seen in there.
"In here." Vulcan flipped on the lights. The area lit up like a candle; yellow lights flooded the area with it's tinted light. Combat suits filled the area, each set on a dummy made of foam. There were huge, thick black bomb suits that tripled the size of it's wearer, shock-absorbing sniping suits that stiffened when the suit detected a shock, ghillie suits that made men invisible in brush, and full-body kevlar suits with built-in shield on the left arm.
"Rhiem. Over here." Vulcan was already at the center of the roofed area.
He stood next to a certain suit. It was set apart from the others, and seemed to be made of something other than fabric. Rhiem thought he saw a glint of metal when Vulcan lifted the foam dummy that had the suit on.
"This is my greatest work yet."
The suit was completely black, with shades of khaki woven into the joints, and a khaki vest over the black suit.
The vest, with slots to hold bullet clips; on the arm was a built-in sheath that was affixed in the inside of a built-in shield. The shield was the size of a plaque, and tapered off the end to a point. Rhiem felt the material, and thought it to be high-quality fibers streached over flexible plastics.
"The soft, malleable material you feel is made of anacholite ore, some of the rarest rocks in the world. The fabrics are carbon fibers weaved in a six-six pattern for maximum flexibility, while still holding strength." Vulcan stared straight at Rhiem. "Try it on."
Rhiem nodded, and cautiously put the suit on. He trusted Vulcan, but he knew something unpleasant was to come when it concerned him.
He looked all over himself. The suit felt like it was made for him. He tried out all of the joints, and found the suit didn't hamper his movement at all.
"Good?"
"Yeah... It fits perfectly."
"Good. Rhodes, pummel him. But don't strike the head."
As Rhiem heard the lumbering footsteps behind him, he sighed. Why didn't this surprise him?
Rhiem spun, just as Rhodes brought it's forearm crashing down. The metal limb collided with Rhiem's shield, Rhiem closed his eyes in anticipation for the searing pain, and the sharp CRACK! that would signal that Rhodes had fractured his arm in half.
Yet it never came.
He opened his eyes, and his eyes widened in amazement as he saw Rhodes' arm almost cushioned against the anacholite shield. The metal had stiffened in response to a strike!
Rhiem gripped Rhodes' arm tight, and twisted around, sending his shield towards Rhodes' welding mask face. The shield, this time, grew heavier from the centrifugal force, and smashed into the welding mask with far more force than the tiny piece of metal warranted.
Rhiem spun, and stepped down low to sweep Rhodes' legs out from under him. The limb, again grew extremely heavy, and rocketed Rhodes' feet from under him. Rhodes fell back, but not before it kicked Rhiem as hard as it could with both feet.
Rhiem felt the huge, size 30 metal boots hit his abdomen, but again the cushioning happened, and he could feel the force of the impact spread to his entire body.
Sure, it was still enough to send Rhiem flying through the air, clearing fifty feet easily, but he was relatively unharmed.
Rhiem landed on his feet and a hand, and pulled himself up.
"Holy shit."
For the first time, Rhiem saw Master Vulcan smile.
"Heh. What I said when I first made it, too."
26
"I feel evil. Scary." Rhiem thumbed the black material of his suit.
Riu smiled, and put her arm over Rhiem's shoulder.
"You look intimidating. Like a bodyguard. Just like the guy who's been protecting me all this time."
"It fits you well, handsome" Tiana leaned on Riu. "Those Guild Proper will run a mile away when they see you bearing down on them."
Rhiem glanced up at their driver, exasperated. The man was black, with a kind face and tattoos arcing up his left arm. He wore wife-beater shirt under a Rubine Logistics Division jacket and cap.
The driver just smiled.
The truck they were in jounced down the mountain path, weaving through the serpentine road, on the way to the Dasiokas settlement.
Several hours later, the Driver leaned over to Rhiem, the girls were in the back, sleeping, and Rhiem was in the passenger seat, looking out at the blurring scenery. Gray meshed with darker patches of gray, creating a blend of monochrome colors.
Rhiem was sipping a energy drink, compressing the can more and more, little by little, letting the artificial flavors seep into his mouth.
"Hey, kid."
"So, which one those chicks you tappin'?"
Rhiem coughed out all his drink onto his lap
"Heh, heh, - oh shit." The driver swerved the truck, narrowly missing a fifteen-foot high boulder. "Heh."
Rhiem, drink soaking his lap, and his cheek impacted against the side window, peeled himself of the side.
"I'm... just friends with them. Both."
The driver raised his eyebrows.
"Oh. So... You like it that way, huh?"
"Wait- What?"
"Heheh, just kiddin'"
Rhiem shook his head. This man was a person of extremes.
The driver glanced in the rear-view mirror, at the sleeping Riu and Tiana.
Without looking at the road, he deftly avoided a sheer cliff face, and continued barreling up the slope.
"Just friends, huh man? Some fine-looking friends." The driver smiled sheepishly at Rhiem's suspicious face. "Hey, don't worry. I'm not into jail-bait."
He lifted his hand; a wedding ring shone on his ring finger.
"I got my own baby back home."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. Her name's Shayla. She's an angel-slash-demon, brought down here to p-whip me 'til the end of the earth."
The two continued chatting up the mountain, as the truck wound around the slopes of the cliffs.
The man's name was Kilo, from south Rubina. He was a very-down to earth person, laughing at even the slightest joke, and a wise-crack constantly.
He made good company, thought Rhiem, hard to believe he's 30.
A couple miles later, Kilo glanced up ahead at the nearing gateway. "Hey kids, wake up!"
He brought the truck to a stop, right at the gate.
"This is as far as we go, man."
Tiana glanced outside of the truck.
"Why? Looks fine."
Kilo shook his head, leaping out of the truck.
"You kids smell that?" The other three looked about the air, sniffing.
Rhiem caught something. Something strong.
"It smells... like eggs. Bad ones."
Kilo strode over to the back. When he returned, he carried a flare in his hands.
Reaching back, Kilo stepped forwards and heaved the red stick out into space. As he did, the string connected to his wrist set off the flare, causing it to puke red sparks and light.
It flew, and then stuck onto something far out into space.
Red light flooded the area. Then, they saw what was there.
A huge landslide.
"That eggs you smell?" Kilo started walking back to the truck. "Sulfur deposits. You kids would only smell them unless there was a mine, or... this."
If Kilo had continued, he would had drove straight into the huge pile of rocks.
"So..." Rhiem said. "What now?"
Kilo stood scratching his head.
"Well, we're twenty-nine hours away from base. Dasiokas is just over this landslide, and through the woods." He got out a pack, full of food and water. With a heave, he tossed them to Rhiem. "You kids should go on ahead. I'll stay here, waiting for the rocks to grow older."
"..." Rhiem motioned to Kilo. "You aren't coming?"
Kilo shook his head.
"Someone's gotta stay here and watch the truck. You don't want to walk back home, huh? Don't worry. I got food, water, and enough rap cassettes to sink a boat."
Kilo laughed, and pulled out a cigar, he flicked open a lighter, bringing the flame to the end.
"So go."
"Right now?" Tiana replied, incredulous. "In the dark?"
A flashlight was tossed into her hands.
Rhiem grinned at her.
"You can lead."
Kilo sat on the hood of his truck, alone, with his cigar and his bottle of Moneigro.
He let out one final breath as the stub of his cigar crumbled, and fell to the ground; reaching out, he picked up his bottle and drained its last drops.
"Whew... good stuff." Kilo reached over, and put on his cap.
"So... " Kilo calling out to the empty space, "you guys gonna come out already or what?"
"!"
Kilo glanced out at the inky blackness.
"Hm..." He went into the front seat, and tugged on something. He felt it come loose, and he pulled it out.
His Mossberg P-90.
Gripping the pump only, he cocked it with one hand. The other hand reached out slowly to finger the trigger.
"Don't think I haven't noticed you fools, down by there, crouching by those rocks."
"Alright," Kilo tipped his cap down. "I'll bring the fight to you then." Walking outwards into the night, he brought the shotgun to his shoulder.
And stepped out into the shadows.
Nighttime hid horrors for the other three.
Tiana had caught her foot something, she looked down, and screamed.
"Oh...no. No, no, no." Tiana looked away, tears in her eyes. "Why, why?"
Riu was silently weeping, she closed the eyelids of a single eye as Rhiem covered the body with a white towel.
It was the body of a young child, a
boy, with a horrendous wound to the face that carved out the entire left-hand side of his face. Rhiem had trouble holding the flashlight to the body, as the wound was so ugly.
"No." Riu shook her head. "How could Archeria do this? Even they can't be-"
Rhiem stuck his arm out, barring her.
"Riu..." He lifted the towel again. The girls averted their eyes quickly. Rhiem stomached the sight of brain and bone, and the smell. "Riu... Get your sword out from the pack."
"What?"
Rhiem loaded his Vicious Tigress, and slung it over his shoulder.
"That's a bullet hole."
27
The sun shone brightly through the sifting dust clouds above.
Shuffling through a large field of bushes, Rhiem came through the leaves and branches, over a hill face. He knelt on the gray, dusty dirt and surveyed the area. The sun was up, in the high noon position, causing shadows to diminish to nothing. He brushed away a graying leaf, which fell away from his view.
The former outer ring of Dasiokas spread out in front of him. Transfixed, he chanced a moment to stand up. As he rose, the destroyed ruins of almost all of Dasiokas spread out around him. The buildings were blacked from fires and shells, some still smoking; spewing black plumes of smog into the air. This was not like the decades-abandoned urban streets he was so familiar in patrolling. This was a fresh corpse of a settlement.
He crouched down, and looked back, motioning with his hand to RIu and Tiana. The two girls silently rose from their hiding spot, their faces covered with black ski masks. They scurried in front of Rhiem as he covered the area.
Satisfied, he followed them down the dusty hill face.
***
"Commandant, we have a problem."
The Guild Shadow glanced back at the motionless body that was tied up at the back of the cave wall.
"There were supposed to be three Guild Oilang representatives en route to Dasiokas... but we've only captured their driver."
"What's going on? Where are the other three?"
"We think the representatives departed on foot before they reached the ambush point. A landslide forced them to stop before they could reached us."
"...What of the driver?"
"Captured. Should we kill him?"
"...No. Take him back here. We'll deploy squads into the outer ring of Dasiokas and in the forest. Bring the prisoner back here."
"...Roger."
The Guild Shadow hung up the radio receiver, disappointed. He picked up the torture instruments that he so eagerly wanted to use, and placed gingerly back into his case. He glanced at the driver, who had a nasty lump on his right temple that was bleeding profusely.
Well, the Guild Shadow thought, he had to wake him up sometime.
The man swung his sniper rifle as hard as he could, crashing the butt onto the unconscious Kilo's cheek.
Rhiem crouched behind a rusting barrel, trigger finger twitching. He glanced around the side. Down the dusty alley, with numerous piles of trash and boxes blocking the view, were three Guild Knights. They were crowded around a barrel that was lit and burning, quietly chatting. They stood in front of an old, destroyed amphitheatre.
He nervously tightened the scarf he had around his head. The piece of cloth was wrapped to fully cover his scalp and lower face, so that only his eyes showed.
Their huge bomb suits added a foot to their height, and tripled their thickness, making them look like astronauts more than soldiers. They each had a handgun slung by their leg, and a short sword designed to punch through anything.
Rhiem considered to try and take them all out. Just three sho-
No.
He had to go back.
Rhiem fell back, into a dark alley.
Weaving through the streets, he stopped before a dark, burned-out hotel. Glancing both ways, he slipped under a corrugated sheet of metal, and found himself in a pleasant lobby, relatively untouched by war.
"Hey!" Tiana came out from behind the reception. "Welcome home, honey. Find anything?"
Rhiem tossed several bottles of water, and some cans of food he found scavenging.
Sighing, Tiana turned the cans over to their labels.
"More creamed corn?" She shook her head, and tossed into into a small pile of cans, barely a half-foot high. "How much longer are we gonna stay here? We don't have much food left."
Rhiem wound the scarf off of his face. As the cloth fell away, his dust-blond hair tumbled out in clumps.
"We have to stay here and gather as much intel on what Guild Proper is doing as possible. So far we have squat. I've identified both the central fire base, and the amphitheatre in this town as POIs, but the fire base is way too heavily guarded."
Tiana leaned on the counter.
"You going out again tommorow?"
"... yeah. To the theatre."
Tiana shook her head, and started opening the cans with a knife.
"You should eat up and leave soon. Riu will be back, and she'll just be even more worried to see you go."
"Tian-"
"I'll tell her you're out for more food."
He fell silent, and walked out. He reached the hole in the wall, and lifted the piece of corrugated steel.
He climbed through the hole, and went out.