The sky trembled as fallen skiffs crossed the sky, while the guardian and his ghost were on the ground under the trees and bushes crawling on the ground.
"How far until we are clear Flint?" Asked the guardian with a tired tone.
"At this pace, two more days," Said the Ghost with a similar tone.
"I hate the house of devils! why in the name of the traveler do we need to go through this?"
"I told you, trying to steal their resources wasn't a good idea"
"No! It was a gamble, and I lost. Simple as that. But they didn't have to come after me so angry"
"I am surprised you are still alive, that explosion should have sent you to la-la-land"
"You tell me... " Ten let a sigh of anger. While his ghost disappeared from his side, leaving him alone.
And thus he continued crawling for the next 2 hours. The trees above him shook as another skiff crossed the sky. And following it a sound of cranking rust metal and a dying lawnmower, a fallen hovering bike, a pike. The guardian jumped from the ground, his opportunity in sight.
He took from his back a bow and arrow and pointed it towards the source of the sound, three pikes were coming his way as the riders caught sight of their pursuer. They started to fire in his direction, which made the guardian hide behind a tree and take an arrow with a rope attached to it.
"This is not the time to be cheap, use a normal arrow! You are going to miss the target!" Exclaimed Flint from the top of his lungs, he didn't have.
"Shush, I got this... I think..." The guardian said with a daring smile.
As the pikes got close the ground started to shake, and the tree behind him slowly lost its trunk as arc shots mercifully hit it. The guardian then shot the arrow to another tree by his side, around the height of his shoulders, and almost immediately a pike crossed his side, the rope hitting the pike's rider was sent to the air with him. As the pike slowly lost energy and speed, stopping as it hit a tree.
"Ha! Nailed it" the guardian said running towards the now empty pike. Hoping on and charging it, he swiftly left his position. "See Flint, I keep telling you, I am a genius!" The guardian said with a smug. "It is too early to cry victory!" Flint yelled in his ear as arc shoots rained on them. The other pikes were now following him and were more determined as a fellow rider was down. The guardian took a hold of an old hand cannon he had and shot it towards his pursuers. Even though he didn't hit them, they created distance between them. The guardian dodging trees and rocks saw a natural ark made of stones on his way, and with a smile, he took a fallen grenade from his pocket and tossed it on the top stone, and as he passed through it, the grenade exploded, bringing down the stones, unto his pursuers. The guardian without looking back continued onwards until he was far from the House of devils' territory.
And as the sun left the sky, The guardian found himself in an abandoned human city, from the golden age. He parked the pike near a house in a good state, with some moss and holes on the walls for the night. There he made a fire in the fireplace and took out a few beef jerky.
"I am so tired, Flint, how long until we reach the town?" He said lying down on top of his sleeping bag.
"In the pike? In no time, though I recommend we go there on foot"
"The lord of this area will spell trouble, he said, right?"
The guardian answered remembering the words of a caravan he had met a few days earlier, they avoided this town because of its lord.
"Another light bearer huh? How many has it been now? Eight, maybe nine?"
"Since we started, without counting their companions then yeah, nine"
The guardian looked at the sky through the hole on the ceiling, it had been around a year since he woke up, and ever since he has been wandering from town to town. Killing those like him, who had the power of the traveler, but weren't using it to protect the people for glimmer. Even though he was doing those jobs, as a mercenary for the two factions of Guardians. He would only take jobs where the guardians were in the wrong, or that's what he believed. As the memories crossed his mind, he fell asleep.
The guardian jumped from his sleeping bag and pulled his bow and arrow. The sound of steps outside of the house woke him up. Wary of the possibility of enemies he came close to the window.
"Hey you are awake, good morning" Said his partner flowing through a hole in the window. "Oh, good morning sleepy head" said a voice coming from the front door, as it opened. A woman with long hair blonde hair, carrying a sniper rifle appeared. The guardian confused by the situation didn't raise his bow.
"Hey... good morning" He said in a confused tone.
"Hey... nice to meet you, the name's Alyssis" She said in a friendly tone, though it was noticeable her hand was shaking and her left hand was holding tight on the sniper's leather stripe. The guardian, noticing her reaction, put his bow on his back and extended his hand.
"Nice to meet you, I call myself Ten, and before I forget what were you doing Flint?"
The ghost positioned itself in between them, flying flamboyantly, from one side to the other. "She just so happened to be nearby, and not wanting to wake you up, I went ahead and went to check on her, she seemed like a good person. Thus I went to talk to her"
Ten sighted and looked at his ghost "never do that again, next time wake me up"
"But you were sleeping so peacefully, I couldn't wake you up" Flint said in a joking manner.
Ten then gently shoved his partner to his side and looked at Alyssis. "Thank you for taking care of my partner, he can be quite troublesome sometimes"
She laughed, her hands still with a tight grip on the sniper's strap. "Oh no need to be so concerned, he is a cutie"
Upon hearing it, Ten burst laughing at his partner "She called you a cutie!" To which his partner responded by hitting his body on Ten's head "I am not cute!"
The woman seeing the scene started to laugh lightly, as her hand lost its grip.
"Anyways, I presume you, missy, are from the town of Newfield, right?" Ten turned to her ignoring his partner.
"Oh, yes. I am, are you going there?" She said with concern in her voice.
"Yes, I do, is there a problem?" Flint asked laying on top of Ten's head.
"Well, you see..." She explained that the lord of this land is a woman who loves to hunt, especially light-bearers. "I don't know the details in full, but she apparently likes the thrill of it, I remember she hunt another like you for a month, after what must have been his hundred's death she let him go, though by that time the light bearer looked dead inside. Only the traveler knows how she toyed with him. That's why you guys should go away"
"So the lord we are hunting is a hunter that likes to torment her targets, sounds about right. Ok, Alyssis, can you guide us to her?"
"What? Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"We did, but we came here for her specifically," Said Flint hovering over her.
"Can you even deal with her?" Alyssis asked analyzing Ten
"I think so, in a way we will deal with her when we see her"
"No, you don't understand she is a master of stealth and marksmanship, she will kill you before you can blink. If you don't have a plan, then you are walking towards certain death"
"We laugh in front of death" Ten said laughing "Sorry, I always wanted to say that"
"Do you have any information to help us?" Flint said stopping close to her, blocking his guardian "Of course it won't be for free" He then hovered over Ten's bag, which had dried meat, and a few other things.
Alyssis looked from one side of the room to the other, after pondering for a while she looked at Ten with a stern look.
"What do you plan on doing after defeating her? Kill her?"
Ten and Flint looked at each other, and then to her.
"Well, that depends on her" Flint added. "If she doesn't stop her crazy hunting habit, then we might have to put her down. Otherwise, just a promise will do, we are not men of justice, just mercenaries"
"We found a guardian who was traumatized by her, and he asked us to kill her. Though I wouldn't want to break the iron code, even though I am not an iron lord I wouldn't take chances against that Fellwinter guy." Ten said shaking his head.
"I see..." Said Alyssis, not understanding the politics surrounding light-bearers.
"Even then, delivering final deaths is not our thing. So no need to worry" Reassured Flint.
Alyssis looked at Ten and Flint for a while, until she left a heavy sigh.
"Ok, I can help you guys, if you promise not to kill her." Alyssis raised her hand, and Ten took it right away "It is a deal then"
Alyssis told the two how the duel would be held in a forest near them. The forest had many sniper lookouts in the trees, which she would use and jump from one to the next. However, there was one place that they could use to their advantage: a nearby grove under a waterfall.
"If you run in there, she won't be able to snipe you down, and in turn will have to go in, the good thing is that the grove has 3 exits, so you can surprise her if you manage to sneak around without her noticing"
Flint was spinning his front shell confused "But doesn't she know about the grove?"
"I doubt it, I discovered it two weeks ago, by chance after falling in one of the grove entrances, and even then from the inside it is hard to see the entrance"
Ten took his backpack and rummaged through it
"We have a few more fallen explosives, an ether tank, a book, a vex eye, a couple of Fallen knives, a Fallen radio jammer... Oh, I also have a hive rune! I forgot this was here"
"A hive rune? What are you doing with it?" Alyssis asked with concern in her eyes and fear in her manner.
"Oh you know, I found this witch doing witchcraft with it, so after killing her, I took it. I think it has the power to summon dark powers or something, I don't know"
Alyssis looked with concern to Ten, only then to shift to Flint who was hovering lower than usual "He likes to collect weird things, and trust me I tried to tell him to stop. But every time he ignored me, he found a way to make the weird item useful, to an extent where it saved our skin. Though a few times we got in trouble because of them"
"Oh come on, don't be like that. We have survived, right? Isn't it all that matters?" Ten said with a smile, almost jovial, which only made Alyssis more concerned.
"Anyways, Alyssis, I like your plan, let's go with it. It has the unexpected feel to it that we always need"
Alyssis was now concerned but decided to go with it. She then guided them both to the village where she lived and where the light bearer resided. Upon reaching the village, Ten saw how most houses were old ones reused from a prior village of the golden age upon reaching the village. In a way, the houses were small but very pretty, at least to ten's eyes, almost as if welcoming him. The people however didn't carry the same hospitality. Most ran away from the light bearer and hid inside their homes. For those who did not, they made sure not to make eye contact. Ten had his partner dematerialize before reaching the town, just to be safe. But he wasn't expecting such fear, whatever this lord was doing, definitely created fear in them.
They both stopped in front of a bigger house, probably the house of a local mayor before the collapse. Alyssis knocked on the door, and after a few seconds, she knocked again, and again, by the fifth time, she just opened it. And told Ten to stay outside for a while to which he just nodded. From the outside, he couldn't hear anything. After what must have been half an hour, Alyssis opened the door again and let Ten in. There he saw that the house was disorganized, with maps, sniper rifles and magazines on the side, and some radio devices at the end of a long dinner table. By the living room, a comfortable and very vivid place, full of capes, and camouflages, and hunting equipment on the walls, a sofa and a few chairs that were very used. At the end of the room, by the fireplace a door, which Alyssis was standing next to. She just motioned to him and knocked on the door.
He could hear the voice of somebody telling them to enter, and so they did. The walls were filled with bookcases, probably the office of its last owner. The light bearer was sitting on a chair behind a wood table with her hands crossed, she had a serious face, a scar under her eye, her cape covering the top of her head, and a sniper rifle to her side. Her eyes sharp as a knife.
"You must be the light bearer that Alyssis told me. What business do you have with me?" She said in a tired, and over-professional.
"I came to request a duel, you see a fellow light bearer received a beating from you. And he offered a lot of glimmer in return for us to kill you. Though we are fine with just a duel, since we shouldn't be breaking the iron code lightly" Ten said nonchalantly.
"I see..." The light bearer looked down for a few seconds, looking up and down analyzing her guest. "And to what extent would I benefit myself from our 'duel'" she said while quoting the word duel with her fingers.
Ten was then struck with surprise, realizing that if this was a duel, he should in theory offer her something worth her time. A fact he didn't think of, since he wasn't a lord, he couldn't request a formal duel, thus he had to lure her with something, and according to his intel, she sounded like a battle junkie, who would jump at any opportunity to fight others like them. He silently started to panic. Flint, who noticed his partner's despair, materialized himself.
"We have a fallen radio jammer, would that interest you?"
The light bearer behind the desk looked surprised by the ghost's proposition, she then inquired further. "From what house? And where did you get this?"
"We got it from the House of Devils, near your territory. You could use it to not only discover how to stop their signal jamming but to create one yourself and jam theirs" Flint said hovering over his partner's shoulder
"What do you say, a good enough offer?" Ten finished.
She looked up and down the room as if calculating her situation. "Ok! That should be good enough. Let's go outside, this will be a quick one"
Ten, Flint, and Alyssis looked at each other confused for a second. "Quick one?" They thought.
They were in a park outside the village, a few ways down a dirt path, a place with many dead vehicles and barricades. Ten looked at Alyssis, who looked as confused as he was.
"Are you ready or what? I still have other things to do" She said with an overly tired tone.
"Yeah, I am" Said Ten, struggling to keep up.
She then started a countdown, and as soon as she finished she threw a smoke bomb on her feet and disappeared. Ten instinctively hurried and hid behind a car, trying to focus his attention on possible footsteps. "Above you" Yelled Flint. Ten threw himself on the ground, rolling around as he noticed that the hunter had jumped above him and threw a couple of knives. As she landed her pistol fired at him, receiving a few grazing shots Ten jumped to hide behind another car. When he looked over his shoulder, she was nowhere to be seen. "So the hunt begins huh?" He thought as the air beside his ear screeched with a bullet almost hitting him. Ten checked his hands, feeling that he had enough energy on him for two grenades, and in a while he would be able to bring forth his powers. He took a arrow and attached it to a fallen bomb and fired it. The arrow aimed to hit in front of his car exploded in a cloud of dust and metal scraps, allowing Ten to run towards another car to hide, this time closer to the center of the park.
From his position, he could see that there were only 2 buses where she could hide on top, however, the amount of lower cover was almost limitless. And her smoke bomb allowed her to disappear, or kill him. He then took his boots off, and asked for Flint to position one near the end of the coverage the car gave, and soon enough his boot was shot. He then took the weird hive stone, and channeled light through it. And unexpedly it started to shake, he then threw it in the air, and prepared his bow and arrow. The stone was shot mid-air and a cloud of something dark-green permeated the air, following the explosion Ten raised his head with his bow pointed towards his adversary, and an arrow was shot. The adversary Guardian let out a cry. Ten then ran towards her, channeling a solar grenade in his hand. As he got close to her he threw the grenade and a blinding light, illuminated the whole park. He then took his hand-cannon and pointed it towards her. She could only raise her hands in the air, as her eyes accustomed to the light and the arrow that was struck on her shoulder made her bleed.
"It is my win" He said with a smile.
She just sighed and pointed to her shoulder. To which he came close to and removed it, in the least painful way he could. After that he helped her up to her feet.
"That was quite an interesting duel I must say" She said, covering her shoulder with her other hand.
"You tell me, why didn't you bring me to the forest? I heard that's where you have duels" Ten asked while taking a bandage from his backpack, and bandaging her.
"I reserve that place to other lords, who only battle me for the territory and nothing else, but you and your ghost are fine in my book, if anything I am quite glad you came to me so earnestly. It was good to meet a risen who is not interested in land and fame" She said with a weak smile. "Even though you seem to have a few tricks over your sleeve, you don't act like a jerk. Oh and before I forget, my name is Suraya"
Ten laughed happily, it was the same for him. It had been a while since he had met with another light bearer who wasn't over hostile towards him.
"That was a great fight for you both!" Said Alyssis running after them "I am curious to know ten, you said that hive rune was, used for something dark. You tried to use it, right? What did it do?"
"It shook, no idea what else it could have done though" Ten said without hesitation.
"According to my prior analysis, it could be activated by channeling light into it. Though the stone after activated was broken, so it shouldn't have any effect anymore" Flint explained while flying happily from one side to the other.
"Oh, I see. I was a little concerned since the stone fragments were shining very bright, but if you say so" Alyssis said while leaving a big sigh.
"Shining?" Ten and Flint said in unison. They looked back, and as she said, the fragments were shining brightly and shaking a little. As Ten was about to make a stupid comment. A horrid screeching sound filled the park, almost as if a thousand cats cried of pain, a tear, in reality, formed itself above them, the dark void that engulfed all light gave sight to a dark and ominous ship, crossing through the tear a hive ship had appeared, a tomb. Stopping above the broken fragments.
"Alyssis, take her away from here! I will deal with them" Ten said while pulling his bow, and shooting the turrets of the ship, which did little to no damage. "I will get its attention, you two get out of here!"
"Preposterous, I am not leaving you here. I can still fire my weapon" She said while taking her rifle with her left hand.
"Not happening lady, you guys go, we will deal with this" Said Flint, before dematerializing. And soon enough a knight showed up, followed by 5 acolytes. Ten shot one of the acolytes in the head before it reached the ground. The other four panicked jumped to cover, while the knight holding his sword ran after the aggressors. Alyssis, upon seeing the hive froze in place, the cries of the knight coming after her, numbed her legs. Fear taking place on her face as she fell to the ground, covering her ears.
Ten shot another acolyte on the head, while Suraya raised her pistol to the knight and shot him a few times, which made him stagger. Though not for long as he jumped towards her and Alyssis, with his sword on his left side, ready to cut the two. However, Ten rapidly jumped in front of them, receiving the slash which sent him flying. Though as he did, Suraya had enough time to charge her powers. A hand cannon made of flames surged in her left hand. And with one shot to the head, the knight fell to the ground dead and as he did, his body exploded. The other three acolytes started to fire at them. A barrage of shots hitting the cement barricades, and rusted cars. Suraya, with her last energies, shot an acolyte in the head, which made it explode killing the other two. And as the acolytes' bodies fell to the ground, her hand cannon of flames disappeared.
Suraya looked at Alyssis, who was still in shock, though unscathed under the cement barricade. Ten was a few meters away, trying to stand as blood poured from his chest, soon to succumb to death. Suraya, depleted of energy, forced herself to stay on her knees, though she soon fell to the ground. As she fell, relief filled her, knowing that Alyssis was still alive. However, the tomb remained there in silence, and its cannon was now charging, pointing towards Suraya and Alyssis.
"Alyssis, get away from here!" Suraya yelled while struggling to move her legs.
Alyssis still in shock, would not move, and instead was now mumbling something to herself. Even though Suraya would be fine with dying. Alyssis wasn't a guardian, she would meet a final death, never to see the sun again. Suraya yelled her name time and again, without avail. And as the tomb's cannon shone with a dark purplish power, and a screeching noise. However, a flaming arrow pierced through the tomb, tilting it as the cannon fired, missing them for a few centimeters, and falling to the ground. Suraya looked towards the source, just to see ten laying on the ground with his arm up giving her a thumbs up. Before collapsing dead.
When Ten opened his eyes, he didn't know where he was. The wood ceiling wasn't familiar. And the bed he was in definitely wasn't one he remembered. Even his clothes were different, though he didn't have one pair of his boot. As he stood up, he saw that he was in a very small room, with just enough space for his bed on the west side of the room and a table under a window on the south side. From the north, Suraya came in through a door, carrying a bowl of soup with her, and accompanying her, Flint who looked happy as ever.
"Here eat up" She handed the bowl to him. Ten without hesitation started to eat. Even though he wasn't sure if he could trust Suraya, the fact that he could eat actual food, won over him.
"Thank you for what you did, you saved Alyssis and me, even though I would have been fine" She said with a genuine smile.
"No need to thank me, I am happy to know that I managed to save her. On that note, how is she?"
"She is doing fine now, after I used a flare, the boys of the village came and brought us to my house she fell asleep right away"
"I see, that's good" Ten looking through the window asked, "If you don't mind me asking, does she have any bad experience regarding the hive?" He said meeting her eyes.
Suraya looked down, and to the door, before closing it and seating on the desk's chair beside the bed. Facing Ten on eye level.
"She was in a caravan that was attacked by the Hive on the way here two years ago. When we got there, she was the only survivor. By hiding inside a metal chest she barely managed to escape the rage of the Thrall. Knowing how they act, her companions must have suffered a horrible death, The cries of help of her companions must have broken her. It took her a year to finally be able to walk outside, and interact with people. However, as you saw she never confronted her fears"
Ten and flint stayed in silence, the only sound made was that of Ten's spoon hitting the bottom of the bowl. After ten was done eating Flint spoke.
"Well according to our deal Suraya you should stop harassing other guardians, from now on," He said flying towards Ten's side.
"Yes, that is true. I will uphold my end of the deal, and according to the rule of the lords, you ten has the possession of my lands" Suraya said lowering her head.
"Huh!?" Yelled both of them. "That wasn't a part of the deal!" Yelled Ten
"Yes I know, but for other lords, this is seen as a official duel between lords, since you called it one" Suraya said pointing to Ten.
"This is not funny Suraya, this is not what we had agreed upon" Yelled Flint, flipping his shell chaotically.
"I know, I know, but that's how things go. If you back down now, your contract will be seen as a failure, and the other warlords won't recognize you as a strong individual. And will, in turn, stop hiring you." Suraya said with a mischievous smile. "However, if you accept being the lord of this land, you will have the town of Newfield and the forest of Zima. And as a bonus, I will work under you, managing the land and hunting groups, while you would deal with the bureaucracies of the other lords" She said with a smile " Simple enough, right. Now, what are you going to choose?." Suraya said with a smile that went from one ear to the other.
"But if you challenge me to a duel and I lost, you would have your lands back right?" Said Ten quite confused, with a tenth of despair.
"Yes, you are correct. But why would I do that after all of this? Oh and before I forget," She said grabbing a pouch from her belt "here is the money for your job. I believe he promised you 20.000 lumen right?"
Ten and Flint only then realizing the trap they fell on. Their stare towards Suraya was a mix of hatred and awe. "She pulled the rug under us," said Flint, with anger "Not a rug, she pulled the foundation of the ground we were standing on" Ten concluded unnecessarily. Suraya all the while had the same smile that, one that was now a mix of mischievousness and innocence. A never-seen combo. "So the guy we talked to before... He was looking for us?" Asked Ten, looking down.
"I don't know who you are talking about, but I must say. Your reputation as the Scavenger is not one to be laughed upon"
Ten slapped himself on the face with both hands before falling back to the bed he was on. While Flint laid by his side without moving.
"It will be a pleasure to work with you Mr. Ten" Suraya said with a sweet and deviant smile.
Hey, Author here! Thank you for reading all the way to the end. This is my summer challenge, where I will be writing the tales of Ten and his ghost Flint. While I will continue this story I plan on writing about the Scavenger in the future, as he meets the Crow, or how he reacted when he lost his light to Ghaul. Anyways I am currently working on the second chapter of the story. If you have any recommendations for me or noticed I made a mistake please feel free to leave a comment or contact me. That's all for now. The Lazy Guy, signing out.