Before we see what's up in Beach City, we must see went up before that elsewhere.
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Otto's Whereabouts
Back in previous realm, beach was accompanied by a small yet lively town... here?
Accompanied by a desert and forests were drained of life...
And it isn't surprising after what he discovered...
It's been a month or two months since Otto got stranded into a complete wasteland... or very nearly.
For a while he was just going around here and there, it got quite tiring. And dangerous...
He was getting both hungry, tired, frustrated... how much longer ddesert he has to search?
Hell he even wondeevenif he'd even go back... so he is stuck here?
Well if so, he is screwed... He may live long, but it'll be one painful road ahead...
He didn't yet give up hope though...
For now he had to do all he could, at the very least he should make sure if it is hopeless or not. Once or twice there was a situation where he gave up too early and later they broke down for doubt... Of course there were times when they did the right thing by taking action...
But that's exactly why he kept searching to find out...
And he did. He managed to find a group of people to talk to...
Bart, Emma, Lily and Kevin...
They held him at gunpoint and in their eye sight, not risking him to do anything suspicious...
It's like they got that from experience...
And judging by Lily's cuts and scars... he could guess why.
They asked him questions... is he armed? Is he after their insides? Did he came to kidnap them?
He assured them it's not true, he sure isn't innocent... but he isn't a mindless killer...
They were quite distrusting of him naturally. His hooded face didn't help... And once he started asking his own questions, why does their world look like this? Why there are little people around and even those people act violently?
They definitely went from suspicion to anger and confusion.
Now they believed he was misleading them... Lily lady sure didn't like the idea, she then grabbed him by the neck and pushed against the wall.
Demanding him to leave or cut the crap, or get the hell out!
With her removing his hood, she saw his face, half of it scarred.
She stopped at that moment, not expecting that.
He hurt his shoulder from her push too, needed some flexing.
They asked if he was also targeted for a meal...or cremation?
He didn't like what they meant by that but he did confirm to ended up in heated situations before...
After seeing their reaction he decided to walk around the truth.
He told them he was an adventurer... searching for a safe place, now that his home was gone...
They didn't believe that either though, saying that there was no safe place anywhere. Whether below or above the surface...
Those who were above apparently either risk their lives or just give up on them...
He went straight to the main question. What's the whole story?
Why is the planet so... desolate?
They still looked annoyed whenever he asked that. Mainly Kevin and Lily.
Emma and Bart looked more confused.
Bart - Mr, even we know about the great fall... how can you not know?
Otto - The great fall huh... Well sorry but I don't remember.
Emma - Ooh! I get it! You probably start losing your it! His head's half empty!
Kevin - Apparently but still. If you are trying to fool us, you'll be forced on your way out.
Otto nodded a bit offended
Lily - You ask why mother earth is like this... Well for us it's never been anything else... I was born into this world myself amid turf war between the clans, vying for survival...
Kevin - Same here. My mother died shortly after I was born... amd later in life, my father was killed and dragged away by those creatures... We sometimes even had to commit disgusting deeds so we aren't killed off...
There was a painful silence after that...
Otto - And you two?
Lily - They are orphans, their parents... died from violent bandits. We try to help as much as we can... but food is less and less with each year...
The message was the same though : Life is sad, life is a bust, all one can do is whatwone must... for their own survival and survival of their families, yet all of them realise that eventually the planet they were on would die...
Otto - Well you did pretty well so far. Congrats... So the biosphere here is dead, it may take several lifetimes for it to recover... and by then the population is crashed... is this the only reason you don't go outside?
They looked at each other before Lily says
„Those things are out there, checking out areas from time to time... killing and kidnaping people"
Emma - Yeah they say some are flying in sky and you can't move once they catch you on spot! Some are like huge beast-like eaters!
Bart - And some are all muscled ladies!
Otto - Rumours or you seen them?
Lily - Seen very much, we even have a few of 'em here.
Lily then took the box nearby and opened it. It had a glass box inside too... with a Jasper gem.
And it clicked! He had a guess now what's going on...
He is on a post-colonised planet...
Where the Diamond successfully unalived Earth...
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This apocalyptic earth is kind of like SU Bad Prediction, almost, where Earth is slowly dying with it's inhabitants quietly go insane together unless colonisers come and take them away. It's like The Road 2009, just with alien occupying force from across stars.
The chapter' shorter than I thought but it'll have a follow up soon. Till then...
STAY TUNED FOR MORE!