Years after Michelle's death, Tommy Rick had grown in age and maturity. He wasn't that little kid who wanted the attention of his brother anymore. Heck, he even joined the military police where Michelle used to be, but this part tells a different story.
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1342 AD, Tommy Rick was convicted for the death of his father, even though he didn't do it. He was held captive on a military ship. The ship wasn't owned by a military police, but a military army. 11 years had passed since Michelle's death and the military police had lost quite a number of members in the war including the former Squad 5 members, Dick Gaading who died out of illness in 1334 AD, Pat Lyod who died because he was betrayed by his doctor in 1332 AD, who turned out to be a spy, and Bogdan Minkov who died in a war in 1337 AD. Rob Buck and Roger Jr. from Green Barrier both defected and joined the military police. Rob Buck was tired of James Cornwall's orders, Roger Jr. acted as an informant and he still went to his original side occasionally to gain information.
Meanwhile in the ship, Tommy sat down and looked through the window. As he felt by the wind, he believed that the ship was going north. With only a dim light acting as a lamp, he started thinking on how to get out of the ship. The door was closed and all of his equipments were looted. He only looked at his surroundings, trying to find something that could possibly help him get out of the ship.
He tried to look for things that could help him but before he got to it, a guard opened the door. Tommy quickly went back to what he was normally doing.
"Tommy Rick, here's your meal", said the guard.
"Thank you." said Tommy, "By the way, where am I going, though? Why is the direction north?" asked Tommy.
"You're ordered to be exiled to Blue Barrier", said the guard.
Tommy thought for a moment, then he realized that he didn't want it, but he went on with the answer, anyway.
"Alright, sir, got it", said Tommy.
"Well, then, I'll see you soon", said the guard.
Tommy ate the food that the guard gave to him. It was delicious and Tommy thought he was being served as a king. After he had eaten his food, he didn't want to waste time, so he tried to craft whatever things inside the room. The room where Tommy was held captive in was a medium-sized room with a lot of empty spaces. There was a toilet, a sink, and a bed in a single room. Tommy thought that there was nothing left, but he finally got an idea. The spoon and fork that the guard gave to him could be a potential tool. He bent one point of the fork so it would shape like a torsion wrench. Before he could try and open the door, there was a key sound at the other side of the door and it turned out to be a guard. Tommy put the spoon and fork behind him.
"Finished the food? Let me bring that." said the guard, "Eh? Where does the spoon and fork go?"
Tommy thought for a moment, and he thought it was a good chance to show off his fighting skills.
"Hey, where are the spoon and the fork?" asked the guard.
Tommy smiled.
"It's in your nose!" Tommy stood up and kicked the guard's chin up. Then, Tommy turned the guard's body around and grabbed the guard by the neck and the mouth. The guard couldn't say anything and he choked. After a couple of seconds, the guard went unconscious.
"Damn, I didn't need to use the utensils at all, but at least it was a good set up." said Tommy, "Thanks for giving me a very delicious food. I'll leave the key here to pay for your kindness", said Tommy to the unconscious guard as he left the door and closed it.
Tommy had to initialize stealth as he couldn't attract even a single attention. He wasn't armed at that time and he would be dead if he made the wrong move. The ship had an inside which was very complex, full of doors, and could potentially surprise him. He tried to move slowly, walking from heel to toe in order to suppress noise. In minutes, he found a window which couldn't be opened but at least he could see the outside. He saw Grey Barrier from there and he continued his stealth. This was where it gets tough. He went up to the outside and saw guards. It was lucky that the ship wasn't just an open area, there were actually many stacked boxes which could help Tommy hide. He wanted to jump to the water but he saw a boat beside the ship. To get to it, Tommy had to distract the guards near the ladder.
Tommy tried to get closer but he had no idea on how to pass them so he waited. According to the moon's position, Tommy knew that it was 04:30 AM. He got to hurry because in the morning, he would easily be spotted by the guards, but he had no idea. Just as he was about to try and knock the guards out, the alarm rang.
"Warning! Warning! Tommy Rick has broken loose! I repeat, Tommy Rick has broken loose!" said a guard on the tower.
"This is my chance", said Tommy in his mind.
He waited for the guards to leave first. After that, he went on. Before he got to it, the guards turned on spotlights everywhere. Tommy got delayed again.
"Damn, what should I do?" asked Tommy to himself.
He thought for a moment, then he got a brilliant idea.
"I can grab on here, and go sideways until I reach the ladder", said Tommy in his mind. He meant to grab on the edge in order to avoid the spotlights.
He wanted to grab on the edge, but the spotlight moved.
"Damnit!" He quickly backed off and tried to evade the light.
He waited for a couple of seconds so the spotlight would move. After the spotlight had moved, Tommy went back to grab on the edge.
He dropped his right leg first and turned his body so that he could adjust. After that, he dropped the remaining leg. He struggled to grab on because the edge was a bit slippery but he got it, anyway.
Once he already held on the edge, he tried to move to the left in order to reach the ladder. It was quite hard because it used a lot of energy in his hands. It took him a full minute in order to reach the ladder even though the distance was only around a meter. He went down the ladder and got to the boat. Then, he cut the rope that held boat and went on. He looked at the ship one last time. He looked at the time and it showed 04:47 AM so it was safe. He finally went to the barrier.
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That's the most unfortunate part for Tommy. Yes, he was still in Grey Barrier, but didn't he think of how long the ship had gone? He didn't know that he was in the northern part of Grey Barrier so the area was still strange to him. What would happen in there, anyway?
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Once Tommy reached the shore, he first looted whatever remained in the ship. Then, he quickly went on. He didn't care at first but he was surprised as soon as he realized that he was in a different place. Yes, he went to the beach before but this beach was different than the beach near his place. The trees' alignment were different, that was what made Tommy surprised.
He went on and on for a very long distance by occasionally running and walking. He only ate fruits, drank whatever source of water that he could find, avoided wild animals and so on until the sun already rose up. It was 07:08 AM and he hadn't found signs of people. At this moment, he was in a thick forest. Tommy was surprised to find that the wind was hard and leaves blew off in many directions. He was stuck in there because of how thick the forest was and he went on again.
He found an entrance to an underground cave. Tommy was curious about the cave and he decided to look around. Before he went down, someone came.
"I wouldn't enter that cave unarmed, you won't survive there", an unknown person came and said that to Tommy.
Tommy looked at the person. The guy was around 1 cm shorter than him but the guy could carry something big. He thought that the guy was a native from the place.
"Hi, are you a native from this place?", asked Tommy.
"Of course. This place is near my hometown. I come here now and then to keep an eye on the entrance. A friend of mine asked me to", said the person.
"My name is Tommy Rick, I'm also from Grey Barrier but in the southwestern part. As I got here, I was surprised to know I was in a different place. What is your name?" asked Tommy.
"My name is Nelson Patricia. Nice to meet you, Tommy", said the man, who turned out to be none other than Nelson Patricia.
"Nice to meet you...uh...Nelson", said Tommy.
"Call me Patty, haha", said Patty while laughing a bit.
"Oh, okay, nice to meet you, Patty", said Tommy again.
"You look tired, Tommy. Come with me and I'll show you our town", said Patty.
"Uh, alright, man", said Tommy.
Tommy and Patty went back to the town. While on the way...
"Patty, is that a sword behind you?", asked Tommy.
"Oh, yes, it is. What about it?", asked Patty.
"Hmm, it just looked like it could be heavy", said Tommy.
"Oh, does it bother you that much? This is a runesword. A runesword is a sword with runes carved on it. Once the wielder reads the rune, they would get special powers. This right here is one of them. Yes, it was heavy before I read the rune but once I read it, it wasn't heavy anymore, my body kind of adapted to it. Anyway, it was 17 years ago. You look like in your early twenties", said Patty.
"Oh, yes, I am", said Tommy.
After the talk, they finally arrived at the town.
"What a town....", said Tommy, surprised.
"You'll find it comfortable here", said Patty.
Tommy looked at him.
"It's different than ours. Our place has future technology", said Tommy.
"I heard about that story. We're also currently adapting, together with the whole northern part of Grey Barrier. In time, we might have the same technology as yours", said Patty.
In the middle of talk, someone came.
"Patty, you brought a stranger, care to tell me who his name is?", said an unknown person.
"This is Tommy Rick. He's from the southwestern part of Grey Barrier", said Patty.
"Oh, the futuristic area? Good to see you, my name is Nikobi Cross. You can call me Cross", said the man, who turned out to be Nikobi Cross.
"Uh, Cross, you look like a hunter", said Tommy, surprised with Crokss' looks.
"Haha, I know you're centuries ahead, no doubt that you haven't seen an archer. See you later, guys", said Cross as he left to roam around.
Meanwhile, Patty guided Tommy to a place where they could sit down.
"Patty, I need weapons", said Tommy.
"You're in the right place", Patty went somewhere.
Tommy waited for Patty as he sat there, thinking.
After a couple of seconds, Patty came back with a heavy box.
"I'm surprised that the box is still heavy for you", said Tommy while grinning.
"What kind of a crazy lunatic that puts runes in a box?" said Patty.
"Remember, millions of alternate reality exists and that could be one of them", said Tommy. They both laughed.
As Patty put the box, Tommy began to look for weapons.
"We don't have anything that you have so, take whatever is comfortable for you", said Patty.
Tommy kept looking for weapons. Then, Tommy came with something.
"Hmm, are you sure about that?" asked Patty.
"I love light weapons, so are pistols", said Tommy.
Tommy picked up a dagger.
Then, Tommy thought about something.
"Hey, Tommy, are you okay?" asked Patty.
Tommy went silent for a moment.
"I want to return home", said Tommy.
"We don't have any kind of transportation so it would take a long road. You should stay here for a couple of years. If you want to go back now, I'll come with you, I want to learn some your technologies", said Patty.
Tommy thought for a moment. Then, he thought since he had no family left, he could stay in here for a while. When he got captured, he already said farewell to his comrades so he had nothing to worry about.
"Alright, Patty, I'll stay here", said Tommy.
"Great choice", said Patty.
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Tommy decided to stay in the place. It's surprising that he stayed in the northern part of Grey Barrier, having no clue that many years after that, they would become two of the five founders of Arcana Defenders. For the next one, I'll tell you about how our dimension works.
To be continued.
Author's note:
"Tommy Rick finished! If you like this story, please vote and comment, I appreciate any of them so much, see you in the next part!"