System001
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Chapter 2
“Raaaargh”
A medium sized golden brown hammer danced through the air. The hammer covered in a light red glow, which was undoubtedly created by the man's Aura; or Aurora as some liked to call it. The hammer hit it’s mark, the circular face crushing into the humanoid beasts temple, sending it reeling from the tremendous amount of force used.
“Wow nice one Agito, I still don’t get how you can swing that giant war hammer with such speed”
“Eh, years of practice I guess. You’re one to talk, I can’t even keep up with the speed of some of your movements.”
Agito. He was a tall man, of a rather medium build not being lanky despite being roughly 6 feet tall. His face was rough and was lightly tanned, no rather he was mixed. His forid was was rugged, having several contours of wrinkles, probably created by stress however these were hidden by the locks of his curly afro like scarlet red hair that dropped down onto his forehead. His chin was covered in stubble. If I were to judge by his face alone, I’d say he was easily in his late 20’s, however his demeanour and eyes clearly showed a naivety that gave away the fact that he was much younger than he looked, probably his late teens or early twenties. I’d met him earlier today and for some reason he’d insisted that I’d call him by his first name. Probably to break the Ice. It was the first day of the expedition, most of us had gone to scout around the area, get used to the environment, the equipment, and simply familiarise ourselves with the situation we were in. Despite us being cast into a deathtrap, I allowed myself to at least relax on the first day, although the unspoken tension still lingered within the atmosphere; it was likely that everyone was feeling the same way.
A light crunching sound was produced as I stepped on the dead foliage of the bracken.
“Uhh, It’s just practice I guess, anyway what should we do now?”
“Urm, well we’re still in a Green Zone...”
The Green Zone, it was a depiction of a relatively safe area. On our informant cells, all sorts of data and information about Earth was stored. It was gathered and collected by the previous generations, when they found something, they mapped it and documented it on their informant pods. The information was then broadcasted back to a machine located at the starting point. Allowing the data to be saved for generations to come. Out here, your informant pod was invaluable, especially in the starting stages. On the Map, all sorts of necessary information could be gathered, like the temperature and weather of surrounding areas, something that was greatly needed out here, as weather would change within moments. One minute you're in a frozen wonderland, the next you’re in a desert worse than the Sahara. Information on the danger levels of each area was also given, Green Zones had relatively few beasts, they were safe for the most part however it was still far from being normal, death in the Green Zone was still highly possible. While Yellow Zones were like torture compared to Green Zones. Venturing into a Yellow Zone was extremely dangerous, and something we’d have to do more and more as we progressed further in. The monsters here were much more dangerous and hostile, the terrain itself was unforgiving and merciless. Red Zones. Red Zones were truly like something out of some hellish nightmare story. The thought of a Red Zone sent shivers down most peoples backs. Then, then there was the Blue Zone. These were mystery areas, either because they’re undiscovered, or because their a step above the Red Zones in the hell department. A group might have went in to map the area of a Blue Zone, however they were wiped out instantly that, or they discovered some sort of paradise. One of the only things that could be better than a Green Zone, or worse than a Red Zone, was a Blue Zone. Lastly there were the black and white zones. White zones were completely safe, coming across a White zone would probably become a dream for most people, however the Black Zones were the worst of the worst. The whole of the 5000 km inner field was classed as either a Red Zone or Black zone even though it was unexplored. It was likely that a lot of the Blue Zones were also Black Zones.
“Like hell we’re going into a Yellow Zone on the first day Agito. Don’t even try and suggest it, you know that it’ll spell death for the both of us.
“Well...I guess you’re right, sorry. I was just a bit agitated is all.”
The fact that Agito even thought of going into a Yellow Zone this early on seemed crazy however I could only utter a half assed reply.
“Yeah...”
We continued to explore through the rest of the day.It was vital that we kept our guard up even if we were only in a Green Zone. It was impossible to tell what sorts of dangerous plants, or hazardous gasses there were in the vicinity. During our explorations we came across all sorts of freaky, weird, and scary things. For instance, the less dangerous things such as a plant made of stone that was seemingly growing, a willow like tree that mimicked our hand and arm movements, and a hoard of flowers that literally sang. We also came across the more dangerous things, such as giant carnivorous plants. It was extremely hard to believe that this was the same Earth that are ancestors had lived on hundreds of years ago, or the same earth that we saw in text documents and presentations. It really did seem like a new world. Though I guess it was only natural. Over time, things changed. They grew. Though I still couldn’t help but wonder. If we succeeded, and humanity returned to earth, even though the majority of the beasts would be gone, how would we be able to live in such a strange, foreign and dangerous environment. The beasts would die, but the plants would remain. Was this really still our planet? It sure didn’t look like it. No matter how you looked at it, Humans returning to this Earth, as it was now, seemed utterly impossible. Was I fighting in vain?
I couldn’t help but voice my last question out loud, strangely enough, Agito responded.
“I know what you’re thinking, but I think there’s a way. There always is. Who knows, maybe when we destroy the crystals the Earths time will be rewinded, and nature on this planet will return to the way it was 600 years ago. But, I believe that it’s possible, no matter how bad it seems now, something will change, I just know it.”
What Agito said made sense. It was fundamental thinking, yet it held a level of clairvoyance that made me believe that there was still hope. Just maybe.
“Tatsumi, it’s getting late now, the suns starting to set...”
“Yeah, we should start heading back”
Being out here while it was dark didn’t seem like an inviting prospect, so we decided to loop round back to starting point. At this point in time, Starting point was a huge camp. Housing all 30,000 people of the western expedition. Since it was the first week, it would be safer to travel together, at least until we grew accustomed to life out here. Then, eventually we start the march forwards, however for now, we all took turns guarding the camp so that everyone could rest, or simply socialize. Knowing the right people out here would eventually become crucial to survival. For most people anyways...
“Hey Kaito, do you see that?!”
Agito had broken me from my train of thought. It’d had been a while since anyone had called me by my first name, I was slightly shocked to say the least.
“Huh, what?”
“Switch to thermal vision, there’s something over there, in those bushes, I’m telling you, it’s freaking huge.”
Thermal vision, it was one of the many gadgets at our disposal. We each wore contact lenses, designed to last for years. They allowed us the use of various types of vision, thermal vision, night vision, Infrared vision and countless more types of sight. Not only that but they were capable of displaying vital information, such as a small bar in the top left corner which dictated how long our life crystals had until they ran out. There was also a small diagram that made it possible to see if we were injured, and where we were injured. I continued to quickly blink, switching to thermal vision... There it was, to our left, roughly a hundred meters away, a goliath humanoid beast. Probably four or five meters tall. It had a pair of gargantuan horns that curled backwards down by it’s neck. We could probably dispatch it, however we’d most certainly take injuries. Even though we were probably far more powerful than the being individually, we lacked something vital, experience.
“Agito...”
“Yeah?”
“RUN!”
I kicked off of the ground with tremendous force, swiveling in the air so as to turn myself around a full 180 degrees. Darting through the undergrowth, the wind coursing against me as I ran as fast as I could. Agito was besides me...good he’d managed to keep up. If we kept this pace we’d easily outrun the beast. I could hear it behind me, the ground shaking as it pelted after us. Several times I felt like I was going to be flung to the side by the miniature earthquakes caused by it’s steps. But it was okay. We would almost be far away from it, just a little more time and it wouldn’t be capable of closing the gap we created. That is until I saw a dark blur in my peripheral vision, something darting backwards in the opposite direction. It was Agito.
He’d most likely tripped and fallen over, at this rate the beast would be upon us in seconds, I couldn’t leave him behind, I had to save him. With a single kick I reversed, charging towards Agito. The humanoid goat like beast was grasping a huge sword, it was most likely intelligent. In but a few moments it’d cleave down it’s sword, and the unknowing Agito would be cleaved in half. FASTER. I had to run faster, I could make it, if I could just intercept it’s sword swing. Just a bit more. I was almost there, my hand was firmly gripped around my sword. Success. I’d managed to position myself between Agito and the Beast, raising my sword and holding it in a horizontal manner. Positioning my body so as to tank the downward sword swing of the beast. But, it went wrong. I’d misjudged the strength of the beast, I was off-balance, and my posture was completely incorrect, in this position I wouldn’t be able to absorb the blow, however if I moved Agito would suffer the consequences. If only the beasts swing had been a bit slower, I could have positioned myself better. I struggled, I knew I could overpower the enemy, however in this stance I was completely off guard. All I could do was push with all my might and hope to somehow avert it’s gigantic sword. However it was futile. In but a few moments the sword would cleave through my guard, it’d slice through my chest, and continue it’s downwards descent until Agito was also torn and strewn in different directions. I watched as the muscles of the beast rippled, it let out a intense roar, and I knew that this would be my last moments. Crap, if only we'd fought it head on, it would’ve been different, maybe a injury or two but nothing too bad probably just a scratch or overworked ligament. But it was too late now. I was going to die...
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