Chief of Police: If a fracture hits our city we will have a big problem. The few guardians living here are low level and most of them are here to actively avoid fighting in fractures.
Mayor: We barely have enough budget to keep to streets from crumbling. I don’t think we have anything to offer to those guardians that would actually be helpful to protect Birchtail.
Protocol Birchwood townhall meeting, January 2217
----------------------------------------
Driven by the fear of getting ripped apart by a flock of demon-geese Robert is running through the alleys near the night market. He can only hope that their fear inducing squawks don’t attract more of them, like the crow said. A third one has already joined the hunt.
One of the geese gets close enough and snaps for his leg with its beak getting its teeth hooked in the fabric of his pants. Robert stumbles and slows down enough for the other two to jump on his back and dig their claws into his back though the jacket. They snap for his head and rip a few hair out.
Completely thrown off balance Robert falls to the ground and rolls over the asphalt. He scrambles away from the two geese that got dislodged from his back by the fall and kicks at the one on his leg. This gives him just enough time to get back on his feet and start running again.
While they are faster than him running in a straight line they have some trouble keeping up around obstacles or corners. So Robert tries to get whatever is in the street between them. Taking tight corners around parked cars, jumping over rusting fences and pulling trash bins over in the path of the pursuing demons.
There must be something he can do. He has just killed a guardian by himself, for crying out loud, and those damn geese are just playing some mind tricks on him. Then he sees a slightly ajar iron gate leading to the backyard of a big housing complex. Let’s hope the hinges still move.
He slips through the gate and pulls it close after him just as one of the demons came after him, crushing its neck in the process. The others tried to squeeze through the iron bars but only their necks could fit so they snapped after Robert with their beaks. The body of the first one is still randomly jerking around while its head is hanging limp from the gate. It takes Robert a few attempts to hit each of the other two heads with a good kick and take them out that way.
He leans with his back against the wall of the building to catch his breath and pulls out his phone again.
Next to the dead demon-birds a familiar crow appears again. “Only three of them. Looks like you are lucky today. A shame you didn’t get anything for killing them.”
That fuelled the rage in Robert that is usually just simmering in his stomach. “You don’t want to understand it, do you?” he said to the crow. “I don’t want to make a contract with you! I don’t want to be a guardian! All I want is to kill the guardians for killing my wife and my daughter!”
“They will eventually just kill you. You know that right?” the crow says unimpressed by Robert’s outburst. After a moment of silence it adds “Or is that what you want, die the same way your family did, by the hands of a guardian?”
Robert glares at the crow for some long seconds but stays silent before he looks at his phone. The bunker he was heading to is not yet marked as full. In fact it shows as open in the app. That’s not a good sign. But it’s the best he’s got for now.
The phone also shows a roughly circular area on the city map marking the fracture. Unlike the second and first tear cities, third tier cities rarely have barriers around single buildings. So instead Birchtail build a big one to block off an entire district. And since they still function the same as the ones in the second and first tier cities, he is stuck in here until the core of the fracture gets destroyed.
Between that and the crow pestering him it costs Robert some effort not to smash his phone against the wall. He puts it away again, takes a deep breath and continues his way to the bunker.
Robert runs through a few more back alleys until he finally gets to the building. There is nothing special about it. It was probably used as an office building of sorts. He opens the door and cautiously walks into the empty reception hall but stops after only a few steps. The outside of the reception desk looks normal but the chair behind it is knocked over and covered in blood.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The crow appeared next to Robert again, looks at the carnage, raises an eyebrow and without saying a single word rubs it in that my plan to reach a bunker was a failure. The reason why this bunker is still marked as open is that it’s not save. There is probably an entire flock of those birds running around the building somewhere if they are not sitting directly inside the open bunker.
Robert rubs his good hand over his face and then backs up towards the door to get out of the building as quietly as possible.
Back outside he looks around the neighbouring buildings to find one that looks save enough to wait out the fracture. Panic is rising inside him because he knows any moment more of those demons could find him.
He decides to try his luck in one of the apartment buildings.
The Crow is still following him around everywhere he goes to latch onto him with this cursed contract. “Just let me know when you’ve made up your mind to not die in this fracture.” it seems to be getting a little annoyed by now.
Robert ignores it and makes his way to the building he chose. An underpass leads to the backside of the building with some parking lots. Some of the apartments have a small balcony facing in that direction.
Climbing up on the outside of the balconies takes some effort with his burned hand but eventually he makes it over the railing on the second floor and sits down. The glass door leading into the apartment is locked but being up here will hopefully give some measure of protection.
Robert is using this moment to finally check on his burns. The right hand up to the wrist, where the jacket starts, is bright red and sporting a few big blisters. The reflection of the glass door is showing something similar for his right ear and temple. Some of his hair was burned off by Spark’s attack as well and a small trickle of blood has dried leading from the jacket up his neck to where the demon geese had ripped out some hair. The burns don’t look too bad and should hopefully heal over given a bit of time and maybe some ointment.
The crow is sitting on the railing and alternately looks down on Robert and the parking lot below. “You know, with the birds we saw before in this fracture there are likely some that can fly as well. This balcony might not be as secure as you think it is.”
Robert’s eyes widen a bit at that revelation. After a few more seconds of silence he crouches behind the railing and looks out into the sky. The opaque railing gives him some cover from being seen. He can spot something moving in the distance but it’s too far away to make out what it is. And the slight shimmer in the air from the dome-like barrier makes it even harder.
“I could break in the glass door and get some cover in there.” Robert says half to himself.
“Yes, but that’s noisy and who knows what’s inside.” The crow replies “Do you really want to risk that? There is another way to be saver.”
“Even if I take your offer, there is no guarantee that it would help me through the fracture.”
“No, you are right. There isn’t a way to tell what manner of magic and skills you will get from your reality warp. But I’m sure you could make good use of whatever it will be. Don’t you think you could do a better job than the other guardians?”
“You just won’t give up on that, will you?”
The crow looks at Robert for a moment like it is thinking about something, then it answers “Why would I? It’s not like you have anything better to do.”
“Why me then? You said you heard about me before. From whom?”
“From the fae who’s contractors you killed of cause, among others. And someone who is able to kill guardians without the system? I’m curious what you’ll be able to do with the system.”
“And because of that you are now pestering me like a salesman for data-sec.” Robert grumbles at the crow.
“I’m not sure what a salesman for data-sec is but it sounds like they are persistent and persuasive.” it replies emitting a smugness that fuels the cold fire in Robert’s stomach that drives him on since his family died.
“I could still just stab you.”
“Say, how good a shot are you with that weapon of yours?”
“Why? Is that how you want me to get rid of you?”
“No, look down.” the crow nods in he direction of the parking lot. Robert follows its look down to the where someone is running from a pair of geese. A girl with long dark hair wearing some dirty clothes that are partially ripped.