For many years, the Haven was untouched; a pristine, yet broken, sanctuary of society. There was nothing more beyond the walls of Reach's End, as far as its citizens were concerned. One day, that assumption met an end; but, of course, the story never starts there.
It was a quiet and sunny morning in Remedy Fields when a young woman was summoned to the temple. When she arrived, she found it cramped and somewhat... rotten; the woman felt and heard every step she took on its stone plates like the screams of Prometheus, and felt the strong odour of the mask the templar used to conceal his face, made from the remains of an Arcanik, one of the Haven's strongest predators.
"Greetings, Erix." The templar said. "I assume you know why you're here?"
"I don't. Why am I here?" she answered.
"Recently, someone has gone missing. Name was Thorn, common farmer; she is not here, and I suspect she has been kidnapped." he continued, with a heavy look in what Erix could see of his eyes.
"And I must find her? Is that what you're asking me to do?"
"Your assumption is correct, Ms. Rene. I suspect Kerrephaj may be a good place to start looking." All her memories of Thorn came back to her head--she couldn't quite remember her appearance, but remembered Thorn as a kind, though rebellious, automaton.
"So you don't know where she even is?" Erix had a fearful look as she realised she was questioning an Elder; someone of her caste had no chance of getting away with that, she thought. The woman quickly retracted her statement.
"Anyhow, this is not a request. Do not even think of returning to this beautiful village until the subject has been rescued." he communicated, with surprising calm for someone who had just exiled a citizen.
Erix visibly sighed, but kept her cool. "And what do I have to do this with?" In the Haven, you could never take a task of this caliber without ending up in at least one fight, and she had intimate knowledge of that. If she had to rescue Thorn with a simple HTG-19 Hardsuit and a ZX Quantum Pistol, the woman might have actually aimed it at herself.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
"You will be provided with an HTG-19 Hardsuit and a ZX Quantum Pistol." Bloody hell. She was re-assured by reminding herself she at least got a gun.
Before sprinting out the gates of Remedy Fields, she remembered the golden rule of the Haven: always check you're the same person you were yesterday. In her younger years, the woman thought this was a metaphor, but having lived near the capital, she quickly realised the "automaton replacement" policies of the Guild weren't as much of a myth as she was told. And so she picked up the nearest mirror shard--any discrepancies that couldn't be explained away would be a serious problem.
Erix Rene looked at her reflection and noted her physical features: blue eyes, long and flowing white hair, light brown skin, a rather thin structure, and typical farmgear attire (all the style of an old farm, and shockingly, an actual home in one). Nothing was different about her, other than the equipment of unparalleled quality she had been given. She sprinted out of the grass of Remedy Fields and started running towards the capital.
For the first time in her life, she was out. She took a deep breath and looked around her. Unfortunately, this part of the Haven was mostly scrap metal with the occasional flora; in the stretches of land between the Eighteen Cities, it seemed like no one put much thought into preservation. When every second of your life was tracked and one moment overdue resulted in a physical reaction, who could afford that much time?
Walking through the roads, she observed some plants had grown inside the plates and picked a singular maidenhair fern from it. Erix heard the sound of constant and never-ending ticking and wondered what the clock could even be marching towards. The smell of the Haven was as the land: partly the worst thing you ever laid your nostrils upon, and partly the pearly gates themselves.
For every passing hour, and for every passing minute, it became an acquired taste. This was how the outside would be, and this was how people lived. Nothing would ever feel quite like Remedy Fields, especially where the Guild has control, but it was close--it was almost refreshing in a way. As long as she stayed here, there wouldn't be change.
However, she had to march on, and what both Erix and the templar that assigned her this mission overestimated was the endurance of the human body. Tired after a whole day of nothing but walking to eventually reach Kerrephaj, she got an idea, though did not know what its difficulty would be.
The woman would take some nearby discarded scrap and wood, light a fire, and hope to dear Eeyr that her adventure would not meet a quick and painful end through falling metal as she slept through the night. Erix knew that, coming from the Labourer caste in an independent settlement, no one would get her to the capital faster than herself, so that was the best course of action for surviving a night.
Although it took hours, and it was a miracle she didn't get knocked unconscious half-way through, she got a tent and a bonfire. It wasn't much, but it was something, and she laid down in the piercing grass and drifted off to sleep.