As the bus approaches the outskirts of the town, a man wearing a pair of oversized gloves was standing by the side of the road. The bus slowed and as the bus passed him, the ceremonial guard of the town gave a wave to the driver. Cody saw Luis waving back before speeding up into town.

There was a cluster of buildings near the outskirts of the town, and all of them were old shops and houses. The whole place looked like a mess and Cody knew that few of the houses were occupied. He watched as the streets became more and more familiar.

After the outskirts, the houses were more densely packed with more shops and other businesses. There were signs of life as a few people are walking along the streets, going about their business. The bus reaches the town square and pulls up outside a small grocery store. This was the last stop of the night.

Cody got off the bus with the reminder of the students and a crisp chill embraced him. He looked to his left and the moon was hanging low on the horizon. Night was here and Cody could see the frosty clouds his breath was making. The bus immediately pulls away the moment the students were all off. It looks like Luis could not wait to get back to the city and Cody do not blame him.

Slamptown was a dump.

A tiny town located near a big metropolis, Slamptown was like that relative no one speaks about during the family gathering. Everyone just wanted to pretend he does not exist, and in a way, Slamptown does not. Slamptown was a non-entity. It did not have a dojo, a doctor, or even a school. So, it was easy for people to pretend the town did not exist.

The rest of the students who got off the bus with Cody wandered off. There was a little park to one side, and several small stores around the square, including a bookstore, a pharmacy, and a small grocery store. The students would wander around the square, just relaxing and enjoying the evening air before going home. Cody would join them sometimes but after the incident earlier in the day, he just wanted to go home. He waved goodbyes to some of the students he knew and began his walk home.

Ten minutes later, Cody reached his home. It was a small house with a barn that his father had converted into a repair shop. There was an old junkyard a few miles from Slamptown and many residents of the town would occasionally go there in the hope of finding something of value. The scavengers were not always successful, but occasionally someone would find something that could be repaired, and they would bring the items to his father. His father, Chuck, used to be a member of a Sect and never lost his skills in the repair of cultivation machinery. Cody could hear the distinct sound of metal being cut coming from the barn.

The noise was one reason why their nearest neighbour was over a kilometre away.

Cody ignored the noise coming from the barn and head to the house. He opened the front door and saw his mother in the kitchen. Nancy was a heavyset woman and unlike Chuck, she never pretended to be slim and beautiful in her youth. His mother was a woman comfortable in her skin, and she gave Cody a big smile when she saw him.

“How was school today?”

It was an experience but there was no way Cody was telling his mother that. So, he lied. “It was boring. Everyone is just marking time till the end of the year when they graduate.”

“You mean everyone is trying their best to improve their cultivation so that they can have a better life after graduation.”

Cody rolled his eyes. His mother, like Mr Frank, was a believer in hard work trumping over talent. “Right, of course. How could I not remember that? Dad’s in the barn.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes. Go get him and tell him dinner is in five minutes. And tell him this time, he better be washed up before coming to the table. Or else!”

“I just walked in?”

“And you can now walk out. Go!” Nancy said before turning back to the kitchen.

His mother did not raise her voice, but Cody knows that tone. It was the tone his mother used when she brooked no argument. Cody gave a loud sigh, and quickly got out of the house before his mother could turn back to glare at him.

Cody walked to the barn and the sound he heard earlier was still audible. Chuck was still hard at work.

“Hey Chuck! Nancy says dinner is in five.” Cody shouted as he entered the barn. Like most workshops, the barn was filled with half-completed projects, piles of scraps, and various pieces of heavy machinery. His father, Chuck Harder, saw him entered and stopped working. Chuck was a large mature man with short black hair that was showing signs of grey, and a face with a short stubble around his mouth and chin. He also has the physique of someone who used to be strong but had let himself go later in life.

“What did you say?”

“Dinner in five. And Her Supreme Empress, better known as your wife, says you need to wash up before dinner. Or else!”

“Or else what?”

“I have no idea. You can ask her later if you have the balls.” Cody dared.

“Oh please. I’m brave, not suicidal.” Chuck scoffed.

“You are brave?” Cody asked in disbelief.

Chuck just gave his son another scoff before bringing the piece of metal he was cutting to a strange metal frame sitting in the middle of the barn. The frame looked like a piece of worn-out metal but shaped in a way that made no sense to Cody. Cody had never seen it before, and his curiosity was piqued.

“What is this?”

“No idea,” Chuck admitted. “Your cousin Avery, remember him? Anyway, he picked this up at the junkyard a few weeks ago and brought it here.”

“You bought it off him?”

“Yup.”

“You just said you have no idea what it is.”

“It only cost me a few dollars. I was curious and besides, your cousin needed the money. Never seen anything like it, and I could get the money back in scrap if I can’t figure out what it is for.”

“Is this metal frame valuable? If it is, why not just sell it?”

“It might be worth something more than scrap.” Chuck pointed at the far end of the barn turned workshop. “Since I bought it, the scavengers at the junkyard found two other frames. They were all made of steel, carbon fibre, and some other metals I don’t recognize. The humans must have made these frames for something.”

That caught Cody up short. His father has been in the scrap and resale business for years, mostly dealing in metals and repairing old cultivation devices, and there was almost no metal he had not seen before.

“You don’t recognize the metal?”

“Now you know why I bought it.” Chuck said with a nod. “Avery says he went deep into the yard to get this. And considering how strange and weird it is, I believe him.”

“Where did you get the other two frames? Avery?”

“That’s right. He and some friends found them. Nice, right?”

Chuck meant the frame in front of Cody and nice wasn’t the word he would use to describe it. However, the frame was strange and unique. It was dirty, rusty, and looked like it could break at any moment. However, Cody could feel a strange aura from it. A feeling came over him. Cody reached out and touched the metal frame.

In the future, people would ask Cody why he did it. Why did he touch the frame? What made him put his Essence in it?

Cody would not be able to give them an answer. Cody would say he just felt like it was the right thing to do, so he did it. He was right. Cody reached down to the Essence within his body, and transfer some of it to the metal frame.

In an instant, he was no longer in the barn. He was somewhere else. He was someone else. He was no longer a boy without talent. No longer a young man restricted by the cultivation level he had.

He was free.

He could feel the wind in his face.

He could smell the grass, and the trees.

He could hear the sound of the ocean.

He turned his head to his left and saw the endless wide blue sea.

His senses felt heightened, like he could even notice the slightest change in temperature.

There was a rumble. He looked down and saw that he was on a vehicle. A vehicle full of raw power and strength. It was between his legs and it was propelling him ever forward toward the horizon. He felt a deep appreciation and respect for the vehicle, a respect he never felt for the bus or the car.

Instinctively, he knew what the metal frame in the barn was.

It was the frame of a motorbike, a vehicle the humans used to travel like buses, cars and planes. Unlike other modes of transport which had withstood the changing of the age, the motorbike never made the transition to the Cultivation Age. It was an vehicle that had been forgotten.

Cody could not believe it.

How could they forget such greatness?