'Breath in...'

Carlos reapeated his mentor's teachings, carefully drawing the string on the ancient bow, an arrow notched, he focused and aimed at the rabbits burrow.

A twisted small body, a mesh of rabbit and machine, emerged out of the hole, its body worn down over the years, the pulsating runes rhythmically thumped, as if alive, came out of the small burrow, its blood stained brass claws made it clear, this wasn't an animal, 

'Breath out...'

The world stilled in front of Carlos' eyes, the only thing remaining was him, and the ruined rabbit.

~ 5 years ago

11 year old Carlos was sitting around an old man, many were there, listening to the teaching of the elder man, Mentor.

"What happened to your arm?!"

A younger, maybe six year old kid asked. The old man chucked, raising his right arm, a mesh of cogs, brass, and runes was meshed together with what was left of his right arm.

"Haha! That's quite rude young one! But since you asked..." Mentors smile slowly morphed into a grimace, his eyes glossing for a while, before the small girl tugged his leather pants.

" Ah, when I was young... A little over 16, a war started, you must have heard of it by now, the Ruined War..."

The younger children chattered around, this topic was not spoken of lightly, considered as the fall of the Ashborne Kingdom, the last... Kingdom.

Mentor continued, "I had been young, and stupid, I was dragged into the war, against unfathomably powerful beasts, not ones of flesh, but of metal...

The children awed at the words, but the man kept going, taking about how he and his squad carried out a mission of the kingdom to vanquish a large panther like creature,

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Carlos was immersed in Mentors story, but the end fascinated him,

"At the verge of death, I managed to grasp the Core of the Ruined panther, and disabled it, dying I went into a trance, and the cogs and brass assembled into the arm I have now!"

The children once a gained awed, but Carlos was skeptical, how could one make such a thing? Is mentor a Ruined?

Ruined Monsters and the Ruined are two different things, one is when, like Mentor, one has a core, and gets magical objects seemingly out of thin air.

Rumers of the ruined had spread far and wide, they possessed supernatural power, some have augmented physical capabilities, others are able to summon powerful energies out of, nothing. Though, they rarely go out to the small town Carlos lived in, apparently, after the war, a line between wilderness and civilization was drawn, and ruined monsters of a certain strength would not cross, because of the repercussions.

This lead to larger villages and the Factory, a super large village housing all the strong people, and maybe some Ruined.

One thing was sure, Carlos wanted such a power, to see if maybe, he could bring them back, all of them...

~ Today

Pewww!

The whistle of the arrow sailing through the air rung out, the Ruined rabbit, unshielded, tried to escape back into the burrow, but was two slow.

The arrow got wedged right into its abdomine, seizing the cogs which controlled its back right leg. Fueled by anger, the beast started to ram at the direction that the arrow camefrom, only to see the enimy gone.

Carlos hurredly, jumped up a tree, small ruined beasts like rabbits had a large field of vision, but its blind sight was up.

Carlos quickly notched the second arrow, and released it.

Pewwww!

Clank!

The arrow lodged into the main mechanism of the rabbit, and stopped it from functioning, though, the ruined rabbit would still run if it was repaired.

Carlos quickly snatched the machine and dislodged the core, it was a small, round orb, of which had dozens of runes inscribed on it. Carlos recalled mentors old tale, but quickly dismissed it.

Carlos quickly navigated back to the village, his skills in navigation were impressive first his age, mentor told him that if he were to keep training he might gain an epiphany, whatever that was.

He quickly scuttled over the wall of the village, the guards didn't notice him, it was illegal to bring ruined monsters of any kind in the village, a rule specifically made for him.

Carlos quickly entered his cabin, the door made of simple leather strips was a gift from the chief for his 16th birthday, the intricate designs put a well off leather worker to shame.

Click.

The ruined rabbit fell onto Carlos' oak ''investigation" table.

'What secrets do you hold?'

Carlos drew out his hammer.