Chapter 22
Sudden steps from the door revealed Dann, who wasn't smiling or talking, which was rare. He came to make it good enough, for his friend and himself and for no regrets to hunt them in the future. Saying goodbye was never a good feeling at this age, but they weren't about to say farewells. They weren't even dying, so there was nothing sinister behind his face.
“You said it right, Dann. I have no path ahead than to try.” Willam said.
“I never said that.”
“You said it was inevitable.”
“That, I said proudly. Why? You are a bloody Walker! All blood and dry. Your humor is like that. Terrible. Well, you should laugh more. Perhaps you would... well, anyway.”
William looked at him coldly. “Do you even know what is ahead of me? Do you even know what to do in my position?”
“You put me through private lessons.” Dann puffed his chest. “I know what to say/.”
“Which is?”
Dann tried to remember. “Something something affinity. Oh, right. You should hope that your Emblem is great with some tests! Some Walkers will look at you, and be all ''WHOA, this guy is great! I want him!'', isn't that right?”
William sighed and nodded. This was their truth Outside. A test was due to those fit for some recruitments, and he was being sent away for that purpose. Forced Awakening timing was about being right, and William was fit for one even with Luke or without him.
Due to his age and general disposition, Miss Anderson would send him out anyway.
“Then, smack all Darks with godlike Skills. Don't be sub-par in the examination...or, how was it again? Test? How could it be worse than here?” Dann reluctantly asked, scratching his head.
“Worse than listening to you? Oh, please, I would beg anyone to drag me away.” William said dryly.
Dann gave him a long look. “Was that an attempt for a joke?” He couldn't believe it and asked. “Say, was that about your parents... right? I can't help but ask, sorry.”
“Don't be. I don't know the specifics anyway, which you must know by now. After all, you.... was there. In that camp. In that darkness. You lost your family and we met by chance.”
“Yeah,” Dann said and an awkward moment soon followed.
“I know I am about to be tested, Dann. After this is over, I will know more and some anxiety will better disappear like my humanity, isn't that right? I will hunt you in your dreams instead!” William proclaimed and returned to his bag that had been with him for quite a few years. It was old, looking rugged but sturdy and without any holes.
“I know what you mean, William.” Dann lied and approached the window. “Does it sound good though? To go out and do your duty? I think I have been with you forever, but you are still yourself.”
“That's how it should be. Why I would be someone else?”
Dann shrugged.
“I just... feel like I want to keep this straight to myself, Dann. Am I a coward for fearing Darks who killed my parents, or... are they even dead? What did Luke mean by what he said? Who is looking out for me? Why now? What was the point of being lost Outside for so long? What is even right? I looked, I mean. I looked as best as I could, but nothing came out of it.” He turned his head sharply to Dann, who struggled to speak, and smiled.
“It is good that someone is out there, looking. Think positively. This time, for real, dude. Do it for me.”
William glanced at the floor again. “Is it not frustrating that I may have power for revenge while stopping myself because I am a coward?”
Dann sighed and hated when he talked about cowardice. If anyone was a coward, there were others than this boy. Dann had seen it. This part of William, he hadn't seen very often.
“Forget it, dude. I am more of a coward than you, while you will do good. Why? We went through worse than some tests and whatnot. Laugh at them! Crush them as you do so.” Dann tried to ease the mood and half succeeded.
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It was rare, but the knowledge that certain Emblems could be weak, barely capable of influencing the Walker, wasn't rare. Some had a difficult climb in Ranks, let alone come up to a young Walker's terms, while some had vast walls and limitations to hunt, cycle, and work. Most would have some beginning, which was describing talents, tests, and affinity, followed up by a System that would work either way. What was different was how individuals worked with them.
Some Emblems could affect too many things like their surroundings, and others had abilities to affect the entire city at some point. Not on their own, of course. Affinity was a way to witness their quality, but it was more like a flavor, a face value, or their truth. Skills were what mattered in actual battle scenarios, described when the System would awake, giving Walkers techniques to grow, powers to kill Darks with, and time. A lot of time.
Affinity was set in stone most of the time, second to flow and numbers hiding in the Forced Awakening.
How it all worked and changed, or came to be, was one of the many mysteries and questions that no one could figure out without being a Walker himself. Nevertheless, some tried to test those boundaries for ages.
William and Dann remembered a few memories when they saw Walkers fight from the distance, talk to one another, or them. One was shrouded in a mysterious veil of glowy matter. It didn't resemble William's crimson. It looked like water ripples of wavering cloth, or limbs, or... lines? Waves, but bigger than those hiding in his little Emblem.
Some Walkers could even float midair, fly at high speed, and have an innate strange capability. Shattering buildings and ridiculous feats of strength were common. A wide, flowing, and glowing cloak could be an embodiment of the Emblem, or a mere Skill, or one of the Molds. A prideful possession of choice, work, and progression of imaginations and work of Vectors and Arcana.
Most Emblems had core manifestations that would come out at first, looking unique, and touching on some starting Skills, or concepts of Emblems. They could be bizarre flowing body parts, unnatural tools, or common weapons. It was magical, yet that was how Walkers were for almost a century.
William wondered what kind of Walker he would be.
Dann wondered the same.
That one flowy cloak was capable of cleaving Darks with a flick, changing shape, and moving like a blade. The buildings, shrouded in Dark Fog and hiding Darks were then destroyed in large radius. It was crazy to consider that such Walkers could die very easily as well. Human bodies or their parts were why, William often assumed, yet it was a wrong assumption. Outside had various Walkers, and he had seen some of them. In truth, Walkers had strong bodies because of Emblems and they were more resilient than one would think.
The effects and birth of Emblems were unknown and foreign things from Outside. It was seen as an opportunity, but also a shining chance that wouldn't do much until a baby become an adult, if not older. With age, strength increased, progress mattered more and more, and some things got much harder than cars losing fuel. It was natural. Emblems were the same.
So far, William knew some effects and causes when they appeared in this world. Only in some babies, however. It could not be influenced whatsoever, and even some breeding was supposed to not work. Even between Walkers, it was inconceivable to think of something else Outside.
Which was why William was shocked to hear that his father was a Walker. He carried after him. Why did Luke say it like that? Had he even said that?
It was confusing.
It was described that the Dawn, the beginning of the Dark Age, was a reason to hate time. Many civilizations lost their ways. Cultures vanished. People and knowledge became scarce, turning wealth and history into survival, while humanity began to dwindle between despair and trying to live.
Where it all began was unknown, as Incursions and Darks spread fast like plague, and soon evolved and changed everything.
There was some story behind the Dawn, as it was a history important for the current Walkers. It happened in the prime time of civilization in the twenty-first century. Ever since then, humanity moved nowhere, and frankly, they couldn't. Advancements in technologies were due to time and safety, or the progression of science or people. Emblems or Walkers were an inevitable object of interest due to their immense nature and importance.
Before the Dawn, people were curious about everything. Thus, technology moved forward at a steady pace, for the imagination had no borders. There were inventors, intellectuals, professors, and countless hobbyists, experts, and scientists across many fields.
All for that to not matter all that much for decades after the Dawn.
The amount of destruction and death that crashed the continents, crushing the history of thousands of years, was deafening. Development stopped, and many places stagnated in survival, let alone in some science, or development. Survival moved forth in a rough reality. Electricity became rare. Food was inadequate. Weapons essential. Lives were...well, without them, there was dread.
And where dread was, or where lives scattered for survival, Darks fluttered.
There was nothing. No one could think of something. The death toll of the population kept even the most stupid and unreasonably naive opinions away, while humanity crawled like rats for cheese, knowing that death was around the corner, yet some had to take that bait. Walkers often did.
Some eventually succeeded, while humanity didn't stop believing as a whole. Due to that collective mindset, humanity thrived in different ways. In hideous ways compared to the past, it was perhaps no different from the ancient past where technology was nonexistent, or very little. It was in people's genes. To struggle and fight, survive, and keep going even if one had very little in their life.
So what if the Darks caused the planet to halt any negative effects of the past humanity, reducing their nasty effects to null? It was an event that ceased everything away, including the general nature and animals, not just humans. It shifted everything in a new direction. Dark direction. Nature had to adapt and survive. Then, strike back. Like people. Like Walkers.