“You knew my father? H-how?” William asks with visibly uncomfortable feelings about hearing this man talk.
Since the time of that nightmare day, he believed his father and mother to be dead. The confirmation came from the orphanage which was gathering pieces of information about the orphans.
“What? You did not know about your father?” Luke turns to madam Anderson, who also is unaware of what is going on.
She recently informed an operation manager. Potential Walker being discharged from her orphanage is usually a regular thing. They often sent some military personnel to act as the guardian or the proxy for the future of the kids.
Today is the same, with the appearance of a soldier who seems to be personally involved with a kid's father. That is kind of troublesome for madam Anderson, who does not need to know the entire pasts of the kids since it usually involves tragedy and pain.
“Sir Irwin, I must apologize, but any kind of information about their past is not available to me. I have no need or care too deeply about it. Only the name, health, their places of origin, and nation is all that is needed.”
“I see, pardon my initial gaze. I thought the boy would at least know his father was in the military. Whatever, since he has an Emblem like his father on his wrist, it doesn't matter.” Luke states while stepping forward to the unsure William.
He backed away a few steps, but Luke is faster and grabs his right hand. Unfortunately, Luke's hand stops as madame Anderson's hands quench his hand.
“I beg your pardon, sir, but doing things gently is a better idea than forcing this boy with things he can't understand.”
“I am not doing anything wrong. Boy, show me your Emblem so the madam will at least feel better about herself.” Luke orders while looking at madam Anderson with a piercing gaze. Such a gaze could not shake the woman who already raised hundreds of kids in her lifetime.
Seeing the man calming down, William pulls his sleeve off his right hand and shows the man his arm.
“Is it enough?” He asks while the crimson pattern within the Emblem pop through the near rays of light from the window. It looks quite beautiful with an almost lifelike pattern.
“Crimson? Very interesting, I will take you, brat. If it is fine with madame Anderson?” Luke glanced at the Emblem a few times while turning around to face madame Anderson. Being a head and something taller than himself, Luke felt he was facing a soldier on the battlefield.
“It is a part of my duty. I shall only hope that William will find his new path and life that will be better than ever before.” She says with a stone-cold voice, but William could already feel the warmth of her hope and worry for himself.
He couldn't help but give her a hug, just for this time. “Thank you, madame Anderson.”
“Alright. Alright. Be a good boy, and even better Walker. The path and the future are yours from today onward.”
William nodded, while he hold the tears back, before asking. “What about Dann?”
“Dann is not special as you, so your will part away here. Since you are a friend with him, whenever you wind the opportunity, feel free to contact me so you can get back.”
“Madame Anderson! There is no need for that. As brothers! We will not separate even after long distances and death itself!” Dann shouts with a tone of resolution which could not be more firm as is, behind her back.
He already thought it through. William is different from him, in a sense of the Emblem that separates him from regular folks. Since he or William are not part of any kind of family or nation. Their history is only theirs, as orphans. Not many nations went through some sense of rebuilding in the past century. Most often than not, they crumbled apart long ago.
For the fates of the past nations that had crumbled apart, no one would pay the history much attention after a century passed.
Not even the boy who had an Emblem like William had much attention from higher authorities at an early age. Only where one reaches a certain threshold of age, one could only hope that there is someone out there, ready to take them.
William understands only a little about it since the general view of the Emblem, and Walkers changed throughout the years of the history.
When the first discoveries of the babies with these Emblems appeared, many people were unaware or even skeptical about them. Only with the passing long years did they begin to unravel the extraordinary effects and abilities they gave to the users. It usually happened when one reached adulthood. Effects and the System within the Emblem itself reach a certain threshold level at that age. Fusing or undergoing a fundamental change with its user. This case is an old way of awakening the Emblems.
Nowadays, the changes in the research in the Federation changed many ways of the importance of Awakening, yet it is not something that regular folks know. William is unaware of the possibilities of such treatments, even though he is a potential Walker. The research changed with the involvement of science and exploration, which has developed after a century of work and dedication of the Walkers, and people alike.
The Federation and the Emblem Academy are such organizations where the gifted children with the Emblem could be Awakened without a need to wait for the adulthood.
Such Walkers then go through this treatment in a suitable environment are much more effective with their Emblems. This treatment is highly restricted and prohibited from sharing in the name of a good will of the Federation and Academy.
It is the case of advantage for involved nations of The Federation and the of Emblem Academy. In truth, it is the most stupid reasoning that is causing equally good and bad things. If enough people would become aware of that, a world would turn against them in no time. After all, the humanity is at stake.
William knows a few things about the world of the Walkers. The soldiers who are fighting against the Dark Age. Walking through the fog whenever the Dark beings attacked and securing long-lost cities. Stories are the general knowledge William has regarding them, and he met few Walkers so far in his life. Even though he had a possibility of becoming one as well, the general view of raising a young walker is a bothersome thing to do. All institutions and nations wait until the young Walker is ready for the examination, or when they reach the adulthood.
Such a case is William's, who is being sent through the connection of the orphanage somewhere. He has no idea where, but he plans to ask Luke about it when he has a chance. He would have to wait for the reason for being sent away from the orphanage in more details in the future. Luke Irwin is not that patient to wait any longer and allowed William only 1 hour before they have to leave.
Currently, within his room. William is scrambling for whatever is in his possession. Sudden steps behind the door reveal Dann, who has to make it good enough for his friend and himself so he would regret nothing. Saying goodbye is never a good feeling.
“You said it right, Dann. I have no path ahead than to try.”
“Or you can hope that your affinity or abilities are sub-par with the examination...” Dann reluctantly said.
“I know what you mean... I just... feel like I want to keep this straight to myself. Am I a coward for fearing the beings who killed my parents? Is it not frustrating that I may have power for revenge while stopping myself because I am a coward?” William talks in agitation, which is a kind of shocking to see by Dann. This is a part of William that he hasn't seen very often.
It is a general knowledge that certain Emblems could be barely capable of influencing the Walker. While some could affect them and their surroundings, others had abilities to affect the entire city. Affinity and abilities are the main things that matter. It was one of the many mysteries and questions that could no one figure out without being a Walker himself.
William and Dann could still remember the few memories when they were helped by an unknown Walker shrouded in a mysterious veil of matter. She floats midair, while the cloak itself was her emblem. Cleaving the Dark beings with a flick of her hand, that changed the cloak to the swing of a blade. The buildings, like the dark beings, were destroyed in 100s of feet of radius.
The effects or arrival of the Emblems were unknown and still are a foreign thing from Outside perspective. They would only get to know them by the luck, or nightmare that is the destruction of the camps. So far, William knows that the emblems appear with unknown effects and causes when the newborn is brought to this world. Only in some of them, where it could not be influenced whatsoever.
It could be said that the very beginning of the whole mess that is the Dark age is a reason to hate the time. Where the civilizations were lost and people's survival began to dwindle with despair. It is all the case of the unknown research of the Amazonian forest where the very beginning of the apocalypse started. It is a story that is talked to the present day, since it happened in the prime time of civilization and ever since that day, humanity has moved nowhere in the last century with advancements in technologies.
The amount of destruction and death caused the talent, as well as development, to cease to exist, or halt by dozens of years. It had some advantages, but no one could think of them. Death of the population kept even the most stupid and unreasonably naïve or unpopular opinions away.
So what if the death of humanity caused the planet to halt any negative effects of the humanity, and were reduced by hundreds or thousands of times? It was a course of events that ceased everything in a completely different direction. Survival was more important than so-called common sense at the beginning of the disaster in the 21st century.
It was only fortunate that almost all materials for teaching and gaining knowledge were never destroyed. Digital or written books left much for the future where the new professors and scientists keep on going with a task, that is the technology and science.
The apocalyptic destructions did not affect certain areas in the world. Some islands had a choice of completely abandoning the rest of the world. Taking care of themselves only, while their fates were theirs. There were very few such circumstances, with fates, which mostly ended in the unknown light of the silence.
Destruction from the Dark beings happened quite fast throughout the times. Years passed, with the strongest retaliation being the usage of atomic bombs by some nations. They caused as much nonsense destruction as possible, while completely lacking the ability to recognize the worldwide effects on a larger scale. The weather changed, the ground became to rot, and a lot of places in the world become unhabitable.
With great difficulties came a lot of pain and grief, but some parts of humanity held their lives for dozens of years until things began to change with Emblems. The very first notes that depicted the first users held certain effects against the strange beings that moved through the fog. Within experimentation and bravery, few cities were not even lost completely in a few exchanges of the Walkers and the Dark beings. As if the Walkers are the hunters of the hunters.
Information about the first Walkers was not entirely known to the public at that time. There was no time for heroic moments since it was a nightmare, even for stronger humans. A lot of the initial Walkers died in following skirmishes and attacks. Retaliation from what appeared to be powerful Dark beings caused the death of almost 90% of the Walkers.
Information about those times is regarded as classified information. Yet a common folk could still share the stories of it, since it was only the Outside at that time, with no Federation or nation. Only the remains of the nations were all to the struggles of the humanity. Exaggerated or underplayed, it is a case of stories where the topic is a fight for humanity.
It is quite interesting to hearing stories even now. Knowing more about the Dark beings is a case of knowing the enemy. For example, Hellgars, which are strangely shaped beasts. Having claws on multiple limbs. A huge head, a wide mouth with saliva coming out of it. Rows of dozens of centimeters sharp teeth make them ferocious beasts resembling the fusion of lions and wolfs, with nightmarish properties.
With 6 to 12 feet in height and much wider and more massiveness than their height, they resembled monsters able to devour multiple humans at once. They could even have spikes, tails, or tentacles coming out of their back, and limbs.
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Within the orphanage, Luke Irwin is dozing off in a chair, as a sudden vision of a dream about Hellgar wakes him up with shock. In fearful feeling, he almost punches approaching William, who finished his preparations and gave a tearless farewell to Dann.
They promised to come back, and other seemingly childish promises. One day, they would meet when they would both accomplish something with their lives.
“You scared me, kid. Don't approach any Walker who is dozing off. That is common sense.” Luke complains as he could not say sorry to a little kid.
“I am unaware of such common sense, mister Luke,” William says in return as he held a not-so-large stash of clothes around his face.
“Only this? I guess orphans have it not so easy.”
“I can be happy to be alive. Thank you for asking, mister Irwin.”
“Whatever, you have guts, boy. Let's leave then.” Luke shakes his head while recalling a small mistake that he did not so long ago.
Walking out, the sun is as bright as ever with the greenery of trees and bushes everywhere where one could see. They are currently in the suburbs of the Camp of Roshwell where William spent the past 2 years.
Living in this camp was not so bad. In truth, it is a collection of quickly built up buildings with wood or materials on hand. Clay bricks or wood being the popular materials. Ones who built the Camps sturdy buildings usually used cement and thick stone bricks for a lot of residential buildings, such as the orphanage and bunkers.
With a population of almost 15 thousand, it is no surprise that they paid a lot of attention to the internal structure of the camps. Although, not the kind of attention that would be great for every refugee within the camp. There is still a type of hierarchy in the camp, for a better sense of survivability and humanity.
Luke Irwin walks to a partially visible motorcycle hidden behind a bush around the building of the orphanage.
“Are we leaving, mister Luke? Where?”
“Let's have a talk when we can. How about it?” Luke answers with a question while uncovering the military motorcycle.
“Ohhh! A vehicle such as this is quite rare to see. Is it expensive?” William asks with honest excitement, as he has seen only a few things like this. Other impressive things used by the military were noticed by him whenever his homes were breached by the Dark. It was just the case where he have not seen them as closely as this before.
The past went usually with the case of him fleeing for his life, and not caring about some vehicles, or the Walkers.
“This? This is nothing. So little space here so we had to keep the helicopter outside of the Camp. Hop behind my back, so let's move on.”
“Helicopter?” William silently remains speechless as he recalls the last time he had seen a helicopter. He couldn't figure out the reasoning for traveling by air. It is quite exotic and expensive in general to use helicopters.
William even heard about the planes from a century ago. People held vacations and traveled across the continents in a few hours for so-called trips and vacations. That is incredibly unbelievable to him.