Outside of the city, in the north villages, beside the industrial zone, a family of four of apparent North European ethnicity ran away in a car, rushing through the desolated streets, burning the tires and the engine as hard as they could with the finality of building up speed.
Their mother cried and bawled her eyes out, her trembling hands holding one of the children’s heads, lying on the back of the car. She tried to look up at his husband, as she shouted in pain, asking what she should do, what would happen if they lived.
The youngest son had second-degree burns on his whole chest, as the shirt melted with the skin he barely had. The young face barely held to life, calling her mother with the little feeble strength he had left.
The teenage daughter in the front held on to her seat with both hands, sweating, barely able to be still for a second, as her anxiety and her panic attack increased every time she looked up behind them, thanks to the mirrors the car miraculously had. Screaming something and indicating their father, who piloted the car.
The father held the car’s steering wheel with only his right hand, his other hand couldn’t do much, as his whole left arm was frozen, trapped in ice, almost breaking apart from the body, as the muscles tore off with sonorous snaps, his pain audible from his groans and it’s organs going down. They kept accelerating and slowing down. Trying to escape something that chased them, but not to hit any obstacle that could end their race, the only thing making the father keep going was the adrenaline flowing through his veins.
The black car had its tires half-melted, and the back bumpers had a distorted figure, not broken, but melted and re-forged. The left side of the windows and door was frozen with ice that slowly crept in, with tiny ice pillars, columns, arrows, and lances piercing on that side. The back side had everything melted away, or remains of volcanic rocks on them, including the back of the ceiling and the back window.
The car sped through the empty, abandoned, and almost nonfunctional intercity road, even in its disastrous state, it made an effort to keep going for the family it carried.
Only followed by a psychopath's laughter of a deep woman's voice, the bubbling of magma, and the cracks of thin ice piling up.
——————
Back at the least secret base ever.
“Alright, peep!” Chump slapped the map on the table and pushed aside the rest of the food to a place that wouldn’t annoy them. “You see the map here, right?” The bunny nodded. “You remember where is the camp you came from?”
https://i.imgur.com/p51g4BU.png [https://i.imgur.com/p51g4BU.png]
“Nope!~” The bunny explained, doing a derpy face, being sincere in his words.
“That’s what I thought! Is alright. We just need to use more ALGEBRA to know where you came from~” The bunny groaned hearing that but the human snickered and patted him. “Is alright, I will make it easy for you to understand. So, the moment we met we were around here. Alright, I am gonna do some questions that may make you feel bad. But just focus on what I ask and nothing else, okay?” The bunny nodded again, feeling better with the care of the human, sparkling his hand. “Do you remember any direction of the chase of the wolf? Like, anything in particular that call your attention or…”
“No really…” The bunny tried to remember, tho the pain was written on their face, as its tiny paws shook in fear “I tried to evade the wolf for a long time that day…I didn’t want to die like the others…” The bunny said, feeling smaller while under his care. The human thought for a moment to intervene, but to his surprise, the bunny continued. “I…I remember I got out of the forest and… faced the sun, the barrier behind me…I tried to blind the wolf but it didn’t work…My feet burned, and the grey rocks were burning!… Lots of trees and wet feet and, giant signs like yours but…white and brown and…a giant lake that blocks my way. The wolf tripped there while holding my dead sister and fell into the lake. I ran with the sun above me until I found…more grey rocks…and thought the wolf would be tired out or drown but…but…it was there…always there.”
Chump patted the bunny’s head a couple of times to calm the animal down. “Breath Zippy, breath. That’s enough. Is great! Just. Great! You did well. You should eat a bit more while I do a bit of trigonometry here.” He took the pencil and began to draw over the map, taking small breaks to make sure he did everything correctly.
While regaining a bit of his presence, the bunny asked with caution “How…How that can help you? I don’t know this place…I just know you. Are you sure I helped you?”
“But I do, my little spark! And you give me the key or at least…a hint of where this other world intruders could be camping.~ The thing is, the city is not explicitly near a forest. The city is surrounded by villages on all fronts, but those places around the city are filled with forests and all kinds of green hills. And due to your size…it could be anywhere. But mentioning that lake…If you saw a pool, you wouldn’t have said a big lake, you would be more confused, trying to explain what’s a pool, yet you clearly stated it was a lake, right?” The bunny nodded, munching on some vegetables that he found dry. “Then it was not other than “L’Albufera”. The only lake even near the city. For that logic, we can trace your movements.”
He began his explanation “So, in this blue circle we represented the place we met for the first time, and due to your movements and little hints, we can deduce that: You went from the lake more or less up to where we met. I was in another place nearby there, by luck or coincidence, but we met. I drew the barrier in a green rectangle as a representation, even if the barrier is more far away. Due to you being chased for a long time, but meeting in the afternoon, when the chase began the sun should be near the cost by that time, making you and the wolf less blind by the time it got to high noon. The sun is situated on the east but not in the perfect east, but a bit down, due to perspectives. I will mark it with a yellow circle of the sun. You tried to follow the sun, but once it didn’t help much, you went along the sun, as the sun was high in the sky, meaning that if it was beside you, you went almost north by that time in the morning. The moment you reached the lake, you already ran quite far up to the east from the west. That eliminates the far north, the west, and the far south. I will mark those zones that are improbable in black.”
https://i.imgur.com/YZZ6F5u.png [https://i.imgur.com/YZZ6F5u.png]
The bunny saw all the zones he marked and then placed the paw in the only place who wasn’t marked. “So, you saying that I came from here?”
“Yes, from “Horta Sud.”, the only big, or at least decent size forest in that area is a place that is under the two -empty- villages is a place that usually don’t come into maps due to it’s common properties to the rest of the country. We call it here “El tello”. The terrain is pretty irregular there, but its one of the best locations. The only possibility is that you came way far up from the west in that direction and you were just way faster than I am thinking. But right now, we should focus on locate them. We gonna go shopping…Well, technically looting.” As the human began to gathered his travelling backpack and his things.
https://i.imgur.com/DXaKj1B.png [https://i.imgur.com/DXaKj1B.png]
“Oh, are we gonna like infiltrate their place and…and….Steal from them?! That's so coooool!” Zippy replied kicking the table several times in quick succession in his excitement.
The human felt a bit deceived by that as he tried to explain with simple words. “Not exactly. We will spy on them, but we won’t even get near them.” Said as he opened the door and indicated Zippy to follow him back to the streets. “The problem is, most of the city has been empty for a long time, so we will explore to the north before going back to the south.”
“But Mistath” The bunny insisted ”How do you plan to steal something without getting near? Is this a new power of sorts?” As the bunny reached up to him, confused about this whole new ordeal.
“No, not a power, but human technology. However, we have to loot the north industrial zones, most of the city is abandoned, and the south and west industrial zones are too close to where we calculated where the camp should be. Problem is, I don’t know much about the place. Come, sit inside.” He opened a car lying on the side of the destroyed street and opened the copilot seat door.
“But what are we looking for?” The bunny said as the human put the seatbelt on for him.
“A pair of extra ears, hands, and eyes. A drone to be specific. Is a machine that can fly and will allow us to see without getting close, and sometimes can pick up things too. And due to them not being interested in our technology, even if they find out, they can’t locate us directly.”
He ramped up the engine and began to drive off, evading as much debris as possible, or charging through the small ones, which could be easily overcome. It took them twenty minutes to reach their destination up to Malsafalsar and its surroundings. But the travel was pure silence. The bunny turned his head a couple of times to the northeast, curious about something. But the little animal didn’t say anything. “I am sorry I can’t put music,” Chump confessed. “I am honestly scared. It has been a couple of weeks without seeing any of them and then you appeared. You are so small compared to them. Meaning that they plan to stay from now on. I don’t know what will the magic do to my country. My beautiful country…My defeated beautiful country…” His words carried a dead weight, a weight filled with nostalgia and sadness as he kept driving.
Location in the spoiler:
https://i.imgur.com/yaybEk6.png [https://i.imgur.com/yaybEk6.png]
The bunny ears and head turned again towards the northeast as they approached the location. The human couldn’t see these peculiar movements due to his focus on the road, to not hit anything. The bunny warned the human of a couple of animals coming to cross the road before they were even visible. But the travel had silence as it’s company. They befriended again just an hour ago, and honestly, they didn’t have much to talk about.
Once they got close enough, and parked between some other abandoned cars, Zippy warned his master. “Mistath.” The human only hummed, letting Zippy continue “I am hearing screams near here, Mistath. It’s still away from here but we should be careful…”
“Just. Great.” Chump sighed as he turned off the car, nervous about the situation. “Fuck, I thought…they wouldn’t be here, so far of my predictions. Just. Great.” As he looked at the bunny and how his head slowly turned with whatever the bunny heard, he crouched down and held the bunny in his arms. “Are they approaching?”
The bunny answered with fear in his words “Yes…I…I am sorry I heard them but I didn’t know what were until we got closer…I-“ Trying to justify himself.
The human interrupted him and patted the bunny’s ears. He didn’t sound disappointed, but it was clear that his fear and nervousness were imprinted on those trembling hands “Sssh…Forget about it now, without you, I would face them without a plan and face on.” He rushed inside the story they were looking for, running in stealth while watching both of their backs.
The store was a two-floor electronics-related store, with tons of ads and promotions around. The front was a glass wall, filled with this semi-transparent propaganda, so everyone couldn’t see well inside. It towered five meters on each floor (~16,5 feet tall on each floor). 30 meters deep (~100 ft deep), square shop with dozens of shelves. Each shelf with electronics from headphones, to charges, to mouses, to even those precious drones he looked for. Thanks to the sunlight, it didn’t need any kind of flashlight to navigate around.
“Just. Great.” He started with a ton of happiness in his high-alerted state. “Their conquer started so fast, the store didn’t have time to empty anything around. Try to not smell too much.” As he loaded up his handgun and moved around between shelves. In his shirt pocket, his phone is in lantern mode to help out the natural light that the store lets in. “If we get out now they might see us coming back to the city, we can’t risk that. Alright, hear me out. We have to be cowards, we will get into the store, pile up whatever I tell you to pile up and when they are here, hide and wait until they leave. The second floor will the be best place to hide.” As he began moving swiftly toward their objective.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“What do I do?” The bunny asked, worried as he looked at him, baffled that he knew exactly what to do.
“Just keep watch, be alert. If an animal enters here or they appear, warn me.” He took from the deep store one of those tiny carts that the employee used to carry items and began to stack up the drones with difficulty. They were heavy and took tons of effort from the young man to move one of those, not due to their weight, but the lack of muscles the human had.
The tension on the human made his hands palpitate, as he kept glancing over and over towards the bunny, who stayed near the front wall, hearing, waiting. He barely could keep any focus on what he did with those boxes, as he began noticing some tiny trembles on the ground and some distant noises as well. But {“Amplified Senses”} made the information more precise. Chump stacked up all the drones he could gather, without letting go of the handgun he had. The first tremor occurred, making him turn around and aim around with his gun. But nothing was there. He glanced behind him out of instinct, thinking they suddenly appeared. But nothing. The more frequently he heard those noises, the more those tremblings appeared more frequently, the more stressed out Chump began to feel. Sweats, trembling, and thoughts of death began to choke him, which made him feel his soul away.
But no animal appeared.
The bunny alerted “Incoming!” after the human piled half of the drones on the cart. Chump’s respiration spiked up as his legs burst with energy and caught the bunny with his hands. Both of them rushed to the second floor. But just when they got out of the stairs, the whole store trembled in an earthquake, making the human and bunny trip behind the frontal shelves, near the stairs at the front wall.
“Shit!” Chump expressed, as he felt pain on his side, but at least kept the bunny safe with his body. He placed one hand on the ground, trying to get up. But they didn’t have time, as when the earthquake stopped moving the store around and partially the structure of the place, they saw that black car crossing in front of the store and half crashing into the building in front of where they hid. Seeing that, the human crouches down, trying to calm his emotions down, barely slowing down his breathing.
The teenager was the only one able to get out of the car after that crash, trying to help his unconscious dad and her mother, but to no avail. Neither of them refused to move, and so, in a panic, she rushed in on the building, a hotel of five floors, a whole dining room, the reception, and all the drills that came with a hotel of four stars.
“..why hide on the second floor?” Zippy thought, being lightly held by Chump in instinct. “I would hide in the darkest corner…” But curiosity is a son of a bitch, both human and the bunny peak from the side of the shelves, behind the semi-transparent ads, towards the building in front of them. Something enormous came crushing the parking spots in front of that building, barely some distance away from them. Like a tiny meteor crashing and breaking down all the floor in front of them and making the floor tremble even more.
Luckily, nor structure seemed affected by this besides some light cracks on their walls.
Once the fog cleared out, the human mumbled “Here they are…They keep sending taller people, and taller means more powerful. Dammit, we are lucky to be this up.” He thought as he saw that if they stood on the first floor, no matter how they hid, that figure could have seen part of them hiding behind those low shelves, looking at the towering figure.
Outside of both buildings and beside the crashed car, a figure towering four meters tall, easily surpassing double of the size any human. A tall woman with brown, chocolate-colored skin. Her hair had dreadlocks of a similar tone, but something felt amiss. The tips of her dreadlocks glowed red and fiery, reminiscent of heated metal.
Under arched eyebrows, her eyes sparkled with an intense radiance. The shape of her eyes provided a harmonious contrast to the subtle angularity of her face. The plumpness of her lips, which were slightly illuminated in crimson, emitted warmth and approachability when curved into a smile. She possessed the build of a firefighter and a bodybuilder's lovechild. Every muscle was defined, and a subtle sheen covered her lizard-like arms.
Wait, lizard arms?!
Indeed! Her arms were made up of tough-looking scales in shades of brown and red, extending from her hands to her shoulders, with her clothing concealing where they ended. A couple of scars around her elbows bore witness to past battles. Her hands resembled reptilian claws, featuring five fingers with a structure nearly identical to a human hand. The main difference was the dark red claws at the tips, while her palm bore a pale white color with a hint of salmon.
Adorned in an imposing black ensemble, the female warrior stood tall and proud of herself. Her military uniform had that feeling of being tailored with utter precision. The sleek, form-fitting fabric hugged her muscular physique, molding each contour with a sense of both grace and ferocity. The sleeveless design extended downward to mid-thigh, revealing glimpses of toned, powerful legs that could traverse the ground swiftly and gracefully, their skin covered in the same scaled pattern as her arms. A black leather belt cinched her waist, emphasizing her hourglass figure and augmenting the overall ensemble.
“There’s no way…” Chump whispered, looking at that giant figure on there, holding the bunny with care and fear. “That’s the woman in the video. She is-“ But the interruption felt the norm of this situation, and somehow, he still understood the conversation they had.
“Gunnhildr.” A second voice exclaimed as a newcomer arrived at the scene. His voice was soft, calm, and slightly deep, exuding an aura of a storyteller perfectly suited role of a caretaker.
The second figure landed gracefully, causing no crater or sign of injury from the landing impact. Towering as tall as the volcanic woman in height.
This newcomer exuded an air of elegance. His sophisticated appearance invoked discretion. His impressive figure was accentuated by a flawless dark blue smoking jacket, meticulously tailored, and adorned with subtle decorations on the shoulders and sleeve ends. The smoking jacket radiated an air of refined luxury. The man's sleek, dark hair was impeccably styled, complemented by horns gracefully curving around his ears. His choice of accessories enhanced his striking look. A light blue cravat was elegantly tied, providing a sophisticated touch.
Dark gloves covered his hands, made from a lightweight yet exceptional fabric that emitted a faint light blue aura. His elegant pants revealed a swirling cold mist beneath. Instead of conventional feet, he possessed a semi-liquid, semi-gaseous fluid form that allowed him to glide and shift with graceful fluidity.
“It seems that we finally caught up to them, miss Gunnhildr.” The demonic-looking man spoke softly.
“Indeed! They HAD to make it fun, don’t ya think? These “hyumas” are truly something else to mess with~ Look, the kid is almost gone too.~” She took from one of her pockets a giant capsule. The kid perished from his wounds, and their mother lost her composure, shaking the kid's body, the capsule began to glow faintly, as something appeared inside of it, trapped against their will.
“I hate the fact that you enjoy this, miss Gunnhildr. The objective was not to kill them. Here at least, but to fully extract their souls safely. I do not think that will be enough. We have been this whole morning to hunt these four. Mistress Ladice may not like this.” He stood patiently, letting Gunnhildr do the heavy lifting.
“You worry tooooo much of this, Ephiron. Most of the time these things capture their soul, so what’s the matter if we lose a few every thousand!” She laughed as she picked up the car with her arm, squishing the side that stood intact and looking inside with her eyes, counting inside of it. “Then your dear “mistress” may not like this waste of time either. There are only three of them here. The girl is gone.” She placed the car back on the floor, like a kid's toy, and stomped on the ceiling of it, making it so it wouldn’t move. The mother passed out watching her son dying in its arms, crying fatefully. Their father’s arms already tore off from him, in a state between death and life.
“Hmm…She may be hiding inside of this white building I dare say…I will be right back and look around as well.” As the gliding butler began a quick scout around, looking between the back of that building and inside of it
“Sure sure, you do you, weirdo…Man, I don’t like doing hunting jobs but if it weren’t for this dreadful broken arm of mine and their “treaty” bla bla blaaa!” She laughed maniacally as she cracked her good arm, and looked around. “Man, what ugly places they build most of the time. The places between the mountains or in their forest were much better…And those metallic husks! Puagh! The metal is used for combat! Not to live inside of it! Still, everything is so small…”
“Found her,” Ephiron announced. “She is on the second floor of this building, running from side to side and trying to look for a hiding place. She didn’t notice me yet. Alright.” As he glided back down beside the bodybuilder, he commented to her companion. Before she could do anything, in his hand a tiny snowy storm appeared, developing itself to form a bow of fine ice and threads of mana form. He aimed high. “You know what to do.” As it charged up the weapon and shot to the sky, seemingly aiming at a spot for that aim.
His companion only scoffed at his orders, even annoyed by those, but followed that quick maneuver without much questioning. In a few seconds, bolts of ice fell from the sky, piercing the exterior of the building, but mostly the back, and forming a giant wall of ice, blocking any possible exit the teenager had. Once the ice covered everything, the woman charged enough mana and laughed hysterically, punching the floor with all that energy. The floor beneath her began to melt in magmatic liquid. In a matter of a minute, the entire building began to melt from the back to the front. Slowly, yet neither stopped for a second. The giant structure of cement, steel, and iron, with metallic tubes that covered each side, the windows, their furniture, and even the plastic began to melt away in pure heat, yet not a single spark or fire was spotted. As if the building was made of Swiss chocolate, pluming down to the ground in a pool of rocky founded. Just before the building collapsed, the teenager ran outside out the front. Thinking she was able to escape only to see both giants waiting for her. The butler was in a waiting military pose, while the volcanic woman crossed her arms, the rest of their family under their feet inside the car.
“Holy shit is more terrifying this close…” The human whispered, hugging the bunny with fear, yet looking at them so much, he began to see those auras in both of them.
Before the teenager could react, shout, heck even cry for her mercy, Ephiron trapped her inside of ice restraints, not cold by touch, but sturdy by their magic nature.
“I am almost tapped out. Please, just let me squish her head…Is so small like a grape! Pleaseee?~” Gunnhildr insisted with a creepy smile.
“No. You already kill one, and a kid. Is disgusting.” Said the butler stone coldly. “Our objective is to bring as much alive as possible. We were lucky to find these around here after a week. I will incapacitate her now and carry the four of them, including the child’s body, back to our base.”
Both survivors contemplated the whole ordeal, mouths open, not believing firsthand what happened in front of them, tho luckily, the parts that Chump couldn’t hear, later Zippy would help him fill out.
“Wait. Maybe…” Chump thought. The moment the butler extended his hand to touch the girl's head with a single finger -big enough to cover half of her face-, the moment he knelt a bit to his magic, to his mana, to his “goddess essence” apply some unknown effect to her, Chump decided to risk it all and extend his hand towards him, focusing way harder as he did with Zippy that morning…And look at that same weird aura light from him. Once holding that piece, he pulled hard towards him and-
Poof!
Obtained a more clear blue sheet, as clear as that blue ice, from him, that couldn’t extend yet. But that moment of bravery made him feel awesome, bringing a shy smile to him while frowning. Yet once Ephiron finished that spell that knocked out the teenager with ease, he turned around to the tech store, confused about the whole ordeal, looking exactly towards where both were. Chump and Zippy reacted and hid behind the shelves which itself hid behind the semi-transparent ad. Gunnhildr looked at him a bit confused, hitting his arm with her elbow and asking.
“What’s up now?” She mumbled out. Yet Ephiron remains silent, looking at the store before sighing off.
“Nothing, I thought I felt somebody using…Powers besides us. Must be the long chase.” The butler groaned, stretching out his arms a bit and cleaning himself.
“Yeah yeah, whatever you think it is. I just know from a little bird that you want to hunt the “Ghost of Valencia” ain’t it? Eeeh?~” Gunnhildr hit him again two more times with her elbow with a cheeky smile, while placing the teenager on her other shoulder and carrying the car.
“It is not a ghost, miss Gunhildr. It is another human, who has been living in this forsaken place and not being captured by anyone yet. Many reports inform of his long hair and many devices. All end up with lucky escapes. He even killed a couple of our soldiers. Miss Ladice wants to meet that pesky rat out of curiosity, nothing more. And I am in service to her.” The bow transformed on the ground in front of them into a carriage made out of ice, not decorated, but just a basic structure with two seats on the front, and the carriage being mostly a kind of cage to carry the almost destroyed car and its passengers.
“Whatever, you want to please her, you simpleton. Anyway, let’s get back, soon is lunchtime, and I loved some good bunny barbeque~” Gunnhildr expressed as she placed their new captures on the back of it.
After a couple of minutes, both hunters began sliding away at a slower speed than any car could reach, yet they traveled through any terrain without much care, going further away with their newfound loot, and five each other after such a grandiose chase.
Meanwhile, Chump and Zippy held to their hearts and dear lives behind that shelved which made them almost invisible from outside, sweating and trembling in fear, yet not daring to move a muscle or even breathe a bit hard until both were gone. Once they left, they breathed out, expressing their relief in a big “sigh”, sharing both then laughing nervously. And then, both looked at what Chump could collect on his hand with a tiny cheeky smile. Zippy had several questions, but right now, he preferred to get back to their home before saying anything.
They obtained not only the drones they were looking for, but great pieces of information, as well as confirmation that they both could indeed understand the other world language. But one thing stood above anything else, in that precious moment. One great sheet of information that both find more useful. As Chump opened his hand, they looked in admiration of the cold icy sheet in front of them, and high-five each other after such a close call.
They obtained Ephiron’s Character Sheet.
Zippy and ????? obtained "Ephiron Starsea" Character Sheet.