Run (2)

Rustle, swish- swash~...

"...?" Ciemnosc slowly felt his body waking up, his eyelids went into action as they tried to open up, but his Spirit Sense was always much quicker than that. Hearing the sounds of grass passing by bodies, some against his limbs, others against the body of the person carrying him, and some of the people around them. He quickly woke up as soon as his eyes could fully open. He gained sets of images of the night sky falling on semi-tall vegetation as he was moved through it.

‘Are we close or far from the landing site? We were surely noticed,’ Ciemnosc thought as he looked around and saw everyone from the crew that left with him walking alongside the person carrying him. He was noticed awake by whoever was holding him. And after being carefully put down on the ground, everyone stopped and looked on with amazement. Meanwhile, Ciemnosc heard one of his crew’s voices ask him in surprise and concern.

“Sir, are you alright? Do you feel… alright?”

Ciemnosc ignored the voice, and with his blood rushing amok everywhere. He asked while resting his bum on the ground still. “How long was I gone? How far are we from the crashing site? Mn, good job in surviving so far. You only knew these places mostly due to reports of scouts.”

“...” As soon as Ciemnosc finished speaking, there was an awkward silence. The one to carry him looked at him and said, before elaborating. “Many thanks, sir, we have gone through close calls, but we managed to avoid death, and food wasn’t a problem. Some of us even broke through a few stages. As for how… long… you were unconscious… sir, it has been… Ah, how much?”

“More than a month,” the person looked at a female trooper, who responded frankly as the most obvious thing in the world. However, as soon as he looked at Ciemnosc again, they saw him having difficulty believing those words. All Ciemnosc could say afterwards was, “What?”

… After Ciemnosc’s wide eyes relaxed, he was explained the past events, one by one. When he fell from the air back then, the crew didn’t need to waste barely any time as they found his body precisely in a place where the ship was divided into many different sections, as if a knife had chopped at it in one place and managed to cut its body several times.

After finding him less than 20 minutes after crashing, the crew had to carry his unconscious but still alive body and left leg, which was actually cut off from his body. After more than half a month with the leg being bandaged back to his body, it had… more or less ‘reattached’ itself to his body. They left it there and didn’t try to do anything in case they fucked it up. It was their leader’s body, and it was cool, too.

During this month of traveling under the eyes of the searching major organizations and even Rocaloi Academy, who was more than serious and stern with their search for Ciemnosc, the crew had peacefully gone from ten thousandth kilometer to another. Their pace was slow, but they worked to reach the same forest that Ciemnosc had once gone through to arrive from the south of the Region to the center.

At this moment, they were close to the southwest part of the forest and soon coming out of it, right under the noses of 2 major organizations. Besides those things, Ciemnosc was told that he was fed as much as possible, from animals to Creatures. Raw or cooked, and even their Spirit Heart-Link whenever they were lucky enough to get some.

With the stress they were going through and fighting many Creatures daily, of course they would have their instincts kicking in and their potential slightly at hard work. It wouldn’t be a wonder if they broke through at least a stage in their cultivation. Nevertheless, everyone from this crew was in the Spirit Gathering realm, the same as him, so they could safely make their way, but their prowess increasing meant barely anything if found out by the enemy.

“... Any news from the scouts, then? How long do you think it would be before we are discovered?” Ciemnosc spoke after thinking things over. He looked at these people who cared for him in ways no one did before. He never got sick with Sister, and… Mommy never ‘stayed’ for long.

“We should’ve gone out of these woods a week ago, but there are too many patrolling forces around this area. It is so for every lineal road from one major organization to another.” One of the crew’s troops answered. Everyone was seated in an oval-shaped circle, with Ciemnosc in the center as he was naturally the center of everyone’s attention.

Ciemnosc looked at everyone as that was said, his eyes contemplating the possible ways this could only go on like, and he was just starting to decide for one of them. When, suddenly, the one trooper who carried him on this same night stood up, and with his left fist slamming his left chest, he bowed as he loudly proposed. “Leader, I have a way to help you. Help you escape from here and also give you a lot of time. I wonder if you would let me? Let us?”

“...” Ciemnosc silently looked at the young man. Perhaps, at this time and moment, only Ciemnosc could remember he was just a kid, and this was a young man in his 20s. But the latter looked at the former with such respect and reverence that it wouldn’t have made sense to believe Ciemnosc’s age, and he didn’t even look like someone already 13 years old.

“I want to take your commanding vehicle, sir. With your permission, I will ride it with my friends here and will gain you a lot of time. With the canons and our tactics, nobody will be getting anywhere near us unless they send as many Obsidiafying realm cultivators as possible. And even then, we hide and don’t stupidly get ourselves killed. As our fellow troopers left behind us, we will die only days after and when we are exhausted to the point of only being able to bring down the enemy with us.”

The young man spoke with such calmness that it reached Ciemnosc. It made him keep quiet and remain still for a good while before he nodded and gave the young man a chance to finally grin. During their whole trip, as Ciemnosc was unconscious, worried about his well-being and hoping he doesn’t enter some unknown coma for cultivators, they could only do the most primitive things when living beings get bored to satiate their need for satisfaction and unrest.

“I wanted to ride that thing anyways,” another crew member said, just as everyone stood up and was getting celebratory without bringing any attention to their hideout. Amidst hugs and smiles flashing to each other, and a silent Ciemnosc witnessing it all from the side, another person voiced their thoughts. “Always wanted to get a ride, too. It will be exciting to die in it too!”

“...” Everyone fell silent. That was weird. But only for 2 seconds, before the celebrations continued. And then that sentiment was shared among all. Weren’t they choosing death? Yet, they felt like winners…

‘...’ Watching this what he had created, Ciemnosc was so deathly still and bewildered that he looked like a lost puppy while the others silently celebrated. And so, it was decided, after a night of relieving stress. And some either vowed with another person to share their lives, and others ‘prayed’ to demonstrate their convictions. They were to leave the forest and their leader’s side.

. . .

Warmlord City, the following late morning.

Whoosh - whoosh - whoosh.

“Over there! That is the building! The hotel!” It was a nice, calming day in the city when there were suddenly raging noises of the wind as it was torn apart, and from the sky came many flying figures. Some were on birds, others on their own, but they wore a modern style of robes with pants and an emblem that denominated them from the Rocaloi Academy. However, among their ranks, the black supervisor that the headmaster trusts wasn’t present.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

After some effective shouts, rocketing the ordinary people below, and having some people even fall unconscious with their heads bleeding from somewhere, they were seen rushing into the city’s best hotel that only cultivators could enter!

“You, over there!” In the hotel, as soon as some figures arrived at the reception, they saw a pretty worker there, waiting for more daily work from her job. She was pointed at by one of the many flying figures who rushed in. And when someone yelled at her, her face turned so pale she almost fell unconscious immediately.

“S- s- sirs! Please, do not harm me! I have nothing to give. I’m just a simple rogue cultivator. I have nothing. The hotel is owned by the owner!”

As the young woman spoke, her beauty could be easily noticed. And should Ciemnosc be here, he would’ve recognized this naughty young woman as being the one who wanted to steal him away from his half-kitty and half-cow back then!

She looked terrified as the Obsidiafying realm cultivators went silent, possibly half-smitten by her beauty. Her eyes, however, glinted with a specific determination that they couldn’t notice. Finally, one of the cultivators came up to the reception desk and asked, his face turning threatening. But his eyes couldn’t help traveling all around her body.

“Ciemnosc has been here before and even left some beauties behind.” The cultivator was rather frank as he went on. He leaned slightly over the desk and closed his face on the young beautiful woman, “I won’t make it hard for you, lady. Where are they? Give them to us, and this place will become a powerful place to reckon with in the Region in the near future.”

“Really?” The young woman asked as he brought her hands to her mouth, her eyes twinkling with delight and desire. The cultivator nodded and voiced out, “Really.”

“Actually, the owner of the city will be cooperative with you. He is more than willing to become your vassal.” The young woman added, her hands lowered as she leaned over the desk, her face coming close to the cultivator’s face, which was almost bewitched by her beauty already. She added again, this time with her face evolving into determination and filled with bravery to shock all those present. “Nobody will lay their hands on them! Nor will any of you live after seeking to harm them!!”

“!?” The cultivator immediately heard a clicking noise. Nobody, not him nor those who followed him into the reception area, felt this young woman would give them any problems. Her strength was puny and laughable even to the students of their academy. But it was then that the clicking noise made them feel weird as if they had forgotten about something… very crucial.

KAAAAAAAAA- POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

Even a couple thousand kilometers away, a simple yet overly large red-fire cloud of pure destruction could be seen growing into the air, reaching far beyond the sky, and disappearing. Literally disappearing, as if it had gained life as it exploded and ran away in search of a new lease on life. It was the most extraordinary explosion this world had ever seen, as not only did the hotel and the entire city become a crater. Hundreds of kilometers wide and even a whole kilometer deep, directly disappeared from the face of all existence.

Nobody, not even the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect, who had the most ancient records of the world, knew what the hell happened. Even in the coming weeks and months, the crater would be explored and given as much investigation as possible. But the results would be the same as always: nothing.

… On the other hand, after Ciemnosc and his crew had left the woods. His crew had taken his commanding vehicle and let it be fully at their disposal. And even gave it a few more defenses, filling the holes for attacking from the inside and granting it a protective barrier array formation. Only after doing so much for them did Ciemnosc feel at ease, letting them decide how to die. Now, it was p to them when and where they would.

That day, just as Ciemnosc rode on Valeria’s upgraded motorbike and drove towards the south, he heard the explosion that sent a harmless expansive shockwave at the ground level to almost all over the Region. It went from the Region’s center to the eastern, northern, and southern borders. As well as the eastern shores of the Little Lake.

Naturally, being so close to the city, Ciemnosc not only saw the ‘explosion’ come to life and disappear into the outside of this world’s ends. He also saw it the moment it happened. He wasn’t facing the direction of the city, but he suddenly felt the impulse to look towards there. It was then that the big boom sounded, and his memories of back then and the people he left there echoed in his mind now more than ever before.

Ciemnosc remained silent as he stopped the bike and just watched where the Warmlord City was. For a long time, all he did was to look in that direction, not caring or having thoughts about anything else in this world. Until his eyes narrowed, a wrinkle appeared on his glabella, and the seed of rage dwelling within him grew a little more!

After that, he resumed driving, his target being clear and obvious. The Moribund Yearning Cult. There was something about them and he that simply had them bound together, like a curse and a damned coincidence. Both are harmful to all parties, and yet without them facing each other directly. At most, Ciemnosc had fought people from the cult only when added together with other major organizations. And there was also that deceased pair…

He still hadn’t forgotten.

However, on the road, Ciemnosc continued to drive at ease, dodged any patrol from the major organizations, and easily evaded those from the academy. When he received different news from his Personal Token, which he always had some of his Spirit Sense reading through, it was a whole lot damn amount of information. After doing his tricks in the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect’s sect territory, long back then, he could just read any information being exchanged between all ‘major’ organizations.

Their union might’ve been such a monumental slowing down of their capabilities; at the start. But it was only so at the beginnings of it. And as time passed by, cooperation changed and became that of an actual union. They became so close to each other that travel and trading between sects and cult became a regular thing to do and whose trajectory was already planned for the next thousands of years or so. Nobody was disgusted with becoming richer after all.

As such, Ciemnosc could read through their communications like it was nothing. Their reports, either military, logistics, or even just who was the hottest slut and manslut at the moment, were all that was read and known by Ciemnosc, pretty much like a professional gossiper and peeper. So when news came that the commanding vehicle had stopped and barricaded itself in a ‘nearby’ city to the Warmlord City, he became aware that the crew reached their last few days.

Over the following days, as he made his way to the Moribund Yearning Cult, he read the reports of each battle. Of each thing happening; and how it went on, from the morning to the night. It was surprising, and not at the same time, to know that his crew was smashing the enemy’s forces worse than cockroaches and even managed to last more than 10 days barricaded there. Before, ultimately, sending themselves together with the rest of their fellow troopers who fell in the Little Lake being left to fight on their own.

When… news came about their death, Ciemnosc stopped himself for another day, already close to the Moribund Yearning Cult’s cult territory but still hidden so well that even their array formation spanning the entire south couldn’t find him. He had array formations and reading of nature to do that much. And though it was ‘easy’ to deal with, it required him to constantly change the array formations’ design and drawings for the major organization’s arrays, such as those that were too powerful. And he wasn’t about to form another base of operations under anyone’s noses. Ever again.

On his way to the cult, Ciemnosc never stopped cultivating. Of course. But even as he ate away Supreme Powerful Stones and Obsidiafying realm cultivators’ corpses, he was still not able to have enough preparations to breakthrough. In reality, compared to any of those in this world, he was more than prepared, possibly a thousand times better prepared, than even the strongest and most highlighted cultivators in the world… for the east of the Region.

However, Ciemnosc’s expectations were, as always, higher than that. Besides that point, he was also a fugitive right now. And if he wanted to go through such dangers again, he had to be prepared for real and not like before, when he had simply made a rabbit hole and didn’t even bother with array formations other than to fill up the dirt above his head and maintain a rooftop.

He didn’t have a vehicle that could be tracked. Either because the commanding vehicle was destroyed, because he had already taken those trackers off of it and Valeria’s bike. This time, he had to select a very damn good place to hide, avoiding strong reconnoiter but, if possible, within the enemy’s noses so that he would have a higher chance of not being noticed in places that are being watched more intensely and with devices other than the naked eye.

But that was a matter that he would have to deal with later. Right now, in the reflection of Ciemnosc’s eyes, there was only the cult’s territory just a few tens of kilometers away from his reach. And one that he had already prepared a way to give them back all of what they had occasioned. Their deaths; the intervention every time when the other major organizations and even the academy, now added as well, decided to strike him down.

If Ciemnosc knew how to treat allies and enemies, his heart could only be at ease after giving the Moribund Yearning Cult a tremendous slap on their cheeks, bottoms, and balls. Otherwise, the rage dwelling and gorging within him. Slowly, in a night that seemed just as eerie and regular as any others, within the south of the Region, the very damn first doom of the 4 ‘major’ organizations... began.

The war with the Rocaloi Academy had only lasted about a year and almost 9 months, but the ‘war’ against Ciemnosc, right now and ever since his escape from the Little Lake… Have all been disastrous for both the east and west of the Region. Yet, it was only about to get worse.

…