A breeze that seemed to come from nowhere was blowing on a group of people that were resting in a clearing around a fire. The clockwork precision with which it blew was a constant reminder of the wrongness of it all. It usually wasn't noticeable when you were moving about but such things always had a way of nagging at those who ventured in the places with no anchors.
"And the big, one." said a girl as a stronger gust blew past "We should have picked a better spot father." she said with a pout to the man who was fiddling with a circular device, complex vain patters where pulsing with lights all congregating in the middle of the device and where a single object lay bathing in a light that raized up and formed a holographic projection of the object and some data.
"I am afraid that this as good a place as any that we may find the winds are blowing all over these planes, Leah" the man said not raising his head from the projection.
"Ohhh I see, and I just thought you could not wait to look at the trigger that ower new friend had acquired." she said turning to look at the man who was sleeping under a blanket, cuts and bruises apparent on the exposed parts of his body.
Tormund froze for a moment and caught trying to steady his voice before he spoke, but before a word could come out of his mouth the girl turned around again with a brilliant smile, that warmed his heart and made him forget what he wanted to say. "Don't worry..." he heard her say "... I know you are just curious about the armor, and I am sure that our new friend will be really happy to find out what his new trigger can do."
Tormund just smiled basking in the radiance of his daughter, some thoughts, that he would never admit he had, already gone from his mind. His state of bliss soon interrupted by a muffled chuckle from his son Jin who had been silent up until this moment. He braced himself for what he knew was inevitably coming.
"Is there something you want to say, big brother?"
Jin looked at his sister who was riling up for an argument and then at his father who seemed to have already capitulated to Leas wishes and decided that having a verbal fencing match with her was not worth it so he just decided to ask his father "So what did you find about the armor?"
"It's quite the unique one." said Thormund exited "Eight standard slots and materialization nods only at the hands with some sort of active swap functionality, I haven't seen anything quite like it." he said excitement apparent in his voice.
"That sounds unique but not that great of a design all things considered" Jin said.
"You say that but eight slots is a lot more than normal and combined with the possibility of swapping them during lulls in combat it provides quite a versatile kit" Lea decided to join in the conversation, not a trace of her previous confrontational state present.
"You both are missing the point" Tormud said, he glanced again at the last person in their group to make sure that he was still sleeping. "This model is not like the ones from the Peoples Republic of Denos..."
"And it is not one of the models that the Kingdom of Lucitania uses ether" Jin said quickly realization dawning on him.
"And Romava triggers don't have slots at all." added Leah.
"So the question now is where did the trigger originate from?" said Tormund excitement starting to fill him.
Quest issued: Rogue World Anchor
Description: You have discovered the traces of a Rogue World Anchor. Discover the exact position of the Anchor to receive the rewards.
Reward: ???
All three of them received the notification at the same time and started smiling.
"Well that settles it" Tormund said with a small smile still tugging at his lips "Now all we have to do is decide who do we sell the location to after we find it"
"The PRD is probably out considering how hard it is to get in the republic of the people " Jin said a tinge of disdain apparent in his voice "Or more importantly how hard it is to leave" added Tormun his face a mask of seriousness.
"To be honest it is impressive that out of all that corruption and incompetence the only thing that they are really good at is their border defense, so how about the kingdom then?" said Jin.
"Posible the current leader is quit shroud and has managed to rain in the nobles decades ago so except for the preparation for the eventual invasion of Romava he is not wasting money on much at the moment." pondered Tormun out loud "But the fact that he rained in the nobles also means that he has more resources to entrap us if he so chooses, what where we to do if all the trigger users of the kingdom siege us even after we escape to the ships, I doubt that the sealium powered riffle we found in the last expedition will be much of a deterrent to them."
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
"True but it should not be impossible to negotiate with them if we take precautions but if you are concerned about numbers we can always go to Romava they have the least trigger users and even if they where to wake up the princep his trigger is not suited for chaises" Jin said.
Seeing her father and brother getting more and more enthralled in there plans Lea could not help but interrupt "I am afraid you two are forgetting that we have to find the anchor first, the debris field that we are currently in is not that small". Leas words hit the two like a bucket of cold water immediately dampening their enthusiasm. "And also..." she said turning to the still unconscious person.
Jin and Tormun bout turned to look in the same direction as Leah taking in the appearance of the person that had definitely seen better days.
"So where do you think he is from" Jin broke off the silence.
"Black hair and tall, does not look malnourished so most likely not the Republic" said Tormund with a thoughtful expression "Did any of you see from what direction he approached the battlefield."
"No" replayed Leah "and he was genuinely frightened and confused, I don't see how he could have gotten so close to us without us noticing, also panicking people don't run in the middle of fights without an active armor or even a trigger for that matter".
"Well he does have a trigger now" Jin pointed out glancing at Leah "But I agree with your point he basically came out of nowhere. And then there are his clothes to consider, although they are in bad shape they don't look like what the people from around hear ware". Standing up Jin went next to the unconscious man and stretched his arms forward as if ready to catch something "Well I guess it will be easiest to ask him personally" no sooner did his words fade that the man half stud up, heaving short breaths as if he was trying to calm down after a frighting nightmare.
"Easy there you are safe now" Jin said holding the mans shoulders preventing him from standing up "Just sit down and relax you have been throw a lot."
The man blinked confusion apparent on his face. He looked around taking in his surroundings until his eyes meting Leahs.
With a smile on her face, Leah said "I am glad to see you are alright, I am Leah by the way and this are Jin and Tormund. What should we call you?"
"Michel" he replied absent mindedly "I guess I should thank you for saving me... Could I ask where we are right now?"
"We are close to the place we first met you, if you go past that hill you can still see what is left of the drone that tried to eat you" Jin said from the side taking a quick glance at his sister when he was sure Michel was not paying attention.
"Nock it off. He is still scared and I can't blame him I wouldn't want to face one of those things without my armor on" came the voice of Lea.
"Thank you!" came the weak reply almost a whisper. "I really thought I was a goner..." every word came out with palpable effort and before Michal could figure out what he wanted to say next he felt himself wrapped into a hug the girl that had saved his life before now there again for him.
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"So how long was I out for?" Mikel asked a while later after he had eaten and calmed down somewhat.
"Probably about an hour." came Jins reply "Not sure if you were with anyone but if you want we can help you get back to them."
"...I am alone." Michel said after a pause a blank look on his face as he stared into nothingness.
"You must feal lonely, but you must not dwell on it" came Leas reapply as she put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Jin and Tormun observing how the man they've just met visibly shuddered.
"Where am I?" came the next question a bit more strength in the voice than before. "I think I may have gotten myself a bit lost."
"On a shard in the middle of nowhere" came Tormuns reply is face stern and expressionless the usual self that he displayed in front of his family nowhere to be seen.
"A shard?" came Michels reply, a confused expression on his face "I am afraid that I don't know what that is, you see I come from a remote village and I don't know much about the world.". After finishing his sentence Michel looked at the three people with a straight face just a tinge of expectancy betraying his actual mood.
"..." but instead of the answers, he was hoping for he was only meet with blank gazes. "Did he hit his head?" Tormuns voice sounded.
"No we checked when we were administering first aid." came Jins quick replay. They both glanced at Leah.
"It's ok if you don't trust us, I understand we are some strange people that you don't know and if you wish we won't pry. We will be leaving this place soon and we can go ower separate ways soon."
"I..." Michel tried to say but the words did not seem to come out and after a quick pause he managed to say "It's not that I don't want to tell you... but the truth is so out there that it seems more like a lie than anything that I could come up with and also I really don't know anything about the world and I am truly lost and ..." his speech cut short by Leah before it could turn into more of a rambling mess. "I see. In that case, you may ask what you wish to know. As far as I can tell you are not a bad man..." she said turning to glance at the other two who were watching intently the exchange.
"But I don't feel comfortable letting someone that we don't know anything about on ower ship" said Tormund finishing the sentence. "We will be here for a couple more standard days, you can ask us what you want to during this time and in exchange for some labor, we will give you the trigger that you received from the system as well as some supplies when we leave this place. Now we need to get moving we have already wasted a lot of time waiting for you to wake up." He said leaving no place for arguing.
As Jin and Tormund started packing up the camp Leah pulled Michel to the side and said "Don't worry, Father is a nice man he is just worried about me and my brother, as long as you tell him enough to satisfy his worries and prove helpful in the next couple of days I am sure I will be able to convince him to take you along" she said winking at him.
"I... I don't know what to say. I really want to thank you for all of your help but I feel that that will not properly convey the gratitude that I feel for all the help you have given to me." Michel said "...To be honest I really thought I would be left here alone for a second... well I guess I might still be..." he said deflating a bit.
"In this life so full of adversity where you don't know where fate will kick you down and blow you around, you must stand firm and work to a goal. So that this winds of fate and adversity may turn with the labor of your dreams in mere wind of opportunity " she said spreading her hands wide a small smile tugging at her lips while a strong gust of wind suddenly blue by.