I have seen things most people will never see, tasted things most would turn from in fear, walked on the shores of distant moons and flown through scarlet stars. I have found love, I have lost love and I have hated. I have been scorned and rewarded. I have given, I have stolen, I was a warrior but I am no more. My name Is Harro Odecu-As.

The horizon ahead of me is long and flat, broken only by the occasional scrub tree. This place is void of the lush green forests I know in my world. The earth is brown, cracked and hardened by a Quatrasun. It is not a place many would visit. I am here because the Primus has asked for my services. I am here to track and kill an Aron itruab, and to rid this world of its presence.

Nightfall is nearing. The scrub tree silhouettes are black against a blood red sky, the QuatraSun burns bright as it dips below the horizon. Vanishing for 24 hours, only to return hot and hellish on a new morning. With nightfall a thick haze appears, and will only thicken as the night wears on. It is a heavy industrial smoke created by Primus factories. It coats the nose, the lips and the tongue. It tastes of bitter metal and it fills the lungs. There is no escaping it. It concentrates with each passing day. The Villafolk have a saying here "Pray for wind or pray for the Aron-itraub."

I secure a respirator to my mouth, and my infrahaze goggles across my eyes. This equipment will allow me to continue throughout the night without any need to re-air in nearby villages. Before starting this journey the Primus warned me to stay out of the VillaFolk cities, and off the main traffic flows. My task is simply to eliminate the Itraub and prevent it from silacating any future cities. Primus was not concerned how I completed the task, or how many villafolk might be lost in the process. He only cared about eradicating his adversary.

Night is fully upon me, ahead I see the faint orange glow of a laborers city. The lights dim and brighten as the power surges on an unstable grid. For a moment the city is completely dark and then instantly brighten section by section as the power grid slowly comes back on line. The only sounds I hear are those of distant industrial machines and the painful cries of animals trapped in the slaughter yards. It is the same in every city, factories, haze and the cries of meat animals. I have not seen any villafolk. Primus did not detail the reason for so many factories or why his government sought to cleanse this planet of itraub rather than relocate it.

I am distracted from my thoughts by a soft tone. The data panel in my infrahaze goggles is indicating a respirator failure on my left breathing ventricle. I have no choice but to enter the Villafolk city ahead of me. Without a properly operating respirator I will not be able to travel at night and will not be able to intercept the Itraub in the time frame I am committed.

The streets of the city are empty. The churning sounds of industrial machinery grows louder as I walk past homes and shops constructed of stone and cement. Every home is attached to the other, the windows are shuttered with heavy iron curtains. Bars of thick iron are added protection over doors and window frames, Some homeowners have placed broken bottles and shattered glass upright along the roof lines. I don't know what these people fear but it must be something powerful. The street lights dim again on the surging power grid. The lights are dark, the entire city black and no one is on the street. Then, the power surges bright to reveal a heavy veil of smoke at ground level. A group of dry roaches scurry from storm drains and quickly cross the pavement in search of food. Ahead of me I see a tiny shop with a flashing sign "Re-Air".

A thick layer of ash and dust has settled on the door knob of the re-air shop, through a tiny window I can see movement. I press the door buzzer and the lock clicks open. Inside I am greeted by a small man.

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"How can I help you, Visitor." he says

To my surprise he has immediately identified me as a stranger. "I need a filter replaced. Tonight." I say to the little man.

"Tonight? in a hurry, where are you going that you need this tonight?

The technology in his shop is old, generations old, unlike my home world. By the sight of things in the shop I was unsure if he could complete the job.

"I am headed south."

"OK, let's take a look at your equipment, and I will match the filter." I hand my respirator to the small plump man. The shop smelled like mentosplantas, fresh and inviting.

“This is a Q4Alpha. Where did you get it? it is not often we see technology like this in these parts." He stared intently at the serial numbers and then looked up at me with a grin.

"I bought it off-world on a recent visit to Houshan. You know, it is hard to view the volcanic activity without a respirator." I replied, giving him a typical tourist excuse.

"Houshan you say, the fire world?" he looked at me with suspicion. "Not many people around here can travel off world, you must be special?"

"How much to fix this?" I ask, wanting to avoid any further questions.

"2500 owo, finished by daybreak." he said. "I have to manufacture the filter for you, Q4 parts are not available here". I had no choice but to accept his offer and wait until daybreak.

"Are there any local inns nearby?" I asked

"At this time of night? it is too dangerous to be on the streets." he said looking intently at the filter. "you are welcome to stay with my family, we have extra space and food. "

"Yari come here!" The shopkeeper called out.

"Father?" a young girl with long pale pink hair appeared in the doorway behind the workshop table.

" Yari, take....what is your name?" he said to me looking up from the filter.

"Gino," I said.

" Yari show Gino to the spare sleeping room" The shopkeeper said.

Together, Yari and myself walked down a long hall, heavily scented with the comforting smell of mentosplantas. Yari did not speak to me, she did not look at me. We arrived at the sleeping room, she quietly gestured to the door. "Off Worlder" she said and turned to walk away.

The sleeping room was small with a single bed, a humidifier and a ceiling light. Attached to a wall was a LIS screen. it too was old technology, liquid image screens disappeared thirty years ago, but this one was still working. The image not as bright as it should have been. The LIS displayed images of villa news and a headline scrolled across the top page the screen. The southern city of Ragus had been attacked, no one was being allowed near the city. Images of Ragus flashed across the screen. The city was coated with a deep yellow silicate. Some images showed villafolk frozen like statues, mouths agape with terror, and coated with the same substance. Many were trying to escape the itraub before they were attacked. The Aron itruab has been responsible for the destruction of an uncountable number of Primus controlled villas.

Three month ago a number of small cities in the borderlands started to lose contact with the the capital. Lithium production stopped and the planetary power grids that relied on this source of fuel were beginning to fail. Troops were sent to the cities, most of them did not return. The ones that did return told horrific stories of structures covered in a toxic silica. they reported entire cities vanishing, all life extinguished. They told stories of the screams of the tortured heard from cloudless skies, followed by a stillness, and they said the phenomena repeated itself over and over again.

I watched the as the images continued to appear on the LIS screen, waiting for a glimpse of the itraub, none appeared.

I continued to watch the LIS, I sat down on the bed. It was comfortable.

The images on the LIS continued to play in a loop, and a newscaster tracked the anticipated location of the next itraub attack. Based on previous information, the news agency was predicting an attack on the city of Tlas in 2 days. Ragus was unexpected, and the Itraub's predictability was changing. The news reports indicated that it was aware of bounty hunters trying to intercept it, and was adapting to their attempts to capture it.

" Hi! Off Worlder!!" The door to my sleeping room swung open wildly, standing before me was a little boy. He could not have been more than 6 years old. His dark hair was ruffled , and his bright brown eyes darted with excitement. He tried to appear in command of everything around him,  his hands firmly planted on his hips.

"Are you here to fight the bad things?" He said. "Are you an Off World defender? Yari says you have a Q4!"