The rest of the way wasn’t a terrible journey. Although the group had seen a few mutant animals, there hadn’t been anything that really got in their way. With the help of some of the more experienced travelers, they were able to make it to Cloud Sea without too much trouble.
Cloud Sea was not as large Blue Creek. The place was a small village that had built up a small fishing community. There were huts that had gathered around the river. Based on how much the river branched out in the place, the places where the river broke off must have been man-made. Nets were strung up with the bottoms being somewhere in the river. At the front of the village was a wall. It wasn’t the longest wall, in fact, it didn’t even cover the entire town. It was only a fifty feet across and only the way down stream.
When they got there, they were stopped by the guards. There were only two of them: a young man probably in his teens and an old man with one foot in the grave. Definitely not the kind of place that would be ransacked by most bandits. Not because of their security, but because they clearly didn’t have much that was worth taking.
Once they reached the town, all the people began to disperse in different directions. The merchants left to go find whatever trades they could and the wanderers went wherever they pleased. As for Daniel, he wanted to find the nearest in. After all that travel, he was tired. It wasn’t just from how long they had been traveling, but many of the others looked to him for leadership. Now that they all knew he could fight, they kept close to him. It was honestly suffocating. Now that they were gone, Daniel felt that he could take in fresh air.
Finding the inn wasn’t too hard. It was one of the first buildings in the town. The place must have not much competition because the sign up front only had the words inn written in a vertical line. The lowercase n was crooked as though it were going to fall off at any second.
But it was good that it didn’t have any competition because the place didn’t look that good either. Its brick exterior meant that it was left over from the ancient days. But that brick building already had some weeds and other vegetation climbing out of its walls.
Daniel headed inside. Lamps were on, probably because of the lack of proper lighting inside. The windows were small making the sunlight harder to get through. The building didn’t have much of a lobby area, a small reception area with boxes in the wall close to the door where residents could have picked up any letters.
Up at the front desk Daniel recognized one of the wanderers he was traveling with. He couldn’t remember his name. But now that he thought about it, aside from Vice, he didn’t know any of the other people’s names. Daniel took his place in line.
The wanderer must have heard him coming, because he turned. He saw Daniel and his face lit up. “You’re that kid from our traveling group,” the man said.
Daniel nodded.
“You know, me and the other folks were thinking of a way we could repay you. Hey, you know what? How about I treat you to some food. Don’t worry about the cost, I’ll take care of it.” Daniel was about to refuse, but the man waved him off as if he knew what he wasn’t going to say. “Don’t even think it is too generous. Besides, you saved our lives. The least I could do is pay for a meal.”
“Fine,” Daniel said.
The wanderer clapped his hands with joy. “Good. My name is Entropy, but most people call me Ent. Meet me here in about an hour.”
Daniel didn’t say anything more, just keeping quiet. As much as he wanted to refuse, he couldn’t help but feel something bad was going to happen to his uncle. He knew that the amount of gold his uncle gave him was a lot. But just how long would it really last? A year? Maybe two? Fact of the matter was, even with all that gold, it seemed small. And with no school backing, Daniel wasn’t sure he’d even be able to find a job. He needed to be thrifty with his money until he found a way to make some more. Thus, he accepted Ent’s offer.
The two of them got checked in. Daniel found his room. It was large compared to what he was used to, but not by much. This building was most likely used as some kind of apartment complex. Daniel explored around. There was a safe in the room which was interesting, but it wasn’t exactly something that would keep his mind occupied for an hour. Actually, there really wasn't much Daniel could do. If he didn't have to wait, he probably would have left to some parts outside of town to practice the technique his uncle had taught him.
After a bit of time, he sat down on the couch. He sprawled himself on there as he looked up at the ceiling. There was a stain that had formed creating a brown spot. Daniel let go of his mind and let it begin to wander. Inside his mind, he saw his uncle. But seeing wasn’t exactly the right word, it was more like he could feel him, as though he were there right in front of Daniel.
Gram was anxious. He was waiting for something, something to happen. The town of Blue Creek would be so close to the battle site, Daniel wondered if anyone would warn them. His uncle didn’t exactly too keen to lose focus in the moment.
“Western Fiend,” the voice called out.
Gram was too focused on staying focused, that his mind had wandered off.
“Western Fiend,” the man called again.
No response.
“The Western Fiend…”
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Daniel shot up. He heard that, he knew he heard someone mentioned his uncle’s title. But here, why would someone mention his uncle. Had his uncle abandoned his post? Daniel could only hope. He ran towards the voice. He wanted to hear what they knew of his uncle.
He listened in. He followed the voice to one of the walls. He placed his ear against the wall. They were definitely talking about his uncle alright.
“A huge price was paid in order to get the sects to be pitted against each other,” the voice said. It was a deep voiced person. The voice was someone who cared about resources and business very much. The person he was talking to didn’t seem to have their companion’s concern.
“No need to worry brother,” the other voice said. The voice was whimsical but rather croaky as though there was something lodged into the man’s throat. “I can assure that the cache will be worth it. Remember, this is not an ordinary sect that we are pitting against the Traditionalists. They will keep them busy for a long time or even wipe them out.”
The Business voice snickered. “First, don’t call me brother. And second, what makes you so sure that they won’t use everything their tech cache uses.”
“We have our sources, so long as you are willing to work with us, I can guarantee that the fifty percent we offer you will be more than worth it.”
“It better, or I’ll skin you alive.”
The man took the threat with a light hearted laugh. “No need for that. As we speak, our members are forging a missive that will get those fools from the Scarlet Grove Sect to believe that one of our members is a general is being sent over from the main sect.”
Scarlet Grove? Daniel tried to wrap his head around the fact that his uncle was part of the Scarlet Grove Sect. It was the largest sect in the Wastelands. But Daniel shook off the thought, he needed to focus. He needed to find out as much as he could.
“I don’t know how you were able to do that, and I really don’t care about the details. So long as you can ensure the major players won’t be a problem. Are you sure the Western Fiend won’t be a problem?”
“Trust me, he’ll be on the front lines. No one, no matter how skilled survive the front lines from battles like these.”
“And that woman,” the Business man began to snap his fingers, trying to jog his memory. “Diere? Damnation?”
“Diane,” the other voice said. “And yes, we have a member with the Traditionalists. In the heat of battle, we’ll have her fall into a little accident. It would be enough to dishearten the Traditionalists that their major members will be easy pickings.
Daniel was taken aback. Sure Jace had tried to knife him, but he didn’t have any hard feelings against the Traditionalists. He needed to get back. Daniel looked inside his bag. Not enough to get back all on his own.
He grabbed his bag and ran out the door. On the way, he tossed the key onto the desk. The man at the front watched as the key clattered, but ultimately rested on the desk.
Daniel looked around. He needed to find a merchant. He ran around and heard someone calling out, “Take a look, I can see you don’t have enough time to cook for dinner. These-” Daniel ran over. He found the merchant. He was a heavy set man, but one that didn’t have fine set of clothes. He stuttered when Daniel came onto the scene. “-fish can last for days.”
“How much?” Daniel asked.
“Three copper pieces for five.”
Daniel reached into the pouch he kept on himself. He took out the first three coins he felt. He tossed them over to the man. “There’s two silver and copper. Give me however how much that can cover with however much salt you can.”
The man looked at the coins. He picked them up before Daniel could take them away. He handed Daniel some fish without saying a word and a bottle of salt. Daniel took them without checking. Actually, he knew that the man had given him less than what he paid for, but it was enough for the journey back.
Daniel began to head out of town.
From behind, a man had begun to chase him. Daniel ignored him. The man began to scream before something that Daniel finally heard what the man was saying. “Stop!” Daniel kept going. He didn’t know who the man was. But what right did he have to give Daniel orders?
Then it came to him. The man must have been one of the people that pit his uncle’s sect against the Traditionalists. That made sense. If they knew about his uncle, they might have
The man kept chasing after Daniel. He then called out again, but this time to other people. Two more men were now chasing after Daniel. Whenever people were in their way, they would shove them out of the way.
The man who was originally chasing Daniel began to throw a bola. He swung the object around before throwing them out. The weights on either end began to spin around in the air like propellers. The man’s aim was good and it almost caught Daniel, but at the last second, Daniel leapt into the air. The bola went past Daniel and snagged onto someone’s legs, causing them to fall onto the ground. The unintended victim shook their fist in the air and started to yell at the men.
“How is he so fast,” one of the men asked.
“Probably some mutant,” the other said.
They were starting to come up to the gate. The one who was originally chasing Daniel called out to the men at the gate. “Close the gate. Don’t let the thief escape.”
The men at the gate shot to attention and began to close it. They were only a few feet from the gate now. But Daniel stopped. He turned to look at the men. “Wait, thief? What are you talking about?”
When Daniel asked the question, the other two looked at the man as well.
The one who was originally chasing Daniel gave a rather sheepish look. “Well, I saw you running and saw you had a rather large bag. So I thought you were a thief.”
The other two men shook their heads. One of them spoke up. “I’m sorry about this,” he said. “Omen here had his brain damaged from radiation his mom got when he was in the womb. He tends to over exaggerate things. But despite being mad, there are times where his senses are spot on.” The man then introduced himself. “My name is Kaiyak.”
“It’s not a problem,” Daniel said. He was practically bouncing up and down with the need to go. “But I really need to be going, my sifu is in danger.”
“What kind of danger,” Omen asked, clearly not really convinced that Daniel was truly innocent.
“His sect is about to go to war.” Daniel really didn’t have time for this, so he said the first thing that came into his head.
“Don’t let him escape,” Omen shouted. He pointed a finger at Daniel. “He’ll bring the war to us. The student will face the Sharks and Skulls. Their battle will ravage the land and bring us to war. War! War! War!” The other man who hadn’t spoken yet brought his hand and covered Omen’s mouth. Some people were starting to stare, but Daniel ignored them.
Kaiyak waved his hand and the other man began to drag Omen away. Kaiyak then called out, “Open the gates!”
The men opened the gates. Just as the gates opened, Daniel saw one of the men leaving. It was a burly man dressed in a leather jacket. On the back of his jacket was a symbol of a flaming skull. The man was in view for a second before disappearing into the tree line.
Daniel began to see what the man meant by skull and sharks. If that was the case, then this might not have just been business, it might have also been personal. He gathered up his qi. Fine white wisps began to form around his body. He then bolted after towards the tree line.