A loud sonorous ringing sound woke Daniel up. He shot to attention. Years of living in the wasteland taught him what a ringing bell meant.

Jace had already got his things together. Based on the sunlight poking through, they probably weren’t out long.

Jace finished up strapping some kind of vest. He looked up, his gaze met Daniel’s. The two studied each other. There wasn’t a hint of fear on either of their faces. In the wasteland, death clung close to each person, a constant companion. Some feared it like a blade hung over their head. Other regarded it as an old friend.

“Looks like you’ll get to see what we do here,” Jace said with a smile.

Daniel looked down. Sarah lying on the bed. She looked so peaceful despite everything that seemed to be going on.

“She’ll be fine in an hour.”

Jace led Daniel out of the room to the main area. The labyrinth became more of an ant farm as people were running through the place. Daniel had thought that these were a small sect, but the amount of people here had to number in the hundreds.

Jace didn’t even need to turn back to know that Daniel was frozen seeing so many people all around. “Move it, or you’ll get trampled on by others.”

While to others, this may have looked like utter chaos, the men moved in such a way that they knew where each was going. They timed it so that men could crisscross each other without anyone bumping into each other.

Daniel marveled at this kind of discipline. This was the second time he had seen this amount of coordination on such a large a scale. But the memories began to sour as he remembered what happened when he saw the formation at work.

A figure of a person bumped into Daniel before rushing out of view.

Daniel looked around. He couldn’t see Jace anymore. There were faces of people passing by. Their faces began to morph. These weren’t Traditionalists anymore- no. They were Lone Riders.

A hand went on Daniel’s shoulder. He followed the arm until he saw Diane. She pulled at his shoulder, making step a few inches back. Daniel didn’t realize that he was actually having the others run around him. As soon as he stepped back, the line went back to its normal flow.

“I- I lost Jace,” Daniel said.

“Come with me,” Diane said. She turned Daniel around and led him forward. They kept walking until Daniel saw the entrance to the front. She led him into the scorching sun.

While Daniel had been forced to train out in the sun, it didn’t mean he was used to it. If he had to choose between staying indoors or out, he’d choose in nine times out of ten.

But they didn’t stop at the entrance. He was led through the wasteland. When he asked where they were going, he was only met with silence.

They kept going until the headquarters was just a speck in the distance.

Boom!

Daniel could feel it now. Not just see it. Something was shaking the ground. There was something off in the distance. There were screams as people were probably dying. Daniel went to leap forward, but before he could, Diane grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Not that way.” She nudged her chin towards a cliff off in the distance.

Daniel saw where it was she wanted him to go. He began to walk that way.

The closer they got to the cliff, the louder the sounds were. There were more explosions as well as screams. Even if death was a constant in the wasteland, Daniel didn’t revel in it. He gulped as he heard more and more.

His thoughts were running wild. Where was he going? What was he doing here? The thoughts swam through his brain like fish in a lake.

Finally they were at the cliff. The explosions had gotten louder. Too loud in fact, Daniel felt like he was going deaf just being near them.

All this time, Daniel didn’t want to see what was going on. He turned his head, not wanting to see what horror was just before him. But things were too close now. No more hiding. The only thing keeping him from seeing was the edge of the cliff.

Diane slapped him on the back once more to get him forward. Daniel began to walk. He was slow, he hesitated to see what was there. But he could already see a dead body: a man, half charred by fire lay on the ground.

What was one became two. More and more bodies were left littering the ground. There were too many to count, tens or even more than a hundred were laying on the ground. He could now also see off in the distance, there was a metal vehicle. It was large, probably the size of a house. A long nozzle was placed at its front. Men and women were charging towards it. Those closest were riddled with bullets. As for those in the back, they were bombarded with explosions.

“Over to the south,” Diane began to explain, “we have a branch defending weapon technology cache. Over the past month or so, groups have begun to raid the weapons cache. Our people held out for a time, but now the weapons have fallen into someone else’s hands.”

“Why-” Daniel began to say.

Diane looked at the battlefield. She watched with cold eyes as men and women were laying on the ground. Her people, her comrades dead, dying, or were waiting to die. She just watched.

“Why am I showing you this? Because this is what the technology of the old world brought us. People may see our world and think that this is the worst that man has to offer, but look at what the old world had at its disposal. We may revere them, but none of them were saints. For people to create such a twisted design, a continuation of their legacy would only be worse for the world. If anything, people only forgot the violence of the old world.”

He could see where these people were coming from. Such a thing truly was dangerous. But something else didn’t seem to add up.

“You have something in your mind? Speak up.”

“The things at the headquarters, they’re not dangerous. I saw what’s there: medicine, toys, expired food. How can any of that be dangerous?”

“It is not what they are, but what they represent. The old world had many brilliant minds, what if one studies things from the past and learns something that leads to these weapons. No, we shouldn’t learn from them.

“What the Traditionalists want is to rebuild the world anew. New knowledge, new cultures, new world free from the past hatreds.”

“But people will still remember. There are still guns out in the world.” At the mention of guns, Daniel clenched his fist. He couldn’t forget how his parents died.

“An unfortunate circumstance. But tell me, how many can a single gun kill at a time? Ten? Twenty? Look how many died here.”

As if to prove her point, another explosion occurred, sending bodied flying around. A severed hand flew through the air, almost smacking Daniel in the face.

He gave it a glance. But once it was past his face, he didn’t pay it any more mind. He had seen worse things in the wasteland.

“But what if the world doesn’t change. Who’s to say that the world won’t revert to how it was before, create technology like this in the future?”

“If that is the case, then the Traditionalists won’t interfere. But already this world it pitiable. We shouldn’t let it fester in its own filth. We should alleviate its suffering at all costs.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Daniel frowned when he heard this. He never thought after all these years, he would hear those words again. Maybe it was fate that brought him here.

When Daniel didn’t say anything, Diane looked down at him. “What?”

“Just, those words-”

“They’re a part of the Pure Land Sect mantra,” Diane explained. “Let not the world wallow in filth. Life is now lamentable. Only in death can we be free. Pity this world and its people. Alleviate suffering, to become exultant.”

Daniel remembered hearing that his father once protected the Pure Land Sect. Maybe he went to go study there. But then, why was his father out in the wasteland. Daniel wondered if his uncle knew.

“Many children in the Pure Land Sect territory know the mantra. It’s become something of a nursery rhyme. The closer one gets the main headquarters of the sect, the more people know it.”

“Is this all so I would join the Traditionalists?” Daniel asked. He knew that she asked him to join, but he was eleven. Why try so hard. There was something; something she wasn’t telling him.

“You got a keen sense. That’s good, you’ll need that in the future.” Daniel wondered what she meant by that. But before he could ask, she continued. “I don’t just want you to join the sect. Daniel, I want you to lead our branch.”

“Me.” Daniel couldn’t hide his feelings. Lead an entire sect. He was eleven. He couldn’t even lead a rattlesnake, let alone a whole sect. “Why me?”

“The first reason is you’re young. Those who newly join the sect will be met with mistrust. But if it is someone who has grown up with them for five or even ten years, they’ll be more likely to accept. Additionally, you’ll have more time to be trained as my successor. In terms of martial prowess, you already have a solid foundation. The fact that you are standing right now, despite the wound you’ve taken is proof of that.”

Daniel grunted. He never realized that his mastery of qi would come back to bite him, even when used in small amounts like this.

Diane looked off in the distance. “Additionally, your uncle is the Western Fiend, a man who does what he wants and kills who he wants. By reputation alone, how many would want to antagonize him. And for someone who is already in his forties, he practically near the end of his life. With nothing left to lose, he’d probably kill an entire sect if he felt like it.”

If only she knew- Daniel shook his head. Although the average life expectancy in the wastelands was fifty or so, Gram was still healthy and cared about his safety. No matter how much danger he was in, Daniel couldn’t imagine his uncle risking his life for him. He’d probably tell the people holding him for ransom to just kill him. Even after all this time, Daniel still couldn’t see his uncle risking his life for him.

Daniel opened his mouth. But before he could, there was a sound off in the distance. He turned to look. Coming their way was another large machine, like the one he saw in the distance. Both looked to be the same make and model.

Diane narrowed her eyes, trying to judge how long it would be before the two engaged each other. “Don’t think of us as hypocrites,” she said. “The wastelands have proven to be a dangerous place. Sometimes morals and what others believe is right must be put to the side.”

The thought flashed for a moment, but Daniel remembered who he was in the wasteland. Morality was a scarce word. If everyone lived by some morals and remained inflexible in their belief, then they would die. To call her a hypocrite would only make him a hypocrite as well.

The screams didn’t stop. Daniel saw the two sects face off against each other. There were no orthodox and unorthodox sects anymore. Now people were fighting to survive. Their lives didn't matter, only the life of their sect.

Once the second machine came into view, people began to pour out from inside and around the first machine. And what was a land littered with bodies became an actual battle ground. People were facing people. People were facing machines. People were facing death.

Diane walked up to the edge. She began to give orders to her people. Many of them didn’t seem to make sense at face value. But the soldiers were able to follow commands.

Daniel watched from behind. This wasn’t war. This was just one battle. War was made up of many battles. This was merely a little skirmish.

Looking down from so high up, Daniel tried to catch a glimpse of the people down below. He never really did learn if his uncle was part of the other group. He tried to see if his uncle was there. If he was- well Daniel didn’t know what he’d do. He just knew that he wanted to know.

A few minutes after the battle had started, a massive pole was hoisted from the ground. A large flag was raised. It was a crudely painted flag made from a material that had once been white, but now had yellowed with age. The image on it were of two objects that were spray painted on.

“The Axel and Cog guild,” Diane snorted.

“Who are they?” Daniel asked.

“They call themselves a guild, but they’re more like raiders. They plunder cache sites for technology and auction it off to the highest bidder. And a tank like that is worth thousands of gold pieces to the right buyer.”

Crunch. Daniel turned around.

A grubby person was crouching low as they were attempting to sneak up on them. Daniel couldn’t tell the person’s gender. They had a soft feature, but there were definitely some masculine points. The person’s face was smeared with black grease. They had a helmet on their head. And in their hand was a rusted pipe.

Seeing that they were caught, the person charged towards Diane.

Diane stood where she was. While she didn’t move from her spot, she was in the perfect position. She made herself as small a target as possible. And she extended her hand, keeping her elbows bent, to work for a parry or a strike.

Daniel looked at her. Guessing what he was thinking, Diane shook her head.

The guild member charged towards Diane with a downward swing with the pipe. Diane moved out of the way. In a flash, she extending her arm all the way. Her fist struck at the assailant’s chest.

The assailant moved a few steps back before regaining their footing.

“Are you really the only one the guild has sent?”

The assailant didn’t speak. Maybe they couldn’t. Instead of mincing words, the assailant went back. They swung their pipe at Diane. The movements were too wild, Diane was able to move out of the way from each of their blows.

Probably not a martial artist, Daniel thought.

Daniel watched the fight. He could see Diane’s movements. Most likely they were derived from some low level technique. Even though the person she was fighting was an enemy, Diane seemed rather careless. Or if this was really the best technique she had, no wonder she needed Daniel.

Still, low level technique or not, it was still enough to keep the assailant at bay.

The longer they fought, the more Daniel wondered if this really was who they sent to fight Diane. They must have known who they were stealing from. So then why did they just send one person? Did they really not have enough people?

In the corner of his eye, Daniel could see something gleaming.

“Get down!” Daniel shouted.

Diane didn’t question it. She dropped low. Just as she did, a bullet flew through the air. If she had been a microsecond slower, her brains would have been splattered on the ground.

She looked at Daniel. The two of them nodded to each other.

“I’ll take care of this one,” Daniel said. He really hoped his uncle wasn’t part of this group. Because if he was, then he would just be getting his uncle in trouble.

Diane left, now seeing the shine coming off the barrel of the gun.

Daniel could hear the shots fired in the back, but he couldn’t think about that. He now had this person in front of him. Based on what he had seen, this person didn’t seem like they had any martial training at all.

But that was before. Daniel could see that this person had tightened their defense. He could see less than fifty areas. Maybe they were faking it earlier.

Daniel inched closer. Over the years, he wasn’t taught any particularly powerful offensive techniques, only defensive ones that could be turned into counters. He made the mental note to ask about it from his uncle when he got back.

The person swung their pipe at Daniel’s head.

Daniel ducked low and brought his legs down to sweep the person’s legs from under them. Even before Daniel got down, the person had also dropped low. They used a single hand on the ground to hold themselves up. The area where their hand was placed was farther than his legs could reach.

He stabilized his balance and grabbed onto the person’s leg, trying to yank them forward.

The assailant didn’t budge. Daniel looked at the person’s fingers and saw that they went knuckle deep into the ground. They gave Daniel a cheeky smile.

He let go and instead went to thrust his palm into their foot.

The assailant turned their body, landing a kick to the side of Daniel’s head.

Daniel now understood the weakness of merely visualizing how many blows he could land. He only knew the best areas to strike, but if the person was faster or more cunning, those openings closed before he could even reach them.

Faster, Daniel shouted inside his mind. He tapped into the qi he had within him. Energy coursed through his muscles.

The assailant brought their foot to Daniel’s head. They didn’t hold back. If they could crush Daniel’s skull, they would do so. Who cared if Daniel was still a child? He was there and not his ally, so he would kill him given the chance.

Crack. Two bodies clashed together. But not how the assailant thought.

Daniel had brought up his hand just in time to catch the assailant’s foot. Daniel squeezed.

Crack. Something broke inside the assailant. They opened their mouth, but no sound came out.

Daniel let go, pushing the assailant to the ground. He stood there, waiting for the assailant to do something. He wanted to see just what they would do.

The assailant glared at Daniel. They got up, but their leg laid limp. They limped over to Daniel.

“You really can’t speak, can you?” Daniel asked. He wasn’t really expecting a response.

What he got instead were a flurry of swings from the pipe. The assailant didn’t let up. Their face was starting to turn red.

“Good,” Daniel said. “Then no one will know that you got beat by a child.”

The pipe came from the side. Daniel poured his energy into his fingers. He could feel his skin toughen as he blocked it with his palm. The assailant’s eyes went wide.

Both because of the confusion and overwhelming power, Daniel yanked the pipe out of the assailant’s hand. The assailant didn’t have enough time to do anything before Daniel swung towards their head.

The assailant spun through the air, landing on the ground a few feet away. Daniel looked down at them. Even without a technique, he could still leave someone in a state like this. He didn’t know if the person was alive or dead. And in all honesty, he didn’t care.