How long has it been?
Hundred and fifty. Hundred and sixty. Hundred and eighty. Ninety?
No…! it’s been long. Too long. Two hundred years and over has passed since that day. At least I think that’s how long it’s been. The sense of time was lost to me long ago. It’s been so long I’ve lost the actual count of days.
The event: an unforeseen cataclysm which wiped out all of life leaving but a fraction… So they say, but I know the truth, even though I’m uncertain of how or why it really happened.
Three months wandering on this ocean of sand, searching. I’m searching for something I did not know. Rather someone.
It’s clear that I have no sense of direction and I may have been walking in circles all this while… but deep down I feel something drawing me in. Where I’m being called to, I have no clue. Not like something like this has ever happened to me before.
Should this be possible, even in my current state?
How I survived this long on a wasteland of a planet is still a mystery to me now as the day I saw what I was, a few decades ago.
It’s been three months since I set on this journey.
Where I was before, I had not gotten the answer I desired so I made the decision to move on in search of that answer, staying any longer would have been a waste. Till now I have found nothing. The journey is long. Not that I’m worried or cared about myself but I am still perplexed… as I have been since I awoke.
I’ve had only so much as the rain to quench my thirst but it’s been over a week and there hasn’t been even a single drop of it.
Yes, it’s not a miracle that rain fell in this messed up world— the weather from the past is still around for some reason even though the ecosystem was destroyed. There I go again with words I don’t remember; but it still is a wonder—only to be dried up by the sun of the next day. So one must do their best to have their fill before it stops.
Fact, I should have been dead from dehydration but I have had no such experience. My strength is still as it was the day I started this journey.
An impossible feat for a normal human, I know, but I am not.
Two weeks passed no food and yet I haven’t died of starvation…
I’ve been walking a full day nonstop and not a single trickle of sweat can be found on me…
Coupled with the thought of whether a place will come into view is myself. Decades of being on this sandy terrain and yet I still have nothing more than the general clue of what I am. At this point nothing surprises me anymore, whether an outside force or myself…
I know the sun is blazing hot. It baked the very ground I walk and the clearly visible heatwaves it bled out is a dead giveaway, but I feel nothing—
“Grrr…”
Except for that!
That’s a sound I haven’t heard in a while?!
It’s been two weeks since my last meal and my stomach has been screaming ‘feed me’ the past hour. I’ve only had to sustain myself with the scraps I found laying on the desert floor on my journey. It wasn’t filling but just enough to keep me going. By far, it’s the longest I’ve gone without any sustenance.
As far as I can remember I was never affect by the change of the weather in this world. I never did bear it in mind, really. It didn’t matter whether it was hot or cold I just didn’t feel a thing. Whether snowy, rainy or sunny there never had been any changed my body’s temperature. Then again I don’t even know if I have one to begin with, since I am not affected by the fluctuation of the one around me.
I wonder. Does it apply only to the weather? I paid no attention to it back then.
What if I were to touch someone or something would I be able to tell if that person or thing was hot or cold? Though I’m pretty sure, the hot or cold thing only has to do with the weather. I haven’t had a circumstance which proves otherwise… But, considering how I get no read from touching my own body I am in the right to assume the same towards others.
I wish I could remember what it felt like, to be cold, to be hot.
I’ve held back my hunger but now it’s just too strong. It feels like my stomach would soon turn to feed on myself if I make no effort to fill it. Any longer and I would lose it, knowing full well what it means. I crave for something… new.
I must hurry!
Find a place to get something to eat…
But there’s nothing in sight but a large dune—it’s calling to me.
I wonder. What lies beyond it?
Since nothing of this sort has ever happened I can’t help but wonder what the reason is? I answered the ‘call’ without break in my steps.
Quicker than I thought the dune was an easy climb… and now I stand atop its peak.
Waves of sand as far as the eye can see.
At this time the sun is setting.
The ocean of sand grains radiate the bright orange-pink glow of the about setting sun.
I see something…
What was it?
Focus my sight.
I see it, clearly from this distance… like it’s already before me. A small desert town.
… A Ruin.
It’s peeking out from its burial ground. It looks like it had gone through so much over the centuries. Then again everything has, incurring drastic change—there is no resemblance of the world from before. The massive desert I walk on is evidence.
Well, at least that’s what I know from the little I remember from my past.
The surviving buildings indeed were in ruins, decrepit. It was just a matter of time before they come crushing down. Broken walls and sections coated the grounds with slabs of concrete and iron, parts of it reflecting the glow of the setting sun.
One in particular, the entrance into the desert town, had already collapsed and was leaning on another.
The pull I feel is stronger than before. There’s no denying it, this is where I’m being called to. But by what? Or whom…?
Each step I take makes my hunger grow and very soon, truly if not attended to, will turn ravenous.
I must sate myself!
The structure looks menacing…
Are those, people?
Drawing closer I see people walking around and playing on the inside of the sleeping building.
It could come down at any moment and they are playing?!
The sun was still setting in the western sky. It took me a couple of hours to walk over quite the distance—what would have probably taken an average person half a full day’s walk. Not that I was in haste but I needed to. Entrance: Something about this place is familiarly unsettling… As I walk underneath the sleeping building, a breeze spins around me when its thick shadow begins to mask over me. It’s like I just entered into another world. The buildings are tall and run-down. The tallest, way back, being the one at the end of the town with twenty eight floors and the smallest, ten floors. A trading post? Clip, clop… Thump… Kriii… clank. The sounds of boots and hard-on soles walking on the makeshift stone street; hammer pounding on anvil and the squeaks of moving carts made the desert town alive. The street isn’t too wide but enough for some stalls to be set up and still have way for a crowd. Yes. There are shops and stalls here and there: weapon smith, fruit stand, cloth shop
A step over the threshold and inside the Inn the first to greet my sight was the girl standing behind the counter: immediately everything comes to a standstill. I can feel the intense glares of the angry and concerned customers and that of the sad looking little girl’s. “What’s with the kid?” “Is he one of them?” “Even more mess.” “One more problem having a go at it.” “Is the half-pint also here for the same thing?” I hear their whispers. What are they talking about? The room is large. It had boards for floor, round and square tables that could house a maximum of four customers and barrels that sat to the walls. Beside the counter there was a small dual door suspended to the sides of the doorframe. Magic stone lanterns hung on the walls and one on the first of the three pillars that held the room up. The ineluctable stench of booze is enough to intoxicate anyone that walked in. A young half elf-orcette, a tiger eared and tail demihuman girl, a fox, and a cat demihumans and two
Ruins: A group of broken buildings which provided shelter to its inhabitants. It very well hid people from the harsh desert sun. Thanks to the height of the buildings that towered the little town there had been an almost everlasting shadow which also cooled the hot desert winds. It was also a place where lowlife thugs go to find second chance or hide from bounty hunters—for how long though? The remaining human population on the planet, now less than a fraction compared to what existed also found ways to thrive in desert havens like this, but no matter where they went they were belittled, bullied and sometimes eaten by predators, a prejudice stemmed from before this era. From memory, I remember the world was filled with lots of people. I remember watching it from the box which showed moving people. They lived in all sorts of places, some so beautiful and others a ways different than the situation this new world is in. Down below a human girl is being chased and it would seem by a
My sight slowly shifts attention back into the street, to the passersby. I wonder. What does it mean to live? Is what I’m doing also termed as living? Am I even really what you call being alive? This world doesn’t have that much to offer but people make due of what they have, but I only go where the wind carries. I wonder. Do I have a purpose? What would have become of me? What would I have done to truly live? Even now I wonder, do I have a true purpose aside from my current goals? What would become of me if I did complete my goal? Would I fade into the nothingness……? ○●○ It didn’t take long for her to return with a plate of mashed grub; corn and bits of roaches sprinkled on it—something which is eaten almost anywhere—a piece of bread to the side, a piece of meat—from a monster—and a mug of ale. If it were back in the past nearly every person would be disgusted with the bits of roaches. The food just looks squishy and had a nice smell to it but the smell from the roaches w
It was a joyous day. A Party… As the DJ in one corner of the room rocked the joint with a blend of Techno and rock the young hunter welcomed his guests. “Welcome… welcome everyone” “Nice to see you” said one guest. “Yoo, s’up dude? Been’a’while” said another. He welcomed the guests who joined him in his quaint home with the biggest smile he could muster. “What you been up to bro?” “The usual I guess.” “Seeing everyone back here is so awesome” “Totally. It’s been like forever since we did something like this.” “Welcome guys.” “Missed you like bunch.” “Likewise.” They were happy for they were oblivious of everything that happened to him. People congratulated him as he thread through the crowd out onto the porch outside. He leaned his elbow to the wooden rail taking in the fresh air. He was content with what he saw. Everything was back to normal. Everyone and everything was back to the way they were. The Hunter was finally home, his real home, in 2017. A gentle breeze fl
Rays of daylight slowly creeps into the inn. It took two hours for the sun to rise and an hour for my 'sleep' after I went back into my room… Immediately the sun started to rise my eyes were open. Allora is before me, still in her human form. She has her head down facing the floor, bowing as low as her upper body could. "… T-Thank you…! I, I am really sorry to have bothered you. You just came in and I put my burden on you. I'm sorry for that." I came down earlier to return my plate and mug from the night before. I didn't think I'd meet anyone since I wasn't sure the time they opened, but when I got into the inn Allora and the other waitresses were up and busy preparing for the day, Allora wiping down the tables. At the sound of my steps close by she turned and assumed this pose, thanking me although she's somewhat nervous. She had woken up and rushed down to come finish the chores she wasn't able to complete last night but when she got there everything had already been taken car
Night couldn't have come any quicker! And so far… nothing! The little girl left a couple of hours after following me when a few merchants and civilians shooed her away. I returned to the inn that evening to find the one who called himself Pyson Taro sitting at the counter where he was yesterday with a mug of ale in his hand. "Over here kid." The inn isn't as busy as yesterday but it's got a good haul. "..." Walk over to the counter. I need something in my belly, now! "Have a drink with me." What does he want now? Was his warning supposed to put fear in me or something, to give enough an incentive for me to leave? "Sit!" his expression suddenly takes a turn and he whispered sternly. What should I do? Ignore and just head up stairs… after I get some food. Or listen to what he has to say…? … Might as well hear what he has to say if I'm going to wait to get something to eat. Take the stool beside him. "Barkeep, another over here!" "Coming right up!" Allora responds and disapp
Yesterday: I woke up to the sounds of heavy patter. Not that I was asleep, but half way in trying to. “Rain…?” The room was dark and I wondered if it was still night. I could clearly see the dark sky out the window from the corner of my eye when I turned my head slightly. I walked up to it and looked out. The ruin was being bathed by the downpour. Not a single soul was out in the street; only the light from the magic stone lanterns that shone on the glossy cobblestone-like concretes and the rain eradicated its loneliness. It’s been a while since I saw rain. That was the thought running through my head as I looked to my right then left to try and tell what time of day it was. I was certain it should have been morning. To my right, where the sun should have risen from, there was nothing but thick dark clouds and inside them flashes of blue-white; and white-purple that also illuminated the ruin below… Thunder clapped. To my left I could see the clouds steadily moving, closing in