Alasla: The New Age

Chapter Seventeen- Homecoming

"That was the reason I was a Target," Eve huffed in disdain. "A group of dead people who were claimed to be my family."

"Why are they related to Ling's technology?" Ralph queried. "And was has that got to do with your eye?"

"Let me explain it to you this way- My family is old. It traces back to extreme ancientness, but the story starts eight centuries ago. The Alamekes specialize in science and technological breakthroughs, so when Madame Tsana discovered them, they were invited to live among royals instead of scurrying in the streets in return to aid her reign with their knowledge. The secret of our skills was strictly confined to members of the family, so throughout the three centuries, before the Great Raid started, we were a powerful and mysterious group of people.

"But it didn't last long. Power breeds greed, and greed breeds trouble. The Alamekes did a lot of things in the dark back then, everyone tolerated those until what was known as the 'Fall of Science' happened. The Alamekes got rid of every other merchant who understood and served other smaller rulers like Madame Tsana with science, claiming that the word 'Technology' belongs only to themselves. This caused hate, and when a man finally had enough of it, he left a forever curse on my family. His name is... Whales, I think."

Just the name itself manages to make Ralph's hair stand on its end. Kanitha's father. The man he killed by pulling out his heart. The initial possessor of The Strange.

"The generation who took the full-on impact of the curse suffered badly. Most died right away, the others have just left a brain to live within small containers. After centuries, the curse's impact got washed away bit by bit, and I was born as the first person who was believed to take no impact from the curse at all. Because at the same time it took away my left eye, it gave me this one that can see three seconds into the future." She points at her blue, mechanical eye. "During the Great Raid, the Alamekes are completely defeated. They fell from their thrones and fled to a small piece of land near the ocean, isolated from the rest of the world by endless miles of desert."

"Ling," Ralph breathes.

"Yes," Eve nodded. "After the Great Raid ended the land was developed into the Ling City. With the help of our knowledge, they achieved what you see today."

Her eye flickered back to its normal color. A bit of blue still came through, Eve rubbed it until it had fully returned to hazel brown.

"That's really impressive," Ralph awed. "I wonder why I haven't thought about where all our technology came from before."

Jerron- No, the Government is good at keeping people's minds at work. It was like being trapped in a cage but never questioning why or how you were here. Most people haven't even realized this. That something was controlling their every move, every decision behind the scene.

"So... Is there any Alamekes that still live in Ling nowadays?" He asked even though he knew the answer.

"Technically, no," Eve sighed. "As I said- The impact of the curse was strong. My family was transferred to the Bread before I was born. I was told that my parents are elsewhere, working for the Government. I grew up with my brother. But... He's dead now."

She paused for a beat. "You can comprehend it as that the entire population of the Alamekes but me are wiped out now."

That's not the case. Ralph thought bitterly. Jerron's brought up the name before. Expect they are mutants from the curse with no humanity left in them, scattered across the Drain-rain desert around Ling City.

Out of his eye, he noticed that Eve looked slightly upset. But he didn't realize that at the moment before she turned and left.

When their boat hits the shore, before them was an old, rusted wall that separates Garavia and Ling. They anchored their boat beside a petit platform, planning to reunite here at the same place in three months.