No Name

Chapter 3 - III

It was morning again. The fire had died down. Yet, the handcuffs that bound her hands behind her back were still cold. After a bland breakfast of dried cereal (almost a commodity these days) they had struck out again, making a beeline for the citadel, the capital. While they were walking, Holly's mind drifted. Which meant memories. And memories were not things she wanted to dwell on. The collapse, her parents. Rune of the awoken. When the world cracked, the adult population of the world was driven insane. The children were left to fend for themselves. And so, they had. The teenagers, the kids, they fought. Unspeakable things, creatures of darkness, demons, some said, rose from the portal, the place in the very centre of the collapse. No-one knew exactly what the portal was, however, it existed. The monsters were proof enough of that. And they had fought. After almost a year of furious rebellion, the demons began to slink back to their portal, leaving the children of humanity to themselves. So, the citadel had been created. The last city. It was in the fifth ring.

Rings were the circles of power that emanated from the portal. The closer you were to the centre, the more ring anomalies you were likely to encounter. The occasional Demon and a terrifying variety of other things, the elements lashing out at you just because they didn't like you. The second ring was probably the sweet spot. Enough power, and close enough proximity to the portal to channel that power. The portal charged the atoms in the air in a constant ebb and flow. So, the Warlocks had created receptors. Receptors collected the power, and converted it into electricity. So, the citadel was powered. And that meant last age tech was useable. Things like IPhones, speakers, generators, electrical lights, televisions, and many others were utilised by the city to perform various tasks. The Warlocks (arguably the most powerful Citadel faction) were individuals who had been inside the vicinity of the portal's initial impact. The closer to the apex ring you were, the more powerful a warlock you are. Holly, lost in her thoughts, managed to stumble. She gave a little (extremely embarrassing) yelp of surprise and scrunched her eyes shut, unable to throw her hand out to stop herself. Holly waited for the impact, the touch of cold snow on her face. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes. She was suspended, a slight purple shimmer around her motionless body. Matt was ahead of her, one hand flung back. She gasped as she saw the flashing rune on his forearm. The rune of the awoken! Matt Texer was a Warlock.

Matt cursed. Violently. He held the girl there, and cursed some more. What had he said? What had he promised? No more powers. The last time he had used them, a whole squad of citadel guards had died, the Demon that had fed of his newly discovered power massacring them. The sight of disembowelled corpses and headless bodies still haunted him to this day. All because he had given in. But sometimes, instinct took over. It had been an almost casual display of power. Now she knew. After that incident, Matt had left the citadel guard to do some work in the bounty hunter field. Turned out, Matt was pretty damn good at it. He quickly made a name for himself as a skilled and capable hunter. And, the incident was forgotten. The facts were confused, twisted. And his secret was kept. With a long sigh, he relaxed his hold and Holly fell face first into the snow. She struggled with the handcuffs, eventually succeeding in pointlessly rolling over. Geoffrey, sensing his master's anger and fear whined sympathetically. For some reason, animals were extra sensitive to the reverberating pulse. In almost the same was Warlocks could, they could sense it. Matt walked over, and undid the handcuffs. He offered Holly his hand. Grudgingly, she took it, and he pulled her to her feet. With her own melancholy sigh, she held out her hands, expecting the cuffs to go back on. "With what you just saw, I may as well be your captive." He said, stowing the handcuffs with his other supplies.

Holly nearly bounced with excitement. Matt Texter, a Warlock? The news would definitely make her some money. "So, what tier Warlock are you?" she asked. "We are not going to talk about this. I'm going to take you back to the citadel, take my pay check and then go find a nice hole to hide in." "Uh uh." Holly said with the grin of someone who knew they were in a position of power. "How about you tell me who's paying for my rescue?" "The librarian." Matt said quietly. The librarian was exactly what she was. The Citadel's history keeper. Why she had paid anything for Holly's rescue, she had no idea. She hated her. Her own small bookshop was massive competition. Holly herself was a part time artefact collector. Objects imbued with the portal's power that could harness the energy of the pulse in some way. They were rare, fragile, and valuable. An hour passed with barely and talk, the awkward threesome exiting the snowy pine forest, and making their way over open, scrubby fields, dotted with little hills. "Stay low, if Dexter's guys are going to attack, now would be a tactically sound place to do it." Holly looked puzzled. He elaborated. "They have cars, so running us down is easy. We have little to no cover, so snipers are a possibility. They have superior numbers, so we have little to no chance in a firefight on open ground." "Oh." Holly said. Matt cursed. "Amateurs" then tackled her to the ground. A bullet whizzed over their heads, and two of the remaining jeeps crested the hill in front of them. "What the hell?!" Holly said, scanning the hill. There was a tiny flash. A rifle scope, reflected in the bright early morning sun. "These people are actually idiots." Matt muttered. He threw himself behind a tiny hill as the second bullet smashed into hit. Holly scrambled over as well. "Could have sent the cars to run us down from behind, and then mow us down from the front." He said as he unslung his sniper rifle. "But no, they just put stock in their numbers. Pathetic." Holly was oblivious to his complaints as she fired her revolver over and over again, never having to reload, the bullets materialising in the chamber as she fired. The cars were approaching fast. "Cover me for a moment." Matt said. Holly nodded. "On three." Matt stood up immediately. Holly popped up as well, giving a disapproving shake of the head. "For future reference, when I say go on three, you go on three." She complained.

Matt scoped in on the car. "So, what's the plan?" she asked. "Wing it." Matt replied, and shot the driver. The car hit a hill on an awkward angle, and with no driver to correct the mistake, flew into the air, hit the ground and rolled a couple of times, the screech of metal and yells of shock and panic coming from the uncovered vehicle as its helpless occupants were thrown out. Geoffrey, at a whistled command from Matt, bolted forward, and took care of the survivors, when possible knocking them into unconsciousness. The various snipers tried to hit him, but he was far too fast for their poor aim, a blurred streak of grey pelting across the barren field. Matt popped up again, and another sniper fell. The second jeep was drawing closer, more cautiously this time. He threw her a small sphere, marked with a rune. "I'll cover you, throw it at the car." He instructed. "Gotcha." She said, waiting for the count of three. Instantly, Matt popped up. "Where did you learn to count!? Because I think you missed a few lessons!" Holly yelled, but still endeavoured to throw the tiny metal sphere as close to the car's trajectory as possible. Matt's rifle blazed, fire blooming out from the barrel as he switched it to fully-automatic, peppering the car with bullets as a distraction. The driver desperately tried to break, expecting a grenade. However, the artefact just flashed. And slowly, the shining blue gravity void it had generated lifted the occupants out of their jeep and held them, suspended in the air while their jeep moved on, driverless.

His plan worked flawlessly. The Jeep, now vacated, stopped mere meters from their cover. "That's our ride!" he said, indicating the jeep. "That was actually pretty awesome." Holly said, impressed. "I'm full of surprises." Matt called back with a tiny smile as he hopped into the jeep, keeping his head down as the snipers tried to pick him off without shooting their own men who were still trapped in the gravity void. Holly hopped into the jeep beside him, and they took off. The snipers eventually gave up, and they escaped the field safely. Eventually, they reached the highway that ran straight through the rings. Some said it went straight to the apex ring, but no-one really had the guts to test that theory. More importantly for them, it lead straight to the city. Holly sat uncomfortably in the jeep; Geoffrey perched next to her on the seat. He occasionally gave a low, threatening growl as if he thought she was going to try and jump ship. But where would she go out here? The only real destination was the citadel, and the Mar'Kell trading posts that often lay on its outskirts would be long gone in this season, the travelling merchants abandoning the city and moving elsewhere. Soon, the Citadel's spires came into view. The city itself was of unknown origin; the strange white metal it was made of was basically indestructible. But, when the first explorers had ventured out of the wasted husk of civilisation, they took refuge in the giant mass of crumpled metal, its armoured exterior shielding them from the Entities that emerged from the portal. And so, a great city had risen there. Homes had been made from the alcoves and tears in the giant structure. It was like a giant sphere that had fallen to earth. The people had formed turrets and spires, like a giant castle contained within its walls.

Matt pulled the jeep up to the massive outer gates, peering up at the citadel guards that stood silent watch on the top of the wall. There was a small collection of vehicles parked outside. He guided the jeep into one of the spaces, and stepped out. Holly followed, and they made their way towards the gates. There was a small group of people there, bustling and shouting. Holly was alarmed. "Is that a riot?" she said out loud. "I think so." Matt said. He walked up to the side of the gates, and looked up at one of the guards. "Jacob!" He yelled. The guard, Jacob, looked down. "Hey Matt!" he called down, eyeing Holly. "You got her then?" Matt laughed. "Did you ever have any doubts?" Jacob considered this for a moment. "Nah. Not really." Quite suddenly, a panel slid open in the wall with a hiss. Matt stepped inside, and beckoned to her. Holly hopped inside over the small step, Geoffrey following. The people at the gate yelled in outrage, scrambling to try to reach the elevator before the panel slid shut again. But they were far too slow. With a whirr of last-age tech, the elevator slowly began the climb to the top of the wall.