Broken Heart; Broken Wings

Crash Landing: Prologue

Welcome to 2025. My name is Anthus, and I live in a war ravaged city. New Richmond, because if there's a new country or city, just slap the word,"new," on, BAM, beautiful work of art. Very creative.

Whatever.

I'm just some rogue, why does my opinion matter?

18 years of age is when you're sent off to fight with their genetically modified weapons and space-like rail guns, for the,"Glory of the Nation." Bio warfare had a most epic breakthrough.

In the most terrible of ways.

Well, the war started in 2021, the year I was supposed to graduate. I was supposed to be sent off when the first Russian nuke hit California.

No, no, I'm no fighter.

Instead, I slipped away into the wilderness, determined to not be forced to kill. To be honest, it's not rare to see other young rogues out here. No one wants to fight when the enemy is toting machine guns with bullets that can wire into your brain and make you go berserk against your own.
I'm 22 years of age, and, not to brag, about 10 years of living off the land training, which consisted of my father dropping me off in unknown wilderness, and leaving me there for a week with nothing but a flashlight and a pocket knife.

Sounds rough, but, now that I'm living in a world with armor ridden pterodactyls falling from the sky on a daily basis, his training proved to be helpful.

Bio warfare is insane.

They found ways to genetically attach living flesh onto old, decrepit bones of dinosaurs and launch them into battle.

Couldn't they have done something more productive? Perhaps, build a sanctuary for these great beasts? No, they're much more fun when they get pitted into battles with bullets firing and humans to kill.

This is all over the place.. please allow me to apologize.

I'm hoping someone will find this story I'm about to tell, either in the past if time travel is better suited, or in the future, with aliens probing for relics among metal debris and monstrous carcasses. Cause lord knows they want the accounts of some hermit kid living in the woods.

Shit.
Stay.
On.
Track, Anthus.

Today is October 23, 2025. Starting to get a tad cold, but, global warming is a bitch. It's freezing cold one day, and then 90 degrees the next. East coast, good sir.

I leaped over the protruding root of an oak, stalking towards my quarry. A young boar, snuffing at the ground, rifling through the dead leaves in search of its next meal. A small smile danced onto my lips as the thought came; Little does he know.. He's about to become one. I drew back on the string of my bow, and..

CRACK.

The oak I had just jumped over first split, and let out the thunderous screeching sound as it plummeted to the floor nearby. This was also accented by the awful, sickening thud of a body crashing down next to it. I was reasonably annoyed, expecting to turn and see, considering the sound, a massive, armored quetzalcoatlus. Though, this wasn't some prehistoric big bird. This.. this here was anything but a bird.

Gorgeous white, aquamarine and mint colored scales sparkled in the dying light. Royal blue colored horns curled out of its giant head, and gleaming, bone white teeth glinted dangerously, as big as my fist. What in the fuck.. I trailed off my thought as wings, perhaps twice as big as the body itself, fluttered at its sides, as if trying to propel themselves skyward. It's like all of my training from Skyrim and other games has paid off. The incapacitated beast laying almost 10 feet from me was no doubt a dragon.