"Hey Kael, what do you think of the inner city?"
During the walk, they frequently engaged in small talk to pass the time. After all, 2 hours is a lot of time to spend on just walking. This day, his father opened up the conversation floor.
"I think they're fine. Why do you ask?"
Kael responded with a quick non-answer and shot back another question, in lieu of keeping the conversation going, even though he could already guess why his father had asked such a blatant question.
"The government seems to want some pretty random stuff." His father responded, while lifting a finger to his chin and tilting his head back with a smile.
'Father thinks he's cute.' Kael had that fleeting thought before he responded: "Is this about the bounty they gave a few days ago?" He knew exactly what he was talking about, remembering very clearly what the government had asked of them to do. It was the most famous event in Garbage city's recent history after all, and almost every person in Garbage city knew about it the day the government had issued the request. Every government distribution center had advertised it.
The Description of the target: A small, palm sized crystal, glowing with white light. Bountiful Images were also provided.
But here's the kicker. The reward of whoever brings them the target will receive:
1,000,000 gold coinsGranted permit to live in the Inner City(Extended to all family members of the individual)
For just a damn crystal.
"I mean that's insane. The government never hands those permits out unless it's a really urgent situation." His father recalled. "The last time they handed out permits was after Protocol Zero 10 years ago. At that time, the government offered permits to anyone who gave them accurate information on The Null Order. Comparatively, this is quite tame, but still, the previous incident was understandable, but this? Why would the government put so much effort into finding a stone that glows a little bright?"
Truthfully, Kael couldn't agree more. The government must be insane, he thought, for them to issue this bounty. "Who knows what the government thinks? Perhaps we should overthrow the government and find out for ourselves." Kael suggested, "and then, as the government, I would upgrade that disgusting stale bread into a custard bun, so at least it will be edible for everyone." Gradually, their conversation shifted into a playful banter on what they would do as the government.
"I would be able to search for all the parts I would ever need, and I would build a car with my own two hands." "Old man, are you sure your bones are up for that job? And besides, you have the whole government at your disposal! If it was me, I would just ask my subordinates to bring the most luxurious car to me, and they would have done it within the day."
They quickly forgot about the bounty. In their deep consciousness, they already knew that simply chancing across the target would be more difficult than winning the lottery.
That was until a particularly strong glint in the ground caught Kael's attention.
It was his habit to examine objects that stood out, so he bent down and gave it a light tug.
It didn't budge.
He then started exerting increasingly more strength, before -
Pop!
With a bit of effort, it came loose, and he stumbled backwards with the object in his hand, thankfully regaining his footing right as he felt that he was on the edge of falling. Straightening back up, he slowly opened his hand, unravelling what he just found. And then he widened his eyes.
Because, in his hands, was a glowing, white, hexagonal-shaped crystal which was the size of his palm, perfectly matching the bounty's description.
In other words, there was a miracle in his hands.
"Boy, what have you found this time?" His father, noticing Kael stopping, sauntered over to him.
One glance at what Kael was holding wiped the leisurely smile from his face, replaced with a more serious expression. He stopped all motion for a split second. Then, he hurriedly rushed over and cupped Kael's hands to hide the crystal, furtively looking left and right to ensure nobody saw it. His eyes turned to Kael, who stared right back at him with equal shock and excitement, and they nodded to each other. No words needed to be spoken. From his pocket, Kael pulled out a small string pouch that was occasionally saved for small, rare objects, like Kael's previously broken watch, and gave it to his father. His father then carefully navigated the bag over the crystal, before tightening the bag and giving it back to Kael for him to place it in his pocket.
No more words were exchanged as they continued their journey. How could they? The ticket to their freedom suddenly ended up in Karl's pocket. The previous joking and light atmosphere had been shattered, replaced with one of hurriedness and secrecy.
'could it be?' A million thoughts raced through Kael's mind.
He could not help but take a few, furtive glances at the bulge in his pocket as they trudged towards the city.
'If so, we would never need to come to this place ever again.' Although The Heap had been their faithful provider for his whole life, he had no attachments to it. Nobody wanted to search through mounds of trash.
'Our exit ticket is sitting right there. Our only job now is to keep it safe until we reach the government facilities.'
Soon, they were near the border. Now, only a gradual hilltop blocked their view of the city.
Right then, his father halted. Following their protocol, Kael halted as well.
Crouching down, his father carefully approached the hill edge that blocked their view of the town, and peeked his head over. He squinted his eyes and scanned the border, looking from left to right. After about 5 minutes, he retreated and walked over to Kael to relay his observations.
"Some of the Vultures showed up early today. I estimate about 50 are down there, and they are spread about very evenly, so whichever direction we go will have equal risk."
Kael was alarmed. This was unusual. It was only about 6:30 pm, and at this time, only about 20 usually showed up. Since they stole in groups of about 4 to 5, that left enough space for them to sneak past when they weren't looking. But today… "It's going to be a hard one today. Put your hood up and we'll crawl down and evade those bastards." Kael nodded and followed his instructions. If they wanted freedom, they needed to get past them first.
It was then that the second anomaly happened.
"Thats not very nice of you." A voice called from behind, sending chills down Kael's spine. Alarmed, both him and his father turned to face the presence behind that had gone unnoticed. And then they tensed up. Standing a few metres away from them, with a snake-like smile on his face, was Haskel, one of the most infamous Vulture in the area.
"Haskel, I don't know what business you have up here. But why don't you return back down to your buddies down there and leave us alone?" Adopting a fighting stance, his father growled at him in a warning tone.
"Haha, mister, don't be so unfriendly. I won't bite here." Haskel warmly gestured for him to stop. Kael could see a drop of sweat trickling down his forehead.
"Then why are you here?" His father didn't let his guard down.
Taking a big sigh, Haskel responded in a self-pitying tone. "To be honest, I was forced to come up here."
"Explain."
"Well, you know the bounty on the crystal that the government gave a few days ago?"
"Yes, I do, now explain."
"Have you heard of The Null Order?"
"Who hasn't?" The Null Order was one of the most terrifying terrorist organizations in the kingdom, famous for their kidnappings, ruthless killings, and causing Protocol Zero, one of the most devastating acts of terrorism in the entire kingdom.
The next few words turned Kael's blood cold.
"Well, The Null Order for some reason also wants to get their hands on this object, so they forced us vultures to come up here to find it for them. In fact, if you were to look closely, you would notice that those on the ground aren't us vultures, but members of the organisation patrolling the border."
Kael had an ominous premonition.
Slowly, he and his father both approached the hill edge and peeked over. Squinting his eyes at the border, Kael could now see small ant-sized human figures patrolling the area. At first, he could only see the small figures of the people, but as his eyes adjusted he took a clearer look…
Shudder!
Every one of the human figurines had a long object strapped to their chest. The long object was a rifle. And in the middle was a single truck. These were things that only high end organisations could procure in this place of poverty, unless you were like Kael's father, who was crazy enough to try to build one.
'How are we going to get past now?' Kael turned to look at his father expectantly, only to see his face scrunched up in a frown.
"Oof, look, that guy got unlucky." Haskel, who had moved and was also peeking over the edge a few meters away from the duo, pointed at a commotion on the ground level. They both turned their eyes to look at the commotion, which was taking place near the truck.