Clink.
A small metallic sound echoed in the quiet room.
The workshop was dimly lit, only a single lamp casting a golden light over the cluttered table. Papers were scattered everywhere, sketches of gun frames, diagrams of pressure systems, fragments of half-finished ideas.
Someone was working.
Pale fingers turned a bolt, adjusted a spring, tightened a screw. The faint smell of oil and metal filled the air. Each motion was careful, precise, mechanical perfection born from sleepless obsession.
On the table lay the shape of a weapon that did not yet exist. Something compact, efficient and cruel.
The scenery shifted.
The same worker stood before a whiteboard, the light above flickering weakly. Across the board were diagrams of barrels, pressure valves, and acceleration mechanisms drawn with obsessive precision. Beside them, neat handwriting, detailing cost efficiency and production speed.
Before them sat a line of men in military uniforms. Their medals glinted faintly under the white light as they leaned forward, their expressions unreadable but their eyes sharp.
"Impressive work," said a voice, low, commanding, heavy with authority. The kind of tone used to giving orders, not praise.
The worker gave no reaction.
The man continued, "Our company will buy this design. Immediately."
A pause.
Then, quietly, the worker spoke, their voice steady but hollow.
"…What do you plan to use it for?"
The man's reply was followed by a cold chuckle.
"For what all weapons are used for, of course."
The scene shifted once again.
The steady hum of fluorescent light stretched into a ringing note, and then shattered.
The faint scent of oil was replaced by gunpowder and blood. The still air became thick with smoke.
Now the same weapon, that weapon, roared across an open battlefield.
A sea of soldiers advanced through a haze of dust, their uniforms torn, their boots sinking into mud darkened with blood. Each trigger pull spat fire and death, tearing through flesh and armor alike.
Spent shells rained like brass-colored hail. Smoke curled above the trenches, the stench of burnt metal and bodies fusing together into something sickeningly familiar.
The weapon had fulfilled its purpose.
***
It was night time.
The sky was clear of any light pollution. The stars shone brightly, accompanied by three distinct moons. White, blue and an orange one. Each occupying a space in their own respective regions, north, west and south.
The orange moon was in the shape of a crescent, but it was not because of the two suns light. It was because the other half of the moon was shattered into pieces. To this day, those debris were still anchored around the orange moon.
It was named: The Moon of Solace.
The light that was cast from the moons were not that strong, so the nights went by like the ones on earth, only a little more starry.
As the light illuminated Saranda's face, she gasped awake.
Her chest heaved as she sat up, cold sweat clinging to her skin. Her eyes darted around, trees, snow, Levi who was on watch staring at her with a questioning gaze.
Another nightmare.
Her trembling hand brushed over her neck, then fell to her lap. The rhythmic crackle of the dying campfire filled the silence.
Her gaze swept over to Mattie, she was sleeping peacefully. Her hand reached out to caress her hair gently.
In all the truth, Saranda envied Mattie.
Mattie was special.
No, it was not because she had the blood of a god running through her veins. She was special even before they were summoned into this world.
The way she laughed at everything, the way she made everything seem casual. As if the world itself had no weight on her shoulders.
Saranda envied that. Mattie always looked so alive, even when things were falling apart. She could smile in the middle of fear, find something to laugh about when there was nothing left to laugh at.
Saranda used to be like that too, before her hands became stained with blood. Before every sound of metal reminded her of what she had built.
Her gaze dropped to her palms. Even in the dim light, she could almost see the thin lines of grease and the faint tremble that never left her fingers. She had once used them to build things that were meant to protect, yet all they had done was take lives.
She quietly exhaled and leaned back against the tree, her gaze traveling to Levi once again. Sensing that she did not want to talk, he was already looking away, keeping watch, his face calm but distant.
For a moment, she wondered about his past too. Wondering what makes him want to stay in this world instead of returning to their homes.
Perhaps not everyone had a home.
Her eyes wandered back to Mattie, who shifted in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent and pulling the blanket closer. Saranda smiled faintly without realizing it.
Perhaps she wasn't really envious of Mattie after all. Maybe she just missed being able to see the world the same way.
And maybe, just maybe, they were Levi's home. Would that be wishful thinking?
Saranda never knew that this question would haunt her for a long time, because she would never get to ask him.
Her eyes snapped open a second later something was wrong.
With her enhanced senses, she could feel the faint rhythm of footsteps in the snow, closing in on them.
***
"There is a group closing in on us."
Saranda warned Levi, who did not react rashly and kept calm, so that the approaching group did not know they have already noticed them.
Mattie had woken up too, although Saranda had warned her to stay quiet so they don't alarm the group.
Levi was expecting a group of intelligent infected to attack them, so when he saw the arrow heading his way, he was surprised.
'Humans..?'
He immediately ducked under the arrow, alarming both Saranda and Mattie, who were both surprised when they saw the arrow land on the ground.
In the next second, Levi was assaulted by two masked human figures. The masks resembled demons from back on earth. A sword flashed towards him, which he parried by swinging his spear against it. But he was cut on the side by the dagger that flashed past him.
The cut was shallow, but he still felt the pain that emanated through his side.
The girls had gotten up too, adorning their weapons. They were similarly assaulted by three masked figures. And the sixth one kept on raining arrows upon the trio, but they were not successful due to the dense forest.
Levi parried the upcoming attacks from the sword user, he immediately dashed backwards to keep his distance with the advantage of the spear. He did not understand why humans were attacking them, they were in a post apocalyptic world, shouldn't they be helping each other?
How could he kill a fellow human? He had to leave them unable to fight instead, which was harder than killing them.
He gritted his teeth when he suddenly felt a cut appear on his back, tearing through both his clothes and his back. Without wasting a second he swung the shaft of his spear in a wide arc towards his back.
The other attacker was slender and had the build of a woman. She was much faster than the sword user. She ducked under the attack and flashed her dagger once again, leaving a cut on Levi's thigh.
'Shit!'
Saranda parried a thrust with a swing of her sword and then immediately attacked the other opponent. Her sword left a shallow cut on the offenders shoulder, but it was a minor injury.
Mattie was fighting against someone who looked like they were the leader of the group. Her sabers glowed in a yellow light as she hacked and slashed against them. Due to her stronger physical abilities, she was pushing the opponent backwards.
But... none of the three had any experience in killing humans. Thus none of them carried killing intent.
They were looking to make the opponent unable to fight, but judging by the fact that they were the same ladder as them, this would be near impossible.
"They are naive! Quick kill them and loot their materials!" One of the fighters shouted.
'Materials..?'
Oh right, they had lots of mana cores in their bags, but how would the bandits know that? Was there a way to sense them?
Most importantly, Levi now learned their intentions. They were most likely bandits of sorts, preying on the weak and looting their hard work.
Saranda had tried to fire a water ball several times, however each time she tried to create one, she was interrupted with another attack. She could only rely on her sword skills.
Despite her reluctance, she had coated her sword with hot water and salt. So whenever she left an injury on her opponents, she would hear a grunt of a pained sound from them. She certainly did not like it...
She also saw Levi in the corner of her eye. He was matched with stronger opponents, so many wounds had started to accumulate on his body. If this went on, they were not going to survive this, they needed to do something.
"Fuck!"
Mattie's opponent grunted as he was sent flying towards a tree with a kick from Mattie.
'How is she this strong? I am upper stage ladder two while she is still a beginner!'
The man immediately got up.
'Still, they are naive kids. They are hesitating to kill us, that will be their doom!'
He dashed towards Mattie once again.
Levi was feeling increasingly dizzy as he suffered many injuries all over his body. The woman with the dagger did not stop attacking him, and he could not focus on her due to the attacks coming from the sword user.
He was going to pass out from blood loss at this rate.
It was not long before he made a mistake.
The sword got through his defenses, and now was heading to decapitate his head.
Witnessing one's death in slow motion was a unique experience.
He was going to die, and strangely he felt at peace. If he died, the girls were going to have to face five opponents at once, but he did not feel any guilt at the moment.
The world darkened. It seems peace laid in death.
However in the next moment, the darkness shattered and he returned to the same scenery.
'Enough dreaming.'
Suddenly the mana all over his body started to decrease at a rapid rate. His right eye was set ablaze in blue flames as he ducked under the swing. His foot slammed onto the ground and emanated a wave of blue fire as he leapt forwards and thrusted his spear in one quick motion.
The spearhead cut through armor, then stabbed itself into the opponent. Levi felt the metal break through the ribs and then thrust through the heart of the man, who let out a pained hiss. Levi lifted the now lifeless body up and swung him away, pushing him out of the spear. The corpse landed on the snow with a loud thud.
"Azel!" the girl screamed behind him. Approaching him with murder intent. "Its a Fae!"
Levi leapt towards the girl, with each step he took, blue flames erupted under his feet. He had not used the Fae Cloak to long extent, so the transformation never happened fully. Other than his right eye, now his nails seemed to be cloaked with blue fire.
He thrusted his spear in the direction the girl leapt towards him. But she immediately ducked under the attack, her dagger flashing upward, aiming for his chest.
But then suddenly an invisible force descended upon her. It was as if she was in the presence of something horrendous. The speed of her attack slowed down as sweat fell down from her head. In the next moment, the spear descended upon her with a thrust and impaled through her head, shattering her mask.
Saranda who was watching this happen as she fought with the other opponents, was quite frankly both relieved and horrified. His attacks did not carry any ounce of mercy in them as he dispatched the two bandits with ease.
Was that really the right thing to do? She understood that he would die if he did not kill them instead, and eventually they would die too.
But it was still too cruel.
Was this truly how they were going to live in this world?
Levi must have depleted his mana, because his blue flames were gone in the next moment. He eventually collapsed.
Mattie immediately coated herself with excess amount of mana and rammed herself into the opponent, sending him crashing towards the ground, breaking several of his ribs in the process.
"Shit! Fall back! We lost the others!" The leader screamed while on the ground.
The other two who were attacking Saranda, immediately stopped and retreated towards their leader. Picking him up and running away.
Seeing this, Mattie and Saranda ran towards Levi. The blood that seeped from him coated the snow in red. He had lost a lot of blood. The two immediately got to bandaging him in silence, something they had learned from him.
The two corpses laid away from them.
The three were most likely never going to talk about this event ever again.