The mayor of Decaport looked out the window. The rich and bountiful tide pools could been seen from his office window. The sheer number of people hunting there was staggering. It was quite an event.
But even with all with frantic hunting and festivities, the mayor still had an extremely grim look on his face.
[Mayor]: What are the reports?The assistant standing by the door walked forward.
[Assistant]: It’s a record new low. A full five kilometers.The mayor frowned.
Before every high tide, the water must first retreat back to its farthest point. The farther it retreats, the more tide pools are revealed, but at the same time, the more the high tide will flood when time comes.
[Mayor]: Will our barriers hold? [Assistant]: We will need to evacuate zone one and two.The zones are separated by the distance from the shore. Richer people enjoy the view of the lake so they live in the first two zones.
As zones go up, more industry is seen. Zone 9 are just farmlands near the exit gate of the city leading towards the rest of the Wilds.
[Mayor]: I can imagine those wealthy bastards demanding insurance due to water damage. They knew about the dam tides, why the hell would they build such brittle mansions so close to the water’s edge.The mayor rubbed his temples as his headache grew.
The upper class were the least of his worries right now. The money to repair the town have been saved up over the last months since their last repair. They have enough to fix it, especially with all the new adventurers flocking in providing more income to the people.
What he was worried about, was the casualties.
The highest the tide travels, the more dangerous the monsters it brings with it.
The last record low caused the entire first zone to be flooded and a titan tortoise to trample across three zones, destroying many buildings and causing countless casualties. It took hours upon hours of constantly bombardment from countless adventurers to slowly whittle the beast down.
If something even stronger than the tortoise appears this year, they may loss far more lives. Lost buildings can be rebuilt but lost lives can never be returned. Families who lost their main bread earner fall into despair. Loved ones perish and those who remain are forever reminded by the hole they have left.
Some turn to revenge and participate in future tides with a vengeful fervor.
The mayor doesn’t want to imagine the bleak sight of what was to come.
He sighed.
[Mayor]: Send out evacuation notices immediately. By the looks of it we only have a week before it hits.Years of living at Decaport gave the mayor a deeper understanding of the lake. It was both the provider and the taker. A blessing and a curse.
[Mayor]: Hopefully I will live to serve my last year’s term before retirement…The assistants nearly slapped themselves on their face. They all thought the same thing. Really now? Are you really going to raise your own death flag like this?
______
Crule remembered from his previous world how the tide change affected the town this particular year. He wasn’t there for it, but the records were shown.
He remembered this year was supposed to be a mellow year after the year before had the titan tortoise.
But seeing the tide crawl further back than he remembered, he realized something was wrong.
History wasn’t going the way it should.
[Crule]: Something serious may happen this tide change. [Ming]: How serious? [Crule]: Serious enough for the entire port to be destroyed. [Ming]: So enough to make sure our names are spread across the entire lake? [Crule]: Definitely. I just hope enough of the town survives to tell the tale of our heroism.A certain level of arrogance could be heard in their voices. A certain type of arrogance that comes with the knowledge that nothing can truly kill you.
Originally, this arrogance could not be spotted in them. But being back in their youth, their adolescent self was finally having an effect on them. Hormones really drives teens to do crazy rebellious things.
Crule was thinking about other things as well. Like why did his past self seal part of the memories he passed on? He understood why the part was sealed about the android but he doesn’t know whether or not anymore were still hidden in his subconscious.
The androids were scouts of a certain group. They manage anomalies, mainly with those that affect the time line. Crule never had much contact with them, but he had heard stories about them from the Sage.
It was one of the main reasons the Sage doesn’t go back in time and fix everything himself. It was why the Sage limited his own power.
The group was always watching. To make sure people don’t screw around with time. The scout probably sent information about him back to the group. Hopefully they will deem him as harmless to the correct path and allow him to do what he came back to do.
Hopefully a future where chaos destroys everything is not the correct path.
______
The picnic ended as the suns were setting.
[Crule]: Want to have a quick spar to help digestion? [Ming]: A spar? Between you and me? [Crule]: Just a spar, no aura or abilities, just physical strength. [Ming]: And here I thought you wanted to destroy the place…Ming leap up and took her jacket off.
[Ming]: Let’s do this.Crule smiled.
They both jumped down into the wide shallow tide pool under them.
They stood 25 meters apart.
[Ming]: Whenever you’re ready.Crule nodded as he shot a small ball of energy into the air. It slowly descended and upon touching the water, it made a loud bang and a small explosion of air.
Ming and Crule vanished from their spot.
A large splash of water were all that remained from where they stood.
The first clash, Ming performed a high kick. Crule blocked with his arm but barely. The strength of Ming’s kick caused his balance to tip as Crule started spinning. Using the centripetal force, Crule performed a kick as well. Ming backed away quickly, dove low and tried to get under the kick as she realize she can’t back away fast enough.
The kick scrapped the top of her hair as a few strands left their original place.
Crule was in freefall from the failed kick as Ming leaped from her crouched position. A punch was aimed directly at Crule’s sides.
Twisting his body with as much effort as he can, he barely dodges the punch from Ming.
As Ming flew past him, Crule chopped with his hand, trying to hit her shoulder.
The chop lands on her shoulder and she was slammed toward the shallow pool.
Using her other hand, she quickly pushes against the ground and does several flips as she regains her balance. Crule lands several meters away as the turning of his body caused him to also perform several flips to rebalance himself.
The exchange happened extremely fast. The water finally had a chance to catch up as a huge shockwave cause it to blast outwards.
The water drizzled down on the two as they stare each other down.
[Crule]: One for me. [Ming]: Lucky hit.With their auras protecting their bodies, the worst that could happen was a bruise.
As the falling water slowly comes to a stop, they began their second exchange.
