On the way, he faced the wild beasts that attacked him, and it was quite a tense experience for Leuel. Sometimes he had to run away because some of the creatures attacked in large groups that he alone could not handle.
But for one reason or another, they never ended up fatally wounding him when he could rest, and after reviewing the experiences, he found the outcome somewhat unreal. He wondered if he had gotten out of those dangerous situations because his guardian helped him in some way.
After a string of attacks, he finally had a reasonably uneventful journey. The creatures he came across ignored him or approached him timidly, but none of those who approached him had the characteristics he was looking for.
After a few days of crossing, Leuel was approaching the territory where one of the creatures he was looking for was supposed to live; while he was advancing in an open field, he saw in the distance that there was another group of people walking.
They were probably also heading for the portal.
In the afternoon, he arrived at the safe zone; he was not alone as he expected. After setting up his tent, he cooked something to eat, he was not very skilled at cooking, but the result was still edible.
While he was resting and digesting what he had just eaten, he slyly observed his neighbours. They were three humans, a girl about his age with platinum blonde hair, a man with a straight face exuding a pressure that seemed to tell him not to approach, and a woman with bluish hair, which caught his attention, for a while he had seen people with dyed hair before. He couldn’t help but feel that in her case, it was her natural colour.
She seemed to have noticed him staring at her and responded with a smile. Leuel felt embarrassed and nervously went inside the tent.
Then, as he lay there, he remembered a detail about those people that had also stuck in his eyes. The bracelets they had differed somewhat from the one he wore on his wrist.
As far as he knew he had, it was the “newer” one. At least he wasn’t aware of any variation of this tool. And considering there were no creatures with them yet, he figured they were probably about to capture some as well.
The next day he saw his neighbours leave. It seemed they were heading in the same direction as him. He waited an hour after they left so he wouldn’t run into them again.
On the way, he encountered corpses of creatures, and there were too many of them. The group had been slaughtering these living beings. As he checked some bodies, he noticed that many seemed to have died of asphyxiation; he did not remember having seen weapons with those people, so he assumed they were gifted.
He could also see other creatures that took advantage of this and absorbed the remains to strengthen themselves. He discovered creatures didn’t need to fight to support; he assumes that some species he saw doing this were of the raptor type.
It was a reasonably uneventful journey. This was because it constantly repeated the scenery he saw at the start of the trip along the way. He could have changed his path a bit but decided that perhaps, thanks to this, he could get to that area faster, where he was supposed to find one of his candidates to be his companion. But he could not avoid the unsettling feeling left by the sight that those people gave him.
As he approached the creature’s territory, he heard the sounds of a fight. He could only imagine how intense it was, considering how loud it sounded. He was curious, and he had an idea that it was probably that group that was fighting.
He wasn’t sure what he would encounter with the creature today, so it wouldn’t hurt to take a look; maybe he could learn something new.
What he saw was unique. The girl was fighting a horde or pack of creatures roaring at her and attacking in anger. The adults did not intervene in the fight, but considering what she was observing, they did not.
The girl was overpowering her opponents, and she was too intense; Leuel asked himself if he could move and show the same power she offered, and his answer was no.
He didn’t know that at his age, a gifted man could be so strong.
He stopped paying attention to his surroundings as he thought the latter, so he didn’t notice that the man who watched his surroundings had disappeared from his place.
-What are you looking at?
A long shiver ran down her back after hearing the question. The voice sounded too natural and calm, but that didn’t negate the alarm of danger that emerged and kept ringing inside her head. He held his breath unconsciously and did not move any part of his body.
-I can hear the solid and rapid beating of your heart… well, if you’re not going to answer, then.
A pressure that seemed like it would leave him without the strength to answer in any way enveloped him from his back. And a wave of questions occupied his head.
What will happen? What will become of his family? If he died, would he meet his friends? Did he never have the chance to avenge them? Was there any point in training so hard? How can he escape? Why do they want to kill him? Is she just threatening him? Will someone help him?
As chaos ruled in his mind and sweat slowly covered his body. He could distinguish the strange sensation of something invading his mind. It was an instant, which aggravated the chaos in his psyche. A few moments later, the pressure faded; he did not notice the man muttering something and walking away even when the group disappeared from his sight.
When he came to, there were only the bodies of the herd of creatures in his sight. He stood in that spot for a few hours as if he had lost all motivation.
But inside his mind, a great debate with himself had begun, leaving aside his safety. He was deciding what he wanted to be and do from now on. This incident was the trigger after months of wandering and looking for ways to overcome the trauma left by the invasion. It awakened something in himself that he didn’t understand, something he wasn’t sure he knew how to control.
Some creatures were on-site absorbing the debris strewn about. Over this sight was superimposed the memory of the invasion: the destroyed center and the remains of people around him.
I could see a flash of determination in his expression. He wondered if he could exert that kind of pressure emanating from that person.
He wants and needs that kind of strength. After living it, the childish idea that he could terrorize the invaders took root in his unconscious with that. For that to happen, he first had to find them again.
Having to search for the species of creature that roamed this area was no longer on his mind. It wasn’t the only thing he forgot; if he had been paying attention behind his back, he would have noticed the dead body of the guy who was supposed to be taking care of him during the trip.
But he continued forward to where he thought he remembered those people had gone.
***
-It looks like he’s looking for us,” Kewol said as he looked through AR at the marker that showed Leuel’s position.
-Are you sure about this?
-Yes, the bracelet he was wearing differed from the ones he got before. We may be able to get a more stable way into this space with it. We need more samples to fine-tune the technology; the doors we can open now are too unstable.
-I see, remembering the tests and what happens sometimes, it makes sense. It’s a good thing they don’t dominate this world. If they could control all the things that inhabit it, it would be pretty problematic.
-If I were a Nova, I would have ordered this world destroyed by now. It is too dangerous; one of the last reports I received was that the scout could sense in the area he was working some creatures on the level of a Skyle…..
-I heard that there was a possibility that there were creatures with that level of strength… but it still feels ridiculous to know that they exist,” Vestra commented as she watched the girl walk in front of them, “Do you think we can interfere with this system that governs the AR?
-No, and for the moment, it has not prevented us from continuing with our plans…
Kewol monitored the child’s signal for a while longer and kept walking; he had left an obvious trail for the boy to find. And it seemed he was smart enough to follow it.
-Deva, stop. We’ll stop here; we can’t let the boy go too far,” Kewol said to the girl in front of them.
-I still can’t get used to the feeling of being constantly in a zone of constant conflict. – Vestra looked around and listened to the sounds of some fighting going on nearby.
-These beings become stronger by consuming their opponents, their level of intelligence may vary, but they have nothing to envy to those who eventually create cultures and civilizations.
-Vestra asked Deva as she settled into a tree, “Have you decided on a creature yet?
Deva looked at her after sitting down and remained silent. This was normal; after all, they forced her to follow them. She did not have the strength to oppose Nova’s orders who commanded the legion, but at least in this world, outside of her influence, she had the luxury of not talking back.
The sky was getting dark, and the stars were showing, so she ignored them and wait for the new “recruit” to arrive.
