The young man, better known as the Soul Slayer, slowly walked into the road. The sand buries his legs, but he does not see it as an inconvenience. For anyone born and raised after the Cataclysm, straight roads are a myth. Though for the Soul Slayer, he rarely walked in sandy environments. Overgrown grasses, dark crowded forests, and toxic swamps are among the places he calls “home”. This are, at a glance, looks like a typical oblast, but he knew that the outward appearance is only there to fool him.

Suddenly, the Soul Slayer felt a strong current of wind blowing into his face, but he kept on walking carefully. No wind is strong enough to take down the Soul Slayer, carrying his trusted sword, known as the Chainbreaker on his back. However, the sand got deeper and deeper as he walked. The Soul Slayer could have sworn that the road is straight. He saw the straight road with his naked eyes. He couldn’t wallow in his disbelief as he finds his legs feeling as if it is being eaten alive by the sands. The Soul Slayer’s face stayed cold. Do not feel anger, concentrate.

“Hrngh!”

He grabbed the Chainbreaker and stabbed it into the sand, and jumped as high as he could. He landed a few miles ahead. The sand is now less deep than in where he was.He felt a strong presence of something in his vicinity.

“GRAGGHHH”

“...!” The Soul Slayer turned to his behind to find an unwashed soul jumping into his face. Immediately, he performed a cross-slash with the Chainbreaker at it, slashing through the unwashed soul’s shoulder, dismembering its right arm.

“Aughhh…”

The unwashed soul did not take long to disappear. It dissolved almost immediately as it was losing its right arm. However, its ashes flew into the air. Water started pouring into the ground.

“Geh!” The Soul Slayer felt a body of water pouring into his hair. It started raining on the road. The Soul Slayer ran as fast as he could. As he was running, he could feel the sands getting smaller and smaller and before he knew it, he was walking on a road. There were puddles from the rain, but now the ground felt like actual ground.

The Soul Slayer stopped running as soon as he felt that the rain was no longer pouring. He knelt down on his knees, putting his sword onto the ground. His stamina waned from all the running. It is unusual, he thought. He only ran for approximately ten miles, but he felt that he was running for twenty miles. He looked around him. The road looked like a distant memory for him, and he found himself in a grimy, open room. As he scanned the open room, he understood that the open room was a laboratory.

“Hffft”

It looks off, he muttered to himself, This looks out of place, But he shrugged the thoughts off. After all, he is in the Northern area of the State. It is called the Wasteland, even though the entire state has been reduced to a mere wasteland.

Even before the Cataclysm, the wasteland was already off, with all the location-related anomalies caused by unstable Magia concentration. The Cataclysm only accelerated said anomalies. The wasteland is known to change itself at its own will, as long as mortals walk into it. The wasteland can sense the souls and existence of anyone who walked into it, and mold itself around the person’s soul. The Soul Slayer has heard of this before, but he shrugged it off as rumours. It was made to prevent others from walking into it.

But it was real. Everything was real. He has felt it. The Soul Slayer is known for being a slow runner compared to people of his caliber. The sandy road was definitely molded from his inner weaknesses. I have to try harder. But he felt that this would be a good chance to face his weaknesses.

His inner thoughts ended there, now focusing on what he is seeing now. The open room is filled with flowers, but the one thing that he felt was the lack of scent. There was no scent, nor stench from the flowers. On his right, he sees a banquet full of flowers. He walked towards it.

It formed a path. The flowers looked like it was guiding him to a place where he should be…...or should not. Nevertheless, he followed the path. It leads to a cave, filled with barbed wires. The strange thing about the cave is how it was mounted with a metallic door, as if it was a sign of rejecting any form of entry.

“Grahh!” The Soul Slayer startled himself. The barbed wires induced a static shock onto his hands as soon as he touched it. He took a step back and broke off an unused pipe a few miles onto his left, and threw it into the barbed wires. It was completely burned. The current must be high.

But that is nothing for him. He could just cut the chains of the current in the barbed wires. Slash. Crash. Bash. Twelve slashes was enough to drain the barbed wires of its blood, that is, electricity. The Soul Slayer cut the barbed wires, but as he approached the metallic door, his body froze. The wasteland sensed something in his soul, but the Soul Slayer couldn’t tell what it was. His life had taught him to ignore his inner soul’s wills and words.

“Guh….argh” He rushed as he tried to move, but his body halted completely. And after he stopped moving, the ground shook. The cave switched into a laboured mode. It immediately released concentrations of ashes. The ashes blocked the Soul Slayer’s vision, but there wasn't any form of pain and discomfort from the ashes. It is covering something, but it wants the Soul Slayer to be aware of it.

A sound of explosion blared from a distance. It was followed by a cacophony of screams. Awful sounding screams filled his ears, and platoons of unwashed souls marched into him from the skies.

“GROOOOAAAAAAGGHHH” The screams pierced the Soul Slayer’s ears, and the Soul Slayer fell to his knees. Just as I have found the place! He shouted to himself.

Focus. You can fend them off. Close your eyes, breathe in.

The Soul Slayer closed his eyes, and he began to breathe slowly. Time suddenly slows down. He immediately opened his eyes in surprise. This isn’t my doing, and it’s not even the Wasteland’s doing, he thought. The time dilation…..it is someone else's ability. It is someone he knows.

“Charge!” A woman’s stern voice barged into his ears. The voice was familiar to him. He could feel the air of the moonlight from her. A moonlight in daytime.

“Kirbukova!” he shouted, “Throw me into the sky.”

“No. Too dangerous, let me handle this” the woman, Kirbukova, responded. She ran onto a tree and jumped on several trees before jumping on the sky. As she reached the skies, she positioned her body into an upright position, and began to clap her palms symmetrically.

“Anomaly —– Chiralism!” she chanted, and a wave of static made its sound to the unwashed souls’ ears. They all shouted in pain, but this wasn’t enough for the Kirbukova woman. She needs to scare them away completely. “Hey, this will hurt your ears for a bit” she looked down to the Soul Slayer and warned him as she positioned the palms of her hands to form a unity. The Soul Slayer could tell what she would do, and covered his ears.

“Anomaly —– Magnetic Resonance!” she followed, which immediately blared a loud static to everyone on the field, including herself.

“HAAArgh” The Soul Slayer shouted as he was unable to feel his soul in his body for three seconds, before falling down on his back. Magnetic Resonance is highly dangerous, as always.

This technique is one of Kirbukova’s “last-stand” techniques, as it releases a loud static sound that combines the positive and negative axis of magnets to shock souls and reject anyone’s magia ability, including her own, for three seconds. A simple technique, yet deadly when used correctly.

The unwashed souls made no scream, and immediately dissolved, along with the ashes and eruption, everything abruptly stopped. However, the steel door now became even more unopenable. The Soul Slayer, as he regained his movement, sighed in disappointment.

“You had no single chance”, Kirbukova said to him, “You cannot go further in this area, your presence was a mistake”

“What mistake? I was close to The Cauldron” The Soul Slayer responded, “It was right in front of me, the entrance” he pointed out to the door as he continued. Kirbukova gave him a disapproving sigh and attempted to open the door.

“Anomaly —– Gravitron” she chanted at the door. This technique should cancel all forms of gravity in an object and its insides, but the door remains tight. “No use”, she said to the Soul Slayer. She turned around and immediately walked, “We must go”

Of course, The Soul Slayer followed her. If Kirbukova says it is unsafe, the general factotum is to listen to her. The Soul Slayer sighed, and looks at Kirbukova in a disappointed look.

“Kirbukova...I…”

“Do not call me Kirbukova. I am Kanna” Kanna sternly warned, “Only self-absorbed earthbound egotists calls me Kirbukova”

Kanna might be of the same age as the Soul Slayer, but she has the experience of a general. Along the way back home to the East, the two did not utter a single word to each other.

A few hours later, they arrived in an alleyway in a swamp-y oblast. As both of them stepped inside their homebase, a dirty semi-underground building full of ripped fabrics, grime, and empty bottles of vodka and cans (some labelled with the name 'Arkady'), Kanna looked as if she lifted a heavy weight.

“Sitnikov is going to hate this”, she sighly tells him, “Gravitron drains me of both magia and physical energy” she sternly continues to the Soul Slayer. He could only nod at her.

“What did I do wrong?” The Soul Slayer asked, in full curiosity and worry as he had been holding back the question for hours.

“You willingly went there” Kanna answers, “The wasteland can tell” she continues, “It rejects those who are willing, and those who are inquisitive”

“Then what should I do?” The Soul Slayer asked for one more time.

“Do not go there willingly”

#writetober #OCs #SoulSlayer #writing