1 Prologue 1

Rain fell thick, heavy, and overbearing in its cold constant presence. It fell endlessly eroding soil, old streets, and even wearing away at buildings. Once tall buildings had been worn away by the constant downpour. The soil around their foundations withered until thier foundations showed themselves. Such an act seemed blasphemous like ripping away a woman's cloths on a crowded street leaving her naked for all to see. Yet even those massive structures could barely be seen through the abundance of rain.

The constant beat of the rain was a cacophony of sound like the rattle of legions of desert naga. Only the occasional boom of thunder like god's wrath broke the constant cloaking sound. For a scout like Lewis Noah the sound made his task easier. He was hired by the Farron company to scout out the great empty. He was a long way from his home Noah village.

His earpiece crackled to life. "Lewis what do you see?" Maxus Farron asked. Even soaked to the bone the earpiece functioned perfectly. That's Farron engineering for you. He hurried to answer.

"Nothing just a lot of rain and as for my third eye nothing. Any qi I use is quickly stolen by the empty." He tripped over a root and fell in the mud. Mud covered his scarce armor and clumped against his skin. The heavy rain would rinse him off before long. Looking down he saw the ancient dead root of a life tree.

Lightning flashed down striking the remnants of an ancient bell. It sat in the ruins of a vast city one destroyed perhaps century before his birth. Claw marks slashed through ancient buildings carving through steel and rock like a hot knife through cheese. They had stopped three times digging deep rivets in the earth before reaching their prize.

"Commander is this really the remnant of Scale village? I thought civil war destroyed the village." Lewis continued following the path of destruction. So far it had been an easy job. Despite the lack of vital energy in the air this village was monster free. Maybe the monsters didn't like the rain. To think if he had a few barrels, he could become a wealthy man in the capitol. He could buy better pills to further his cultivation, a home for his mother, and a dowry for his sister. His mother could stop whoring and his sister would never see the streets and marry a good man.

"Focus Lewis do you see any signs of monsters?" Maxus asked over the speaker.

"No nothings here this place is just an empty ruin." He said with certainty. They had promised him entry into their guild if he did this one job for them. It seemed the gods were finally smiling down on him.

A light cut through the rain shining its blinding light on him. Out of the mud rose bodies larger than humanly possible with twisted metal parts jutting out of them. One stepped into the light revealing a face half torn away revealing rusted metal and mechanical eyes. They glowed red even in the light.

"I found something send everyone there are monsters here." There was no response. Not even static responded on the other end. He took off his earpiece to see it flashing red. What was going on? He threw it at the nearest monster. Clonk, the device hit its metal face then tumbled into the mud blinking its red light.

He turned to run only for powerful hand to grip his leg. Lewis tripped and fell in the mud. The creature that rose had the curves of a woman. Even covered mud it was beautiful with the largest breasts he had ever seen. They were big, round, and gravity defyingly firm. Spider like legs made of steel erupted from her back to latch onto him. He pushed all the qi he could into his feet and kicked against her worn mud-covered face. The thing of beauty cracked and peeled revealing cold metal. Her metallic hand tore through the skin of his leg as he pulled away.

Lewis ran towards the carrier heart pounding. He could feel his leg throb in pain as another flash of lightning revealed more faces of grotesque machines. They smiled pale white faces rotting away to reveal inhuman metal beneath. As he ran a few charged behind him at a sedate pace.

He realized why they moved so slowly. They were machines, he would tire long before they would. With another flash of lightning the ruined walls of Scale village shown. Tall machines well over 50ft in height looked down upon him. They were broken in places one missing an arm while the other had no legs. The third's chest cavity was open to the elements sparking and hissing while rain entered its delicate machinery.

Once he passed the walls these sentinels wouldn't matter. He would have done his duty to the guild and they would reward him. Just as he entered the hole in the wall, he heard boom and felt his chest explode with red gore. His armor was too light to protect him. It must have been the shock and adrenaline that made him jump and tumble in the mud. He tried to move his hand to his chest and stop the bleeding somehow.

The big breasted monster stood over him her ruined face set in a smirk. The weapon that must have ruined his chest held in her hand. She pulled out a skinning knife and pinched his cheek. He felt her pinch him but couldn't move.

The monster moved quickly cutting into his young face. Even the tears were denied him by the rain. His body shook as his qi finally ran out and he couldn't hold his body together any longer. Just as it did, she pulled his face free and placed it over her own ruined face. Silvery things swept out and then he was looking at a feminine version of himself. She was beautiful.

Then a sword slammed between her perfect breasts and the lights in her eyes winked out. The man who killed her could be no other than Johnson Farron head of the Farron guild. Formerly a house of this very village now a ruthless sect leader.

Johnson struck a heroic image wearing red and gold power armor with pauldrons thick enough to stop a dragon's claw. He was tall in nearly eight feet monstrously huge and armed with a sword long and curved like a crescent moon. The sword was the color of moonlight and had thrust through high grade steel easily. There would be songs about this man's swords but none for Lewis the scout.

Johnson tossed the remains of the monster from his blade before taking her weapon and letting out 5 more cracks of thunder. No light flashed; he couldn't see what was happening now. Another flash of lightning revealed a pool of red beneath him. It spread only for the rain to turn it from crimson to pink.

As his eyes went dark all he could hear were the sounds of boots in the mud and the rain. Only now did he realize that his mother would die on the street. His sister would follow their mother and become a whore. Maybe some noble would take pity on her and she would become his mistress. That was the best she could hope for. In Noah village there was a boy named Lewis who dreamed of becoming a hero and saving his mother and sister from poverty. That boy was dead and gone his name nothing more than a statistic in the the Farron scout death data file.