Stranded

[Earth 9077]

The Earth has become a wasteland within the last two decades of the last Earthen War between the contintenants Ucrana and Grae Bril. With all of the damage done to the planets, many cities have been lost in the destruction, including the one that had once been called home to thousands of people.

The soil had long since been unable to grow anything more than grass and weeds, which only serves to show the state of this planet as it is now. The sound of a steam engine could be heard in the distance, causing the residents of the nearby town to look up curiously towards its source.

A large sky blue hovering car sped along the dunes wildly as a man in the drivers seat carried on screaming at the top of his lungs, not caring about how much danger he was putting himself in as he continued to speed down through the sands in the middle of nowhere.

"Walker! You are going too fast!" The long snow white-haired man shouted.

"Oh, screw you, Kase! We both know that the speed limit doesn't matter anymore! " Walker yelled back.

The engine started to act up even further, causing an audible crackling noise to be heard throughout the vehicle. It seemed as though Walker was trying in vain to keep control.

Suddenly, everything happened so fast that it took a few seconds for everyone to register what happened, Walker let go of the accelerator and began to veer off the road, careening straight towards the nearby embankment before coming to an abrupt stop.

With no warning, Walker's door swung open from its hinges as Walker attempted to jump out the passenger side window. However, the window didn't quite break, so instead, Walker's head smashed into it with enough force to create a sizable bruise forming over his nose. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as he fell face-first onto the ground as Kase laughed.

"How does that feel, Walker?" Kase said through laughter.

Walker glared at him as he picked himself up off the ground, gritting his teeth as he held his bleeding face. Blood dripped down his chin as he looked to see that the car was completely immersed in sand.

He turned to Kase, who was now sitting in the driver's seat again, laughing away adjusting his bionic arm and the wheel.

"Looks like we are gonna be walking," Kase noted.

Walker got back up to wrap his jacket around his waist annoyedly. Kase turned to face the rest of the vehicle as he started to roll up the window. Just then, the engine shut off abruptly, leaving an eerily silence surrounding them in their surroundings.

Shuffling through the dry heat one foot after another through the sand under the intense heat

felt very strange to Kase. His suit had protected him from most of the heat, but the air was still incredibly thick as they continued forward.

"Were going to be late if we don't hurry," Kase reminded him.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Walker yelled.

It seemed like hours they were trudging through the sand, making their way through the dunes. Finally reaching a small, flat area at the top of the hill. Kase looked around. There was nothing to indicate that there used to be any sign of life here. No sign of people at all, save for Kase and Walker himself.

Kase spotted large pieces of metal sticking out of the sand near his feet, causing him to take a tentative step towards the structure. Kase cautiously moved forward and knelt down next to a piece of scrap metal that stood nearly half as tall as him.

"The problem is how would I carry it now the car is busted?" He questioned.

It was rusted to almost nothing, and had various holes that resembled bullet wounds. As he lifted the pieces of metal with careful movements, he noticed that these weren't just bullet holes at all, but rather... bones. A skeleton's ribcage and pelvis.

[Fallen Angel System activated]

"Want me to carry it?" Walker responded.

"We don't even know how far from civilization is," Kase scolded.

The sounds of motorcylces could be heard in the distance as Kase placed the pieces of metal back onto the ground where they belonged, ignoring Walker's remark. He pulled out two water bottles from his bag, popping the caps off both as he walked ahead of Walker, drinking deeply from his bottle.

Quickly they were surrounded by men on bikes , shouting obscenities at each other as they rode past the pair of stranded travelers.

"Wait!" A voice cried out.

Both Kase and Walker turned in time to see a man dressed entirely in black standing on the edge of the pavement behind them, looking at the three of them desperately.

"I wanna check something!" He said.

The trio stared at the man in front of them, confused. They looked at each other while the man examined the piece of scrap metal in his hand before dropping it to the ground and kicking it over the cliff with as little force as possible.

"Useless junk!"

"Boss has very good eyes," One man whispered.

"What a waste of good metal," Kase mumbled.

The man placed his device away before he gawked at Kase and hiscompanion who stood behind him with his hands in his pockets, bored expression on his face.

"Hey, can we get a ride back?" Walker asked.

"I mean sure, but what do you mean by the fact that the metal was good?" The man questioned.

Nearby was another piece piece scrap metal and several broken glass bottles. Kase quickly made his way towards it, picking the metal up and running his fingers across it, examining it closely as if expecting something to jump out at him from the surface of the rusted heap.

[Fallen Angel System activated]

[Examining metal]

[Processing…]

The man observed Kase concentrating with awe on Kase, who was holding the same piece of scrap he was examining moments before his eyes a glimmer of light it became a dull metallic sheen was apparent as he gave to the man.

He scrutinized the piece of scrap metal carefully, inspecting all of the holes and dents he found. After a moment, he turned around to face the three humans and gestured to his bike as if saying "Hop aboard."

"I am not sure how you did that, but this certainly salvageable!"

"You can keep as payment!" Kase smiled.

As soon as Kase climbed onto the back of the bike, the man pedaled off at full speed. Walker got on with one of the other men climbing onto the back of his bike as he sat there awkwardly, staring at the sand beneath them.

"Where are you heading?" He asked.

"Barlishmire Citadel, the floating sphere," Kase answered.

He paused a moment revving the engine as he thought about the question before responding.

"That's about a day and a half away! If you really want, I could help get you guys to Barlishmire!"

With that said they took off in a cloud of dust, disappearing quickly into the desert beyond them. Kase glanced to his left to watch Walker. His face held a slight frown as he gazed ahead looking at nothing in particular, as though lost in his own thoughts.

It would be an hour and a half or so until Barlishmire Citadel came into view. During that time before they stopped , Walker had been strangely quiet.

Eventually, they reached Barlishmire Citadel as the sun began to descend upon the horizon, bathing the land below it in gold rays of light.

"Unfortunately we have to stop here," The man stated.

"Is there a reason you won't go near this place?" Walker questioned.

"We don't plan to be part of this war," He explained.

"I see..." Kase noted.

"Well, thanks for the lift!" Walker yelled happily.

"We will walk the rest of the way," Kase replied.

"My name is Levon," The man introduced himself.

"I am Kase and this is Walker," Kase introduced himself as well.

"Welcome to Barlishmire Citadel, gentlemen. I will give you my bike for the rest of the way there," Levon announced.

"Sweet!" Walker laughed.

With that said, he hopped off of his bicycle handing it to Kase before getting a bike with one of his other men.

"Goodluck!" He shouted.