10 Start of the journey
The sound of footsteps crunching through the snow with the same cold wind blowing through the land. 2 figures, one tall, one short, can be seen trekking through the seemingly endless horizon of snow.
- Raziel pov -
As we continued walking, I looked over Akari's basic world map for where we're going. Right now we are at the top middle of Solitas and are walking the other way of Atlas. We will be passing by a few towns and will restock when needed but will stay away from them if possible.
After about 5 months of walking, if every day is good and clear, then we need to find transport across the sea into Anima or known as the kingdom of Mistral. Once there we will walk for another 4 months till we reach a small village hidden in a forest where a group of Faunus lives and where Akari's family, or as she calls it a clan, lives.
In total, we imagine around a year if we walk it all, but I'm sure we can sneak onto ships and the trains that go from city to city, but we will have to see. Looking up and taking a deep breath a slight blur of a moving object appears. Getting closer and closer towards us.
- 3rd pov -
Both Akari and Raziel stop in their tracks and start to stare down, from the looks of it, some type of flying line of squares being pulled by a truck-like object. Getting closer to the truck we could see each metal object that was being pulled better. They have large black and purple crystals on the underneath of them that seem to be pushing the snow away moving at great speeds.
After about a minute of watching this caravan, it turns to the right and starts to drive off further away. Akari's eyes are locked onto it as her hands clenched into fists. Starting to walk the path they set with no words said, Raziel follows along.
Raziel: "What was that large train thing?"
Akari looked down at Raziel before replying.
Akari: "Raz this part of the world uses and treats Faunus like slaves and trash. From what I can imagine that was holding daily goods from food to clothing. Maybe even slaves as they bring them to a dust mine somewhere further north."
Raziel stopped where he stood and looked up towards Akari.
Raziel: "I... If they hold slaves shouldn't we do something?"
Looking down Akari sees Raziel having a hint of pain in his eyes.
Akari: "And if they don't hold slaves we may waste days to a week of travel following them to figure it out."
Raziel: "If we have the power to do something and don't, then we are on the same level as them. I can't walk past this inhuman act and do nothing!"
Looking away from Akari's gaze, Raziel looks towards the floor.
Akari: "You say we, Raz, but you are still a child and I can't face an army alone. We must pick our battles carefully."
Taking a deep breath, Raziel pulls his head up with his eyes glowing with conviction as he starts to walk the path they set. Adjusting his bag he keeps on practicings his semblance trying to force it into a single arm.
As the day passes and night falls they set up camp in the middle of the plains with nowhere to go. They set up the tent cooking up any meat they may have before it spoils. Getting into the tent and getting into their sleeping bags.
- Raziel's pov -
Four hours pass as I slowly fall into a deep sleep. In front of me are the bodies of people clinging to the bloody chains. The eyes they hold seem hollow while looking at this my legs seem to give out as I fall back jolting awake from the feeling of falling.
In the moment, my mind calmed down and went back to sleep. I heard something, a sound. Getting louder and louder. I shake Akari to wake up and look outside the tent seeing the same large train rushing through the dark land.
Its path leading near us, the hair on my body seems to stand on edge, turning to Akari a smile crosses my face.
Raziel: "Hah, two birds one stone. This train-thingy can help us travel and if anyone is inside we can save them."
Akari: "That would be faster. Fine, but if we do this you will listen to everything I say and if it gets dangerous we jump off and walk. Do you understand?"
A cheeky smile covers my face as I give a two-finger salute before packing up everything in my bag and helping with the tent. It was only about a minute away from passing us as I steeled my mind for what is to come.
- 3rd pov -
Taking a step back Akari grabs the back of Raziel's clothes, placing him on her shoulder. She starts to form a web in her hand as the train is now a few seconds away from passing.
She waited for the train to pass before throwing the web onto the side of the train. She braced herself as the web gets stuck onto the side. A second later a pulling force takes over as we both get sent flying with it. The pulling force makes me twist my neck, bringing me pain as I try to straighten it.
Akari now sliding across the snow, tugs the web pulling the both of them up, getting a few seconds of air before they both land on the top of the train. The cold wind running through Raziel's hair made it stand up as his body felt the pressure of the winds, nearly tumbling his body to the ground.
Following the train carts, staying low to the ground to make sure the wind doesn't shove them both off they keep moving towards a door opening or a hatch. After jumping a few carts, they ended up one away from the back where a hatch lays on the top of a cart.
Looking over it, there was a keypad and a notice *IF LOCKED, USE THE EMERGENCY BUTTON TO CALL FOR AID*
- Raziel pov -
Thinking for a second, I used my semblance to push my head through the hatch to have a look. Inside the room, the inner hatch has an emergency lever to open the hatch in case of the power cutting out. The room is full of boxes with a spiked snowflake having a single path leading from door to door connecting the carts to each other.
Pulling my head and body out, I stopped using my semblance and looked over to Akari. I shouted to make sure she could hear me with the sound of the wind blasting our ears.
Raziel: "Inside the hatch has a lever. I can pull to get us in and inside. it has a bunch of boxes but I didn't see anyone move and couldn't hear any noises."
From the looks of it, she's thinking it over for a second before nodding towards me. I use my semblance to slowly fall through the floor into the room landing in the darkness. My Faunus eyes quickly adapted to the darkness around me. I look to my right and left, two doors line the opposite sides of the cart I am in.
One labelled "Food and luxury goods, LEVEL ONE ACCESS NEEDED", the other was "Waste disposal, LEVEL TWO ACCESS NEEDED". I stopped looking around and pulled the lever to let Akari in, no alarm is sounded from what we could tell. We place our bags on the ground and start looking around to make sure this place is safe.
My mind was stuck on why you need a higher level to go into a place for trash instead of the good loot but for now, I stack the boxes to let us have a place to hide in case someone passes through to throw away any rubbish.
After making a small hidey-hole for us, I walk slowly up to the door that leads to waste disposal and stick my body through the door using my semblance. A smell invaded my whole body as it froze up. Everything in my head seemed to stop as my eyes couldn't believe what I was seeing.
In front of me, lining the wall all the way to the roof were black body bags, stacked like logs for a fire. In the middle of the room, on hooks, were purple-skinned bodies. One specifically is a male cat Faunus. The tail flayed of skin and fur with bone showing through. His ears contained both a cattle tag and an excessive amount of holes like a child had a hole puncher and a piece of paper.
The arms were inverted with nails spiking through the muscles, as the older man had brandings marks across his back. The chest had been opened up showing all his insides while having small yellow dust line the ribs. His heart was still beating, his lungs still pumping, they did something to keep him alive through it all.
I could feel my senses heightened. I could hear a small amount of rhythmic breathing as his eyes, like a dead fish, can't even close as his eyelids were cut off. My whole body jolts back out of reflex as the food I had eaten just a few hours ago comes back up. The blood from my body sinks as any power I once had was now drained. My whole body froze in a cold sweat, as for the first time reality hit me.
Edited by S_jay.
Xeno took another shower
