Chapter 6

*we continue*

Almost one day has passed since Seryoja and Eliot headed out from Ramp city towards Pustin. They were getting closer to it as the city was visible in the horizon. The weather was getting bad. Cloud were covering the sky and the wind was getting strong. Pustin was a desert village, located on a river, which was used as one of the main sources of living, by transporting different kinds of goods and materials. With the passing of time the village grew and became a large city which with the dawn of a new industrial era is now slowly becoming an industrial capital. Eliot and Seryoja arrived and docked the boat they were in on one of the smaller docks after which they started running.

Eliot asked:

-Where are we running to?!

-I have no idea, but for now let's get to the city and find a shelter from the storm that's coming, and if possible food. - answered Seryoja while looking around.

The city was a concrete jungle created by the people, that has become a maze for the newcomers to it. It was impossible to navigate through the city without a map of it and  neither of them happened to have one, however firstly they had to find a shelter for the time being and food as well.

After running for 10-15 minutes they finally got out of the dock section of the city just in time for it to start raining. Lightnings started lighting the sky as after each of them, because of the clouds, it looked darker than the night. Thunders following each lightning muted every other sound and in no time the streets of the city became emptier than a wasteland. A person was standing on top of one of the buildings outside of the docks, staring at Eliot and Seryoja running and quietly said:

-So he is finally here...

Seryoja and Eliot didn't notice the person as they were too busy searching for a shelter with food.

***(time passes)***

It took quite a while for them to get to the urban part of the city, but after 20 more minutes spent in running they finally found a small bakery located in the beginning of the urban part. They entered it quickly and sighted from tiredness.

- Finally a place with food! Excuse me, can you server us? - Seryoja asked the man that was standing on the cash register.

- Its a bakery young man , as long as you have money of course i can. - answered the man.

He was in his middle 40s, with white hair, a beard and wearing a black apron covered with powder from the flour that was used for baking bread.

-Alrighty, I'll have two breads. - said Seryoja

-Coming right your way, in a couple of minutes!

Seryoja and Eliot sat on one of the four tables that were squeezed in the small room.

-Quite a nice place you have in here Mr. - said Seryoja

-Thank you, i inherited it from my old man and decided to continue his business... - Said the old man and took a deep sigh. -Sadly it won't be here for long, with the industry and machine usage rising at such high rate, soon small shops and places like mine will be out of business, and most of us will be left on the street.

-Sadly thats the times we live in... - said Seryoja.

-Yeah, at least you still have a long life ahead of you, while im already halfway in the grave - said the baker and started laughing casually.

Seryoja smiled at him and said nothing more.

***(time passes)**

The rain was still pouring down all over the city. It has been already almost an hour and a half since it started but it seem like it was never going to stop.  Eliot and Seryoja have already eaten the bread they ordered, and were quietly waiting. Everything was quite. The baker was reading a newspaper while leaning back on his chair near the cash register, Seryoja was staring through the window and Eliot was quietly thinking to himself about everything that happened. After some time passed Seryoja decided to break the silence:

- Excuse me mr., do you happen to have a map of the city? - He asked politely the baker.

-Yes, actually i do happen to have one.- the baker answered

-Great! Would it be okay if you borrowed it to us for a while? I promise we will return it to you as soon as we are done with our job.- politely asked Seryoja

-Of course i will, and there is no need to return it since I've not used it at all ever since i got it, so you'd finally put it into use. - said the baker and handed an seemingly old pice of folded paper that he took out of the drawer near the cahs register. It was the map.

-Thank you very much! We will be heading out in a minute, I'm sorry for the distance. - said Seryoja

-Don't mention it, hope you find whatever you are looking for. - said the Baker. Seryoja took two minutes for looking into the map and found out a place to which they should go.

- Thank you once again, i hope we will see each other again sometime in the future! - said Seryoja with a grateful tone.

-No problems, enjoy your time in our city. - answered the baker

Seryoja and Eliot went out of the bakery and headed deeper into the concrete jungle. The rain was still pouring so they had to run towards the place. It was an open market located 1 km from the bakery they were in so it was not that long of a run but they still got tired. When they got to it they took a deep breath and sat down to get a rest.

-So why are we here? - asked Eliot

-This is usually the place where some of the SLFO agents are gathered to exchange information. - Seryoja said while taking quick breaths - It's basically the same as with the train station in New Yourk. Because of the rain people are staying in their homes and are not going out so it's a perfect opportunity for us to get the whereabouts of the base.

-Hey, how come you are in such a high position and yet don't know the base whereabouts? - asked Eliot

-Well, i may be in this position, however I'm relatively new to this. I got my cube piece 7 months ago so I still haven't been to most of the bases however i do know that in the big cities most of our agents gather around on the train stations or around other public places such as this market, and since it's the one biggest around here im sure that somebody will come. - said Seryoja

-Oh, i get it... so... mind if you tell me already why are you taking me to the cube? Was I chosen by it or something like that?- asked Eliot once again in a curious manner

-Well, it's not like i can tell you or something like that. - said Seryoja with sarcasm in his voice - As I've told you i have no right to say anything even to you until we get there so for now please stop asking me about this. - He begged Eliot. - Let's change the subject, how about we get to know each other? - asked Seryoja

-Okay, i guess - answered Eliot

- Alright then, my full name is Seryoja Vulkov, 18 years old. I was born in a small village located in the northeast of the Aoi nation.

-Aoi nation? Isn't that like all the way in the other continent?- asked Eliot

-Yeah, pretty much. - said Seryoja while shrugging- Anyway so i lived there since I was born until i turned 12, which is my parents got killed together with almost my entire village by a Soul Leach...- Seryoja took a moment of silence

-A Soul Leech killed off your entire village? But aren't you like super strong? Was the Soul Leech super powerful or something? - asked Eliot

- Well the bastard was weak if we compare him to me now, however when comparing me then to it, it's like comparing a human to God...- Seryoja got quite for a second and continued

- Anyway... So, what about you? I know how we got here, but what about before that? How did you end up being alone with your sister? - Asked Seryoja.

-Well it's not much of a story. - started Eliot - Our family was a middle class one so we were living fairly well, my father was young so he was still not recruited to the army when mom got pregnant with me. My sis is from another father but I still loved her, however thats not relevant now... - he took a second and continued - Anyway back to my life story. So when i got born my father got recruited into the army and sadly he didn't make it back, or at least thats what my mom told me. As for her, she caught a virus and we couldn't afford to cure her, so she continued to get worse and worse, and when i was 11 she passed away. Im 14 now, since I never mentioned it I guess it's good to say it. - said Eliot after which he stopped as he didn't know what else to tell Seryoja.

An awkward silence came between them so Seryoja decided to break it

- So, you are 14 and still that short? Are you a dwarf or something? - asked Seryoja in a joking manner - I thought you were around 12 when we met.

- Very funny, mr.Break into your house and kill your sister... - answered Eliot trying to annoy Seryoja back

- Sorry for your sister... - he apologised and continued - E-either way im glad that I found you, I've been lonely travelling from place to place since I became a Soul Purifier so you've been a good company for this week that passed. - said Seryoja trying to make the conversation a little bit more cheerful - I hope you find out what you want to do with your life, since you are all alone now...

Things got quite again.

The streets of the city were slowly starting to get filled with water. And as both of them were standing in the market, with only the sound of rain around them. They failed to notice that they were not alone once again.

***(To be continued)****

Authors note: Hello readers. I started writing The Gray Sign two weeks ago on a different platform however this one got recommended to me so I decided to move it in here. I hope you enjoy the story I'm writing and if so please ad it to your lists, i'd appreciate it 🙏. With that said is continuing writing and will drop the next chapter as soon as i can. Once again I hope you enjoy it and see you in Chapter 7 👋