Chapter 1

"Hey Old man, I feel thirsty."

"Oh my child. Doesn't everyone thirst for their desires. But that doesn't mean that we get them."

The two were walking on sand. Slowly, step by step.

Their bodies were covered with it. Like little grains of gold.

The sun baked their clothes. Well, whatever clothes they had, they wore nothing but rags.

The desert spanned miles behind them. It wasn't easy for them to cover this distance. They had come from a long distance. They had faced a lot of dangers on the way, from both humans and non-humans. But finally they had made it.

Through the shifty sand, across the snake like curved dunes. Through this seemingly dead wasteland, they had travelled. And survived of course.

"Whatever, I still want water."

"Water is scarce these days, my boy. You have seen yourself. The desert is unforgiving and demanding. We are not far from our destination. Just wait. Where we're going there is no shortage of water."

"Where are we going anyway?"

"The Oasis."

"What's that?"

"It's a new settlement. Hardly been a few years since it was made. I've heard that they have water and food."

"Will they just give us that, without a fight?"

"Nothing in the wastelands is for free. That much you should already know."

The old man looked at the boy. The boy was young, thin and frail. He had whitish skin, tanned by the seemingly unending sunlight. A dirty cloth covered his face and head. His eyebrows showing dusty sand and his face caked with sand all over.

The old man was no better, all of his clothes were in tatters. His face showed wrinkled skin and hidden white hairs tucked under a makeshift cap.

Both of them carried small bags of clothes. Moving with what meagre belongings they had.

"Old man, there's someone ahead." The boy pointed towards a point beneath the sand dunes.

The old man swiftly followed his direction and gazed at a dry tree in the distance. Three people sat beside it as well.

"Stay back and let me do the talking."

The boy went behind the man's back, subconsciously obeying the order.

Soon, the duo reached the tree where a group of three rested with their backs on the tree. As they reached near them, one of the three suddenly stood up and looked in their direction.

"That's far enough for now. I don't want any trouble."

The man spoke in a loud voice. The three of them were also in rags. However, the ones they wore were much better and more complete.

"That's fine. We don't want any trouble either, young man. Just tell me where the Oasis is and I'll be off.", replied the old man.

The man that was standing pointed to a direction and said,"2 hours walk from here."

"Is it any good?", asked the old man.

"It is, at least there is water there, but I can't say it'll be good enough for you lot.", said another man sitting on the ground while pointing to the both of them with a makeshift knife made of metal shard.

"Then I'll be on my way."

The old man and the boy passed by them. It was a very tensed up situation. The three would have already attacked them if they had seen anything on them. Lucky for the old man, they truly didn't have anything worth their time.

The boy noticed that the third person was in chains. A rough bag covered his face.

"Mm, mmm, mmm!"

The third person made murmuring sounds while shaking his head.

"Shut up, bitch!"

One of them hit her head with something.

The boy rushed to the old man.

"It's a girl.", he whispered.

"And so? What do you want me to do?"

The boy hung his head down while thinking.

"I still want water. You could've asked them."

The old man looked back to see the trio. When he was sure that they were out of their earshot, he yanked the boy's arm.

"Aaah!"

"Now listen to me boy! I won't tolerate this shitty crap from you anymore! Drop this whole hero act unless you want to die! If I started stopping for every random whore or slut out there, I'd have a whole fucking army by now. And if you want some water, you can fucking drown in your own piss as much as I care!"

The old man let him go.

The boy hung his head down and walked behind like a puppy who lost his bone.

But he knew the old man was right. These wastelands were ruthless and savage. Here actions spoke louder than morals. Anything was up for grabs as long as you could take it.

Slowly step by step, the duo kept walking. In the shifty sands with the blazing sun, mirages could be seen. The beautiful mirages made the boy think about his life. Shifting just like the sand.

"We're here.", the old man said with a long sigh as he looked into the distance.

There were ruins in the distance. Broken buildings of the people before. The Oasis was cleverly settled on top of a hill. Surrounded on one side by the desert while behind it was a lush forest. It was almost as a single step brought you to a new place. It was surrounded by high towering stone walls outside of which rusted metal stakes and spikes were lodged in. The Oasis was just a bunch of buildings that were miraculously still standing. Constant repairs allowed the ancient buildings to remain standing.

The old man reached the tall walls and he could see a large gate, at the bottom of which was a smaller gate. A single person stood there with a gun.

A gun!

That was the first time the boy had ever seen one of those. To him, it looked like a stick made of metal. The guard at the door was wrapped in rusted metal pieces which seemed to be like an armor.

"Halt!"

The old man stopped near the guard with the boy behind them.

"What do you want here?"

"I'm here to see the Hades group.", said the old man.

"Who exactly?"

"Killer Shot."

The guard's eyes gleamed as he opened the door behind and let them go in.

The old man and the boy hurried in.

The boy was excited. This was a safe haven for him. No murderous beasts, no savage killers, no shortage of water and food and especially no freaks after his ass. He shivered as he thought how some of the weird men looked at him in the desert.

The old man was visibly relaxed as he made his way around buildings, almost like he knew the place from before.

The boy noticed this but said nothing.

Didn't he say this was his first time here?

The boy looked around to see the place. Everybody around here was thin, but not as thin as the boy. He even saw a few fat men for the first time.

Fat men!

Never in his life had he thought that someone could actually eat so much that they get fat! Food was scarce no matter where the boy had gone.

As they moved from the streets, the boy saw a lot of people in the same leather and metal scrap armor, some of them even carried guns!

He saw that besides the streets women, thin women were leaning on the walls, shaking their hips and touching men as they went. They were wearing loose fitting clothes that didn't fit them properly.

The boy moved closer to the old man.

"What are they doing?"

The boy asked while pointing to the women.

"Selling."

"Selling what?"

"Themselves."

The boy still didn't get it but he asked no more. He didn't want to anger the old man again. As he went further the old man led him into a shabby looking building.

As they both entered, the boy saw loads of people drinking and talking. There were some tables around. Most of the people wore armor scraps and looked like beasts. The old man skipped all the front and went to the back. In the back he entered a room. There were less people here but they seemed to be more special.

They sat around a table sitting on stools and chairs, which were of course shabbily joint together giving the whole place a rugged feeling. But to the boy the place felt really rich.

The guys were drinking and laughing.

The old man went to the front of the table and sat next to a woman.

"Boy, go sit there."

He pointed to a stool in the corner.

"I want water."

"You'll get it in some time. Now go sit there!"

"Water."

The old man stared at the boy, the boy stared back.

The woman who was sitting there threw a bottle of water to him. The woman was leaning on her chair with legs on the table and a cowboy hat on her head.

The boy sipped on the water and sat by the corner without saying anymore.

"A boy. Really Avrin, your products are really getting worse?"

"Hehe miss, you don't know this boy, he truly is something else."

The old man, named Avrin, said to the woman as he sipped on a cup of water.

"You have 5 seconds. Explain."