1.08.1 Should we thank our harasser? - Part1

"Mundi treants still seem to be in their sapling stage, it seems, they have just taken root here." Summarized the field op to Slade who was overseeing the clean up of the gore nest.

There was nothing left of the place that acted as the meeting place for Girisia and the Sirens.

After confirming the place where the actual nest was, Tarkov has razed the 500 year old relic to dust and exposed the immature gorenest and Mundi treants hidden in a hollowed ground under the school building.

This mutant beast was not confrontational in nature unlike others of its kind and had little, instead the only reason why it's such a common beast to find close to gore nests is due to its functionality. Which was its meat fruit that looks like a human head.

A fruit it fed to a gore nest to support its growth.

So it is a common say among the people on planet of Tauras, "If you find a Mundi treant, run away from there, as a gorenest will be nearby."

"These young ones are feisty…" A soldier chuckled in a heavy voice from his mechanical armor while he fried the mundi treants with flame belch, in ecstasy.

There was love in his eyes as he shot fire in all the directions where he heard the painful screeches from. Their roots danced in flames like snakes before dropping down dead. "Poor sods couldn't even bear a single fruit." He said as another treant fell to the ground.

With their roots stuck in place, these treants were just practice dummies for the soldiers at this point.

"There seems to be a lot of saplings in one place, it seems like a waste of resources." The soldier added after looking at the enjoyment the soldiers experienced while burning down the helpless treants. The gore nest had long been destroyed by Tarkov, so there was nothing to fear, and such a successful hunt was hard to come where none of their compatriots got injured.

"Not a waste considering their hiding spot. If not for these sirens to come out on their own, we wouldn't have been able to find them easily." Slade corrected as he signaled other field operatives to collect samples from the place. 'Well not on their own, the weak flesh attracted them.' It was the truth, if it was the experienced and strong soldiers or their drones that came for inspection, these beastial instincts of their's would have warned them of the threat and they would have remained in their hiding spot.

"Well I would still thank the gods for giving us those weak anomans, If things went on at the same pace as today, it won't be long before our reclamation project restarts once again." The field op hoped. The anoman's, even if weak, have shown their talent and usefulness in the field. The dream to once again claim that once belonged to them is not far.

A belief shared by many who were dissatisfied by the Citadel's order of stopping the reclamation Project. Leaders in Citadel chose sustainable development more than mindless expansion. They feared the problems that may occur if they spread out too wide and hence, developing the occupied land took precedence.

But as it usually happens in democracies, there will always be an opposition. And this opposition's belief was to eliminate the threats to the new society first and after it develop the community in peace.

This field op had subscribed to a similar belief.

"They aren't that weak and I am not talking about that unlucky spy." Slade specified in a worried tone. "Some of these anoman's possess bizarre abilities and I am not talking about the psychics, but they are more like special physiques."

"Physiques?... Like that weird assistant of the general?".

A figure came to the mind of the field op, a bulky figure in a tight suit and glasses.

"You mean to say, they are something like assistant Vanaras? Will they be as capable too?" The field op asked in horror, the anoman's already possessed immortality and if they also possessed strength, then they will be like an immortal plague that no one will want to offend.

"Well, we can't say so, at least not so early, but I have heard about four of these special anomans that rival the general's assistant. Among them is a guy who is sole responsible for the fast cleanup of sector 13." Slade gossiped, while contemplating the future.

The world was getting weirder by day.

"Humu! Those above should have given us one of those special anoman's instead of that spy."

*****

The loneliness, emptiness and immense pain were the personal hell of Girisia. It was a memory that he tries to hide in the deepest reaches of his memory, so that one day he can forget.

But the memory doesn't want Girisia to forget itself. Now in coma, Girisia was experiencing the same loneliness, emptiness and pain that he feared so much and like last time, it was unending.

'Am I still on the road?' A horrific thought, that was more horrific than his hell, formed in his mind. 'Was the redo…me reliving the past?' He wanted to cry, but couldn't, for he couldn't even feel his face.

'Please… Just end this. I just want to rest.' His mind could not handle any more of this mental anguish, all he desired was a release from life.

*poke

He felt something, something he couldn't describe, something brought back a sensation he thought he had forgotten.

*poke *poke

It was a long lost feeling that reminded him of an old memory from his past. A memory he had actually forgotten.

"Let me sleep more, sis." Girisia blurted these words out of instincts, in a barely audible voice.

"Who is your sister?" But the voice was not so low that Tara, who was poking at Girisia's face, wouldn't hear.

"Wha..?" Girisia woke up bewildered, confusion covered his bandaged face. "Where.. Am I?" He questioned with rapid breath looking around the tent in fear, but the pain stopped his movements in his tracks.

"You are in eastern barrack's patient ward." Tara explained while looking at the two soldiers that were keeping a watch on her and the patient.

Tarkov had previously planned to keep Girisia away from the Anomans in case some accident happens, but later changed his mind after he thought of the relationship Girisia had with the anomans. He thought, from their conversation, he may be able to pry some more information about Girisia, an idea that was very much appreciated by his superiors.

"Eastern barracks?...Wha… how?" His confusion soon turned into relief. It seems the chance to relive the past was not a lie, at least it doesn't seem to be that way.

What he experienced in his coma can only be attributed to a bad nightmare, he also understood that not all of it was false, the aches and pain has still not subsided with all the painkillers flooded in his system.

"If you don't mind, how many hours has it been?" He asked after getting his thoughts straight. 'It seemed, I somehow survived.' Girisia was glad, but not happy. His plan to add all his stat points in the constitution did save his life by giving him a transcendental level of constitution, but it was just that, a mere survival.

He could feel it, the phantom sensation in his hand, his brain were sending signals to his hands, but none of his hands responded, he just lifted his shoulder and made a small gasp. "Ah!" Some memories of him came back about how he lost both of his hands.

But just to be sure he tried lifting his right shoulder, which won't budge. This was the hand that faced the slap of the paw of a mature siren directly, not only his shoulder, but even his collar bone was shattered in the impact. The only reason he was even able to move during that event was through adrenaline.

'Guess, I was right to choose the mutant path.'

"It's been 8 hours since you were brought back to the barracks." The soldier informed him in a gruff voice which attracted Girisia's attention. "Oh yes, it seems I got exposed." He said without any shame, not it would be better to say, all the medeines in his system were interfering with his mind, making his thoughts slow and his instincts taking over.

This was eventually going to happen anyway, but previously, he only planned to expose himself after he had obtained some strength to defend himself with.

'But, plans never go the way you want them to be.' Girisia wondered. He wanted to mock himself now, he had gone through hell and came close to dying.Only to return back to his starting point but now exposed and with two less limbs on his body and lots of broken bones.

He turned to look at Tara, who acted worried over his health. And yes, it was only an "act".

'At least this backstabber survived, otherwise I would have wasted 370 of my experience for nothing." For someone of her rank who only had 1100 experience points, it was a huge amount to lose. Though the threat from other players will be bigger if Girisia died, so she was not as sad and didn't dare to voice out any indignation toward Girisia that fed her to the "wolves" and ran away.

She only cared to obtain her quest reward now.

"Oh the young lady from before, I am glad that you are safe, your kind really has the unique talent of revival." Girisia said, specifying the revival part in his voice with a heavier tone, not hiding his envy of it.

"Yes, it took me two hours to come back to the camp." She answered, not picking the hint of envy in Girisia's voice.

"About that, sorry for what I had to do to you during that event. I won't be surprised you will stop calling this old man an uncle from now on." In a pitiable look he apologized, he also seemed to be touched by her actions of poking his face that dragged him back from hell.

"No need to apologize Mr…. uncle Korus. I know what you did was out of necessity, I don't blame you for this." She answered, trying to not sound angry. She knows that the NPC in this game can pick upon the expression of players and form answers around that like the real world.

"No, what I did was shameful, being able to rebirth doesn't mean you don't feel pain." Girisia knew that they didn't after a certain pain threshold was crossed. "What I did was selfish and wrong." With each of his words, his eloquent speech started to come back.

"Don't say it like that Uncle, you are barely alive and lost both of your hands, while I still stand here without a scratch, you shouldn't blame yourself for actions like that." And as Girisia intended, Tara fell into his flow.

The drugs may be inhibiting his thoughts a bit, but he knew what was the right thing to do at the moment was.

Which was, to not make an enemy out of this player in front of him, as there was no one better than him how word travels fast among the players through forums and message boards.

"Oh, this?" girisia said lifting his stump that was attached to his shoulder up. "This is just karma for what I did to a helpful girl like you. And don't say you didn't lose anything, I know your kind loses something important with each death."

In reply, Tara wanted to say some more words, but she didn't get the chance.

"The least I can do is fulfill my promise to you, which may not redeem me of my horrible actions, but sadly that's all I could give you at the moment." Girisia said the magic words that not only made Tara wide eyed, but also attracted the ears of the two guards in his room.

*Ding

<<Quest: Protection Duty completed>>

Remark: Though you did a bad job at protection, your sacrifice became a vital reason for the VIPs survival. You have satisfied the NPC completely and have gained 100% quest recognition.

[Reward : +1.4k experience, as for the rest of the reward, please speak more to the NPC]

"100% quest recognition?" Her lips moved, but the soldier behind her couldn't understand her words.