Meeting others

Many thoughts crossed Rudras's mind as he sat on the edge of the Dead sea. He contemplated on all the choices available to him for a long time. Still, he couldn't come up with anything which can help him. His head was hurting after hearing all the things, that happened in the world. He dreamed of many fantasies like building his own forces, killing monsters, becoming stronger, but his dream shattered when he got to know the situation outside. Now he was even unsure about his family's health.

After gathering around his thoughts, Rudra asked-

"..... Sir, I am powerless now, there are many strong monsters out there, so how will I protect myself from them?"

" First stop calling me that, call me master and as for your protection, don't worry. My friend will protect you." the voice answered.

" Who?" Rudra let out a confused voice.

Rumble..... splash..... splash.....

Water on the surface of Dead sea trembled, as two dark violet coloured eyes became visible. Slowly, the figure in the sea came out, water fell down from its back as it hovered up in the air. A giant snake with black coloured scale appeared before Rudra.

' Gulp.'

" Zertaix." the voice muttered the giant snake's name.

Zertaix had a towering height of 100 ft long and 20 ft wide. The black scales on his body looked tougher than titanium. Zertaix lowered his head at eye contact level in front of Rudra. He stared deep into the eyes of Rudra.

Thump thump thump

' This feeling, it's the same as before.' Rudra thought.

Zertaix flickered his toung in front of Rudra, just barely touching his body. A strange light flashed in Zertaix eyes. But he soon backed down.

" So how's this for 'protection'." the voice spoke in an amusing tone.

Rudra's mouth was wide open.

" ..... Awesome." Rudra unconsciously muttered.

" Don't underestimate me boy, I am someone way beyond your wildest imagination. The legacy you have inherited is one of the most powerful legacy in the whole cosmos."

" Yes master. Let's go then, I need to reach US as fast as possible." Rudra replied nonchanantly which earned him a scoff from the hooded figure's voice.

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San Diego, US.

" I am hungry." Rudra muttered.

He was currently riding on the head of Zertaix, hope flickered in his eyes as he thought about meeting his family after such a long time. He took a look at himself through the surface of sea water. He looked like a scary ghost who lives in a jungle, as his hairs grew past his waist, his nails grew longer almost one feet long. He cut off his overgrown nails and hairs with the sharp wind mana, adjusted his appearance to look proper.

Because of Zertaix's presence, no monsters in the sea troubled them as they travelled such a long distance. He once caught a small fish in the sea to fill his stomach, but ended up sick. Fortunately, the voice taught him a method to sustain his body with the help of mana. After a one day and one night of riding, he neared an empty piece of land.

He jumped down on the land from Zertaix's head . Turning back, he ordered-

" Zertaix stay near the bridge near San Diego bay and wait for my call."

He turned around and headed straight to Phoenix city.

The whole city looked deserted, fallen buildings, trees grown between buildings, vines dangled from one top of a building to the tallest tree in that area. The whole area was a mixture of buildings and trees tangled up with each other.

Rudra coated his body with mana and ran fast toward the direction told by the voice. He also applied wind mana to his legs to increase his speed. The path was filled with many obstacles, but he made his way through them using his wind mana. He sometimes propelled himself, contracted, expanded wind mana to increase his speed. After travelling for an hour, he came across a Wallmart supercentre store.

He quickly got in and searched for food. He immediately found some edible packaged food placed in one of the columns. He immediately devoured anything that seemed edible. After having his fill, he took one of the backpacks displayed in one of the corner and filled it with all the remaining food and some daily necessity items. After finishing everything he headed out.

After six hours.

" How far is it?"

" Stop whining, it's close."

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Phoenix city, Arizona, US

A circular towering wall of 60 feet and 6 feet broad stood protecting the Phoenix city from the dangers of monsters. The wall has four entrances in four directions protected by giant artileries stationed on the wall. Phoenix city is the perfect location for base as the Gila river provides adequate drinkable water, Tonto national forest and Prescott national forest acts as an important material gathering place, monsters living in this forest can also be hunted as a source of food, their body parts can be used to forge weapons.

Rudra didn't encounter much difficulty entering the base. He didn't bother looking at the base, he quickly got in and searched for other 7 generals selected by Terra. He didn't have to wait long as one of the soldiers led him to a room in an underground facility.

There, he meet Neon who is the head of the base sitting on the big chair around a round table. Anna, Moon Ae Ri, Juliana, Han Lei, Andrew, Romario sitting on the other chair. Without wasting much time, he explained them everything that happened to him except the things that he discovered about Terra, things related to legacy and Zertaix.

After a long discussion, he quickly read all the names of people living in the base, but he didn't find the name of any of his family members. Sweat trickled down his face as he took another list of people who died while protecting the base, he quickly read through it, but he didn't find the name of his family members. He took the last remaining list of missing people and read through all the names, there he found a name which shook him to the core.

' Arjun Reddy. '

This was his brother's name, his whole body trembled, his legs became weak, the world around him turned darker, he slouched down on the ground as tears rolled down his eyes.

' NO no get it together you idiot, he is reported missing which means he might be alive and waiting for help.'

' But what about mom and dad?'

' NO, they must be alive Terra promised me to protect them.'

' First, I must find Arjun.'