Enter the observer

As the sun began to set over a vast desert, a seventeen year old soul that hadn't taken a step within its borders for ten years began a long journey. This soul, crafted by powers unbeknownst to him would be present for every major event to befall humanity in that desert and its surrounding territories. Dressed in a coat made from burlap and a hood with a mask made out of metal mesh. He powered on through the heat and winds towards the closest town which was still a good three to four hours away. As the sun slowly sunk below the horizon, he spotted a large vehicle in the distance. It was a common transporter, huge, thirteen feet high, and made to carry people and goods while easily gliding on the sand. Though the observer felt something was wrong with it, it wasn't moving at all, had it broken down? Or had the passengers become victims of a much worse fate? As he got closer, it became obvious it was the latter as he saw a pile of dead men at the back of the transporter. He ducked down behind a sand dune as he saw people moving on top of the transporter. Doubting there was anyone left alive, the observer was about to get moving to notify the town where he was heading of the raided transporter. But he didn't even get to move before he saw a line of women and children being led away from the transporter by two raiders.

Mary was nearly mentally broken from seeing the deaths of her loved ones. She was just silently walked among the group staring into space. She paid no attention to the crying women and children as the raiders pushed them along away from the fresh corpses of their loved one and towards a life of slavery. The only child to remain silent was young Jonathan, who stayed at the back of the group next to the raiders. Coincidentally, he was the only one to see what happened in the next few seconds. Unbeknownst to the raiders, a third figure popped up behind them. Grabbing the closest raider by the hair and decapitating him with a sharp blade before he could even make a sound. And before his body could even fall, in the same motion the unknown man quickly stabbed the second raider in the side of the throat. The sound of the two bodies hitting the ground was the only thing to alert the captured group who stopped in their tracks and turned to see what had happened and were shocked to see the two raiders dead. Looking at the bodies and the man that had saved them, they stayed still waiting for something to happen. And in response to their silence, Their unknown savior quickly wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to the closest adult. Mary silently took the note in her shaking hands and read it aloud for the group to hear.

'You're safe for now, run and I'll take care of the remaining raiders'

As she read the last word, she had tears streaming down her face as relief and sorrow washed over her. She nearly collapsed then and there, before stabilizing herself. The adults of the group finally realized that they were on the brink of escaping, they grabbed the confused and crying children before running off into the desert. Only one child stayed behind to watch as the observer ran towards the raider infested transporter

"Oi OI OI the slaves are getting away! Shoot the fucking cunts before they get to far!" a voice yelled out from the top of the transporter.

The raider at the front took aim, but before he could fire off a shot a mysterious figure shot up from below. Driving a blade into the man's throat before hopping over the railing with a revolver in his right hand. The remaining twelve raiders barely could react before the observer lunged at the nearest raider, quickly taking off his arm at the elbow with a quick swing and putting a bullet into his head. However the raiders couldn't even fight back as they saw the head of their comrade blow apart into small bloody chunks as soon as the bullet pierced his skull. It had stopped them in their tracks as they were frozen with fear and shock, unsure of what had just happened as the body slammed into the deck. The observer then turned his attention towards the raider on his left, shooting into his knee and blowing it off much like his comrades head and before he could even fall, his head followed suit. The observer slowly turned to the remaining confused raiders. His mesh mask hid any emotion that might have been displayed as he lashed out and started to kill each one the raiders in an elegant dance of brutality. Along with being nearly frozen with fear, the raiders couldn't land a single shot on their assailant who dodged the bullets as if they were just annoying flies. And in just eight seconds flat, only one of the raiders remained. Standing amongst the stolen cargo with a revolver aimed straight at his chest. Knowing that he couldn't escape the quick death that awaited him, he simply smiled at the observer before having a hole blasted through the left side of his chest. As the last one fell, the observer let out a sigh of disappointment. He reached into his pocket and took out a book and added fifteen marks to an empty page.

He soon began to gather up and toss the dead off of the transporter before hopping down himself. He took a few minutes to find some firm ground and started to dig the graves for the fifteen raiders and the innocent men they had killed. He would have to dig a total of twenty-five graves which would take him around five hours by himself. However he noticed someone behind him, turning around he spotted the young Jonathan. Who while not understanding why he was digging graves for the raiders who had taken his father's life, joined him in digging.

"No matter what deeds one has done in life, all are equal in death." The observer mumbled in response to the child confused look. His speech sounding more and more pained as he uttered each word before starting to violently cough. Although Jonathan could see something drip from the mask, in the dimly lit desert he couldn't make out what it was and instead just focused on digging.

Three long hours had passed and it had become completely dark now. They had successfully buried every one of the bodies in the deepest graves they could dig with their bare hands. Dirtied and tired the observer knocked his fists on top of each other, a sign of respect for opponents and those that had passed. The silent Johnathan hesitantly copied him paying respect to his father, before he let his head hang and began to silently cry for his late father. The observer placed his hand on Jonathan's head in a meager attempt to console the young boy. He looked forward and took the boys hand before leading him towards the town where he assumed the boy and family had come from.

As they walked through the silent desert, fatigue finally began to wash over Jonathan. He was just about to collapse when the observer squatted down in front of him, signalling for him to get on his back. Which Jonathan replied to by slowly climbing on his back and passing out. Secured and asleep, the observer jogged at a mild pace for around an hour in the dead of night. And when the observer finally started feeling tired, a light was shone on him. Three armed men stood next to a sand sled, guns trained on the observer unsure if he was friend or foe. In response to their silent caution, he turned and showed them the sleeping boy on his back. They slowly lowered their rifles and one spoke up.

"You're the man who helped those women and children get away right?" the man in the front asked.

Which the observer nodded in response to his question before starting to walk forward. But another guard stopped him before he could pass.

"What happened to the raiders on the transporter? The ladies said they heard shots fired. Did they take the transporter?" he asked.

The observer set down Jonathan and pulled out a notebook which he began to write in. He took a minute to write down the events of what had happened before handing the paper to the man. And as he read it, became confused.

"You.. didn't need to bury the bodies you know? But, thanks for taking care of the raiders I guess?" the guard said, unsure of how to properly respond to the note.

He passed the guards and kept walking in the direction of the town. The guards, still confused, decided to drop it and proceeded to go ahead and retrieve the transporter. After another two hours of walking, the observer finally caught sight of the town. Fucking finally, my feet hurt like hell were the only thoughts to pass through the observers head as he picked up his pace. Waiting at the entrance to the town was a tired and emotionally drained Mary. Who when she saw the observer carrying Jonathan, seemed to get a second wind and broke out in a sprint towards them. Knowing she was waiting for the boy on his back he held Jonathan in his arms for her. Mary grabbed the sleeping boy, holding him close to her chest, and started crying, more so from relief than from anguish before falling onto her knees. A note was silently placed in front of her as the observer passed them. The note read 'the bodies of your loved ones are buried, may their souls find peace in their rest'. Even though the reality of what had happened set in a few hours prior, it was still hard for her to accept the loss of her family. Mary stood up a bit after she read the note, collecting herself and carrying Jonathan back into their hometown. As they walked through the sleeping town, Mary caught up with the observer before asking him a question.

"The remaining members of our family want to know.. Who are you? What's your name?" she asked. The observer simply formed and x with his fingers, which confused Mary for a second.

"You don't have a name? Well.. this is my cousin Jonathan, and I'm Mary Onteth." she then continued on talking about her family and their business.

While the observer listened to her talk. It became apparent she was just using small talk to distance herself from the harsh emotions she had welled up inside her. As she kept talking about her family, the observer pulled out his book and wrote a short sentence before handing it to her. She stopped talking and with a confused look, read what he wrote. 'You're hurt, do you wish to escape the violence of this world and begin to heal yourself?' It sounded like a scam but she slowly nodded, knowing that she needed to deal with what she was feeling instead of just pushing them away. He began to write more as they stopped walking, and after a minute of writing he handed it back to her. It read 'You were going to the border town of the north shelf community right? That's where I came from, go past the town until you reach the actual northern shelf community and show them this, they'll treat you good.' She looked up and he held out a bullet with weird carvings on it, and then pointed to some writing she missed. 'P.s. be careful with this cause if it breaks it'll explode.' he tore the paper out of the book and handed it and the bullet to her, which she very cautiously accepted. Unsure if she should be carrying an explosive while carrying a sleeping child. But before she could say that, the observer had already walked off in search of an inn to stay at. Leaving her with a plethora of questions but no answers.

After ten minutes of searching, he finally found an inn that was open. Walking in showed him that it function as a bar as well. There were only a few drunkards at the bar however and he went to go and find an employee. An elderly overweight man stood behind the counter barely awake. Someone tapped him on the shoulder however, making him jump before seeing the observer waiting for assistance.

"O-oh sorry, I'm a bit tired. Slow night you know? So what is it that you need sir? A room, drink, or a lady?" the old man asked in a cheery voice, which kind of shook the observer. Who held up one finger.

"Ah can't speak young man? No worries, I'm guessing you want a room right?" he asked. The observer nodded and pulled out 50 meyan and placed it on the counter.

"Alright so one night in room 3. Thank you for your patronage sir." the old man handed him the key and went to go sit down.

The observer hurried upstairs and found room 3 walking on in gave sight to a small but comfy looking room. Although the observer didn't care too much about the decor and fell down onto the bed. Fuck me man, ten hours of straight walking makes me wanna die, i really need to get a sand sled, he thought to himself. He slowly undressed on the bed before crawling under the covers. Feeling a heavy drowsiness fall over him, he reached over to the radio and turned it on for some white noise as he slowly fell asleep.

As morning came, a crowd of townspeople angered by the events of last night filled the town square Calling for the extermination of the remaining raiders in the surrounding area. The town guard was trying to calm down the angry mob before the head guard spoke up, his voice booming over the shouts of the people.

"Attention! Citizens do not fret, we fully intend to take care of the raider situation. We know how important the Onteth family was to this town and we know your anger. However, we are currently short on men. So we need volunteers to help us, lest we leave our town undefended. We'll need a total of 15 volunteers to be able to mobilize a hunting team and take out the gang responsible for the slaughter of the Onteth men. Come to our offices if you wish to volunteer, the deadline to volunteer is 5 pm" The head guard finished his speech before heading away from the crowd which had quieted down.

The crowd started to disperse, discussing who would be volunteering for the hunting team. The head guard and two lieutenants started making their way towards a local inn. The innkeeper was busy cleaning up the bar when the head guard entered.

"Ah Masair! What brings you by the old inn?" the innkeeper asked as he approached the head guard.

"Alex, I heard that a man in a mesh mask stayed the night here. I'd like to meet him if that's possible." the head guard asked as he looked around the old but cozy inn.

"Sure sure, as long as you don't bother the other residents. He's in room 3" The innkeeper said before going back to cleaning up the bar.

The observer was busy showering when he heard someone knocking at his door. He hopped out of the shower and dried off partially before going to answer the door. The head guard wasn't expecting a damp naked man to answer the door but that's what he got. A good minute of awkward silence passed between the guards and the observer before the head guard reached forward and closed the door.

"Please. For the love of god put on clothes. We have urgent matters that we need to discuss." The observer heard through the door.

He shrugged and went to go get dressed, a good few minutes later he opened the door. Now in his usual attire. Handing the head guard a note, 'So what do you want to discuss?' was written on the note.

"It's regarding the happenings of last night. I assume you're the man who saved the onteth women and children right?" The head guard asked, unsure if the man who had just answered the door naked was really the Onteths' savior.

The observer nodded, earning a sigh from the head guard.

"Well no matter. Meet us down in the bar, we have something important to ask of you" the head guard stated before turning away and hurrying from the room, eager to get the image of a naked man out of his head.

A few minutes passed and the observer descended the stairs, spotting the three guards at a table patiently waiting for him. He approached them and sat down putting a note down on the table. 'What do you need?'.

"You see, the townspeople are calling for us to hunt down the raiding gang responsible for last night's slaughter. There should be thirty or so raiders remaining after the ones that you killed. But the issue is, we're low on men and to top that off even if we have volunteers. They most likely don't stand a chance against hardened raiders. So after hearing of what you're capable of from young Jonathan, we figured you were the best person to ask for help on the hunt. So we request that you join us, you will be paid for your work as well if that's an issue" The head guard looked to the observer with a pleading gaze.

The observer shrugged and started writing before passing the note to him. 'Sure why not, but there are a few things I need however for when this is over. Will you listen to my request?'. The head guard nodded and spoke up.

"Name what you want, you do deserve a reward for last night as well. As long as it's not too ridiculous we will fulfill it. However I do have a question, judging from your appearance. I assume you are of true blood are you not? I thought people of your tribe rarely interact with the other inhabitants of the desert." He asked, genuinely curious before being passed a note with a short and simple sentence written on it.

'I am of mixed blood, I belong to no tribe as none will accept me.'

"I.. I see, sorry for prying into personal issu-" Before the head guard could finish his apology, he had another note shoved in his face.

The note had a short list of items and thirteen-hundred meyan written on it.

"This is everything you want? So be it, by the time you return from the hunt your request will be fulfilled. We will be leaving in the morning" The head guard stood up and put out his hand. Which the observer responded to by shaking his hand.

"Oh I do believe I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the head of the town guard Masair" he said proudly before waiting for a response from the observer.

The observer started writing once again before handing it to Masair. 'I have no name' had been written on the note, and when the head guard finished reading it and looked up the observer was already heading for his room to prepare for the hunt. The guards still had a few questions but simply shrugged them off and departed. The door to the observers room swung open as he hurried inside. He found a large bowl and filled it with water before putting his bullet pouch, a carving knife, and the bowl on a table. He sat down and started making intricate carvings on each of the bullets. The carvings were the foundation for what made his bullets explosive, but they were only one part of a three part process. The bullets were hollow points, made to break apart as soon as they entered the body. The carvings dictated that the reaction would only occur if the bullet was broken apart and that the reaction would be an explosion. After carving up seven bullets he dropped them into the water, the second part of the process. The third was the most important however because it's what gave the markings power to activate. The observer pulled up his sleeve and made a deep cut on his arm, letting the blood pour into the water. Bubbles started to come from the markings signalling that they had been powered on, however more blood needed to be given to make the reaction stronger. So the observer sat there, watching the blood drip into the bowl for a few minutes. He knew how much blood he needed to give for the strong reaction he was looking for. He repeated this process for the remaining thirty bullets in his pouch before being sufficiently drained of blood.

Feeling light headed and tired he got a bandage and started tending to his wound. Having given around twenty-five percent of his blood for the process, he needed to replenish the fluids he lost. Gathering five large glasses of water, he pulled off the mask and got to chugging the water. Along with water he needed food to help build up the energy he lost from the blood loss. laying down, he sent a message down to the Innkeeper via pressing a button for room service near his bed. A few minutes had passed and he heard a knock at the door, He knocked on the table next to his bed hoping whoever was at the door would understand. And she did, The innkeeper's daughter slowly entered with a food menu. But she was taken aback by the bowl filled with blood and bullets, and the rather weak looking man on the bed.

"I… don't understand what's going on here and I'm not prepared to take care of this so I'll be back with a doctor and since you ordered food I'll be back with a lot of it, please don't die while I'm gone." The innkeeper's daughter said before hurrying out of the room.

The observer wanted to stop her so he could order specific food but he couldn't speak up, He was really craving ham. So he shrugged, laid back, drinking his water, and waiting for his food. A few minutes later the innkeeper's daughter burst into the room with a cart completely covered in food pushing it next to the observers bed she sighed.

"The doctor will be here in a few minutes, in the meantime fathe-er the manager told me to keep watch over you until she gets here. And while we wait, I have some questions regarding your situation." she said before sitting on the bed.

"First off I assume this is self inflicted right? And if it is then.. Why?" she asked, really wanting an answer.

Which the observer responded to by writing down a short explanation of why he lost so much blood, handing the note to her before starting to devour the food before him focusing mainly on the ham sandwiches.

"... ex.. Exploding bullets? Really?" she was in disbelief, looking at the observer who had a mouth full of food with a confused look.

"I-I had a feeling I wouldn't understand so I'll just wait in silence till the doctor gets here." She sighed and started rubbing her temples, trying to understand the situation despite what she said.

The observer practically inhaled the food, without giving a passing thought to the cost of a cart full of food. The daughter not only put off by the severe self inflicted wound and bowl full of blood, but now the barbaric way the man was eating simply turned her gaze to the clock. After a good ten minutes passed, a woman in her late fifties knocked on the door. The daughter breathed a sigh of relief, getting up to greet the doctor.

". So according to the call the patient had a self inflicted wound and major blood loss? Was this a failed suicide?" Stryfe said looking down at the paper in her hands.

"You'd think but he doesn't look like he was trying to kill himself. So I'm at a loss, he gave some bizarre story about making carvings on bullets and using blood to make them explode" the daughter said in a confused tone.

The doctor looked up with a shocked expression, finally seeing the blood and bullet filled bowl and the man on the bed.

"I think I know what's going on here. You needn't worry, so let me tend to the patient in privacy " the doctor said and the daughter sighed in relief before hurrying out of the room.

"So. you're a fellow north shelf member then?" the doctor said setting her bag on the bed.

The words caught the observer's attention, he set down his food and nodded.

"Good then you'll be happy to know I'm from the stryfe clan that deals primarily with medical markings." she smiled pulling out thick bandages with light carvings on them.

The observer realized that he was an idiot for not recognizing the name stryfe right away and smiled, glad that he wouldn't have to wait for the wound to heal. The doctor grabbed a glass full of water and dipped the bandage in it. Tying it around his wrist she applied some pressure and stepped back, satisfied with her seemingly quick word. He started feeling a nice warmth envelop the area the bandage was wrapped around and he sat back, enjoying the comforting feeling while growing tired as his energy was drained to boost his healing.

"You know.. I think I remember you." doctor Stryfe said.

"Yeah yeah, you're the kid they brought into the community around ten years ago right? Caused a big fuss since if I'm correct, you're the little shit that kept stealing food from us." she smirked, crossing her arms.

The observer stiffened up and slowly nodded. The doctor laughed and sat down on the bed.

"Yeah although I don't remember you well, since I left a month after your arrival. But the thing I do remember is that you acted like an animal basically, the guards were so confused on how they were gonna domesticate you." she laughed again and took a drink from her bag.

The observer became more and more embarrassed as she spoke, not wanting to relive those old memories. Instead he tried changing the subject and passed her a note asking her why she left the community.

"Ah well, you see with all the bad news coming in from the main desert of refugees and bandits and invading countries. I thought it would be nice to go out and help those in need instead of staying where I couldn't do anything." She sighed, chugging down her drink.

"I'm guessing you wanted to return to the desert that once was your home?" She asked looking towards the observer who nodded, growing sleepier and sleepier.

"Well I'll leave you a few bandages from one north self member to another. The trigger is getting them wet." She said and hopped off the bed and grabbing her bag, leaving six bandages behind before heading out of the room.

The observer felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, so he laid down and pulled the covers over him before quickly passing out. Even though it was only the afternoon. After practically putting himself in a food coma and having all his energy drained to heal his wound, the observer ended up sleeping for a long fifteen hours. His heavy eyelids slowly peeled apart and he glanced at the clock next to the bed, it read four pm. He sighed and sat up not to excited about the job that had to be done today. The food cart was gone and his clothes were neatly folded on the chair. Assuming the innkeeper's daughter had come in and taken care of that, he would be sure to tip her when he next saw her. He got out of bed and started taking care of his morning routines. After showering and getting dressed he began loading his speed loaders with his freshly carved bullets. Storing them in a pouch on his belt, he made his way down to the bar intending to get a nice breakfast in before the day truly began. The bar was practically empty besides the innkeeper. Does this man ever sleep? The observer asked himself before shrugging and sitting down at the bar.

"Hey there mister, you sure gave us a good scare with the whole nearly bleeding out incident." the innkeeper chuckled as he went behind the bar.

"So what can I get you to drink?" He asked.

The observer slid him a note which simply read 'coffee.' The innkeeper nodded and started brewing some fresh coffee. After which he slid a cup filled with black coffee down to the observer.

"You should be glad that the head guard is going to cover all your expenses due to you saving the remaining onteths." the innkeeper said which caused the observer to choke on his drink, not realizing he didn't think of the cost of a whole cart of food.

He shakily wrote a note asking how much all of this was going to cost.

"Oh well, combining the doctor visit, the food and the two nights. Around twenty-five hundred meyan, that was some quality food we gave you" the innkeeper said, which made the observer really relieved that the head guard was covering his expenses.

"So since you're not from here, you're probably confused as to why everyone is so happy the onteth family wasn't completely wiped out?" he asked which gained a nod from the observer.

"Well you see, this town and its people owe a lot to the onteths. Since they were the family that brought life to a small dying town. You see they're master craftsman when it comes to anything to do with sewing. Since their work was so good it became popular enough to bring in a lot of people here which made other businesses boom and that's the short version. They were gonna set up another shop on the border town of the north shelf community but, you know what happened.." He sighed, lamenting the loss of the onteth men.

He continued on talking for another hour or so about the onteth family and what type of people they were. Along with talking about himself, his daughter Jane and their hotel. It was clear that he was just happy to talk to someone who listened and wasn't drunk. although the observer didn't have much of a choice considering he literally couldn't speak up to excuse himself. He looked up and saw the clock hit five, knocking on the bar to interrupt the rambling old man he pointed at the clock then the door signalling he had to go.

"Alright good luck mister, come back anytime!" He said to the observer who was hurrying out the door, glad to finally escape.

Running down the main street, he saw a large crowd of men gathered in front of the guard station. Going past them, he saw the head guard talking to his two lieutenants who were preparing him to give a speech to the crowd. What is all this? The observer thought to himself. Heading up to the head guard he handed him a note asking what was with the big crowd.

"They're the volunteers and guards coming on todays' hunt." the head guard said.

The observer, was shocked to say the least. Looking at the crowd he could tell there was at least thirty or more people here, along with people celebrating this gathering as if it was some joyous occasion. Which led the observer to hand the head guard a very simple not.

'Are you, an idiot?'

"Ex-excuse me?" The head guard said, deeply offended.

'You realize that the bandits that you're going to hunt are probably keeping an eye on this place right? So basically shouting "we're coming to kill you!" isn't such a good idea?' The new note said.

The observer hoped and prayed that he would understand.

"Listen I understand your worry my good man but you're good at fighting you have no need to think about this, leave that to me." the head guard said with a sincere smile.

He didn't.

"Now if you'll excuse me I have to give a speech." He shrugged off the observer and started walking towards the crowd.

As he was about to address the crowd, a large, most likely eight feet tall figure appeared at the edge of the crowd. The presence of this tall cloaked man drew the attention of everyone there. He took off his hooded cloak, letting them see his face. A large part of his skull just seemed to be missing or caved in. Along with that, his canines were growing upwards and outwards, curving back towards the missing part of his skull. As his robe hit the ground the crowd caught sight of the massive wooden club in his hand. Before anyone could speak up to ask who the man was, he raised the club above his head and kept it there. And then, three loud explosions rang out through the town almost like a signal and the monster swung his club at the crowd.

A wave of blood washed over the crowd as five broken bodies were flung up and away from them. The wooden club was now covered in blood and skin, it's owner roaring at the crowd as previously hidden assailants started firing down on the crowd from the upper floors of streetside buildings. The lucky ones were able to get behind cover and return fire as a loud firefight started. The two lieutenants shielded the head guard from fire.

"My god! I can't believe that these savages would attack us first!" Masair said in complete genuine shock as he watched the carnage unfold.

"You! We need your help more than ever now." Masair said as he turned to the observer.

"If you can take care of the attackers in the buildings, we can handle this beast!" He shouted over the sound of gunshots, excitedly waiting for the observer to help.

The observer sighed and shrugged, before shooting off across the street towards the occupied buildings. Sprinting through the first floor store he leapt up the stairs and bounded off the wall, landing on the railing upstairs. And he was faced with a man pointing a shotgun at him from five feet away. From the man's point of view, the observer practically vanished as he pulled the trigger. The next thing he saw however was his headless body firing the shotgun and being flung back from the recoil and the observer standing behind it with a bloody knife. The observer dodged the falling body and jumped to the next building which had two attackers on the balcony firing down on the guards. The farthest attacker took notice of their guest but before he could fire off a shot, He had a chair flung at his face.

As he was recoiling from having his nose broken by a flying chair, his partner was busy having a knife pushed through his neck. And before he could recover he was met two blindingly fast punches to his temples before having his jaw shattered by a knee. Resulting in him flying out of a window and into the alleyway below. The observer jumped to the neighboring building, and as he flew through the open window he barely dodged a bullet aimed straight at him. His attacker was cocking his rifle which gave the observer a brief window. Jumping straight up and bouncing from the ceiling, delivering a devastating downwards kick the bandits head. The bandit fell to his knees, his vision blurry unable to see the knife plunging into his chest. As the final attacker fell the observer hurried over to the balcony to see if the guards had taken care of the monster.

They hadn't, the only one left alive was masair, who was crawling away from the beast with a broken leg. The observer hopped down from the second floor and as he landed pain shot through his chest, he was approaching his limit. The beast raised his club about to strike down the head guard as four shots rang out. The beast barely blocked the incoming bullets with his club. But because he stopped them instead of dodging, it led to his club blowing apart sending wooden splinters flying everywhere. He then saw his new opponent, the observer, a deafening roar rang out as the beast charged forward. The observer shot towards the beast, landing a spinning kick on the beast's temple stunning it. When he hit the ground he fired some more shots at the beast who promptly blocked it with his arm, which resulted in large chunks being blown out of his left arm. The beast roared once more and threw his fist at the observer who dodged it.

The beasts fist hit the ground shattering it and creating a rather large hole. He then swung at the observer he jumped and leaped off the beasts extended arm. He aimed his gun at the beasts right eye and fired, the beast started to turn his head but the response was too late. The monsters eye was blown apart and the beast stumbled back clutching his wounded face. The observer landed on the shoulder of the beast and kicked him hard in the throat. The beast tried to grab the pest on his shoulder but the observer jumped up and fired four more shots into his right arm, disabling it as well. The beast fell onto his back writhing in pain as the observer landed on him. The observer looked down at the pitiful creature and pushed the barrels of his guns into the beasts open mouth. The monster gave one final roar before the observer emptied his remaining shots into the creature, blasting the head into a large cloud of red mist.

The pain in the observers chest and throat became unbearable and he started violently coughing. He collapsed onto his knees coughing out blood, the blood stuffing up his mesh mask. He fell down fully gasping for air desperately as he slowly lost consciousness. He awoke and shot up from his bed in the hotel. Looking around frantically he saw the doctor sitting by his bedside.

"You're finally awake, welcome back to the realm of the living" She said with a weak smile.

"You're lucky I was still in town, why didn't you tell me about your destroyed larynx? No wonder can't talk. How long has it been like this?" She said not giving the observer anytime to ask any questions of his own.

'My larynx was crushed when I was five if I'm remembering correctly, also what happened after I passed out' the note said.

"Five huh? No wonder it's so fucked up you can't even breathe right with it like that. Also the remaining guards were able to stop the other attacks on the town thankfully but the total death count is around sixty right now. Including the raiders. A full has passed and the townspeople are in bad shape" she said as the observer got up and started getting dressed.

'The head guard okay?' the note said.

"He's fine but he's facing a lot of backlash from the townspeople" She said with a sigh.

"Well you seem to be doing okay I got other patients to take care of, also the innkeepers out right now, his daughter was one of the people hurt in the attacks." She said before hurrying out the door.

He grabbed his notebook and added sixty more marks to the page making a total of seventy-five marks. He then gathered his few possessions and headed out the door. He went down to the bar which was oddly silent and empty. As he went out onto the street, the town almost seemed abandoned with how quiet everything was. He started making his way towards the guard station. When he arrived while the bodies were gone, one could tell that a fight broke out here, bullet casings and dried blood stained the street. He pushed open the door to the station and saw a depressed looking receptionist with her head resting on the table. Instead of disturbing her, he snuck past her and went upstairs. Pushing open the door to the head guards office he was met with a stressed masair sitting at his desk dealing with tons of paperwork.

"What are you here for? To tell me you were fucking right?!" Masair snapped as soon as he saw the observer.

'I'm here for the promised payment.' the note handed to masair said.

"..You fucking selfish natives.. You can find your payment at the south gate, there's a working sand sled with four thousand meyan and ammo along with food and water. Everything you asked for. Now get out of my town you shithead." Masair said with a sharp tone.

The observer was relatively unfazed by his remarks and waved goodbye as he hurried out of the station. He ran throughout the quiet town towards the southern gate. He felt a sense of relief wash over him as he spotted his new sand sled, happy that he no longer had to walk across the scorching desert. The sand sled was equipped with tracks as it's main way to move and sails and air jets as it's secondary. Big enough to fit a small bed and plenty of provisions, it was perfect for travel across a large desert. He hopped in and found a folded map on his seat, he looked at it and saw a point marked at a southern point far away from the town with a written 'go here' next to it. At least a two day drive with a sand sled. He started up the engine and started driving towards the marked point on his map, unknowing that it was the border to the topukan empire.