Broken

"Teresa, you still there?" Shaun pulls her out of her thoughts once again.

"Yes. Sorry. I just don't know what else to do." Teresa answers.

"I know the feeling." Shaun bitterly chuckles.

"Tell you what. Just disassemble some things, from the tower. Something you can turn to a weapon that can conduct your electric powers. It's not like anyone needs your tower right now." He advises more.

"Thanks for the advice but I already have that." Teresa looks at a meter-long copper rod that is resting against a wall.

"Alright. You're smarter about it, it's your ability anyway … " Shaun sighs, and he gets quiet.

"Shaun?" Teresa asks in worry.

"Yeah, I'm still here. I just don't know what else to say. If only we knew each other better, we can talk more." Shaun chuckles.

"Oh… Heh, yeah. But I'm glad there's someone I know still alive." Teresa chuckles bitterly in return.

Even though the two are fellow technicians, they are acquainted at best. While they are the only ones left among the settlers, their distance prevents them from relying on each other for survival.

"Anyway. I think I have to go now, Teresa. I wish we see each other again, so I won't say goodbye." Shaun says.

His words move Teresa.

"I hope to see you again too." Teresa says, suppressing any signs that may betray her skepticism of her and Shaun's survival. Expressing it is the last thing that Shaun who still has a will to live, needs to hear.

"Teresa." Shaun sighs.

"Yeah?" Teresa perks up, noticing Shaun whispering.

"What's your plan?" Shaun asks.

"I don't know really. Maybe I'll head west to New Hope. Even though I'm nearer to Perryville, heading further east alone for me is suicide." Teresa quickly thinks up.

"Alright. I'm heading there too. Tell them what happened to the back-up they sent here... Anyway. I hope you make it." Shaun says.

"Hope I'll meet you there." Teresa can only reciprocate Shaun's optimism.

"GRRRRRRRR…." Teresa hears a growl coming from the other end.

"What was that?" She asks in worry.

"Yeah. I have to go now. There's this one big-ass monster coming my way." Shaun says a bit hurriedly.

"Be careful, Shaun." Teresa bids the man luck.

"Duh." Shaun playfully scoffs.

"Oh. Before I go. The best I can do for you is to put up a sign and direction, in case one of those hunter caravans pass through here. Hopefully, they'll be kind enough to find you." He adds.

"Thank you, Shaun. That's great." While glad of her acquaintance's good will, Teresa is not optimistic.

"Okay. I'll see you, Teresa." Shaun bids goodbye.

"I'll see you too, Shaun." Teresa returns as cheerful as possible.

With that, the call ends.

Teresa can only stare at the phone dazedly.

A few moments, she sighs and puts the receiver back to its holster.

She looks at the time, and sees that it is already 11 in the night, the worst possible time she can leave the tower.

Even if the sun is still up, she is still in no condition to go out foraging.

She can only plop herself back down on her sleeping mat.

She wants to fall asleep, but she cannot.

The thought of the deaths of her family and friends finally catches up to her, and soon, tears stream down her face and the heavy feeling that has been threatening to burst out of her finally releases itself through incessant sobbing.

---

Rellandus cannot help but pity Teresa.

Even though he did not understand the language that Teresa and the man he figures is named 'Shaun' were using during the two's phone conversation, he managed pick up some important bits of it.

Fortunately for him, Teresa thinks more in images than words, so with him invading her surface thoughts with his divine sense, he was able to piece together an image of Teresa's, and her fellow settlers' predicament.

Seeing that Teresa exhausted herself from crying and is now deep asleep, he quietly leaves the tower.

A few moments later, Rellandus finds himself at a concrete road, which he knew how to find due to one of Teresa's mental images.

He is impressed seeing such paved road in the middle of nowhere. Just from the road alone, he figures that this mortal realm he found himself in seems to be quite a bit of an advanced civilization.

His theory is further supported by the tower he found, the remote communication method that he witnessed Teresa use, and the many things he saw in Teresa's surface thoughts which included well-built and well-lit homes, metallic carriages that work without the help of beasts, some tablet-like objects that are used for visual entertainment, and fairly powerful ballistic and explosive weapons.

He also found out that humans of this realm are not as weak as he thought.

From Teresa's thoughts, he found out that Teresa has a very weak ability to generate and manipulate lightning energy and the man named 'Shaun' has the ability of camouflage which helped the man return to what he figured is Teresa's and Shaun's home community.

In addition to 'Shaun', there are many more people Rellandus saw in Teresa's thoughts, that are more powerful.

"Now…" Rellandus ponders for a moment which way he should go in the road.

He remembers that Teresa has a very strong feeling towards the west while speaking with Shaun, so he starts his journey westward.

Unlike his leisurely stroll, he decides to travel faster this time by flying high up in the sky, by swimming through the atmospheric Spiritual Energy.

He also turned back his divine sense on to make it easier for him to find the community he saw in Teresa's thoughts, and hopes to rescue Shaun.

A few minutes later, he finds himself in a settlement; the one he saw in Teresa's thoughts. What he found however is very different than what Teresa may remember.

The scattered metallic wires in the outer parts of the community are what he figures were once metallic wire fences that once enclosed the community.

The fallen wooden poles with broken wooden platforms attached to them are what he figures were once the community's watchtowers.

The only things that closely resemble what they were once was, are the few houses left standing unharmed.

*GRRRR*

*RRR*

He is interrupted from his thoughts hearing two beasts play fighting just below him.

The two beasts are only two of the seventy something feline beasts spread around the community.

He can feel that these beasts, while very inferior in power to the tusked beast and the snake beast he killed a few hours before, are many times more dangerous due to them being pack beasts.

With such number of beasts, and are moving as a group, it is no wonder to him that this small settlement, which he estimates to have only housed five or so hundred people at most, was destroyed.

He drops his curiosities about the place for now, looks to the direction of the center of the community, and finds a structure that is similar to the one where he found Teresa. The place he saw Teresa assumed Shaun was calling from.

Unfortunately, unlike Teresa's tower, this one he found is barely standing with half of its base broken.

Flying past the beasts sleeping around it, he enters the tower and immediately smells human blood.

Human blood which he figures was spilt not too long ago.

He soon finds a pool of blood on the floor, but no body laying on top of it, or even bloody trails from it. Even the smell of humanity in it was tainted by the saliva of one of the beasts nearby.

This can only mean one thing.

The person who the blood belonged to, is now in the stomach of one of the beasts around.

Just beside the pool of blood, he sees a box-like device that is just like the one that Teresa was using to talk with Shaun earlier.

"Ahh… Rest in peace, Shaun." He shakes his head in pity.

He figures that Shaun met his end shortly after the man's conversation with Teresa concluded.

From what he can surmise, it seems that Shaun spent his last moments consoling Teresa and has lied to Teresa seeking sanctuary from the neighboring community to the west.

After paying a silent respect to the fallen Shaun, Rellandus continues to look around.

He then sees what he recognizes is a map, pinned to a wall.

While he cannot understand the writing, he immediately understands the landmarks in it based on the fool-proof symbols used, and by connecting the direction and distance he traveled.

He sees that the nearest community from here, is towards the east, passing by the road he traveled, and is four times farther than Teresa's tower.

The second nearest community, which he figures Shaun claimed to Teresa he will go to, is towards the west, six times the distance between Teresa's tower and this community.

He gets the urge to immediately travel to the neighboring communities and takes down the map from the wall, folding it, and putting it in his pocket.

He stops for a moment however, deciding to drop the idea.

He does not know the language yet, much more the history and how the society works in this realm. He cannot even read the labels and the names of landmarks in the map.

He feels that it is better to learn some of this realm's human language, history, and society first to make it easier for him to blend in.

As for how to take his first step in getting to know this domain, he already has an obvious idea of who to ask.

Seeing two empty water jugs nearby, one that is like the ones found in Teresa's tower, he picks it up before making his way out of the broken structure to take a look at whatever else is left in the broken settlement.