A City Made Sorrow

The rain still pours, me and the girl got to shelter under a roof nearby. The bodies are piled next to us, i carried them one by one. Can't risk being exposed by the locals.

The girl fidgets around, her eyes look up at me as if asking for something. I stare back at her, looking for clue of what she wants then her thigh caughts my eyes, her pants is cut with blood dripping from it. I almost forgot about her wound.

"Right, use this to cover your lower body and open your pants" i say as i hand her my jacket. she gazes at me, mouth slightly open with blush on her face. Did i say something strange? "I need to see the wound to patch it up, can't do that with your pants on."

She finally nods after a snap, "T-turn around for a moment"

"Sure" The pants lowering down after i turn around, dead bodies pile up in front of me. Such a pity she has to witness this, honestly.

"You can turn around now" she says, i grab my bag and take a closer look at the wound on the thigh. Except from the thighs, other parts are covered by the jacket. I examine it.

"Not too deep, antiseptic and a bandage should do" I take an antiseptic and bandage out of the bag. Pour the antiseptic to the bandage and proceeds.

"Ack! That hurt" The girl exclaimed softly as i rub the wound with medicine.

"Just hold it in" I say, carrying with the process. Silence covers until the end, the wound is now covered in bandage. I put the antiseptic back in and sit next to her.

"what was that?" she asks, eyes curious as she taps the bandage applied on her.

"what was what?"

"your speed suddenly spiked up, that was nothing ordinary."

"Ah, it's called "Rain Up". A skill every Rainwalker have, ever heard of it?"

She waves her head, "I've only known Rainwalker from my dad and it was recently"

So she has never heard of Rainwalker before? That's weird.

"Where is your dad-"

"tell me more about Rainwalker, please, Mr." She cuts me off

I pause for a while, taking a glimpse of what's just a few meter to our left. " are you not afraid of those?"

"a little…" she looks away from them

Just a kid after all, trying to focus on something to shake away the feeling, aren't you?

"Well, you see. Rainwalker is people who has the ability to connect with rain, entering the rain dimension. They have their own power with names for themselves. It is a process called rain up, there are difference between using rain pouch and a pouring rain."

"rain pouch?"

I take out a pouch, cylinder-shaped and transparent, inside is rain water, waving all around as I shake the pouch.

"Just splash it on your head to activate rain up, the benefit when you use actual rain is significant though." I put it back in, "As you have seen, mine is speed, my type is called runner. Whereas there are other types: brawler with strength, they develop enormous strength upon rain up. Tracker, they can track people just like a radar, there's a limit to that though. Manipulator, they have the ability to control one's mind and body, sometimes both. Good thing they can only control one person at a time. Then there is overseer, they can oversee those that are connected with them, a process needs to be done to do that."

The girl smiles "sounds awesome"

"It sure is." I smile back, "what's your name, kid?"

"Luna"

"Nice name. I'm Ardon. Speaking of which, how is your father like?"

"He is a great guy, blue eyes and white skin. He used to take me on a walk to the park on weekend. he the major of this city." She frowns "I don't know why those people attack our home, we did nothing wrong."

"those people?"

"The same people you killed, they were there when a group confronted father in our home, many of them. Father told me to stay in my bedroom so I don't know what was it all about, all I remember was they were one of them. And they were looking at me quite often."

"Creeps huh?"

"After the conflict exploded, my father took me to refuge with some people he knows, one of them is my uncle. Said that he will get me out of here. My father went missing recently so I looked out for him even though they forbade me. I went by myself and ended up getting caught."

That ticks something in me, the whole conflict and his father being involved in the backscene. A group of people… I raise my eyebrows, this should be obvious already but let's just check it out.

"Luna, look here" I show her the picture on my phone, the clients. One of them is a figure with blue eyes "Is this your father?"

She's taken aback by it, eyes widen. For a moment, she looks at me and the picture back and forth, trying to find my relation with him. "He is." She says softly, half cautiously. Before spurting questions "Where is he?! Do you know where is he? Is he okay? What happened to him?" She pauses and gazes at me "Who are you?"

"I know no better than you, all there is to know is that your father hired me."

"What are you?"

"Mercenary."

Another shock "I thought you were-"

Someone stumbled on a brick, it appears he has been lurking around behind us. I whip my gun out, the quick bag blooms open as I aim. It's a boy, all wet from rain. He raises his hands upon seeing the gun, frightened.

"Don't shoot!" he yells

"It depends, what are you doing here?"

"I was just taking a shelter from the rain, was walking to my house from buying groceries, my mom told me to go as fast as possible as to keep me safe. It's a place a bit far from here but I have been going for a bit until the rain drops. nothing else, really!" he says

"Show me the groceries you've bought" I say but Luna pulls my arm down, taking my aim away

"It's ok, I know him." She says as she stares at each other "Eddie!, you can join us, it's ok! This Mr saved me."

"Luna?! Why are you here?" the boy asks

"It's a long story. Come here, sit with us." She waves her hand, though the boy stares horrified at the sight of the corpses. All those surprise is washed off by the grumble of his stomach. "Are you hungry?"

"No, it's ok Luna. I'm just-" he tries to prevent but Luna is already on her way out of the building, searching for something.

"Luna!" I follow her out just to find her picking up a fruit from the ground, the plant grows there, still small and young. Not only one but several of them. the fruit is similar to peach, round with pinkish orange color. I don't remember there was any here before. She comes back in and offer it to Eddie.

"You too, Ardon. Try it." She offers one to me

I examine it, sniffing the fruit and rotating it, cautious of poison. "Is this endemic to the region?"

"It usually just grows randomly when it rains. And there is nothing to be cautious of about it see?" she takes a bite

That's reassuring, Luna doesn't seem to lie. The boy, in the other hand, doesn't seem to like me a lot as he frequently stares everywhere in my direction, especially my gun. Oh and the bodies. Every reason to not trust me is all over the place, can't blame him. And you can't blame me as well for suspecting you, can you?. For a kid who randomly stumbled upon us, the information you gave me earlier was too detailed. May be his survival instinct, but I'll keep my guard up. Argh… the staring gets intense with him.

"Ardon?" Luna asks

"It's nothing." I start eating. Surprisingly, the fruit is so juicy that it almost flow out of my mouth, the texture is smooth and tender. Sweetness drains into my mouth as if a waterfall. So tasty that I don't realize my face is showing it.

"hehe, what's with the face, Ardon?" Luna says, pointing at me

"It's tasty, must feel pretty good for the local. They could just wander around when it rains and find these." I caught the boy staring. He looks away. "Eddie, right? How long have you been living here?"

He doesn't answer, only a swift glare.