Prologue: The Trip to Galish

His eyes moved around the soldiers sitting with him, heading to their impending doom. 

He was in a steamy, sweat smelling armored truck headed to the front-line of sector seven in Galish. 

Iralos and Horem had fallen to the hands of the creatures from the Beyond.

Cliff used to fight in Iralos, but it was overrun by beings with heads of black mist, decaying humanoid bodies that crawled like spiders. Eyes sprouted out of every part of these rotting corpses. They cried thick black tears that melted human skin. Cliff has lost three of his toes, thankfully these are the only parts missing since then.

"I heard the front lines er pretty brutal." said a red-headed man with a thick Horemian accent.

He scratched his red-beard a bit "Seeing The Reaching Arms everywhere. Taking women late at night and sacrificing them to the wretched beyond." Cliff's mind recalled the shape-shifting creatures that can morph by consuming blood. The Iralosians named them Blood-shifters as a more precise term.

"They left Horem fast..." The red-bearded man trailed off looking at Cliff then smirking. "what about ye? where er ye from?"

"I'm from Iralos." He glanced at the boy next to me. He couldn't be older than eighteen years old; covered from head to toe in robes and fabric blessed by priests for protection against the Ancients. Our hero couldn't see his face as he was looking to the other side "What about you kid?" He tried to spark one last conversation. After all, He might never see anyone from this vehicle again.

"You're trying to chat, for despair fills your heart to the brim." He turned to face me, his eyes were covered with black fabric, written on it with an unspeakable language. He flinched at the writings, it made him remember things.

"You should not falter from the Ancients. For Uris is protecting us with her powers."

The red headed man grunted. "The darn thing is an Ancient as well. Why the hell would I trust it?" 

"You must be ignorant to her birth. For I grew inside her womb." 

"What?" Cliff blinked a few times. "Did this kid say he's half an Ancient?" He heard about madmen capturing monsters and training them into fighting for them. But never did he meet someone who was a product of both.

"Ah, don't listen to him, he's probably pranking ye for a good laugh." laughed the red-bearded man.

"Yes, I'm half an Ancient, Cliff Amber." he smiled at me. "Uris spoke about you occasionally, and how I shall meet you one day."

He blinked a few times, still recovering from the reveal "Uris... knows me?"

"But of course, Cliff Amber. She knows many others too."

Cliff didn't remember mentioning his name to the boy. But back then he didn't know anything about Uris. 

"Cliff... I sense a strange energy from our location." he turned his head to face the window again.

"I also sense a great hatred from Liam McCarthy directed towards me." He spoke in a monotonous voice, it was a bit difficult to tell how he felt with the top half of his face covered.

The red-bearded man Liam, had an angry expression drawn on his face. "We get it. ye read minds, lad." he crossed his arms as he sighed in annoyance.

I turned back to him and he had a smile on.

"I'm but a mere servant to Uris. And an assistant to you in your battles. Cliff Amber." he turned his head to Liam  "Liam McCarthy, why do you detest my presence?" he blurted, not moving a finger.

Liam shook his head "I don't hate ye kid. I hate the Ancients." 

"I see." The kid went quiet and turned back to the window.

An odder bunch than the usual traumatized

men. Our hero wondered why they put the kid with us. shouldn't he be in a temple somewhere serving Uris?

"I was ordered by Uris to accompany the wielder of the Scarlet gun." He spoke suddenly.

"O-kay. Can you stop reading my mind, please? it's discomforting."

He turned his head to Cliff "It is not something I could control. It's as natural as hearing you talk. I can't always tell the difference between talks and thoughts" he turned to the window again.

"Wait, I heard about ye. The wielder who blasts the Ancients with his red guns." he kneeled to the front from his resting position, seemingly interested in knowing who he is.

"Yes, this babe has been with me since the start." I patted Ruby in her hostler.

"Can I see it?" Liam stretched his hand to me. I took it out and handed Ruby to him.

His eyes widened as he kept flipping her in his hands. "That's one long barrel. How strong is it?" 

Before Cliff could reply, The half ancient did it for him. "The power of a twenty dagger, and a small bomb." 

Liam rolled his eyes and gave a long sigh "The sooner we reach the front lines the better." 

He nodded. Cliff didn't like waiting, it always ended up in something exploding or monsters screeching from behind him.

"Hey, ye need someone to help ye, right? I've been fighting those bastards since my beard started growing!" he laughed at the end. he motioned for him to come closer then continued "Now I'm in my thirties, with twenty-two years experience with my trusty noon star." He grabbed the golden bat next to him pointing a thumb at his chest "Yer not gonna pass a stronger man to join yer party."

Cliff wasn't very sure, as he met the man only a few moments ago, and not everyone with a weapon can fight well. However, he did live to tell the tale after many had fallen. But first, he must see him fight. "We'll discuss it when we're in Galish, I gotta see how you fight first."

Liam pointed at the side of his head smirking "Ah, smart man. Sure, but ye better be prepared!" 

Few hours passed in silence, with the occasional small talk between Cliff and Liam. Our hero tried to have the halfling join them, Only for him to avoid them even further.

Soon enough, the truck stops. They've arrived at the Galish.

Streets once were thriving with life are now empty like a ghost town. Windows boarded up and doors locked up, the people were preparing for the next wave of Ancients' attack. they drove deep into the city and stopped at a pile of rocks and fallen buildings in the middle of the road.

The driver spoke for the first time "You're gonna go on foot from here. Truck can't pass this."

Cliff opened the door as the rest of the soldiers rushed out almost immediately, hungry for a breath of fresh air. 

Some were coughing, others were sighing and thanking God for leaving that cramped smelly box.

"Liam?" he felt a pat on his back assuring him "Right here, Cliff."

"The underground camp is to the north, we must proceed to meet the blade wielder." His monotonous voice startled them as usual, he stood right in front of Cliff. 

"How did you get here so fast?" he asked.

The boy shook his head and proceeded to point in the direction of the camp "Time is valuable, we must find her before the Ancients start their attacks."

Liam pouted as he secured his bat to his belt. "We just got here kid, relax."

What they didn't know was how he was an inch above ground level, floating. "Please hurry," he spoke before following the other soldiers.

Cliff shook his head and followed too, with Liam tagging along to what could be their last chance of survival.