Doren woke up after passing out against his fight with Waterloo. what seemed like he slept for hours, however was only a couple minutes. He looked around at the ruins of the battlefield. Some of the guards, those that were alive, started wiggling. He had to get out of there before they woke up and tried taking him.
Struggling to get to his feet, his legs wobbled and his knees wouldn't extend. "Come on," he whispered to himself, "stand up stupid legs." When he finally was able to start walking, Katrina and Meko showed themselves.
"That was amazing, young man." Meko spoke proudly to him. Doren motioned a thumbs up, but had to concentrate on staying on his feet rather than talking. Meko walked over to him and let him rest against his shoulder. "We do need to get out of here. The road to Fort Harft is long."
They made it back to the house outside of Mertin where they would rest up for the night. In the morning They would have to go on the outside of Mertin and head south to Mixento. Once there they had to get to Ilaidis and board a ferry over to Shifton, just on the other side of the Shifta Straight. After that they would have to traverse the mountains and reach Fort Harft.
Doren had slept from the time he got back to the house until the early morning. Feeling well rested, the only thing he showed from the fight were cuts and bruises. There was no fatigue from the day before, his muscles didn't ache, and his spirit was high once again.
Sitting up as the two suns were begining to show through the windows, Doren let out a yawn and stretched. He set his bare feet on the cold wood floor and walked over to Meko and Katrina. They had been discussing the plan after they got Doren to Fort Harft.
"Good morning, Doren." Meko waves for him to come sit with them at the table. A fresh, hot cup of coffee was waiting for him.
"Good morning, you two." he spun his chair around and straddled the back. He reached over to the clumped sugar on the tabletop and stirred it into his black coffee. "So what the plan?" he asked confidently, but his stomach let out a hellish growl.
"Well," Meko said snickering, "we need to go around Mertin and get to Mixento as quick as possible. Find some food and rest up before we get going to Ilaidis." Meko sipped his coffee and set it on the table.
After a few awkward moments of silence, Katrina looked at Doren. "Thank you for what you did back there." she said with a light blush across her cheeks. "You do know you'll probably have a bounty now though... right?"
Doren shrugged and took out the bounties he had collected from the town hall building. "Not like my old man was any better." he held up Sophron's bounty.
"Espardat? I thought you said your last name was Mercer?" Meko questioned, staring at the poster.
"It is. Doren Sin Mercer." Doren replied. He crossed his legs in the chair and pointed to Sophron. "I have no idea what or where Espardat comes from."
Katrina grinned. "They're the main family from Overde Island. They come from Biovlakia and are known as the Mad Men Family." she took a drink of her lukewarm coffee. "They like to do experiments on people. They are who discovered Techent Elements some 1500 years ago."
Now clueless, Doren asked, "Techent Elements?"
Meko then butted in, "If he is your father and he never taught you what a Techent is... I feel sorry for you. That's one of the first things you learn in school besides the alphabet." Meko stood up. "Some are born with the ability to bend plant life, animals, even able to morph theirs and others bodies. They do these by using two elements together. It's always a Natent and a Hument element. They're more common nowadays than they used to be."
Doren took it all in. He looked down at his hands and wondered what would happen after he learned all the elements. Whether he would be able to mix them and how powerful he could actually end up being. Even if he only knew one, he already knew his training would be rigorous. Maybe even more so than his father's.
Meko slapped the top of the table. "We need to be going. The trip to Mixento will be long and who knows who we will run into." he said.
The three gathered their things. Doren had his bag and Katrina had the folder of girls. Meko had nothing except his blade. However, his blade couldn't be found. When he asked Doren about it, Doren explained that it was dropped in his fight against Waterloo. Visibly frustrated, but understanding, Meko nodded and they left.
Going around Mertin was difficult. After all the commotion, it was hard to go over the trail ways Guards were littered everywhere, bearing different crest's from the surrounding cities around Mertin. The three decided to take a further route to avoid any of the guards. Once they were finally out of Mertin's boundaries, they started heading south, cutting through the farm fields.
Almost a straight shot to Mixento now, it would take them about six hours to reach the next town. Always keeping their guard, the three didn't move off there was another person on the trail. As more of a precautionary measure. They had made it to the halfway point as the suns began to set. Drastically behind of schedule, they stopped at an inn.
After ordering food, the atmosphere had seemed to change. The other customers had gotten quiet. It felt like eyes were being drawn to them.
Their food had finally came to them. They ate in silence as the prying eyes of the surrounding inhabitants kept sneaking glances. Doren had reached into his bag and from behind him, he heard a chair get pushed out. Taking a wallet out , he placed a couple coins down for their meal.
They all got up and left. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut through it with a knife. After they were out of the restaurant, they all brought out a sigh of relief.
"I felt that they all wanted to kill us." Doren said.
Meko nodded. "Yeah, I think the word got out. You're a wanted criminal after only a day." He walked over to a board in front of the building and looked at each of the bounty posters. None of them contained Doren, but there was a news article.
Katrina grabbed the article and read it over. "They do say that word travels fast, but this is ridiculous. The only names in there are Waterloo's and Ahim Killioo. The Master." she said.
With a sigh Meko leaned against the building. "I guess we should be going. It's still about six hours to get to Mixento. And that's even if we make it to sundown. Traveling at night is dangerous after all. Especially around here."
They continued their journey up until they were just an hour away. Standing on top of the hills, Mixento was just in view. Doren's eyes widened at the sight of such a big city. Being twice the size of Mertin and Theedres combined, Doren got excited and started running for the city.
Meko and Katrina laughed and followed behind him. They ran through the grassy meadow, over flowers spread across the land. As they drew closer and closer to the city gates, a shadow of a figure galloped out from nowhere and tackled him to the ground. The two following stopped dead in their tracks.
"Doren!" Katrina yelled. She readied her wires and threw them around the field. Keeping her eyes on whatever might move, the only thing that made it move were the creatures around. It was as if they just disappeared.
Seconds passed. Minutes even. The two were in a deadlock stare with the open air. The only thing moving were the plant life and animals. Out of the corner of his eye, Meko saw something big moving. He turned towards the figure and rushed in.
As he got closer, almost gliding across Katrina's strings, he flips a knife in his hands. He brought it back. The figure looked at him, and a blanket of darkness jumped out at Meko. He stomped his foot into the ground, catching one of the strings. He tripped over it and fell to the ground as the darkness engulfed him.
"No! Meko!" Katrina screamed. She lost control of the string. Just then, three shadows popped out of the ground. "No!" she screamed again, throwing down a grenade. Closing her eyes, the grenade exploded, engulfing the whole area in a bright light.
She took off running towards Mixento. In a dead sprint, she kept going and didn't look back. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. What on earth just happened? Everything was just fine and now all of a sudden, they were just gone. No matter what, she had to get to safety. And no one would think to attack her in a crowded city. Especially one as big as Mixento was.
Just keep going. Her legs carried her as fast a they could. Her whole body began to ache with how hard she was pushing herself. Sweat mixed in with the tears and she closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, looking through the watery screen of her gaze, another shadow figure popped up. She jumped away from it, throwing down another flash grenade. One after another, the shadows kept popping up. She did all she could to avoid and evade them.
Just a mile away from the city's entrance one more shadow popped up. As she moved away from it, she felt a hand grasp a hold of her throat. As she was lifted off the ground, she looked down at a man covered in moving purple haze. Only his white teeth forming a smile and his electric green eyes showed.
"Hello, lovely. Feisty one aren't we?"