Lydis looked at the pack leader hungrily. Her stomach hungered for it"s flesh. She couldn"t help it, he looked too good. She dreamed about how his raw flesh would taste and was filled with the same longing as the rabbit. The pack leader sensed something and stared directly at Lydis. It"s eyes met hers and she knew she was in trouble. He howled, and the rest of the wolves stopped eating and stared at Lydis together. Lydis was strangely calm. In her mind she knew that she should be scared but she just couldn"t find any fear in her. The pack leader walked towards Lydis, the other wolves surrounded Lydis in a second. She was trapped.The pack leader got close to Lydis and without warning tried to bite her head off. Lydis barely dodged by bending backwards and in her momentum, she kicked out with her feet to kick the wolf"s lower jaw. The pack leader was stunned. How could a being as small as this dodge his attack? He went in again. Lydis wasn"t scared but excited. The pack leader was fighting by himself! This was the perfect opportunity to kill it and scare away the other wolves. Lydis grinned and took out her jagged dagger. Holding it in one hand and she faced the pack leader head on. He roared at her and lunged into the air, his body being covered by the sunlight. Lydis looked up and saw him disappear.
"To the left"
The voice in her head had changed. Not sure what to do Lydis dodged to the left and where she had been standing was the wolf. It had already landed and had lunged at her from the right but Lydis had dodged left. The pack leader was astonished. Not only once but twice had this little being dodged his attacks. He roared again and went in headfirst. Lydis stood ready. The pack leader lunged at Lydis but this time Lydis didn"t stand still, instead she dashed towards the wolf and slid under him, holding her knife up to slice it"s belly. Since the blade was short the knife barely reached through the pack leader"s fur and sc.r.a.ped his skin. Lydis stood up, ready to fight the pack leader again when from behind her one of the other blood wolves attacked. It leapt out from the shadows and was too close to dodge. Is this how she was going to die? Eaten by a wolf and not even being able to do anything about it? No, she would try to bring it down with her. She readied her blade to strike at it"s head but then a loud shot rang out in the forest. The wolf attacking Lydis died in mid air and fell to the floor, it"s momentum making it"s body slide for a bit.
Lydis looked at where the shot had come from. Only a conduit could attack from far away using slyphir. As if on cue a group dressed in navy blue armor emerged from the woods. They were all wearing helmets that covered their faces and marched in unison. The only one who wasn"t wearing a helmet was an old lady with an eyepatch covering one eye. She had the air of a respected military official. With a nod of her head the front four moved their hands in unison and in an instant, there was a rain of slyphir bullets aimed at the wolves. The pack leader howled and retreated. Lydis had been saved. As soon as the wolves left the tight marching of the troops stopped and dispersed.
"My G.o.d, what happened here?" A soldier from the back leisurely walked to the front and surveyed the surroundings.
"Private, get back." One of the four who had manipulated slyphir commanded. The private shrugged their shoulders and continued to walk around without a care.
"Let him be Blair." The old lady tapped the conduit"s shoulder, sighing.
"Yes ma"am." Blair saluted and went back into formation while the private observed the surroundings.
"All of you, no need to be so stiff. Where"s my squad?" The old lady held out her hands.
*sigh* "Oh, who cares? We"re in the middle of nowhere, might as well." One of the conduits pressed a b.u.t.ton behind their suit and their helmet came off with a *fwoosh*. Under the helmet was a st.u.r.dy looking man. He had a square jaw with a scar across his left cheek. "Come on." He gestured for the others to do the same and they did. A series of soft clicks and *fwsshs* later everyone had taken off their helmet. They began chatting and laughing about random things while others surveyed and scouted the area.
*Puah* "I swear, these helmets are made to be stuck on your face." One who had short curly hair shook her head and complained to a taller soldier next to her. The soldier took off their helmet and revealed a black-haired beauty with waist long hair.
"Ami, they"re made to help us."
"I know I"m just complaining about how I feel like I"m suffocating every time I take it off." A soldier who heard this walked towards Ami with his helmet in one arm.
"Ami, maybe you"re putting on some weight?" He pinched her cheek and she punched him in the stomach almost instantaneously.
"Shut up Creed. I"m not gaining weight, right Win?" Ami looked at the tall black-haired soldier and when she got no response she battered Creed with her fists until he ran away.
On the other side of the group the old lady who saved Lydis was now crouching next to her.
"Isn"t my squad just the cutest?" Lydis didn"t even realize when the old lady had appeared next to her.
"Wh-"
"Shh. I know it"s hard, seeing so much carnage at such a young age." The old lady shook her head and put her arm around Lydis"s shoulders. They stayed like that for a moment until the old lady suddenly let go. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Valeri Frawn. Leader of the scouting squad Sunburst." She smiled at Lydis and waited for her answer.
"My name is…" Lydis wasn"t sure whether to use her real name or make one up. What if they find out something about her that causes them to aim to kill her? Or worse, they"re searching for someone by the name Lydis? She decided to use a fake one. "…Krim."
"Did your parent"s name you after your hair color?" At the mention of the word parents Lydis couldn"t help but flinch a little. She was sure that the soft voice in the darkness had been her mother but in the small fragments she managed to a.s.semble in her mind so far it seemed like she was dead. Seeing this Valeri internally cursed herself. Amongst all this carnage a lone child is found. Who wouldn"t a.s.sociate it with the fact that their parents were among the dead?
"I"m sorry. I didn"t mean anything bad by it. I-" Valeri felt that she was just digging her hole deeper and deeper.
"It"s fine ma"am. I"m just… tired." Lydis really did feel tired. Her small unused body had walked through dense forests for hours and she had fought the pack leader of the blood wolves.
"It"s ok. Rest now Krim, you"re safe." Valeri picked up Lydis in a princess carry and hushed her silently as Valeri joined her squad members. As if cradling a baby Valeri was very gentle with Lydis. Soon Lydis found herself falling asleep, unable to keep her heavy eyelids open. Seeing as Krim was struggling to stay awake but losing, Valeri chuckled to herself.
"Who"s the kid boss?" The private from earlier was walking around Valeri trying to look at Lydis in her arms.
"A child I found over there. Now, what are the results of the area sweep?"
"There are multiple body burning piles, a broken weapons pile, the cargo cars are all empty, the train fuel, oddly enough, is untouched. The train"s metal and gears are all here, nothing"s been scavenged or taken besides the cargo. What was in the cargo?" The private stood in front of Valeri making her stop. "I mean, it has to be something so important that they would only take it and nothing else besides it. My bigger question though, is who did it? Why? Where did they all go? How many was there, and what did they use to stop the train? Were they already on the train?" His questions were shooting out left and right, his curiosity showing on his face as he tried theorizing on how and who did it.
"Jones, I don"t want you to get into trouble so I"ll only say this." Jones looked at her patiently, keeping his excitement in check. "I…" He nodded. "Do…" He urged her to keep talking with his hands. "…Not know. I don"t have that kind of authority. I"m just a scouting squad leader." Valeri chuckled to herself again. Jones had his hopes up. He had forgotten how his squad leader was and how she loved to tease all of them.
"Yes ma"am." He saluted solemnly. "But, who"s the kid?"
"Ah ha. This one"s name is Krim. She looks like she"s been through a lot but what"s more interesting is her a.r.s.enal."
"Huh?" Jones was very confused.
"Look." Valeri slipped the dagger from Lydis"s grip and held it out towards Jones. "The blade looks older than me and yet it"s still very sharp. Go, try cutting that part of the train but don"t reinforce it." Jones gave Valeri a suspicious look. He wasn"t sure f she was messing with him again or if she was being serious. Sighing he decided to try it out.
"Oh well, when she wakes up and sees her broken blade, I hope it"s not something important to her." Jones turned around and swung the blade against the train without reinforcing it with slyphir. Like soft b.u.t.ter the blade cut through the train like nothing. "Holy ****! How?!" Jones was excited. His squad leader hadn"t been kidding this time. The train had slyphir embedded into it automatically so a normal unreinforced blade shouldn"t have been able to cut through it but the jagged blade had.
"I"m not sure how this little child managed to get this weapon but that"s not all. Look at this." Valeri held out Lydis"s C-47 pistol.
"I-is that what I think it is? AAhhhh! A C-47 pistol!" By this time the other squad members had already seen or heard the commotion and were looking at Jones and Valeri. "I can"t believe such a treasure is still working. How? May I?" Jones held out his hands for the gun, his giddiness causing his arms to tremble slightly.
"Hahaha! Aren"t you acting like a child yourself? Sure you can." She tossed the pistol at him and he caught it carefully, like it could shatter at any second.
"I can die happy now." He was literally crying as he held the pistol in his hands. Jones being a gun and mechanic maniac seeing a C-47 pistol was the same as having all the riches in the world. C-47 pistols were the harbingers of death in the last Great War. Their power combined with their small size and automatic slyphir collection function made them very versatile for all fighters. Even more so was that they couldn"t run out of ammo as it"s slyphir collection function took in slyphir from the surroundings to use as ammo. As soon as they were introduced into battle the tides would change drastically. But, soon the production and introduction of C-47 pistols stopped. No one knew where they came from or how they were made. If one tried to take it apart it would self-destruct on its own.
Jones was caressing and stroking the pistol gently and softly cooing at it. Suddenly turning serious Jones turned and aimed it at a tree. He pulled the trigger and when it didn"t fire he became a bit fl.u.s.tered but he regained his composure. Once again, he pulled the trigger and it fired a strong bullet beam that pierced through the trees like they weren"t there. Jones couldn"t tell where the bullet beam ended since the bullet"s of a C-47 pistol varied on the surrounding slyphir. Though the only thought that stayed with Jones was that the power of a C-47 pistol was incredible.