"Urdumkeit" by The_8th_Sin

“So, first we’re going to have to look at the phenotype!” said Mr. Cartson, clearly enjoying his own lecture. “If you look, you might notice a pattern. Can anyone hazard a guess? Ah! Lucas as usual. Well?

A boy took cover behind a tree, as a bullet flew past him, grazing his ear. Breathing heavily, he sat down and began to strategize as quickly as possible.

“Those with more rounded sensors could capture more light,” said Lucas calmly. “That is the trait that is naturally selected.”

“Shit. I should have figured that they would have a gun,” though the boy to himself. “They were such a small group, but they were doing such great damage to the groups around them. Of course they had a gun.”

“Excellent!” continued Mr. Cartson. “ And now, here’s the hard one: what did the sensors eventually become? Someone besides Lucas of course.”

“Where the hell are the others?” he thought to himself. Then, his eyes widened as he realized the truth.

“The eye of course!” cried out Mr. Cartson, frustrated with the silence that emanated from the classroom. “These sensors eventually evolved into the instrument we know as the eye!”

“They want to kill me.” the boy thought in increasing horror. “Now that one of my arms is permanently paralyzed, they sent me against the enemy to try to get rid of me, and if they’re lucky, a few of their enemies! Those bastards!”

“Isn’t whatever created this is the most beautiful phenomenon on earth?”

A bullet plunged directly into the boy's heart. Blood splattered the surrounding shrubbery.

“Evolution! A beautiful phenomenon! A constant battle between all organisms on this planet, with each death benefiting the greater good!”

The boy's body slumped backwards against the blood-stained tree.

“That is the beauty of the survival of the fittest!”

“I guess…I…wasn’t fit enough…to survive.”

Two men. Each one, dead to the world in his own way.

The girl blinked as the sun blared into her open eyes. Almost as soon as she awakened, she started coughing up sea-water. Her mouth tasted of salt and she felt as though she would vomit any minute. Her clothes were soaked and battered to the point that they barely qualified as clothes any longer.
She sat up, and immediately regretted it. All she succeeded in doing was flopping back into a less comfortable position. The impact was surprisingly soft, with a familiar texture she could feel even through the back of her head. “Oh,” she croaked, “Sand.”
Instead of trying to get up again, she merely lay on the beach and listened to a sound that she now recognized as waves crashing on a beach. That was it: she was at a beach. Satisfied with her exploration, she slipped back into unconsciousness once more.

“Well, what do we have here?” said one boy to another, “Looks like someone has bad luck! I wonder what she’s doing on the beach.”
“She probably got jumped by the Shallmen clan or something,” said the other, “What does it matter? Does she have anything good on her? If she did get jumped by the Shallmens, that’s too much to hope for.”
“First of all, Ellard, what happened to her does matter, because it might just be happening to us tomorrow. Second, the Shallmen clan can’t have done this for four reasons.
“Oh really? What are they, Jeyod?” asked Ellard, with more than a little bit of irritation in his voice.
“First of all, she still has clothes. Second of all, she doesn’t have the right bruises for her to have been raped. Third of all, her throat isn’t cut, fourth of all, there is something still on her (he said as he removed a clear plastic bag with a black lump inside, putting it down without giving it a closer look) and Shallmens wouldn’t leave perfectly good clothes, pass up on an easy rape, leave the victim alive afterwards, or not take anything and everything on her, even if it’s useless,” said Jeyod without pausing.
“Smart ass!” said Ellard, sneering, “You think that having useless crap in your head means that you’re better than me, huh?”
“Yes, in fact,” said Jeyod, who’s face twisted into a smirk.
In the silence, the two of them stared at each other in an appraising way. They stared with imperfect eyes, eyes that only see things, not what those things are for. With those imperfect eyes, they each kept careful watch on the other, in the same way that so many creatures have watched their rivals since the point in time where the eye could be said to have begun existing.
Then, Jeyod drew a rusty long sword, covered in the dried blood of thousands of humans, as Ellard pulled out two similar knives.
Both Ellard and Jeyod were around the same age, about 21 and height, being within, at most, a centimeter. Ellard had bright blonde hair and a face that easily changed to a scowl or grin in a flash. Jeyod on the other hand, had brown hair and a face that did not change easily in most circumstances, and was probably trained to be so. Despite what the faces had become, it was still possible to see what they easily could have been; if they had been born elsewhere then perhaps they would have been called handsome. As it was, their features were caked with dirt, their fingernails were sloppily cut with, from the looks of it, a knife, their hair was a mess that extended quite a bit past their shoulders, and the clothes they were wearing could only be called “rags.”
“Well,” said Ellard with absolute solemnity. “I suppose it was foolishness for me to have dreamed that our conflict could be resolved without one of our deaths. After all, there is only one way to truly solve a dispute, right?
“Right,” agreed Jeyod, his sword at the ready.
The two of them charged at each other at inhuman speeds, weapon swinging and—
“Stop!” screamed a horse voice from between them.
The two of them obeyed without thinking, each of them stopping their weapons mere inches from their opponent’s throat. They each turned in confusion to the source of the sound.
The girl on the beach was conscious, but only barely. Her eyes flickered in and out of focus, and she didn’t look like she was capable of doing anything as energy intensive as yelling.
“Did you say something, bitch?” asked Ellard furiously.
“Please…stop…fighting,” the girl managed to croak, “Stupid…”
Jeyod took a good look at her face for the first time, and realized that she was quite beautiful. Her hair was tangled, her eyes were red, and she was clearly ill, but somehow, she had a radiance that could not be contained but such small details. But what really fascinated him were her eyes; they had a sheen that Jeyod had never seen before. A glint that was absent from the eyes of everyone else he knew. Well, all but one person.
“Is it your business whether I fight him? Shut up, bitch!” said Ellard viciously, as he turned back to Jeyod . “Come on! Bring it on!”
But Jeyod wasn’t looking at him; he was still staring at the girl on the beach. As he stared at her eyes, they finally swiveled to meet his own.
“I said—“
“Ellard? Let’s stop now. This fight will accomplish nothing,” said Jeyod as he sheathed his sword.
“What the hell is this? Are you too much of a pussy to face me? Eh, Jeyod? Bet you realized I would kick your ass, huh?” said Ellard, grinning broadly.
“Yeah, that’s it,” said Jeyod desperately, “You’re a hell of a lot stronger than me, you know?”
“Ha! You don’t mean that!” said Ellard cheerfully as he puts away his knives, “But since you’re telling the truth for the first time in your life, I’ll let you off the hook.” Jeyod sighed in relief.
“Anyway, this girl is boring,” continued Ellard, “If you want to do whatever you want to her, go right ahead. I’m not in the mood right now.”
He strolled off into the woods behind the beach. As he was vanishing from sight, he called back: “Oh! And don’t forget anything valuable she might have on her! See you later!”
They were alone. She really was very beautiful.
If he was going to rape her, it would be now.
He reached for his pants, but his hands paused as they were positioned to pull them off.
“Why am I hesitating?” he thought to himself, “I haven’t had a woman in a while, and she certainly is attractive enough. Right?”
“Water,” she croaked suddenly.
“You want water? Why didn’t you say so before?” said Jeyod nervously. For some reason, he couldn’t help but think that somehow, he should feel honored to be even spoken to at all. She reminded him of the fragile petals of the flowers on the west coast of the island. She was something useless, but somehow, precious all the same.
He pulled out a metal canteen and that he held in a leather bag strapped over his shoulder. “Here. Drink as much as you want,” he said with an innocent smile, so very unlike the grimace he had given Ellard only a minute before.
Without a word, the girl reached up slowly, grasped the canteen, and brought it to her lips.

Ellard strode with agitation, back through the forest, while muttering to himself. “That asshole. How dare he insult me like this? I will kill him someday.”
Ellard walked to what appeared to be just another tree, and called up into the branches “It’s me, Ellard! You’re there, right Solem?”
“Hi there,” said a quiet voice from up in the branches, “What’s the password?”
It’s “Let me in, you bastard!” said Ellard, without a trace of humor.
“Okay,” continued the voice, “I’m lowering the ladder now.”
A ladder made from vines dropped from the top of the trees. Ellard rolled his eyes, and waited for ten seconds in complete silence. After ten seconds, the voice called down again. “Okay, you’re not being followed,” and another ladder dropped down from above.
At the top of the ladder, there was a large hut built into the branches. So similar was the wood used for it to the trees around it, that it had quite a bit of camouflage against anyone who wasn’t looking for it.
“The two-ladder thing is stupid,” said Ellard, as he climbed into the hut, “Just because you drop the ladder doesn’t mean that the clan following me will run in to climb it. What if they’re cautious?
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to add a defense mechanism, right?” said the one who had lowered the ladder, who was a small boy, maybe eight years old, “And if they do run in to climb it, then they’re going to be in an awful surprise when they realize the rope they grabbed is just a construction I made on a venom vine to make it look like a ladder.” As he said that, he lowered his head and stared at the floor, as if what he just said had horrified him.
He looked very much like a younger version of Jeyod ; in fact, the resemblance was uncanny considering the more than ten year gap between their ages. He had exactly the same shape to his face, and exactly the same shade of brown hair. However, there was something rounder and less extreme about his face, and he had a tendency to look away from people when they looked at him and speak in a quiet tone.
The hut consisted of one round room, about 25 feet in diameter and 7 feet high. It was made clumsily out of wood by someone who clearly only cared for function, not for beauty. Around the sides, there were 8 evenly spaced cots made from different parts of plants stitched together. In the center, there was a small table with a pistol and a pile of bullets.
“Did you and my brother get in a fight again?” he asked Ellard with his worry plain in his face.
“You sneaky little bastard! How did you know?” said Ellard, bewildered.
“You sweated more than usual, and I can smell my brother’s sweat on you too, so you must have been near to him while you were sweating,” said the boy, Solem, “If you had encountered another clan, then you wouldn’t have come here so calmly, let alone not informed me of the enemy’s presence. Lastly, considering how often you and my brother get into fights, it isn’t too dumb of an assumption.”
“You know, when you talk like that, it gets me worried,” said Ellard, “You sound like your brother, the smart-ass. But you’re not going to grow up like him, are you?”
“My brother is a good person,” said Solem, smiling shyly, “He’s a person to look up to. That’s why you look up to him too, right Ellard?
“Don’t give me that crap!” exploded Ellard suddenly, “Like you know anything about it; you’re just a useless little parasite! Don’t act like you know anything!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Solem stuttered with his face pointing towards the wall and on the verge of tears, “I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear!”
“That’s right, you little shit!” said Ellard as he kicked Solem hard in the ribs.
Solem hit the floor, and started wailing in pain. “Well? Who’s going to save you now?” screamed Ellard, “Your brother is having a good time with a girl who washed up on the beach, so there’s no one to protect you! Why don’t you try growing some balls?!”
“Please quiet down, Ellard,” said a tired voice from behind him, “I was trying to sleep, you know.”
Ellard suddenly froze, and then slowly turned to face the speaker. “Sorry about that,” he said with an uncharacteristically humble look on his face, “I didn’t mean to disturb you, Old Man.”
He was indeed, an old man. His face was wrinkled and covered in countless scars, and his nose was gone completely.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop calling me that?” said the old man cheerfully, “It gets me to thinking that you want to get rid of me soon. I’m only 84 years old, you know.”
“No!” said Ellard quickly, “I would never want to get rid of you!”
“I’m glad to hear that, and I hope you will extend the courtesy to young Solem here,” the old man said, gesturing to Solem, who was on the floor, still recovering from Ellard’s blow.
“Of course!” said Ellard, his voice up nearly an octave from its normal range, “I wouldn’t dream of harming him!”
“That’s wonderful!” said the old man, beaming at Ellard, “Then I assume that I will be able to take a nap without being bothered again!” With these words, he walked back to a cot on one side of the room and pulled a blanket over himself.
After two minutes of complete silence, Ellard relaxed again. “Sorry about that, kid,” he said calmly, in level tones without anger or spite, “but if you’re going to survive, you have to fight back. When I give you a thrashing, it’s because I pity you; you need to be shown how to stay alive, and quickly. Your brother is no help at all, indulging in your stupid idealism all the time. Someone needs to take charge, and your brother sure as hell isn’t man enough to do it! Hey are you listening to me?”
“Oh!” said Solem, snapping his head back to look at Ellard, “I’m sorry; I was just distracted for a moment there.”
Ellard waited for him to continue. He always did.
“You said that a girl washed up on the shore, right?”
“Um,” said Ellard, disoriented by the change in topic, “yeah; she must have been thrown out into the sea, and then some sort of current washed her back ashore or something.”
“Maybe,” said Solem excitedly, “But there’s another possibility too!”
“Huh? What?”
“What if she came from across the sea?” said Solem, his eyes sparkling.
“Crap!” said Ellard, as he dropped his face into his hands, “Not this bullshit again!”

After she had drunk the entire canteen, her arm dropped back down onto the sand, and she lay on the beach limply. She was so weak that it puzzled Jeyod ; she had been conscious for nearly ten minutes, but she still hadn’t gotten up. Now that he looked at her, he was astonished by just how pathetic she was; she had absolutely no muscle to speak of. Even Solem had far more muscle than she did, and Solem never fought under any circumstance. Was it physically possible for someone that weak to be alive at all? She was at least 20 years old; how had she survived to that age?
After staring at her for a while, as she slowly breathed in and out, Jeyod worked up the courage to speak. “Er,” he began awkwardly as he stared at a random rock lying on the beach, “So…um…where did you come from?
“America,” she said weakly.
“Huh?” said Jeyod, clearly puzzled, “What’s America?”

“I said: ‘Where’s the group with the pistol!’” growled a tall, extremely muscular man holding a sword, to another man who was lying on the ground, bound by ropes “If you continue to have hearing problems, you’re going to start having walking problems next!”
“Like I’m going to help you before I die,” said the prisoner with a self-satisfied smirk, “It’s not like I actually care about the lives of some random clan, but right now, I like them a hell of a lot better than I like you, Dlored.”
The moment the prisoner finished his sentence, without a hint of hesitation, the muscular man brought his sword down on the prisoner’s leg. The prisoner screamed in agony and writhed on the ground, while Dlored picked up his severed leg and held it above his head. “Look, boys!” he called at a group of seven other men who were watching from a clearing nearby, “This one’s a keeper!”
The men roared with laughter. “Nice one boss,” said one of them, “I’ll add it to the pile.”
“You do that,” said Dlored, “I need to have a talk with this good fellow here.”
“You see,” said Dlored as he leaned down to talk to the prisoner, “I have a collection of severed limbs of all kinds. I’m planning to leave them out, until they rot. Then, I’ll pick the best of the bone pieces and use them for a necklace!” Dlored’s face twisted into a demented smile. “Of course, whether I take your bones before or after your death is entirely up to you.”

“You’ve never heard of America?” she said, forcing herself into an upright position, “Where have you been living your life? Are you part of some sort of indigenous tribe?”
“Er,” said Jeyod, “To be honest, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I mean, I live on the Southeast shore, if that’s what you’re asking, but I don’t know what an indigenous tribe is.”
“Well, your English seems pretty good for someone who’s never heard of America,” said the girl sarcastically, “I swear, if you’re just messing with me, stop right now, and I won’t be annoyed.”
“So,” said Jeyod, who had recovered his usual calm demeanor, “I suppose America is the name of your clan, right? Maybe it’s famous in your clan’s territory, but here, no one’s heard of it.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she said irritably, “I’m talking about the continent. I have no idea what a clan is.”
For the first time he could remember, Jeyod had no idea what to say. The silence grew awkward.
He stared at her. She stared at him.
“Well?” she said when she finally lost her patience, “Have anything to say to me?”
“You survived your entire life without a clan?” he said, clearly in awe, “You’re amazing! How did you do it?”
“Hang on,” said the girl, “I’m beginning to think that we don’t fully understand each other. Tell me, what continent are we on?”
“Sorry,” said Jeyod, “But I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“This has got to be a bad dream,” she said, her voice shaking, “Is this some sort of joke?”
She looked around her, and saw the beach and the forest behind it.
“Don’t tell me that this is a deserted island!” she shrieked.
“Um, it’s not an island; it’s the island, the only inhabited place in the world,” said Jeyod nervously. Even though he knew it was true, for some reason that he couldn’t place, it didn’t seem like the kind of answer she was looking for.
“You…you…asshole!” she said, pausing before swearing as though swearing were entirely alien to her, “I don’t need you to lie to me like this. This is clearly a setup! I’m on some sort of reality TV show, and you’re an especially good actor who can play the role of a complete idiot amazingly well!”
“Er…” said Jeyod, at loss for words. He wondered if he was being insulted.
“Screw this!” she said, “I’m out of here right now!” She grabbed the plastic bag with the black lump inside that Jeyod had found on her, and without looking back, she walked off of the beach pretty briskly considering the shape she was in.
“Wait!” he called after her as he began to follow, “Don’t be stupid! If you go out in the forest alone, you’ll be dead in a couple of days!”
“Yeah, sure,” she said sarcastically, “Now where are the hidden cameras? If you don’t tell me, I’ll find them eventually anyway.” As she went, she swiveled her head side to side, looking for cameras.
Jeyod, who had long since learned not to try to figure out what all those words she used meant, called out to her more urgently this time. “Um, if you’d like, I can take you back to my clan-house. It’s safer there than out here.” As he spoke, he looked behind him nervously.
“Of course!” she said, her voice filled with rage as she turned on him, “That way, you can introduce me to your ‘clan,’ and then I can become part of your happy family, and someone in Hollywood makes billions off of ruining my life!”
“I’m sorry,” cried Jeyod desperately, “but I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Listen up, idiot!” she yelled commandingly, “I don’t belong to any clan, because I live in the real world, across the ocean!”
Her words echoed through the forest and the sky and birds in the trees took flight. It would be foolish to say that they fled because they feared a predator, for they were far too stupid to truly feel fear. No, it was simply those that took the best action whenever a loud sound was near tended to survive more often. In other words, the brain of a well evolved organism has no use for love, joy, or hope; all it needs is a set of perfect instructions. Maybe one day, the human race, like the birds, will have nothing but a set of instructions and a hole in their heart.
“What did you say?” said Jeyod, his eyes widening in shock, while love, joy and hope paraded across his face, “You come from across the ocean?”
“That’s right,” she said, “Do you find that strange?”
“Well,” Jeyod started to say, “The idea of lands existing beyond the ocean is just a—“
In that split second he grabbed her around the waist and jumped to the side, just as a sword came down on the spot where he was.
“What’s going on!” said the girl, panicking, “What just happened?! Let go of me!”
“Sorry to interrupt,” said a grinning, extremely muscular man, “but I don’t want to wait anymore.” He pulled the sword back out of the ground where it had stuck.
“You’re stealthy,” said Jeyod, releasing the girl and drawing his sword, “I didn’t hear you until the last second.”
“And you’re not stealthy at all,” he replied, “Or at least, she isn’t; she was so loud when she was moving around the woods, that I could have easily tracked her, even if she wasn’t screaming some crap about living beyond the sea! By the way, my name is Dlored.”
“Why are you telling me your name?” said Jeyod cautiously.
“It’s because I believe in easy solutions to problems,” said Dlored with a smirk, “After all, why face you in a fight when diplomacy can work just as well?”
In one fluid motion, Jeyod turned around and kicked the man sneaking up on him in the jaw. The man’s body flew nearly ten feet into the air before crashing to the ground.
“So, you call this diplomacy?” said Jeyod scowling, “How many men do you have with you?”
“Just that one,” said Dlored, “I didn’t expect an opportunity like this. We were just hunting.”
“Like hell!” spat Jeyod, “You are hunting, but not for food.”
“Looks like you understand me as well as I do, kid!” said Dlored with an evil grin, “Fine, maybe I do have more men. Do you know where they’re going to come from?”
“Dammit!” said Jeyod, “I guess this is the time to do it. I just hope it doesn’t attract more enemies than allies.”
Then he yelled to the sky at the top of his voice: “Code Darkweed! This is Jeyod! I need help right now!”
“Kid,” growled Dlored, “what did you just do?”
“I just called for backup,” Jeyod said with a smile.
“That suits me just fine,” said Dlored, “The more that come, the more we don’t have to track down. Don’t worry about your safety though, because you’ll be dead by the time help gets here!”
He charged at Jeyod, who stood his ground and readied his sword.
Jeyod just barely managed to block the first strike. Dlored’s blow was so strong that it nearly knocked his sword out of his hand.
“Ha!” thought Jeyod, “Now I’ll just attack him on his left—“
With nightmarish speed, Dlored brought his sword down for a second strike. Jeyod nearly parried, but the attack’s speed had surprised him, so his parry was awkwardly positioned.
The blow blasted the sword out of his hands and unto the ground with a thud.
There was a sickening silence, where Jeyod stood there, shocked, and Dlored simply grinned.
“Hang on a second,” said Jeyod slowly, “We can talk and—“
“You’re the one who doesn’t like diplomacy, kid!” said Dlored, and he drove his sword through Jeyod’s chest.
The girl screamed.

Jeyod had a brain that was especially good at cutting out unnecessary thinking. When he became conscious, he didn’t bother wondering where exactly he was, or how long he had been unconscious. Instead, he skipped to the more vital questions: “Why was he still alive? How could he ensure that the trend would continue?”
The most important thing was the state of his wound. He could remember the sword; it was about 2 inches long and half an inch wide at the end, so the wound should be considerable, but not fatal. He could already feel his body repairing itself, and he knew that within two hours, the hole would be gone, and within a day, there would be no trace of the wound at all.
He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel a blindfold on his face. Fine; they could block his sight, but only a true master of poisons could block his touch. He was lying on the cold ground with his hands pinned behind his back. In addition, he could feel that his hands were bound by rope. “Interesting,” Jeyod thought to himself, “they’re keeping me prisoner. Why?”
He could still remember the details of the events before being gored, and was watching them in his head over and over. He shouldn’t be alive right now, so he searched his thoughts to find an explanation. It certainly wasn’t by chance that Dlorek and he had met. That he was sure of. That girl made noise, so they could have noticed the two of them and planned the tricks they tried on him as they followed them. But still, why was he alive? Plus, something Dlorek had said struck him as odd: when he called for backup, Dlorek had said: “That suits me just fine! The more that come, the more we don’t have to track down.”
“So,” Jeyod thought, “he was searching for my clan? Why? Our clan isn’t part of any turf wars! We’ve been doing everything we can to avoid conflict with other clans! I need to rethink things; it might easily be something simpler than that. What drives a clan like that to fight anyway?”
He reexamined the scene. Things hadn’t happened in precisely the manner that things would go if he had been in charge. After all, in a situation where you can initiate the attack at any time you want, and with the element of surprise, it would be so much safer to take him down with a single bullet. Why not just use a gun...unless they didn’t have one!
“Ah,” he thought, “They’re after our gun.”

A woman looked down from a tree. She glared at the clearing as if it had offended her, but stood completely still, while her red hair blew gently in the wind. In the middle of the clearing, there was the pouch that she recognized as Jeyod’s, and next to it, was a black square that she couldn’t quite make out. She had been staring at the object for nearly ten minutes, but still could not figure out what it was; that was why she was so annoyed. She could see what it was made of, how thick, long, and wide it was, identify its shade in contrast to several hundred other objects, and even how long it had been lying there, but she had no idea who had made it and for what purpose. It would be so much simpler if she could just walk out into the clearing and examine it more closely, but she couldn’t do that; she would probably be dead before she reached it. She couldn’t actually see where her ambushers were hiding, but the ruse was so simple that a child could have seen through it.
She sighed. “Jeyod,” she thought to herself, “I can’t believe that you of all people have been captured by idiots.”
Then, she turned away from the clearing, and jumped gracefully to the next tree.

“Wadec!” called Dlorek, “How are the prisoners?”
A tired-looking man with dark black hair and eyes to match walked up to Dlorek.
“The boy is acting normal,” he replied without interest, “but the girl is a strange one.”
There was a silence. After a moment, Wadec yawned, and began to walk away.
“Wadec!” thundered Dlorek, “Don’t walk away from me, you bastard! What do you mean?!”
“What do I mean by what?” Wadec responded lazily.
“How is the girl ‘strange?’” Dlorek growled.
“Oh,” said Wadec, “She was sobbing to herself for a while. Now that she’s finally stopped, she just stares at the sky with a look on her face that makes you think she might have seen Death himself.”
“Death is a person now?” said Dlorek, in genuine confusion, “What are you talking about, Wadec?”
Wadec sighed. “Never mind, boss,” he said, “It didn’t mean anything.”
“Hmmm,” said Dlorek with uncharacteristic thoughtfulness, “How about the trap we laid with the boy’s bag and the strange object of the girl’s?”
“No results,” replied.
“Fine,” said Dlorek, “then go back and check out their bones. I want you to make measurements of all of the bones in the arms and legs.”
“What?!” cried Wadec, “That’ll take a while!”
“I don’t give a shit how long it takes!” snarled Dlorek, “Do it!”
Wadec grumbled and walked away. Before he was out earshot, Dlorek spoke again.
“I don’t like the way you talk to me, Wadec,” growled Dlorek, “Perhaps you don’t fully appreciate the honor you should feel in being my second-in-command. “
Dlorek grinned. “You see, Wadec, there are lots of useless pieces of shit in the world. They are divided into two groups: Those that understand just how useless they are and admit their inferiority, and those that act like they’re something special. The people in the first group live a lot longer than those in the second group. Remember that, Wadec.”
Wadec kept on walking, but hidden from view, his mouth curled into an evil grin. “I’ll keep that in mind, boss,” he thought to himself, “But you’re the one who should remember it.”

It was around noon when the woman landed underneath the tree.
“Solem,” she called up coldly, “Let me in, you bastard.”
“Valicia!” Solem called back, as he dropped the first ladder, “How are you?”
“Fine,” she said shortly, “Now let me in.”
The second ladder dropped and Valicia climbed all sixty feet of the ladder’s length in less than ten seconds.
She pulled herself up to the top, and without pausing, spoke again: “Jeyod’s been kidnapped.”
“My brother’s been kidnapped?” cried Solem, “Quick, Valicia, you need to go rescue him!”
“Too reckless,” she said without an ounce of sympathy, “I can’t even confirm whether he is alive, so I’m not going to charge in looking for him. The enemy set a trap for me, so it seems that they are deliberately targeting us. The most likely possibility is that they want our gun.” She picked up the pistol on the table and turned it over in her hands.
“We noticed that Jeyod’s had been gone for a while, so Ellard went out to look for him,” said Solem, “We feared the worst of course, but this is almost too much for me to bear.”
There was silence for a while, and then—
“Well, we aren’t going to let such a valuable clan member go to waste, are we?” said the old man from behind them. Solem jumped in surprise.
“Ah,” said Valicia, “It’s good that you’re awake to help, boss.”
“Thank you, Valicia,” he replied cheerfully, “I couldn’t just sleep through this problem, could I?”
“So, boss, what do we do?” she asked.
“For now? We wait for Ellard to return. Both Solem and I do not go on missions. You don’t think it’s possible for you to do it alone, right?” asked the old man.

“Girl,” said Wadec, “Where are you from?”
The girl was lying alone on the grass, and as he spoke, she turned to look at him. She was shivering, and her breathing was heavy.
“Well?” he said with a smile, “Where are you from? I’m dying to hear it.”
“America,” she whispered.
“I see,” he said, “and where is America?”
“Across the sea from this awful place,” she said, shuddering.
Wadec stared at her with a blank expression. “Who have you told this to, girl?”
“Just…him.”
“Who?”
“That other boy…over that way,” she said, pointing to where Jeyod lay.
“No one else? Absolutely no one?” he inquired. His voice was much more serious than usual.
The girl was simply silent.
“I see,” he said. “By the way, what’s it like, living across the ocean?”
“Good,” she mumbled, “I was happy there.”
“Now you’re not making any sense!” he said, as his smile changed into a smirk, “So, you say that America is some sort of Utopia? Girl, if you ever return there, do you know what you will see?”
“No,” she said, “What are you talking about?”
“Scum,” he said with a delighted smile, “Assholes that don’t deserve to exist. If there is a country across the sea, then it is exactly like this one. There is no mercy, no justice, and no honor. There is only life and death. That is true wherever you go in this world, even if you hadn’t realized it before. “
“No!” she screamed. For the first time since she had been captured, she raised her voice. “You, and everyone else on this island, don’t understand peace, do they?! I don’t understand a lot, but it seems that on this island, everyone is fighting all the time! Why don’t you unite and form a government? That way, so many more people can be happy!”
Wadec started laughing. His laugh seemed to echo through the woods and grow louder. She could hear his bloodlust and sadism in his laugh.
“Why are you laughing?!” she demanded, “It worked for the rest of the world!”
“You’re precious, that’s for sure!” he said, wiping tears from his eyes, “You’re so pathetically naïve!”
“Why can’t it happen?!” she yelled, “Why can’t you just make a government and live in peace?”
Wadec started laughing again, and as he cackled, he turned away from her and began to walk back to where she could see men starting to make a fire.
“Answer me!” she shouted at his back “Why doesn’t peace work?!”
Wadec stopped. There was a strange silence, and then, he spoke, his voice filled with awe and his head turned towards the sky, which was beginning to turn red in preparation for the imminent sunset: “Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
As he spoke, the girl’s eyes widened in shock. When there was silence, Wadec continued walking, as though he hadn’t said anything.
“But…how?” she said, at a loss, “How do you know those words?”
He didn’t reply.

Night fell, and the three men began to relax. To them, it seemed as though the trap had failed, so they began to talk.
“Enjoying yourselves?” asked Wadec, who had snuck up behind them.
The men flinched. “Hey, asshole,” said one of them, “Didn’t we say to stop surprising us? Do it again, and we mess you up, even if you’re the boss’s favorite. Got it?”
Wadec, however, didn’t seem to be listening. His eyes had narrowed, and he was holding his breath.
“Hey! Listen up—“
“Shh!” said Wadec, “Someone has taken our bait. Just watch.”
The three men stared at the two objects lying in the center of the clearing, especially the black square one, which the three of them of them didn’t quite understand.
The world is not guided by large things, but small things. Words are the ultimate weapons of humanity, and millions of words can fit within a small rectangular prism. This was one such object, and those that are dead to the world would know it as a book. Those that are alive to the world however, have no use for such objects.
Ellard was very much a person who was alive to the world, which explains why he had no idea what he was holding.
“What’s the hell is this thing supposed to be?” he said, flipping it over to see if the back would contain the answer he was seeking.
It was black and hard, but made of no material he had felt before. On its largest face, there were strange marks on it. If you faced it from the side with the strange marks, the top, bottom, and right side were strangely textured. He soon discovered that it could be opened to reveal white sheets covered in more of the strange marks. The white sheets were even thinner than clothes and had a different texture.
It served no purpose as far as Ellard could tell. It was too short to be used in close range, and too badly balanced to be a ranged weapon. He tossed it back onto the ground and started to search for a clue that showed which direction Jeyod had gone.
As he worked, he thought to himself: “Well, I guess this is the point where I need to consider my options, right? I have two: turn back and get the help of the other clansmen, or charge on ahead.”
He knew which option was smarter, but for some reason, the idea of Jeyod being tortured was almost unbearable to him.
He had just resolved to go in a random direction, when he noticed that the strange black object was lying oddly on its sheets, so that they were being damaged. The object was useless, but for some reason, it seemed precious, so he bent down to pick the object up. It was because of this that the slash passed over his head, rather than through it.
He drew out two knives and spun around, slashing at his attacker in the same movement.
The knife sliced into the man’s chest, and he recoiled in pain. Suddenly, two other men burst from out of the bushes nearby and rushed at him, each from a different direction, so that Ellard was threatened from three different sides.
The first man recovered and sliced at Ellard again, who ducked under the sword and ran past the man, running his knife through the man’s flesh.
“You bast—“the man began to say, but Ellard threw a knife into his face before he could finish. The man toppled over and lay still.
The next attack came from behind, nearly catching Ellard by surprise. He only just managed to put his knife in the way.
His attacker had black hair, deep black eyes, and a profoundly bored expression, even in the midst of battle.
“What’s your name, kid?” he asked casually, “I’m Wadec.”
“I don’t give a shit about your name!” said Ellard as he drew a knife and stabbed at Wadec’s chest. Wadec pulled his sword back to parry the knife, and then raised his foot and kicked Ellard hard in the stomach.
Ellard landed between the other two men. The two men were startled, but their expressions turned to expressions of triumph, as they brought their swords down on him.

“Where is he?” repeated Valicia to herself, “Why isn’t that bastard back yet?”
She had been pacing the hut for nearly half an hour, and was nervously running her fingers through her red hair.
“Val—“ began Solem.
“Shut the hell up, Solem!” she snapped, “I’m busy right now!”
“I’m sorry,” said Solem humbly as he stared at the floor, “I didn’t mean to annoy you.”
Silence filled the room, and it spoke more eloquently than a human ever could.
Valicia opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted.
“I won’t stop you,” said the old man.
“I’ll never understand how you do that, boss,” she said with a small smile, “Yes; I’m going to start looking for the two missing idiots.”
“Good,” said the smiling old man, “Please bring our idiots home in one piece.”

Wadec looked impressed. “Hmm,” he said to himself, “What an interesting fellow.”
Ellard had blocked both of the swords, one between both of his hands and the other between both of his feet. He was struggling to push the two swordsmen back.
Without any further hesitation, Wadec charged in, sword drawn, towards Ellard. “You can’t defend yourself now!” he cried.
At the last moment, Ellard pushed off the ground by with his elbows, and swung to the side, on the two swords like a swing. Then he let go, and flew back nearly fifteen feet, and hit the ground with a thud. The two men laughed.
“Don’t let him recover!” shouted Wadec at the other men as he ran towards the disoriented Ellard, “Get him while he’s down, you bastards!”
Ellard, still panting, tossed two knives in quick succession at Wadec. Wadec gracefully parried them and they flew, spinning into the air.
Wadec sliced at Ellard, who jumped above Wadec’s strike and kicked him in the face. He stumbled backwards and snarled.
“Boy,” he began, “You’re beginning to—“
The knives came back down, each one piercing one of Wadec’s shoulders. He howled in pain, just as the other two men charged past him towards Ellard. In one smooth motion, Ellard sliced open both of their throats. They gurgled for a moment, and then collapsed, dead.
“Shit!” said Wadec, as he pulled the two knives out of his shoulders with a grimace of pain.
The two men left standing stared at each other, only ten feet apart.
“Not bad,” admitted Wadec, “Not bad at all. You have good bones too.”
“Huh?” said Ellard, puzzled, “What do my bones have to do with anything?”
“My boss collects them,” said Wadec, rolling his eyes, “He sometimes prevents us from killing enemies when we have the chance, just so that they can be disposed of in a way that won’t harm their bones.”
“Is there something wrong with your boss’s head?” asked Ellard, genuinely enjoying the conversation, despite the tension he felt.
“No idea!” said Wadec, “There’s got to be something wrong with it if he lets a hobby get in the way of the important stuff, huh?
“He’s trying to talk to me to distract me and make a hole in my defense,” thought Ellard, “However, he must know as well as I do that it leaves him open to the very same tactic. If I’m going to win, I can’t take my eyes off him, even for a second. Now, I need to discuss something interesting. Quickly, so that he can’t carry out any of his plans.”
“My name’s Ellard, by the way,” he said, “What was yours again?”
“Wadec,” he said, “I’ll remember your name, and you should remember mine. Okay?”
“Why are we even fighting?” asked Ellard, “Let’s just both walk away.”
“You know how the world works, kid,” replied Wadec, “If I let you go, my boss won’t leave me—huh?”
His eyes flickered to a point right above Ellard’s left shoulder, and then quickly back to Ellard’s face without as much as a tiny change of expression.
“Well,” thought Ellard, “Either one of his cronies is sneaking up on me, or he’s bluffing to try to get me to turn around. Hang on; I’m pretty sure I killed those two with my knife. Ah, but the other one. I think I might have only knocked him out. Besides, there might be more that aren’t on the scene. Well, I’ll just walk in a circle and keep my eye on him, so there’s no chance I’m being snuck up on.”
He started to pace around the clearing. Wadec stood there, silently, and watched Ellard move.
Suddenly, Ellard’s eyes flickered to a point a few feet above Wadec’s head.
“Got him!” though Wadec, “Just like I thought; he tried to imitate my tactic! In this moment, he’s the one that’s distracted!”
He was only halfway through his swing, when a powerful impact drove his head straight into the ground. Without a pause, he pushed off the ground and landed on his feet.
“So it wasn’t a bluff,” he said calmly, “This is one of your allies, right?”
Valicia was now standing beside Ellard now. Her only visible weapon was a two inch long, claw-like attachment she had stuck to her hand, but Wadec still didn’t like the looks of her.
He paused for a second, and then sighed.
“See ya, folks,” he said with a charming grin, “I’m afraid it’s time for me to go. I need to go confirm something before I act any further. I wish you good health until the next time I try to kill you.”
He crouched for a second, and then sprung up, jumping nearly five times his height and landing on a tree branch nearby. He jumped from that one, and was gone.
“What do you know?” said Ellard, impressed, “That guy’s spring jump might be as good as yours, Valicia.”
“He’s not coming back for now,” she said calmly, “That’s the only thing that matters. Now, tell me everything you know about the situation.”
“I know a bit,” said Ellard, “I just don’t know that much. I don’t even know where their main base is.”
“You really are an idiot, aren’t you,” she said coldly, “Even I know where it is.”
“Huh? Where?”
“There.”
She pointed to a column of smoke rising from a point about a mile away.
“What!?” said Ellard, “They started a fire? Are they that stupid?”

The fire made the shadows dance across the men’s faces. They were eating roasted meat which still took the form of recognizable limbs on stone spits. There were four men there, including Dlorek. They were roaring with laughter at a story that Dlorek was telling.
“So then, that bitch said ‘Get the water!’ so I cut off her arms, shoved her face into the river and said: ‘Drink up!’”
One of the men cleared the tears from his eyes and asked: “Hey; why don’t we get Wadec to tell one of his stories? They’re always damn good! Not that yours aren’t better, boss,” he added quickly after looking at Dlorek’s expression.
There was a silence, filled only with the sound of one of the men chewing. He looked up, noticed the mood, looked puzzled for a moment, and then stopped chewing in his moment of realization.
“Where is Wadec? And the other three?” said Dlorek slowly, “Why aren’t they back yet?”
The four of them stood up, and Dlorek’s henchmen began to peer into the darkness with their backs to the fire.
“You!” shouted Dlorek at one of his men, “Go bring the prisoners here. Quickly!”
“Shouldn’t I take someone else with me?” asked the man, trying to hide his fear.
“You pussy!” growled Dlorek, one of his eyes twitching, “Do I have to go get them myself?! Go, damn you!”
The man hurried off. Keeping a careful watch on the area around the fire, which no longer seemed as benign as it had before, Dlorek drew his sword.
The crackling of the fire was the only sound for nearly a minute.
“What is this bullshit?!” said Dlorek finally, “I thought that you were men!”
He walked out into the darkness and called out: “Wadec, you asshole! Get here right now! The same goes for any hidden enemies! I’m right here, so come and get some!”
He reflected a knife when it was only a couple of centimeters from his brain.
“The enemy is here!” he shouted to the others, “Get off your asses!”
Dlorek heard footsteps racing up from behind him, so he whipped around and attacked.
It sliced through air, but only barely. Valicia had pulled back at the last second and the sword had sliced the open air in front of her throat. She darted back in again at high speeds and tried to claw at him with something attached to her hand. Dlorek easily parried between two of the five blades.
Valicia twisted her hand around, and Dlorek nearly lost his grip on the sword.
He steadied his grip, grinned, and twisted his sword back. Valicia flipped over and landed on the ground, seemingly dazed.
Dlorek plunged his sword into the ground, but she had already rolled to the side. She pushed off the ground with her hands and was upright again.
“Girl, are you going to fight me with that pathetic weapon?” asked Dlorek, “Because it really isn’t as good as a sword.”
Ignoring his taunt, Valicia charged in again, her blades gleaming in the nearby firelight.
Dlorek prepared himself for the slash, but at the last moment, Valicia stopped running, shifted her weight oddly, and fell backwards onto the ground.
“Wha—“ Dlorek began to say.
Without a second’s pause, Valicia swept her feet along the ground, tripping Dlorek.
By the time Dlorek hit the ground, Valicia had already flipped onto all fours and leapt at Dlorek like a wild animal.
Her claw sunk into Dlorek’s stomach, and he screamed in agony. Valicia began to twist her claw inside of the wound. With an angry roar, Dlorek managed to kick her with tremendous force right in the stomach. She flew back forty feet, where she struck a tree. Gasping for air, she stood up again, her legs trembling.
“Men!” called Dlorek, “What’s taking you so long to—“
He turned around and so the fire, only a short distance away. There were not three figures there, but only one.
Ellard stood there, his expression unfathomable, because he was silhouetted against the fire’s light.
Dlorek dodged under the first knife and charged at Ellard. Before he was even within twenty feet of Ellard, Valicia jump-kicked him in the head from behind. He landed on the ground, and Valicia charged in. Dlorek managed to recover in time for Valicia’s attack, and he stabbed her through the chest.
Valicia coughed up blood. “Damn!” she cried.
Dlorek punched her in the face. She collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
“Ha!” he said, triumphantly, “I’ll save her for some fun later! Now for the other one.”
He turned, and found that Ellard was gone.
“Where the hell did he go!?” growled Dlorek.
“Over here!” Ellard called in a mocking tone from where the prisoners had been left.
“Shit!” thought Dlorek, “He’s getting his allies back!”
He charged forward, and saw Ellard standing a few feet from one of the prisoners, holding up a rock nearly half the size the size of his body with considerable difficulty.
“What the hell is he—“
Ellard threw the rock at the body at his feet.
“Shit!” cried Dlorek, “I can’t let the bones be crushed!”
Dlorek sped up, and jumped in the way of the rock, catching it.
“Damn!” growled Dlorek, only barely able to hold the rock up, “Why did you—“
Ellard slit open his stomach. As Dlorek crumpled, Ellard managed to catch the rock, and with difficulty, lowered it back onto the ground.
“It worked!” said Jeyod, surprised, “It’s funny that he didn’t even realize that it was one of his own men, and not me.”
Jeyod, Ellard, and the girl were standing above Dlorek, who was gurgling, but still very much alive. The girl stared at Dlorek in horror, her eyes wide. Then, she fell to her knees and vomited.
“Hey, girl!” said Ellard, bewildered, “You don’t look so good. You okay?”
She shook her head wildly.
“Hang on,” he said with a grin, “I think I can cheer you up.”
He crouched down to where Dlorek lay on the ground.
“Hey! Bet you feel pretty stupid, huh? You let a hobby get in the way of survival! Anyway, I saw your bone collection, and it’s pretty good. I think it only needs one more piece before it’s finished!”
In one smooth motion, Ellard ripped off Dlorek’s head and held it up in front of the girl’s face.
“See?” said Ellard cheerfully, “The bastard got what he deserved!”
Both Ellard and Jeyod laughed, but quickly realized that they were the only ones.
“Something wrong, girl?” asked Ellard, puzzled.
“You…you’re…you people…are all insane!” she said, as she burst into tears, “You’re demons! You are beyond hope! How did this happen to you?! Why did it have to happen?!”
“I don’t understand what you mean,” said Jeyod, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder.
“No!” she screamed, recoiling, “Stay away from me!”
With those words, she ran into the forest and left Ellard and Jeyod standing in the darkness.