The End of Silence
With every step he took in an attempt to leave that forest, it seemed more and more like that day was working against his escape as night began to fall again. Neale even thought about continuing to walk, even if it was through the approaching darkness, but he was human above all else and his body had its limits, so along with the fatigue that had been taking over, the pain also appeared. His cut shoulder throbbed as if threatening to start bleeding again, forcing him to stop and rest. As soon as he chose one of the trees around him and rested on one of its branches, he began to think about what he knew regarding the city of Kirden. He had grown up in a small kind of village that was surrounded by a vast forest, probably a small place that the Order shouldn't even have known about, and if by some chance it did know, then why weren't we affiliated with it? Neale remembered having a few conversations with his parents about Kirden, but nothing seemed to be so deep and detailed. They would always talk to Neale while showing him some hand-drawn maps that detailed a little of what was around them at the time, and in those conversations they talked about how Kirden had become humanity's largest defense base against the Absolute Races.
With his mind being flooded by several of these small old memories of conversations, he ended up falling asleep without even realizing it, and before the first rays of sunlight appeared in the sky, he was awakened by a small squirrel that, a few branches above, ended up dropping one of its seeds while returning to its nest in the canopy of that tree.
As soon as he climbed down again, he resumed walking in the same direction, accompanied by the dark-blue sky that was only a few minutes away from seeing daylight again. Neale's stomach still showed no signs of hunger, at least that was how things remained during the first few hours, and even with the certainty that he was still going in the same direction, the feeling that he was going around in circles began to appear, and everything started to look the same with every step. The slightest noise that he tried to make or made with his feet seemed to be absorbed by the ground, as if the sound were feeding the earth, and without seeming to have made much progress, that day's night also approached almost by surprise.
On the second day, everything seemed exactly the same again. He even began marking the trees just to make sure they weren't the same ones from minutes earlier, but even so, certainty only came when he came across a small bush full of yellow fruits. He picked one, bit half of the fruit, and left it inside his mouth. Its taste was sweet and spread quickly. After a few minutes without any apparent reaction, he finished picking a few more fruits and took them in his backpack, and as time continued to pass, a strange feeling of being surrounded also began to emerge. Maybe he was going crazy, or perhaps his own body was somehow strangely trying to keep itself distracted by giving him these false sensations that, at the moment, felt intensely real. The fear of being hunted by more beasts was occupying a large space in his mind. When night fell, it was one of the first nights when everything around him did not become completely dark. The moon finally seemed to be able to pass through the leaves of the trees. This even encouraged him, making him continue walking just a little longer, even though it was during the night.
When his mind and body began to grow tired, as if they had both already decided to stop there, Neale took just one more step, just one more, and with his head still lowered, he suddenly noticed that the trees had disappeared from his view. But that wasn't all. If he paid close attention now, his footsteps had a sound, and when he raised his head to understand what was right in front of him, as he lifted his eyes, a small and lively city seemed to emerge while being embraced by the moonlight that tried to compete with the city's lights.
The city looked like a small dead industrial area, with some tall buildings and others shorter ones taking up most of the view in front of him. Some of the factories still seemed to release smoke through their long chimneys, which from a distance looked as if they were devouring part of the sky.
As Neale came closer, the silence of the forest was left behind. He was so tired that he wouldn't even have been able to say how many days he had actually spent inside the forest, and as he approached the wall surrounding the city, he noticed that most of it seemed to be improvised with wires and boards. Some lanterns surrounding the more complete part of the wall had very strange shapes, while others just seemed to be deformed, but all of them appeared to have different colors reflected through the glass.
As soon as he finished jumping over the more solid part of the wall and entered the city, its alleys and streets were all dark, illuminated only by the faint lights that softly escaped from the houses or bonfires left in front of them.
And taking advantage of that darkness, which couldn't even be compared to the one in the forest, he broke into a small abandoned building through one of its several broken windows, and after curling up in a corner between the first and second floors, he fell asleep.
As dawn came, the sound of conversations and footsteps from that city continued to decrease. Apparently, most of this place was nocturnal, and when Neale woke up almost at the beginning of the afternoon, the sound of hammers and steam engines was easily spreading around.
Even though there didn't seem to be anyone in the building where he had spent the night, he still chose to leave there stealthily, taking great care with his footsteps, and when Neale went out onto the street, the movement of people through the streets really was lower, but it was still possible to hear people talking while negotiating and buying things at the small tents and shops, or their conversations while simply walking to somewhere else.
- My husband came home yesterday, completely exhausted from work, can you believe that he barely had the strength to speak?
- Seriously, girl? … what kind of work did he end up taking this time?
- I think it was something related to…
- Excuse me, sir, I think I've already made up my mind, I want to take that item over there…
- Excellent choice. This is a small electric clock from the times before the war. Unfortunately, electrical objects don't work, but it will certainly add more charm to you. I'll sell you this extremely rare item for just a few…
- Let's play hide-and-seek already, this time you're the one who starts looking…
“Neale: I had almost forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by so many different voices.”
While walking through the streets, Neale couldn't help but notice that even during the day, that city could still maintain the same gloomy presence it had during the night. It was as if each of the shadows were darker than normal so they could hide the gazes behind them. Maybe it was all in his head, or someone was trying to steal his things. Maybe he should have found some good place to store his things before walking around the city, but even with that, Neale couldn't help but pay attention to two people when he passed them on the street.
It was as if a slight discomfort touched his skin when he passed those two men dressed in light tactical armor, and if he were to compare them with the beasts Neale had encountered before, the discomfort they caused together was much smaller. His skin barely even bristled.
Their armor seemed to be well-articulated. Its color was a dark, dirty burnt yellow with a few black details, and only one of them was wearing a helmet. The other had his face exposed. He was blond, his eyes were almost blue, and his armor seemed to be made for close-quarters combat, with his gloves appearing larger and heavier.
The helmeted man's armor, on the other hand, seemed to be focused on a short-range combat style, with a sword strapped to his waist and two small knives on his left leg.
Helmeted Soldier: I can't believe Kirden sent us all the way to Valerium.
Unhelmeted Soldier: Dude, you have to learn to relax. We just got a little unlucky, and besides, at least this mission is…
“Neale: So that's the name of this city? Valerium, and they also came from Kirden.”
As soon as they separated, Neale continued walking normally for almost a minute before entering one of the alleys so he could turn back.
Neale: I wonder if, by following them, I'll be able to get some information on how to get to Kirden. Maybe they'll even say something about the academy or students?