Silence in the pocket dimension would occasionally be broken by the mighty roars of roaming beasts or the howling of the wind.
Bright sunlight highlighted the massive pits and gullies that were miles deep and spread in every direction, it was a clear sign of the harsh violence that must have been inflicted upon the land and its former people.
The crowns of the many trees that had laid claim to this post-apocalytic land, bowed and swayed as the wind swept through the ravaged but fertile surroundings.
Having explored the broken forested town numerous times, Hartley and Zhi Ruo hadn't discovered any clue of note to help them get back to the Aldora continent. It was as if they had fallen into the pocket dimension from the sky.
They had decided to explore further on in hopes of finding less decimated parts of the pocket dimension, maybe even other people.
After traveling for days they came upon a large river running from east to west. Its banks was jagged and rough, almost unnatural in its appearance like sword strike had split the land.
The still waters below its banks was mud-coloured, calm and devoid of any flowing currents .
The couple had decided to cross and head further south. The two approached carefully.
"Stop." Hartley said as they both stopped on the bank.
"Look," Hartley pointed at the water below, his scrunched brows eyeing in suspicion as the calm waters began stirring and churning with froth.
Seconds later a giant serpent breached the surface with a huge splash, sending swathes of water showering onto the banks.
Its green scales looked metallic, reflecting back speckled glints of golden sunshine. Water, algae and moss cascaded down its huge body as it rose up from the depths of the murk.
The beast's eyes locked onto the intruders with droplets of water dripping back into the pool beneath it.
The head with its glaring green slitted eyes was twenty meters high, while the three meter-thick shaft of its body disappeared back into the depths of the murky river.
There was now a huge shadow casting a dark lane across the intruders and the river bank, the beast screeched out a high pitched sound like some sort of battle cry.
It then huffed out vapour trails from its nostrils like steam from a boiling kettle, and lunged down with a quick sudden movement as if the massive beast had been spring-loaded.
it came zooming at them with its tail end still tethered in the river, intending to swallow them whole in one quick gulp.
As it dived.
Hartley moved right. Zhi Ruo flashed left.
The raining water molecules glistening with the golden hue of the sunshine fell around them as they separated in opposite directions.
Booms clapped out in the air as Zhi Ruo effortlessly glided to the left over the uneven surface, leaving after-images trailing in her wake, a vortex of wind blasted a puff of swirling dust into the air behind her as she broke through the sound barrier.
Her improvements wasn't just in her cultivation realm. She had spent a year relearning how to breathe, how to move and how to fight. With that and her current experience, Hartley didn't have to worry too much for her safety.
Hartley moved twenty meters to the right with his image blurring like a gust of wind, movements so fluid and quick it seemed like just a single step.
He had improved massively as well, without the use of any time manipulation his real time combat had gone up a level.
He realised he had been using his time manipulation as a crutch, without it his reflexes had been laboured and slow when he first entered combat in the pocket dimension.
He had returned to the fundamentals of his self taught techniques and made massive improvement to them, concentrating on efficiency and speed.
The least amount of effort for the maximum amount of output or damage. A mantra he had learned from Kang.
The giant snake's head divided by its teeth-filled maw, came slamming into the ground like a sledge, digging out a crater with a boom.
Rocks flew everywhere and a dust cloud plumed.
It had missed its targets, but before it could withdraw to find another opportunity...
Hartley's grey robe fluttered violently around him, he fizzed back through the dust and falling debris.
Immediately summoning his two blue elemental swords, he counterattacked with precision and split second timing.
Within a heartbeat he was in range, the long sword in his right hand with 100 gs of gravitational force applied to its blade, slashed from left to right with a bright gleaming flash of blue brilliance.
Hartley's silhouette lit up in the broad day, illuminating his features and sending the falling debris scattering out of sight.
The sword carried the momentum of a mountain, space itself wobbled around the sword with a warbling sound as the strike slammed against the glistening green scales of the beast.
Bang! At least a dozen of the massive scales shattered from the savage strike, the pieces dislodging and scattering through the sky like twinkling green fireworks then falling into the river with numerous plops and splashes.
The snake's body jerked as it screamed in agony, the screeching sound was like needles in one's ear.
The hit had wrenched out a huge chunk of flesh from its neck, leaving it with a stream of blood spurting like a high pressure hose from the ghastly wound.
The beast was stunned momentarily, a flash approached from the left a heartbeat later, Zhi Ruo glowing white dagger whipped in an arc from the left.
Sparks burst into the sky when the blade landed on the opposite side of its neck.
Her strike was not as powerful but it did shatter a couple scales.
The snake released a woeful shriek, recoiled and jerked its head back up in the air out of the enemies reach. Swaying side to side with new found caution.
Blood was spraying non stop as if an artery was severed, dyeing the mud-coloured river below it with a hint of red. The snake had a bit of intelligence, it was about to retreat back into the river and run for its life.
A translucent sphere carrying one of the intruders appeared twenty meters high in front of its eyes in a flash.
This time a strike of the long blue blade had zero gravity applied.
It whizzed by like a flash of blue lightning. The blue swordlight went through the open wound and out the other side like butter. The cut was as smooth as silk.
The snake's head separated and fell forward, blood gushed from its thrashing body like a water cannon, the head landed with a puff of dust and debris flying before the massive body plummeted to the ground with a huge crash and billowing clouds of dust.
As Hartley floated back to the river bank Zhi Ruo came from the other side of the massive creature with a look of awe, "that was impressive." She said, the body of the snake continued to thrash around on the banking in its death throes. Spilling its blood into the earth.
Hartley smiled awkwardly while scratching his head, he too was speechless, his strength had improved yet again.
He was starting to exceed even his own expectations.
After crossing the river they continued their journey south, fighting beasts and gathering resources along the way. It was another year before they came across signs of human life.****
The discarded remnants of a once great civilization laid strewn across the landscape, a wooden wagon pitched and wobbled over the bumpy winding roads. The sun dimmed over the horizon leaving the a orangish glow over the lands below.
The rattling wagon with its squeaky wheels broke the silence on the narrow road invaded by weeds. The wagon made its way across a stretch of wilderness blanketed by ankle high foliage. There was a half broken stone statue laying to the right covered in weed and vines.
In the back of the rumbling vehicle were two girls about the age of twelve bounded at the hands and feet laying sprawled across the wooded lining. They bounced up and down with the contours of the unpaved road releasing grunts of pain periodically.
The driver of the wagon whistled a happy tune cracking a whip at the animals pulling the wagon.
After manoeuvring around a tight corner the wagon suddenly pulled to a halt, the two girls rumbled around in the back letting out shrieks of pain...
"###@@@####@@" the man, short and stumpy with a full beard unleashed his fury at the two strangers blocking the path, standing on the wagon and gesticulating wildly in disgust. Waving for them to move to the side of the unpaved surface.
The two people dressed in grey blocking the narrow road looked at each other. They couldn't understand one word from the angry man.
Then they spoke to the man, rattling off a barrage of questions...
The man's eyes opened wide, he unsheathed the blade at his waist and went on another incomprehensible tirade.
The man was irate as he waved the sword about with menace.
"Do you really want to make that mistake?" Hartley asked with a tilted head as if expecting an answer.
He knew fully well they were speaking different languages but for some reason the man had lost his mind after hearing the language of the Aldora continent.
"Where are the other people?" Zhi Ruo still persisted with her questioning.
It had been two years since she had seen another human. She had fought and camped under the open sky for so long that she started to believe she might never see a human in the pocket dimension.
The two girls held captive in the wagon started to scream at the top of their little lungs.
The man turned and raised the blade above the defenceless children, the sword glinted the orange reflection of the twilight, he shouted more gibberish as the screams of the girls echoed out.
As he was about to bring down the shiny blade like a guillotine onto his captives. His eyes widened in shock when he saw a flash of blue.
He felt the wet sensation on his throat, he touched his throat with his free hand before bringing it up to his eyes and seeing the blood. He then completely blacked out...
Hartley stood at the side of the wagon, the girls wept as he watched.
"Our first encounter with a human in years and this is how it turned out." Zhi Ruo commented as she walked up alongside Hartley and saw the captured girls
Hartley sighed as he stretched over and freed the girls saying.
"From the beginning of time where there's men there's always atrocities."
The girls scuttled back in fright to the far corner of the wagon as they hugged each other and wept some more
Zhi Ruo tried to comfort them with words she knew they couldn't understand.
After a while when they finally calmed down.
One of the little freckled face girls with full eyes and brown hair looked up and tentatively said
" You speak the old language?" in perfect Aldoran