Cato Emberson's Perspective:
I continued to walk through the empty desert with the sun beating down on my red cloak.
I had walked for around two whole days now.
The path had twisted a little bit but mainly continued straight out into the never-ending horizon.
I had trained using my hallucination throughout the second night, and it proved very effective in improving my abilities.
I was quicker to ignite my electricity fist, and I could spread electricity throughout my body faster, especially my eyes.
That was an invaluable skill to have cultivated throughout my journey.
Hastening the pace of the electricity spreading throughout my eyes allowed me to initiate my dash faster and any other move utilizing the dash technique.
As I started up a sizeable hill, my pace slowed slightly. I was exhausted from walking but cultivating at the same time lessened the load on my legs.
When I reached the crest of the hill, I noticed a large plume of dust in the distance. Following the dust from the top of the cloud down to the path revealed a carriage pulled by two horses.
I immediately started thinking of possible ways to deal with this scenario.
'I could kill them.' I stated bluntly in my head.
I quickly shook my head and reorganized my thoughts.
'I need information. Killing the passengers wouldn't do me any good.'
A calm, calculated feeling came over me,
'Well, I only need one alive, whoever knows the most.'
I reached an abrupt—but in my opinion reasonable—decision to keep the driver alive.
I started descending the hill I was standing on and saw the carriage approaching quickly.
It started to slow down as the driver seemed to notice me. I stood to the side of the path, giving the driver ample room to stop.
He continued to slow down before coming to a complete stop in front of me.
As the horses stopped moving, the man holding the reins turned to me, "What the fuck are you doing out here walking?"
"I missed the last carriage and urgently needed to return to my home."
The man replied, cocking an eyebrow, "So you walked?"
I sighed before getting on with what I needed to do.
My face changed from innocent to a cold demeanor, "Do you have any passengers on this carriage?"
Shocked by my change—his face plentiful in emotions—he responded, "N-no, there's only supplies for the colony back here. I'm the only person aboard."
A small smile crept over my stern face as I realized this was the best possible scenario.
Jumping onto the drivers' bench and landing in front of the now terrified man, I leaned into his face.
"Where are you coming from?"
He stuttered his almost confident reply, "W-what? Are you s-s-stupid?"
Glaring down and the man, I noticed him visibly flinch and close his eyes.
I coated my words in venom and spat them out, "Answer the fucking question, old man."
"I c-came from the city of Conterra."
"Is that where this path leads?"
The man spoke defeatedly with his hands raised in front of his face, "Y-yes."
I had never heard of the city of Conterra. I wasn't sure where it was or who inhabited it, and I wanted more information.
"Whose territory does Conterra lay in?"
A confused look appeared on the man's face as he fell silent for a brief moment.
"Well, I guess it technically resides in Beast and Nature Tribe territory." He shrugged after his statement.
"When was this city formed? And who resides in it?"
Another, even more, confused look appeared on the man's face, "Well, as the name seems to imply, this is a hub for all the Tribes."
Now I held the confused look on my face.
I was stunned. Never in my life would I have imagined the Tribes coming together for any other reason than war or a common enemy. Never in my life would I thought I would have heard of a hub for the Tribes.
The man continued, answering my first question, "Also, I think it formed about six or seven years ago? However, I could be wrong."
A rage ignited through my body.
'Of course.'
Addressing no one in particular, this time, I thought out loud.
"So you finally banded together to destroy the Fire Tribe."
The man seemed to assume I was talking to him and responded, "I guess the city was formed maybe a year or a half of a year before the attack on the Fire Tribe."
I attempted to quell my rage to question this man further.
My words were ice cold, "What do you know about the attack, Mister?"
He flinched again, raising his hands back to his defensive position.
"Uh, the Conterra Tribes attacked them and, now the Beast Tribe is expanding into what used to be their territory."
A visible disgust flashed over my face as I heard him mention the other five tribes as the 'Conterra Tribes.'
"Do you know why the 'Conterra Tribes,'" I hissed in sarcasm, "attacked the Fire Tribe?"
The man responded flatly with little emotion, "That I do not know. I can only assume that the Goddess of Fire went against the other deities leading to her death."
Content with what I had learned, and my rage reaching the brim of what I could hold, I grinned at the man.
"How should I get into Conterra?"
"Uh, I don't know. I supply the colony and go back. I don't know what you should do."
"Simple," I replied, "I'll take your job."
Before the man could open his mouth again, I had ignited his chest on fire with a hand.
He continued to slap at the fire spreading over his body before I kicked him off the driver's bench.
He hit the ground with a thud and a crunch. One which, I could only assume, was made by the arm he landed on.
He continued to scream before the fire ignited into full force, and the flames silenced him.
I stared at the flames on his body as they started to die down. With the death of the fire attached to his body, the rage inside me began to diminish as well.
I peeked into the carriage and found only boxes of supplies. I jumped into the back and began to throw the boxes out into the road behind me.
Once I had finished emptying the carriage, I made the horses move forward away from the pile of supplies and ignited it.
The fire quickly ate through whatever supplies the man had been carrying before leaving a pile of ash behind.
The wind quickly picked up most of it, and I was optimistic that there would be no evidence by the following day.
Incredibly relieved to be sitting down, I grabbed the reins once more, turned the horses around, and started towards Conterra.
~~~
When night had started to fall, I could see the lights of a town in the distance.
As I approached the town, I could tell that it was pretty significant. I was hopeful that this was the city that I sought.
I approached a large, black, stone wall. The wall was dull but the same material as the glistening statue of the Goddess at the Fire Tribe.
I stared at the towering wall as I rode in the carriage towards the wooden gate.
It was open, around ten people were waiting in line to get in, and three carriages took up the majority of the path.
I got in line behind the last carriage and waited.
The line moved swiftly, and I was next in line in no time.
Gripping the reins, my hands grew slightly sweaty as nervousness started to fall over me.
I reached the front of the line with my hood up and the guard, not looking up from the sheet of paper he was holding, spoke clearly.
"State your business."
"I'm returning from dropping off supplies at the colony."
Without looking up from his sheet, the man replied, "Perfect, you're the last delivery man. Return the carriage to the delivery service and collect your payment."
I flicked the reins and replied, "Thank you, Sir."
He ushered me away with his hand before repeating, for probably the hundredth person today, "Enjoy your time in Conterra."
I kept the horses at a leisurely pace through the city and started to take it in.
The black walls surrounded the entire city. Brick buildings that must have been over five stories towered over the streets and alleyways.
I sat on the carriage bench in awe at the sights before me.
There were small and tall buildings, residential and shopping. It was a proper city. Much, much different than the Town Square I grew up roaming.
I continued straight on the main road, unsure of where this delivery company was supposed to be.
Luckily, I noticed a sign at the next crossroad in the shape of an arrow with 'Colony Deliveries' written in the middle of it.
I took the right that the arrow told me to take and continued down the new street.
This street was almost as impressive as the last.
Although the buildings were smaller in size, the road was more expansive, and shops and stalls filled the edges of the cobblestone road.
There were some food stalls where I recognized none of the food, but the smells intrigued me.
Incredible pieces of armor and weaponry dotted with jewels that glistened in the sunlight drew my attention for a long time before I looked back down the street.
As I turned my gaze, I noticed a sizeable hanging board and caught a glimpse of the delivery company's name written. I pulled on the reins and stopped the horses. I had enough room to turn the carriage around and park it in front of the company's building. I did that and then hopped off the bench.
I squeezed through some stalls and arrived at the entrance to the building. I pushed open what seemed to be a glass door and made my way to the desk at the forefront of the business.
I leaned on the desk and looked at the man sitting behind it.
"Hello, I'm here to return my carriage and collect my payment." I scratched the back of my head, "I seem to be the last delivery man today."
"Ah, yes. Where is the carriage?"
A bit of concern laced my voice, "Oh, I just left it out front."
The man waved his hand, "No need to worry, that's perfect."
He finished his sentence and reached into his desk drawer, pulling out a small leather pouch and dropping it on the desk.
"I assume everything went well with the delivery?"
"It went perfectly, Sir."
The man opened the pouch sitting in front of us, "Good. The temperatures were higher this delivery—as I'm sure you noticed—which means your payment is higher as well."
Inside the small pouch were around twenty-five golden coins. A 'CoTe' imprinted in the middle of them in small font.
The man brought his glasses to the edge of his nose, staring at me, "I'm sure you know how this works, but I'll repeat it because you look a little unfamiliar."
He pushed up his glasses, closed his eyes briefly, and continued, "This is the official currency used in Conterra. However, because of Conterra's current prominence throughout the continent, almost every city you stay in will accept it."
I nodded as he briefly paused before continuing, "If this is the only currency you have on you, there will most likely be a bank in town that will accept it because of the precious metals inside."
I grabbed the bag from the desk and shoved it in a pocket before flashing the man a smile, "Perfect. Thank you!"
"Of course, thank you for completing your delivery."
I exited the building holding the pouch in my pocket.
For a brief moment, as I gripped the bag of money in my pocket, my sword on my hip, in a foreign city, the thought of experiencing life flashed through my mind.
'This could be a place to start anew.'
'I have some money. I'm sure people are looking for employees.'
'Sure, they would find out about the colony eventually, but who would suspect me?'
I stood in the middle of the sidewalk as people brushed past me on their way through the city.
I felt so peaceful, at ease, genuinely serene.
I closed my eyes and embraced this feeling as I stood on the sidewalk.
A tiny smile crept onto my face, a smile I wasn't used to producing, one that came from a sense of ease rather than bloodthirsty stress.
Before my smile could truly bloom, and my imagination could entirely run wild, a piercing, low voice shot through my head, making me peel open my eyes to check if someone had whispered in my ear.
'But you're the Reaper, right?'