A burning pain from the back of my throat forced me awake, it was unlike anything I have ever felt before, I quickly looked around me, but all that there was around me was still a bloody coach. I quickly looked outside to see that it was still dark, even though hints of the morning sun could still be seen far in the distance. I don't know how the rest of the test takers were doing, but I need to get out of here, getting the cards required for the test should not be too hard
I stumbled back up to my feet, the burn in my throat progressively getting worse by the second as my vision began to swim about, a red haze clouding everything. I ran my palm across my eyes, perhaps I've gotten blood in it, but it was futile. No matter what I did, all I was still seeing was a red haze, I grunted to myself, my voice coming out as more of a hiss than a grunt, I ignored it, I was in a lot of pain right now and my throat was on fire, maybe I bruised it during the fight or something, I wasn't sure, but it was getting harder to focus on anything due to that pain.
The cards around had glows that went from dark red, to dull green, a bright blue, dark purple then two shining gold. Cards were ranked Common(White), Soldier(Red)(Uncommon), Knight(Green)(Rare), Lord(Blue)(Epic), Duke(Purple)(Mythic) then King(Gold)(Legendary). In other words those ranks would be Common, uncommon, rare, epic, mythic, then legendary. It poked at the back of my head that the deck or light that had gone into my body had been pitch black, and the system had said it was an {Ancient} ranked card….. there was nothing like that in existence. I stumbled to the right as the train came to a screeching halt, and a particularly sharp pain lanced through my stomach and left a shock in my spine.
I stumbled to the ground as I began to scramble about, grabbing whatever cards I could get my hands on, but making sure that my hands grabbed the two legendary ranked cards first. If the Silver Wyatt Gang were to be believed all I needed to do was turn in a single card, but that won't work, not with them. I'd have to make sure I had a back up, and thankfully even in my pain filled state, I came prepared.
I had two card holders with me, there was one on my forearm and another in my belt. As long as these cards have not been slotted yet, there was no danger in carrying them outside like this. I grabbed all the cards I could, most of them hanging over the bodies of the soldier's who had died in here, meaning that these were their cards. There were a couple of other crates in here, particularly twelve of them, but they were empty. In fact the only cards within this coach was the cards dropped after the soldier's had been massacred.
*BOOM!*
An explosion rocked the train, powerfully enough that it blasted me forwards and out the coach, but not before my head clipped the doorway and a massive chunk of flesh was ripped from my face. It deposited me nicely on the tracks, making sure to leave as much bruises and tears and a very broken left leg in the process. I wanted to scream, but the fear that soaked my body in that moment was enough to force me to keep my mouth shut….there was a hunter above me, it's blinking lights and massive engines releasing sounds that filled the air as it's massive cannon was still pointed at the smoking remains of the train.
"Attention Intruders! This is Hunter 554019 Designation [Stinger] come out with your hands in the air and be prepared to be remanded into Hunter custody."
"Shit!"
I swore as I turned over and got up to my feet, red haze or not, the only thing in my mind was escape. I looked left, and the same cliff that we had jumped from was looking at us, but not the same area of course. However we were on a bridge, and to the left of me was the Red River, from where the train was hit, we were not so far to the other side, and better yet this was the entrance to the city. Searching lights from the hunter flashed over me, and I stopped hesitating, as I ran forwards.
At the back of my head was a nagging thought, it was there but I was not paying attention to it. It was question that perhaps I can only answer later, but ultimately, how was it possible that I was moving about with a broken body, heck I should be dead or paralyzed by the pain by now. But I could almost not feel anything, nothing at all.
The wind blurred past me, as the world seemed to slow down. I wasn't stupid, even I knew I had just moved infinitely faster than I had any right to be. So much so that the way I moved was akin to vanishing and just before I jumped over the bridge and into the waters below I heard the pilot of the [Stinger] ask out loud to no one in particular.
"What the fuck was that?"
My leap of the bridge left cracks in it's concrete pavement and deformed the metal beam that supported it. I crossed over a hundred feet of distance in one leap, an event that shocked me so much that I could not stop myself from loosing control as I splashed down into the water, some ten feet away from the shore, and then came the pain.
The water was caustic and poison all at the same time, it was as if someone had filled my body with concrete and even with all of my injuries there was no stopping the power it had over me. It threatened to drag me to the depths as my body became nothing more than dead flesh to it, no control, no strength, just pain and agony. Like a thousand fire ants burrowing a hole through my body, eating and burning me as they stripped the flesh from my bones.
I blacked out, but even in the darkness the pain was there, it followed me with every dream and every thought that passed my head in that state. It was a fitful sleep, and I could feel the currents carrying me, but not too far, it came to a stop as rough gravel pressed against my cheek, giving me enough relief to open my eyes wide in shock and pain as I crawled forwards, using my shoulder to move until my arms were out of the river and then they dragged the rest of me out.
I couldn't help myself anymore as I turned over and cried. What could I do, what did I do wrong. There has never been a moment of peace of happiness in my life since the war with Palladia, since their fucking paladins burnt my entire family to a crisp and left only me and my Mama alive. They left me in poverty and heartache and the government that was left standing after the monarchy fell, chose to keep us that way. All they care about is their own power, all they care about is their own comfort, it hurts so much, and I am so fucking HUNGRY! SO HUNGRY!
"Gods above it burns! Make it stop…..please make it stop!"
"Hey you! Kid this is my spot, don't come and die here of some fucked up drug overdose, go get some other part of the beach to die in punk, what the fuck is wrong with you anyways." I looked up at the homeless man that had appeared, through the red haze his body seemed to glow with green and gold…..life, it was so potent I could feel fangs sliding out my lips, so I answered him.
"I'm so hungry."