Death, once nothing but a foreign concept which was complete folklore in the world we inhabit would soon become reality. We humans and weapons would live on for an eternity. As long as we wished to live, it was so. Our immortality served us for a near infinite amount of time. We built cities, made amazing things together, and explored the vast reaches outside of our own planet. Little did we know that the immortality that served us all this time would soon be forcefully ripped away from our hands, and with no idea how or why.
Crows, their beady little eyes of pure darkness. Intelligent creatures, it's as if they flock around the skies simply to look down on humans and the like.
Once a harmless animal in the world, became the symbol of destruction and death of our people.
Crows multiplied in the thousands, swarmed over the continents and tore apart everything in a single night. And then like that, the next morning, they vanished. As people stepped out of their homes, rebuilding and regrouping from the tragedy that had struck the world, It was then that the first human death happened.
Crows were spotted worldwide again, and would invoke terror and fear into everyone that saw them. Every time some ones life was about to end, they always knew. Crows watched, circling the skies like vultures waiting for their victim to fall, and once they did. The cawing of the crow could be heard from at least a mile away.
The world fell apart, the fear of death, a concept that none could even begin to comprehend set in.
People began to get sick, disease was brought into the planet for the first time.
Our species was dropping like flies, and to combat this we used the power of the Granite.
Granite, a powerful rock that space researchers discovered and began to experiment with technologically, this rock would soon become the most valuable resource in the known universe.
It became the key to our survival, with the power to manipulate the winds and compel all lifeforms besides weapons and humans, the few remaining took to the skies. Building small villages with a windmill to store the granite inside. We created small safe havens from the outside realms.
But even then, we couldn't harvest food or the like inside of these new homes, and so more and more people would die out.
Now, a desolate abandoned wasteland, few survivors fight on the mainland for supplies in this lawless world.
My own brothers, killing each other.
As the sun's rays beamed through the cracked glass window above my bed, I awoke in a panic.
"Agh, Agh!", I let out heavy breathes that quickly faded as I came to. My clothes made ruffling noises as
i quickly moved my hands in front of my eyes to block the sun rays.
Looking up at the ceiling, my fan spun around in a endless circle, letting out a squeak sound with each passing second. A haunting dream of what everything has become. Was not the first time, and probably would not be the last.
"Great, Another day." Ornstein Astorian, my name. Once a researcher studying the granite and the outer reaches of the solar system. I guess most people would just call me a over glorified astronaut now a days. But back then? We were the leading force of the worlds technology. Our praises used to be sung far and wide, stretching across the entire span of the continent.
Heh, look at where all the knowledge I retained from that job has me now.
I groaned as I hopped out of bed, my head starting to slightly hurt little by little as my caffeine withdrawals kicked in.
"Coffee."
The sound of the morning coffee brewed as I gently moved the telescope away from my window and peered out of it. My small villa with about two remaining houses sat high in the sky, rubble and decayed ruins overflowing with flora, wood splinters and glass littered around the entire rock. It used to be a beautiful villa filled to the brim with noise, but most of those died travelling to the forgotten plains below.
"It's a surprise it's still running." I say, looking towards the old windmill which keeps us afloat. Without it, I'd probably be dead by now.
PUT, PUT, BANG!!" A loud crash like noise came from my coffee machine, I let out a large groan of frustration as my voice became more raspy. "Oh god damnit, come on for skies sakes!!"
"You piece of garbage, work damnit!" I yelled in a fit of anger, slamming the top of it over and over.
"Easy there killer."
A feminine voice spoke softly in my ear, as I turned around the woman who I know as Estilda was smiling brightly towards me. Her unkempt rosy red hair drooped down and covered her eyes from the severe case of bed-head. My gaze averts down, and I see that her clothes are almost fully off, even one of her nipples is poking out from her bra which she somehow failed to put on correctly.
Letting out a sigh, I angrily say with a voice as forcibly calm as I can make it.
"Estilda, Can you leave me alone, and go put some damn clothes on for once?"
She giggled, moving back a few steps before smirking and pressing a finger against her lips.
"Ogling me I see?"
"I mean, I live here too you know...and you see me naked everyday when I leave weapon form anyways! It's not a big deal Orny!"
I looked at her with a seriously annoyed stare, she then looked back, acting as if she was taken by surprise by my hostility.
"You're a pain in the ass so early in the morning, and I never want to see you naked in the first place but I'm forced to."
"Ugh Seriously, why am I stuck with a dunce like you?"
Put Put Bang!
The sound of the broken coffee machine continued, interrupting our conversation.
Estilda pointed towards it, and her mouth opened up widely in a goofy expression
"it's broke"
....
"Aware."
- A few hours later
"So, what's the plan for today?" Estilda said as she began to put her hair into a ponytail.
"Well..."
I sat down at my desk, looking at it closely it was quite messy, old papers crumbled together which once had meaning as they were essays involving my research, but now it's simply sentimental value. With them being nothing more than pipe dreams I pushed them gently to the side, revealing a large map of the continent below.
"First, we need to secure more granite..but.."
Estilda loomed over my shoulder, wrapping her arms around my neck gently and whispering to me.
"But you want your caffeine fix huh?"
"Mhm."
"Well..." Estilda reached one of her hands towards the map, and began to draw across it with her finger.
"North east, three-hour trip. Should be some granite in a nearby scrapyard there. On top of that there's an old mechanical store. We could get you the parts to build a new machine."
"How's that sound Orny?"
"Better than nothing I guess. Headache's not going to get any better without my coffee. While we're at it though..."
I look up at her, and she looks down smiling widely at me.
"Can you get off me?" I say as smile angrily, my eyebrows twitching from my easily irritable state.
"Come on!!" She says with a pouty face, puffing out her cheeks. "A bit longer."
"No, we need to get ready, I hate it when you're so clingy all the time."
Estilda removed her arms from my neck, holding them up in the sky as if she was surrendering and began to slowly back away.
"You say you hate so many things about me yet you keep me around...I wonder why that is?"
She said this with a sarcastic tone, smirking and snickering devilishly.
Standing up, I slid into my untied shoes, and bent over to tie them.
"Maybe because you're useful and without you I'd be dead?"
"Damn straight" she said confidently, putting her hand under my chin and bending over to stare into my eyes. I looked back with an expressionless stare as I continued to tie my shoes.
Estilda has always been like this, I've known the woman for over three centuries now, and throughout the entire time she's made countless advances towards me.
We've been partners since the first day I got my job as a researcher, and while she is annoying I know she's a good person. She's stuck with me through and through. I just wish she knew what the term "personal space" meant.
She's a weapon, a being similar in appearance to a human, but she has the innate ability to turn herself into a blade to grant the wielder of her special effects. Under normal circumstances, we'd both be immortal and have no fear about what may lie ahead, but now technique and fighting style is just as important as the weapon itself. If the wielder is useless so is the weapon.
Estilda's saved my life many more times than I can count, and to this day I still have no clue why she's so obsessed with me.
As I continued to stare at her, she leaned in closer to me with a swoop like motion as if she was trying to give me a kiss. I blocked her advance with my hand, and smacked her face with the open palm gently.
"Let's get ready to leave."
Placing one hand on her hip, her front bangs fell down as she fully stood back up from her bent position. "Fineeee".
White small curtains brushed against the windows of the main room, to the back of the room was a large dresser with a cracked mirror attached atop it. I took a quick glance at it, and felt anger towards what I saw.
For being a male, I definitely looked more on the feminine side. My long light blue hair reached all the way to the middle of my back, my front bangs even reaching my shoulders.
My face was buttery smooth. Not a speck of hair on my chin, and there never was before.
"I really need to work out more." My body, which while I was tall length wise, was extremely scrawny in contrast.
My ribs, if my shirt was currently held up I have no doubt in my mind that my ribs would be visible.
"Come on, you can check yourself out later Orny." Estilda said, turning the handle to the front door.
"Kerr....Creeeeeee" The creaking sound was deafening in the quiet room as the door was pulled open, sunlight just blaring its way through the front door and overwhelming the shadows in the corners of the room.
"Another day huh Orny?"
"Indeed."
Walking outside, we stood on the porch of our semi-collapsed building. It looked torn down and unkempt, the stairs leading down from the porch to the walkway was missing the very last few at the bottom. Cracked wood with small plants and flora seeped through the holes.
Estilda rested her arms against the railing, glancing upwards at the windmill before taking off bolting down the stairs, jumping down the few final steps. Following her lead after I closed and locked the door, I put the key in my coat pocket where it would be safe.
Small bursts of winds caused our hair and clothes to rustle, and forced the scent of fresh grass and pine to enter our nostrils. We walked over to the edge of the rock together and looked down at the large visible wind current between the island and the land below us.
The middle of the vortex acted as a elevator made out of pure wind, thanks to the power of granite.
"See you at the bottom Orny!! Hahaha!" Estilda screams and jumps into the wind, descending rapidly before being caught and her speed halts to a small levitation, she begins to wave towards me as I watch her became smaller and smaller in my vision.
My heart sank thinking about heading down there, I looked around and took in the sights. Who knew if this would be the last time I ever saw my home. My body slightly shook, but I gripped my fists together tightly.
"Enough of these nonsensical thoughts, we'll both make it home."
With that sentiment, I jumped off. The wind pressure moved my entire face aback before I'm forcibly caught and flung into an upright standing position, my body fully entered the vortex as I slowly descended. Old buildings began to become more and more noticeable in my eyes as I got closer to the bottom, Overgrowth scattered and trees bloomed out of some of the once popular buildings of this used-to-be bustling town. Abandoned, much like the rest of the world. The only remnants remaining from these now forgotten realms are being picked day by day by unknown survivors like myself. After all, only the ground has some of the necessities for survival.
As I finally reached the bottom, Estilda pointed towards me to garner my attention. Approaching her as I took a glance forward. In front of me laid many Buildings, dilapidated and now collapsed from years on un-use. Tons of flowers, trees, and wildlife expunge themselves from the dirt. Signs stick out from the ground with vines tangled around them, or simply were embedded in the soil itself, heavily covered in the endless amount of leaves.
"Do you remember where we're going?" I peered over her shoulder at the endless expanse of dense forest ahead of us, unsure of what direction we were currently even facing.
"Of course I do-" Estilda replied, to which quickly butting in, I replied.
"Thank goodn-" As I cut her off before, so did she.
"don't".
Visibly confused, we both stared at each other and somehow managed to say "Huh?" in perfect unison. Placing my thumb against my eye, I stretched my index across my nose to cover the other eye. In visible frustration I let out a soft scream, and then began to walk back to the wind vortex which brought me down, fully prepared to go back up.
"Stop, Stop!" Estilda grabs ahold of my arm before I even get the chance to move too far away. I turn towards her and she has a stupid smirk strewn across her face
"I remember the direction at least, all we got to do is keep following it. Going back up is going to waste too much time, trust me!"
I pause for a moment
.....
"What was the direction?"
"North East" she replies.
"Alright...If we get lost, that's entirely your fault Estilda."