In a particular place in the slums, as it was called...
The Great Slums for trash. A name given to those imprisoned within its walls.
A dust cloud could be seen, large enough to attract attention from people living in the area.
There, Damon lay on the white sand of the slums, formed from the nutrients lost from the soil. Scratch marks covered his entire body.
His legs were completely mangled, and he seemed to be unconscious.
"Oh, damn. I didn't expect a single air punch to damage him this much. I forget how fragile normal humans are." Kenny crouched over the unconscious Damon, lifted his head off the ground, and brought out a bottle from his clothes, making Damon drink from it.
"He showed so much determination. I guess I got a little excited."
As soon as Damon swallowed the liquid from the bottle, his body began to radiate with white light.
His broken bones reattached automatically, healing him on the spot. His wounds closed up, mending instantly and completely disappearing. In less than a minute, Damon's body was back to normal.
The battle had been one-sided. Damon took a step, and Kenny punched the air, creating a fist materialized from thin air, which knocked the daylights out of Damon.
Damon's eyes snapped open as he woke up. "Ahh, my head." He grabbed his throbbing head. "Who won?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Kenny replied.
...
The next day, Damon suited up to be the scavenger for the day.
Well, it wasn't really called 'suiting up.' It was more like gathering his rusty knife, which he had sharpened to perfection, and heading out to scavenge in his baggy, disease-infested clothes.
He didn't even remember the last time he showered, only brushing his teeth consistently with some discarded brush, where the toothpaste was found was a great mystery.
Damon could be seen in the middle of nowhere, staring at the other part of the slums.
The slums were divided into two sectors, the Blue and Red zones.
The Blue zone, a place where the people of the slums resided, had fewer piles of garbage. The Blue zone was the backyard of the dump, so fewer garbage piles were located there, making food hard to find.
While the Red zone was a place no one ever ventured into. It was an unsafe area where rumors said a void creature resided. They were pretty much trapped here and unable to leave this place.
This was a measure to keep the filth from the main city of Rackwood. They were practically trying to kill those less fortunate or those whose properties were scammed from them and left here to die.
The slums were like the worst type of prison for those who committed crimes or high-degree felonies.
"Freedom is near, yet so far to reach," Damon was hesitant. The joy of freedom was quite strong, and he always wondered if the rumors were true.
He had only seen a void creature once, and that was seven years ago—the creature that slaughtered his parents.
'I can't stay in this place forever. I need to avenge my parents. Take back what was taken from them before their demise. The only way I can do that is by becoming powerful, like those Curseweavers. But someone like me can't be special; even Kenny, the lowest level, could destroy me with a simple punch to the air.'
'I hate being weak!!' Damon thought, constantly repeating those words as he ventured into the Red zone. Determined to at least escape this place and find freedom.
With a steady heart, Damon stepped into the darkest part of the dump, where no one ever dared to venture.
Just like the Blue zone, mountains of garbage were piled in different places. The smell of rot and decay filled the air, more intense than in the Blue zone.
This was because the Blue zone was cleared, and rotten foods were kept far aside to reduce the revolting aroma of the refuse.
Venturing deeper and distancing himself further from the Blue zone, Damon suddenly saw something up ahead.
"I found it!! I can finally get out of here," Damon rejoiced internally. About seven meters away from him was a large steel door, ten inches thick. It was ten times more solid than any vault and seemed to have undergone the third stage of steel rot, yet it stood high and mighty.
With might, disregarding the need for silence, Damon ran to the door. He tried to push it, but it didn't even budge.
'Damn, the door's sealed shut. Kenny might be the only one able to open it with brute force. I should contact him immediately.' Just as Damon was about to head back...
A soft rustling sound encapsulated the vicinity. Damon was unable to pinpoint the exact location the sound was coming from, as it was all over the place.
Squeak... Squeak...
Squeak...
Squeak...
These sounds were awfully familiar to Damon. "Are those rats?"
Out of nowhere, a certain mountain of waste suddenly shook as something the size of a mini car burst out of the trash into the air.
Damon was momentarily stunned, prompting him to retreat a few steps backward. The sight of the entities sent shivers down his spine, provoking a sudden flashback of what he had done to their brethren.
As the entities descended, they started to sniff the air.
'Those are some huge rats,' Damon thought, gulping hard.
The rats exuded a purple energy that swayed with the wind, releasing a musty smell with dampness in the air. In fact, the thing that shocked Damon wasn't the smell but the size of the creatures.
They were close to the size of mini cars, with two dagger-like front teeth, sharp pencil claws, and tails overflowing with eight-inch thorns.
'I'm really screwed, aren't I? The rumors were true. There are void creatures in the Red zone,' Damon was terrified, confused about what to do next. 'It doesn't make sense; void creatures don't look like animals on Earth. Unless, in the slightest scenario, they fed on the carcass of a void creature, initiating energy transfer—the process of becoming infected.'
As Damon retreated, a cursive twig stuck in his way, and he abruptly stepped on it.
*Snap!*
*Snap!*
Instantly, all the rodents' attention shifted to Damon.
'F*CK!'
****