Tap. Tap. Tap.
Hope nonchalantly tapped on the ground as he crouched next to the young boy who still laid unconscious. Hope's eyes observed the wet concrete beneath his feet as if it was the most interesting sight to behold without regard to the gaping chasm to his far side where morning continued to silverly shine.
Well, Hope wasn't exactly transfixed by the ground's surface.
At the moment, Hope was carefully going through his memories of the time when he traveled through the Mirror City with the convoy.
The government did a decent job of having the main road available as much as possible for them to travel through. And Hope was never one dealing with much trouble during those travels, but he had heard other convoys having to battle their way through sometimes.
"Hmm..." Hope tilted his head, his eyes glazed with a detachment.
Hope absentmindedly reached down and traced the ground with two fingers, faintly feeling the moist flat stone as a film played over his eyes.
He recalled that once entering through the gates, the road would curve 45 degrees left for four blocks before veering back straight. Eventually, it curves again, and heads left for about 10-20 minutes—depending on the size of the convoy—narrowly passing by the City's Center, and then curves right to exit out of the Mirror City.
'Huh.'
Hope blinked as he pushed away the film memory, switching his focus to the throbbing pain in his hand to bring himself back to the present.
Once his vision cleared, he could see the faint trace he made on the ground.
Hope wasn't sure why the government didn't give him a visual map of the Mirror City. Not that they necessarily had to. Especially when he would only follow the one path to travel on with the convoy.
But it would have been beneficial if he had even caught a glimpse of it.
"Mm..."
Either way, because of that he didn't know exactly where he was.
But for a general idea, Hope was somewhere in the far-right part of the city. He knew at least the entrance was near the bottom right corner before it veered left. And, before entering through the tunnels, he had traveled 10 minutes from the gate heading further right.
10 minutes didn't sound long.
Hope wasn't entirely sure if he considered himself a fast walker.
Why would that even cross his mind?
But 10 minutes walking down the wall without any rubble or blockades to avoid or the need to have any caution of approaching monsters covered a great distance for him he thought.
Hope rubbed his face and took deep breaths as a frustrating throb started to pulse on the sides of his head.
"Sigh..."
And there was also the question if he even got far enough in the tunnels or just unknowingly traveled in circles instead-
'Questions. Questions...Too many questions."
"..."
Hope paused.
There was one other question that needed answering, although he was reluctant to do so.
If he could anyway.
Tink.
The rifle clicked as Hope reached to his side and grabbed its heavy metal frame.
He sat down and laid the rifle on his lap inspecting its features.
Another quick film replayed itself when he shot the behemoth: How the bullets pierced three of its eyes hidden between the molds of flesh; how the behemoth reacted wildly from the searing pain.
Hope didn't know what rank it was or if it was possible to grow itself in class with the fusion of so many dormant beasts.
But for the rifle to cause an amount of damage to it said a couple of things.
One, it may have likely been an Awakened Creature and not a Fallen one.
Hope had heard Fallen Creatures could more or less shrug off devastating bombardments, so that couldn't have applied to the behemoth.
So, if not a Fallen then likely an Awakened high in class.
But it still would have been a problem for the bullets to hurt the monster gravely enough for it to react the way it did.
So, the second thing would be that...
Hope narrowed his eyes as he turned the rifle over and stared upon a scraped small, printed symbol.
He hadn't noticed it before when it was scratched, moreso when it was smudged with grime from probably being handled or traded around.
But...
'Mm. This is no ordinary rifle.'
Next to the safety level above the trigger, was a faded gray emblem of a shield with wings on its sides and a star at its center.
Hope wasn't sure if the government provided outer slum settlements with firearms of their own to defend themselves. But what he did know was that there were selective types of guns the army carried with specialized bullets to attack high-ranked Awakened Creatures and others to attack Fallen Creatures. They tried to multiply replicas of it so more of the army could use them.
But of course, that didn't come cheap.
Hope frowned as he looked at the emblem.
It was none other than the emblem from Quadrant I's military: the Brave Arm. One of the first militia organizations created after the Nightmare Spell.
Other organizations formed in Quadrant I, but it was the Brave Arm that outlasted and stood as the most effective organization to survive and fend off the Nightmare Creatures.
He was told that in its history it imposed martial law in the first decade of the Nightmare Spell. They even went as far as to take extreme measures for the sake of the settlements' safety, sacrificing more than they would have liked.
Although...that part wasn't properly explained to Hope of what they exactly sacrificed, but the overall summary was that many lives 'nobly' died for the cause.
But the Brave Arm eventually developed into a Military operation as a part of Quadrant I's North America Quadrant's Command (NAQC).
And Hope was a part of one of their military divisions along with many other Awakened and normal humans alike.
'Ah dammit this is too much.'
Hope internally sighed as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as more memories streamed into his mind like loose computer files popping out till they filled the screen with an improbable amount of information.
The Army was divided into three main categories: Regular Force, Reserve Force, and Special Force.
Regulars were full-time volunteered soldiers which comprised most of the Army. Reservists were part-time soldiers, trained and equipped just the same with assigned hours to be completed before they returned to civilian life.
Although few cities were said to be returning to normal—and said to be more lenient compared to a decade ago when laws were stricter—people were still 'highly' encouraged by the government to take on duties to earn a sufficient number of credits. Of course, the lower class would take the worst-of-the-litter type jobs. But most would join the Army Reserve to afford to feed their families or themselves. So, in the government's great plan, everyone contributed in some way to the community.
And Hope was a part of that lower class category, hence the reason for taking the side job of escorting the convoy.
Although he didn't have a family to go to anymore, he just lived and served more on side jobs for the government—mundane tasks that didn't require him to be active on the grounds but to spend hours away on guard duty till the next day came for him to start all over again.
Which was fine Hope thought.
But recalling back on it, some memories were completely black from that time.
Probably when he slept on some of the jobs...
"..."
'Well, I never got caught so no harm there.' Hope nonchalantly thought.
But then there were the Special Forces. No surprise that it was made up of Awakened and Masters. But there were mundane humans also a part of it, affiliated with mechanized infantry. They wore fearsome exoskeleton armor suits that appeared to be like giant cyclops 6-10 meters high—one of the said 'newest' models developed. Although, could definitely be upgraded...Work in progress he supposed.
There were other humans too that weren't exactly on the front lines, but part of the Special Force doing other operations unbeknownst to the public eye.
But it was mainly this Force that would get most of their hands on the special bullets to deal with high-ranked Awakened Creatures and Fallen Creatures. Guns were easier to provide than bows and arrows, and if the army was going to put faith into any potential soldier, then it would be the Awakened.
So, how could it measly fall into the hands of some slum settlement?
Sure, there were guards here, but no one of Special Force.
Or maybe?
'Tsk. How the hell should I know.'
Hope paused as he opened his eyes.
Was he getting too curious...?
"..."
'I shouldn't do that...'
Being too curious led to more questions, in which would make him involve in more things than he would have asked for. This was above his paygrade. In which, well, he wasn't going to be paid anymore due to his Flaw, but still.
'But the Brave Arm...'
Apparently, their name was taken from some old national anthem about 'home of the brave.' A lyric that embodied the old identity of Quadrant I's values.
"..."
'How...odd.'
There wasn't any anthem Quadrant I sang of the sort.
The only thing that they would say in unison was...
"For the glory of humanity." Hope muttered.
'For the glory of humanity-'
'For the glory of humanity-'
'For the glory of-'
At that moment, his mind started to grab each voice from his memories chanting those words; from when he was just a babe, to when he was a child and those words carried through the walls; to when he was in the army and had to chant those words himself in front of his officers.
Hope looked over at the broken tunnel's entrance where the silvery morning shined upon.
It was way past dawn hour, and Hope's stomach began to cramp in hunger. He had to move on and find Sector Two's settlement by today.
Hope's fingers twitched on the rifle.
He probably could conjure some answers now. But...
That wasn't his problem.
Or at least at the moment.
He was a simple soldier after all. Not some detective or special force. Why was the government taking so long to take care of this issue? Not his problem. Let the elites take care of it.
Hope frowned.
'But if it involves my teammates...maybe. Just maybe.'
Either way, he didn't want to involve himself in something that didn't necessarily single him out on.
"Nng...."
The boy groaned in his sleep; his eyebrows scrunched together, and the corner of his lips twitched.
Hope sighed as he looked over at the boy.
He reached over and lightly knocked on the boy's head.
"..."
Still out cold.
The boy's sunken eyes had a deeper shade of gray, and his lips seemed dry and chafed.
Hope would have offered the meat he ate earlier that was left in the backpack. But it was spoiled meat. For Hope with the damn cursed Attribute, he was fine to eat it.
But for the boy, it would have pushed him closer to death's door.
Hope grabbed the backpack and rifle and swung them over his shoulder. His clothes and chest rig were still damp, but not much he could do about it except wait for the rest of the day to dry it off.
He then knelt down and picked up the boy on his back.
Hope paused as he observed the boy's face up close which rested on his shoulder, a memory beginning to threaten to resurface.
But he quickly looked away before starting to walk down the wide pitch-black tunnel, cloaked in the darkness once more.