"It's been raining for weeks now....Food supplies are running low and the hunting team hasn't been able to catch anything in the chaotic weather these days. If they aren't able to catch anything this time then….,."
A young girl around 13 was standing on a tall wall wearing a brownish one piece dress and looking out towards the ruined landscape full of fallen structures and overgrown plants.
The rain didn't seem to bother her as she had been standing here for hours now, looking out for any signs of the hunting team. She hoped more than them finding any game, that they return safely.
The Outland was no easy place to live in. More than the threats from beast, the threats from their own kind was the dominant traits of the Outland. If you weren't strong enough, you could lose everything you have to those who were stronger.
Each shelter has to be backed up by strong fighters who would be able to defend it's resources or else risk to have everything they have taken from them. If the hunting team dies outside then the shelter would lose a great deal of strength as the members of the hunting team were selected with strength as the criteria making them the premium fighting force of the shelter.
Just when the girl felt her legs about to give in she saw faint silhouettes in the distance. Happiness flashed in her eyes but she didn't rush to open the gate. She pulled out a binocular and looked out and only when she saw the familiar faces and crest of the Northwind Shelter did she shout out in joy.
She quickly ran along the walls and entered a keep along the walls before vigorously hitting on a big bell repeatedly. In the distance, one of the men pulled down the bandanna he tied across his face and let out a grin.
"It's Penelope again. There's something about that girl alright, if I were any bit younger nah heck if it were before this madness came upon this world, I would have wifed her already."
"Get in line buddy. Those young lads in the shelter don't know how lucky they are. A good girl like that was had to find back then and even harder now."
"She probably stood there since we left….silly girl."
"Since she came, the shelter has just been different and in a good way. In a world where all the colors are greyed out, she splashes a rainbow across it."
"Right?!"
Everyone loves Penelope. It's not hard to see why though. She gives this warm fuzzy feeling that in this cold world, makes everyone want to bask in her warmth.
The hunting team doesn't wear any specific uniform, they do however wear a special green bandanna with an image of a mountain on it with gales blowing across it. They can tie it anyhow they want but it must be worn at all times during operations.
As they walked towards the shelter, behind them a cart was being pulled along by their members. Although a truck would have been more convenient but it made too much sound that can attract more beasts as well as people with bad intentions.
A cart could be pulled along quietly without bringing any attention so it was the preferred option. The cart at the moment was covered with a tarpaulin but there were still limbs of beasts peeking out at the seams.
On the wall, Penelope stood alongside a grizzled middle aged man who was currently looking towards the hunting team with a satisfied smile. As he did he couldn't help but look towards the dark haired 13yo standing by his side.
'Ever since I accepted this girl into my shelter, things have been getting better and better. We fixed up our weapon and textile factories, found some rare resources, recruited more people, not faced any epidemic in this kind of weather conditions, got better harvests from the fields and loads more. Even being able to get this much game in a period where we would have normally gone for wool and come back shorn. Is she perhaps one of those special experts.'
"Boss this time we were really lucky, miss Penelope is really our Northwind Shelter's lucky star."
"Yah yah, after she prayed for us, When we went we initially didn't find any game for a while but later we heard some loud sounds and we summed up our courage and went there. We found a bunch of beasts killing themselves over some plant, eventually they all killed themselves and we got free game without breaking a sweat as well as the plant."
The grizzled middle aged man was the leader of the shelter and he let out a hearty laugh and looked at the blushing Penelope by his side.
"You boys should stop teasing the little miss, the plant you got could any of you identify it?"
The captain of the hunting team grinned as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a weird plant that looked like a sunflower. Although it was roughly harvested, there was a gentle glow around the plant.
The boss immediately upon seeing it had his eyes light up and his breathing sped up. "Is….is this what I think it is Don?"
"Haha congratulations boss, with this our Northwind Shelter will be able to get one of those special fighters too. At that time we will definitely be able to expand the shelter."
"Good good good. My Northwind Shelter will finally have it's own day, Miss Penelope I can't thank you enough. You may deny it but there are too many coincidences, it all points to the fact that you really are our lucky charm."
The girl blushed even harder when she heard the leader praising her like that, she quickly waved her hands as she squealed out
"Kyaaaa Boss is bullying me again. I already said that it's the shelter's own fortune for all of this to happen. I really don't have anything to do with this."
"It's alright if you don't want to accept it, with this Dawn Flower I will be able to choose from among us an outstanding warrior that will use it and become an expert."
Immediately word spread across the shelter about the hunting team's adventure instantly drawing gasps of awe as well as a deeper love for that dark haired 13yo girl and her brother that were accepted into their shelter.
Eventually it was decided that it should still be Don that should use the flower as he was very loyal to the shelter and will not abandon it after taking the benefits. He is also a reputed fighter across this area of the Outland so he would only be stronger when he becomes and expert.
Penelope meanwhile skipped along towards a small cabin in the center area of the shelter. Usually only the family of powerful fighters or reputed residents lived here as it was the safest place in the shelter but somehow this pair of siblings were able to get a cabin here.
As she walked she greeted the people she passed and they happily responded to her. After hearing the lucky experience the hunting team experienced after Penelope prayed for them as well as previous experiences of good fortune at the hands of Penelope the residents were even more welcoming towards this cheery little girl.
"Hey Pepe! Pepe!"
"Eh?"
Penelope turned around and saw a boy who looked to be around 15yo running towards her. A slight blush crept unto her cheeks and the people on the streets that noticed it, couldn't help but smile at the innocent joys of youth.
"Hehe Pepe why are your cheeks so red? Are you not feeling fine? Come come let me feel your temperature."
The boy walked towards her with a sly grin and placed his hand on her forehead which only made her blush even harder to which he uncontrollably started laughing.
Penelope looked around and realised that even some of the bystanders had joined in the laughter. Her cheeks at this point were as red as a tomato and she squealed
"Kyaaaaa!!! Andrew you bully!!! You're teasing me again, I'll tell leader on you."
"Hey hey, I'm sorry Pepe. I just can't help it, don't tell my dad. He'll scold me for days"
"Haha young lord, it's your fault for teasing the little miss like that."
"Yeah yeah that's no way to treat a lady like Penelope."
"You should be more gentle in the future young lord, otherwise when you two get married you would be getting into lover's quarrels everyday"
Although the residents seemed like they were scolding the young lord, in actuality they were joining in on teasing Penelope. When she heard the last comment she squealed again and ran off towards her little cabin causing the residents to get a good laugh in.
The young lord Andrew, looked at her running off with a bright grin on his face. He was the one that brought Penelope and her brother to the shelter. From the first time he saw her, he fell head over heels for her.
Although bringing her back was inconvenient at that time he vigorously protested to his father to have him bring them back with their team. Initially the shelter residents were not to happy about it, thinking that the young lord was too impulsive but ever since all the good things started happening to the shelter they were extremely grateful that the young lord did what he did that day and his position as the successor of the shelter was already set in stone.
Although he had to wait till his 18 and she 16 before wedding her, he already took her as his own and always found time away from his training and studies to come and look for her. His father was also very pleased with this arrangement and encouraged their union and adding on the fact that she didn't seem to resist this arrangement only made him happier.
"If only she didn't have such a silly brother then it would have been perfect....." He mumbled to himself in a voice only he could hear.
Penelope finally got back to her cabin and she quickly swung the door open and closed it with a bang before letting out a deep breath. As she did the once scarlet face turned bland and her bright eyes turned cold. The smile on her face faded and was replaced by a cold smirk and from her lips came a soft voice
"Idiots. If I didn't need the lot of you to save my brother then would I have anything to do with you disgusting people. What kind of stupid name is Pepe anyways and what's with that look in his eyes like I'm his property. Is he worthy!? Toad lusting after swan flesh. Hmph, brother's calamity is soon arriving, luckily I was able to help them get that flower. With that they would be all the more stronger to resist it, if they can manage to hold back the one for this year and maybe the next it should be fine enough. I doubt they would be able to do so a third time though, it's a pity really. If not for the fact that the last calamity was really too disastrous, we wouldn't have needed to change shelters so soon and on such short notice. Sigh.....it doesn't matter, whatever it takes."
"Sister? Is that you?"
The cold light that flashed in Penelope's eyes was replaced by a glimmer. She rushed into a room and on the bed lay a boy, playing around with a gamepad in his hands. There was no established network, so it was an offline one but even then to find something like this in the Outland is no easy thing.
Maybe at the Union established Domes it would have been less shocking but in the Outland such a device would only be held by those on top. The boy was just like his sister, he had dark hair but unlike Penelope's bright blue pupils his were a dim blue, adding on his pale skin one would think he was very sick.
He was wearing a clean white shirt with brown shorts and was previously playing with his gamepad when he heard his sister's voice from his room. Penelope rushed to her brother's side and hugged him tightly. Her brother wasn't very strong physically and wasn't able to handle any physical stress and as such had to lie in for the most of it.
She was the one that made sure to cater to their needs regardless of the sacrifice. He was her only family after all. If she lost this twin brother of hers who was her only source of light in this dark world then she didn't know what she would do.
Peter smiled softly and didn't say anything allowing his sister to hold him for as long as she wants. Even though she does her best to not get him involved he knows a bit of what she passes through to have them get by.
If she were on her own, he always believed his sister would be standing at the top of the Outland at one point but she was tied down by this dreaded ability of his. Thinking up to here he let out a deep sigh.
Penelope shivered as she heard him sigh and separated from him before reaching out to pull up the sleeves of his left arm. A sigil was drawn on it resembling a dial of some sorts and at the moment it was glowing an eerie black.
"There's not much time left but it should be enough for Don to break through and become an awakened. By then he should be able to block this calamity for us. Don't worry Peter, very soon I'll get us to a Dome. The Domes are the safest place in Arcadia. There we won't have to worry about fending your calamities and we'll leave it up to them but we'll have to be changing domes so as not to attract any attention. As for now, we'll just wait and see, even if they can't block it completely they would at least take the brunt of it as for the rest we'll handle it somehow. Everything is going to be okay alright."
"Hm." Facing her enthusiasm he could only nod. She has always been like this, despite everything she isn't shaken by their circumstances. Were it up to him he would have just laid down and have it all end but she would fight to the last minute. But if he were being honest.....
"Sis..... I'm... I'm tired of... of killing people...if not for me they wouldn't experience any of those things. Why don't I ju-"
"NO! Understand this brother, no matter how many of them need to die for you to live I do not care, I don't give two fucks about those shitty people. All I want is for us to live, nothing will separate us. Not this people, not your calamities and not even...death."
Penelope looked her brother in the eyes as she said all this and although he knew this would be how it would end he was still worried everytime he saw the light that used to burn warmly in her eyes turn to a cold flame that freeze everything over.
"I understand...."
"It's good you do. Has anyone be bullying you? Is there anything you're uncomfortable with around here? Did any of those type of fellows....come over again?"
Peter shivered a bit whenever he thought about what happened. When they came here and after Penelope built her connections, for them to live in this cabin a family of a former member of the hunting team who got injured while on duty was moved out for them to stay here.
The family had 2 boys who were training to join the hunting team and when they heard their family was moved they were pissed and came to find trouble with the new residents but Penelope wasn't around and as such they had messed up the place and beat Peter up before leaving.
When Penelope found out she quietly put the house in order and treated Peter's wounds before walking out the door. The next week the two boys were evicted from the shelter for trying to rape Penelope alongside their family.
After they left the shelter naturally the nearest shelter was a far ways from here and having to move around with an injured father and women and children made things inconvenient.
Later on the hunting team spotted their remains. From what was left at the scene,it was most likely that they were caught by Raiders, the women whether young or mature were raped and even some of the fairer looking boys were done in. The Outland never lacked people with unique tastes after all. After which they were all brutally murdered.
After the news was brought back, for a time they were some negative comments towards Penelope about what happened but eventually it all died off when they saw the good things that came about with her being there and the ones that were too stubborn ended up running into one issue or the other.
"No nothing like that. Andrew had come here earlier looking for you though, he also brought me some nice toys to play with."
"Hmph. Forget about that fool, only my wonderful brother deserves my love and attention." Her cold eyes, filled up with love and gentleness as well as a bit of infatuation as she looked at Peter. She gently stroked his hair as she hugged him again.
Peter blushed. His sister had started acting like this recently, she hardly ever responded to other guys and instead acted like this towards him. He felt if this kept up then it could lead to something else and hoped he would eventually have the chance to correct this in the future.
After a while she broke off and they started talking and playing with some of the gadgets and toys they had. She later made food for them to eat after which Peter who had already started getting tired fell asleep.
Penelope stood over him as she watched him sleep. Her eyes were blazing with a gaze that shouldn't be used on siblings but nevertheless was still there. She leaned towards his face and pecked his lips before walking out the door.
Her brother's calamity was coming soon she had to go and make sure everything was in place to resist it. As the door closed, Peter's eyes quivered for a bit but in the end they didn't open.