6h35
The sun is rising.
It's going to be dry today.
No wind means the sand doesn't dance. A slew of mirages can be seen in the distance.
Living inside the barriers of this world isn't terrible like strangers and tourists preach constantly.
These scavengers may live near an anomaly, but the thought of being swallowed by the hole no longer stops people from crossing the barriers nowadays. It has been like this for decades. In essence, yes, this side of the continent is dangerous. It is the embodiment of everything North America lost in terms of history, culture, and significance with the rest of the planet.
In 2067, the only ones who crosses the doors of this massive 30 feet steel barricade are warriors, merchants and explorers who are not afraid of the immense danger waiting for them. Adventurers have a lot of fear, and a birthright to face it, even if these walls have been erected to protect them from the Bottomless Pit.
Everybody dreamed of it. Everyone and their grandmother spoke about it. It's the talk of the town, any town really. A whole new world underground. You acquire treasures, unknown artefacts, rare breads of creatures, and the prestige of coming back alive. Those are all reasons why the courageous dares to venture near the pit.
They should have chosen elsewhere.
In the lands surrounding the Pit sits a wild deserted area chock-full of sand and boulders sitting around, waiting to be swallowed by mother nature into its depths. The hot wind blowing on the particles warms the atmosphere. It is drab, oppressive. Many fools perished: overexposure to blazing temperatures. The road to the pit is far from being short.
Few souls were forgiven by the sands. If you are not prepared adequately, your fate will be no different. The world around the creatures here turns into an emptiness of rhythm and a waste of life: old monuments and skyscrapers in ruins can be found; buildings dissolved to radioactive dust; remnants of vegetation that once thrived in a healthier environment. It can all be observed here. You get to comprehend, as soon as you step in the road to the dark destination, that this has been left untouched for decades, and for a good reason...or rather, almost untouched.
After surviving the boundless roads of the eradicated city of Manhattan, the travelers need to pass through that village. The village of Gallows.
A strange slump it is, Gallows was one of the multiple homes for blacksmiths. Forging saw a ginormous resurgence in the market after the devastating divide of the United States. Many of them found multiple cities as a hot spot to grow armor shops, crafting the equipment necessary to battle extreme conditions and radioactive poisoning. Some of them even rose above the status quo and printed their legacy in the history books, at least those left since the nuclear fallout.
However, the resurgence was recent and fast, way too fast. The market is volatile and only a select few families of blacksmiths made it through the harsh competition.
Gallows is now but a small, abandoned dump, deserted years ago and barebones. Buildings have turned into shells of their former selves, breaking down in piles of rubble, to the point of it all being demoralizing. Gallows is the closest base to the Bottomless pit, about 3.5 kilometers away and with the best chances to re-supply before the descent. Seeing it abandoned like this reminds all trespassers that all previous efforts to research the pit fell apart.
Until recently.
A young man walks around, wearing a pitiful poker face. He explores the remnants of Gallows like he never lived here before. He's been in that village his whole life. The sun might set. The sand might be dry. Yet, his spirit remains foggy, lost in a mist of thoughts. The young man is the last of his family standing, part of one legendary line of Blacksmiths that came to Gallows for refuge against civil war & the cruelty around them.
His name is Zephyr, of the Yundath clan.
Zephyr has been planning something of high scale for months now. He is walking around the debris of his home making a final check of his preparations; a towering gallon of water he had to harvest from the forest, mostly for drinking and bathing himself; food of all kinds; climbing equipment; different sets of clothes just in case, without forgetting the trusty torch blade his father made some time ago, before passing away.
Holding the weapon in his hands makes the young man bitter and remorseful, shameful even.
Zephyr needs to keep himself composed, however. He puts back the sword in its sheath and moves on, finishing the other steps.
The young man already prepared most of the baggage's for the trip and safely placed all of it near the drop zone.
He is ready to dive into the Bottomless Pit.
#
8h10
Running has its disadvantages, especially when you don't have stamina to dispose so willingly.
Dr. Riley is out of breath. As of now, he runs as fast as a turtle and he's on the verge of fainting. The adrenaline is keeping him on course, but his bones are going to snap anytime if he keeps running like this. Him and his little creatures are all dashing towards their destination, passing by the ruins of skyscrapers and other relics of the past.
On one of these buildings, rests that cockroach of an assassin.
He indeed survived his presumed death and keeps marching forward, although his left leg is telling a different story. He can feel pain when he puts too much pressure onto it, probably a result of a crack he felt in his ankle when he dodged the barrage of trees. Despite this, he still proves to be a challenge to escape. The bounty hunter's stunts are altered enough to use the good leg as much as possible. The decrease in agility could only be witnessed by a trained eye. He can still climb his way to decently sized chucks of buildings without too much sweat. He can still follow that doctor and kill him. The situation is a bit twitchier now. Just because he's adapted doesn't mean he can sustain this for too long. The sooner he's done with Riley J. Smith, the better.
His target on the other hand clearly lost all his gas. The scientist's prediction came true, to his dismay, and now he must play Russian roulette with his fate. This is brutal for the doctor's psyche. Riley and his minions didn't even have the time to cross the barrier that the bastard was back at the chase again, jumping over the barrier like a superhuman, even with the new injury. Without Riley's boots, it would have been inconceivable for the scientist to find a way out of this situation.
For doc, this hunter is simply a product of deranged perfection: a man so skilled and so sharp, he can withstand and destroy any obstacles in his path. The fact that he's berserking his way to the doctor for a paycheck is proof enough that these assassins are a waste of talent. Imagining what this man could do if he used all these abilities for the betterment of his community, instead of chasing down cash and selfish greed, adds insult to injury.
The two are playing cat and mouse to the abandoned Gallows village and their only spectator, the young and stern Zephyr, is too preoccupied by his own trip towards the Pit to see a lunatic, three small creatures and a trained killer running like maniacs to the same direction as him. In fact, the young blacksmith is already packing the last of his bags. He carries pickaxes, ropes and even more food and water supplies. Zephyr is taking his sweet time. It's the Bottomless Pit after all, no need to rush.
It's at about halfway there that he realizes he's being followed. Of all the weirdoes he's presented with, only one of them manages to strike Zephyr on the spot as peculiar.
It almost feels like the boy saw the assassin's armor somewhere.
Right! A relative from his father made armor exactly like this. It couldn't be true that someone out of the Yundath chain would have access to this specific armor! Unless they started selling it to a less-than-ideal crowd in the black market.
Zephyr doesn't place too much attention on this fact, as the bounty hunter is so engrossed on trapping his prey, he simply passes by the kid without saying a word. Knowing that whatever is going on gives him unnecessary goosebumps before the descent, Zephyr starts walking faster, in the hopes of stopping what's happening before it escalates further.