Agents of Tomorrow

       Another day went by without anything out of ordinary happening to them. The three travelers went through the desolate place while occasionally taking care not to get into regions with high level of Ether, which many people in settlements had warned them. The region, unlike the one they came from, was full of ruins of buildings overlooking a desert, which of course was a different place before the war. The remains of hover-cars and an assortment of beasts littered the ruins, as do the desert. No water could be found in a mile. Somehow, they had anticipated this, but there was a problem.

       None of them knew how to find water. The desert, unlike the one Jek came from, was very dry. There was no indication that water could came from anywhere. Rain was less likely, and even if it did rain, they would avoid the water at all cost. The desert had a concentrated amount of Aether that could kill them in just a day.

       The only way they could get uncontaminated water was a river, which was heavily polluted, but could still be used as drinking and bathing water with a little bit of magic. Narati’s proficiency in making a water purifier from magical crystals helped them immensely (though he got it after trial and error).

       Right now, in the middle of the day, Jek and Raine went into a bar, trying to find any information about the new region they were in, while Narati made camp. The bar, like many other places, was crowded with rowdy people of all races, be it beasts or humanoid races. Of course, like many other places around the region, there was no chaos race people in sight, though of course they only knew a Fa’ar as a chaos race scavenging on the surface. Goblins and their brethren refused sunlight and dug underground, while others that many couldn’t name had vanished or extinct.

       Even then, it was cozy inside the bar. There was a refrigerator powered by magical crystals infused with frost magic, an appliance that was rarely found to be in perfect order, even if an expert like Narati repaired it.

       A bartender, clearly a Nyare, looked at them with her yellow cat eyes. Since her race was that of a humanoid cat, she was smaller than the two of them, but was not as short as Narati’s race. Some high one even had the same height with humans. Her face was that of a cat, with black fur all over.

       “Haven’t seen you ‘round here before,” said the Nyare. She had a slight accent.

       “Yeah. We’re wondering if we can get something for work here,” said Raine. “I mean, it’s not like…”

       “You bunch get muns from bounty jobs,” said the nyare. “I know more people than you two know. And for that, we don’t have one for you.”

       “Considering how this place is sitting by the edge of the death zone, it’s surprising that people still come here,” said Jek. Apparently the nyare knew that he was being sarcastic, but didn’t mind.

       “You want direction, yes? Go west. There’s nothin’ to gain in the east. Even if there are people there, they are not stupid enough to go through the desert. The west has many people. This is only an outpost.”

       “Thanks. How much for…”

       “Just pay for the drinks.” The cat was serving the other patrons that she was only saying that as she passed their seat. Jek and Raine couldn’t take account on the number they need to give her, so in the end, they both gave the bartender some scraps, worth 10 muns each.

       They returned to the camp Narati just set up. The two of them noticed that the Fa’ar received some old maps around the area from some travelers. They also smiled and leave when they saw Jek and Raine approaching him.

       “Since when you become famous?” said Jek, half-joking.

       “I sold the water purifier. I guess they have been trying so hard to purify the water and could only get one from some broken appliances. It’s not much and, well…their reserve is going out.”

       “Don’t tell me that’s the only one.”

       “Of course not! I got some spare. Portable ones, in fact. The one I gave them is too big to carry around. So, where are we going?”

       “You’re the one with the map.”

       Narati looked at the map, but was unable to even understand the whole thing in the first place. The map had no directions, only crudely drawn picture of a lake and a river and some ruins. There was also a big skull to the very right. Before Narati could say anything, though, Jek snatched the map away from him while saying, “I’m just teasing you, kid. We’re going west.”

       “Seems like that’s the only choice, given how there’s a big skull on that map,” said Narati while looking towards the desert. The lack of life around that part made him shudder. He knew people told him that the area was contaminated with Ether, but he was glad that it was only making the place lifeless, not full of mutated creatures like the one he once saw before meeting Jek.

       After packing their camp, they went to the grassy region of the west, or so they seemed. After walking for a while, they realized that the place was practically covered in moss instead of grass, hence the green. Aside from Raine, who was wearing boots, Jek and Narati were forced to walk through the muddy ground with their bare feet. Of course, this could not make situation easier. Jek was surprised that leeches were still a thing in the desolated world, while Narati was too grossed out to walk through the contaminated mud full of unknown substances.

       Before long, they managed to reach an area that was decent. By this point, Narati was too grossed out and felt relieved when they reached dry lands. Jek sighed when he saw the rat quickly dip his legs in some water basin.

       “Don’t tell me you never went through a swamp before,” said Raine when he saw Narati’s reaction. “I mean, you’re practically naked with that getup.”

       “Hey, no one told me that there’s a swamp!”

       “Endure it, Narati, or I’ll leave you here alone,” said Jek. “You can manage our camp here.”

       “Not around these muddy things!”

       “So you prefer that death zone, then?”

       “I can’t just let my legs be ravaged by anything in there, right?!”

       “This is why you won’t get to see more than around that desert, kiddo. Brave it, okay? Isn’t this the reason why you follow me aside from almost choking to death?”

       Recounting that incident made Narati embarrassed. Raine wasn’t sure what Jek was talking about, but somehow he could see that their first meeting wasn’t something pleasant to remember.

       As they walked towards a nearby ruin, they noticed a group of people wearing robes. Seeing robed people wasn’t something out of place in deserted region like the one they hailed from, but they were in the middle of a swamp, and the way they dressed seemed to indicate that they were cultists.

       For Jek and Raine, cultists were not something they wanted to associate with. People like them survived by making a deity out of the scraps they gathered around. Some were docile, while some were extreme and outright dangerous for some races. Jek thought that having any beliefs in a time where nothing could be worshipped anymore was useless anyway, and mostly took them as people who had lost hope and was waiting to die.

       As for Raine, he had a different idea for what happened. The moment he saw the purple robes, he told Jek and Narati to hide. Despite of confused, they both get away from the small mound of dirt they were standing and into a nearby building, all the while without being seen by the robed cultists.

       They went inside. Jek, curious, said, “Who are they?”

       “Collectives,” said Jek, with serious expression. “They are not dangerous, but they are talking nonsense all the time. But that’s not the problem here. If they are here, then their enemies are here too.”

       “What enemy?”

       “Did I tell you about a group of mercenary called the Agents? While they claimed to defend my area, they are actually just cultists with better weapons.”

       “Weapons?”

       Jek found his answer as soon as he saw some iron-cladded people of different races walked towards the cultists. Without warning, the armored ones fired towards the cultists with primitive, but greatly enhanced weapons. The robed people used a magic shield to deflect them, but then it was nothing with the iron armor they wore. A fight then ensued, in which the people with armor used machineries with motor sounds while the robed people fought like high-level mages. They clearly knew what they were doing, as did their enemies.

       Of course, a fight with flying fireballs and grenades threatened to destroy the ruins. Even if it was just a small fight, the ruins had started to feel the impact of it. It was a miracle that a magic war many times far more powerful than their battle couldn’t destroy the building, but further strain could do it.

       The first one who noticed this was Jek, who pulled Raine and Narati up. They ran towards the next floor with the stair behind them, but when they wanted to jump, they realized that it was too high.

       Jek then exclaimed, “Wait!” Amidst the collapsing building, they managed to get away just in time before the building collapsed, with Jek waiting for the right time to jump. The three of them were surprised by how dangerous the fight was. Narati was visibly shaken by the colossal damage, with Jek and Raine looking at the ruins, and to the fight.

       “You alright there, bud?” said Raine while patting Narati’s back. The rat nodded, but his gaze was fixed towards the seemingly unending colossal fight.

       The mages fought hard, using a great teamwork of who put on the shield and who attack the iron-clad people. The armored ones were also strong foes. They were using mechanical objects that were very deadly and was relentless. The shield generated from their hands was strong enough to block incoming magic projectiles, and their weapons seemed to be able to degrade the mages’ shield quickly.

       “How is that even possible?” said Narati.

       “They sell those bullets in junk stores. Of course it’s possible.”

       “No, not the bullets. Their fuel. How do they manage to fight back without using any crystal? It doesn’t make any sense.”

       Raine looked at the fight, but he realized that the moment they went out of control, the three of them would not survive. The human then took his companions’ shoulders and said, “We should leave before they realize that we are here. You know them cultist bunch, Jek, so I suggest leaving.”

       Jek knew very well about the danger of associating with the cultists, but he couldn’t convince Narati. He was too fascinated with how the armor worked that he was transfixed to their fight.

       “Narati, this is not the time to be fascinated!” exclaimed Jek.

       “You two can go. I wanna look at that thing for a little bit longer…”

       A sharp pain struck Narati’s back, in which he suddenly lost consciousness. Jek just took the small body and turned around, leaving the two combatant teams behind.

       “Hey, you don’t need to do that,” reprimanded Raine.

       “I’ve seen his face somewhere. I know he cannot be convinced without a little bit of violence,” said Jek.

       Raine sighed and left with Jek, while taking one last glance towards the people fighting. It seemed that the mages were going to lose because unlike his companions, he was sensitive on magic, and he could feel that the mages would eventually lose their energy. He sighed, thinking of what happened to the people, and left.

       Narati woke up two hours later. He lifted his head with a sharp movement, in which he saw Jek cooking something in a pot. He quickly walked towards the wolf and said, “What was that for?!”

       “Don’t ask me. Ask yourself. That look in your eyes tells me that you won’t gonna leave and might end up getting yourself killed.”

       “At least let me look at those things before I leave!”

       Jek growled, which quickly stopped Narati. He knew that Jek was clearly mad at him for risking his life, but the reward of looking at an advanced tech with no use of crystals was a rare sight.

       “I don’t want to lecture you. It’s a pain in the ass. But let me tell you this. The moment you associate yourself with any crazed fanatics, you’re as good as dead. Not to mention that you’re a Fa’ar, one of the chaos races.”

       Narati dropped his head in disappointment.

       “Look, kid, there are far worse danger than bandits and wildlife. By this point, you might be able to fight them. But there are also dangers that can destroy you first. One of them is greed, and then lust, anger, and all sorts of shits. Surviving means picking who to trust and who to follow.”

       “Even if that is becoming a slave?”

       “For some people, that’s the final solution. Now, stop whining and help me with food, and don’t mess this pot this time.”

       Narati obliged and slowly turn the spoon around. He knew the last pot they made just fell from its unstable support just because Narati was too focused on talking with Raine. In the end, Jek and Raine ate some roasted rocs while he could only be content with a piece of bread.

       The cooking went on without incident, to the Fa’ar’s relief. They got their first pot meal for almost a month. No one wanted to talk about the Agents or even the mages they were attacking. When one tried to get to that subject, others would change the topic. It became quite an uncomfortable night, especially for Narati.

       That night, Narati couldn’t sleep, still thinking on what Jek was talking about. He never thought about the dangers of associating with a certain group because there were never any group that wanted to even talk with a Fa’ar. Travelling alone for a while could be a painful past, but knowing that his peril was nothing compared to some other people, he tried to forget it.

       In the end, he woke up and walked towards a nearby rock to sit. He noticed how dirty his long tail was and moved it so he could clean it on his lap.

       As he wiped them clean with a piece of cloth, Jek walked towards him, eating something that looked like a beef jerky. He sat on the dry land beside Narati and pulled out one of his guns, to which he proceeded to repair.

       “I’ve never seen you repair one of those before,” said Narati.

       “You’re sleeping when I did this. Besides, don’t you ever think I’ll give this to you. You’ll wind up making things worse.”

       Narati turned towards the dark terrain. Jek, knowing that his sarcasm also had limits, smiled towards the smaller rat and said, “I’m just kidding, Narati.”

       “Well, uh…thanks, I guess? I’ve never seen you like this before.”

       “I wasn’t always a grumpy sarcastic wolfman, right? Besides, you’ve proven that you can also fight, though not alone.” Jek looked up towards the starry sky. “But I’m not planning to soften up to anyone. I’ve done that before, with a terrible cost.”

       Narati wanted to talk about it, but decided not to pry deeper into Jek’s past. Knowing that he had a painful expression made the Fa’ar lost interest anyway.

       He then changed the subject.

       “So…who are those people? Seeing how you and Raine react, I think you know about them? There’s no such fight when I was travelling alone.”

       “That’s because that region was nothing more than bandits and bounties. I consider that a safe zone, but I know safe zones won’t be one forever. That is why I didn’t say anything when Raine wanted to take you to other places. Oh, and those people. I hate it to break it to you, but I don’t think the people wearing the hi-tech suits have a right mind.”

       “How can you tell?”

       “You’ll know a crazed person when you scoped them thousands of time.” Jek then sighed. “Those people were determined to defeat those mages, as if they were abominations. It’s not surprising, given how everything works nowadays.”

       “Do you think we’ll stumble upon them again?”

       “I’d be lying if we don’t.” Jek then moved closer to Narati. “Narati, there’s one thing that you must understand. I know you don’t trust strangers, and that is a right mindset. But dealing with people like them are a major pain in the ass. If you don’t trust them, try to get away before you start to be under their line of sight. By that point, you’ll either get killed or forcefully conscripted into their rank.”

       Narati gulped.

       “Even with your reasoning that this world does not work the way they wanted, they’ll just force it into your mouth. Well, that is if you got too involved. They are mostly nice people if you meet them on neutral grounds.”

       “Well, uh, since I’m a Fa’ar, I might not be able to convince them like that anyway, so...”

       “You’d be surprised if suddenly one of them worshipped Chaos Races and take you in. Then suddenly they ask you to unleash another plague like the one your race…ah, I shouldn’t continue. I feel like an asshole already.”

       “No, that’s fine. I don’t look like it, but I’m aware of the history of my race,” said Narati, though Jek could hear how he was hesitating. “My parents told me about this with my brothers when we were little.”

       Jek wasn’t surprised that this was what Narati learned from his parents. Fa’ars were alienated by other races for being a chaos race, but that didn’t stop there. They were the only known Chaos Race that survived the purge (though maybe there were other races that survived). With the world ended and survivors from that point in history still alive and well in the form of elves, they alienated and even branded Fa’ars as villains.

       This was made worse for the fact that the Fa’ars took this in and made it into their own culture. Like many other races that inhabited the wasteland, they also hated others with a passion. Aside from the Fa’ar Jek ‘took care off’ and Narati, most distrusted strangers and even tried to raid them. This not only cause the tension to escalate, but also sow the seed of hatred to the next generations.

       For once, Jek felt relieved that the mother did not taught the kids an important lesson based on their version. Narati came up as more tolerant than most other Fa’ar in such an early age since the demise of his pack.

       Of course, his tolerance was not as much as the cultists that was insanely determined to kill the mages.

       The next morning, they set off early, knowing very well that the area was a dangerous place. Raine was the only one who was fully aware of the situation and constantly darted his gaze towards many directions. Jek, who never knew Raine to be like this before, approached him and said, “You are tense. I can see it from your gestures.”

       “Of course I’m tense! Now that I know those Agents of Tomorrow being a cultist instead of militants, this travel is getting more dangerous for Narati.”

       “How about me?”

       “You? Well, you can fight for your own if shit goes down. But, seriously, how the hell are they…”

       Jek pulled the human down and told him to shut up. He then also turned and told Narati to get down, in which the rat complied. While Narati was at a position where they couldn’t see, both Jek and Raine could see what happened.

       Some of the Agents were taking some people with the similar robes as they saw the day before. Jek wasn’t sure if this group was the same one that was involved in the fight, since the armored ones were clearly of different races. The robed people were tied, and their faces were revealed to be elves and some beast race. Considering how they could use magic, Jek assumed that they were one that could use them.

       It was out of earshot of Raine, so Jek, the only one of the group with superior hearing, could make sense of the conversation.

       “You cannot fight the inevitable. This world has already ended,” said the robed one.

       The armored one slapped one of the robed one and said, “Silence, you heretical madman! Your kind is the bane of this world! If you would just give in silently we might spare you. Unlike the rest of my allies, though, I’m more forgiving, so I will give you an ultimatum.”

       “We will not submit!”

       The other punched the one talking to the point he fell to the ground. The fair-haired elf looked at his downed comrade and said, “We have more people around this area. If you pick a fight with us, you’ll be sorry to ever step foot into this swamp.”

       “Then where are they? Hmm? Don’t you ever think that, because of our superior equipment, they have turned tail and run?”

       “Bah, your little toys are no match for our magic! You’re lucky that we are not going all out on you two!”

       “Shut the fuck up, you insolent heretic! Sir, it is best if we kill them right here and now. If their reinforcement…”

       “Are you saying that we take their threat? That fight from last night tore this whole area apart! Anyone would’ve come, and they are the reinforcement!”

       “But, sir…”

       “If you want silence, give that mutt a collar! He won’t even be able to nag about his pride.”

       Of course, Jek could see that, when the hyena pulled out something that looked like a collar, the canine mage became pale and tried to wrestle his way out from the hyena’s grasp. The lup could hear “Stop struggling or I’ll rip one of those lop ears off!” before he managed to put the collar on the dog. To the dog’s horror, he couldn’t even speak.

       “Can’t bark now, you fucking mutt?” said the hyena with a mocking tone. “That’s what you get for messing with me!”

       His elf companion took a glance at her companion, who was clearly panicked as he wasn’t even able to talk. The hyena then pulled up the dog and took him somewhere out of Jek’s sight.

       “Hey, Jek...don’t you think we should go?” said Raine when he saw the dog. “This is getting even riskier!”

       “Don’t move a muscle. The moment you move at this point will make expose us. That human over there is too aware. I know he hasn’t seen us, but he is trying to believe what the dog was saying.”

       “Do you think there’s actually a reinforcement?”

       “Who knows?”

       “Hey, Jek, what happened out there? I can’t see without going forward!”

       “Stay back there, Narati! I’ll tell you once we are clear.”

       Jek resumed hearing the conversation, but he couldn’t find any meaningful conversation before the human pulled out a gun and shot the elf in the head. Narati winced, but tried not to make a sound when he saw Jek glaring at him.

       “One less magician to worry about. Hey, Lasha, how’s the dog?”

       “Oh, we’ll get him to work, sir! Right now, he’s as obedient as a pet dog!”

       “Good. Now, let’s get away before anyone comes here.”

       The last thing Jek could see from the other mage was his helpless body being carried by the hyena. He was trying to talk, but somehow no voice came out from him. Of course, he was trying to bite the hyena, but a simple muzzle with auto-lock prevented it. They disappeared behind a building.

       As they left, Jek ran towards the elf’s body and looked at her. She was killed execution-style, but with the shot coming from the front. Narati looked at it, but was quickly attracted by something near the rock.

       “Guys, what’s that?”

       Jek looked at it and identified the same collar that muted the dog. Somehow, it was a spare that fell out of the hyena’s pocket. He quickly snatched it from Narati and threw it away, towards the swamp. It quickly sank to the bottom of the swamp.

       “Before you ask, that thing’s dangerous,” said Jek. “There’s no merit in trying to replicate that thing. Don’t you agree, Raine?”

       “It is as Jek said, Nara. Those people, the agents, are the bane of the magical community. But, if they accepted gnolls in their rank…”

       Narati realized what Raine was talking about. He was trying to betray his friends when he wanted to contact them.

       Gnolls, otherwise known as the were-hyenas, were also a Chaos Race. Just like Fa’ars, they were alienated just because of their past association in the magical war that devastated the world.

       If he hadn’t known about that, everything he had learned from his friends would surely be gone, replaced by a shady doctrine that could lead to chaos once again.