Walles'+Quest

=Southern Burn=

Walles wakes like he has every morning, suddenly. He has always went to sleep the second he shut his eyes, and woke in the blink of an eye. Never any dreams just a second of darkness, then morning. It has been like this as long as Walles can remember, which isn't saying much seeing as though he cant remember anything past two years ago. Looking back on it all, he had done enough in the past two years to fill a life time, he had joined the rebellion, He had gotten a job as a stage magician and trained in the arts of combat for over a year. After going on his first mission, he became the rebel leader. He now was in charge of over throwing a nation, But it still wasn't enough. Walles craved to know what he had been before he woke up in the park, in downtown. He still remembers that day, waking up. Not know who he was or where he was. Stumbling around until he bumped into Dr. Tesla. Tesla was the first person, in Walles' memory, to be nice to him. Tesla had taken Walles in, and had given him the name Walles (Until Walles could remember his actual name). It was through Tesla that introduced Walles into the rebellion.

Thinking about Tesla reminded Walles, that he had to go meet up with Tesla this afternoon. Walles was to meet him at the Festival of Chomolungma. A tradition long since shunned by the URA, but kept alive by the rebels. Festival was to take place in the Rebel's hidden city of Ulta. Ulta was an old stone city carved into the side of a cliff, that the rebels now reside in. It was sort of the last place in the URA where the old religion of the North was wide spread. Ulta was a beacon of hope for the oppressed of the URA. Not only was Ulta a home for the shunned, it was the main headquarters of the Rebels. And Walles was in charge of all of it. No thought scared Walles more then being in charge and being responsible for protecting for a a few thousand lives. It was for that very reason, as to why Walles decided not to live in the city of Ulta. But instead he lived in a smaller city on the western side of the URA, called New Druis.

The journey from Walles' house in Deuis to Ulta, was a short one. He took a few credits, (standard currency.) his revolver, and his belt of bombs. On foot the journey would have been a long one, but instead Walles used his two wheeled automobile, that Dr. Tesla had built special for him. Which cut the journey down to less than an hour. To get into the city of Ulta, Walles had to travel into a hidden tunnel which brings you into the heart of the city.

Upon arrival it was evident that the Festival of Chomolungma was in full swing. There was many flowers and saplings to represent the spring season. Also many fake dragons to show the guardian of east. The whole city was involved. It was a tradition that gave hope to all of the rebels. The idea that there were beings, such as the guardians, looking over us and protecting us, brought comfort. Walles may not have believed heavily in the guardians, seeing as though the Northern, nor western has seemed to do anything at all, since Walles can remember. Although it did give his people the will to carry on and that was enough for him. Plus who doesn't like a festival?

Walles found Dr. Tesla at the usual spot. A pub down an ally off of Main St. It was there that Walles usually would meet Tesla for trivial matters. Not Walles' idea. Why should he have to go out of his way to see Dr. Tesla? But nevertheless he always went to meet him.

"Walles! Come sit, we have much to talk about." Tesla shouted from across the bar.

Walles strode with half the bar staring at him. He sat in the booth across from Tesla. They stared at each other for a full minute.

"Well?" Walles asked

Tesla leaned forward, "Walles, have you ever heard of Espeira?"

"I should hope so, They're our best trade partner," Walles replied

"Then I'm sure you're aware of how they refuse to sell us any of their laser beam technology," Tesla pointed out.

"Um yes, but..."

"And I'm also sure," Tesla interrupted "How you know how I have several projects going on at the moment."

"Yes, but what do...," Walles started

"Well I need some of those laser beams to study and use. Would you go get those for me?" Tesla asked

Now Walles knew this was more of Tesla telling him to go get those, than asking. So he tried to get around it.

"Well fine, Ill send a squad out admittedly," Walles answered.

Tesla raised his voice, "No Walles, it isn't that simple. You must go yourself."

Walles stared at Tesla. He knew this was a test, bur he just didn't know why Tesla was testing him.

"No. I must stay in the country, for the rebellion."

Tesla seemed to be furious for just a second, then his reaction calmed.

"What a shame, the old you wouldn't be this stubborn. You would always have helped a friend in need," Tesla sighed

//"The old me?"// Walles thought "//Tesla has always been dropping hints to my past."//

"Yeah. Ill go get them for you. How many do you need?" Walles asked.

Tesla's expression suddenly fell into a smile. "Oh, Walles. Thank you, so very very much," Tesla started to rise from his seat. " I only require one laser, make sure you bring it back safely. Here," Tesla handed him some papers. "This is a map to Espira and a photograph of a laser. Take great care as to fallow the map directly. Just take any old boat," Tesla walked toward the exit. At the door, he turned "And Walles. Do Not Go Through Anarchintia."

With that Tesla left the bar. Leaving Walles still sitting at the bar. Not sure what to make of situation. Tesla has asked favors of Walles before, but never outside of the U.R.A. It was obvious that Walles shouldn't go, And yet. He was hooked. After Tesla dropped that remark about his past, Walles would never have been able to say no. Even though Walles was completely committed to the cause of the rebellion, he would do anything to figure out his past. If that meant having to run errands for a deranged scientist, so be it.

Walles set off for the port city of Droford. On arrival, Walles went straight to the docks. He stole the first unoccupied ship he found and set sail. Although it was ship large enough to need twenty men to man, Walles could control it all. Walles had been unnatural at technology as long as he could remember.

After making sure he wasn't being followed, Walles checked the map. The map showed for him to take his ship up stream a river in between Anarchintia and the Numandian Steeps, to Espira. A route which would add many days to the journey.

//"Of course," Walles thought. "Tesla would make me take the more difficult route! Ill just travel over land, In Anarchintia. Shave off at least two days."//

And so, Walles set sail for Anarchintia. Not knowing what awaited him.

The journey to Anarchintia was a short one. Walles didn't make any stops, they were not needed. There was enough supplies on the ship for forty men. The waters were calm the whole way. Once landing it was apparent the Anarchintia, or at least the spot where he landed, was that of a wasteland. There was no sign of life anywhere. no humans, no animals, and no plants.

Walles gathered some supplies from the ship and set off on foot. It was obvious how the days he spent in Anarchintia would be. He would walk for miles on end, see no signs of life anywhere, use all of his supplies and not find anymore, and do all of this under the beating sun. The climate was extremely different to that of the U.R.A. Walles was in the south. In a land that was just a bare waste of a former land.

On the horizon Walles could just make out the shapes of humanoid figures. This sparked hope in him. He was already running low on water and needed help. Walles ran to the figures, the closer he got the more he could see. There had to be at a dozen. They all were just walking toward Walles, they must of spotted him and realized he needed help. Walles picked up his pace.

The first thing that stuck Walles as strange was the smell. He could smell the figures from hundreds of yards away. It smelled of death left to rot. The figures had doubled in numbers now. The second thing Walles noticed, was the way the walked. The figured walked in a manner that made it seem as if they were dragging their very souls with them. A long drown out sorrowful walk, the way one would walk to their own execution. The third and final thing Walles noticed was their mourning. It was the sound of a broken man. The figures were in calling distance now.

"Hey!" Walles called, trying to get their attention.

All of the heads turned to Walles. This was the first time he got a really good look of them without the glare of the sun. All the figures appeared to have been human once. But with rotten and decaying flesh. Some were even missing body parts. They had the same look in their eyes (Those with eyes that is). Hunger.

These had to be walkers, the type of thing out of nightmares.

All two dozen walkers charged at Walles. His training kicked in. He upholstered his revolver with his right hand and aimed. He shot the closest four in the head. They fell down in a heap. "//Twenty left"//. Walles ripped two high explosive bombs from his belt and lobed them into the horde. Two more bodies hit the ground. Legs were blown off of eight more, that were around the bombs.. //"Eighteen left alive, only ten to worry about."// As the the horde was distracted, Walles threw down a smoke bomb and flanked the group of walkers, whilst reloading. Six more shots fired, emptying the gun. "//Only 4 left mobile".// ​One of the faster walkers ran at Walles. He grabbed its arm and yanked, he came right out of the socket! Walles shoved a bomb into the wound and pushed the walker into the rest of the group. //"0 walkers left".//

Walles pressed on into the waste, he walked for miles on end. He was down to the very last of his supplies. There seemed to be no safe place to rest. Until he came upon a well at sunset. Walles set up his camp, took off his gear, and refilled his water jug. He lied down and shut his eyes and fell into a rest almost instantly.

Walles woke up to exactly four spears in his face, and seven men standing around him. His first instinct was to grab for his weapons, which of course weren't there. They were with the rest of gear, several feet away. //"Great."//

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Walles asked

One of the men lowered his spear, two more took its place.

"What are you doing on our land?" The man demanded.

Walles observed the men. They were all dirty, to say the least. Most seemed to hardly be men. They looked to be around the age of 15-20. Although all were muscular and seemed to be able to hold their own.

"I was unaware that anyone owned this land. That in its self blows my mind, why would anyone want this land?" Walles answered with a smirk.

The man's expression hardened for a moment. Then he broke out into a laughter, he almost doubled over. His men looked around anxiously, not sure what to make of it all The man, who had talked to Walles, smashed the butt of the spear into Walles forehead. Knocking him out.

Walles awoke to darkness. He tried to move his hands to try at his eyes, but of course his hands were bind. Panic set in. //Where am I?, What are they going to do to me?, How do I go about escaping?// Walles was at a lose. There was nothing he could do but sit and wait for his fate. And so he did. Walles waited for an uncountable amount of time. He just sat there, no food or water. The only noise he heard, other than his own breathing, was the occasional shout or scream.

After was seemed for an eternity, light poured into Walles' holding cell. Someone came and grabbed him. The person then half carried, half dragged Walles, for what seemed to be a thirty yards. The shoved him onto his knees, and then Walles could feel the point of a spear at his back. The burlap sack over his head was lifted, sunlight blinded Walles.

When it cleared, he saw a large river and beyond that a vast desert, that went for along as he could see. Above him was what seemed to be fifteen men at least, all of them watching Walles intently. As if to say, "If you make the wrong move, you will die." From the group emerged the man Walles had spoken to before he was captured.

"We do not understand why you haven't died yet, we have given you no food, nor drink for over three weeks," The man started

//​Did he say three weeks!//

"We do not know what magic you possess, but it doesn't matter. The tribe has made a decision, you are to be exiled into the Numidian Steppes," He nodded to the desert across the river. "Simply because we can not risk the chance of curse,"

The a couple of the men came forward, and grabbed Walles. They cut his binds and threw him into the river.

Water swept around Walles. He tried to swim his way to surface, but every time he broke into air, the current thrust him back down again. He struggled for air. He grabbed out widely, until he clung onto a large rock. He held on with all his strength, and slowly pulled him self up. Still clinging on, Walles got on top of the rock the jet out of the river. He then was able to jump from that rock onto other ones to get across the river, into the desert.

Once standing Walles looked out into the desert. //This doesn't look to bad, I had training the small deserts of the URA. No big deal, Ill just travel east.// While thinking this, a giant snake came hurtling out of the desert, less then 100 yards from Walles and slithered out into the horizan. //Shit.//

Walles did what he could. He walked east, hoping to eventually stumble upon another group of people. Preferably one less hostile. He followed the river. Now that Walles had time to think, it really hit him. If what the man said was correct, then how could Walles survived for three weeks with no food or drink. He should have died after the first week. Also he had not slept during any of that time, how was he not exhausted. None of it made any sense.

While deep in thought, Walles had wandered away from the river. Now it was no where in sight. He could not look to the sun for direction either, it had set and he hadn't even noticed. There was no way of discerning with way he had came from, there were no landmarks. Just endless sand dunes, that all looked the same. He deiced to walk straight ahead.

Walles continued to walk for hours, with no difference. Other than the amount of sand gathering in his boots. It was all the same. He could not judge how far he had gone, nor where he was going. He was lost. For the first time, since waking up, Walles had no idea what to do. All he could was to keep walking, and it wasn't like he could do that forever.

//Maybe I should just accept fate.//

Walles sat down, prepared to wait for death. He stared out to the morning sun, and he could just make out the shape of a dragon. Not just any dragon, it had the exact same shape as the figure of the festival decoration of Chomolungma. Except it was infinitely bigger then those.

The dragon swept overhead, within minutes it was gone. It was scaling the desert with such ease. It did so with confidence, knowing its purpose. Just as Walles should. //I can't die away from the URA, I must get back to the rebels before the cause is lost. If that means being Tesla's errand boy, so be it.//

Walles stood up, looked at the rising sun and walked towards with renewed determination. We would come out of this alive.

Walles walked for less than half a day before he stumbled upon a group of nomads. Who took him in and brought him to the Espria. To the port city of Izzet. The nomads brought him to downtown.

Walles not sure of where to go, wanders. He stumbles in the cities underbelly. He walks around not talking to anyone in particular, until he sees a boy being mugged by a group of three.

"Hey, lay off him!" Walles yells while running to aid.

The men all looked at Walles.

"Best you stay out of this, I know you don't want any trouble," one of the men said

The rest started to snicker, one of them turned around and pushed Walles.

"Oh you shouldn't have done that," Walles grinned

Walles grabbed the arm of the man that pushed him, and pulled him close and headbutted him. The man doubled over.

"What the..." The second man started but Walles was already charging him.

Walles ran into the second man pushing him down. When he turned to take care of the third, he was already running away.

"We won't forget this." The third one yelled as running off.

Walles turned towards the boy.

"Are you alright?" Walles asked

"I'm fine. Thank you." the boy answered

"Walles," Walles offered his hand out

"Arphos," He said shaking Walles' hand.

"Who were those guys?"

"Just some gang that has been terrorizing the underbelly lately, it's nothing new."

"Oh?" Walles raised an eyebrow

"Yeah, it is sort of how the underbelly is run. The city doesn't look after it that well, so gangs start to take over."

"That isn't right. Isn't there anyone to take care of the problem?"

"The gangs always fade. Next month it will just be a different one, doesn't matter what anyone does." Arphos answered

"Mhm" Walles didn't seem to convinced

"Hey! I know, why don't you come to the house? My brother, Dimyr, would love to meet you!"

Arphos then brought Walles to his house, it was empty. Walles and Arphos sat at a table across from each other. Walles could now get a better look at the boy. He wasn't very big, he wore well tailored clothes, obviously from a wealthy family.

"Where's your family?" Walles asked

"Not sure, they should all be here. I should go look for Dimyr, stay here." Arphos said while getting up.

With out much of a choice Walles sat and waited for a almost two hours before he deiced he should go looking for Arphos. Without anywhere in particular to look, Walles went back down into the underbelly. While walking, a gang of men appear around Walles. They surround him. The man from before, the one Walles had tackled, came forward.

"We have that little runt, if you want to see him again come to the old warehouse on forty-second. Bring fifty dimos," The men who came forward stated.

The men all sank back into the underbelly. Leaving Walles no choice, he set off to find the warehouse. With no money, and no plan.

Finding the warehouse wasn't a problem, he just found forty-second street and found the big ominous looking building that everyone was avoiding. Getting in was equally as easy. The guards just let him right in, they did nothing to harm him. Walles just walked straight until he came into a large room, that was filled with boxes. All the boxes in the middle of the room were pushed aside to make a somewhat of living area. Three men stood guard. In the back of the cleared area, was a clump of boxes that was made to be a make shift throne. Resting on the throne was the man Walles had headbutt earlier that day, and sitting in a wooden chair, bound and gagged was Arphos.

Walles and the man in sitting in the throne studied each other. Walles looked for any possible exits, all were blocked with guards. No way out.

"Welcome! How do you like humble home?" The man shouted at Walles.

"Honestly, I think it's a bloody dump," Walles admitted.

The man's expression got stern.

"I assume you are here for the boy,"

"Correct," Walles rolled his eyes

"Hand over the money,"

"Hand him over first," Walles urged

"You don't have the money?" The man asked

The three guards stood a bit straighter.

"Of course I don't, I'm not about to fund you. What are you going to do? Sick your little guards on me?" Walles was speaking with new found confidence.

The guards started to walk towards Walles. He stayed calm. Walles studied the room looking for a chance. He studied the man on the throne. He noticed that his nose was crooked, as if it was newly broken.

"Or would you face me like man? Are you scared that I might brake something other than your nose?" Walles taunted

The man jumped out of his seat. //Bingo//

"Stop!" The man shouted.

The man stomped up to Walles. He stood few inches from his face.

"You think you're tough? Ill take you on myself. When win Ill sell you both," he gestured to Arphos "as slaves!"

"If I win?"

"You both walk free.!"

The man backed off from Walles, and started to circle him.

"I'll never start a bout with a man I'm not acquainted with. Walles." He offered.

"Darren" The man charged Walles.

Walles dodged Darren's intentional charge, but Darren had turned around, using the same momentum and clotheslined Walles. As he fell to the ground, time slowed.

Walles inspected the situation, calculating Darren's next few moves. First, Walles would jump up, and Darren would then try to tackle him again, which Walles would dodge. Second, The man would turn back around with a jab, which Walles would then deflect with his left arm, and then he would then uppercut into his jaw. Third, While disorientated from the uppercut, Walles would then knee the man in the stomach, causing him to double over. Which Walles would then follow with an elbow to the small of Darren's back, which would cause him to fall, ending the match and allowing for Walles to leave with Arphos.

As always, things didn't go exactly as planned. Walles was correct about Darren. Who was now knocked out on the floor, but the part about leaving safely he was very mistaken.

Darren's men were intentionally in shock, but then anger sat in. The closest of the guards charged Walles, leaving Arphos unattended. Walles dodge all three of the guards. He then ran to Arphos, and grabbed his arm. Walles then ran up the throne of boxes, and jumped onto a cat walk running perpendicular to the throne. Two more guards charged at Walles and Arphos. The first of which, Walles pushed off the catwalk into a pile of boxes. The second, Walles pushed into the windows, running along the catwalk, breaking the windows. Thus creating an escape for Arphos, and himself. Which they then jumped out of.

Walles and Arphos ran out of the underbelly and to Arphos' house. There was no sign of pursuit. Once they arrived back to Arphos' home, his dad was waiting for him.

"Where have you been!" he looks at Walles "And who is this!" Arphos' father demanded

After a fairly long pause, "Um, Dad. This is Walles. He saw me getting mugged today and ran the gang off," After another pause, "Then I went to find you and Dimyr, but I couldn't find you and the gang came and kidnapped me. Walles came and saved me again."

Arphos' dad took one hard look at Walles.

"Nice to meet you Walles. The names Salvador," He offered his hand, "Thanks for saving my boy".

Walles shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you,"

"So as it were, not only did you save my boy today, you did that twice. For that we will ever be in your debt, what would you ask for?" Salvador asked

"I hate to do this, I normally wouldn't ask, But you wouldn't have any of that fiber-laser tech around would you?"

"Well sure, We have this sword, that is incrusted with the fiber," Salvador opens a cabinet in which a broad swords lays. The blade of the sword is about three feet long. The whole sword emits an almost eerie reddish glow. "This is sword is sharp enough to cut through diamonds, it should serve you well,"

Salvador hands the sword to Walles. With that Walles says his farewells and makes off down to the port. He commandeers a boat for himself, and makes way for the U.R.A. The voyage was short and uneventful. Upon arriving to the U.R.A. it was about a day trip back to Ulta. It has been nearly a month since he had left. Walles found Tesla where he always does, in the same pub downtown.

"I got it. I got some of the laser tech for you," Walles sighs out

Tesla looks at him confused.

"You know, the tech you sent me all the way to Espira to get!"

"Oh! That, yeah after about a week I sent someone else to get some for me, you took to long." Tesla stated.

//Of course.//