《A Study in Rain》


 Anything but the Rain - I

    ¡°Anything but the rain.¡±


    That was his wish.


    He took out the canteen bottle tied to his hip, and took a sip as he carried on. In times long past, rain might have been a blessing but now, now it was nothing more than a nuisance. It made the road muddy and difficult to traverse, made your feet all damp. Not to mention the musty smell never left his surroundings.


    Today too, the dark grey clouds were set on the horizon as far as he could see. Sunlight was a thing of the past, no one remembered the last sighting of the sun. Always just the rain. Sometimes the downpour was like cats and dogs but mostly it was just drizzling. He found the rare moments with no rain at all, quite peaceful.


    He was walking along the long abandoned roads, according to his map, he was on the outskirts of the city. The cold breeze was blowing slightly faster today, carrying small droplets of rain alongside it. The tiny raindrops splashed on his face and prickled like soft needles.


    How long had it been since the rain started? One year? Three years? Five years?


    He had honestly just forgotten, for there were more pressing priorities looming over his head all the time. But it all boiled down to one in the end.


    How to survive?


    He had made his makeshift base in a big wholesale store he found on the entrance to the city. He came to this city only a few days ago after the previous city had completely run out of food.


    He had kept walking alongside the main road used to travel between cities. It took him nearly three weeks before he found a city. The road he used for travel was meant for motorcars, using one would have reduced his travel to perhaps only a few days.


    However, they were powered by the Mist Engine and were useless now, after all the years of degradation, and none of the survivors knew how to build one.


    The world had fallen.


    According to the rumors, only took less than a month after the plague first spread.


    Humans, always developing, always evolving their ways. In their pursuit of knowledge to ensure their own survival, they caused their own demise.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Ironic, really.


    The mist that had been enveloping the continent for countless years, had fascinated them for a very long time. It was a mysterious source of energy that later led to the creation of the Mist engine. They were curious about what was beyond the mist, their efforts to traverse the mist brought the plague upon their land.


    The prickling droplets hitting his face were now annoying him now. He stopped and looked at the sky for a few moments, the rain didn¡¯t seem to be letting down. He gave out a tired sigh and took off his backpack, searching for something.


    He took out a piece of cloth resembling a scarf and wrapped it around his head. At least it would stop the droplets from hitting his face. A rusted and worn down sign board near him, at the side of the road said the following:


    CAUTION!


    ¡°THIS AREA HAS BEEN QUARRANTINED¡±


    The rest of the writing was worn out and too tedious to read so he stopped reading it. He looked at the signboard and snorted derisively, and carried on.


    The initial mode of contraction was due to the air itself. It was an airborne plague. Anyone infected became rabid in a matter of minutes, lost all sense and became nothing short of an animal.


    The infection in the air didn¡¯t last long and humans became the primary source of the plague. Tearing at each other, biting, gnawing and multiplying rapidly. The only effect in the air that remained was the weather.


    The infected population¡¯s only source of nutrition was cannibalism. Didn¡¯t take long for most of them to die of starvation. After all, they weren¡¯t some sort of undead who magically go on to live for eternity without any source of nutrition. Some infected, however, were still rumored to be alive.


    No, the problem of survival wasn¡¯t directly related to the infected.


    He spotted a small general store by the road. He ran in small steps, to avoid muddy water splashing on his pants, to the door front and inspected the doorframe. It seemed it wasn¡¯t locked.


    ¡°Finally some luck¡±, he thought.


    The problem was something painfully simple.


    The resources were running out. Food was very scarce to come by, most was way beyond its date of expiration.


    Humans that survived were very few and the continent was big, too big for them.


    As such, they rarely crossed paths.


    Besides, even if they met, they had an unspoken rule of not staying together for long. Sooner or later the food in that area would run out, faster with more people consuming it. That would lead to conflict over the remaining food in that area.


    There was, however, a bigger issue.


    The remaining Humans were afraid of each other. They had witnessed the world¡¯s fall, and in quite a gruesome way. As such, the concept of trust had been lost.


    He rattled the entrance door a few times and the door opened, making a loud creaking sound. He took out his flashlight and started to examine his surroundings.


    It seemed to be a store that specialized in tool making, perhaps a blacksmith?


    He was disappointed that he couldn¡¯t find any food, but all was not lost. He was in serious need of some tools. For example, his water canteen had started to leak recently, due to a tiny opening. He could fix that with the tools available here. He also required some materials to mend his shoes.


    After finding a few useful tools, he was now searching the shelves at the back of the store for any trivial thing he could come upon (mainly to satisfy himself that this long trek from the wholesale store wasn¡¯t a failure). His hand touched something rectangular.


    Ah, it was a book. It had accumulated so much dust that it was hard to tell what it was.


    He carefully brushed the dust a bit with his fingers and the titled revealed itself, the title read:


    ¡°How to tell constellations Apart for Dummies¡±


    He grinned a bit over his vain search, and decided to put the book in his backpack.

 Anything but the Rain - II

    He peeked outside from the cracked glass panel on the doorframe of the blacksmith¡¯s shop. The rain had gotten considerably more severe. If he went out like this, the rain would no doubt, make him dripping wet.


    It seemed he would have to spend some more time here after all, some more exploration of the place was the optimum solution. Since this was a blacksmith¡¯s shop, there had to be some sort of hearth used for forging metal.


    One thing that had been irking him for a while, was the heavy dust inside, so many layers of dust accumulated, that he was leaving footprints on the ground as if he had walked on snow. The cloth he had wrapped around his nose and mouth earlier was doing a fine job keeping most of the dust particles from reaching his system.


    He spotted the hearth in one the corners of the store, cold as expected.


    For a moment he wondered the past of this store. Perhaps many clients came here asking for tools, weapons and materials for their day to day life. The hammer of the blacksmith striking hot iron, producing that distinct sound in the process, the embers scattering away with each strike.


    He wasn¡¯t being sentimental, not in the least.


    It was just, that memories was all he had, and imagining how these lifeless places looked in their prime was all he had to go for. The current memories were always of the same stale and grey colours.


    Many people chose different things to keep clinging on to their sanity. They started new hobbies, as limited as they were, all just to keep that sense of normality alive.


    For himself though, only memories remained.


    He couldn¡¯t get into anything minuscule, such as a hobby, instead, his lone pleasure was imagining the world before the fall, that and enjoying the moments without the rain.


    He noticed a cupboard beside the hearth, it seemed to be an old wooden cupboard you would find anywhere. It was locked shut, however, he didn¡¯t have to look for the key. The termites had done a fair job of eating the wood, rendering it almost hollow. He shuffled through his belongings and took out the iron rod he had bagged earlier during his vain expedition of the store.


    ¡°Alright, here¡¯s your turn buddy¡±, he spoke out loud.


    He had developed a habit of always speaking out loud. It wasn¡¯t like anyone could hear him; the real reason however, was the he disliked the suffocating silence, accompanied by the faint buzzing sound in his ears. The distinct sound of silence.


    ¡°Okay, heads up¡±, he said as he made a batting stance.


    The wooden door of the cupboard easily scattered apart after a few swings. The dirt hadn¡¯t accumulated inside much as compared to the outside. He found a thick fabric, perhaps a shroud, but the most important find was the few flint stones sitting in there.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Nice¡±, he made a snarky comment.


    He could use the thick fabric as a shroud, and finally leave this pile of a dust store.


    As he left the door of the store, he shuddered slightly due to the cold. Taking this as a cue, he made a basic shroud around him with the fabric he had found.


    ¡°Finally, let¡¯s go¡±, he made a relived sound and started walking towards the wholesale store.


    Perhaps his sentences were filled over exaggerated emotions. But to him expressing emotions in his voice was important, it kept away the loneliness he suffered from. To mask the fact that he was alone, he constantly talked to himself, it kept him engaged in human interactions and kept the boredom away as a plus.


    ¡°So many scattered motorcars, I do wonder what kind of people used these¡±, he made a comment about the various motorcars on the road, now rusting due to the constant rain. He rubbed the raindrops from the window pane of a motorcar to look inside, the reflection displayed his usual tired self. Inside on the back seat there was nothing out the ordinary, just some rotting bottles and plastic bags.


    He looked at the mirror attached to the side of the car.


    ¡°This will definitely come in handy¡±, he said, pocketing the mirror. He liked collecting various trivial things he found out in the wild. Some would argue that this counts as a hobby, but to him it was just a proof of his travels.


    He vaulted over the small divider and started walking on the path meant for pedestrians. He was walking back to the wholesale store hurriedly, the rain didn¡¯t seem to be diminishing and he had a hunch it would get only worse. He passed the worn down sign board he had passed by earlier.


    ¡°Good¡±, he could see outline of the building he was headed to now.


    Even though he had tried his best to take small steps and avoided he small puddles, his pants had still gotten slightly wet. He would need to make a fire to heat them a bit, that would surely fix the problem.


    -------------------


    As soon as he entered the store he took off his shoes, his socks were now slightly damp and he hated that feeling. He really needed to mend his shoes.


    The wholesale store was a massive building, comprising of two floors. The ground floor was used for parking purposes for the motorcars, and the other consisted of all sorts of goods, from food to all sort of miniscule products used for daily life.


    He lit the gas lamps he had nailed to the walls as he passed by them. He had used the tools available from the store itself to fix the lamps. After all, he was tired of using his flashlight to venture inside, and feeling like a burglar every time. With these lighting resources, the store had some of that ¡°Homey¡± feeling now, as he liked to call it.


    With a lantern in his hands, he made his way to the corner of the store he called his room. It was nothing fancy, just a mattress he had shamelessly pillaged and his chosen few belongings he used for travelling between longer distances.


    After changing into wearing warm clothes, he tried to make a fire by flint stones. He had gathered some dry bushes and branches from his previous trips. He doused a small cloth in gas, and placed it upon the nest of bushes and branches he had made. He struck the two stones together at about thirty degrees, and created a few sparks. He tried that a few more times until the fire was lit.


    He placed his damp clothes around the fire and sat down, looking at the brilliant fire before him, hearing its crackles. He was lost in thought when he remembered he had a book in his bag about constellations, he took out the book and just stared at its title.


    He felt as if the title was made just for mocking him.


    ¡°This should be fun¡±, with a sigh he opened the book.

 A journal of some kind - I

    ¡°It has been 5 weeks since I left Mehlzarr, and the rain shows no sign of stopping. Day after day and night after night¡±.


    She wrote in a book, resembling a journal of some kind. She got up from the chair and grabbed the lantern from the desk, heading towards the window. The wind still howled outside, rattling the windows. The cabin she had found in the Forrest, although shoddy, was doing a basic job of sheltering her. She sat back on the chair and started to write again.


    ¡°The amount of food I have in my possession will not last long I fear. If the rain lets up tomorrow, I will have to hunt. Mother, what would have you done?¡±


    She looked at her bow and the arrow quiver mother had given her. They were in an urgent need of maintenance, and she was running out of arrows. The arrows were usually reusable, however sometimes her targets managed to evade her. She was no expert hunter, mother had only taught her the basics.


    Her targets were the small animals she found in the wilderness.


    Animals had not been effected by the plague, no one knew why, perhaps the infection only affected a human host.


    A good source of food, however, they were extremely rare to come by in urban areas. One had to travel by the solitary path of forests. Unless you were a hunter, you wouldn¡¯t last in this environment. As such, most remaining survivors didn¡¯t not rely on animals as a source of food.


    She considered herself lucky. Due to her family background, she had experience in hunting. She preferred to travel using the wild paths, hunting and gaining experience as she went.


    She gave the insides of the cabin a second glace. Her raincoat was hanging off a door nail, water drops occasionally falling off it. There was a dusty bed to her side and a table and chair she was currently sitting on. She opened the drawers, as expected, it was empty.


    It seemed this served as some eccentric family¡¯s vacation house before the fall.


    She rubbed her forehead with her fingers for a while, and then extinguished the flame of the lantern.


    -----------------------------


    To her misfortune, the rain hadn¡¯t let up as much as she had hoped. However, it was now reduced to a bearable degree. A hunt was possible, tedious but possible.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    She wore her green raincoat, tied her boots, grabbed her bow and quiver and she was on her way.


    It had been a year since mother passed away, after that she had been on her own.


    Her illness was terminal, it couldn¡¯t be cured with remedies and home treatment. After knowing of her certain death, mother had started to write a journal for her. For when she was gone, her daughter could survive. Mother had known this would happen one day, but not that it would happen so soon. She couldn¡¯t teach her hunting properly in the time she had left, so she opted to write her a journal full of advices.


    Mother really loved her, and she really loved mother.


    She was carrying a dirk, a small dagger like weapon. She was using it to clear her path which was obstructed by wild bushes and branches. Her eyes were roaming about carefully mapping the area, and finding out the best shelter a small animal would take during this rain. She kneeled near a big withering tree and checked its hollow trunk for anything. The water was seeping inside from the small cracks in the tree trunk.


    This was a vain search. She sat with her back resting against the tree trunk.


    She was tired of living like this, giving it her all just to live for another day full of dull gray and blurry green colors. One of the advice mother had deemed as important was that she should travel by the solitary paths, so she could perfect her hunting and survival skills. She had thought that mother¡¯s advice was a bit too reckless, but it did force her to rely on her hunting skills, so perhaps she was right in hindsight.


    She took out the book she always carried, mother always had something helpful in her notes.


    ¡°Animals can be found according to what they feed on¡±.


    She looked around her, eyeing for any particular plant that stood out.


    But there wasn¡¯t anything out of the ordinary inside this forest. Only some leafy greens scattered about. She decided to check the journal for information about the leafy greens. She turned the pages skimming their contents.


    ¡°Rabbits feed mostly on leafy greens. Once you find foliage, it won¡¯t be long before you spot one. Remember to stay quiet when sneaking up on rabbits while bow hunting. Rabbits feed early in the morning and late in the evening, and leave small pellet droppings where they feed. Once you find their feeding location, it¡¯s only a matter of time before you have an opportunity to harvest one¡±.


    She closed the book, and out of curiosity looked inside the tree trunk.


    There were certainly no rabbit there, but there were small rabbit droppings inside.


    She quietly picked up her bow and stood up, careful not to make excessive noise, if what mother wrote was true, there was one close by. She walked slow and steady, her hand slowly reaching her quiver and she took out an arrow.


    She caught something furry and brown, hiding under a thicket of leaves. Unfortunately, it had spotted her too.


    She readied her bow carefully, as not to startle the animal.


    The rabbit had her eyes on her, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.


    She aimed the arrow at it and drew.


    The rabbit made a sudden movement, and hopped around a bit to the left.


    She, however, maintained her composure. Hunting required patience and animals were known to make sudden small movements.


    A mild gust of wind blew and shook the leaf thicket a bit.


    Distracted, the rabbit looked away for a moment.


    Taking the opportunity, she let go of the arrow, and in a blink of an eye, the arrow had pierced the rabbit¡¯s neck.

 A journal of some kind - II

    She had to make sure the rabbit was dead.


    Fortunately, he had probably died in a jolt, due to the shock.


    After that, she took out a piece of rope she was carrying, and tied the rabbit¡¯s legs with it. Then, she lifted it up and hung it from a sturdy tree branch using the rope. She took out dirk and started to skin the rabbit, starting from the ankles.


    Perhaps there were better and efficient way of doing this, but this was the method she was taught since childhood, and she was proficient at it.


    After skinning it, she cut open its gut, and took out some visceral organs that were quick to rot and not really edible. She took out a small white cloth from her burlap sack, and stored some organs such as the liver inside it. Now, it was time to carry this thing back to her cabin. She stored the rest of the rabbit in the sack.


    She was walking back humming a tune to a song she has wrote herself in her journal.


    Even when she was alone, which was always, she never sang the lyrics. Only hummed it occasionally. Perhaps, she wanted someone else to hear it. Only if mother was still alive¡­


    She reached the door of her cabin and opened the door by pushing her shoulder against the door.


    Her immediate move was to take off her raincoat and shoes. She then reached into her sack and took out the rabbit and the liver.


    First, she went to the hearth that was in the middle of the room, sat on her knees and lit a fire. She proceeded to hang a cooking pot over it. Noticing the window, she got up from her knees and went there. She opened the windows and grabbed the big steel pot she had placed there this morning, to collect rain water.


    She walked back to the cooking pot and poured the water into it.


    Now came the hard part, to make small pieces of rabbit meat.


    She reached for her sack, and took out a small cleaver. Her sack was full of tools required for hunting. And then, she set to work.


    After a hefty amount of effort from her, she finished making pieces.


    She had always especially sucked at this part, hence why it always took a lot of time.


    She reached for her travel bag sitting on the table and took out a packet containing something white.


    Salt.


    She took a few pinches and poured the salt into the pot with now boiling water.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Time for the easiest part.


    She put a few pieces in the pot and rest with the liver. She wanted to smoke them later.


    Smoked food always lasted longer.


    All she had to do now was wait.


    She took a cloth and made it bit wet using rain drops, and started to clean her bloodied hands.


    Hygiene was important, mother had deemed it very important.


    ¡°Otherwise, you¡¯ll catch all sorts of diseases¡±.


    Mother used to say.


    She smiled at this thought. She picked up her own journal and began to write.


    ¡°I hunted a rabbit today, after a long time of no hunting. Although, I wish someone else was here with me. The meat is too much for me and some of it will definitely go to waste.


    ¡­.No that is probably an excuse.


    I just want someone to be with me, it is very hard to go on all alone. I have no idea how to deal with this feeling, for the longest time, you were always there mother¡±.


    For the longest time, she had been travelling using the solitary path of forests. But that would come to an end very soon. The forest was finally clearing up, her next destination was an urban city. Besides, she considered herself to be an adept huntress already, although mother would disagree.


    ¡°Either ways, it isn¡¯t as if cities don¡¯t have animals, I¡¯m sure there will be some small animals here and there. I am tired of travelling like this. At least, in the cities I don¡¯t have to worry about wild animals while traversing. Not to mention the path is clear, I don¡¯t have to cut down every single wild plant".


    The pot with the meat started to rattle, it seemed it was done.


    She got up, searched for her spoon in the travel bag, and moved towards the pot. She took off the lid, the soup was boiling and the meat seemed to be done too. She used the spoon to taste some soup for flavor.


    She blew on the spoon a few times to cool it down, and then drank it.


    She made an unamused face as she gulped it down.


    ¡°Needs more salt?¡±


    She wrote it in her journal on the cooking page.


    She added a few more pinches of salt into the soup and stirred it a few times using the spoon. Taste testing again was the next step, from her face it seemed like she had succeeded.


    She grabbed her bowl, poured it full and sat around the hearth¡¯s crackling flames.


    It was after three or four bowls that she finally seemed to be full. There was still a bit left, that could be used tomorrow as breakfast, she would have to reheat it.


    Now, she proceeded to smoke the meat.


    The liver would last longer.


    She had enough that she could explore a nearby city without fear of running out. And if luck was on her side, she would find something of worth there as well.


    However, her long term goal was something else.


    When she was a kid, Mother used to talk about her hometown, mother had always expressed an interest in going back there.


    As such, she had developed a very strong interest in it. After mother¡¯s death, she had nothing better to do. She made her decision to travel and find her mother¡¯s hometown.


    Her destination, The city of Old Saints.

 Anything but the Rain - III

    He scoffed, passing by one of the various posters on the walls of the wholesale store. They were half torn already due to time, but in the past may have displayed ads of the products available in the store.


    Last night had not been the best. He had spent all of it trying to get his clothes to dry, with little to no result.


    He had decided to survey the store in the end. He hadn¡¯t searched it completely yet, only the places that looked interesting. So, it was about time he searched this from nook to cranny.


    There were a lot of aisles in there, tall aisles with huge cardboards at the very top of them. On the bottom sides were the products the store once offered when it still operated. Most of them were beyond use now.


    The first few aisles on the left were completely filled with products used for cleaning. He barely had any use for them. He did no extensive cleaning after all. When his clothes became dirty, he simply threw them away.


    One part of his search was to look for the clothing section, he didn¡¯t wish to spend another night wasting his time on drying his damp clothes. That seemed to be a vain effort.


    He found the clothing section soon enough, just required some slow meticulous searching. He tried out new clothes, not caring for whether he looked ridiculous in this mismatched outfit or not.


    ¡°Alright, time to go out¡±, he said as he picked up his backpack and exited the store.


    Today was a rare day of little to no rain, hence his mood was better than usual.


    There was a slight breeze on the streets, creating a euphoric feeling when it touched his face. The puddles from last night¡¯s rain were still on the roads, a bit muddy due to the dirty roads. In the past this city was known for its development, especially the roads that were specifically made for motor cars to traverse.


    The signboard when entering the city had said:


    ¡°Welcome To Alzeria¡±


    Alzeria, the city of the future they used to call it. The jewel of the south.


    Now, even its most main streets displayed a scene of ruin.


    He was walking slowing, gauging out his surroundings. He wasn¡¯t in a rush after all, the canned food he had found in the store would suffice for now, so food wasn¡¯t an immediate concern. Although, more food was always welcome. That coupled with the fact that he was bored and there was no rain today, led him to a stroll of some sorts in the vicinity.


    There was a restaurant of some sort right next to the store, possibly for the travelling people who had just entered the city. He was on the outskirts after all.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    He eyed the restaurant, it was a small establishment. Its sign board had long since collapsed, lying on the ground bent and rusted. Tall grass and weeds had grown outside the place, it took him a while to notice the sign board, in fact. It was obscured by the wild vegetation.


    ¡°Storm and strong winds on the loose again¡±, he said as he jumped over the sign.


    The main door of the restaurant was made totally out of glass, funnily enough, the glass was totally smashed, rendering the door useless.


    ¡°Maybe one of those automated doors¡±, he noted as he stepped through the broken glass door into the restaurant. The building had large windows and there was enough illumination coming through the windows, so there was no use for his flashlight.


    As suspected, there weren¡¯t much tables on the ground floor of the restaurant, most of the space was occupied by the counter and workspace, and a room in the back that was probably a kitchen.


    He had no business on the upper floor, so he walked towards the counter, avoiding chairs that were strewn across the ground. There was a desk bell sitting on the counter, begging to be pushed.


    ¡°Ah, so this was a place that wasn¡¯t doing well in terms of business¡±, he realized.


    He dinged the bell out of sheer curiosity and amusement. And then again, and again. Third time¡¯s a charm and apparently start of boredom too.


    He made an unimpressed face and vaulted over the counter, the only point of interest was the kitchen. He kicked open the kitchen doors and walked in.


    There was a sudden noise in the room, as if someone had just hidden somewhere inside.


    His danger sense immediately started to blow up, and in the next few seconds, he took off his backpack, opened it and took out the crowbar.


    ¡°Damn¡±, he muttered under his breath as he clutched the crowbar in his hands and approached the boxes in the back. There weren¡¯t a lot of boxes but there were enough to hide a human.


    Crowbar in his hand, he quickly looked behind the boxes.


    ¡°Huh, odd. There¡¯s nothing here¡±, he said as he relaxed. ¡°Must¡¯ve been my imagin-¡±, his sentence trailed off as he felt something soft on his shoe. He looked down, and in the next moment, life left his eyes.


    It was a rat, a huge rat. And it was staring right at him, instead of running away.


    This wasn¡¯t good.


    In a moment, he jolted back, kicking away the rat in the process.


    ¡°Shit! No, no, no. No way!¡± he said as he ran back to the kitchen doors. He was hearing a lot of screeching from behind.


    There wasn¡¯t just one rat, he had waddled right into the nest of huge rats.


    He threw open the kitchen doors and jumped over the counter in a rush, scratching his elbow. But he cared not, a scratch was ten times better than a rat bite.


    He didn¡¯t stop running until he was outside of the restaurant, then he kept looking back while hastily walking. He didn¡¯t stop until he was well away from there, and walked until he reached the opposite side of the road.


    ¡°Note to self: never waltz in like you own the place¡±, he made a mental note about his predicament.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± he noticed a yellowish paper sticking to the side of his backpack. ¡°Must have tagged along when I jumped over the counter¡±.


    He picked up a small stick lying on the street and scratched the paper off his backpack. The paper fell on the ground and he bent down, trying to take a good look at it.


    ¡°Seems to be a brochure of some kind¡±, he said as he looked carefully.


    There were various announcements written on it regarding the restaurant. One said something about coupons enabling you to go to a trip to a big city.


    Specifically, The city of the Old Saints.


    He gave out a weak laugh. ¡°Well, this would have been convenient back in the day, ironic because that is exactly where I am headed after i find something worthwhile here¡±.

 Anything but the Rain - IV

    He was carrying on with his explorative stroll, ignoring his recent mishap at the restaurant. He could see a huge overhead bridge, perhaps built for motorcars. Before that, there was a gasoline refill station, with a built-in shop.


    ¡°Like I would ever go into one of these things again¡±, he snorted as he gave it a look.


    The rain had stopped for today but the mud was still there, as annoying as ever. He had to take extra steps to avoid it, he jumped up from the pedestrian trail to the elevated path used for people who had businesses on the side of the road.


    He could see that the overhead bridge he saw before was just one of many, it seemed to be a junction of roads. There were four or five roads intersecting in the distance. He always wanted to climb one of these bridges and Alzeria seemed to have plenty of them.


    He smiled faintly, exploration could wait a bit. For now he had every intention of trekking up to that bridge just for amusement.


    ¡°Never lose that childlike innocence, it keeps you going¡±, he often used to say that to himself.


    He would have to get down to the main road, if he wanted to walk to the bridge. There was mud just below the point he was standing. He took in a deep breath, back tracked his steps, and charged. As he reached the edge of elevated path, he jumped towards the main road.


    ¡°Mud successfully avoided¡±, he seemed to be satisfied with himself.


    It was the little things like this that kept the spirit intact, treating everything mundane as an important hurdle to overcome, kept him entertained. But especially, it kept the boredom away. Being never bored in an empty world was not an easy task by any means. He would have gone half-senile, or would have given in to severe paranoia if he lived a life only for the sake of survival.


    He wasn¡¯t far off the mark with his line of thought. Many had succumbed to the tedious and redundant lifestyle of living to survive another day. Their spirit had given in, they were nothing but empty husks of life now.


    ¡°Could such a living be called living at all?¡± he had thought of this before.


    Hence, he strived to be different. And for that mindless entertainment was a necessary step.


    ¡°I am the last insane man in this abnormally sane world!¡± he shouted as he walked on the main road that was slowly elevating as he progressed.


    His voice produced an echo that went all over the area, reverberating. He smirked and kept walking on the ascending road, now high enough that he could see buildings he couldn¡¯t see before. In particular, there was a huge grey colored building in the distance that piqued his interest. Its structure looked very familiar.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Hmm¡±, he kept eyeing it as he now increased his pace.


    And soon after, he was at the highest point of the bridge. Normally one wouldn¡¯t have been able to stand here and admire the view. As this road was meant for fast moving motorcars. He could now see the building in grey. Turned out, it wasn¡¯t just one building, there were four buildings, with one being under construction.


    ¡°Ah, no wonder it seemed familiar¡±, he spoke, reaching a realization. ¡°This is an educational institution, most of them have that distinct structure that never changes¡±.


    And his hunch was correct, he found a board indicating this was a university at some point.


    ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to go into one of these¡±, he sighed. ¡°I never got to go into one of these back when everyone was alive¡±.


    He hurriedly started to descend from the bridge. He learned two things that day.


    First, descending is way easier than ascending.


    Second, it is also way easier to lose your footing and stumble when the roads are slippery.


    It was too late, he couldn¡¯t keep his balance and went rolling down the wet road as if it was a water slide. Only stopping when he reached the bottom.


    He remained laying there, looking at the sky filled with grey clouds, contemplating on his own stupidity. After a while of staying down, he sat up. His raincoat was ruined by dirty water.


    ¡°I would laugh, but this isn¡¯t funny¡±, he said as he got up and looked at rain coat he was wearing, now dripping with mud water. He had found it in the store today after a meticulous search. ¡°Damn and I really liked this one too¡±.


    At least, his clothes were mostly safe from the muddy water at the expense of his raincoat¡¯s sacrifice. Thinking of that silver lining, he took off and threw the rain coat at the side of the road.


    ¡°So long, I guess¡±, he said as he walked off towards the entrance to the university.


    The area the university was occupying was large, and he seemed to be at the back side. There were no entrances here. He kept walked along the wall, hoping to eventually find the entrance, but after ten minutes of waking there was nothing new in sight.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t going to work, is it?¡± he said huffing.


    There was a wooden bench, under a shade, right next to the wall. He walked up to the bench and took off his backpack, putting it on the bench.


    ¡°I think I had a rope I stole, I mean borrowed from the wholesale store¡±, he said pillaging through his bag. ¡°Ah, there it is!¡±


    He took out the rope and tied a knot with a loop at its end, and walked back a few steps, gauging the height of the wall. At the very top of the wall, there were iron or steel spikes, meant to keep out intruders he guessed.


    He started to swing the rope and threw it at the iron spikes, it missed of course.


    ¡°I sure suck at this¡±, he said disappointingly.


    It took him six more tries until he got the rope stuck on a spike, and luckily it was a spike not far from the roof of the shade. He could grab the shade for support when vaulting over.


    Thinking that, he wore his backpack and started to climb the rope, after reaching the top, he grabbed the edge of the shade and threw the rope to the other side, and vaulted over into the university grounds.

 A journal of some kind - III

    Finally, the forest had ended, and she could see the outline of a city beyond the trees.


    After years of isolation in the solitary path, after years of hiding, she was finally back. There was a big tree at the edge of the cliff. It could serve as a good vantage point, if she could climb it, she would have a good view of the outer part of the city.


    Luckily, climbing such a tree was like child¡¯s play to her.


    She put down her travelling bag, and gave the tree a look. First thing when climbing a tree this big was to confirm whether it was safe to climb or not. The roots weren¡¯t rotting, that was a good sign, no mushrooms or fungus growing at the base either.


    She gave the trunk a good look, there were some splits and cracks but nothing too big. And finally, she checked it from a distance to see whether it was leaning to one side or not. It was common sense to check if a tree was about to fall.


    Everything checked, the tree was safe to climb.


    It seemed to be a maple tree, fairly easy to deal with, she had a lot of experience climbing those since childhood. She looked for a low hanging branch and grabbed it, next was a sturdy looking branch, and then another. In a few moments, she was at the peak of the tree.


    She could see the city in all its former glory, covered in a blanket of smoky clouds. Just after the small cliff she was currently at, was a motor road. It was leading to the city, she would have to walk a lot to reach the entrance of the city.


    She descended the same way she came up, and jumped down when it was safe.


    She took out the journal out of her bag and jotted down a few things.


    ¡°I climbed a maple tree today, it has been a while. To my surprise, it required some effort, maybe I need to work on my climbing skills. That aside, Alzeria is not as I expected, it was said in the guide that it was a city teeming with wonders. I hoped that some of that was still left, unfortunately, the city is eroding. A closer look is required for confirmation, travelling will take a few hours¡±.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    She closed the journal and placed it back.


    The guide she had mentioned was just an old guidebook that was laying around in their house, when she lived with mother. It mentioned information about all cities, how to travel, which spots to check and the shortest way to get there. It was basically a tourist¡¯s guide, but she considered it something far more credible than that. Most of the information she had about the outside world and the cities came from that book, she adored that book.


    It was time to move on, she picked up her bag and inspected the edge off the cliff.


    It was steep but could be traversed. The slope was made of moist dirt and gravel. The only way to descend from this kind of surface was to slide down, if you tried to walk down, you¡¯d fall and end up rolling down either ways. She thought that there was no one stupid enough to hurriedly walk down a wet slope. But perhaps, there was someone like that in the world, there is never a shortage of idiots after all, she concluded in her mind and nodded.


    She prepared herself and slid down the steep cliff with no problems at all.


    She had landed in overgrown vegetation at the side of the road, she got up and dusted off any dirt she had on her bottom. She checked her bag to see if had been torn during the fall.


    It seemed to be safe from any major damage. Relived, she made her way towards the main motor road. She gawked at the asphalt road for a few moments and then bent down and touched it.


    The roads were as same as she remembered. Leveled and smooth, unlike the paths of forests.


    She started to walk happily on the road. It was quite an experience for her. There were abandoned motor cars along the road she walked. She took out her journal as she strolled and started to write.


    ¡°The roads are easy to walk on, they haven¡¯t changed. I didn¡¯t hate the solitary path, but this is definitely better. It seems as if I have been missing out a great comfort. I have decided, I will never use the forest path again, until it is an absolute necessity. On a side note, there are a lot of abandoned motor cars here, I wasn¡¯t expecting to see this much. However, I should have expected this from the jewel of the south. Even though it lays in shambles, it manages to display some of its former glory¡±.


    She stopped writing when she saw a small building of some sort in the distance. It was strange for a building to be at the entrance of a city, seemed to be a private business. The rain that had been absent for all day had started to pick up, it was a matter of minutes before it started to drizzle.


    Thinking about shelter, she went near the building to take a better look. It really was an odd building, it stood alone on the side of motor road. She inspected the door of the building, the doorframe had a broken glass panel, which was nothing out of the ordinary. However, something irked her about this door, it seemed almost unnatural or wrong. She chalked it up to her paranoia and walked in.


    As soon as she walked in, she froze in her steps. The practice of countless days kicked in due to her instincts. Her hands reached her back, took the bow off her shoulders and readied her arrow, all in a few moments.


    On the thick layer of dust on the floor of the building, there were recent footprints.