The world you know about is no more, keep that in mind
These words left a deep impression on me
The world has changed? In what ways?
According to the doctor, 8 piller like structure caused the destruction severe enough to wipe out almost all living beings, few humans and animals survived by some stroke of luck.
A few formed a group which went out to neighboring areas to find food, help people and have the situation under control. In a matter of few days the group turned into a organization who had control over many areas. They would ration out the food to the people in their organization and injured people under their care, which means once I'm all healed up I'll need to either join their organization for food or just venture out on my own.
The organization had turned the destroyed area full of broken houses into a functioning small town within a month, they had medical camp, cafeteria for all the people, a store where you can buy and sell stuff, plenty of housing and many more. That's around the time I woke up.
The doctor shared all kind of stories during my stay, about the people coming together helping each other, building the housing from all kind of scraps, carrying injured from other areas to give them treatment here, the happiness everyone felt upon eating their first full meal. I liked listening to the stories hoping one day I'll share it with Ruby.
On the day I was ready to be released from medical care 1 month had already passed away, I was unsure of what I was gonna do. Joining the organization was the obvious choice assuring my survival but that would limit me from going out searching for my family on my own.
"Finally it's ya time to leave this dammn place." I heard a familiar voice coming from the door. "Ah these kids really do grow up too fast." It was the doctor.
"Could stop with that skit already doc."
"So did ya figured out what you gonna do after getting out of here."
"I never intended to stay here, I'll be heading to my home city to see if anything survived and go with the flow from there."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Well I'll be leaving now but I'll be sure to visit you sometimes."
"Sure do buddy, did ya make sure to take all of equipment for the hunt?."
"Yeah... I'm still nervous about that part of the journey but I'm told there shouldn't be anything dangerous on the way. "
"Take care and bring me some great alcohol of you find any." With these words the doctor left.
I walked through the area realizing I've grown quite attach to it during my stay. The fountain at the center which only works in rain, the streetlight which turns off during the night and turns on during the day, the cafeteria where all the fun conversations happens. And the over the top doctor who looked after me...
My final walk through the town soon ended with me reaching the gate, there was still one thing left to do. Just a bit away to the right of the gate was a very particular building often called 'the guild'. I entered the building, it was a huge room with book shelve holding plenty of books and maps on both side of the room, there were couple of chairs and table around the room, a counter with receptionist at the very end of the room with a big board right behind her filled with all sorts of requests.
"Hello, welcome! What can I help you with." The receptionist asked. She had dark medium length hair, honey brown eyes, she was wearing a white button down shirt with a black vest on.
"Hello!, I'd like to know if you know which way is the Kraisis city and how far is it." I said as I rest my hands on the counter.
"Let me see!" She said as she pulled out a map from a book lying on the counter, "it is towards the west and 30 kilometers away, are you planning to venture out there?"
"Yeah, I was hoping to at least."
"Are you in procession of the 'handbook'? If not I highly suggest you to have one."
"Sure, I'd like to have one."
"OK let me get it for you."
She went to one of the book shelves to get a handbook, I was aware of the handbook but I was under the impression that I'll need to join the organization to get one for myself. Finding the rough distance I'll need to cover to get to my home was the last thing I needed and now with handbook I'm more than prepared for the journey.
"Here you go, your handbook." Said the receptionist handing me 2 books, one of which was the handbook while the other was a sketchbook.
"Ummm.. this ?" I said while showing her the sketch book.
"That's for you to record anything that isn't mentioned in the handbook, you see the handbook is still incomplete and we need others to provide us with information to add to the handbook."
No wonder I'm getting it for free, for just giving out a handbook they'll have a chance of receiving new information without going out themselves.
"What if someone records false information?" I asked out of curiosity.
"We try to find the common occurrence among the information we receive from various people and then send some of our own people to test it out. It is not a full proof way or a fast method but it's the only way we have for now."
"Is that so! Thanks for the explanation, sorry for taking up so much of your time." I said as I left the guild.
I finally set out on my journey to reach the place I once called home. I walked on the pathway going towards the west. Walking on a path filled with remenents of the town that once existed did bring my mood down a bit but I kept walking.
I could see a field of grass at the end of the road as the scraps around the path became scarce, it had been a while since I saw grass but before I could enjoy the greenery I saw somthing behind a tree not far away from me.
Thats when I first encountered the creatures born from the pillers