"Steel Dreams 30-31" by Charles Davis

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the strange grated room she was in. Metal grates covered every wall
and the floor was made of dirt. There was a large wooden table in the middle of the room. It was covered in blood
and had various odd looking metal instruments with sharp points and blade edges to them. On the other side of the room
in the corner there were various lumps in the dirt floor where it looked as if something had been buried. Almost like
graves. She looked ahead of her and gasped. A disfigured body and been crucified to the wall. It was rapped in barbed
wire and covered with dirt. Its stomach had been slashed open and its innards could be seen. Its intestines were still
attached in its stomach, but had been pulled out and nailed to the wall. It had been so disfigured by some unknown
instrument that it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female. The top of its head had been scalped and its
brain was exposed. Its mouth had been cut into the shape of a big open mouthed smile. She closed her eyes and
looked away. She tried to move. That is when she realized, that she too was tied to the wall. Ropes were around her
wrists and ankles and ran through the holes in the grated wall. She was naked also.

She heard a door open and close beside her. A man walked into her view. He was dressed in metal and leather armor
from the base of his neck to the bottom of his feet. On his back was a katana and a rifle. At his side hung a shotgun. His
head was shaved and he had a big scar running diagonal down his face. He was a tall and stocky. He looked up at her
and smiled exposing a mouth with various missing teeth. He had a bag slung over his shoulder

“Hello my little angel,” his voice was raspy and low.

“Who are you?” she asked in an angry voice. She wasn’t about to let him see her fear.

“Someone important. Someone soon to be more powerful. I need you. I need something you have.”

“What?” He took the bag off of his shoulder and opened it. He pulled out a bloody fur skin. It was that of a Kessop.

“What luck,” he said looking at it. “I found this one just walking down an empty street all alone while I was coming back here.”
He looked back up at Raluna. “You see, now I have all the parts I need to bring back the Savior. All but one. The one you
posses.”

“The Savior? You’re a follower of the Light Ones!”

“Oh yes. But to you I’m much more then that.” He took something out of his pocket and showed it to Raluna. She gasped.
It was a gray and blue feather.

“You!” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Yes me.” He walked over to her and plucked one of the feathers from her wings. The underside of the white feather was
blue and grey, just like the other one he held in his hand. “I was right. You are his kin.” He let go of the feathers and drew
his sword. He walked behind her and raised it.

“My boyfriend’s gonna kick your ass,” she said with a smile and joking in her voice as tears ran down her face.

“I have planned for that,” he said. As the sword slashed into her back, he smiled despite himself.

They hid the boat under a large black building that stuck out over the water. They climbed over to the land by the building.
They were near on a dock which led into a cover of darkness. It was daylight on the dock. They walked forward with
caution. It was an odd sensation walking through the line that separated light from dark. As soon as they were over a feeling
of weight landed on their shoulders. A feeling of complication and stress, and a pain that hurt, but never enough.

“It’s ok. It’s normal,” said Kal. “It’s just the energy this place gives off, it will feel better after a little bit.”

“I hope it doesn’t,” Das looked at Kal. “I don’t want to forget this pain.” Kal nodded and they walked on through the dark city.
Straight ahead of them the city didn’t look like much. They were walking down a concrete path between an endless line of buildings.
It was exceptionally dark and damp at the bottom of the building. All of the lights were up. Everything in the city was up. Thousands
upon thousands of different buildings of different shapes rose up thousands of feet. Red and Green and Blue lights came off all of the
buildings illuminating the dark place. All of the buildings were the same black, steel color. Emotionless and void of love. Various flying
ships zoomed over their head.

A noise came from their side. Das turned to see a man moaning on the side of the street leaning up against a wall. He was old and his
face was wrinkled and honor-less. He had ripped tatters for clothes and no shoes. A long scrapped beard fell from his chin. He had to
wires jammed into his eyeballs. He moaned in pain and tried to weakly thrash around as blood and puss came out of the wounds in his
eyes. He eventually gave up and slumped over on his side shaking. He had clearly been like this for a long time. Das walked over to him.
He kneeled by him and put his hand on the side of his head as he looked at his withered face.

“Das. You should leave him,” advised Kal. Das paused as he looked at the man.

“I cannot just stand by as this happens,” he said. He then reached out and pulled the two wires out of the mines eyes. The man shook as it
happened. After the wires came out the man lay still for a moment as a shutter passed over his body and then left him. A glimmer came
over his face and he smiled. His head then slumped over and he was dead.

“So you’ve been here before?” asked Das.

“Yeah, once,” said Kal. “I hoped to never come back.” They stopped walking and looked around.

“Alright,” said Das remembering why they came. “Where do we start?”

“I guess we need to first find out what that code you have means.”

“Ask someone maybe.” Das looked around. “There’s no-one here. The streets are empty.”

“Everything’s up,” responded Kal. “Right now were in the slums. Almost no-one lives here but the dying and the rouges who rob them.
The whole Dox social system is based on how high up you live. The higher you are, the more power and money you have. The
lower you are, the less.”

“So let’s go up.”

“Right, we need to find a lift. There may be some kind of elevator or staircase or something in one of the buildings.” They started to
walk around and find an entrance. There were none in sight.

“None of these buildings have doors,” stated Das.

“There are entrances, just no many down here. They don’t want the poor to find a way into the riches eye sight.” They continued
they’re search through the streets. Das walked over to one wall. There was a dead man at it. He was naked and looked like he
had been for a long time. He had starved to death. A begging cup lay near him.

“Why don’t they leave,” asked Das.

“Hmm?”

“These people. They have nothing here. Why don’t they just leave. There’s a whole giant world out there for them to try again in.”
Kal looked at the body.

“They have forgotten how to. This city has ensnared them so much they can’t remember there is a world out there. The city is all they
have.”

They continued they’re search for an hour. The empty streets echoed they’re foot steps as they walked. They came to the end of a
building and turned the corner. Out in the distance of the street was a light.

“What’s that?” asked Das.

“I don’t know,” responded Kal. It kept getting closer and closer. There were several of them and a loud noise was come from them.
Suddenly two men came from the corner behind them and slamed them both in the back. They fell to their knees and the men quickly
slapped metal collars on them with long metal polls attached to them. The men hung onto the polls and kept them on their knees.

“Who are you?” grunted Das.

“Silence!” shouted one of the men. He pressed a button on the pole and a jolt of electricity shot through Das. He let out a yelp. The
lights ahead of them kept getting closer and closer. They were headlights on vehicles. The vehicles were of various shapes and designs.
Some of them were motorcycles, some were carriages made out of old cloth scraps, pieces of metal, wheels and an engine. A large group
of people were driving the machines. They were all dressed in leather and had various tattoos and piercings all over their bodies. They’re
races ranged from Yuntoks, to Elves, to even a Kessop.

The vehicles pulled up to where Das and Kal stayed kneeling. They’re were at least a hundred of them. Out of a large mechanized carriage
stepped a bald Yuntok. He wore a leather jacket with bullets going up and down the seams of the jacket. His pants and boots were made
of the same leather material. Across his scalp was a tattoo of a lightning bolt. He had round sun glasses on.

“Hello my little victims. My name is Junil, and you have entered my territory.”

“What do you want from us?” asked Kal.

“I believe the question is, what do you want from me?”

“What?” asked Das confused.

“What are two finely dressed Yuntoks,” he looked at Das’s sword, “with such exquisite weapons, doing in this part of the city, other then looking
to get killed and robbed?”

“Why should we tell you?” snapped back Kal. Junil pulled a knife from a sheath attached to his belt and held it to Kal’s throat.

“Don’t think for a second I have any hesitation to killing someone I know nothing about.”

“Ok,” said Das. Junil removed the knife from Kal’s throat. “We come from Fetol. We were on a mission and one of our comrades was kidnapped
and taken here. We’re here to rescue her.” Junil let out a laugh.

“And how am I supposed to believe such a ridiculous story.” Das reached into his pocket and took out the piece of paper.

“Here, this is the message we found.” Junil took the piece of paper and read it. He looked at the two of them. He looked back to one of his men and
whispered something in his ear. The man smiled and nodded and ran off.

“Ok,” said Junil. “I’m going to do something for you that I don’t do for just anyone. Seeing as the situation your in I don’t feel right to just kill you and
take you for all you’re worth. Yes believe it or not, we do have a code of ethics here. Only those Mangar Pigs are the ones we’re out for. But I can’t
just let you go either. It wouldn’t look good on my part.”

“So what are you going to do?” asked Kal.

“We tournament,” he said with a smile. He walked back into his carriage as the crowd cheered loudly. Kal and Das were pushed into a separate
carriage and the group took off towards where they had come from.