Quoted By:
Beware of the boy as he is boy no more, rather a man since yesterday. And any young man needs a young woman, the elder has been saying for months. Even though he still feels like a boy, no words in opposition leave his mouth as the matchmaking prospect make him excited in a novel non-boyish way. Miurne is her name, his childhood best friend and bride-to-be, the one who has been his dear friend for the past decade spent in these woods.
The terrain is mountainous, life here is rugged, the forty escapees are poor. Yet the sky is blue and untainted by pollution, their eyes see walls of woods and greenery every day, daily life is simple, distant are the memories of forced labor in the assembling of earth-flattening machinery of monstrous size, made specifically for planets considered worthy of becoming agro-worlds. But the boy doesn't remember all of that, he could barely walk when a group of families, including his, made their way to the other end of the planet on the backs of stolen Tauroses. He doesn't remember but people talk, he knows that sooner or later the ground beneath their feet will start to rumble, the earth-flattening machines will be here for his mountains, for his woods, for his Miurne, for him.
Certain event reminded the retched group of renegades of their vulnerability, certain event made the earth rumble. A bright red flight vessel painted a jet-black strip of burnt fuel across the sky a day ago, on the boy's birthday. The growling of overworked engines drowned any other sound, the tattered hull scattered in pieces all over the place, unable to withstand the atmospheric pressure. Finally the cockpit kissed the planetary surface with mighty force dozen kilometers away from their hideout. The adults in the renegade group were thrown in distress, a crashed vessel meant investigation. There will be a makeshift council tonight as to what measures need to be taken for everyone's security. Despite the calming words of the elder, the boy couldn't help but feel fear creeping in their camp.
Sunlight is still in abundance so regardless of circumstances when the land needs assistance, man answers, especially when his food is on the line. The boy is plowing the mountainous soil along with his father, strapped domesticated creature, native to this land, is pulling a plow.
Suddenly the boy hears an uncomfortable sound of metal hitting harder metal, the plow is dragging an object covered by a thick layer of dirt. He observes a prolonged object with unusual attachment.
>the boy cleans the sword <span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-r">[Sullied Sister]</span></span>
Suddenly the boy gets a violent headache, the domesticated ox-like creature starts to behave erratically, dragging air into its lungs and exhaling with great force, anxiously. A few dozen steps in front of them a small item glistens red under the sun.
>the boy pockets the precious stone <span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-r">[Tourmaline of Rigidity]</span></span>
