Daemon Impact: Chapter 3

Chapter 3 (Revised)

 "...it is regrettable we must push this task on to one so young, but we have no choice." The voice of an elderly man reached her ears. It was a voice that seemed tantalizingly familiar to her, but she could not recall from where. Despite the man standing directly in front of her, she could not recall his facial features.

"Take this. It has the power to change this world's fate. I trust you'll be able to use it when the time is right." She lowered her head as the man placed a necklace around her neck. Attached to this necklace was a cloudy white stone. With the stone hanging from her neck, she could feel the immense power that lay dormant inside.  

"We're counting on you...Elda."

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A metal ceiling with lights shining down greeted her waking eyes. She found herself lying on a small bed in some small metal room. As she came out of her dream, she had the feeling the entire room was moving. 

"You're finally awake!" Anri had been sitting in the corner of the room and reacted to her stirring. Seeing the man, she recalled the events that nearly claimed her life. The facility, the monsters, and the two men who fought valiantly. The last thing she could remember was meeting Adaeh, and then...nothing. 

"What happened to me?"

"You passed out from exhaustion and have been asleep for three days." As she slowly sat up, she took a look at the man who had saved her life multiple times. He was no longer wearing his armor, and instead was wearing a simple black shirt and pants. Over his heart was the same Blue Arrow with two stripes insignia that was on his armor. Outside of the bandages wrapped around his right arm, the man appeared perfectly fine.

"Don't worry about this. We heal pretty quickly." Noticing her glances at his bandaged arm, he raised and lowered his arm to show it was fine. His face had been bleeding when that monster struck his helmet, but she couldn't see any scars anywhere. 

"More importantly, are you able to remember anything?" She recalled the dream she had, and vaguely described it to him. She didn't go into detail over what was said, only mentioning the necklace and the name "Elda." After listening intently, the man raised his hand and pointed his finger downward a few times. Following his prompt, she looked down at herself to see that she was wearing the exact same necklace with the stone still attached.

"I guess that means your name is Elda. See, I told you your memories would start coming back." The man was rather cheerful when he heard about her dream. Perhaps he was more concerned about her amnesia than he let on? But her amnesia could wait. There was something she desperately needed to know right now.

"What exactly are you?" This man didn't seem human. His red eyes were off putting enough, but the superhuman feats he and Marcus performed did not help his case.

"Human, just a bit different from you is all." She narrowed her eyes at his nonchalant response.

"A human? That can lift pillars above his head? That can move so fast he appears as a blur? Who heals "pretty quickly" despite being impaled through their arm?"

"Yes, I'm a human who can do all those things." He said this as if it was perfectly natural to him. A few moments of silence passed between them before the man began scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry, I'm not really sure how to breach the subject. You have many questions I'm sure, but the answers are far too complicated. There are many things that happened while you were sleeping in that cryopod, and I don't want to overload you with information. You'll understand everything in due time, just please be patient ok?" His apology seemed sincere enough, so she decided to give the man a break. As she nodded her head, she could see him visibly relax. 

"Thank you. Now you wanted to know about me...well first things first, take a look outside." Anri pointed to the lone window in the room. When she made her way over and pulled back to curtains she saw...nothing really. There was this red haze that surrounded the air and obscured her view from the window. What she could tell, is that they were moving.

"That haze covers the entire planet. The low visibility is one problem, but it's also the source of the Daemons."

"Daemons?"

"Those creatures that attacked us. At one point they were normal people and animals, but enough exposure to the haze turned them into the monsters you saw." 

"So is that why you're so strong? You breathed in this haze and it turned you into a Daemon?"

"No, like I said I'm human. Daemons do not attack other Daemons, so they don't see me as one of their own. As for my strength, I was born this way. Breathing in the haze alone won't make you that powerful, however it did force humanity to evolve."

"I see, but why are they called Daemons?"

"Oh that? Well you have these creatures show up out of nowhere and begin attacking people. People start screaming "demons" at the sight of them, and the name just stuck."

"Ok, I think I get it. But where did this haze come from?"

"That is a very long story. For now let's just say it's from a world ending event."

"World ending!?" 

"I'm afraid so. You woke up to a world after the apocalypse. Don't worry though, we are working very hard to make a safe place for all of humanity."

"Who's we? Actually first, where are we?" She looked around the room. Putting on a smile, the man spread his arms wide.

"Welcome aboard the Osiris! One of the world's three Land Freighters! Enjoy your trip through the haze filled wastelands in luxury! It's large enough to carry multiple tons of cargo, people, and animals with ample room to spare! Equipped with enough firepower to knock away any pesky Daemons who may decide to test their luck! And finally, fully staffed with the toughest Salvagers around to ensure you make it out A-Okay!" She laughed at the man's grandiose display.

"The "Toughest Salvagers?" Is that what you guys are?"

"Yup. Me, Marco, those armored guys and the Captain. We're all-"

"Wait!" She suddenly realized it was only the two of them in the room.

"Where's Marcus? Is he ok?" She felt foolish for not noticing his absence earlier. 

"Marco? He's in the infirmary right now. Remember when he was thrown through the wall? He hit his back really hard and needs to recover. Don't worry he'll be fine." She was relieved to hear this. Both men seemed to be in bad shape when she last saw them, so knowing both were ok took a burden off her shoulders.

"Speaking of Marco, lets go visit him. I bet he's bored out of his mind and you should get up and move around after days of sleeping. Besides, we gotta tell him you remembered your name!" Motioning for her to follow him, the two of them exited the room to visit Marcus.

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"And what do you want to be when you grow up Damien?" The teacher asked the boy up sitting up front.

"I want to be an emergency worker like my dad!" Damien joyfully cried his life dream.

"I want to be a singer!" A girl sitting next to Damien called out after him. After this, a chorus of children's voices began exclaiming their future jobs. The teacher merely smiled and allowed the children to express themselves. He was the only one who remained silent though. Watching as his classmates all finished their chattering, he at last stood up and boldly proclaimed:

"I'm gonna become the greatest Salvager and help rebuild humanity!" He truly meant this in his heart. He would become the greatest. After all, he was....

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"Second Commander Sakai!" As they made their way through the narrow hallways of the Osiris, they would occasionally come across people traveling in the opposite direction. Every time they did, they would always stand to the side and salute Anri. Returning their salute, they would squeeze their way past and continue on their way. After descending a staircase and traveling through more hallways, they arrived at a door with a Red Cross on it. Anri held the door open for her as they both entered the infirmary. 

"Second Commander Sakai! Here to visit First Commander Etel again" A man who was sitting at a desk next to the door stood up and saluted Anri as they walked in. The man seemed rather plain to her without any real distinguishing features aside from wearing scrubs. She stopped and took a closer look...brown eyes! This man didn't have the same red eyes she had seen from Anri, Marcus, Adaeh and the others they passed in the hallways! He seemed to her to be the pinnacle of an average human being!

"Yes. Is he available for visitors right now?

"He's been up for a while. Been grumbling about how bored he is." Hearing this, Anri chuckled to himself.

"We haven't moved him, so you'll find him in the same place." After taking his seat and returning to some paperwork, the both of them made their way to a curtain in the back of the room. Pushing the curtain aside revealed Marcus lying on a small bed with bandages wrapped around his chest. His left arm was bandaged similarly to Anri's right arm and his face lit up upon seeing the two of them enter.

"Well look who woke up! Have a good sleep?" She smiled at the man's energy.

"Yes, I remembered my name. It's Elda." Marcus' smile grew bigger after hearing this.

"Elda huh? That's a good name. Do you remember anything else?" She shook her head.

"I see...well your name came back so the rest is sure to follow." Seeing his optimism caused her smile to grow wider. She stepped to the side of the small room so she could have both men in her sight. There was something important she needed to say to them.

"Anri, Marcus, thank you for saving my life." Both men were taken aback, but quickly smiled warmly.

"Don't worry about it. Just doing our job."

"Yeah. Also you can call me "Marco." Marcus just sounds a bit too formal for my liking."

"Yeah, imagine this guy being all formal?"

"Hey what's that supposed to mean!?" Both men seemed to be extremely close to one another. Taking a seat, the two began talking about what it is they do aboard the Osiris. Both men were the two squadron leaders of the Reconnaissance Unit. Marco was the commander of the first squadron and Anri was the commander of the second squadron. They explained the Reconnaissance Unit did exactly what it sounded like. They would search for Daemons around any points of interest, and identify anything that could be salvaged. "Cocoon" exploration (Cocoon was the term used for the type of facility she had been found in) was the only other major duty of their unit.

"Wait, if each of you lead a squad with 7 other members, why were you two the only ones to enter my Cocoon?"

"As luck would have it, they were all injured in a prior mission. The Medical Unit would not clear them for the exploration so they had to sit out. The Captain wanted to wait until they were discharged, but Anri and I persuaded her to let us go by ourselves. Normally it would be a no-risk mission, but it didn't turn out as expected." She reflected on the events that transpired in the Cocoon. Would things have turned out differently if the entirety of the Reconnaissance Unit were there? She shook her head. No point on focusing on what-ifs. She needed to focus on what was coming ahead...speaking of which...

"What's gonna happen to me?" Both men glanced at each other.

"Normally unaccompanied children are adopted into an available family. The Captain usually has a good amount of say into the matter, and I feel I have a good idea of what she plans on doing. Don't worry, you'll be somewhere you'll enjoy." Anri smiled to reassure her.

"Is that so? She planning on opening an orphanage for troubled children?"

"Hey! That's pretty bold talk from someone in a lower position!"

"What are you talking about? We have the same rank!"

"Yeah, but you're flat on your back while I'm standing. You're clearly in the lower position here!"

"I don't need to be standing to kick your ass!" The men were laughing so loud, she was afraid they may disturb other patients here. But watching the two of them go back and forth made her begin to giggle, and her giggles soon turned to laughter that joined the two men's. A short while after their laughter died down, foot steps approached the curtain. Drawing the curtain back, the receptionist from before walked in. He was failing to stifle a smile on his face, as he clearly had heard the whole thing.

"It's time for the First Commander's examination." 

"I see, then we'll be on our way. I'll come by later and pay another visit."

"Where will you take her next?"

"The cafeteria. She's probably starving by now, right?" As Anri turned to ask her that, she suddenly realized that she was famished. After nodding her head and waving to Marco, she followed Anri out of the infirmary and towards the cafeteria...