Chapter 43: Monster
Though he was the one that had previously requested to have access to the information and his family situation, he still felt that something was wrong.
’Was Mona the one that intentionally did this?’
’It must have been; anyone else couldn’t have randomly assigned such a reward for what appears to be a trivial mission.’
’Then I must thank her later.’
"What’s in there?" Darlus asked from beside Morden, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Morden turned to his left to see Darlus wearing a dark trench coat with a logo of an eye with lines that represented the shine of light behind it.
’Ohh, the Watchmen logo really looks interesting.’
’Kind of something similar to something back on earth,’ Morden thought to himself.
"You can just have a look," Morden said while passing the file to Darlus, giving him the opportunity to put on his own trenchcoat as well.
’It fits quite well,’
Beside him, Darlus read through the file, and when his eyes landed on the section about the reward, he looked at Morden before closing the file, his thoughts known only to himself.
"Should we head out now?" Morden asked.
"Yes, let’s go."
Might be due to excitement or something else, but the two of them didn’t even bother thinking of delaying, especially Morden, who had just had a life-threatening battle that night.
With Darlus in the lead, the two left the Bearer’s organization under the cover of the night, heading towards the exit of the city.
In the file they were provided, not only were there the mission info and reward, but there was also a map with the meetup spot marked on it and, lastly, some ID.
The ID was important when leaving the city since it wasn’t safe for normal people outside cities, so the Government created that rule, though it wasn’t the same for entering the city, though all you need is to pay a particular entry fee.
"Why isn’t outside the cities safe?" Morden asked Darlus as they moved through the city.
When he heard that question, Darlus subconsciously slowed down a little before speaking up.
"How oblivious are you of how things work?" Darlus asked with a hint of worry.
Instead of responding, Morden just looked at him before smiling.
’You are really oblivious to the life of Normal people.’
From his memories all he could get about the outside of the City was the fact that ordinary people aren’t allowed to go there because it was dangerous, and that’s all.
"I guess I have to teach you again," Darlus said with a sigh.
"Ordinary people aren’t allowed to go outside cities without permission because of the monsters that are out there."
"Monsters?" Morden asked.
"Yes, Monsters, and note that I didn’t say Beasts because those things aren’t beasts; they are far worse."
"I have seen images of them when my tutor used to teach me, and every day we had a class about them, then I would go sleepless that night."
"That seems a little scary," Morden muttered, but it was still loud enough for Darlus to hear.
"Did you just say a little?" Darlus shouted.
"Ohh my, you are really ignorant," He emphasized.
Though Morden felt that from the tone Darlus was using, they were actually scary, but he still didn’t feel that it could be that bad.
From that moment, the two of them fell quiet as they moved through the streets and headed towards the city gates.
"How vivid is your imaginative sense?" Darlus suddenly asked, making Morden look at him strangely before finally answering.
"Quite vivid, I would say."
"Hmmm, that’s perfect then. I want you to try to picture something first and then tell me how scary you find it."
"Alright, let’s have it."
"Imagine a bipedal being like me and you and then thin it out extremely, making it look almost like a twig."
"Have you gotten that?" he asked.
"Yes, go on," Morden allowed him.
"Then exaggerate it legs to an outrageous level. Make the stomach area completely empty, leaving a thin, flaccid skin."
"Add a three-inch claw to both the hands and the legs."
"All these aren’t even the worst part; the worst part is the head."
"Picture a completely blank face and then add a wide, vertically mouth packed with knife-like teeth, running from the back of the head to the jaw; that’s exactly how the typical monster looks."
"So tell me, are you scared?" Darlus said with a smug smile while he turned around to look at Morden’s reaction.
Sadly for the two of them, their conversation was cut short as they noticed that they were already approaching the exit to the city.
The houses were slowly growing fewer, and now they were replaced by tents and metal cubicles.
’These places look like the slums back on earth; they must be extremely dangerous, just like those ones too.’
"We are here," Darlus suddenly said, making Morden look forward.
In front of them was a gigantic gate made of concrete; the gate was so large that Morden couldn’t see the top without raising his neck almost ninety degrees.
"Halt, show your IDs, please," a man called out in front of them.
The two avoided causing a scene and immediately displayed the IDs they were given, and just like that they were let through.
The two of them ran just beside the city wall towards the spot marked on the map.
"I don’t see anyone here," Darlus said while he looked around.
"Exactly, she mustn’t have arrived, or she must have left already."
"I think we should wait for her here a little," Morden pitched.
Having made that decision, the two of them found a piece of rock to sit on while they waited.
"I just hope we don’t encounter a monster out here," Darlus said with a shiver.
They sat there in silence under the moonlight and waited, but time passed and no one arrived.
"Stupid pickup mission; it is so boring. I need some action," Darlus said in dissatisfaction.
But Morden didn’t respond; his eyes were locked somewhere else. He could faintly see something blue running straight towards them.
’Could it be her?’
’If it is, then why is she running so fast? Oh, wait, something is behind her.’
’What is that?’ He strained his eyes.
Time went by, and the two far-away figures were actually closer, and Morden was finally able to see them clearly.
"Darlus, look over here and answer my question as fast as possible."
"What?" Darlus said while turning around, but he hadn’t even fully turned when his eyes widened in shock while he muttered.
"Monster!!!!!!!!!"