A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Ryan hugged his mother as he spoke with a touch of concern on his face, "Take care mom, and be safe."

Ciara chuckled as she returned the hug before she spoke with a smile, "Do not worry I will be back and it is not the first time that I have ventured out."

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "That maybe so mother, but going to hunt out beasts and going to meet with unknown people are two different things, people are more dangerous than mere beasts after all we are at the very top of the food chain."

Ciara placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as she spoke, "Do not worry I will be fine, I have my comrades protecting me."

Hearing her answer Ryan grouched out loud, "If you say so."

"Tell you what next time I will bring you with me."

Ryan gave her a bright smile as he watched his mother Ciara board the car along with a few others including one Michalina as they drove away, but as soon as they made it out of the gate Ryan made his move.

Ryan dashed towards the location of a previously stashed motorcycle which looked similar to something that a certain caped crusader, a fictional hero yet a hero to millions, would approve of, but it had a certain up-gradation in the sense that set it apart from other bikes that were placed near it as it had a pair of runes that muffled its sound to the point that it made an electric scooter looked noisier in comparison.

"Ryan, where are you going?"

The voice made Ryan wince inwardly as he turned to face Zhan who was looking at him with her eyes narrowed and a deep frown on her face.

"Hey aunty Zhan, good morning I thought you would accompany mom."

"Someone has to keep an eye on the fort, but what are doing with the bike."

"Simply testing and tweaking it."

Zhan gave a nod as she began to work away, while Ryan gave one last inspection on the bike that he had hastily made and put together for the quest he had received, since the moment he had received the quest he had been barely able to sleep as such he had decided to leave his bed in the wee hours of the morning and begin his work.

Sabrina looked down from the top of the wall as Ryan left the safety of it, the loud staccato of the bike slowly fading into the distance.

As Ryan road out through the 'Gate of New Hope.', he spotted quite a few people working had chopping down trees and seeing him many of them bowed deeply which he returned with a small bow and wave of his hand.

When Ryan was certain he was far away from everyone's sight and hearing range he quickly changed his dress, instead of the casual three-quarters and t-shirt he was now donning something that was appropriate for someone who was doing a stealth mission in a jungle.

As soon as he finished changing Ryan quickly rode the bike but this time engaging a certain rune set that made it almost noiseless, and he sped off as soon as he turned on a certain device that was missing from any other vehicle that he had created, a device that enabled him to track the vehicle that Ciara left with.

Unknown to him a couple of pairs of eyes were looking at him curiously from a distance they were roaming this part of the forest a good few distances from the gate in search of prey and medicinal plants when one of them managed to spot Ryan in the distance.

They watched with fascination as Ryan seemed to be wearing some dress that looked as if plants were growing on them, and then he donned the helmet and mask before he left.

"Where did His Holiness go? And what is that dress? And most importantly should that thing not make any noise, it was too silent."

Her partner frowned as he spoke, "That dress I can say can be used to hide in the forest and grass well and as for his destination or why the otherwise so loud machine was so quite I do not know but let us finish our job and then we will return it is not our job to question His Holiness's motive.", the woman by his side simply nodded as they returned to their work.

Zhan had a scowl on her face as she looked at the wall, the reason for that was the fact that it had been a couple of hours since anyone has heard or seen Ryan, the last time anyone had seen him was when he rode his bike and left the safety of the wall, and it was worrying Zhan a lot, and she was not alone as many of the residents including the two apostles were greatly worried for their safety.

"Your Holiness, I have found two hunters who had spotted His Holiness."

Ylerias looked towards the man and woman duo that had accompanied her subordinate as she spoke with a nod, "When did you last see him?"

The man and woman bowed low as the man spoke, "We spotted His Holiness a good few distance away from the gate, we had ventured out a bit further than we normally do and then we spotted His Holiness wearing a strange dress before he rode on the strange vehicle with two wheels as he left before we could approach him."

Zhan's eyes narrowed as she spoke, "What kind of dress was he wearing?"

The woman looked towards Zhan as she spoke, "His Holiness was wearing something that looked like a dress made up of plants."

The man nodded in support as he supplied in return, "Yes, with that dress He could easily blend in with the foliage, not to mention that strange vehicle."

Xuelong narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "You have seen those vehicles at work, so how is the one that he was using any different?"

"Actually the sound of it had attracted our attention, but when he left it no longer made any sound."

The woman nodded in agreement as she spoke, "Yes those two wheeled vehicle has no sound at all in comparison to when he had arrived on it."

Zhan closed her eyes in deep thought before she spoke, "Can you two wait for a minute? I have something to show you."

With that, she quickly dashed towards the fort leaving behind the gushing duo, who were high from being near two apostles, and to the hidden relief of the two apostles, Zhan returned with what looked like a bundle of leaves and grass from a distance.

"Was he wearing something like this?"

The woman nodded as she spoke, "Yes, His Holiness was wearing something akin to this."

Zhan bit back a swear as Xuelong spoke with her eyes narrowed, "Zhan what is this used for? From the looks of it this seems to be some form of camouflage."

Zhan nodded as she replied back to Xuelong, "You are right Your Holiness, this is used in missions where stealth is needed and we are required to hide in foliage, wearing this makes it very difficult to spot someone."

Ylerias frowned while dismissing the male-female duo as she spoke, "Do you think he went after Ciara?"

"Maybe but the place where the meeting is going to be held is barren and there is no foliage to hide so it is useless."

Hearing her words Ylerias frowned but it soon turned to confusion as Xuelong spoke, "But does he know? The last few days he had been busy so might not know the location."

Both Ylerias and Zhan's jaw dropped at her reasoning as they could not help but agree with Xuelong as she continued, "But herein laid the problem that he could also be going somewhere else but to what purpose?"

Meanwhile, a certain biker let out a string of curses as he looked at the sight in front of him.

'How could I forget that it is snowing nowadays, all the greenery outside is just a hoax though how trees that grow in warmer climate are still green I will never know, biology was not my strong suite after all, but more importantly why did I not get a ghillie meant for snow, the one I got was meant for forest and the direction they are moving they will soon be in the grassland followed by plains, I am an idiot.'

Without even stopping his bike Ryan waved his hands as the ghillie disappeared for a moment before he reappeared again but it was more suitable on the snow.

'I am glad that my bike is mostly white so there is no need to cover it up.'

It took him near about an hour of driving when the tracker indicated that his target was slowing down considerably, throughout the journey he had made sure to keep a very healthy distance from the group so as not to be spotted but what made him feel lucky was the fact that halfway along the journey the sky had become overcast and it began to snow.

'eh, it slowed down and now it is picking up speed once again, but why?', suddenly the realization hit him on his face like a freight train.

'They dropped someone who would keep an eye on the from a distance, which means I am closed to their destination as such I will have to make a small detour so as not to get spotted, by either of them.'

 

The location of the meeting was chosen on a barren piece of land, that was covered with snow, which seemed to be on the receiving end of another coating of fresh snow.

Ryan could easily spot the car from a distance through his visibility was slowly getting impaired from the snowy onslaught which slowly increased its intensity with the passage of time.

He hid his bike behind a bush of thorny plant that was completely white while crawled and hid beside another, and from his position, he had a good view of the meeting as such he decided to move forward with the next part of the plan.

Ryan took out a strange device with a very small antenna as he placed it in front of him, before attaching the single headphone, which was attached to the device, to his ears as he began to listen in to their conversation.

Michalina looked towards a certain direction with a frown on her face, only to be beckoned by Ciara, "is something wrong Second Lieutenant."

Michalina turned towards Ciara as she spoke, "Nothing ma'am, I just felt as if someone was watching us from that direction, but the snow is making harder for me to see."

Ciara looked towards the direction Michalina had spoken about before she spoke in an authoritative tone while using her radio at the same time, "Be vigilant it, it can be creature or something even worse so keep your senses sharp, especially you Grace you are further from our location.",

"Affirmative Major.", came Grace's voice with a soft crackle.

Meanwhile, a certain someone felt his heart beating like a war drum as he desperately tried to calm his nerves.

'I was almost caught, I would have lost if had been caught and the quest would have failed, I do not want to fail the quest.'

Then to Ryan's hidden joy, the other party arrived soon after, but unlike Ciara and her group the newcomers had arrived while walking on their feet, and their arrival seemed to draw Ciara's attention towards the group making Ryan let out a sigh of relief.

'Now let see what I can learn from eavesdropping on them, but more importantly I hope the snowfall does not get any worse.'