A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

"That is impressive Ryan, such a big carriage."

Ryan looked towards Ylerias as she spoke with a sigh, "It is road train, not carriage and did you finish unloading your anger on some creature, after all, you had vanished for nearly over a day."

Ylerias looked towards the sky as she spoke, "I did, and how was your night?"

Ryan sent a stink eye towards Ylerias as he spoke with a grumble, "You should have warned me before."

Ylerias nodded as she replied back to him, "Yes I could but what would you have done, not slept for a day or two or a week at most but eventually you would have fallen asleep and then you would have to witness it."

Ryan grunted at her words before he spoke, "Does it get easier."

Ylerias shook her head as she spoke, "No never seeing and experiencing your family's death never gets easy as the feeling of dying is horrible."

Ryan bit his lips as he could not help but ask out a rather insensitive question, "Have you felt something similar before."

Ylerias was silent for a moment before she spoke, "Thrice I had felt something like that, the first was after I had finished my pilgrimage, I received with the vision of my predecessor's death, though one of them was unique, one of ours fell in love and betrayed and then murdered."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "Why do these visions come to us?"

"Simply for us to know who harmed our family, we Apostles may fight with each other may curse each other but at the end of the day, we are a closed knit group. The woman that killed our family was a Queen of a certain nation, we Apostle have more power and respect of the common people than a mere King or Queen because of the nature of our work, there are certain tenants that Gods wants us to follow and as long as they are met we do not interfere with the working of Kingdoms or Empires but time to time there are some egotistical bastards that do not like that status quo."

"So that is why the Queen killed him to spite you all."

Ylerias nodded at his words as she spoke, "Yes to not only spite us but the Gods we represent, she had gathered enough manpower to attack any of us but she underestimated our anger, we stormed in and within three days the entire Empire fell, their vast armies routed and the Queen slain."

Ryan whistled lowly as he spoke, "I think many did not take kindly o the Queen being killed."

Ylerias grimaced at his words as she spoke, "You are right there were many disgruntled whispers around as many especially the ruling class was disgruntled but the common people the so-called the peasants who formed the backbone of our civilization would have revolted they had seen what happened to the Empire which had earned the ire of Gods."

"Couldn't the Gods warn him beforehand about the betrayal?"

Ylerias sighed as she spoke, "Gods are all busy Ryan, they have to watch and run the entire world they do not have time to focus on a single individual, the Apostle was told to find out about a certain organization that was causing problems and breaking one of the tenants by Gods, as such he tracked the source and asked help from his childhood friend, the Queen of the Empire but he trusted the wrong person."

Ylerias took a deep breath as she continued, "He loved the Queen, like forever and by the time of his death he knew she had betrayed him, even knowing that he graciously accepted the poison and died, because the alternative was something he could not do, he could not kill her. In a way he betrayed his God and us as well, we were infuriated at him before we took action against the Queen."

Ryan was quiet for a moment before he spoke, "That means you all had to suffer those feelings."

A look of revulsion passed through her face as she spoke, "It was disgusting to feel the feeling of love and pity for that scum even when he died, it was disgusting, and in a way that idiot had shown dereliction of his duty and committed suicide, and it felt great when Xuelian took her head off, it was so annoying because of her pleading and crying."

Ryan gulped as he turned his head towards his latest creation the look of satisfaction on Ylerias's face on recounting someone else's murder was bone-chilling for him, but at the same time, it was as good a time to know more about them as such he pressed forward.

"What about his subordinates?"

"They were all slaughtered alongside him, so please do not tell others about his fate, all the world knows that he was betrayed and poisoned not that he knew he was about to be killed but chose to do so."

Ryan nodded at her words as he sat in silence only for Ylerias to speak again, "The feelings you had to suffer might cause you some problems, the feeling of losing your hand and feet not to mention dying is troublesome, like in our case after that idiot's suicide we had a feeling of distrust with everyone, things like that happen."

Ryan sighed as he replied back, "I do not want to feel something like that again, and those feelings are horrible."

"Then you must be grateful that your sister was here to help you."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "About that, well I had a severe panic attack and my powers took away my feelings and it is only an hour before you arrived that I could feel again."

Ylerias gawked at him before she replied back with a sigh, "The more I hear the more I am astonished about your powers having such useful powers could be useful in certain situations."

Her answer was made with a glare as Ylerias spoke in a confused tone, "What?"

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "Nothing.", with that once again silence descended amongst them when all of a sudden Ryan spoke, "Xuelin is she a fellow Apostle?"

Ylerias nodded with a smile on her face as she spoke, "Yes, we are best of friends, she is an excellent swordswoman and extremely dependable person, though a bit of battle maniac."

"That is troublesome."

Ylerias smiled towards Ryan before she replied n a serious tone, "Though I would advise you that if you meet her she might come strongly against you but do not falter because the moment you do, she will lose interest on you and might not wish to do anything with you until forced."

"So is the one who would only help me if I manage to win against her."

Ylerias simply smiled as she spoke, "Winning against her at the battle of strength might be difficult she is extremely strong though even if you lose if you manage to impress her she might acknowledge you."

"Ho and I would need her acknowledgement why?"

Ylerias gained a deadpanned at him as she spoke, "I do not understand why sometimes you ask stupid questions, after all, why else, but to have fellow family members have your back on her own free will, why else?"

Ryan scowled at that as he spoke, "So I will have to curry favour from them so that my fellow brethren might help them."

"Not exactly currying favour but proving them through your actions that you are not a deadweight that we will have to carry around, after all, we take on missions or stumble upon situations where a single mistake can cause our death, if you are unreliable then you would end up becoming the cousin that no one wants to associate but is forced to."

Ryan nodded as he spoke with a sigh, "I see, I understand where you are coming from you want me to show that I am as reliable as any of them so if we are to work in the future we can at least know that we have each other's back."

"Indeed."

Once again silence descended between them as Ylerias spoke, "Is your creation completely finished?"

Ryan shook his head as he replied back, "No I need to finish making and installing the engine."

"Engine, what is it?"

"You must have seen a horse or an animal pull a carriage before right?"

As Ylerias nodded Ryan spoke with a smile on his face, "It is something similar but instead of animals I will build a machine that would do the same."

"Ho, that is something that I need to see."

"Of course though the components for it is taking some time for me to build so I do not think it will be ready anytime soon."

"Where is Michalina? I thought she would be near you."

"She was but her constant babying me and worrying over me got on my nerves as such I chased her away but knowing her she should be lurking somewhere nearby keeping an eye on me."

Ylerias could not help but giggle as an image of Michalina stalking Ryan came to her mind, making a confused Ryan ask her out loud, "Is there something wrong? You are giggling."

Ylerias quickly composed herself as she spoke, "Nothing I was just reminiscing something else, so there is no need for you to worry."

Ryan simply shrugged as Ylerias spoke with a sigh, "Well I will leave you to your devices then, and see you later on."

Ryan simply nodded as Ylerias left while Ryan let out a yawn as he kneeled back on the wheel of the Land train patiently waiting for the parts of the Engine to finish construction.

******

Meanwhile, a certain horned woman looked at the shrivelled up corpse of an Elven Male, with a stoic visage on her face.

As she heard one of her subordinates approach her the woman raised her head as she spoke, "How many bodies did you find, Shakidra?"

"Fifteen of them till now Your Holiness, they have all died in the same way, though from what we have noticed the group seemed to be at least thirty strong and seeing their campfire still hot and smoking, we deduced there might still be survivors."

"I see."

"Your Holiness, I found some footprints, it seemed whatever the creature might be, and it seems that the creature had chased after the survivors."

The horned woman stood tall as she spoke, "Every bit of their blood has been drained not to mention their brains are missing do you have any idea what that creature is?"

Shakidra frowned as she spoke, "Some kind of creature that feeds on blood."

The other person shook his head as he spoke, "No idea but it is different than any creature that feeds on blood, here look at the corpses they looked completely dried like dried fish, and they have not died a long time ago otherwise we would have an undead problem in our hands, and then the footprints of the creature is troubling."

The horned woman frowned as she spoke, "Show me and are the rescue squads ready."

The person bowed as he spoke, "This way Your Holiness and yes they are ready like you wish for it to be."

The woman nodded as she was soon guided towards the track marks of the beast, and she understood perfectly why her subordinates had called it strange because unlike any footprints of some beasts or some humanoids, the creature looked as if it stood on a stick.

"This is strange, very strange the creature whatever it is seems to be standing on some kind of stick."

Shakidra nodded with a frown as she spoke, "Yes the ground has the same imprint as a walking stick, how curious as to if the attacker was using them to walk."

"Change the squads, instead of two they will go with a group of four and only five squads are admissible and no matter what happens the maximum distance between them should not exceed fifty meters, also remember to make sure that the remaining should guard our charges."

Jivim nodded as he spoke, "Of course Your Holiness, will you be joining as well."

The horned woman simply raised one of her elegant brows as she spoke, "Of course that is given now quickly arrange the squads.", her eyes then feel on Shakidra as she spoke, "Shakidra until I return you will be in charge."

Shakidra simply bowed as she spoke, "As you wish Your Holiness, Godspeed and safe hunting."

The Apostle simply gave a curt nod before she went to join with the other hunting parties and soon left to hunt the unknown foe.