Complex

In the orange light of the sunset, a young man gazed at the distant horizon. The Central Plateau graced his view with the sight of a huge black fortress. That was Orthref, the iconic iron city, the largest city in southern Pequi Republic!

'We finally arrived, it took so long that I was about to die of boredom.'

Aicanhir had no choice but to stay awake during the tedious journey. He needed to take care of the environment along with Trevor to ensure the latter didn't die stupidly at the hands of an enemy that lurked in the shadows.

The fact that there were no major problems during the trip only made it more boring.

The red earth under Trevor's feet was being engraved with his footprints. In the distance, the old town of Ortheref was visited by several caravans that seemed tiny due to the distance between Trevor and them.

These caravans were mostly composed of nimble motorcycles that circled a larger vehicle in their center to ensure their safety.

The young man walked down the hills calmly, the vegetation near the city was sparse. The compacted dirt roads leading to it were lined with sparse gnarled trees, with little or no weeds to hide mutated creatures.

Trevor walked through this sparse vegetation next to the road.

However, the problems of reaching the city were not few.

"Hold it there, kid!"

Hooded men suddenly appeared!

"Give up everything you have and we'll spare your life!"

Rusted firearms were aimed at Trevor's body.

"D-don't kill me buddy, I'll give you everything I have…" The green eyed boy had tears in his eyes, his legs looked more shaky than the frozen jelly that had just been taken from the fridge.

"Hehehe, you are quite a smartass friend."

The bald man full of tattoos on his tanned skin showed his dirty yellow teeth as he smiled. This man waved his hand and sent one of his subordinates towards Trevor, who nodded and approached the young man with a knife in his hand.

'What the fuck is this acting? Do you think these guys are blind by any chance?' Aicanhir watched his partner's act unfold with nothing but contempt stamped on his handsome canine face.

Trevor's stomach rumbled with hunger, making the young man redden with embarrassment.

"Boss, this guy here has nothing. He's a cripple who hasn't eaten for days, hahahaha!" The subordinate's voice made the tattooed bald man's frown twitch.

"Boy, it's really brave of you to walk around these parts without having anything in your pockets. I said I would release you if you paid your ransom, but here I am in front of my men with nothing to offer. Do you think me and my subordinates work for free? Men, arrest this idiot!"

As he spoke, the man tucked his little finger deep inside his nose.

Before he even stuck that dirty finger in his mouth, Trevor had already been captured. Thick ropes were tied around both of his legs, while his arm was tied behind his back.

Away from where Trevor was, the gang of thugs started talking.

"Boss, are we going to sell him to the common market?"

"Common market? Did you see his eye color? Despite being crippled, I'm sure some wealthy ladies would be interested in him. In fact, it could be said that the lack of an arm is actually part of its unique charm. Let's sell him on the elite market."

"Boss, you are awesome as always!"

"Oh! Boss, I'm glad we've got you!"

"Yes Chief, you are very smart!"

The professional bootlickers in the gang didn't miss the opportunity to showcase their talents. As for the charming cripple who was the central theme of this discussion, if anyone came close to him to look at his ears, they would be able to see white hairs coming out.

'How can they be so dumb? They really believed in your stupid performance!' Aicanhir shook his head sideways.

Trevor was taken by the bandits to their makeshift camp.

This camp was deeper in the vegetation, covered with trees that formed a wood near the road leading to Ortherf.

On the way, he saw that several small, simple tents made of cloth and sticks were surrounding campfires. Altogether, more than five sets of this type surrounded the oversized center tent in a hexagonal arrangement.

In the center of the camp, the biggest tent was also made of cloths and sticks, but of much better quality compared to the rest of the tents. Another thing that stood out about this tent was that a large tree trunk in its center was part of its structure.

Trevor was taken inside this larger encampment, where he was bound by ropes that tied him to the tree trunk that stood in the center of this large tent.

By the time he was successfully tied up, the bandits no longer cared about him and left in succession from that huge tent.

Trevor's shaky legs and watery eyes faded as the young man realized he was no longer being watched.

'I counted more than fifty bandits here. There were also about thirty motorcycles and more than twenty firearms, including among them pistols and rifles. As for the prisoners, I think you're the only one besides those unconscious women tied up over there in the bed of the bandit chief.'

While Trevor had fun staging his theatre, Aicanhir wasted no time jotting down the details of this makeshift camp in his mind.

'Despite knowing all this, I still don't understand your plan to let yourself be captured.'

'It is not difficult to understand my purpose here. Think, among the things you mentioned earlier, which one is the most precious to that tattooed guy?' While arguing with Aicanhir, the young man also untied himself from the ropes that easily bound him by turning his arms into claws.

'The weapons.'

'Exactly, but in addition to weapons I also need money. My best scenario right now is to steal this tent here and ride with what I need on a motorcycle." Trevor's stomach groaned with sadness, but nothing could be done to stop this crying.

'The good thing is, I highly doubt that the bald man would trust his own men when telling him where he kept his money. In this camp, the most valuable resources are vehicles and weapons, followed by the bandit chief himself. However, what I need most for now is food.'

Dusk was getting closer and the light from the sunset had faded a lot and made things easier for Trevor.

Within seconds, his nose turned into a black snout: it sniffed the air and informed the young man about the setting of the room and the other near surroundings

'As I thought.'

Trevor blinked as he turned his head to the left, a spot that emanated the fragrance that made his stomach scream with even more despair. Trevor's feet stepped calmly, avoiding unnecessary noises.

In a matter of little time, he had already reached the temporary storehouse of this camp. In it, rations made with various types of vegetables filled much of the space. Still, the small pieces of jerky were more than enough for Trevor.

The young man's mouth morphed, making the feast that should have lasted for a full tens of minutes, barely five minutes. At that moment, his stomach had already stopped crying. Another amazing thing was the regeneration of his arm!

'Our miserable days are finally over!' The Golden Sun of Dawn wanted to cry with happiness, but his partner was just someone who saw the world covered in pessimism and sadness.

'Don't celebrate so quickly, there's still a chance of me being discovered. Night is coming, and by the time these guys are eating, they're going to notice everything. The time we have is uncertain, but it sure as hell isn't much.'

Trevor wiped his grit-smeared lips with his new left hand.

'The next step is to acquire firearms, which will undoubtedly generate conflict. Before that, however, it's also going to be important to find some viable escape route. Among the motorcycles we have seen before, are there any that seem viable to get easily?'

The feel of this new hand was strange.

It was as if Trevor had slept on top of her, cutting off the blood flow and causing a hypoxic state in this part of her body. Fortunately, while this tingling sensation was irritating to some degree, it didn't stop him from performing his main functions. He was still able to do a lot of damage with it!

Aicanhir had a complex expression on his face.

Yet, even more complex was the look on Trevor's face as he looked down at his left arm.