New World, Same Violence (1/4)

The wind was blowing past my face, and my surroundings seemed to crack like glass yet flow like water. I could still feel the droplets in my skin from being pulled within the storm, but they were quickly dried via the air slamming into my whole body.

I have free-dived before.

A particular mission comes to mind, I was twelve at the time, and beginning to make rounds in the war, already taking steps towards my legendary status. Guarding a shipment of goods, I was told to ask no questions and to shoot anyone who tried to stop me.

Things went bad, a group tried to overthrow the plane, they managed to secure the cockpit, and I contacted my employer if he would miss the goods in the plane.

He said, 'Not as long as they weren't in his rival's hands'. So I downed the plane, and everyone on it.

You had to jump after destroying one of the wings.

The memory came to mind because I was currently reaching terminal velocity while falling at an altitude normally reserved for large aircraft.

I didn't panic, it wouldn't have helped either way. What I did do was look around to get my surroundings in, even if I was thousands of meters above the ground.

Alright, I just broke through the clouds looking down I was immensely surprised by what was below me.

Are those buildings? I never saw something quite as tall.

Below me, rapidly approaching was a large city, the biggest I have ever seen in my entire life, with spamming buildings extremely close together, and in the center of the place hundreds of tall constructions which seemed to try and pierce the sky.

Incredible, maybe they were the creation of these heroes? Humans shouldn't be able to construct something so large by themselves, or perhaps humanity here has better machines? I do remember an older employer asking for protection while he tried to build up a village for his people.

There were large machines, one that seemed to move on its own like a cow, it had a large claw and moved dirt and debris. Surely heroes would have even greater machines.

Well, I decided to put those thoughts off, finally reaching the same height as the tallest buildings and was surprised to see that the outside seemed mostly composed of glass.

How did these buildings not fall apart when struck by enemies? Were the materials here stronger than back home as well?

So many questions, and so little time.

Looking down, I was almost on the ground now, at least there wasn't anyone there, I wouldn't have liked to splash someone on the ground with me.

Closing my eyes, I allow myself to relax, after all, the weird God wouldn't have sent me here without any means to survive the first few seconds of arriving in this place.

My hand grasped a string strapped in my chest and pulled.

The parachute opened without problems behind me, and the speed of my fall rapidly diminished until I was slowly floating toward the ground.

I noticed as soon as I was out of the ocean, all my tactical gear was in my person.

The armored clothing gives me small protection against normal arms. A trusty P226 taken from an American camp I raided with the gang that took me in, has been with me for the past six years. Strapped in my back was my favorite SMG, a PP-90, mostly because I could easily buy ammo for it, and take it from Soviet forces when running low on the battlefield.

And finally, my fixed tactical blade. When all else fails, I always had my knife to fall back on, given proper sharpening and care, it had never once failed me in cutting up people's throats.

Hmmm, good, my bundle of black cloth was also wrapping around my head, protecting both my mouth and nose from any gas, and making sure my eye-catching hair didn't attract any attention.

Alright, weapons check, grenades in utility belt check, no flashbangs, however, no caltrops either. Seems like I'm doing this with the bare minimum and maximum effort.

Studying my surroundings, I felt largely out of my depth. Urban settings are nothing new to me, but I am mostly used to buildings not higher than eight meters, not these colossals that seem to block out the sky.

The one thing I notice however, is that there are no civilians around, the streets are completely emptied, with many vehicles strung around the streets, some in the middle of the road and others having crashed on the buildings around the place.

I am pretty sure that was a crime, but I wasn't an expert.

Now, where was everyone?

My senses, trained by war to detect any and all sounds, were easily able to catch the telltale signs of conflict. Slight rumblings, loud noises that could only be made by crashing buildings.

The weird thing, however, was the noises that accompanied, loud sirens I only hear on alarm systems and an occasional booming pitch that seemed to consume any other sound nearby.

I could tell they were relatively far, but even at such distance the ground shook, and my hair spiked, an itch gained from multiple approaches of death. Dangerous, it's incredibly dangerous to go towards the sound of conflict.

That must be the heroes, only people like that have ever affected me so much.

I only met one War hero in my lifetime and it was perhaps the hardest target I have ever gone after. He was resourceful, and intelligent, and could see my moves coming from miles away, it was only through sheer luck and stubbornness that I managed to kill him and he still gave as good as he got.

I had the scar to prove it.

But the words which Abdiin- Wait, Abadun? What was his name again?

...

Not!Satan, since he said he wasn't the Devil nor God.

Anyways, the word that Not!Satan had spoken, surface in your mind.

'The heroes met their match.'

Someone who could match the power of several heroes, I couldn't even begin to think about how to kill someone like that.

But I came here for this, didn't I? As per what Not!Satan had said, I came here to crawl, scrape, and struggle for what I sought after.

That warmth, the lightness that came from Captain Asad thanking me for saving his life.

I remember that Heroes were titles given to those who protect their people. In war I never understood them, but after my last mission perhaps I could gain something from watching these heroes.

And I couldn't do that if their match killed them correct?

I took off running, my feet carrying me towards the sound of fighting, and slowly your mind entered its peak. Forget about useless thoughts for now, and simply focus on helping the heroes.