Xerith's Brief Adventure to the Hummelverse

A tear opens in the landscape from it a man emerges clothes tattered and he wounded, bruises covering his body, blood flowing from his cuts. He is short of breath, the portal behind him closes and suddenly he collapses to the ground for a moment to regain his bearings. "Hahahaha" he blurts, with forced laughter, "That was too close. They almost got me." He stares into the cloudy skies, thinking of how he barely escaped death, droplets of rain smacking his face the wind howling, it is cold his body shivers. " Good thing I made it here," he says, taking a deep breath he stands up and exhales "Now where is here? Guess I'll worry bout that later right now I need to find shelter."

The man begins to check his surroundings scouting out a nearby forest he starts to trudge through the muddy ground before him eventually he arrives at his destination, tired he rests under a tree, his stomach growls now he is starving. He uses a spell to search for nearby life but, feels that this has drained him a simple search that has never happened before, he disregards the situation as he has detected something. It's a deer he sees, so he stalks his prey inching closer and closer being careful not to alert it towards his presence. Finally, with a swift cast, he unleashes a wind spell that zooms past the trees echoing through the landscape hitting its mark severing the head from its shoulders a clean kill, at least in his eyes. When he closes in on the carcass he immediately blacks out he has used too much mana. He wakes from his slumber finding himself in a pool of blood seeping from the headless body. Concerned he tries to open another portal, but to no avail, again, and again, and again he tries --- nothing. "Goddamnit! why is it not working?" he yells, in frustration while thinking of all the possibilities while fiercely grabbing hold of his hair "Don't tell me this is a dead world. That explains everything" he says, in a grim tone "I only have enough mana for a few low-level spells got to make em count." He then begins to dress the dead carcass and carries it to a nearby clearing, he skins, and butchers the deer with the dagger at his hip.

It is no longer raining but now his clothes are drenched covered in mud and blood. He goes to collect materials for a campfire, sticks to fuel it stones to block the wind, he stumbles as he moves along. He digs a hole in the ground and places the wood in the middle next he sets the stones around the hole and with a snap of his fingers summons a flame. Then he starts to place the venison on the stone around the fire to cook as he set the down he hears faint thundering in the distance he fears it may be another storm he frantically takes off his clothes and sets them out to dry. The man sits down a begins to try and heal himself while he is chanting his wounds begin to seal and the pain soothes, the thundering is getting louder. He meditates under the moonlight to conserve his energy, he hears a rattle in the brush nearby and stands on alert. One shadow, two, three now four a pack of wolves they caught the scent of blood from the deer. Howling, growling and snapping they try to encircle the man and prepare to pounce, the thundering is even louder than before the man knows these sounds "That is no storm those are explosions" he says, worried but with a sliver of hope as he thinks he may be saved. He hears a loud hum, the ground shakes there is a sound of metal grinding suddenly something large bursts through the thicket breaking apart the trees and leaving the terrain behind it in ruin. The wolves scramble and bolt fleeing from the scene, the man relieved falls to his knees and stares in awe because in front of him is a construct the likes of which he has never seen. A great mass of metal, and a large cannon on top of its hull, similar to the steam engines of his world, but much more advanced. The parts on it are vivid like an artists' canvas some of them depicting a mural of a sunny sky, but they are mismatched almost as if they were salvaged. "Is anyone in there I need shelter. Please help me" the man shouted.

"How are they speaking?" replied a feminine voice, "What are they? Never heard an animal speak English.

"Animal! I am no animal. I am a human being" the man yells, in outrage "How bout you come outta that husk and see for yourself."

"Husk!" the voice yelled the man now in the crosshairs of the construct "I'm not a husk I am a tank. And a human outrageous, everyone knows their all dead." " Forget it I have more important things to do I'm leaving," the tank said.

"Might those explosions be the reason why you're in a hurry? I can help with that if you help me. You're not the only one being pursued" the man stated.

"And how do they suppose they do that, they're a bag of flesh they can't help me, beyond this forest is an open field and unless they have sort of trick we are not leaving," said the tank, now on guard sensing that her pursuers are closing in.

"Just stay near me and be as quiet as possible don't move. Not a sound" the man said, preparing a spell.

"Absolutely not I..." the tank began.

"Shush" the man interrupted "Let me do my thing," he said, finishing his spell instantly they both vanished. With due time the tanks pursuers emerged from the woods all of them similar constructs to herself but of different builds, there are seven of them they all stop having lost track of their target they wait for a moment and begin to move further and further until they are lost in the distance."Whew that could have been problematic," said the man, running his hands through his hair.

"How did they do that?" asked the tank.

"Magic guess you wouldn't have that on a dead world" the man replied, grunting and stumbling after using an advanced spell

"Dead! everything is lush and green how is the world dead" the tank scoffed.

"Your world is not dead in that sense. It means that it has lost its connection to the Aether or magic" the man stated, "So about that shelter."

"Ugh! there's a hatch they can open get inside" replied the tank.

As the man walks over and opens the hatch he notices that there is no one inside he sits down with a confused expression. "Are you a golem? No that's not possible with no magic. What, no who are you?" asked the man.

"As I have said I am a tank class SPG, model AS-90, name you do not need to know so just call me by my model."

"Well, AS call me Xerith," said the man, preparing to fall asleep.

"So, Xer they talk is as if they are not from this world," said AS.

"That's because I'm not I traveled here and now I'm stranded" Xerith explained.

"What are your plans now?" AS asked.

"To wait until I have enough mana to open another portal, but that may take months or years on a dead world. Unless there's a place of power I can access" Xerith said while taking a bite from the deer he cooked earlier.

"What's that" AS asked.

"A place of power is somewhere that Aether gathers usually at a place of worship, even on a dead world" Xerith explained, "So do have those somewhere or someone you worship, any gods?"

"We tanks don't worship any gods as far as I know. Hmm does a factory work?" AS said.

"A factory," Xerith said, confused.

"Yeah, it's the closest thing I could think of. All tanks are made at the factories and as far as I care the Matchmakers worship them, but they are still sacred places for us all, there's one about a day away from here." AS said.

"That could work, so we'll leave first thing in the morning," Xerith said, taking the last bite of his meal.

"We, I will not be going with you and we may not even be able to go near the factory" AS said.

"No, you owe me this I just saved your damn life and I'm not trying to stay here" Xerith yelled.

"Ugh, alright I'll bring you there, but I'm leaving when there's trouble" AS replies. As the night grows older they both go to sleep and at dawn, they rode out. Along the way, Xerith told stories about his travel and of his homeworld. He spoke of his time with Black Division all the people the places he's seen the people he's met. He explained what Aether was and how magic worked something that intrigued AS which to her was a phenomenon. When he talked about the Dwarves and their technology AS was amazed at how people of another world could be so sophisticated even if they weren't as advanced.

In return, she told Xerith about her world the fate of the humans, how the tanks live and how they work. She talked about why she was being pursued her team all killed by a rival clan she had nowhere to go and could only run. They make a stop so AS could refuel.

"I noticed that you call me they, I hope you know that is incorrect common speech" Xerith stated, climbing his way out of the hatch.

"Common, it is English I speak and don't tell me what's 'Incorrect' I'll speak how I want" AS shouted.

"Alright, alright. How much farther anyway?" Xerith asked, pulling more of the venison out to eat.

"Just a few hours we'll head out tomorrow" AS replied, picking up fuel with her noodle arms to refuel herself.

Xerith feeling sick to his stomach walks off to find somewhere to relieve himself. On his way back to AS he hears a howl in the air and then multiple explosions in her direction. "AS, AS" he yelled, rushing over to her location as fast he could.

"I'm alright that not enough to take me out not a bag of flesh like you," she said, trying to reposition behind cover " I guess they caught up to me, I don't know if we'll make it."

"We'll make it" Xerith replied, "As long as I can see them."

"What are you going to do now? you can't see them they're too far" AS said, "Even I won't be able to take down all three."

"Three, you can see them?" Xerith asked, hiding behind AS.

"Yeah with my artillery sight I can see exactly where they are."

"If you tell me their coordinates I can deal with them," Xerith said, getting ready to prepare a spell. Suddenly he begins to float mid-air and as AS directs him he calls down bolts of lightning on their enemy. The first tank was shorted out, the second a bolt pierced right through its core, the last blasted to bits.

"I thought you could only use simple spell what was that?" AS asked.

"The closer we get to a place of power the more magic I can harness. This is it, for now, any more and I'll blackout" Xerith said. "The rest of the cant be too far behind we need to leave." Immediately the two of them continue on their journey trying to hide their tracks. They take a brief rest and morning comes. They have reached their destination a ruined city where nature has made its mark, AS scans the area and slowly encroaches upon the factory. As they get closer a tank approaches them and warns them to back away from the factory. Suddenly from their rear shot are fired and the factories' guards fire back. In the chaos, they both sneak into the factory. Xerith hurries to where there is the highest concentration of Aether and he begins to open the portal. He notices that AS is severely damaged. "AS" he yells, panicking and rushing over to her.

"Isabella, my name is Isabella," she says in a dim voice. "I may not make it out of here those shells blasted my tracks they won't last much longer."

"Do you want to come with me?" Xerith asked his hand's over his head, he is shaking and for the first time, he is serious. "I know some folks that could fix you but if you go out there you'll die."

There is a moment of silence and Isabella thinks for about all she's lost, all she's left and will leave behind. Her world was she's known, but she came to her decision "Yes" she said, in excitement flailing her arms about. They both enter the portal and it closes behind them.