The weight of the nightmare that crushed me in the darkness was gone, but what filled its place was a cold resolve.
Until yesterday, I was a fugitive hunted by the ghosts of the past.
But starting today, things are different. I will no longer run. I am a pilgrim, setting out to face my past, my destiny, head-on.
I approached the 'Wall of Tools' in The Nest and, with practiced ease, took hold of the Sky Hammer.
For ten years, this massive tool had been my other self, my livelihood, and my only weapon.
Even if last night's decision was a purely spiritual journey, stepping out into Rust Haven without a weapon to defend myself wasn't a pilgrimage—it was suicide. I secured the hammer firmly to my back. I didn't know what path today's journey would take, but the fact that I had to protect myself on it would not change.
I headed for the entrance to The Nest. Not an ordinary door, but a complex 'Kitbash' lock that only I knew. I pulled a specific pipe protruding from the wall, then turned a hidden gear exactly three times clockwise. Finally, with a firm press of my foot on a specific steel plate on the floor, a section of The Nest's wall slid silently inward.
Feeling the faint warmth of the Arkelos Crystal Shard in my pocket, I took my first step into the gray dawn. My steps were light, but my mind was a tangled mess. What would happen when I touched that ship? Would I meet a gruesome end like Steel-Tooth Jack? Or would I find the answers to the questions that had crushed me for ten years? Either way, it didn't matter. As long as I could end this damned uncertainty.
I started walking toward old Barney's junk shop. I wanted to at least let the old man know I was okay; he'd be worried after yesterday. He was the only person in this desolate scrap heap who had let me live like a human. But as I got closer to the shop, I sensed a commotion, a clamor that was out of place. Loud shouts and vile laughter. And at the center of it all, a familiar curse.
"You filthy steel rats! Get the hell out of my shop!" It was old Barney's voice.
My heart sank. I rounded the corner of the alley. And at the sight that unfolded before me, the blood in my veins ran cold.
A half-dozen menacing Junkers were blocking the entrance to Barney's junk shop. Over their tattered leather vests, they wore patched-on steel bands and parts to protect their shoulders and chests. On their backs was the emblem of a hyena's jawbone, grinning slyly. Iron Fang. The most vicious pack of scavengers in Rust Haven.
The one who appeared to be their leader stepped forward. His jaw was malformed, jutting out grotesquely like a hyena's. It was why they called him 'Jawbone.' He ground his teeth with a grating screech and seized Barney by the collar. "Old man, I'm asking you one last time. Are you going to pay the 'protection fee,' or do you want your bones to become one with this junk heap?"
Even while dangling in Jawbone's grip, gasping for air, Barney's gaze never broke. He spat in Jawbone's face and yelled. "Pah! I don't have a single coin for parasites like you! You might as well wring my neck!"
"Ha! I can't tell if you're brave or just stupid." The moment Jawbone sneered and raised his fist, I couldn't watch any longer. Rage surged through me, hot and blinding. It was a different kind of anger from the one I held for the Empire that had taken everything from me ten years ago. This was a hotter, more primal fury, aimed at those trying to steal what little I had left. The pilgrim's path would have to wait. Now was the time for the ghost.
"Wow! You guys are amazing! Putting on an elderly respect performance first thing in the morning? Is this a new art genre in Rust Haven? I'm so moved I could cry!" My cheerful voice echoed through the alley, and every head turned toward me. The members of Iron Fang stared, dumbfounded, at the slender girl walking nonchalantly toward them with a giant hammer on her back. I approached them with my brightest smile. The mask of my 'cheerful madness.' My oldest weapon for surviving in this lawless land.
Jawbone shoved Barney aside and turned to face me. His protruding jaw moved with contempt. "What's this, a little brat? Is this the old man's hidden granddaughter?"
"Oh my, how did you know? I'm actually this grandpa's sole heir. Which means all this stuff you're about to break? It's all mine. So could you be a little gentle with it? I have to sell it later, you know." I cackled, walking right up to Jawbone's face. I could feel his surprise at my unpredictable behavior. I tapped his jutting jaw with my finger and whispered. "Especially that jaw of yours, it's quite loud. Shall I make it very quiet for you?"
In an instant, Jawbone's face went cold. A murderous glint flashed in his eyes. "You crazy little bitch...!" As he swung his fist, I ducked and slid between his legs. From behind him, I yelled, "Now, old man!"
At my shout, Barney, as if he'd been waiting, slammed his hand down on the switch of a massive electromagnet on his workbench. KRRREEEEEEE— With a deafening roar, the giant crane magnet above the junk shop activated.
"Gah!" The cheap steel plates on the Iron Fang members' vests and the weapons in their hands were instantly pulled toward the magnet. They became a pathetic sight, dangling and struggling in mid-air. The strong magnetic force tugged even at the metal buckles on my boots, but the Sky Hammer on my back, made from a special alloy of a bygone era, didn't budge.
Jawbone, however, was different. He quickly shed the vest with its steel buckles, freeing himself from the magnetic pull, and charged at me with a furious roar, brandishing a massive, non-magnetic wrench. I dodged his wild swings, my eyes scanning the unstable piles of scrap around us. I lured him toward the most precarious-looking heap. As he swung the wrench for the final blow, I dodged at the last second. The tip of the wrench grazed my arm, tearing my sleeve and leaving a shallow cut. I used his own weapon as a springboard, leaping into the air. Twisting my body, I swung the Sky Hammer from my back and brought it down with all my might on the old engine block that was barely holding the scrap pile together.
The engine block shattered. The entire mountain of scrap screamed and began to collapse. Huge chunks of steel rained down like cannonballs, striking the supports of the crane I had targeted. With a horrific shriek of tearing metal, the massive crane tilted and plunged downward. The Iron Fang members still dangling from it were slammed into the scrap heap below without so much as a scream. A dull thud, and then silence.
"You... you devil...!" Jawbone himself staggered, thrown off balance by the earth-shaking vibrations. His eyes widened in horror as he witnessed his men taken out in an instant. I didn't miss that moment of weakness. I surfed down a sliding steel plate, cutting through the thick dust and rust, and closed in on his flank. Just as he regained his footing and tried to swing his wrench, I kicked out the back of his knee without hesitation. As he cried out and his balance broke, I slammed the butt of my hammer's handle into his chest. Gak— With a short grunt, he fell backward. I seized him by the collar, brought my face close to his, and said, "Playtime's over, hyena." Unable to contain my rage, a flash of blue ether flame erupted from my left eye. Seeing it, Jawbone's face went white with terror. He screamed and scrambled away, fleeing for his life. His remaining men hastily followed.
A rough voice barked from behind me. It was Barney. He stormed over and smacked me on the back of the head, though not hard enough to hurt. "You idiot! Why'd you fight those guys head-on? You could've been killed!" His voice was trembling. I just looked up at him, saying nothing. He sighed, then grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly inside the shop.
He sat me down on a rickety chair and brought out a rusted first-aid kit. Grumbling under his breath, he cleaned and bandaged the cut on my arm with practiced hands. When he was done, he placed a bowl of hot soup in front of me. "Thanks, old man." "Thanks for what? You just shaved ten years off my life." He was still gruff, but I knew what he meant. I took a spoonful of the soup. It was as terrible as always, but it was the warmest food in the world. After a long silence, the old man spoke, his voice heavier and more serious than I had ever heard it. "Jane. This place isn't safe anymore." My heart sank again. "Iron Fang is relentless. They'll never forget the humiliation you dealt them today. You're their target now. And I... I can't protect you." Despair and helplessness laced his voice. I couldn't look up. It was my fault. The strength I had used to protect him had only put him in greater danger. I couldn't even finish half the soup. I stood up from my seat. "Where are you going?" Barney asked. "...There's somewhere I have to go," I answered, and walked out of the shop. I heard him call my name from behind, but I didn't look back. My eyes were fixed on one thing only: the Cursed Ship, slumbering at the peak of the scrap mountain that rose like a giant tombstone under the gray sky.
Until yesterday, it was the pull of the past that drew me there. But now, it was different. I needed power. Overwhelming power, to protect my only family, my second home. If that power slept within that ship, then I would do whatever it took to claim it—even if the end was the same ruin that met Steel-Tooth Jack.