Chapter 5: New Friends.

Chronos and Phill blacked out almost instantly after they hit the ground. the Dragon survived the explosion and the radiation seemed to have no effect on it. When everything seemed calmed the dragon went back to where it came from.

Argos was destroyed but not all the population had the same deadly fate. Some of the villagers cried their losses and some others tried to rescue their belongings. Everyone was affected in some way or another. The scorched piece of wasteland which once was half of the town and the other half which was ruined became a kindly reminder of how devastating a single AMHAR unit could be.

Nat survived the demolition of the house and popped out of the rubble with a deep breath. "Gree! Are you alive?!" -She asked while trying to release the rest of her body from the debris.

Gree raised a hand and made a thumbs up while trying to grab something from the rubble. "Yeah, I'm pretty much alive" -She said with a gas mask on her face. "You?" -She jokingly asked.

"Gree what's that on your face?" -Nat said while walking towards her.

"A gas mask I made!" -Gree answered with pride. "It is for the radiation" -she added.

"Radiation?" -Nat muttered.

"The explosion seemed to have a certain degree of radiation enough to damage organs such as lungs, but it doesn't look like there is radiation on the air, it is weird" -Gree continued while trying to figure out the origin of the explosion.

While Gree was talking about what could have happened, Nat tried to search for her blacksmith equipment. When Nat found at least her hammer, she sighed in relief.

Gree took a camera from the rubble and realized it didn't work, then she inspected the surroundings and saw Phill and Chronos lying on the ground a few meters away. "Nat! Over there!" -she pointed with her finger.

Nat turned to see them on the ground and started skipping over the rubble in order to reach them. "Come and help me, Grace!" -Nat demanded.

Gree started following. "They look pretty much dead, Nat" -she said sarcastically.

Meanwhile, at the launching center. "Peacemaker destroyed, sir. It seems it was a dragon" -An engineer said to the General of the Anomalies Prevention Brigade.

"So they still exist, after all, I honestly thought DD was the last one" -The General said. "Tell the media Argos is now a quarantine zone due to illegal nuclear experiments" -he added.

Back in Argos. Chronos was the first one on waking up. The egg! -Cronos quickly thought while standing up and looking around.

"Woah, calm down dude" -Gree said surprised by Chronos' reaction. "If you are looking for your bag it is over there, nothing fell from it" -She added while showing Chronos where the backpack was.

Chronos seemed relieved and went towards the backpack. Meanwhile, Nat was trying to wake Phill up and successfully Phill woke up with a sudden reaction while sitting up and grabbing his chest. "What happened?! Where's that thing? Where is the dragon?!" -Phill exclaimed still in shock.

Chronos took his backpack and looked towards Phill. So he saw it as well...I wonder why the dragon left, but most importantly, why it came here, to begin with? Was that dragon trying to protect something? The egg? -Chronos thought while walking back towards the group.

"Dragon? Didn't they extinct a long time ago?" -Nat countered Phill skeptically.

"Yes! I saw it, it looked like a moving mountain! He was there as well" -Phill said looking to Chronos and expecting him to back up what he saw.

"I saw it as well" -Chronos said. maybe if we start investigating I could understand why all this happened -Chronos instantly thought.

"See? Even he saw it" -Phill continued.

Nat and Gree's expressions changed into confusion. "But why?" -Nat asked.

"Probably the earthquakes and the sharp paralyzing noise attracted the dragon" -Gree pointed out.

After a while discussing it, the group concluded that working together was the best way to find out why the government tried to kidnap Chronos and Nat. Chronos couldn't refuse the idea, after all, Nat was involved as well, and it was Doc's last wish for Chronos to take Nat with him.

The sun was sinking in the horizon and after hours of collecting everything they could from the rubble, the group decided to go somewhere else before the assault team arrived again. Chronos proposed to go to the settlement he made a month ago and everyone seemed to agree with the idea. Before leaving, Nat built a small tomb for Bernard. "Rest in peace, My friend" -Nat said in a gloomy mood.

Cronos noticed Nat kneeling down and putting some rocks together. "He betrayed you" -He pointed out.

"I don't mind. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have survived a long time ago" -Nat replied with a forgiving tone.

Chronos saw what humanity lack in the scene he was watching. What I was looking to see in human beings, this Dwarf girl has it... kindness -He thought.

A while has passed after Nat built the tomb. The group walked along a road towards the forest Chronos was talking about. Luckily for them, the explosion of the Sweeper disrupted the digital components of the traps left by the assault team, leaving the traps unable to work.

It was very late now and the group decided to make a stop in a small forest a few kilometers away from Argos. They lit a fire and cooked some of the goods they rescued from the ruins.

"So what brought you to Argos, Chronos? A guild request? A family member? Or an old friend?" -Phill asked.

"Ah yes, also tell us about you, we know each other since a while ago, so it is your turn to join us by telling your story" -Gree added.

"Why don't you guys introduce yourselves first?" -Nat countered.

Phill and Gree exchanged quick glances and turned to see Chronos. "He is Phillips and I'm Grace, as you can see, we are not simply human beings" -Gree explained proudly. "I'm a brilliant and beautiful scientist with a gifted mind and this dude over here works for me, he is resistant enough to test my experiments and prototypes" -She added with crushing self-esteem.

Phill cringed out and sighed. "Not even losing your current home will change your excessive amount of self-confidence, huh?" -He said while staring at Gree.

Gree smirks. "We can build another one" -Gree shrugged. "Plus, we have our talented friend who is an amazing builder and skilled blacksmith" -She added. Nat blushed and smiled but didn't say anything letting them continue talking to Chronos.

"Nice to meet the both of you" -Chronos said while addressing their aspect.

Phill, with black hair and brown eyes, had a serious but logical expression and was the tallest in the group, and he seemed to be the strongest one as well, at least from Chronos' perspective he was the one with more presence in the group. Gree, on the other hand, seemed smaller than Chronos and her body seemed weak, she had blonde hair and light green eyes filled with pride and charisma. Gree seemed to have childish behavior most of the time.

"I'm a traveler, I was looking forward to joining a guild after arriving in the capital, but all this happened" -Chronos said.

"I think it would be a good idea for all of us to join a guild" -Gree decided. "But we should change our IDs so the government won't know who we are, so instead of going to the forest Cronos told us about, we should head to the capital as fast as possible" -She continued.

"You are right, if the government tagged Nat or Chronos then it would be easy for them to track us down" -Phill agreed.

"ID? I don't have one" -Chronos said.

"Are you a traveler and you don't even have an ID? Where are you from, then?" -Gree asked.

Chronos was in silence for a while. Before Gree could say something else Nat stared at her. "It is not nice to ask about that kind of thing" -Nat said.

Gree went silent as well and Phill felt a bit uncomfortable with the situation. "I'll look for more firewood" -he said while standing up and walking around in the woods.

"I think you can get an ID in the capital" -Gree said in a low tone.

"Great! So we all agree on going to the capital and get new IDs for the guild" -Nat said while clapping once.

A few moments later, when Phill went back to the improvised camp, the group decided to sleep in turns.

The next morning when everyone woke up, Chronos took one of the maps he had in his backpack and showed the route to another town. The name was Drixtown and seemed to be another farming town, but this time it was a half-breed colony.

Gree noticed there was a mine next to the town as well. "Miners?" -She asked.

"Probably, they would also have dwarves working in the mines" -Nat answered.

"Dwarves are known to be the best race to extract minerals and precious stones from the earth, right?" -Chronos asked spontaneously.

"That's racist" -Gree muttered with a smirk.

"Yes, we work better in that kind of environment" -Nat said staring at Gree who quickly focused her attention on the map while giggling.

"Well, everything is ready for us to travel, so let's head to Drixtown without wasting time" -Phill interrupted while walking closer to the luggage. Nat, Gree, and Chronos agreed and took their belongings to start their new adventure setting the Capital and the guild as their principal objective.