"Kuak."
A young man with pale skin gasped for air. Each breath burned his lungs; the heat clawed its way inside him. He was leaning against a stack of crates, hoping for a little water in this barren desert. Just as he was ready to give up, he heard a girl shouting in the distance.
He squinted through the sunlight; its bright rays pierced into his blood-red eyes. A silhouette of a girl approached him.
The girl looked scruffy, her pitch-black hair wild and untamed. Stress was etched across her face. Without a word, she bent over to hand him a rusted flask.
"Take this. It's water. Sip it slowly—it'll hurt less. Come on, let's get you inside. I'll patch you up."
Alby reached out; all his bones creaked with effort. He took a grateful big sip, then he almost spat it out. The metallic taste was awful, but it refreshed his sun-baked lips, and that was enough.
She reached over to help pick him up. Alby groaned, feeling sharp pains aching throughout his body as he got up. He stumbled at first but soon managed to steady himself.
"Thank you," he said, breathless. "I surely would have died out there if you hadn't saved me."
They reached the door of a shabby old building; Alby pushed the door open, and a wave of fresh cold air felt so nice on his skin. Inside was a cluttered mess of tools and weapons. His eyes widened in shock at the sheer disorder of the place.
She guided him over to a grungy table near the back of the room.
"Sorry about the mess; I don't have many visitors," she said, rummaging through the clutter for a first aid kit. "I will get you something for your burns."
She smiled, worry evident on her face. She laughed a little when she found the kit mostly empty, with only two bandages left.
"Hold on tight; this might hurt a little."
Alby yelled out in pain, clutching the table almost instinctively. The bandages seared his burnt skin; it felt like she was peeling off his flesh. Alby winced as she tied off the bandage.
"Now that's over, let's talk. What were you doing out in the Nefarian ruins without a phosphodite respirator, no less? That's like asking for a death sentence. You would surely have died if I hadn't found you."
Alby blinked. He didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't even know where he was. His thoughts felt empty.
"I... didn't know I was there," he said. "I don't even know what that respirator thing is."
She looked concerned; how could he not know where he was? He seemingly wasn't from around here; his skin was far too pale. Maybe he had been left to die by slave traders? She let out a sigh, clearly distressed by the situation.
"First of all, we are in the Waln prefecture. It's an industrial dome mainly filled with laborers like me. We are about 80 miles from Waln City. I have a commission there tomorrow. I'll take you with me."
"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kara. Nice to meet you!" She extended her hand, inviting him to shake it. Alby smiled and reached out his hand as well. He thought he was lucky to meet her.
"Likewise, I'm Alby. What do you do out here? I noticed all the swords and spears you have. Do you collect them or something?"
Kara got up from her seat and waved for him to come over. She pulled a barrel out to show him. Alby slowly got up, feeling all the pain in his muscles. When he got there, he noticed a peculiar faint glow from the swords. "Erm," Kara cleared her throat, ready to say something.
"These are charmed swords; I work on them! It's a pretty good business out here."
Alby, looking confused, made Kara think that he might really be clueless about this world.
"Well, since you seemingly don't know about charms, I'll explain them to you. Charms are innate talents that we are all born with. Mine has to do with the souls of weapons. Given enough time, a weapon will take on the traits of its master's charms; that's why they are called charmed weapons. You can try one out—just don't break anything."
She tossed a sword into his hands, thinking it would be a good thing for him to have in this harsh world where anything could happen. Unexpectedly, when he caught it, the black lines etched across his body started peeling off like ink; it began moving to the sword as if it had a mind of its own until it completely covered the sword in a shade of midnight. Eyes wide, Alby dropped the sword onto the ground and took a few steps back at the sight, but the black lines crawled back up his arm. He didn't know what to think—maybe it was the charm of the sword.
Kara was confused; nothing like that was supposed to happen with a chillborne sword. Maybe it was his charm, she thought, although it seemed unlikely.
"What was that, Alby?"
He didn't know; he was as confused as she was. Feeling drained, he wanted to find a place to lie down. After looking around for a bit, he asked:
"I... I need to lie down. Do you have a guest room or something? We can talk in the morning."
Kara, looking disappointed, pointed the way. With a tone of concern, she said, "Yeah, it's around the corner. We leave early in the morning. Get some rest—we'll talk on the road."
Alby nodded as he stepped into the dark room, the sword wrapped in black still on his mind.
In the morning, Kara shook Alby awake. He rose, yawned, and stretched; surprisingly, his body didn't hurt as if he had made a full recovery.
Kara turned away. A few moments later, she yelled, "Let's go! We don't want to be late. It's your fault if we're late; you slept all day."
Alby shrugged, kind of annoyed that he wasn't going to have breakfast. As he stepped outside, he was blasted by the heat. Kara was already in her beat-up truck, waiting for him, and he could see the annoyance in her eyes.
"Come on already! I can't wait all day, you know. We need to get there before the desperados show up."
Nodding, Alby climbed into her truck. The AC felt like heaven, even though he had been outside for a short period. They were on their way, passing by a few buildings and sometimes whole towns. The one thing he noticed most was the glass that covered the sky for miles. He guessed that was the dome Kara mentioned the day before.
There was a burning building on the side of the road. It didn't seem out of place, but there was something odd about it. The moment Kara took her eyes off the road, she ran into something, flipping the truck into the air. There was a terrible crunching sound as the side of the truck hit the ground.
Kara screamed, saying, "What's an infernal doing inside the dome?"
Alby's eyes widened as he saw a humanoid figure lit up in flames. His skin seemingly melted away; it looked like a ball of flesh and dried blood.