A small wind picked up the dust left over from the charred buildings, swirling it around and creating a small dust devil before dying down again. In the center of the wreckage stood a black marble monument, and a single woman. The sights surrounding did not affect her; such ruined buildings and towns were not only common here, throughout the entire world was this normal happenstance.
The wind played at Crystal Rivan's long brown hair, but she paid it little mind, focusing her attention on the monument. Even marble this small - only a foot taller than her, and half as wide as it was tall - was extraordinarly expensive in today's world. Teron Blaze, the leader of the resistance against Seth, wanted to commerorate all those who've died in the war against Seth, but could only afford a monument large enough for those who were "important heros" of the war. Most of which were Teron's personal friends.
There were several dozen names. Only three that Crystal cared about. Her parents, Cloud and Kitra Rivan. And Skan Erreden, her godfather. She loved and missed them all.
Crystal barely remembered her father. Cloud had died very early in the war, which began only months after her birth, taking a blow that was meant for his wife. Kitra was an amazing mother to Crystal, working hard to serve as a teacher, role-model, while still serving as a magi soldier in the war. Skan she also remembered vividly. He was not with her very often, but when he was, her godfather always told her funny stories and snuck her candy when they thought Kitra wasn't looking. They, too, were dead. Crystal could actually remember her mother smiling at her, promising her that she would come back. That was her last time seeing her. Though Skan tried to comfort her, an embassy from the Engineer's Guild came to her house at the time Skan usually met and told her that her godfather, too, died.
Crystal wiped away a single tear that leaked down her face. This war was literally all she'd known. Everything, everybody she loved was dead. Killed by Seth. But very many shared her strong hatred towards him.
There was a resistance, led by the famous war hero Teron Blaze, that slowly worked at Seth's destruction. Yet despite all the tiny skirmishes they won, or the bits of technology they stole, they had not made any visible dent in Seth's armies. Or Seth himself. In fact, nobody had ever seen Seth himself. Those few foolish enough to actually try and find him never returned.
Twenty years ago, seemingly from out of nowhere, a massive robotic army swarmed all parts of the world at once. Nobody expected them, nobody even knew what they were. In time, they were nicknamed SWORDs. Super Weapom Operation Robot of Destruction. Only in time was it confirmed that these SWORDs had a leader. An entity called Seth. Nobody knew who, or even what, Seth was. All hopes of communication with him was impossible. All he did was divide and conquer. Technically, the war ended five years ago. A fifteen year long war.
Crystal shook her head and turned away. Teron was probably wondering where she was and why she hasn't returned from her mission. Then again, she visited this monument so often Teron probably already knew.
As she walked away from the sight, an dog sized creature jumped up from where it was lying, hidden behind a charcoal black foundation of a building that could have been anywhere from five to fifty feet large. An iguion, is was an odd mix between a lion and iguana. Launching itself from it's powerful lion hind legs, the iguion caught up with Crystal quickly, slowing down to a normal stance at her side. It's iguana head looked up at her, forked tongue snaking out in her direction for a moment.
:Heading back?: Krinn asked. As Crystal's familiar, there were many advantages between the two. Mostly the communication possible through telepathy. Only with the two of them, however.
"Yes," Crystal said aloud. She prefered speaking out loud unless she had to do otherwise. "Teron is probably wondering what's taking me so long."
:He probably thinks you're dead.: Krinn's telepathy gave away little humor, but Crystal was positive that he was teasing her. He always did.
Crystal didn't answer, just staring ahead as she marched to her destination. After a while, Krinn lowered his head, obviously dissapointed she didn't take the bait. It was nothing to joke about. People could, and did, die every day due to Seth's tyranny.
Three SWORDs surveyed the wreckage. Tall, over seven feet, each one was only barely humanoid. And all three of them identical to each other. Blocky torsos supported by small legs that seemed to short and thin to hold them up. Their arms were long and flexible, as if there were no joints. The left arm ended in a sort of claw doubltess meant for salvaging or picking things up, not battle. The other 'hand' gripped a sword that bent almost double. None of them noticed the lone man, dressed in black, step out from behind his hiding place at their backs.
When Kenjii Ikaku cracked his knuckles, however, all three spun - pivoting their bodies without moving their legs - to face him. He pretended to look surprised to see them.
"Well, hello there," he said almost conversationally. Suddenly, a grin split his face. He drew a small weapon from his black trenchcoat, what looked like a double headed trident, with barely enough room between the two foot long blades for his hand. He held the weapon above his head with his index and middle fingers. "My name is Kenjii. What's yours?"
The three SWORDs did not respond. At least, not verbally. In unison, all three of them lifted their swords in a definately threatning position. Kenjii took it all in stride. SWORDs were programmed to kill anything other than slaves or other SWORDs.
With a laugh, Kenjii threw the weapon up several feet. He caught it at his side and spun it in the same fluid motion. In a sound of metal sliding past metal, the shaft grew to be nearly as long as he himself was, pressed up against his back and held facing the ground. His grin was instantly replaced with a scowl, and Kenjii used his other hand to gesture angrily with a single middle finger. A gesture the SWORDs did not understood. But his arming himself, they did. All three charged as one.
Instead of trying to dodge, or holding his ground, which they would have expected, Kenjii met their charge with one of his own. He drove one end of the trident like weapon - it was called a gythka - into where a human neck would have been into one, and still holding onto the lodged weapon, leaped in the air, kicking to his side and connecting hard with a second SWORD, knocking it to his ground. He ducked a blow from the third and withdrew the gythka. Kenjii got up and tackled the SWORD he had just impaled, just to knock him back for the seconds he would need to dispatch the other two.
Kenjii spun quickly, dropping to one knee and slashing the gythka horizontally in front of him. He did not need to see what he was doing, hearing the two "thumps" of the SWORDs legs was enough. He jumped back, gythka twirling, to allow it to fall.
Without bothering to turn anything but his head, Kenjii drove the gythka into the SWORD behind him, again doing no damage. The SWORDs were not humans; stabbing them worked only if you managed to sever a vital circuit.
Kenjii ripped out the gythka with such force that the SWORD stumbled forward a bit, then made a much more carefully aimed blow. As soon as the gyktha penetrated the SWORD's strong metal armor, he let go. Electricity coursed through the SWORD, as well as the gythka.
In the same motion as letting go of his weapon, Kenjii reached into his coat and pulled out another weapon, throwing it. The razor sharp boomerang, or chatchka severed one of the legs on the last standing SWORD before making a large arc and spinning back into Kenjii's waiting hand. A second through completely penetrated the SWORD's body, effectively cutting the robot in two, each half making a small explosion.
Kenjii reached over and grabbed the gythka from the no longer electrically charged SWORD, wrenching it free. He twisted the ends of the shaft, right under the trident blades, and it smoothly shrank back to it's original size.
After excavating the three SWORD's core processors, Kenjii tucked the weapon in his coat once more and head back the way he'd come, whistling, his sack of newly aquired goods held over his shoulder.