Chapter 10. The excavation site.
Joey fell through the portal, which made him feel nauseous. He saw a lot of spirals which made him feel even worse. As the end of the portal was in sight Joey fell on soft sand. But to him it felt like he fell on hard concrete. Joey passed out and stayed like that for several hours.
Near the sport where Joey landed, we see a young man with short blond hair walking through the desert, looking for something. “Aww man.. If I don’t find some junk to sell soon the boss will kill me..” he said to himself as he kept on walking in the scorching sun. “Although I wouldn’t know what is worse, the boss yelling at me or the sun in this wretched desert.. Why do I have to look around here anyway, its not like I ever find anything in here”. As he finished talking he saw Joey’s motionless body on the ground. He slowly walked to his body and took a good look. “Wow.. is he dead or something? These clothes look expensive though..maybe this is silk” he kneeled down to feel the clothes. But as he did so Joey started moving again.
“uhhnn.. where am I ?” Joey mumbled to himself.
“Wow! Your alive! Are you okay?” The young man asked.
“Do I look okay to you? “ He said while slowly standing up. “Who are you anyway?”
“That doesn’t matter now! We need to get you to the base!” He said while helping Joey up. Together, they walked back to an old sandy town. Joey passed out several times and near the end. He completely lost it and slept on for three days.
Joey woke up in a solid stone bed, his back feeling almost broken. He sat up straight and stretched his body. He rubbed his eyes and took a good look around the room. It was old and made entirely from stone. It looked like it would fall apart soon though. Joey stretched once more and stood up. He looked at an open door and walked through it. He looked around and found himself in a small town full of small stone cottages, al as weak as this one. He walked around the village for a little while and saw a lot of people gathered near a dump. “What’s going on over there?” he walked to the crowd and looked around. The only thing he saw was trash. He took another good look around and saw the young man with blonde hair. “Hey you!” he shouted out. “Over here!” the young man looked his way and walked to him.
“Good to see that your up, I was worrying that you might die. We’ve been doing our best to keep you alive.” He said. “Why are all these people gathered here?” Joey asked.
“Why would I tell that to someone who didn’t even thank me properly for saving his life” The young man said with his arms crossed.
“Oh I’m sorry, thanks for saving me” Joey said while smiling..
“That’s a lot better, I’m Nico. Nice to meet you.” Nico said while holding his hand out.
“That’s a fine name, mine is Joey”. He said while shaking his hand.
“As for the reason we’re standing here... We want to get to that junkyard to look for metal and glass we can sell” Nico said.
“I see... So you’re poor...” Joey said while inspecting the gate.
“No were filthy rich, that’s why we live in a dump” Nico said sarcastically.
“Then why don’t you go in? Why are we still here?” Joey asked Nico,
“Well... The thing is, we can’t” Nico said looking down. “The fence is too strong for us to bed or run down.
“Maybe I can help with that... tell the crowd to stand aside and take their distance” Joey said while walking to the gates. Nico did as Joey asked him to and the crowd made place for Joey.
“Okay... Let’s see if training helped...” Joey said himself. He slowly placed his hands on the sides of the fences and felt the cold steel on his fingers.
“Who is that? What is he doing?” a man from the crowd said.
“I don’t know, but he looks kind off tough” a woman said.
Joey took a strong firm grip. He started pulling on the fence with all his might.
“Come on! Bend!” Joey yelled to himself for motivation. The crowd started laughing at him, as if he was attempting the impossible.
“Ha-ha! Look at that guy! He thinks he can pull it out by himself!” a man said.
“Maybe he’s drunk or something! No once can do that!” another man yelled.
The crowd laughed even harder as Joey’s face turned red. But suddenly the crowd fell silent and they heard the bolts from the fence crack. And the wires snap.
“Wait... What... can he do it? Is he really doing it?” Nico said.” People! Don’t just stand there! Help him!” He yelled as he started running towards to fence to help. In a matter of a second everyone started running to the gate.
“Let’s do this!” a man from the crowd said.
“Yeah let’s go!!” a woman yelled... The crowd started pulling. Joey let out a mighty roar, and it seemed to inspire the people! In a fraction of a second they all pulled it out of the ground. The crowd ran into the dump to start collecting metal and glass, as Joey single handed threw the fence away for a distance. Joey sat down on the soft sand panting.
“Whew... I guess training with dummies and knives really DO help... I should thank Jin and Marcus as soon as I see them again.” Joey said to himself. Nico started walking to Joey with his hands full of metal.
“You did it partner! You actually did it! Come on, let’s go home and get you something to drink!” Nico said to Joey. Joey stood up and followed Nico back to the old shack where he woke up in. Nico put the metal down and sat on a small stone chair.
“You’re really strong you know that? I mean, you almost pulled that thing out yourself if the crowd didn’t come to help you out. I KNOW you could have done it alone.” Nico said.
“I guess so.” Joey said. “What is this place anyway? Why is everyone so poor?”
“Well... We are actually all slaves. We word in the exhibition site a few miles from here. There’s been a major discovery there... Something about some statue and a prophecy” Nico said.
“But, you just took out a fence together; why not rise against the slave drivers?” Joey asked while crossing his arms.
“Well, the slave drivers have weapons and magic. It’s almost like some evil guy is controlling them. They all have this dark collar around their necks.” Nico said. “But everyone knows that can’t be true. Since evil was laid down almost two hundred years ago right?”
“Yeah... That’s true...” Joey said. He knew Evil was acting up again but he didn’t say anything to Nico. He preferred his identity was kept secret from everyone in this town.
“But if you are slaves. Why aren’t you working?” Joey asked.
“Well, that’s because some big leader is coming over to inspect and the head man doesn’t want the slaves near there. So we kind off are on some sort of holiday.” Nico said.
“Why not escape then?” Joey asked.
“Well the thing is. On the edges of this city are some more of those slave drivers with weapons and magic. We can’t get out.” Nico explained.
“Really? Then why didn’t they rush to the fence when we broke it down?” Joey asked.
“Well, their not allowed into here. The slave masters are afraid we will overpower one and take their weapons and such. That’s why their always in groups and don’t enter the city you see?” Nico explained. Joey nodded in confirmation. Thinking about various things. Why did Krad send him here? What is his goal here? Does he need to help these people? He was clueless on what to do right now. As the night fell Joey dreamed about the house back in heaven. And what Nagisa was doing... a small shiver went through his spine as he thought what Marcus and Jin might do to Krad when they learn he send them here without telling them.