Broken Worlds: Age of Ruin

I followed my two human friends, Wayne and Tess, as the latter led us to the sleeping quarters of the Resistance stronghold. I was pretty excited; I was finally going to get a chance to help out in this war!

“So, as you can see,” Tess began sunnily, “We’ve got several rooms fully packed with beds and storage compartments to keep your belongings in. Our only rules around here are don’t start fights with other members, and stay out of each other’s lockers if you don’t have permission. Anything you guys want to ask me?”

Wayne stepped over to a nearby vacant bed and investigated it, as well as the locker that lay on the floor in front of its frame. “How many members do you guys have living here?” I asked curiously.

Tess thought about this for a moment. “Somewhere between seventy-five and one hundred, if I had to guess,” she said slowly.

Wayne nodded. “Tell me about your leader, Drayke,” he said, more demanding than asking.

Tess shrugged. “What’s there to tell?” she asked with a slight laugh. “He’s a strong guy who always has a plan.”

Wayne pressed on. “I mean, how did he start all this?” he asked, gesturing to the room around him. “It’s kinda hard to believe that one man started all this on his own.”

Tess nodded. “He was never on his own,” she replied as she sat down on an adjacent bed. “In the beginning, it was just him, Rainbow Dash, and Cadence, but when word got around that there was a group striving to unite human and pony societies, more and more showed up. Now, we’re nearly a hundred members strong, including my brother and I,” she concluded proudly.

I perked my ears up. “Speaking of your brother, what is he like?” I asked curiously. “He seems pretty serious about all this.”

Tess nodded vigorously. “Oh, you bet!” she replied. “The Resistance is practically his life; he used to be an emotional wreck, but coming here and having something to fight for helped put him back on track,” she explained. “Of course, having me around helped a tiny bit,” she added with a giggle.

Before we could continue talking, however, a light-blue pegasus with a rainbow mane stepped into the room and cleared her throat; I recognized her from the assault. “Uh, is there someone called ‘Wayne Douglas’ in here?” she inquired from the doorway.

Tess pointed a thumb at Wayne. “This guy right here!” she cried helpfully.

The pegasus nodded and turned to Wayne. “I’m Rainbow Dash; nice to meet you,” she said kindly. “Drayke sent me down here to see if you were available for a skills evaluation.”

Wayne raised an eyebrow. “What sort of skills evaluation?” he asked slowly.

Rainbow Dash shrugged nonchalantly. “Just an obstacle course to see how well you can move around, and then a target test to see how well your shooting is,” she replied. “You interested?”

Wayne shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” he said slowly as he rose to his feet. “Let’s go.”

~-~-~-~-~

“Are you sure this is safe for him to go through?” I asked Tess as we watched Wayne step out into a seemingly empty hallway. We were staring at a monitor that tracked Wayne’s progress through a remote-controlled camera that could slide freely across the wall.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tess said cheerfully, “We have a unicorn medic standing by just in case something goes wrong!”

I gave her a worried look. “Will something go wrong?” I asked slowly as Wayne got ready to start the course.

Tess rubbed her chin. “Uh… it’s kind of a hit-and-miss on that one,” she replied uncertainly. “My course went smoothly, but Joseph ended up with some bad burns across his back. Nothing too serious, though!” she added with a friendly nudge.

I took a shaky breath as I heard Rainbow Dash’s voice shout “GO!” over the intercom, and Wayne started running down the hallway. A few feet in front of him, a solid concrete wall dropped down, giving a two-foot gap between it and the floor. Wayne acted quickly, dropping to his knees and rolling sideways under the barrier, then quickly leaping to his feet when he cleared the obstacle. In front of him were two concrete walls on either side, with a narrow gap between them. Waiting just beyond this gap was a large flamethrower, which Wayne just barely caught sight of before it blasted a wave of fire at him. He quickly dodged to the right, pressing his back to the wall as he peeked around his cover at the turret.

I watched the monitor nervously. “How’s he gonna get past this?” I asked worriedly.

Tess stared intently. “This is the timing test,” she said slowly. “It’s to test how quickly someone can pick up on patterns in a security system. See how the flamethrower shoots a blast for ten seconds, before cooling down for two?” she asked, pointing at Wayne’s automatic adversary on-screen, “he’ll have to take advantage of that tiny window if he wants to sneak past it.”

As she explained, I noticed Wayne was counting on his fingers between bursts. “It looks like he has a plan,” I breathed, and when the blast ended, Wayne quickly leaped from behind the wall and ran at the flamethrower turret, grabbing the nozzle and forcing it to turn around just as several wooden targets appeared in the next section.

“How could he have…?” Tess asked slowly as the flamethrower belched out a wave of fire, burning the cutouts to charcoal as Wayne released the turret and moved on. “Either this guy is psychic, or he’s really good at predicting an enemy’s next move… Drayke picked a good recruit on this one,” she murmured as Wayne continued running down the hall, jumping and spinning past several metal bars that were now swinging out from the wall in an attempt to knock him down.

After who knows how many other obstacles, Wayne finally reached the final checkpoint: a white-walled, empty room, where Drayke was waiting for him.

“Good to see you made it this far without getting hurt,” Drayke said, impressed, “but now comes the most serious part of your test.” Saying this, he pulled the two swords he wore on his back from their sheaths and tossed one to Wayne.

Wayne inspected the blade, rotating his wrist as if he were testing its weight. “I don’t think we’ll be using swords too much in this war,” he said dryly. “After all, we’ve got guns, don’t we?”

Drayke chuckled. “Well, yeah, but swordfighting is still a good skill to have. What if you run out of ammo in a fight and have no other options? You’ll be glad you know how to use one of these,” he pointed out.

Wayne shrugged submissively. “If you say so,” he said, holding the sword straight in front of him.

Drayke smirked. “Good. This room is protected by a special spell that prevents injury to anyone inside, so don’t hold back!” he cried, and swept his blade at my head. I quickly swung my own sword to block his, redirecting the blade towards the ground.

Drayke gave an impressed nod. “Not bad,” he admitted.

I shrugged. “Movies,” I said simply, and went in for a quick jab at Drayke’s chest. He quickly twirled to the side, sweeping his own weapon at my legs. I felt a strange sensation in both of my legs, sort of like pins-and-needles, and fell to my knees with a discomforted groan. I looked up to see Drayke standing over me, blade pointed directly at my face.

“You lose,” he said with a smug grin.

I couldn’t see his mouth, but by the way Wayne narrowed his eyes, it looked like he was smiling. “I don’t think so,” he said in a low voice, and quickly pushed himself backwards, pulling the pistol Drayke had given him earlier from his belt, and fired a single round at his opponent. Drayke jerked backward, holding his head in both hands as he staggered around for a moment, and fell to the ground.

“Oh no!” Tess cried, and quickly ran out of the room. I galloped after her as she ran down the hallway that led to where Wayne and Drayke were, and rushed to his side. Joseph was already there, and he was glaring at Wayne accusingly.

“What the fuck did you do?!” he screamed as he confronted the hooded boy.

A look of concern and confusion crossed Wayne’s eyes. “I just did what came to my mind,” he said quickly, “He told me we couldn’t get hurt in here!”

Suddenly, Drayke rose to his feet, groaning as he stood. “Wow, so that’s what it feel like when you get hit in the head,” he exclaimed. “That was wild!”

Joseph rushed to Drayke’s side, looking him over carefully. “Are you okay, Drayke?” he asked worriedly.

Drayke waved dismissively. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said reassuringly, and then glanced at Wayne. “Well, you didn’t beat me with a sword,” he said slowly, “but I won’t deny that you won that fight. Just remember, though: you can’t always rely on your guns. There will be a time when you’ll be out of ammo, and you might not even have a blade for backup. Always be ready for those desperate situations, just in case they happen.” With this, he hastily exited the room, trying to hide the fact that he was still dazed by the bullet’s impact.

Joseph looked at Wayne, trying to think of something to say. “You’re… lucky, kid.” he said finally.

Wayne eyed him coolly. “That’s one of my more favorable traits,” he replied flatly. “And, ‘kid’? You’re a year older than me, at best, and I’m just as strong and smart as you are.”

Joseph laughed. “Yeah, sure,” he said incredulously, “you could never take me down in a fight.”

Wayne got a dangerous look in his eyes. “Is that a challenge?” he asked, reaching into a pocket on his jacket.

Joseph didn’t notice what Wayne’s hand was doing as he stepped over to him, coming inches away from his face. “I’ll fight you anytime, anywhere,” he shot back through gritted teeth.

Wayne held up a grenade, which he had taken the pin out of while Joseph was trying to be tough. “Game, set, match,” he said smoothly, and let go of the trigger as the room became engulfed in an explosion.

~-~-~-~-~

I coughed as I struggled to stand, the numb feeling slowly fading from my limbs. I looked around to see Joseph, Tess, and Wayne all laying on the floor in similar conditions.

“Why would you do that?” Joseph coughed, almost sounding fearful.

Wayne shook himself to quicken his recovery as he stood, and looked down at Joseph. “To prove a point: all your training, all your knowledge, and all your strength doesn’t mean shit if you aren’t willing to take risks. You said that my disadvantage is I only work alone, but you need to learn that teamwork isn’t the only thing needed to bring down an empire. With a little bit of luck and an understanding of the fact that you will die, skill is just an accessory.”

After making his point, Wayne turned and exited the room. I thought about following him, but a part of my mind was starting to see exactly why this boy preferred to travel alone.