Tellurus, 30 years before the cataclysm.

 

In one of the deserts to the south of Ashgul, in the lands that belonged to the Taerus Tribes, one of these tribes was traveling in haste to avoid being reached by the oncoming sandstorm.

“Hurry up! carry children if necessary. We have to get to the twin crests if we want to get out of the storm alive!” Ojong shouted, covering his face to protect himself from the grains of sand that hit hard when lifted by the winds.

The group of about thirty people behind him sped up. Lilith, the only foreigner in the tribe struggled to follow the rhythm of the others. It was hard for her to keep her balance in the strong winds. The leather boots she'd been loaned to when her protector left her in the care of the tribe sank into the sand with every step.

Due to the few days that Lilith had been with the tribe, no one noticed how she progressively fell further and further behind. Her pride as a young elf of only sixteen prevented her from shouting for help.

Using all her strength she continued to advance following the shadows of the others who were already beginning to reach the twin crests.

“I hate deserts; I will never return to one in my life,” Lilith said tired of walking in the sun.

“This is a safe place; nobody will find you here.” The young elf imitated her guardian.

“Ah! But the sun, the sand, the animals and everything around can kill you,” she said sarcastically.

As she finally began to approach the twin crests, where the tribe would take cover for the storm, she heard cries for help. The first thing she thought was that those who were after her had found their location, but she soon saw that this was not the case.

“Jujuju I love to eat humans.”

Five sand trolls, four times the size of an ordinary human, grabbed whoever they could and shoved them into their mouths. In response, all those humans who knew how to handle the energy around them began to use sandblast attacks. The elderly and children were protected by those who did not know how to use magic. Improvised and worn-out pole weapons in their hands.

Lilith seeing this, moved her wrists, materializing numtak needles between her fingers. Numtak was the name by which the physical form of people's energy was known. This metallic-looking material was proportionally equally strong to the energy used for its materialization. The cost of keeping energy materialized doubled every minute, so only species with large energy reserves were dedicated to studying the materialization of numtak.

“Whoosh!”

“Whoosh!”

 “Whoosh!”

Lilith threw three of her needles with great precision against the face of one of the trolls, injuring its left eye. But the boots she was wearing intruded on her path, causing her to trip and fall before she could launch more attacks.

“Arg!” shouted the troll who lost his eye.

Taking advantage of its distraction, Ojong stopped attacking its feet and guided the blade of sand that he controlled towards its neck.

“Plop!”

The huge body of the troll fell to the ground enraging his companions.

“Kill them! Kill them all. We will eat them later,” ordered the smallest of the four.

His skin was yellow with brown spots from the sun. Like the others, he found himself wearing rudimentary armor over his robes.

“You are violating the Terram treaty!” Ojong yelled with all his might.

The Terram treaty was one of the few universal laws in Tellurus. Where the intelligent species promised to coexist in harmony with each other. Treaty that was achieved thanks to Ulhnaikumon who as emperor that in his mission to conquer and unite everything that existed under the heavens created the common language known as 'Terram'. The language that was adopted by all but beings from the depths of the oceans.

“Jujuju How is anyone going to find out if all of you are going to end up in our bellies?” The yellow troll scoffed.

Soon the attacks of the trolls became much more aggressive and despite the attacks, they received on their legs they began to decimate the humans.

“Nooo!” Lilith shouted getting up and throwing as many needles as she could.

If she had time, she would have taken off the annoying boots that wouldn't let her move freely.

“Jujuju.” The laughter of the trolls began to echo as they ended the lives of all humans.

Lilith was a distance away as she was late, thanks to this she was the only survivor. However, having attacked them giving Ojong a chance to kill one of the trolls he had given her location.

“Don’t eat it!” Shouted the yellow troll hitting the hand of another one making him release the body of Ojong.

“There is still a human alive. If we let her escape, it will be known that we are hunting humans,” said the leader, pointing in Lilith's direction.

The young elf felt fear for the second time in her life when she saw the trolls start running towards her. Taking a turn, she began to escape to where she had arrived. Leaving the natural barrier formed by the twin crest, the sandstorm greeted her. Making her fall backward, a moment that the trolls took advantage of to cover the distance that separated them.

Watching the trolls approach Lilith knew that she would not be able to escape from them. Glancing at the sandstorm, she cursed her boots. It was at that moment that she noticed a shadow walking in her direction.

“Fush!”

When the mace of one of the trolls tried to end the life of the elf, the shadow disappeared from where it was and appeared next to Lilith. Because she was face down, the young woman did not see what happened, she could only hear the voice of the man who had rescued her.

“You stink of blood.”

His voice sounded tired as if he had lost the desire to live a long time ago.

“Dinamo, Shield catch them.”

“Hahaha! I will make you suffer from my greatness,” Dinamo proclaimed in a voice that only the man could hear.

Next to Lilith what appeared to be a blue electric firebird materialized doing intimidating poses that with his small size seemed rather adorable.

“Chirp chirp chirp! Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp,” the little bird lunged at the trolls.

“Dinamo! You cannot kill,” the man said out loud surprising everyone who saw the bird appear.

Dinamo grimaced in annoyance, but heeded, only electrocuting and knocking out the trolls’.

Lilith could not believe what she saw in front of her, but the surprises did not stop. A robot of the same metallic blue to chicken materialized in front of her.

“Everything. Is. Okay. We. Are. Friends,” Said the robot offering his hand.

“Tha thanks,” said Lilith stunned with what was going on.

Once he helped her up, the robot gave way and began to move the bodies of the trolls who were unconscious. Dinamo, the little bird, landed on the left shoulder of the man who had rescued her.

Shifting her gaze to the man, she could see that he had a poncho that covered him to the knees. A hood from the poncho covered his head and a somewhat strange visor hid half of his face.

“Why don't you kill them?” Lilith asked when she saw that the robot was tying the trolls.

“If I can do it, I will avoid ending the lives of others.”

“But they killed everyone, children, old people, they did not forgive anyone!” Lilith screamed indignantly.

“! Chirp chirp chirp chirp!” answer the angry chicken.

Had she been able to understand it, she would have listened to all the new profanities that Dinamo had learned.

Ignoring her, the man went to where the massacre had occurred. Lilith followed him; she was afraid of being alone with the trolls.

“My name is Lilith, thank you very much for saving me,” said the young elf making a bow.

“Laxus,” Respond the man removing his poncho.

Lilith's eyes widened. The right arm of the man was missing. Ignoring the surprise of the woman Laxus materialized an electric shovel in his left hand and started digging.

With a sigh, he began the arduous task of digging the graves of all the dead, including the troll. He did not use magic because he considered the work of digging the grave manually a sign of respect for the dead.