Lugo slowly opened his eyes, he looked to the sky to see a orange fog. Lugo slowly sat up and looked to his right and left, around him was an empty city with not a single hint of noise. Luga stood up to realize he was in the middle of the street, he took a deep breath before slowly walking around town. The air was thick and difficult to breath, as it felt like Luga's vision was fading. 

I looked to my right and left. The houses seemed familiar but I couldn't remember why, the fog seemed to grow heavier each step I took... Suddenly I heard a terrible noise behind me

The sound of machine gun fire blared out but for some reason Luga didn't flinch, his memory was slowly coming back to him.

I looked to my right to see then rubble of a house that was worn out and decayed, it stood out like a sore thumb and it's haunting atmosphere seemed to draw me closer. I started walking to the house, each step the house seemed to slowly improve. First the first floor of the house seemed to float back to shape. With another step the porch followed suit as the broken black wood instantaneously repaired it self. With another step the black ash covering all the wood seemed to vanish leaving behind dirty brown oak planks instead. Finally with another step I finally reached the base of the porch. The house was still missing it's second story and the wood had hundreds of bullet wounds but with each step of mine up the porch stair case the problems vanished until I was face to face with an simple oak door.

The door of the house had a simple word carved into it "Home". Luga looked around once more only for the previous rows of housing he walked past to be gone, instead replaced with the vast open desert. The fog was sadly still as thick as ever.

I slowly pushed open the door only to be hit with the smell of a wonderful apple pie... I knew the smell and unconsciously spoke out "Mom?". There was no response but my heart told me I was right. I started wondering towards my kitchen... I spoke

Suddenly the kitchen roof collapsed, dust filled the air. Lugo's eyes filled with dread, his casual walk he had earlier changed to a run as he dashed up the staircase, each step appeared from the rubble below slowly revealing the second story as Lugo reached the top. 

I gave a dry cough, dust filled my lungs and tears filled my eyes. I looked down at my hands only for the usual tough grizzled hands I gained from the west to be changed into the soft mushy hands of a child. I scampered up the stairs and took a left. The room I entered was all so familiar with my bed pushed snuggly into the corner, the rest of the room was gone instead replaced with a large hole showing the great outdoors. The fog seemed to morph from a deep orange to a bright red that attached to my arms and clothes. The air smelled like iron. I dove under my bed to see a large wooden chest. I yanked it from under my bed and looked inside, I saw a simple blue pocket knife and a simple yet shiny revolver. I grabbed both items with my soft hands as the house slowly started crumbling. 

Suddenly the floor beneath Lugo disappeared and he fell down with the rubble.

My entire body ached, I coughed up red dust. I barely managed to move my right arm, my grip still held onto the knife and gun. The sound of machine gun fire was now ringing in my ear as a loud piercing noise also assaulted my hearing. I barely managed to stumble forward off the pile. Around my the entire house was destroyed and riddled with bullet holes. I stumbled forward trying to escape to house but everything was blurry. I couldn't tell where I was or where I needed to go but I needed to move.

Lugo stumbled out of the house and tripped on the porch. He fell face first onto the dirt, he dropped both his knife and revolver.

I tasted metal in my mouse, I slowly opened my eyes only to see the dusty dirt road be replaced with a shallow pool of blood that seemed to go on for miles. I tried pushing myself up with my left hand but it slipped making me fall into the pool of blood... I then felt a hand on my shoulder.

Lugo woke up with the sound of gunfire and shouting. Lugo opened his eyes to see Mani shaking him awake. Luga coughed and yelled over the gunfire

"What happened!?"

Lugo noticed he was dragged behind the corpse of a dead house and a bandit stacked on top of each other. Mani yelled

"Those bandits saw our fire! I woke up after a stray shot hit my shoulder!"

Mani then peeked out behind the bodies and shot once more. Lugo's finally heard the resounding sound or running horses. Mani spoke

"They are afraid to approach us for some reason!"

Lugo sat up and took out his pistol, he peeked out between the horses tail to see twenty or so bandits all on horse back they seemed to be trying to circle around but each attempt is met with a precise shot from Mani. Luga shot towards the group and yelled out

"We need to run, once they realize we have no backup they will push us all at once!"

Suddenly a simple phrase rang out "Dynamite tossed!". Immediately a bandit  hurled a lit bundle of dynamite toward Lugo's and Mani's position. The crackling fuse sent sparks flying through the dry air, and the deadly projectile hurtled through the cloud of dusts picked up by the galloping horses.

With lightning reflexes, Lugo swiftly drew his revolver and, in a daring move, took aim at the incoming dynamite.

Behind the makeshift barricade formed by the fallen bodies of a bandit and a horse, Lugo jumped out. The metallic tang of gunfire hanging thick in the air. His heart raced as he focused on the impending threat hurtling towards him. With precise skill honed through countless showdowns, he fired a single shot, the bullet trailing a line of fiery determination in its wake.

The bullet collided with the airborne dynamite, a spectacular collision of metal and explosives. In a breathtaking display of precision and nerve, the fiery trail left by Lugo's bullet intersected with the volatile dynamite, causing a spectacular burst of light and sound. The deafening explosion echoed through the canyon, sending shockwaves rippling through the arid landscape. Shards of debris and smoke filled the air, obscuring the scene in a chaotic tempest.

Using this brief opportunity Lugo grabbed Mani and yelled at him

"Run!"

Not even a split second later the sound of gunfire continued even through the cloud of dust. The shot were random and desperate but still had the ability to kill the cowboys. Mani then reached into his pocket and took out a coyote tooth, Mani then held it in both his hands making the tooth change from a bright white to a deep ocean blue. Mani then tossed it backwards and yelled out to Lugo

"Fire!"

Without wasting a second Lugo turned around and looked at the blue tooth streak through the air, he took aim at the chance of salvation and fired his chance.

The metallic claps of his revolver reverberated throughout the desert as from his pistol flew not one but three total shots at the single target. Lugo's desperation was obvious as his gun glowed orange from the heat leaving the barrel. Each bullet flew leaving a elegant streak of fire.

The first bullet missed the mark by a slim margin, the second bullet grazed the tooth causing the target to twirl from the glancing blow, only for finally on the third and final shot from the revolver did he make impact.

Suddenly a cloud of steam filled the air. Lugo and Mani continued running side by side as the boiling hot steam burnt their skin, they had to get away from the gunfire and boiling hot air.

After three minutes of running they finally dove behind a boulder. Their clothes had small burn marks all over with gunfire barely grazing their clothes. Mani chuckled as he pointed at Lugo's hat

"Your hat got gunned down"

Lugo pulled his hat down revealing his dusty black hair. He looked at his hat filled with a two bullet holes as they sighed.

"Why did they not use any magical ammo?"

Mani asked as he reloaded his revolver. Luga reached into his jacket and pulled out his pocket knife as he said

"If I had to guess then I bet their boss makes them use all their mana for somethin else..."

Luga cut off some fabric on his sleeves as he wrapped it around a bullet hole on their shoulder.

"Probably being forced to give their mana to the boss or making elemental tools..."

Mani gave a dry cough as he said

"You can give mana- *cough* to someone?"

Lugo reached into his jacket and pulled out a canteen of water which he handed to Mani.

"Yeah... it's not something common or efficient but you can transfer your mana to someone, it's usually temporary but if you do it for long enough then the receiver can slowly increase his mana capacity."

Mani chugged from the canteen and handed it back while saying

"... huh, neat"

Mani then passed out from either sleep deprivation after waking up or blood loss. Lugo smiled as he chugged his canteen. He then said

"Yeah it's neat..."

Lugo then stood up and prepared to be on guard duty for the night.

¹ I'm trying to experiment with 1st person writing since I mostly do 3rd person. If you guys want me to stop/continue please tell me in the poll.