Elias, knowing the effect calamity beasts make is called plague, a name that carries fear into the hearts of people, made him fear the beasts more.
He collected his book, stashed it well. And he looked around; he needed to make a Black Hole for today.
"Let's go to the gate!" Sasha's voice called him. That was a good idea. They walked side by side; he noticed her face still had sutured wounds, making her look like those barbarian women that grew in the bush.
"Your beautiful face is ruined!" Elias teased.
She blushed, "It's alright. Life is filled with scars."
"Yeah, but how can you get someone to marry you with those scars? You know some of us love beauty!"
"Hmm. It doesn't matter. They will heal. If they don't, I have no regrets."
They walked as they spoke until they stood before the gate. The double door's imposing nature still left their hearts in awe.
On it, carved in golden letters was:
Pioneer: Sasha Thunderspark.
Contributors: Red Skin Bodyguard and Sam Allen.
Elias sneaked a glance at her; her smile was wide and mouth drooling. "You already obtained it, why are you drooling?"
"Haha. It's not the writing only. As a Pioneer, it means the whole gate is mine and whatever is kept inside is mine. Haha. And there might be more Relic Gems inside, or the stone book, or the Stone scribe."
Sasha said in a hurried manner, "This is a dream come true. Haha. Influential people will come to buy information about the door. I will be famous, rich, and people will recognize my worth. And do you know why I got the pioneer branded here? It's because we fought the beast and won."
Elias softly smiled, "Did anyone ever tell you you're amazing?"
"Hmm!" She blushed again and looked away, "You just did." She went ahead and touched the gate; it trembled and from there she could command it to open or close.
"Sasha!" Someone came running at her. It was a man that accompanied her brother. "You are needed in the council tent!"
"You're famous too fast?" Elias said.
Sasha nodded with anxiety and looked at Elias who didn't seem to want to follow her. "You don't want to follow me?"
"You don't need a bodyguard there. I will just look around!" Elias said. She left with a sigh.
'Finally alone?'
There was no one close by. He raised his left hand, palm open, and silently a tiny dark spot appeared.
It was of sand grain size but anybody would kill to see it. Elias stared at it trying to glean something but nothing. To his eyes it was like a black ink dot on fabric in space.
He moved his stump to see if it would be sucked but nothing happened. Did he make it too inactive? That was the only way for the black hole to not express its weight on the world.
He didn't know that he was entranced for hours, standing just looking at his palm and nothing else.
"Elias." Sasha called and he looked up. "Apologies, I broke your concentration, but we need to talk."
Elias tilted his head, wondering what happened. He felt a rush of passing space around him. He felt he didn't look at the black dot for more than a few minutes, but now he felt he had been here for hours.
'Shit. Looks like I didn't halt its influence completely after all.'
"Yes, boss!"
She annoyingly turned on her heel and walked back to where the tents were concentrated. They reached a tent, red in color, and Elias didn't like it.
Inside were rows of doors that led to small rooms, and they entered one. Buddhist Hand was there behind a round table going through four papers.
'I don't like this!' Elias thought. But his face showed different emotions. "You are no longer a skeleton."
"Ha. Thank you!" Buddhist Hand said with a respectful nod.
'That wasn't meant to be a compliment,' Elias sat on a chair and Sasha sat opposite him.
"I don't like this setting!" Elias blurted out and the duo burst into laughter before Sasha said, "Teams ready to hunt come here to discuss hunting strategy!"
Shoulders slumped, back leaning on the chair rest, and he took a deep sigh, "What is the plan then!"
Buddhist Hand leaned forward; he wasn't bony but he was still emaciated like someone that had spent days with no food.
"Sasha owns the door to the ruins but that is only for one year; she also can't take it with her. Not only that, someone can rack up more achievements and challenge her for the right of ownership. The Ruin Organisation has advised her to hunt the three remaining Calamity Beasts to seal her ownership forever with other rewards!"
Eyes on Sasha, Elias asked, "What did your baby elder brother say about this!"
She took a deep sigh, "He is silent. He refused to give me his view, but he also didn't do anything to stop me!"
Elias turned to Buddhist Hand, "You still look like you were dug from a grave. Can you really fight!"
The big boy smiled widely, "I once thought my convictions were wrong in that dream, but this is something I get…." He showed his body.
"Mummy image is what you get!" Elias quickly jokes. Not understanding the big guy's meaning.
Buddhist Hand's smile never faltered and he continued his interrupted speech, "My muscles and fluids turned out were not sucked away but refined; as weak as I look, I have about 60% more power than before."
Elias's eyes widened, "Are you sure!"
"I am. My defiance yielded me this. The only setback for now is I have less stamina to support all my power outputs for prolonged fights!"
"Damn. That is real cheating!" Elias teased.
At the center of the table, lightning suddenly crackled before it vanished. Sasha did that with just her mind.
"That's not fair!" Elias's voice rose.
"You got something too. The doctor said you have better immunity against things like that!" Sasha explained.
"Hmm. But still yours are better if you ask me. Since you too get the immunity."
Elias then returned to what was before them. "What is the plan?"
"We need a minimum of five members. Buddhist Hand has requested someone that will help us." Sasha explained.
"Come inside!" Buddhist Hand's voice vibrated in a way and his sound was sent out toward a lone figure standing outside the tents.