Prologue
Part 1- Break loose the hounds of hell
No one expected it, well, that’s a lie. We all expected it, just, not now. The world was relatively at peace, although true peace is nearly impossible. But, when the first bomb dropped, we were all surprised. I mean, anyone would be surprised if there was all the sudden a giant 50 foot mushroom cloud half a mile away, but there's a difference between being surprised at a bomb during a war, and a bomb when there isn't a war. Kinda like a clown showing up on your birthday, and a clown showing up on a random Wednesday afternoon. When the first bomb went off, it was all over the news, if you were lucky enough to see it. America immediately retaliated, and everything went to hell. Bomb after bomb, explosion after explosion. People tried to remain calm, but they really couldn't. It's theorized China dropped the first bomb, but I think it was us. We were struck first was on all the headlines, but why? China was our ally, and they'd only attack us if we attacked them.

Part 2- Escape the raining death
	After the initial chaos, everyone went anywhere that could possibly be safe. Most of which wasn't. Within less than a day, nearly all of the nuclear weapons had been used up to their full potential. 3 days later survivors started emerging from their shelter. We looked out, and everything was gone, I say everything, and I'm not exaggerating. EVERYTHING. Was gone, you could look at your neighborhood, and you'd be lucky to see half of a house. After the entropy and grief that ensued, there became 4 main factions, the believers, who thought this was all "god's plan," personally, if there is a god anymore, I think he gave up on us. Next came the ones who started making survivor camps and small villages of scrap metal and broken-down houses. Then there came the two worse of the factions, the scavengers and the raiders- the scavengers went out of their "caves" and hiding holes and stole whatever they could get their dirty hands on. Worse than that, came the raiders, and I must admit, I was one of them, they lived a good life, if you consider risking your life in order to kill and survive good. They had the most luxuries of the factions, but they also sacrificed their trust and lifespans for it. They went to all of the camps, caves and any other shelter and killed, tortured and robbed anyone they found.

Part 3- Release the Harbingers
	Then came the shells. We thought they were zombies at first, but, really, what are the chances of a zombie outbreak and a nuclear holocaust happening in the same week. After further experimentation we found that they made up approximately 15% percent of the ones who didn’t die from the bombs. We think the radiation got to them, half were just braindead, the other half were zombie-like, but with the experiments I mentioned earlier, we found they weren't infectious and didn’t have the superstrength-esc qualities. They were killable, but they were brain-undead? I haven't really thought of a way to describe it. Either way, they lacked rational thinking, and killed anything on sight. Killing them was easy, three shots to head, 5 to the torso. With a standard gun at least. There were many weapons that were different, had special qualities, more about that later.

Part 4- Start the hunt
	As I mentioned earlier, there were weapons we created before the war. They were something else, extraterrestrial I think. They were limited, but weren't impossible to obtain. These weapons were unearthed after the bombs stopped falling. I was lucky enough to get one. Nevermore, a longbow with ungodly powers, hitting something in the heart causes it to corrupt and rot in a matter of seconds. As I said about being extraterrestrial, I think they were from another dimension, call me crazy, but aren't we all? Anyone with one of these "legendary weapons" (a name I've started calling them, cringey I know, but I don't know what to say, that’s what they are) became a hunter, someone who dedicated their life to hunting the monsters of the badlands. My hunting party consisted of me, Atropa, Ash, and Rose. We got our names because of our weapons. A name is a powerful thing, which is why we started changing ours. Mine, Rizen, was an alteration of raven, the nevermore bird. Atropa's came from Atropa Belladonna, the scientific name of deadly nightshade. His weapon was a poison tipped dagger. Ash had a massive and I mean MASSIVE shotgun, and as her name implies whatever she shot, was rendered down to ashes. And finally rose she was quiet and shy, she probably lost her parents or someone important in the war. Her weapon wasn't physical, it was her ability to change auras, she said that it just happened after the war. It doesn’t seem powerful, but my god it was. She could passify someone during battle, enrage one of us. The only problem was that it doesn't work on the shells. Because Auras are mental, and the shells can't think, it didn’t work on them. She got her name because she described auras as flowers and the brighter your aura was, the better you were.

Part 5- Fix the chains
       A good 6 months later we started making Spires, large towers on the coasts of the major countries. The coasts were the most fertile, and the badlands were a dangerous place. The spires stood tall and strong, for the most part. There were design flaws in some, but most people had basic construction knowledge and understood how to build a tower. Some were large, and there were small ones, but there were a few, with what I can only describe as cities. They had entire neighborhoods in them. Mine, Ignursa, was medium sized, with four floors, one for each of us, and a stairwell. We made it using old playground equipment, sheet metal and roofing. It was held together by the heat from Ash's shotgun blasts, just because it’s a giant incendiary cannon, doesn’t mean it can't be used for building.






Chapter 1

"RIZEN! RIZEN! WAKE UP! WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO SLEEP!"

"ugh. Why do we have to wake up so earlyyyy?"

	"C'mon its already 9. I made a bet with some other Spire that we could kill a Mantis before 12 and I'm not losing it." I look up at a tall, strong girl, probably 20 or so. You could always count on Ash to make some stupid bet and then make everyone else do it too. "what's in it for me?" I sluggishly moan, getting out of bed half asleep. "10 MREs, but if we don't do it we gotta give some to them." She was bright and perky ALL THE TIME. She was even like that when we first found her, a month or so after the war. "Fine, I'll rally the troops." I say sarcastically. I go upstairs to get Atropa, who, like always is sitting on his bed sharpening nightshade. He really liked his dagger, always keeping in tip top shape. When he wasn’t practicing his fighting skills or sharpening his blade, he was pretty cool. He claimed to have been a hacker before the war, he only did what he thought was right though, getting into government databases and releasing data to the public. He was nearly unfindable as he operated on multiple computers saying he was a group, known as "the hive." "Atropa, hey, look up." He craned his head towards me. "Ash made some dumb bet, we gotta go out and kill a mantis, 10 MREs if we do it." He groaned and walked towards the stairs, sheathing his dagger. Lastly, on the top floor, was rose. She was young, 15 or so, short and shy. She didn't talk about her past and we were okay with that. "Hey, uhh, rose, we have to go kill a thing, can you come with us." She was only partially asleep and got up as soon as I started talking. "yeah... ok." She said meekly, you could tell she didn't want to do it, but knew she had to. "What are we supposed to kill? You know I don't like killing stuff."
"It's okay. It's a mantis, I know how much you don't like bugs." She scrunched up her face. "Alright I'll go." We all stood outside Ignursa. We were really proud of it, it took us over a month to build, and it was perfect. Ash's room had mannequins for her to practice on, weights, and even a makeshift treadmill, she was on the bottom, requiring the most space. Next was my floor, it was simple, I had my bed, a fire pit and a target. Atropa was on the third floor and his room was dark, with only a few lights, he didn’t mind it, though, as it helped him practice in the dark. Finally, at the top was Rose, she had her bed and flowers, she always watered them and made sure they got just enough sunlight. When one of them died, so did a little part of her.
	We started the trek through the now desert up to a cave a good half a mile out. Getting back was not hard, as we knew exactly where it was, just keep walking south and you'll come to a collapsed gas station sign. Follow the arrow and you'll get there. In the cave was a giant praying mantis. The radiation absolutely destroyed them, and after more and more breeding, they were upwards 8 feet and could easily cut through your torso. Easily countered though, they're bugs, so they can't handle fire. And they're alive, making them fall victim to nevermore. BANG. "ASH! Do you remember ANY of your training?!" Atropa screamed. He had a point though, always attack mantises from quietly, until they notice you. "Who the hell cares, it's dying anyway!" I drew back my bow and fired straight at its heart, the corruption started spreading, but that’s not nearly enough to kill one of these things. As quickly as Ash had ran at it, she was flying away. I noticed a large gash in her torso. "Rose, calm her down. Take her jacket off, tie it around her cut. Atropa, when I hit it, it stutters, use that and slash at it." I fired a shot at it again, and he took his advantage. Shoving his dagger up its throat. I shot one more arrow into its foot, anchoring it to the ground. The poison, as well as the corruption, had finally taken effect, killing it, and allowing us to look around its lair. While Ash, Rose and I were sitting by the edge of the cave, we heard Atropa calling, "uhh, guys, look at this." Rose went to Atropa and gasped, running back to us. I needed to see this, but Ash was more of a priority. The bleeding had stopped, but she was really pale. Atropa came running back, fired Ash's gun, heated up his knife and attempted to cauterize the wound. Ash screamed like a banshee, but at least the gash had been closed. It's not like there was a hospital to help do anything better. She collapsed, but was breathing. I nervously walked towards the side of the cave. "Oh. Oh my god."



Chapter 2
At the back of the cave there were four of what I can only describe as cocoons, with people inside of them. At least I think they were people, I hope not, but I think so. They were hanging from the roof of the cave. "Get Ash and Rose out of here, I'm gonna see if I can find anything of value on the bodies." I called to Atropa. "Got it." I peeled of some of the webs on the bodies. Wait. Webs? Mantises don't spin webs, why didn't I think of that. There's gotta be something else here. I poked around and found a few large dead spiders. Hopefully those are what did this and not something bigger. On one of the bodies I found birdseed, which I took for rose, she always wanted a pet, so, why not try and get her a bird. Other than that, There was a few cans of food and a pistol on them, which I gladly took, but I was hoping for something better.
	Back at the Spire, Ash was lying in bed, but not without proving we had killed the mantis, and had gotten our reward. "Get any loot?" Atropa asked. "For the last time, can we stop referring to what we get as loot, you're making this sound like some video game." Atropa groaned. "No, that’s what it is, and that’s what I'm gonna call it." I walked upstairs, I didn’t feel like dealing with his logic. "Hey rose, I got you a present." I knocked on her door. She ran up to the door and opened it with a big smile on her face. I handed her the birdseed, and she immediately looked disappointed. "A bunch of pebbles?" She sarcastically said. "No, it's for attracting birds, they're seeds." Her face lit up once more. She ran downstairs, through the door and threw it all on the ground. She sat there for two hours until she had finally got something. A crow. She liked it, but I didn't, she pleaded to keep it, but by then it had flown off. "Why couldn't I keep him! I HATE YOU!" She screamed. I swear she had the mind of a six year old, I can't say I didn't find it cute at times though. "Look, I'll stay here and wait, and I'll let you keep the next bird that comes, you can go do something else." Ugh why. Why did I just say that, I'm gonna be here for hours.
	3. IT TOOK 3 HOURS. Finally, a cardinal landed, and I was able to grab it. As soon as I opened the door, Rose bolted down. "Her name is poppy, because she's red." Oh no, how do I tell her it's a guy. "Umm, Rose, all red cardinals are male." She looked quizzical, but she knew I was right. "Marshall. Like a fire marshal." I was impressed that she came up with that name so fast, but I liked it, and it stuck. We brought him to her room, and made a cage. It wasn't great but it would do until we could find an actual one, if we could.
	I woke up to pounding on the door. I walked downstairs and saw Ash sound asleep, somehow, the knocking was unbearable. I opened the door and saw a person about my age, wearing a giant metal backpack. "Y-You guys are hunters right?" He asked, he looked worried. "Uhh, yeah, why? And what's that thing on your back?"
"I don't have time to explain right now, just come with me and I'll tell you everything on the way." He started to sound aggravated. "Should I wake up everyone else?" I asked. "Yes, they could help." He replied. I woke up Ash first, as payback for this morning. "Wake up, this kid is at our door and he needs our help." She moaned, "Ugh, its like 2 in the morning." I laughed "It's only 1." she groaned again, but got up. I went to Atropa and woke him up, but he was fine with it. Rose was sound asleep, and she had a rough start to the day, so I wrote her a note saying that we'd be back if she woke up before we were gone.
We started walking towards the boy's Spire. I asked him his name and what his backpack was, once again. "My name's Ike, and the backpack is my weapon, I'm a hunter too." That was not the answer I was expecting, since most of the time hunters live in groups, but there have been a few exceptions. "Shells, coming up." Ash yelled. Ike jumped into the air and two large metal wings sprouted from his backpack. He reached to his side and pulled out a large pistol it started to glow and shot a large bullet into the heads of each shell. "The hell was that?" Atropa asked, slightly awestruck. "This is the Internally Contained Aerial Regulator- Upgraded System, or the ICAR-US. Essentially a jetpack." Ike replied. "And this is a prewar handheld railgun, HR-42. It's nothing special." Atropa couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Alright, all this weapon stuff is cool and all, but why did you wake us up at 1 in the morning?" I asked, a bit annoyed. "Right, so... this girl showed up at our spire, and said she was a hunter as well. One of my partners immediately fell for her. She used a rifle that she called the kiss of death. I just went up to Ipotis's room and he was on the floor, without a pulse. He started to breathe heavily. "Did you get her name?" I asked. "Yeah it was like, Tuls, or something like that."
	"I got it." Atropa interrupted. “Kiss of death, immediately falling for her, the name is even an anagram for lust. She’s some sort of succubus.” Ike looked quizzical. “that makes no sense.” He replied. “Neither does a winged jetpack, but here you are.” Ash laughed, but Ike was not impressed. “It might not be a succubus, but something of the sorts, it could all be coincidence, but that’s what my money’s on.” I said. “We can try to find her, but it might take a while.”