As your fingers gripped around the pipe, the coldness surprised you, and you felt a chill jolt through your body. The rusted metal pipe chafed at your fingers, and in attempting to remove it, you found that it was stuck fast. You figured that the pipe must have been buried underneath the ground below many decades ago, as part of the original construction of the asphalt and concrete streets. No matter how much you tugged at the extruding pipe, however, it failed to budge, and you began to wonder if it was worth trying to excavate at all.

As you struggled with the pipe, the dense clouds overhead parted just a little, revealing a ray of sunlight that briefly lit the earth around you. You were distracted momentarily by the sudden radiance, but just as soon as it came, the blackened clouds had obscured everything again. Just then, you thought you heard something scurry behind you, from the other side of the crater. Startled—your breath caught in your throat—you whirled around, trying to see if it was still there.

But there was nothing. Nothing but the remnants of a battered intersection and deserted cars.

You still desired a weapon to defend yourself though, and since the pipe wouldn’t budge, you figured that you would have to collect something else. You knew from experience that walking around, alone, in unfamiliar territory was not something that you wanted to do, especially in these times. The recent battles between the Golden Banner and Crimson Saber made you tense about leaving the headquarters. But now, you were wandering in the deserted city that was so eerily devoid of sound and activity that the hair on the back of your neck stood on end.

And you still needed to find out where you were going...