Eco|Knights

An alarm went off as I opened my eyes to a dark room with the sunset bleeding through the blinds. Stack of weights and a barbell on the ground in the corner and clothes scattered across the ground. Dishes in the kitchen sink were stacked and unwashed. Everything was just as I left it over six months ago.

I rose from my bed and kicked my sheets off, having laid in just a pair of white sweatpants and a grey t-shirt. I got out of bed and walked over to my equipment, set and ready to go. It was dusk, I had better get going. My nerves were going wild about the mission. I had to be honest, I was a little scared, but I always am. Things that live out in the world outside the capital are dangerous and most want to fest on your corpse.

I put on a fresh set of clothes, grabbed my gear and headed out. Locking the door before turning to see the sun set in the distance. I lived on a hill, so I got to see a little over the main walls and into the distance. The pine trees and open plains, mountains and large cliffs. It was a beautiful site, though the location was not cheap for a studio apartment, but my salary as an elite Eco Knight is enough to pay for it. Besides, I’m never home to use anything like utilities.

The walk took me around 25 minutes, but I got there in the end. Before me stood six people. Three of them were clearly hunters as they were thinner than myself, lots of smaller weapons, like daggers and throwing knives, that hung on their backpacks. They were supposed to be lighter. Chances are their gear consisted only of their uniform, weapons and some minor survival equipment, like a carving knife, a pneumatic compass, matches, etc. If I had to guess, their backpacks likely weighed around 15 pounds in total.

“So, you’re Johan?” asked one of the Hunters. I nodded. Commander Barreck was also here and seemed to lead us just outside the gates. The large metal and stone doors sliding open and into the walls on each side. The gate stood about 250 feet tall and 50 feet wide. The walls of the capital were about 500 feet tall and 300 feet thick. Of course, that was because of equipment and barracks stationed throughout it. A tram to move from end to end, so the thickness was moot by the fact it was hollow on the inside.

Guards stood at their posts on both ends. They too had to be slightly above average for the job, but not elite level. However, everyone who is an Eco Knight had to attend the Ravenboar academy, which only allows a select few to be admitted. This depends on how sensitive to pneuma they are and potential.

Some uproar has occurred because people feel anyone can learn and that they’re too selective, but even I do not know the academies reason behind their selective nature.

“You took your sweet time, Johan, but now that you’re here we may begin,” Commander Barreck began. “As you learned, a special artifact was stolen and is integral to our society. The only reason our tech works as well as it does is because it generates pneuma in the rawest form for us and allows for easy transmutation of pneuma from non-structured to structured.”

Barreck looked at all over us as he explained the situation. First, the item was stolen. Second, it was important for our society. Third, we know hardly anything on the thief, but we can track the essence via our eco-devices, since they were made specifically to work with the artifact.

“Without this artifact, we’re defenseless to the forces outside. Our weapons will not work. Our energy supply is heavily limited and only able to currently work by the brave souls who are transferring pneuma for us in the artifacts place,” said Barreck.

“This shit’s pretty important, isn’t it?” asked one of the members with a smirk.

“Absolutely. And there is no chance you will come back alive, and from what we know, the target is far to the northwest. You’ll have to trek the forests, grasslands, and of course, the mountain ridges, which might be the hardest for you,” said Barreck, “but I trust the Seekers here to help you Hunters with that. Two of you are capable in the icy terrain, so teamwork is essential.”

“Seekers need the Hunters for tracking and killing, and the Hunters need the Seekers for surviving and navigating,” said Barreck.

Luckily, I had prior experience within the Hunter corp., so I knew how to fight, but I prefer not to do so. He was right though, we need the Hunters for combat and taking down this thief who somehow was able to steal this grandiose artifact from under the capitals nose. On the same token, the Hunters needed us Seekers because Hunters never venture out past 100 miles from the capital. They don’t go on long and arduous tours, so this would be a rare exception for them.

Commander Barreck stood straight and slammed his left fist over his chest and his right behind his back, a salute of the Eco Knights. “Good luck to you boys, you’ll need it. And remember, especially you Hunters here, you will have no communication with us while you’re out, so you’re all on your own. Live, eat and breath in the wild and become the animal. Now, head out!”

The lot of us preformed the same salute at the same time and began to march out. The next thing to do was introduce ourselves. As we began to walk, it didn’t take long for Jefferson to speak up. He began to simply chat-up a storm with the Hunters, trying to get to know them.

Hunters hardly spoke to one another on missions, as tracking was their job, and that includes having to be silent, waiting, and tracking your prey. It was very much like hunting for game, but for humans or monsters. It was partially why I am not as talkative as the other Seekers, because I adopted that trait of the Hunters.

One of the Hunters approached me personally. “Names Zero, but I’m sure you want my real name,” he said. Hunters used code-names, as it was easier. It also made deaths less emotional, as they wore masks, becoming faceless bodies that hunted at the command of the High Council.

“Johan,” I answered, “and I don’t need your name. Not yet anyways. I know how the system works with code-names.”

“Family member was a Hunter?” he asked.

“No, I used to be one for about two years,” I replied. I never went into detail or truly thought about the reason I left, but there was a simply catalyst that made me chose to leave. It just wasn’t for me, but I’d lie if I said there wasn’t a deeper meaning for as why I left.

“I see,” he commented under his breath. “So, this Seeker business: Is it hard? Surviving out there in the wild?”

“Yes. While combat isn’t as important, we do use it for hunting and making sure our camp is in a safe location is never easy” I said. “I have to say, though, the land you get to see is beautiful. You’ll see how stunning it is.”

I’ve traveled far in my years as a Seeker, having been to the mountains, deep in the forests and ventured in murky swamps. But hunting was always a fun pastime, as it took skill. And setting camp up? That too was fun, as odd as that sounds.

“Yea,” he Zero began,” I just hope I don’t get to see too much.”

It was obvious he was out of his comfort-zone. I couldn’t blame him, it was not easy. Now the Seekers and Hunters had to work together, something that almost never happens, and become a sort of hybrid. They’d all learn something from one another.

We walked for about 3 hours when the sun went down completely. “Let’s set up camp,” shouted one of the Seekers. I knew of him. He was one of the best. Kylith was his name and he was acting as out commander for this. A 30-something man who had been a Seeker for 14 years; an early graduate of Ravenboar academy, too.

The Hunters were swiftly ordered to collect twigs and other light, yet burnable material while Kylith had the rest of us Seekers set camp up. The whole process took about 30 minutes before it was finished, and we used the wood gathered to start a small fire.

“So,” began Jefferson, “Shall we get to know one another? If I must work with Hunters, I want to know I can trust them. I want to know the team I’m working with.”

“You have a point,” I said in response. I sat down on a rock as we gathered around the fire, some eating food they brought with them, the Seekers who had some, such as myself, ate some of what was left from our left tour, since we did just get back, thus had a few left to spare.

“Boy…” Jefferson said looking at the decent quality food the Hunters had, “Ya’ll best enjoy that while it last, because soon you’ll be eating pigs butt and wolf eye.” He began to chuckle as did one of the other Seekers, not counting Kylith who simply appeared apathetic.

“Why? Surely this won’t take but a few days. I have enough to last a week,” said one of the Hunters. Zero remained silent.

“Listen up,” Jefferson started, “there is a reason you’re with us. It will take much longer than a damn week to find this guy and bring back the artifact. We don’t even know how big this thing is, so hunting is something you’ll be getting used too, maybe skinning and tanning fur and leather. You’re here to survive and with us to take down this guy who is a possible threat.”

What Jefferson said wasn’t untrue at all. We don’t know exactly where he’s at let alone what he’s capable of.

“It appears to be one guy, surely the thing doesn’t weigh that much,” Zero chimed in.

“You guys hunt rogues and creatures that we normally avoid, for reasons like threatening an encampment or the capital. You should know people can be a complete mystery in how they use pneuma,” said one of the Seekers. I have not met him before. “The fact this guy managed to break-in, steal the artifact, which I can only assume to have been under tight security, and escape with it by himself shows he must be a highly skilled person. For all we know this guy doesn’t use eco-devices.”

If that was true, that would be bad for us. I was considered skillful, but I don’t think I could compete with someone who was able to manipulate and use pneuma without the use of some device like the eco-device. The very reason it exists was to make pneuma more accessible and easier to use. Those who are rumored to wield pneuma without one are said to be very powerful. The only ones I knew are both the founder of the academy, and the capital altogether, Brandel Ravenboar and the current research and pneumologist, Professor Eldirch Mannahorne at the academy. No one else is said to be able to do it. Hell, we don’t even know much about the outside world, having lived as a nation that is in isolation from everything, focusing more on our defense than exploration.

Prior to the founding of the capital and academy, people lived in tribes, scattered and were often killed off. To combat this, Brandel Ravenboar had seemed to become an expert in the art of pneumatic use and became a scholar of it, bringing together the tribes and getting people to work with one another to build a singular city where we could live in peace, fighting threats off together.

“I guess I’ll kick things off then,” Jefferson said. “Name’s Jefferson. Member of the Seeker elite Eco Knight division. Been in it for about two years. I’m better in cold climates, but that’s besides the point right now. I also studied the school of fire. So, I can make fire with pneuma, if you need a torch or a campfire.”

Next to go was the other Seeker who stood up. “Toyoki Mitsuoshi. Seeker for eight years, 29 years old. I’m a good hunter, scavenger and archer. My element is mind.”

I then stood up myself. “My name is Johan Frenchio. Jack-of-all-trades. My element is earth.”

This continued with Kylith introducing himself as the oldest and longest serving knight and the element of body. Zero saying his element was shadow and water and a young commander for a Hunter unit, much like Kylith is, save not being old. Following up was Mavis, also called “One”, who we learned was a female, element of body and mind, and 25. Finally, “Six”, who was the quite one of them all. More so than myself.

I quickly grew tired after the formal introduction and promptly made my way to the nearest tree. These trees are rather large, one branch easily able to hold a single body, as wide as a bed itself, but not as comfortable. I climbed up, settling on a large branch. I tied a rope around my waist and then the tree and branch itself and closed my eyes. The morning to come would be the start of our adventure and long mission ahead.