The Dark Constellation

The cart rocked from side to side, making it difficult for the young man inside to sleep.

'This constant rocking still makes me nauseous.'

After so much time traveling with the group, he thought he'd be used to it by now. But even after years, he still felt the urge to vomit every time he tried to sleep inside a carriage.

Unfortunately, it had been months since the group had found a safe place to stop and rest.

'I think the last time I got any rest was at one of the free citadels,' the young man thought, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to sleep a bit. 'Well, we got the direction to our current target at the free citadel, so maybe that's a good omen.'

The young man knew that the stories surrounding the location of this place explained the reason why the citadel was now abandoned, but still, the group decided to take the risk of being here.

They had few supplies, and the abandoned ones were not well-regarded, even in free citadels, so they would hardly be able to make a life in those places.

Because of this, they had to hold on to any glimmer of hope that appeared.

Even after a long time, though he didn't know exactly how long had passed, the young man still hadn't been able to sleep.

After tossing and turning on the makeshift bed with sheets countless times, the young man gave up and opened his eyes.

He looked up at the wooden ceiling. There, he could see the oil lamp hanging from the ceiling, swaying along with the erratic movements of the cart, making it seem as if the lamp might come loose from the hook holding it and fall at any moment.

To be honest, imagining that lamp falling and starting a fire in the cart was one of the reasons the young man lost countless hours of sleep. And in the place he was, losing sleep could very well be the reason for his death.

'Never leave the safety of the sanctuary's walls. Out there, the wrath of the Gods still exists!' He always heard this kind of thing when he hadn't yet become one of the abandoned ones.

But when he was expelled from the sanctuary, the young man saw no other choice but to join the other abandoned ones.

And that was exactly where he was now, with the other abandoned ones, on a journey in search of survival.

'Sometimes I wonder what all this is for?' The young man continued staring at the swaying lamp. "We've searched in many places called 'free,' but in all of them the presence of Foreign Gods remains strong."

"Is there any place in this world that these so-called Gods haven't conquered?" Deep down, the young man knew the answer. That the ancient world he heard about in stories no longer existed.

In the end, he and the rest of the abandoned ones were looking for something that didn't exist…

Creek

It was at that moment that the caravan door suddenly opened.

The sound of the wood creaking made the young man glance at the door with alarm.

'I'm still in my rest period.' It was almost an unspoken rule not to disturb someone during their rest unless there was an obvious danger. Because of this, the young man became alert almost immediately, trying to listen for anything outside that might explain why his rest was interrupted.

But all he could hear were distant voices and the sound of boots on the brittle ground.

Creek

With the end of the creaking, a handsome young man with a somewhat untidy appearance stood in front of the door.

The outside had almost no light, just a few torches to keep the abandoned ones from being in complete darkness.

But that didn't matter to the young man inside the cart, as the yellow light of the lamp illuminated the face of the man outside.

Blond hair, green eyes, olive skin, and a strong build. He also wore a vest with some extra ammo magazines, something that looked like a radio, and a rifle slung over his shoulder.

"What's going on, Lucas? Is something happening outside!?" the young man inside the cart asked, his tone filled with urgency and anxiety, wanting to know what was going on as quickly as possible.

"Hm? No, nothing happened, Allan. We're almost at the citadel, but your rest time is up, it's my turn now." While saying that, Lucas took off his vest and rifle and handed them over to Allan.

Upon hearing that, Allan took something from his pocket. An old watch with a few cracks in the glass, but it still worked somehow.

The hands of the watch indicated that it was already 00:20 in the morning, showing that he had indeed been resting for two hours.

'I guess I did manage to sleep a bit…' He quickly left the cart, grabbing the equipment Lucas had handed to him.

"Ah… almost forgot. Happy birthday, kid!" Lucas shouted those words before closing the door, leaving Allan outside the cart.

"Hey, we're the same age! Stop calling me a kid!" Allan said in a slightly grumpy voice, speaking quietly enough so only Lucas could hear.

…

Realizing Lucas wouldn't respond, Allan simply positioned himself on the right side of the cart and looked around.

Allan seemed to be on some sort of road, but the vegetation and missing parts of the structure showed that it was an ancient bridge. Additionally, the fact that there were almost no buildings at the same level as them indicated that the bridge was several meters above the ground.

On the bridge, several carriages were lined up one after the other. To be honest, Allan couldn't see all the carriages in front or behind his, showing how large that group was.

But that was to be expected, as the group had almost a thousand members.

"I can hardly see anything!" Feeling a chill in his stomach from some kind of bad premonition, Allan quickly pulled a lantern from the vest Lucas had given him.

He turned on the lantern and saw the light coming from the device.

"Damn it!" He cursed under his breath, not wanting to alarm anyone, since many people wouldn't like to see him using the lantern.

Especially Lucas, since the two of them shared the same equipment.

Except for the sanctuary citadels, the rest of the world was in complete chaos, so batteries were something hard to find. For this reason, it was recommended to only use lamps or torches at night.

Allan would normally follow this rule, but the discomfort he was feeling was so strong, almost forcing him to do something.

And as soon as he turned on the lantern, he understood the reason for that discomfort.

A hole large enough for him to fall through was only a few inches ahead of him, meaning if he continued walking in the dark without any lighting, he'd fall several meters.

"I've never been the sensitive type… but I'm glad I've developed this." If it weren't for that bad premonition, Allan would be dead by now. For some reason, he'd been having more and more of these strange sensations that signaled something.

He passed by the hole and continued walking, but as soon as possible, he grabbed a torch. It wasn't the same as the lantern, but it was enough to allow Allan to conserve battery.

As he walked, Allan noticed there were no more holes ahead. Then, he looked up and enjoyed the view of the bright stars in the sky.

"So… they came from up there, huh?"

The way he looked at the sky had changed a lot over the last few years. Before that fateful day, he always liked looking at the darkness of the sky. When he still lived in a sanctuary citadel, he'd hear stories about how the world was before the visit and how everyone had been wrong about the creatures from outside the planet.

For a long time, we thought that if we ever discovered alien life they would be aggressors, But nowadays we realized they came here to try to introduce us to the Ancient Gods.

For a long time, Allan liked that story but after discovering he was one of the abandoned ones…

That he was part of the group abandoned by the Ancient Gods...

He preferred not to think about it.

It was at that moment that a voice started speaking from the radio in Allan's vest, completely pulling his mind away from his previous thoughts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the ruins of the ancient citadel are now visible from here! You may stop the cart and set up a makeshift camp on the road. Tomorrow morning, we will randomly select some people to enter the ruins for the initial inspection!"

Allan and the other abandoned ones had already set up their tents, and most of them were already fast asleep.

Allan, on the other hand, was outside his tent, gazing at the stars.

If he had trouble sleeping with the rocking of the carriage, Allan had just discovered that he couldn't sleep very well several meters above the ground, either.

"I keep imagining this bridge falling every time I close my eyes." Unfortunately, he wasn't tired enough yet to push that thought aside and just sleep.

So, he decided to stay outside and breathe in some fresh air to see if that would make him sleepy enough.

"You're quite picky about where you sleep for one abandoned one." A girl approached Allan holding a torch and a tray with something still hot, as steam was rising from the bowl.

The girl seemed just a few years older than Allan and was quite beautiful: Red hair that matched the color of the flame, yellowish eyes, and fair skin. Her face was dotted with freckles, which only added to her beauty.

Overall, she was a very attractive girl.

But the same could also be said about Allan.

A tall young man, 1.85 meters in height, with dark shoulder-length hair, broad shoulders, blue eyes, and a handsome face. He wasn't a marvel, but he didn't offend anyone by being looked at either.

"Hey, Brenda! How are you!?" Allan ignored the little teasing and just greeted his friend with a smile.

"I'm good, and you?" She returned the smile as she sat down near Allan's tent.

"Well, I thought I'd feel better, but I guess turning 17 isn't as special as the people in the Sanctuary Citadel made it seem," he said while watching the steam rise from his favorite soup.

Potatoes, carrots, onions, meat, and a delicious broth!

To Allan, that was a little taste of heaven!

"If you don't think your birthday is something special..." Brenda began to slowly pull the soup away from Allan, making him furrow his brows. "I guess I made this soup for nothing."

"Hey, I was just kidding! Of course, it's a special day! It's the most special day of all!" Allan quickly retracted what he said and practically threw himself at the soup, managing to grab it for himself.

That action could even be described as desperate, but only by those who weren't part of the group of abandoned ones.

Spending months in ruins made things like meat extremely rare!

Allan couldn't let an opportunity like that slip by!

Brenda said nothing, only laughed and let Allan enjoy his meal.

"I'm going to volunteer for the expedition tomorrow," Brenda said something that made Allan stop eating instantly.

"What!? Why!?" He knew what was beyond the gates; anyone who went in there was practically committing suicide. "Didn't you hear? There are cursed ones in there!"

He whispered the last part, not wanting to draw the attention of the Ancient Gods to himself. It was said that even talking about the cursed ones could turn you into one of them. That was the fear people had of such beings.

"I know it's dangerous... but I want to see what it's like inside a citadel! Unlike you, I was kicked out of mine when I was practically a baby, I don't remember anything! I want to see with my own eyes the hall... I want to see the reason I was abandoned." Brenda's yellowish eyes shone with such intensity that it slightly scared Allan.

But he could slightly understand her.

After all, today he should have been going through the baptism and receiving his birthday gift from the Gods...