The Chronicles of Kreal

Book 1: Birth

Chapter 1 - The Hunt

He was born to the warrior caste of his people, the Relnia, and was destined from birth to fight in their war with the Draconiars of Kaal, the race who had used Relnian slaves for centuries before to build their steel constructs of war, ironic that the ones who actually created the Dracon Guard should be forced to fight them, though they had the advantage of knowing their enemy better than the enemy knew itself. A great shaman of the religious cast of the Relniar saw that this little one would be a great hope to the entire planet, thus he was named Kreal, and this translates as Life in Relniar.

At 5 years of age he was taught how to build his own weapons, (as it was decreed that if you know every part of the weapon you use, it will not fail you, or if it does you will know where you went wrong) first starting with simple shock blasters and working his way through the armoury to the powerful Lightning gauntlets of the elite warriors, the Dragon Hunters.

Having learnt what to use against the enemy he was taught, now being 8, to build a Dracon unit, to know how it worked, where it was strongest, weakest, and how to kill it in his trial by fire. It took Kreal a year to make his Dracon unit, and another to make its weapons, preparing for his final test, a live hunt.

His unit was to be let loose in the Fields of Plaz, a desolate area that had seen the desert band for too long and had taken on permanent qualities of the acrid summer weather band, and he would have to hunt down and destroy it, bringing back video proof, or die trying. He was just 10 years old.

A voice sounded over the radio, "Kreal, the pod is away, the hunt begins when it impacts, you will not know impact site as finding your unit it is your first objective. You have 30 Drial'sha until impact, take this time to check your equipment and turn on your helmet camera. Mial'da HQ out."

Kreal nodded at the transmission and placed his helmet on his head. It was shaped like a Relniar skull that fitted over his own, the chinstrap the lower jawbone. He activated the camera located above his right eye lens and recorded his weapon checks; he had two Lightning Gauntlets (he had made both a left and right variety in his training) along with a Boltrifle equipped with a 10X zoom sniping scope and two Thunder pistols, with additional ammunition for each of them. He checked his pack; Rations, comms equipment, repair tools, med kits, knife and personal Dataslate, he didn't take a spare headset battery; he wouldn't be out that long.

" Pod has hit terra firma, good hunting Kreal, your test is begun, HQ out."

Kreal took a deep breath and got up off of the boulder he had been sitting on, " Thank you Mial'Sria, Initiating radio silence, Kreal out."

His hunt had begun.

Kreal set out into the fields, the gates of the city closing behind him, and took out his Dataslate; he was looking for unusual dust emissions, dust thrown up by the pod's landing. The slate showed the impact point, it was 30 Drael'ka away from his current position, so Kreal began his hike through the shifting, golden sands of the desert, stopping only once, for a drink of water, then moving on towards his destination, his first objective of his hunt.

The pod was a standard Relniar supply drop pod, designed to be filled with food or ammo and launched at an army running low on supplies, the pod would fire braking thrusters before hitting the ground to avoid killing any soldiers, if configured right, the Dracon unit's pod had been launched as if it had been stolen as a quick escape method, therefore no breaking thrusters, which explained the 4ft deep crater in the sand, and the splits and cracks in the pods casing. Kreal looked about the crash site, his HUD set to scanning for the Dracon unit's 'Footprint', the imprint it makes in the ground, made solely by the fact that the machines had no soul, no spark of true life, they ran on a program and could think freely only within that program. Finding the footprints Kreal set the gauntlets to high power, sparks dancing around the emitter above the claws, and followed the trail in the sand, hunting his prey, he ceased to be Kreal, he was the hunter, the prey was near, he had it's scent, he dashed onwards, not noticing that now, he left footprints in the sand as he ran.

He had to leap out of the way as an energy blast sped towards him from the desert ahead, he dove to the side and the blast incinerated the tip of his left ear. He crouched behind a dune as the double helix shape of the energy blast burst through beside him, taking the stock from his Boltrifle, The hunter growled and sprang from his hiding place, dashing across the sand, searching for his attacker, enraged at the role switch, he was not the hunter, he was the hunted. There, he saw him, the metallic dragon-like figure holding a rifle, his tail lashing about him, throwing up a screen of sand and dust, but the hunter had him now and charged, growling then yelling as a blast of lightning leapt from the emitters on his gauntlets, smashing the eyes of the construct, destroying it's optical circuits. The hunter receded and Kreal was now standing in the desert, facing the thrashing, steel dragon, the metallic beast shrieking in an unearthly voice. Kreal un-shouldered the rifle, noticing the missing stock, he aimed at one point on the beast's head, and whistled to get it's attention, the beast stopped thrashing and stared with sightless eyes at the direction the sound came from, Kreal locked onto the point, and squeezed the trigger.
The bolt of energy was flung from the guns barrel and sped across the sand towards the unit, it struck the creature's forehead, snapping its head back, and tunnelled inside, the bolt exploded, wreaking havoc in its CPU and destroying the creature's head.

The dragon sank to its knees then its decapitated body slumped to the floor, and was left to rust, to rot, as Kreal turned and made the long trek back to the city, now a warrior in the war, but every other step left a footprint, and the dragon's corpse left none.