Chapter 1: Dakur

I sat in a darkened tavern, situated at the crossroads of nowhere, on the dusty surface of this god-forsaken planet when he sat down next to me. He was young, seventeen maybe? I can’t say I wasn’t drunk, but he looked to me somehow hunted and uncertain, but strangely devoid of fear. Strange combination, I know. He was wearing high quality black traveling clothes. You know the kind they say will protect you from anything? That kind. What was strange, however, was that he wore no gloves. You’d think that if he was being hunted, he wouldn’t want to leave fingerprints.

It was only when he sat down that I noticed what was on his back. I guess nobody noticed it before because it was so out of the ordinary. All us travelers, hunted or mercenaries and the like, carried a dagger projection as a main weapon. It was as fast as a bullet, had a blade that could extend to any length, sharp as steel, and best of all, portable. This boy, however, wore across his back, a set of twin swords. They weren’t electronic, or anything like that, they were just… swords. He was so young, and yet, so.... old fashioned.

“Hi,” I said, taking off my glove. “What’s your name?”

He just looked at me.

“Here, let me buy you a drink,” I said as I signaled to the bartender to get his attention.
He hesitated. “I’ll stick to lemonade if you please, it’s hot out there.”

The bartender came over, eyebrows raised; I guess he had sensed something strange about this kid. Before he could say anything, I interrupted.
“He’ll take a lemonade, on me.”

The bartender just nodded.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m Alex by the way.”
“You mean that’s your alias.”
He just looked at me sheepishly. He was new at this, clearly. If he didn't get some training soon he might end up dead. I nodded. No point in making him feel bad.

We just sat there in silence until the bartender returned with the lemonade.

“So what brings you to this neck of the woods?” I asked, trying to find out more about this mystery man. As his eyes searched me, I could see that he was trying to gauge if I was trustworthy. He was so open. I could read him like a book; which of course meant I could mislead him, if I wanted to.

“Hey, don’t worry. We all get chased by the authorities once in a while, some longer then others.” “Hey! What do you say we travel a bit together? I’m bored as hell in this town, and it looks like I could help you.”

He sat there and sipped his lemonade. Then, suddenly, he let the glass fall to the floor. The temperature had dropped. Not a drastic thing, but it was suddenly 5 or so degrees cooler. The whole room was tense. No one blinked. A hundred knives were at hand. We all knew this feeling and we knew what came next. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the bartender press a green button. I chanced a smile; we now had an escape route.

My friend was the only one without a drawn weapon in the room. He just sat there, frozen, a red laser marker on his breast and one on his forehead. Then the tension broke. The hunter fired, everyone sprung and ran. As I grabbed my friend and jumped, the place where he had been sitting not a moment before ceased to exist.

Using the exit the bartender had made for us, I leapt with my friend out of the building. Still under my arm, we flew over the ground and away from the tavern.