Boothill

"Graey, there's a child there in the snow!"

Graey and Nick cautiously approached and picked up the red-faced child as he cried incessantly.

The child had a striking and beautiful name that in the ancient language of Aeragan-Epharshel meant "loaded gun."

He grew up under the love and protection of Graey and Nick, as he played happily with his siblings. Though they all came from different places, they all now belonged to this vast continent of "Aeragan-Epharshel."

Graey took him to learn about plants, animals, and rivers. Nick taught him how to tame horses and farm sheep. At a young age, he rode his colt across streams and followed Nick as they led their cattle to fields rich in water and greenery under the morning sun. Nick would always sing loudly as the light shone over the brilliant clouds. When he heard Nick raise his voice in song, he would open his mouth and release a clear and crisp song of his own. As he kicked at the colt's belly to take him faster, their laughter would spread further and further into the distance.

As Graey and Nick raised the children day after day, their backs began to stoop with old age.

Since becoming a cowboy, he mastered every skill there was to hunting. They charged through the sandy wastelands fighting bandits, making deals with merchants, and battling for places to survive with the beasts of the wilderness.

He had narrowly escaped death, tasted the flavor of taking revenge on a rival gang, seen friends lose their lives in the flight of a bullet and seen families fall apart in mere moments... He lost many, yet gained a lot as well. In the end, his courage earned him status and respect.

Now, he rarely sees his siblings, but he knows that they are living well.

In the silent night, he stares at the sky and thinks about the greater world outside, when the sound of cries resounded loud and clear through the stillness of evening.

Following the sound, he discovered a red-faced baby that would not stop crying. He had no idea what to do. But, he eventually picked her up as Graey had done so long ago before, and brought her home.

The sound of Nick's gruff voice resounded in his ears...

"The water here is smooth as fine wine,

the cold snow is cutting like a knife,

this place is...

the perfect world."

The shadow cast down by the spaceship eclipsed the moonlight across the plains.

He jumped from the speeding train as it passed by with a roar. By the time the smoke and dust had settled, he'd already made it back to his base with his bounty.

He raised his head to look up at the uninvited guests above. Well-dressed people in black walked out from the deck of the spaceship under the escort of guards armed to the teeth and onto the cowboy's land. He took something that the person in black called a "Synesthesia Beacon," as great, strange visions flooded into his mind. This is the first time he learned of the endless shining worlds outside the plains, forests, streams, and tracks that he knew.

Giant excavators appeared on the horizon of the plains, completely disregarding protests from the locals. Then, black ore began to stream forth from the earth below. The heavily armed guards blasphemed against the local's beliefs, cast them out of their homes, and insulted their honor with meager compensation.

As always, he and his partners turned to guerrilla warfare to fight off the advance of the people in black. However, in the face of absolute military might, the cowboys' schemes, marksmanship, and swift mounts all seemed so primitive and laughable. As the members of his family died one after another, he realized that unless he found the person who started all of this, he would never be able to bring things to an end.

He put on a worker's uniform that he stole and snuck aboard the spaceship under the cover of night. With the instincts and sharp senses he had honed over years of hunting, he silently took down every guard that