"I am in another world because I died in mine."
Lux breathed heavily. He wanted to scream, but he stayed quiet.
Then the door beside him opened. A blond boy, a little older than Lux, stood there. As Lux looked closer, he noticed that one of the boy's hands was made of machine parts.
"Hey, great job, boss. Really great. We managed to shake them off, and now we can deliver it to the Fireslicers."
When the blond boy mentioned the name of the group, memories shot through Lux's head. Pain flooded his mind. He grabbed his temple and shut his eyes tightly.
"Everything okay, boss?"
Lux nodded. "Yeah. Wait."
The memories overwhelmed him.
"The boss.""The thief in the shadows.""The Red Bullet."
"Okay, we will make the deal. Bring us the arm brace and we will give you lots and lots of weapons, alright?""Okay, we will meet here."
Lux opened his eyes. The pain slowly faded.
Now he understood what was going on.
He was the boss of a group called Red Bullet. They had arranged a trade with another group, the Fireslicers. Red Bullet was largely unknown. There were four members.
Lux, the boss.
Arow, the blond boy.
Then there was… wait. A cat?
It could speak and was responsible for planning many things. Her name was Monty.
And finally, there was Lasa, the brown haired girl. She was apparently an excellent fighter. So that was why she had been driving.
Lux grinned.
It seemed he had been transformed along with this world. Many things from his old world existed here as well, but so many things were new.
His grin widened.
"Let us go to the meeting."
In the vehicle, Lux leaned back against the seat as they started driving. The car was built in a way that left a lot of space in the back. That was where the black cat, Monty, and the blond boy, Arow, were sitting. Beside Lux in the front passenger seat was Lasa, who was driving.
Okay. Lux was starting to understand some of this.
He continued thinking and looked out of the window. Countless roads were stacked on top of each other, high above and crossing in strange angles. This did not look promising. With so many cars driving around, he wondered how much crime and filth existed here. Lux shook his head.
He needed to focus on the meeting with the Fireslicers. From the memories slowly returning to him, Lux knew this was one of the more well known groups in Glas.
[Glas was the region they were currently in. It consisted of several cities. Half of it was extremely poor and possessed almost no technology, while the other half was nearly high tech. Lux was on the road bridges, a kind of everywhere travel zone that connected both the rich and poor sides.]
Lux did not even know which side they were supposed to go to. The memories of the Lux from this world only returned piece by piece, leaving many gaps. He concentrated on not letting the group notice his change. Still, Lux did not know whether he had been a kind boss or the kind everyone hated.
So Lux opened his mouth and spoke.
"So we give them the golden arm brace, get a few weapons, and disappear immediately."
He spoke carefully, focusing on sounding confident and clean.
Suddenly, a loud voice echoed through the car.
"MIAOW! Exactly! That is the plan, boss!"
Lux fell silent.
Was that the cat? What was her name again?
Then it came to him.
"Monty, do you have the arm brace?"
Silence filled the car.
Had Lux said something wrong?
Then a voice sounded in Lux's ear. This time it was Arow.
"The arm brace is gone. We stored it in a box and just checked. It is gone, boss."
Lux stayed quiet.
Of course there had to be problems on his very first mission.
He tried not to draw attention to himself and thought about what he should say as the boss.
"Who could have taken it?"
Before anyone could answer, Lasa's beautiful voice spoke up.
"We are here. Is there a problem? Because, well, there are a lot of Fireslicers outside."
Lux looked out of the window.
They were in the poor district, standing on a large abandoned scrapyard. Lux had not even noticed that they had driven into a desert. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but sand.
Near a broken truck stood many people. They wore red bandanas and red vests, most likely bulletproof.
Then something was dropped from above by a large helicopter.
A cage.
You could not see through it. The glass was special. But something large was inside.
When the helicopter released it, the cage crashed into the sand. Dust was thrown into the air, and the door burst open from the impact, almost as if it had been intended.
Lasa sighed inside the car.
"It was an ambush, boss. You were right. Monty, Arow, get ready."
Lux remained silent and kept looking out of the window.
The Fireslicers stood behind the cage, each holding an assault rifle. The weapons were completely red, with a black flame engraved into them.
Lux immediately knew this would not end well.
He looked down at the weapon in his hand. His hands were shaking as he checked how many bullets were left.
"I have six bullets left," Lux said as he looked into the magazine.
Lasa grinned.
"That will be enough, boss."
Lux stared at her in disbelief.
Six bullets for all of them? And they did not even know what was inside that cage.
Lux looked at the weapons again, then out of the window.
"I should start shooting now," Lux said nervously, trying to hide how overwhelmed he was.
Lasa jumped out of the car in a single motion. Instantly, the Fireslicers opened fire on her. Bullets hit the ground like rain.
Lux jumped out of the car on his side as well. He ran, flinching at every bullet that flew past him.
Then Lux dove behind a broken car and took cover. His weapon slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Trembling, he picked it up again.
He peeked over the car.
Something stepped out of the cage.
It looked like a lion, but with a fire red mane and two scars over its right eye. It raised one claw.
The Fireslicers stopped shooting immediately.
The group's vehicle was completely destroyed. Lux could only hope that Arow and Monty had made it to safety.
Lux listened closely. Someone was speaking.
He looked over the car again and could not believe his eyes or ears.
The lion was talking.
"What the…?"
Well, if Monty could talk, this was not that surprising anymore. Still…
"Shit. Shit. Where did I end up?" Lux thought.
He stayed silent and listened to the lion with the red mane. His voice was deep and threatening.
"I know you were only doing your job and wanted to bring us that arm brace. But unfortunately, I have to tell you that I am not interested in that brace at all."
The lion laughed softly.
When Lux heard that boss like laughter, pain flooded his body. Enormous pain spread from his head into every part of him.
"Argh!"
Lux collapsed to the ground. Images formed in his mind, and he immediately knew how dangerous this lion was.
[Red Lion. Boss of the Fireslicers. A lion that was modified. He had no mercy. He did not even possess it. Red Lion kills for fun, and also when he must, without hesitation.]
"Shit, he is dangerous."
The Fireslicers had given them the mission to steal a golden arm brace from a security facility. It had not been easy, but they succeeded.
But it had all been a game.
A trap.
When Lux opened his eyes, five guns were aimed at his head. He slowly raised his hands and let his handgun fall. It landed in the dry sand, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
Lux did not know if he was even capable of fighting. Would these bullets kill him?
Then he saw a black cat being dragged away, followed by an unconscious blond boy.
Only Lasa was missing.
Lux's thoughts raced.
He had to get out of here.
The massive red lion stood over him, laughing. One paw moved toward Lux's fallen weapon.
"Hmm. I have been hearing a lot about you lately. Seems like you are building quite the name for yourself. Maybe one day, you will be as famous as I am."
Laughter erupted.
One of the Fireslicers replied with a laugh, "No, sir. No one will ever be as famous as y—"
The lion raised his claw.
Instantly, a fast slash appeared in the air, cutting straight toward the Fireslicer who had been speaking. The slash was clearly visible, tearing through the air itself. Just before impact, it ignited, bursting into flames.
The attack tore the Fireslicer apart. His body was shredded into pieces. Blood sprayed in every direction. The remains fell into the sand and immediately caught fire.
Lux flinched hard. Cold sweat ran over his body. He felt like emptying his stomach, but he forced himself to hold it back and quickly looked away.
"Speak only when I allow it, you fool!" Red Lion said.
Then he turned back to Lux.