We walked south for quite some time now, no sign of enemies. I chose not to run to conserve energy and rest, but even my normal pace was much faster than a normal human.
The weird sky soared far behind us, together with the Ath’Taren. The demonic scourge would someday follow this far, scorching everything in their path. Yet, for now, we were safe from them. The crumbling buildings and roads told me this was still part of the old world. Civilization fell apart with each passing minute. It was our world no more.
The asphalt, walls and buildings broke and disappeared slowly. Life faded, sometimes silently, sometimes followed by screams of pain and despair. Dead bodies, people and animals, laid around.
However, the smell of death was nowhere to be found. The bodies had no smell, and they would soon disappear into nothing. My stomach growled. Blood and Shadow were also hungry, but there was nothing to eat. I taught the dogs how to focus Qi into their stomachs to lessen the hunger, yet it was only temporary.
More dead bodies laid in a nearby stream, unaware of the poison it had become. No matter how thirsty I was, I dared not drink it. I had a sip of an unknown stream before, and my insides almost melted. New Qi healed my wounds, but only appeased the hunger a little. It was no wonder I was weaker after using so much power before.
There was nothing I could do about it. Anything edible in the old world was poison or useless. Moving forward was my only option. Jiwan and the others rushed ahead, and how much they ran impressed me. To the west, far away, a different sky ruled the world with a tint of emerald green. To the east, a black clouded sky dominated.
Different skies meant new worlds merging into ours. They were far away but would eat their way until our old world was truly no more. New Worlds were the key spots for food and water right now, but also for death and danger. It would be impossible to know which worlds were those, with their life forms and natural dangers. They came and disappeared, shrouded in mystery.
Blood and Shadow were silent, their exhaustion also apparent. We pushed ourselves forward or we wouldn’t gain ground on our friends. Near the limit, I thought about resting, but a familiar sight came into view: an old, famous monastery. A place I had never visited in my regular life, but one I recognized from the Apocalypse in my past life.
“The First Sanctuary.”
The building remained new and intact, as if the ruin that covered the old world could not break the barrier of faith that protected it. At least that was what people wanted to believe.
In this world, some spots rich in Qi fade away later than the others, resisting the advances of the World Merge. The Ath’Taren couldn’t enter them, which led us to believe they were safe spots, a refuge. That only lasted a while, as there was nowhere safe in this old world.
“Stop! Who goes there?!” Two middle-aged men carrying guns shouted from a distance as I approached, “This place is full. Go look somewhere else or we will shoot!”
I frowned, cracking the bones in my fist, holding back the urge to beat the crap out of them and their useless guns, “I’m looking for people. A group. One of them is a big, burly dude.”
Haze’s description was the easiest one to notice and hardest to forget anywhere.
“…!” They looked at each other. One of them went inside, “Wait here.”
‘Eat them?’ Shadow asked me seriously.
‘Since when do you eat people?’ I facepalmed.
‘Today, good day. Hungry,’ Shadow grinned. The doorkeeper shivered out of nowhere.
“Zen!!” Haze walked outside, opening a wide smile, “I knew you would come!”
“Mr. Haze,” the doorman bowed.
“He’s my friend, let him in,” Haze beckoned with the hand. I went in with Shadow and Blood. The huskies strolled in as if they owned the place.
“I’m glad you look fine,” Haze said.
“The others?”
“They’re all here. Follow me!”
People rested everywhere. Most looked dirty, ragged, and hungry, with difficulties to breathe. They were accepted by this world, but not out of the woods yet. I didn’t see any injuries, but I expected as much. A tiny scratch would be enough to take a life.
Almost everyone greeted Haze and looked at us with interest. We moved into one of the side rooms of the large monastery. Jiwan, the Class Rep, the little girl, and the Black Lab jumped happily as they saw me.
“Zen!!!” Jiwan hugged me right away, “Took you long enough!”
The Class Rep also smiled while the little girl hid behind her. The Black Lab stuck his tongue out, waved its tail, and exchanged greetings with the huskies.
“Doggies!” The little girl finally saw the dogs and went out of hiding to greet them. Blood and Shadow looked happy, as if meeting a family member.
“Sooyeon?” I asked.
“She’s helping around. Isn’t this a great place? Lots of space. Secure,” Jiwan said.
I nodded, “Tell me what happened.”
“Nothing much. We barely crossed when the boat fell apart. One of those things saw us, so we ran from it.”
“What? Across the river…?” My eyes widened in surprise. I always thought it would take longer for them to cross.
“Yeah. It was sluggish, but came after us for a long time, so we couldn’t even stop for long. We saw people in this place, so Haze didn’t want to lure it here, and he took it head-on again, haha.”
I facepalmed, “Haze…”
He shrugged, “What else could I do? I couldn’t kill it. I thought I was done for.”
“But they all respect him now, that’s why they took us in. Someone told us to go in, saying the demons couldn’t get in because it’s a Holy Place, and they really couldn’t!” Jiwan looked relieved, “The monster circled us for some time, then left.”
I became thoughtful. Without seeing what kind of Ath’Taren it was, I couldn’t know whether it was mindless or intelligent. If it had intelligence, then letting it go could bring back a calamity for this place.
“How did you escape? You even brought the dogs with you!” The Class Rep asked me. I really should call her by name, but I forgot, and it felt weird to ask, “I crossed the bridge. The dogs helped me. This one is Shadow, that one is Blood.”
Their judging eyes showed criticism of my naming sense, but they didn’t know why I named them that way. I should tell them I awakened the system, but there were too many people around.
“We have to keep moving,” They all looked at me in surprise.
“But… shouldn’t we rest here? There’s food and wat-” Jiwan barely finished when I glared at him.
“You! Didn’t you hear what I said before?! Did any of you eat?!” I shouted angrily.
Jiwan raised his hands in a defensive posture, “N-not me!”
The Class Rep and Haze also shook their heads.
“! Then…!”
“Little Somi was hungry, so Sooyeon gave her some food and water…” the Class Rep said while looking away. She wasn’t the type to call herself “Little Somi”, so she could only mean the little girl.
I moved close to her, “Let uncle check your temperature-“
As I moved, she quickly hid behind the dogs, “Noo… uncle is scary…”
I froze on the spot, “Er… I… n-no, uncle is nice… uncle is the nicest…”
She shook the head, “Uncle is scary!”
“Awooooh!” Shadow howled and spoke in my mind, ‘Little human, smart. You, scary!’
‘Shut up, Shadow!’ I ground my teeth, “Goddammit, is Sooyeon crazy?! After I warned her so much!”
“Uncle is scary… uncle cursed…” Somi looked at me with mistrusting eyes.
Why did I dig my grave deeper?! She will hate me forever at this rate!
“Calm down, Zen. Nothing happened! She couldn’t see the girl hungry. We’re barely holding out,” Jiwan tried to calm me down. I almost punched him.
“You don’t understand…” I sighed.
Tired, with a never-ending headache, I lowered my head, resting it on my palms. I didn’t want to see another dead child in front of me. I could ignore the unknown corpses around, but Soojin’s little sister?
That would haunt me forever, “We have to keep going south. Let’s find Sooyeon and get out.”
“…” They really didn’t want to keep going without rest. I couldn’t blame them, but it was the best way to survive.
“You don’t want to go?” I glared at them, leaking killing intent unconsciously and scaring everyone.
“Z-zen, calm down, it’s not that… We trust you, but… we’re too tired, thirsty, and hungry. How can we keep going to Sonis City?” Jiwan tried to calm me down again.
I was way too irritated. The headache, pain, hunger, thirst. It all affected me more than I would like to accept. Pissed off, I was about to drop everything and go alone, “This place isn’t safe. We need to g-“
“Who are you to say this place isn’t safe?!” A middle-aged man suddenly walked in, Sooyeon by his side, “This place is holy!”
That was it.
I clenched my fist, ground my teeth, and was about to lose it and strike that guy in the face when I heard the little girl suddenly scream and fall.
“Somi!!!!”