Cinder clenches the breaks and stops wit]h the tires screeching to a halt. Essence crashed into Cinder with a loud thud. they barely covered any distance, but Cinder stopped in a hurry. Essence lashes out at Cinder "MOTHERFU*KER WHY DID YOU STOP ON THE MIDDLE OF THE FU*KING STREET. ATLEAST TELL ME WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO STOP!" Cinder instead of helping Essence give him a tight smack on his head "Ret@rded you didn't tell me where we headed. there is an intersection coming up and I don't f*cking know where to go!" Essence stood up and smacked him on the head "THEN WHY DID U GO AHEAD OF ME?" "Can you stop shouting? My ears hurt like hell! Also, I planned on stopping here for the intersection anyways. You don't even know the streets, you are an incel!" Essence pouted and picked up his motorbike and pointed at the big highway. Cinder looked at him weirdly "Are you sure? it's basically over the sea, you sure something wont pop out of the sea and make breakfast of us?" Essence pulls out the newly made spear and rests it on his shoulder like a Knight "Nah, I'll make breakfast of it!" "@sshole, if your ego was any bigger it would have its own gravity." Essence ignored Cinder like always and started driving, Cinder had to speed up to catch up to him. They arrived at the check post and saw it was all broken. But something scary was waiting for them. blood and sea water was washed up at everywhere. Essence looked at Cinder and sighed "Welp, now we know this trip is not going all sunshine and sh!t."
They drove with no end on sight. The drive there was rather calm, so calm that Essence abandoned his ride to get on with Cinder. After a long time, he the first one to message to his mates "WAT UP BOIS!!, Hows the apocalypse going for yall?" Sutairu was the first to respond, "Not bad, could have been worse." Kai followed up "Ngl its soo fun, ive been farming these goblins, and I already hav a nice Armor set I got from defeating these clowns lol, they dumb asf!" Essence was left wide eyed "dude, you feel no regret for the people dying? innocents died for no reason and all they could do was hope for someone to save them, yet they died without seeing them." silence fills the room but not for long, Kai brought his words again "Woah, thats soooooooooooo sad. Let me shed a tear." "fu*k you @sshole!" Essence's anger for Kai knew know bounds "Kibo get ur bit*h @ss here! give me 1 reason to keep him here and it better be a good one." Kibo being as calm as ever joins in "Whats all the fuss about? why can't you 2 just be chill as friends?" Essence and Kibo argued about this for long. But then a message from someone unexpected shakes up them all. It was from Muriel "Can I leave this thing?" nothing else, yet everyone knew what this message entailed.
Muriel was standing on the window; her tears were endless, like a river with rain. Her tears were the proof to how harsh this world can be. Could be misfortune but it's just how many are. Hope is really important in desperate times, even if it is false hope. it's instinct for all beings to cling. A bird will want to stay in its nest forever; a fish will never dive deeper to hunt if it's not desperate. Even as humans who consider ourselves superior well end up at the feet of someone greater. An employee bows to the boss, the wife bows to the in-laws, A child bows to the teacher. They also fear the consequences; they don't want to be alone. Yet the child, the employee, the wife doesn't end up holding their heads and crying, they join their hands and pray, they hope they will be saved. Hope is what keeps a one from falling into darkness. losing hope in desperate times is akin to fuel for wildfire, but the fuel is enough to set the person's world ablaze. Essence messages her on private "Hey sis, sup? been like ages since I talked with u. hows the wife and kids.... yea I deff cant break the ice." Muriel smiled "Hey brother, yea you really don't know how to start a conversation, but dw you made me smile!" Essence was happy to know "Yessir, keep that smile ill be arriving there in like... uhhhh 2-3 days. Lay low till then ig we'll be there and handle the rest." Muriel smiled hard and walked back to her room and shed tears, but this time with happiness.
Essence and cinder reached the end of the bridge. Essence saw a big fat Goblin sit on top of the bridge gate like a king. Cinder drifted the motorbike and stopped in front of the gate. Essence and Cinder stared it down, but no one took the first move. Essence got off and pulled out his trusted weapon. A mindless goblin took the bait and started running at essence. Cinder made a gun gesture with his hands and shot his thermo-bullet at the stupid goblin who now had a hole in his chest. It fell down lifeless. The fat goblin above roared in anger above. Essence soon got a system pop-up "Status effect 'fear' has been applied by goblin chieftain's skill 'King's roar'. 'King's roar'- boosts morale and applied a temporary buff in speed and strength." Essence and Cinder looked at each other and quickly synced in. Cinder stored the motorbike and pulled out his bat. Essence threw his spear at the Goblin chieftain which impaled it in its stomach. Cinder laughed at the king with a sphere in its belly "All that roar thing just to get down it 1 hit lol. I got riled up for no reason." Essence looks at Cinder with anger "DON'T JINX IT!" Cinder quickly covered his mouth, but it looks like his words left a huge impact. The goblin slowly got up and pulled out the spear out of his massive tummy. It looked at it with interest as all his spears were made of wood, this one was heavier and stronger. it also saw its own blood dripping from the sharp end. it raged and threw it back at Essence. Essence barely managed to dodge it but the rod which Essence called his trusted spear almost got longed completely in the road. Essence and Cinder locked eyes after seeing this and said it at the same time "We are so cooked!"
After some time, Essence is sitting on the corpse of the chieftain trying to bend his trusted rod in shape. Cinder shouts at him "Dude, you can't even bend it in shape? it's like barely damaged." Essence rolls his eyes "oh please, stay out of this. You know nothing." Cinder was unusually angry at Essence's words "I know everything about metal rods. That thing and I go way back. I also broke one in a fight. Try me!" Essence grew wide eyed "You fought with metal rods? Your childhood must have been crazy! Anyways I'm trying to avoid metal fatigue." "Metal what?" Essence laughed at Cinder's question "See, I knew you won't get it. It happens like when uhh when you bend metal past its elastic strength then it doesn't go back to its original shape. And when that happens for like more than 5 time or some number it breaks. I can avoid it not bending it super-fast." "All that to just sound like a nerd. couldn't be me!" Essence didn't like Cinder's comment, but he continued without batting an eye. Before he could finish his stupid work on the spear, he got a message from Kibo "Yo dawg u busy?" Essence lets out a loud sigh and answers "What is it this time?" "NO! Don't misunderstand, I messaged to check up on u. how r u friend?" Essence calms down and answers in a annoyed tone "Yea im cool, u scared the sh!t out of me dude. Its always some serious sh!t we talk about. How r u? How's ur family and friends?" Kibo went silent "....They all died. I was out hunting, and my base was attacked. Dad held on for maybe a minute or so but... yea the goblins killed everyone." Essence was speechless "Well im sorry for your loss bro... I didnt know." "Nah its cool, it was an honest mistake on their end. I cannot cry forever too yk, I hav like 200 people to look after now!" Essence was happy at his determination but then his eyes grew wide "200 PPL? HOW THE FU*K CAN U EVEN LOOK AFTER THESE MANY? I HAVE LIKE 70 AT MOST AND I WAS PRACTICALLY DYING LOOKING AFTER THIER NEEDS." "Oh. That's easy dude. I just took over a big mall and the staff there helped me with management and stuff." Reading Kibo's words Essence and Cinder locked eyes and looked down in sadness. "Weren't you the smart one? Why didn't you think of this?" Cinder's words triggered Essence but he didn't take action as he knew, he was on the wrong end. It was quite late, Essence and Cinder brought tents from a nearby store before they left for journey which came in handy. Cinder went to rest inside, and Essence stayed out near the campfire he build with barely any tools and fire lit by Cinder. Essence lays down to look at the sky. there was a huge owl flying above but it was of no threat. Essence's eyes then fell on the moon which looked beautiful, He called out to Cinder "Hey Cinder. you hear me? The moon looks beautiful, doesn't it?" Cinder pops his head out of the tent "Why are u staring at the moon? you lovesick or something? Also a few days ago that 'beautiful' moon of yours was going to get us killed." Essence didn't look back yet answered him "it wasn't my moon; it was the beasts who used my moon for themselves. My moon did nothing wrong." "Yea-yea 'your' moon did nothing wrong.... but hey, the moon turning red, goblin and dragons, they all feel so unreal yet are a part of our reality now. I used to think these only where fantasy creatures lol." Essence smiled at him " Indeed, when I myself was first was approached by Robin, I didn't believe his words till the 2nd day and- " Cinder spoke up before Essence could finish his sentence "You knew about this, right? the monsters and the attack on humanity....why didn't you tell people about this? you could have saved millions of lives. Is this also one of your necessary evil plans?" Essence laughed out loud "Necessary evil you say! You think I'm the devil or something? It's true I'm not the nicest guy out there but sacrificing a millions? Couldn't be me. Also, that was a monkey not a human, so it doesn't count. And about that part.... tell me, would you have believed me if I said something like 'oh there will be a red moon and monsters descending on earth and millions will die!' would you believe me?" Essence looked away in a daze. Cinder unexpectedly answers, "Well honestly speaking I would have believed you." Essence looks back at Cinder, and a long silence falls over. Cinder goes back in his tent to sleep. Essence looks at the sky towards 'his' moon. Robin speaks up "You regret something?" Essence answers him simply "I do, but ill ignore it again like always, I have a world to save right?" "A man with no regrets? you claim to be superhuman?" Essence smiles at robin's comment "I'm happy maybe. also, people won't like a hero who cries right?" robin only has 1 remark "pathetic!"