Now, Oliver wasn't even human anymore. And honestly, after everything that had happened in the past week, from the supernatural to an angel who writes short stories. He didn't really feel human either.
Oliver kept following the two armored men and left the ruins of the school behind. It was undeniable that the world had changed, but he didn't expect to see this kind of devastation.
The streets were overrun with vegetation, and not a single house was left standing. Buildings had collapsed and formed a unique geography. Nature had overtaken concrete and steel. It looked like the entire planet had gone through accelerated growth and swallowed the big cities whole. The smaller ones probably didn't even exist anymore.
"You should look up at the sky. One thing I've learned over time, dealing with civilizations that didn't know about cosmic energies, was that if they weren't primitive, none of them knew the true sky of their home."
His eyes followed the viper's advice, and in that moment, Oliver realized the poetry in which he found himself.
Stars filled the sky, illuminating the night, and a purplish hue connected everything. The entire galaxy was right there before his eyes. Amid the ruins of his civilization, one he often believed to be the most advanced in the universe. He realized that only when it was annihilated did he truly understand what his universe was.
"Only with the end of our progress can we truly advance."
They stayed like that for a while, half-man and nearly-dead-snake, atop the ruins of a small building. Until Oliver's mind returned to the present and he forced himself to follow the trail of light again.
In a world lit only by moonlight, a torch would stand out from kilometers away. Soon he drew near the steel-clad duo again and noticed the old man seemed nervous.
Auuuu!
"Wolves? Since when does my country have wolves?" Maybe Oliver was mistaken to think that way. The world had changed, and likely many species had evolved.
Soon they saw several pairs of glowing eyes lurking in the shadows cast by the torch. The armored men unsheathed their swords.
Hell broke loose when half a dozen wolves attacked from all sides. Oliver's body wanted to move in and help, but he quickly realized they weren't idiots. He didn't know who their leader was, but no one smart enough to hold such a position would send just two people into the middle of nowhere unless they were strong.
And he was right. The two men stood back-to-back and began decimating the poor wolves. Their strikes were powerful and precise. It didn't take long for the six wolves to fall dead, and the duo resumed their march.
"Those sword movements... They were as fast as the spears of that creature who pretended to be my father."
"Definitely, oh brilliant sir. They're initiates, something you're not yet. True Rank-1." The mockery slid into Oliver's ear, and he filtered for the useful parts.
He kept following the men while enduring the viper's mostly useless commentary. It seemed that snake had gone too long without talking, or maybe its tongue was just too sharp.
After some time, more lights and a few standing houses appeared on the horizon. A mix of bricks and wood, something that looked straight out of a medieval realm. Still, it was livable, and before long he heard voices in the distance.
"Finally, civilization." All that time away had made him forget how comforting it was to be near the concrete walls of society.
Speaking of walls... As they neared the small village, something finally made Oliver freeze in disbelief. Not mere walls, but a fortress wall of concrete and steel! Yes, steel!
A strange construction appeared at the back of what he had assumed was a village, just a few houses flanking a road that led to gates over five meters tall.
The wall itself was ten meters high, roughly a three-story building or five cars stacked on top of each other. Not the tallest wall in the world, but the fact it existed at all was terrifying. The worst part was its composition. It looked like concrete slabs had been stacked, and molten metal had been poured into the cracks, gluing it all into a massive wall.
Oliver didn't dare step into the light of the nearby houses or get closer to the wall.
"Dracomatroz... You mentioned temporal dilation. Tell me... do you have any idea how long I was delayed?" Oliver asked reluctantly, his mind unable to imagine what had happened to his team at the hands of that blonde snake.
"Of course I know... I even know what day of the month it is! Don't insult me! It's been exactly 10 days since everyone returned from the initialization. Assuming, of course, that you didn't skip the classes where they taught time measurement on your planet." Naturally, the insult had to come at the end, but the fact itself was frightening.
Not just the fact that this snake was somehow reading Oliver's memories, but that in just 10 days, humans had already managed to build and fortify a city.
"I better get out of here. That snake might recognize me and realize I'm still alive. Everyone is probably in that city, but it's definitely not the only one that exists." Oliver spoke out loud, or rather, he now had the viper to hear his ramblings.
"Hey, Oliver." The voice changed to a gentle and almost comforting tone.
"Yeah...?"
"Oftentimes, we make decisions based on fear and don't even realize it. It's not a good trait to run when faced with something difficult. I didn't even need to read your mind to know you're afraid of the truth. The sooner you find out, the better. That's advice from someone who's already lost his own mother..."
The words invaded his thoughts, and hesitation took over. Of course, the snake was right. But Oliver didn't know what he would do if she wasn't alive.
"I guarantee no one will recognize you. Maybe not even your mother... I'm truly an artist. I made that ugly face of yours presentable." A small smile escaped Oliver's lips, and the atmosphere lightened.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the street. Some people glanced at him, but it seemed more normal than he expected, a shirtless man with a jacket tied around his waist.
Soon he approached the wall and saw a large plaque near the wooden and steel gates.
"Welcome to Steelboard."