Chapter 207

The two sat on a bonfire of a camp clearing. Dolce couldn’t continue driving her car so she stopped and prepared the food she brought along with her. Joshua sat near the bonfire, feeling the warmth of the bonfire. He looked at the stars before staring at Dolce who was heating her can of soup.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Heating the soup,” she replied, holding the can of soup.

“That’s not how you do it,” he pointed at the can.

Dolce glanced at the can and said. “No, don’t worry. I’ve done it before! It just works”

“You are stupid,” said Joshua. He wasn’t holding back when it comes to Dolce. He will always be blunt about his rapist.

“Now you wound me!” said Dolce with an exaggerated look. “I’ve been doing this for the awhile now!”

Joshua frowned. “For a while now, huh...”

“Got something in your mind?” said Dolce with her head tilted.

“What happened?” asked Joshua.

“It’s a wasteland. The Holy Midland’s dead along with the demesne. The Bali and Cagan natives died or were forced to work under the Empire. My City was saved from all these. My family had it good. My brother told me that was only one way to survive now is to become a business person in the Empire. So right now we are trying to become entrepreneurs. We cannot win against the Empire. The destruction of the Holy Midland and the other nations made that clear.”

“Yeah,” Joshua agreed. “Unless other nations have the same kind of weapons then I doubt that anyone can stand against the Empire.”

“There are many ways to destroy the Empire though,” she said with a blank look. “You can implode if from the inside or coax the other colonies in destroying it. Once the Empire starts destroying its colonies, the nations will unite against the common monster. But people wouldn’t do it.”

“Why,” Joshua asked.

“They simply fear. They fear that the Empire will kill them. They fear the Empire’s weapons. They fear what the Empire can do. But what they most fear is that the Empire’s graciousness will go away. The Empire could turn us all into slaves. They didn’t because the Emperor of the Valorians loved humanity. He was someone who wanted to destroy those monsters beyond the falls. He succeeded and now the world is seemingly united. They say that the world will be at peace. Men with ambitions will wait until they are capable of becoming free. They’d be like you, who would rather jump down a cliff to be free.”

“That’s far off,” said Joshua with his arms folded. “I am nothing at all. It was my selfish wish. Besides, you maltreated me in that city. It’s normal for me to get away.”

“Really?” she said with a smug look. “I thought men like it when woman ogles at them? But honestly, I am surprised that you still haven’t run or slit my throat. Aren’t you angry? Don’t you want to kill me?”

Joshua looked at her first. He then lifted his head up to the look at the sky. She was right. He should be angry at her. He should be scowling and sneering at her. He was angry at her. But right now he was so despondent. He couldn’t care less about what happened five years ago.

“I don’t know. I am too tired to do it. Why do you think that I am walking around?”

“You want to see sightsee?”

“No, I have nothing to do. I planned to waste the rest of my money and work in a town before moving to another town. I’ve no home anymore with that explosion turning the district I lived in a lake of flames. Right now, I am just a wanderer.”

“Is that so?” she nodded. “No wonder you look like a homeless person. Hmm, though I must confess that I like your grizzled look. It makes me want to push you down.”

“Are you joking or are you really serious?” Joshua had to ask.

“Let’s see,” she stroked her chin. “I am now a lonely woman nearing my 30 years old. The only man that I slept with was a slave who now I met again and has now turned into a fine man with a lovely grizzled look. Do you know what I feel right now? It hurts being lonely.”

Joshua didn’t know to react to that. She was making this sad yet smug look that it was hard to know what she really was thinking. So he instead smiled warily and looked at the bonfire that was warming him. He took out some beef jerky from his backpack and ate them. Dolce was heating her can of soup. She opened it and took out a spoon from her bag and started eating as well.

The night was cold and weary. The stars and the moons intertwined. The area around the camp area slowly lit us. String-like grass light up with a green color. They sway and danced along with the wind. There was a cool air coming from the field of grass, making the field look like waves.

The sound of the bonfire crackling and the two eating was the only sound that can be heard. The two ate their food silently under the star. At the moment there was no hate between them. The old grudges of the past seem like it was slowly being wash away by the moment.

Joshua has the reasons to hate her at the moment. He could lash out and pour his rage all over. But at the moment he could not care less about his grudges. Five years made him so despondent and uncaring. Not to mention that his ability made him think that he was safe.

Joshua’s ability turned him apathetic. The ability that allows him to escape death made him confident that he can escape every threat. He was only alive because of the ability that he was bestowed. That’s why he doesn’t feel any threat at the moment.

He has nothing to do. He lost everything. He already knew that he will not have any home. He was a lost wanderer and at the moment he doesn’t know if he will find a place for himself.

After all, he has been asking why he was sent here in the first place.

Why did he have to be deprived of the world he knew?

What was the reason he was sent in this foreign world?