“This is my first time eating deer meat, and goddamn this is good. Another, please.”

Everyone inside the cave observed in astonishment as the newly awakened Noire chewed on the roasted meat that Ren promptly made for him. He already has eaten three sticks worth of meat, and yet he asked for more, probably a result of his half-millennium sleep. Tsukihime and the alpha Fenrir specially looked at him very closely, still baffled at the apparent change of the boy’s aura, in contrast to the one that they witnessed the last time, with the red eye and a killer’s look.

“You have salt there, mate?” he asked Ren, which responded with a head shake.

“Oh, okay. I guess I’ll try cooking with this kind of meat later. The tenderness, even beef is nothing compared to this. I don’t know if it’s because of the shift or something else, but damn this is good stuff.”

As he continued his meal, Noire noticed that everyone stared at him.

“What?” he asked, completely oblivious of their intentions. Then he had a peek on his metal-covered left arm, which was dirtied of wet dust and still had the burns of the misteria lightning that struck him.

“This? Don’t worry too much about this left arm of mine. I have this one under control. It just… looks scary.”

In addition to its dirtiness, the arm also had cryptic engravings written on its entirety, somewhat like a runic prison that holds something sinister. What bothered the Fenrir and Tsukihime, though, was the unsettling feeling that they feel whenever they were near Noire.

He already noticed them, though. After all, it was not the first time that he was stared at with suspicious eyes. The arm was a burden that he carried for as long as he lived, but he never found it to be that inconvenient. Still, he had and still was hiding its secrets to almost everyone that he met, including Tsukihime.

Finishing his meal, he repositioned himself for better comfort and looked at them with seriousness in his eyes.

“This is going to be a long talk, but can someone please give me a quick run on the current state of this world?”

***

The couple was awakened by loud screams and commotion; they could even hear things being thrown out. Arthur, who just got himself healed after contracting the flu, needed to fully rest that night so that he could go back to his work as a doctor for tomorrow. They stood up, taking a glimpse of an orange glow that appeared to be dancing through the open seams of their windows. The noise outside grew louder with every passing minute, and with it, the dread that they felt at that moment grew as their hearts beat even faster.

All of a sudden, successive loud knocks were made at their front door, completely freezing them in place for a good few seconds, before Hailey managed to get herself out of trance and slightly opened the door.

The scenery outside shocked Hailey to the core.

Tongues of flames and wreckage has spread all over the neighborhood, with people running around like wild beasts. Columns of smoke rose up the night skies of outer Axria where most of the survivors lived. Clad with their silvery iron armor, the soldiers of Paladinus raided almost every home that they could see. She looked all around in search for the one who knocked at their door.

“He---here. Please… help me.”

She heard the plea from below her. The moment she laid her eyes at the person, her soul almost left her body, appalled by the brutality of the situation.

A middle-aged man laid bloodied in front of their doorstep, the trail of blood behind him suggested that he crawled all the way from the center of the chaos. He had several cuts on his body, with a critical one in the abdomen which he held tightly to prevent blood loss. In dire need of help, he tried to knock the door again, his half-awake conscience not realizing that it was opened already. His bloodied right hand made Hailey fall on her behind, terrified and with her nerves almost lost.

Quickly treading on the hallway, Arthur lifted his wife and slapped her off her trance.

“Snap out of it! Go over there and stay put! I’ll handle this.”

He opened the door, also seeing the victim. But unlike Hailey, his doctor sense kicked in almost immediately and he quickly assessed the situation. The wound continuing to bleed uncontrollably, the doctor knew he had little time before the man’s life would be over and out there. Turning his head at Hailey, he shouted at her with the loudest voice he could muster at that time.

“Hailey, get the bandages and morphine, NOW!!!”

Hearing him, she quickly got to her feet and ran towards their medical storage.

Still a bit weakened from the flu, Arthur somewhat coerced the man to help the doctor to carry his body to the operating area, which he did willingly, using his remaining strength to drag his bloodied body. After locking the door, the doctor assisted the man with all that he could, and after an arduous while, they finally arrived at the operating table, laying the victim flat on his back. Arthur turned the light on for damage assessment, and there he saw the full extent of the man’s injuries.

A large laceration wound cut clean on his abdomen, the cause of his bleeding. There were two other cuts on his left leg and shoulder, but Arthur’s focus was at the large one. Fortunately, it did not hit any internal organs that could be fatal, but he still has to close the wound immediately.

“What the hell happened there, man?” he asked the wounded as he wore his gloves.

Coughing, he started to talk.

“The Magistrate, he ordered a full clean-up order against all those druggies in here. But they… they just started to capture or kill anyone that they could see. Damn it, they also looted some of the houses in here. Damn them… damn them all to----“

The man was cut off mid-sentence when he began to cough blood again, the wounds continuing to take its toll.

Based on what they saw and the victim’s barely audible speech, the doctor had a gist of what was happening.

With the epidemic and the drug problem getting worse with each passing day, the Magistrate had no choice but to somewhat rectify the situation, but the idea of a total lawless scenario like the one just unfolded never occurred on his mind.

All of those pointed out at one cause: the imminent arrival of the Council’s Emissary.

There had been records of incursions, rebellions, and raids that happened within the four hundred-year tenure of Paladinus on Axria. Still, experiencing the pandemonium firsthand would definitely leave a sense of terror to all the citizens affected.

His hands were trembling of nervousness, but Arthur sucked his guts and injected morphine on the man.

“Ok, I’ll stitch your wound for now. This will hurt a bit, though, so I need you to take it in like a man.”

The man nodded, closing his eyes, but not before saying, “Thanks, doc.”

“Hailey! I need a needle and some thread here!” he commanded his wife, which complied almost immediately. While he waited, he applied pressure to the critical wound. His gloves were painted with blood, yet he was undeterred.

“Here you go,” Hailey said, returning with the items he requested.

“Good. Now apply the bandages to these two cuts here. I’m going to do the suture now.”

The wound was spilling more blood as seconds passed, giving him little time before the man die of exsanguination. Without further ado, he pierced the flesh with the curved needle and worked his way from there. With each stitch, Arthur could feel the pain that the man was experiencing, his hands trembling in sync with his fast beating heart. He may be a doctor, but moments like those still tests his determination as a man of medicine.

After almost a half hour of grueling stitching, Arthur was finally done with it. The victim’s vitals were stabilized, the lacerations were patched, and the blood stains on his body were cleaned off. Sweaty and tired, the doctor sat down on a stool, breathing slowly and deeply. Removing his bloodied gloves, he stared at his rattling hands, while his mind was swarmed with the thoughts of the recent events.

It was at that moment when the door was destroyed by a squadron of Paladinus soldiers, armed with swords and guns. They entered without warning, bringing the doctor down on the ground. With the tips of their blades pointed at Arthur, and the guns at both Hailey and the wounded man, they suppressed any means of retaliation. The inside secured, the leader of the squadron stepped in, looking down at Arthur with a merciless grin on his face. Then, with a loud, menacing voice, he spoke to all three of them.

“In the name of the Paladinus Empire, we will cleanse this area of scums like you.”

***

The morning sun has appeared on the east once again, signaling a new day.

Ren could be seen packing the Kettenkrad in preparation for their journey back home. Doing a last check-up, he thoroughly looked at the vehicle again, making sure it was fit for travel.

Meanwhile, Tsukihime was still inside the cave, folding the blankets that they used for the past two nights. The alpha’s pup, which watched her from the other side, whined at the girl. After a while, it ran towards her, trying to get her attention.

“Aww, there you are, all mopey. Too bad I can’t take you with me,” she said in a discouraging tone, in which she then tried to pat the pup. Instead, it ran away outside, not even looking at her, making her sad.

“Do not fret. Kids, they always act that way when things go sour for them. He’ll be back.”

It was the alpha Fenrir, entering the cave just as its child exited, not even noticing its overpowering presence. It ignored the pup and went towards Tsukihime instead.

“So, what’s next for you.”

That question made Tsukihime cease her preparations. Everything that she discovered for the past few days were still too much for her to take in. The girl in her mind was actually a part of the soul of the Celestial Gaia, and she had a past with the boy Noire. The Luna Catastrophe was an experiment gone horribly wrong, and Noire barely saved the world, but not enough to save everybody. While it was happening, she was one of the first batch to go in a cryogenic stasis, Tsukihime having put on the list at the last minute due to a treatment that needed a long time to take effect.

The truth now in her grasp, she felt empty inside, not knowing what to do next.

“I don’t know right now,” is all that she could say.

She then excused herself, carrying the blankets with her. The alpha observed her as she left the cave, noticing her erratic walk.

“You’re still lost, aren’t you?”

Tsukihime stopped and turned her head at the alpha again. Her face was drawn with sadness all over.

“You already got what you wanted. Isn’t it time to move on?”

“I… I never thought about it. All this time, I was hell-bent on knowing the truth, but now, I don’t know.”

Her answer pretty much confirmed the alpha’s hypothesis, which made it chuckle.

“What? You think it’s funny?” she said in an irritated manner.

“Not at all. I just think that you took your search a bit too seriously. There’s a wide, wide world out there, you know.”

“Well, that’s something coming from someone who have not left this snowy hell for a long time.”

Stricken by the girl’s criticism, the alpha Fenrir laid down on the cave, shutting his eyes.

“I am an alpha. I could not leave my pack behind for my own glee. Do you know how it feels to be stuck in only one place? I have a responsibility, a burden in which I am willing to carry for the rest of my life. But you, you’re a free human being. You can go wherever you want. Why not start from there?”

Tsukihime left after listening to the alpha, but her mind was still on a state of heavy thinking. She was in that mindset when she was noticed by Noire, which had just finished his meditation, something that he does all the time to strengthen his connection with his Seed.

“Yo, Tsuki. Let me carry that for you.”

He outstretched his hand to hold the things she carried, but Tsukihime backed away a bit. Noire noticed her face, confused and sad.

“Don’t be sad. This is by no means the end, Tsuki. We were spared for a reason, and you waking me up is a great step ahead of our newfound journey here.”

She could not contain her feelings anymore. Her anger, confusion, sadness, her heart was filled to the brim with the emotions that she did not want to have. Throwing down the blankets on the ground, she held Noire by his sleeve, moving his head on her level.

“Journey, you say!? I was left out, all alone, on that stupid capsule. My memory was lost, and when I woke up, everyone is gone! I was scared, I always thought that I would not see anyone that I knew ever again! That was hard for me to take in, all those years of cluelessness. And then, out of nowhere, you show up! You…YOU--!!!”

Before she could finish her rant, though, her head met Noire’s soft touch. For someone who punches so hard, his head pat was gentle like a cotton pillow. That made Tsukihime’s cheeks turn bright red, and she looked at him with a pout.

“Hahaha. Ok, ok, I’ll make it up to you later,” he assured the girl as he continued to pat her head.

The soft morning breeze blew on the plateau, rustling the grass with its cold winds. As he consoled with the girl, Noire looked at the unfamiliar sky, turned his attention on the reddish planet that was Argento with a newfound resolve.

***

With every kilometer that the Kettenkrad treaded on, the landscape drastically changed, and with it the level of fallen snow has reduced as well. They have been travelling for a day and a half, and Noire, who was just brought out of cryostasis, has kept his eye on every single change that he could see as they drove upon the lands of Great Britain. Although not a native of the island country in the past, the boy had amassed enough knowledge on its basic topography, along with a lot of countries, through the internet. From city wreckages to new land features, mostly volcanoes, he observed them all with extreme concentration. The skies were getting clearer the nearer they get to Axria, so he had a good view.

Meanwhile, both Tsukihime and Ren were silent on the entirety of the trip. They just continued to observe him, while pretending not to whenever he looks back at them. It was an awkward situation, with no one willing to start a conversation.

“It is just baffling on how fast a civilization can be wiped out in a single second, and left with the sands of time for hundreds of years. There really is no such thing as a forever.”

The boy’s first words since their departure were kind of ominous, matching with what the scenery that they were in, yet he looked at it with hope in his eyes. Minutes later, he shifted his focus on the girl, which he noticed was staring at him the whole trip.

“Anyway, how’s your life here? Is it inconvenient?”

Entranced for a second, it took a while before Tsukihime realized what was going on, and quickly thought of an answer.

“Not really. Axria is in former Manchester, so everything is still in place, just like yesterday. Some tech from our time survived, but unfortunately, the internet is pretty much dead at this point.”

“Is that so,” he sighed, for he already knew that no human-made satellite made it to the dimension shift, anything beyond the ionosphere being left behind.

“Short-range radios still work, though,” she added.

Silence filled the vehicle again for a while, and then Ren exclaimed with a happy tone.

“There it is… Axria!”