I’m at a loss for words.
My body is telling me to run, but it also is in such an awful shape that I wouldn’t last long out there.
The old man and I haven’t said a thing since we saw the monster den yesterday.
The only reason to come to the God Domain was to avoid them, and I ended up literally walking into the monster’s lair.
I was getting frustrated.
For a moment, I thought I could finally stop fleeing.
Now I’ve lost my arm and am walking on top of a death trap.
The monsters are weak and resting.
This city is a time bomb; however, it’s also true that they’re the weakest they’ve been.
But I’m no fighter.
And even if I was, I have no way of getting rid of that absurd quantity.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
The light never dimmed—no pulse, no rhythm.
Just that same damnable glow.
In the stories, night fell like a curtain.
Here, the stage was forever lit; night never came.
To be honest, even if it came, I’d still be unable to sleep.
Well, if fleeing and fighting are my only two options, and fighting is impossible, might as well flee.
Today is a new day.
I clapped my face with my hand.
In reality, I don’t know how much time has passed, so I arbitrarily deemed before sleeping as “yesterday.”
I didn’t mention him, but the old man is resting in front of me.
At least I like to think he is resting.
He’s more broken than when I met him.
If nothing else, before he moved, although scared and in panic; now he was gone.
He barely moved.
We sat in silence.
“... Old man.”
I waited for an answer.
Nothing came.
“I’ll be back soon.” I whispered and went out.
What a gleefully crisp day.
I chose a nearby building to climb.
What it would’ve taken me a couple of minutes took me probably close to an hour.
That, or I’m going insane here.
The process was also tedious.
Hand up. Grab. Push myself up. Foot on the frame. Repeat.
Some window frames were trickier.
For those where the height was too much, I jumped from the previous frame.
It was easier than the other process, but it posed an unnecessary risk.
At that speed and with only one hand, I wouldn’t have any chance stopping myself from falling.
The height wasn’t high enough that it presented a life or death scenario; however; I was too wounded and injuring me more could lead to a life or death scenario.
A beautiful sight greeted me once more after my ascent.
It was a slightly different view from my last high-height adventure.
Yet, it was pretty similar.
The angle was basically the same.
In front of me, large paths led to the floating metal ball.
To my right, the grassy field was barely visible.
While the angle was the same, the previous skyscraper, even when broken, was much higher.
This time, the sea of buildings covered such views.
Any further was impossible to see.
However, I could see faint hints of blue and related colors.
If it’s perceivable from here, that must mean there’s a large body of water.
Hmm, a large body of water.
That took me back in various ways.
The ocean.
Lots of books mentioned it.
I know that isn’t it, but why not?
Seems better than going to that ominous metal sphere.
Ominous?
It feels even creepier than before.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
If this was a book, night would fall while I was absorbed looking at it.
The sphere hung there, pulsing like a second heart.
The more I saw, the bigger the sphere grew.
For a moment, paths to travel plagued my mind.
I sort of want to go there.
Now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem that bad of a choice.
“Come.”
A sweet voice called for me.
Okay, I totally made up that last one.
But it wouldn’t surprise me if a voice called for me.
Thud.
The sound woke me from my trance.
I guess I spent too much time absorbed.
I went back, still feeling hazy
The old man was surprised at the bottom of the building.
He was trying to climb.
Thud.
Yeah, trying.
I went down and reunited with him.
“I’m back.“
He seemed nervous, but calmed down as soon as he saw me.
His eyes observed a specific point.
I turned around to look.
It was nothing, just a random point in the pristine white wall.
He realized I had followed his eyes and, ashamed, turned to another point.
Sorry about that.
For a moment, he appeared to want to talk.
He faintly shook his head and raised both of his hands, palms looking up.
Undefined streams of water formed above the palm of his hands.
They went from his wrists, danced all over his palms and flowed into a water sphere.
After its formation, the water ball continued moving.
The water ball shimmered, its surface rigid as glass, yet liquid—unlike any water I’d ever seen.
Inside, currents slithered like live things.
Had the old man bent the rules of this place, or was I just ignorant?
The inside was like the ocean, or at least I imagine it that way.
It had a gentle breathing to it.
The movement didn’t seem chaotic, but rhythmic as if it had a purpose.
He showed me almost like presenting it to me.
I was completely clueless about what he meant.
“Thanks.”
I awkwardly laughed.
The water ball dispelled, and we walked back to where we were staying.
I tried to tell him while walking.
I tried to tell him once inside the building.
I tried to tell him after sleeping.
I didn’t know how to tell him I’m leaving towards the ocean.
Actually, I went to sleep because I didn’t know what to say or do.
Now is the third day.
A bit of a flimsy definition if you ask me, considering that the second day lasted maybe less than a fourth of the first day.
It’s true that the first was longer, but maybe I’m feeling it was significantly longer than it was because of everything that happened.
The monsters’ problem is a pressing matter, however, I’ve already concluded that they won’t wake until, at least, two weeks.
I’d assigned it two weeks—a number pulled from the air—but the silence felt like a held breath.
Like the pause before a scream.
I just assigned it as a way of saying is not happening soon.
While nobody wakes them up, that is.
The people I’d seen had either fled or turned on each other, so I don’t expect anyone getting out of their way to wake them up.
However, as time goes on, the grimace gets closer to me.
I’d best be gone from here as soon and as far.
“I’m going to the east.”
The words I was thinking came of their own accord.
My fleeing mindset betrayed me on this one.
I felt uncomfortable, but it had already been said.
“Sorry, I’m not a man of much words.”
I always wanted to say that.
“Thanks for the help.”
The old man, sitting, turned around.
I guess it’s uncomfortable for him too.
“It was nice meeting you… old man.”
I made a light bow.
“I know it’s a bit late, but name’s Kai.”
I turned and walked out of the building.
My eyes darted back.
I felt bitter about ending our interaction with not even a word from him.
He was still sitting, looking at the wall.
Ha. I guess that’s it.
I headed to the east.
I already knew, but the difference between the left zone and the rest of the city was shocking.
I should call it Zone 7.
Destruction was like a living being in the city, slowly consuming whatever was left.
However, destruction in Zone 7 was an entirely different beast.
Here, it was heart-wrenching, yet calm.
The buildings had marks of war, but time was the principal source of decay.
The pristine white and light-gray gave the impression of a divine palace crumbling from its insides.
It was a startling difference compared to the hell of tainted white.
Zone 7 was a wound scabbed over with time.
The air smelled of rust and old salt, like a knife left in the rain.
But beneath that—bodies. So many bodies.
Some clung to the walls, mid-stride; others pooled in corners, their faces erased by putrid decay.
Cadavers decorated the floors.
Something threw the bodies against the walls with such force that they stuck.
It was a place where you couldn’t distinguish between friend or foe.
Everyone and everything ended in a messed up pool of dried blood.
To top it off, it was the ceiling of the monsters’ lair.
The extension of the lair was troubling.
I still haven’t crossed out the idea of there being several dens.
It’s safe to assume the entire city is infested, or it would be.
I stopped at a reasonably tall building.
After climbing it and making sure I was on the right track, I went back down.
I discarded the thought of going to rest.
The discomfort grew bigger the more I stayed in the city.
It was a long and quiet night.
For the record, I decided that night began when I started feeling tired.
Tired means sleeping. Sleeping means another day. Makes sense.
With nothing to do but reflect, the city occupied my thoughts.
Now that I’ve traveled quite a bit, the city is strange.
No, I don’t think “city” is the right name for this place.
It definitely tries to appear as if it was one, yet it isn’t practical.
Like, if a not human being made it.
Something completely unfamiliar with how they function
Thankfully, I’ve got a strong sense of direction.
The city twists and tangles so thoroughly that even I could lose my way in it.
The streets are like rivers.
They dance in random directions, intersect with each other and end up in arbitrary places.
There’s not a single straight street in the city.
Shops are scarce and the only different type of edifice.
Except for shops, the rest are skyscrapers or some semblance of housing.
Even while ignoring the fact that buildings are empty inside.
Even as a pretense.
There’s no way this is a city.
In other circumstance, it could’ve been a magical touch.
However, this place tried too hard to appear like a city.
Failing to do so only added to the macabre atmosphere.
The harder I looked into the city, the harder my instincts told me to flee.
The worse part of all is the goddamned light.
I’ve confirmed that this a phenomenon pertaining to the God Domain.
While I was at the top looking at the environment, I looked at the containers.
Although they were far, I could see they were as illuminated as we were.
It didn’t occur to me then.
But as days have passed, the light gets more unbearable.
I’ve been going at a fast pace.
Tiredness piled up.
This should be enough for today.
The long night faded at last.
I chose a random house and prepared to go to sleep.
The past days, I discovered that covering my eyes helped a great deal against the pesky light.
Today I wanted to try covering with a piece of cloth and not just my hands.
I carefully checked to see if I encountered something.
There was nothing.
I didn’t think while at Zone 7, but maybe looting may have been a good choice.
No, is better that I didn’t.
I looked around for longer than I wanted to.
“Is it so hard to find a single piece of cloth?”
I gave up for the day and went to sleep.
While getting myself comfortable, I partly covered my eyes with my hands.
Because of the position I could only see my part of my body.
An idea came to my mind.
Not bad, Kai. Not bad, Kai.
I sat and tore a piece of my pants.
Having a bit of less clothing wasn’t that bad.
However, I overestimated my manual capabilities.
…
Fuck.
The scrap I’d torn was barely a bandage
It covered my eyes, but just putting it on them would mean it would fall off while I was sleeping.
The other half it is.
I tore a sizeable piece of cloth from my left leg.
It was overkill, but better safe than sorry.
I now rocked a half short, half slightly tore pants.
My now covered eyes were a spell for my tired mind.
I fell asleep almost instantly.