Hell on (Digital) Earth [Bread] [MPC 33 — End of the World]

His sword was beginning to feel like a barrel of lead.

He was tired. So, so tired. How long had they traveled now without rest? Far too long. He couldn't remember the last time they had taken a rest. It seemed like everywhere they went, the corruption that had overtaken the land had already reached. His arms felt heavy. His legs protesting every step. His back weighed down by the weight of the entire world.

He had become a Templar to help restore the digital world to what it once was.

The only thing he had managed was to meet his companion. 

Years after, it still didn't seem like anything else he had done had changed the world for the better. The land was still a barren, desolate wasteland. Digimon would sooner try to kill one another than try to talk, for fear of what could happen. The Eldritch Cultists permeated the land, extending the reach of the corruption even further as they finished the work of the monster that had destroyed almost everything. 

The last town they had found was proof of such. They had been so relieved when it had first appeared in the horizon. Rest, perhaps nourishment even!

As if.

The town had appeared deserted when they finally arrived, gasping for breath through chapped lips. Run they had, in their elation and desperation. Horrified, they had been, when the only thing they found was the blood and gore that remained of the sacrifices and rituals. Digimon no longer disappeared into data when they died, and no longer did they come back from the dead. 

Death in the wasteland was permanent. Death in the wasteland was messy. Death in the wasteland was ugly.

They had realized it then. They had walked, nay, run into a Cultist Nest. The cultists had seen them coming from miles away. Had prepared to ambush them. Where it anyone else, they would have likely died, their bodies torn and teared as they were used for some macabre ritual. 

But they were not just any digimon. They fought and killed and cut and shot a path through swathes of cultists, fear and adrenaline pumping their bodies with renewed vigor as they escaped, the town and its corrupted inhabitants quickly becoming nothing more than a silhouette in the distance.

It had been 2 days since then. No food or water. They had none of it, and it had long since started to take its toll. Sheer willpower was the only thing that carried their weary bodies. But even that was beginning to wane.

When another town finally appeared in the distance, he could not bring himself to feel any elation. Weariness rose inside his chest. The sword in his back felt truly heavy. Would he be able to fight once again, should it prove to be another nest?

Did it matter? His body wouldn't hold out if he didn't acquire food and water soon. If he decided not to go, he would die regardless.

"... Let's go." He said simply, his voice raspy through his muffler. "Be on your guard..." he muttered cautiously to her. He may not have been able to keep going... but Beelstarmon would likely go on forever, even if she didn't know it.

He had given her his Ulforce, after all.

"As well as I could be. Let's just hope there's some water around here." Food, he could go without for a little longer. If he didn't have a glass of water soon he would collapse though.

The town appeared to be empty.

That was never a good sign. If he had possessed any strength left on his limbs he would have reach for his blade. As it was though, he could only lean closer to Beelstarmon. Of the two, she was the only one left with the strength to fight.

Experience taught them to go directly to the Saloon during such circumstances. If they didn't find villagers or the cultists, they could at least hope to find stashed edibles.

"With our luck, we've probably walked into another nest." He snorted out with forced humor, a rough cough cutting him off almost immediately after. His throat felt like sandpaper. Beelstarmon pushed the doors open, and nothing jumped at them. So far, so good.

"Let's not get too hopeful. We know they prefer the basements..." It was much creepier to see pentagrams drawn in blood on the walls of a basement than, say, on the side of a wall on an open district.

The place was deserted. They found no one inside the destroyed town. No cultists, but no villagers either. Which meant it was likely a good idea to not stay for long. Beelstarmon echoed his sentiment, but still encouraged him to make himself comfortable. He guessed a bellyful of alcohol and a meal gave her enough confidence to deal with anything the desert could throw her way.

He didn't care for the stiff drinks, though. Never had water in a barrel looked so absolutely beautiful in his life. Never had dry food looked like such a feast.

He was usually one to care heavily for his manners. Not this time. He ate and made no attempt to hide what he was at that moment. A starving man suffering of borderline terminal dehydration. He drank the water in huge gulps and swallowed the meals with the gusto of someone enjoying a five course meal.

"Yggdrasil above; thank you!" He mumbled absent-mindedly, mostly out of habit. He couldn't bring himself to stop stuffing his face. He ate a lot to begin with; having gone for so long without meals, specially without the Ulforce had truly tested him.

---

When he had finally taken in his fill, he took a moment to let out a sigh of contentment, before slowly turning his sight towards the gunslinger.

"How long do you reckon we could remain here?" They hadn't had much rest for quite a while now. Even if the Ulforce kept her from feeling any sort of physical fatigue, it did nothing for mental fatigue. "I could take the first watch, if you need rest."

"Just thought I would ask." He replied simply, shrugging his shoulders as he moved to stand to do as she suggested. His limbs were sore, though he doubted taking a seat would do him any good. He would rather not test the small remnants of his willpower. If he sat down to rest for too long there was no assurance he would be able to force his limbs off the seat later.

He was tempted to just stay in the small abandoned city. Maybe the cultists that had obviously driven away the old population wouldn't come back. Maybe they could rest for a while. He truly wanted to believe these delusions, but he knew he would just be fooling himself.

Staying would be same as committing suicide. It was strange how relevant BeelStarrmon's thoughts seemed to be to his dilemma most of the time.

"We continue on this endless quest. Or we lie down and die. We don't really have many too options." It was just his luck, really. He had never been particularly lucky, even before the end of the world as he knew it. But once the  end had come, it seemed like nothing ever went right. The only thing that had gone moderately right was his meeting with Beelstarrmon.

And even that almost got him killed when she nearly blew his head off his shoulders. 

Speaking of the gunslinger... she had apparently found another trap door. 

"Oh dear." He mumbled, his arm immediately reaching for the handle of his blade. Of course the place was too good to be true. There probably was a whole level under them filled to the brim with crazy cultists. They would have to fight their way out like-

"Wait, what?" Surprise was not something often so evident in Beelstarrmon's voice. He quickly moved to stand besides her, his eyes growing so wide his eyeballs almost rolled out of his sockets. 

What. The. Hell.

"Is... Is that what I think it is?" He had only ever read about portals. He came from the now deleted Golden City of Eldoradimon. Humans were explicitly forbidden, and as such, he had never come across one of the famous tamers that roamed the land... until the end of the world came and he found himself running away from an all consuming doom.

"Well, obviously they weren't." He muttered absent mindedly, staring at the portal. Having been raised in the golden city, his opinion on humans wasn't exactly stellar, to say the least. But... It sure as hell beat staying in the hellhole the Digital World had become.

Obviously, Beel agreed with him. 

"Lucky? We found an empty town, got a full meal and now found a portal to the human world." He stated to her flatly, before throwing a grin her way. "I feel lucky enough to play Russian Roulette with you again. I'm not waiting 15 minutes. Let's go."

She jumped in almost immediately, and he was right on her heels, leaping into a portal that could very well lead him to hell.

In the end though; what did it matter? If all went wrong, it would not be any worse than staying in the waste land.

---

[Exit Thread]
3 posts with Kyo [Courage, Hope[Love]]
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[Hope +2]

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