Essence shakes his head "This world unforgiving. Speak ill of the world, not me." Robin went silent. It was not that he was wrong or out of words. Maybe, he was not like the world. Essence blowed out the campfire and slept on the grassy earth. yet when he closed his eyes, the earth which gave him shelter also became unforgiving. The brightest Sunlight fell on Essence, Cinder also woke up and started to tidy his camp. Essence insomnia again won. Must have been ten days since he last had even an hour-long nap. his thoughts start to wonder off again "what if this is all a dream? or a hallucination?" before he could delve in it further, he got a tight smack on his head from Cinder "You think you will be free from work if you're the leader? Hell no, clean the campfire." Essence gives a tight hug to Cinder; he was puzzled from the hug yet decided to not give it much though as Essence also had a hint of melancholy on his face.
Cinder Cleaned the motorbike from blood and dirt from yesterday. After much time and effort, the motorbike looked as clean as new. Cinder could see his own reflection in it. In the reflection he noticed Essence making a mound of dirt. He ran up to question him "Yo what's this? Did you forget there are dragons and mythical creatures running around here? Also, that's now how u build a sandcastle lol, want help?" Essence rolled his eyes "Man, you yap sooooo much, it's like the author uses you to increase his word count or something." "What?" before they both could find out more thankfully Essence continued "Forget that! what do you think about this?" As he said that, he pulled out a steal rod identical to his old one and planted it deep inside the mound "you think this will stand the power of time?" "Why are you building this?" Cinder's question made Essence smile. He looked up and shouted at the top of his lungs "I, Essence, the apostle of Robin, the Shinning Hope of Humanity bless this weapon. Only the mighty shall possess you, protect the weak, Be the hope where I am missing." As soon as Essence finishes is words a bright light falls upon the weapon. it didn't change a bit in shape or size, yet it looked like it held power. It held hope
Essence and Cinder got on the motorbike and continued the drive. On the way Cinder asked Essence the most important question ever "Was it really necessary to say all that? Essence giggles at Cinder "No lol, the command just right even if I only say 'bless'. But it feels cool to say it so I will, call me cringe if you want." "I don't think I even need to call u cringe honestly." Essence gets angry over this and slaps Cinder on the head. The motorbike loses control, but Cinder handles it and brings it back to its path. Essence was impressed and praised Cinder. The praise was all that was needed to awake the speedster in Cinder. He maxed out the speed of the motorbike. the speed felt unreal, as if they were flying in the sky. The engine roared like a beast as well, but then their fortune soon ran out. The roar of the engine made a murder of crows started following them. Essence urged Cinder to speed up. And speed up he did. Miles of road passed right beside them as if it was mere seconds. Yet the crows persisted. Essence then points at the tunnel. Cinder wastes no time and shoots right in. but inside the tunnel, it was pitch black. the headlights were removed from the bike as it might reveal their location, yet now it felt like the dumbest decision ever. Cinder used his Thermo bullets. They don't produce much light themself, but they were good enough to make them see, see the horrors of the dark.
It was no monster, no ghost, not even something supernatural. Yet even a sight of it would fill anyone with dread. It was human remains. Bones left everywhere like sticks, skulls lying around like rocks, and Blood pooling in the middle as if it's a river. The smell was unbearable; both threw up multiple times. The only reason they were alive was the Vents which also barely worked. Coming out of the tunnel they were left alone by the crows but left traumatized. Cinder's eyes are red and Essence was shaking. Cinder crashed the motor bike on railing of the cliff and got off to puke more. Essence didn't ever get up from the seat. He sat there and slowly started to realize what this world has truly become. Rotting corpse, shattered bones and enough blood to fill oceans. Robin mocked Essence "Shinning hope of humanity? oh foolish one. this is now your reality. You will see death, destruction and endless sorrow. yet a few dead ones shook you to your core? that was not even a fraction of a fraction of the now dead." Essence shouts out loud "STOP! YOU ARE NOT HELPING ME." as he held his head. his vision grew fuzzy, and he started to faint. but before he could close his eyes, soft sobs were barely audible. Essence forces his eyes open to see Cinder curled up on the ground. He was.... crying. It was no cry of sadness, Deep in Cinder's eyes he looked, traumatized. Essence quickly forgot his symptoms and ran to Cinder. Essence called out to him, but he didn't listen. His eyes lost all their colour. Fear poured out of his eyes, well he was overflowing from it. But Essence had this deep feeling, it was not just the bodies which scared him. The wound in his physic felt deep and old. Like a scar bleeding once again. Essence didn't give it more though as he had a friend to save. Essence called out to Cinder multiple times which yielded no results. But then the hand of God abandoned them too. Loud screams of many rang in the air, the crows returned but now with bigger numbers. Essence had no way of running as Cinder was deeply shaken and he was surrounded. Only thing left now was to fight, a Fight to death. If you asked Essence which fight was scarier, the Dragon, ruler of skies or the murder of crows, the Black death of the sky. Essence would pick the latter every single time. Because he couldn't run from this fight unlike the dragon's fight. Even by math Essence is on a losing end as he the probability of him alone dying against 100s of crows is quite high. This was not a fight Essence would have predicted, nor he could postpone as the only relief in this situation is death. the final fight. This was the end. Essence got ready, yet his hands were shaking. Fear held him in its trap.
Then, maybe the Heavens felt pity towards his him. A large Eagle the size of a human flew down with speed and grabbed 2 crows in his strong claws; it glides through the murder of crows and slays everything in its way. if Essence didn't see a Dragon, he would have called it the king of the skies instead. Its speed was unrivalled. This precision was impossibly precise. It hunted like a king. Essence and Cinder were in awe of its arrival. Essence lifted Cinder by his collar and threw him on his Motor bike. They drove off while the eagle distracted the murder. The ride felt like the longest ride Essence and Cinder ever took. After a while they reached the mountains. It was hard to traverse through them as many landslides happened, destroying the road. They drove on solid rocks as slow as possible. One wrong move and they fall down to their deaths. After a little more of this road of death. they reached a point where everything ahead was filled with rocks, effectively making a wall. Cinder got off to lift the stones by hand. Essence looked at Cinder with an annoyed face. He lifted his hands and said "Store." His inventory swallowed the rock ease. Cinder was angry "dude you shouldn't abuse your powers. That's villain type stuff." Essence sighed out loud "This is why i was chosen as the apostle and you weren't." Cinder rolled his eyes "Yea-yea, I know." Essence ignored his comment "look if I'm given powers, I'm also given freedom to use them right, also if you don't use it like this, you're wasting its potential." Cinder asked essence "Really? then tell me, do you cut onions with a sword?" "Nah but you cut people with knifes, Perspective also matters, I don't let honour or norms impact my decisions more than my reasoning." Hearing Essence's response, Cinder left without further questioning. Then a loud screech echoed in the mountains. It was just one, but the screech was deafening. The eagle was here to Catch this prey which ran away. Essence pulled out his Rod-sword, and this time was ready without fear. He instructed Cinder "Climb that ledge and when I give you the signal. drop these stones over the Egale, if you shoot a few of those bullets of your as well." Essence ran fast as Cinder started to collect the rocks, but then he turned around in realization and shouted out loud "WAIT WHAT'S THE SIGNAL?!" Essence shouted back "TRUST ME, YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IT IS." Essence Sped towards the flying beast, it looked scarier closer up, but Essence had seen and slayed worse. He threw a rock at it which the eagle dodged. he threw many more which angered the winged one. It flew down to catch Essence, Essence started running, the beast though it was his chance and sped up. But as soon as it reached Essence, Essence smiled out hard. Essence grabbed a broken piece of the road railing which stopped him dead in his tracks. The beast which was going fast past Essence in seconds. It nearly crashed into the ground but managed to stand up to fly. But before it could Essence threw his hands in the Air and shouted "NOW!" Cinder rained Rocks over the Eagle which was not ready for rocks to fall on him. The sear amount of rocks Cinder gathered amazed Essence. but while looking in amazement he forgot the railing he is relying on is broken. One rock broken in half and flew towards the railing which also launched Essence. In the moment, time froze for Essence, he looked down and saw barely anything. If he fell form this height, even is soul would get squished. But yet he closed his eyes and fell.
Cinder stopped the rocks after Seeing Essence fall, The eagle was dead but now Essence was dead too, Cinder cried out his name "ESSENCE, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!" as he fell on his knees, then a familiar voice answered him "WELL IF YOU DONT HELP ME SOON, I MIGHT ACTUALLY DIE." It was Essence, he was barely hanging from the junk looking railing, Cinder pulled up Essence with much effort "Dude, I though you died!" Essence answered while panting "Are you stupid? How will the protagonist this Easily?" "Oh, yea that makes sense!" as they both laid down. Essence asked Cinder in excitement "Wasn't today's day fun?" "This is fun for you?" Essence got up to answer Cinder "YES! 2 friends almost killing themselves in the apocalypse. This is peak friendship!" Cinder left after Hearing Essence's answer and stored the eagle in his inventory "I really should have listened to my parents and not made friends with someone like you." Essence was angry at his comment, but they soon got together and step up a campfire to roast the Eagle meat, with the special flavour of near death. Not just surviving but thriving!