There was little argument from the world community about whether the Zao Priesthood had the capability to back their words. The mass communications of the world made distributing data much faster than anything on Shiyan, though, they didn't know it. Still, the public took to the news of being taken along to the other world with much enthusiasm.
Gabriel had been a man of few words, the time he spent outside versus the time he spent in his apartment playing video games was far outweighed. There was little hope for him to have grand adventures with his condition, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, one that affected the nerves. His nerves fired so rapidly that it brought pain, his reflexes were much more sophisticated as a byproduct.
"Sister, the ships have started to clear up with help from the navy. We should get going before we get stuck with too many people, the lines and roads into the city are already packed." Brianna understood what Gabriel had meant, she quickly packed her things. A measure of caution had to be taken, there were rumors on the internet that the lines were lines to their deaths. Something akin to the horrors of Germany in the 1940s. "I don't think we have too much to worry on, but honestly, do you have to pack so much? We're going to another world. Basically nothing matters." He flipped open the case and shut his mouth abruptly.
"Never mind.." He was sorry that he had opened it, Inside were all of her undergarments.
Brianna had been taking care of him when the pain got too intense, but the scientists and medical professionals around the world had already given up hope. His only conclusive hope, was that the other world offered him a cure, treatment or otherwise. If not, eventually the nerve pain would cause him to go into shock or simply die from over stimulation.
It wasn't a common ailment, most that had it did not survive past 40.
"You have some nerve. pfft. I told you, I have the essentials, things we can't get on the other world, right?" She prattled on, bouncing about the room and making fun of her brother. The hotel was out of their price range, but money wasn't necessary where they were headed.
Credit Card Companies worldwide were taking great hits to their networks and net worth. So much of the things people were charging would never be paid back, it nearly caused a global shut down of financial services. The Government of Brazil issued a statement saying they would happily sell their items by use of credit card, undermining the very issues the companies wished to prevent.
"Are you ready yet?" Gabriel put his backpack on, sat down, checked his bootlaces and then looked his sister over again. "Did you pack my pills?"
She looked at the place where they had been. "Pretty sure, shake your pack" Watching, her brother rattled his backpack.
"Good to go" Gabriel pushed the door open, waited for his sister and locked it.
After turning in the key, they were once again on the streets headed with the crowd. the direction was not exactly straight when headed through the jungle, but the sheer number of people made getting lost a near impossibility. "Here, Tie this to you." Brianna was scared, she passed a lead from a small rope to her brother and had his tie it to his belt.
Some people gave them strange looks, but no one dared say anything. None of them were concerned over matters of the world any longer.
A flock of birds rushed off, then all the birds. the region, all the wildlife in the area began to move. It happened in an instant. All noise vanished.
"What ju.." the words couldn't escape his mouth, a roaring wind could be heard then what they thought was the loudest thunderclap in history.
Turning to the North East and to the coast, they could see, in the sky, a plume of fire.
An large explosion had taken out a sizable chunk of the rainforest, and irradiated the area from Sao Luis to Salvador. The blastwave sent debris flying for dozen's, hundreds of miles. The loss of life was incalculable. Shockwaves created a coastal backwash, debris clogged all ports and the nearby trade routes. The Tocantins and Sao Fransisco Rivers changed directions. The damage to the Ecology was astronomical. News Cameras could only cover the disaster from afar, World Governments were urging anyone to reroute through the region. Fallout was expected as far away as Rio and Sao Paulo.
"OH MY GOD! RUN" Gabriel grabbed his sister and started running in the opposite direction. There was sure to be a shockwave to hit them soon. They were only able to make it a few hundred feet into a crevasse by the roadside thick with mud. Holding his sister down a rush of heat and tumble of debris ran over them.
'What the Fuck just happened, omg, omg, omg.. stay down, stay down; what are you doing brianna, don't stand up' "DUCK!" He yelled out, his sister looked like she didn't hear. The roar and sounds of falling things surrounded them. There was not time, he pulled her down and buried her face under his chest.
They passed out.
Waking up, a number of people in strange robes were searching the jungle for people that were lost. Gabriel looked down at his sister, there was blood on his hands. "oh my god, bri.. bri.. wake up, wake up." Gabriel shook her and felt for her pulse.
"I NEED HELP HERE! ANYBODY!" Gabriel yelled out, his voice grew hoarse quickly. "Bri, come on.. come on. come on." He searched frantically for her pulse. It was there.
"Bri. Bri." Gabriel slapped his sister a bit, but she wasn't waking up.
"I NEED HELP HERE! ANYBODY!" His voice trailed off and he inspected her body for cuts, the blood had to be coming from somewhere.
On her back, a sharp bit of metal had lodged itself between her ribs, she was bleeding into her lungs.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" he plead as hard as he could, there were voices around him, many of them screaming just as equally.
Her body started to shake. "Bri. Bri. No. no. no. no." In a Panic all he could do was pray. He was about to lose his sister, the only member of his family that remained. she would bleed out in front of him and he would be unable to do a thing. "NO!... NO!.. NO. You can't die.. Not like this. Not like this. NO. .. NO.. "
Tears followed, he sat there sobbing over his sister. Her conciousness drifting away and body shuddering.
A hand reached out and pulled him from her body, he skid across the ground. Crashing against a banana tree, he looked back at the place his sister's body was resting and convulsing. He started to get up, the smoke and ash from the explosion seemed to be in his eyes. He couldn't, he wouldn't forgive himself if he missed the moment of his sister's death.
A figure stood over her, he shook his head. Brianna turned to look at her brother, her eyes wide open, crying. "Only a handful, that's all I can save." Putting a cap back on a bottle with an eye dropper, the man turned his face to greet Gabriel. "Are you hurt?" the Question sounded rhetorical when the man came up to Gabriel and lifted his shirt to inspect him.
"Hold your shirt up." Luitian placed his hand on Gabriel's chest and closed his eyes for a moment. "Nothing's broken, Follow the Priests. I have more people to search for." Luitian stored the bottle back into his ring and rushed into the collapsed treeline to look for more survivors.
Gabriel ran up to his sister, the wound was gone. "How?" Looking up, he thought for a moment and already knew the answer. 'he mentioned the priesthood' There were a few robed men nearby clearing the dead.
"Can you stand?" Gabriel tried to help his sister to stand, the mud made things all the more difficult. People were crying everywhere, the scent of blood and mud was profound. "We have to stick with the Priests, lets do what we can to help."
Brianna got her footing again and looked down river. The river was draining, it looked like the water just stopped coming.
"Look." Brianna pointed at the every lowering riverbed. Fish began to become exposed, there were fish everywhere. the tiny pools that remained in the river were too small to contain some of the large fish. hundreds, thousands of fish were being driven into shallow, overpopulated waters. Then, another figure could be seen flying over the river waving his hand. Fish were being collected up, disappearing without a trace.
".. Its him. Its Ho." Brianna jumped up and waved, Ho didn't pay any attention to her words but came close and tossed a few decent sized fish down to the pair of siblings. "THANK YOU!" Brianna kept waving as Ho left without speaking a word.
"Omg, omg, omg. its real." as if the nuclear explosion hadn't been enough of a reality check, she had almost died. only now did she finally accept that what they were doing and where they were going had been and still was very real.
"Lets go see what we can do." Gabriel walked with his sister up to the closest priest and started following closely.
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