I wake up to a severe headache. My first thought is the dream but I realise it's from waking up and smashing my head on everyone else's head above me. They all sit back from me rubbing their heads in pain. I can see James, Syn, Lily ,and Maya but Rex isn't in sight. Upon further inspection, I spot him sitting in a corner fast asleep, his arm seems a bit better but still a bit, flimsy should I say. Around us are stone walls, I guess we found a cave to spend the night.
"If you were going to wake up you could have warned us." I hear a voice say, Lily.
"Well you might not want to look so closely at someone who might do that." I say.
"Either way it would be nice if you filled us in," another voice says, Syn, "were not all well versed in the knowledge of the gods from The Existence."
"I wake up and the first thing you want is a history lesson?" I ask.
"You might as well explain why he was targeting Maya." Syn says back to me.
"It'll be a long story so hold your heads." I begin.
In the realm known as The Existence, there are 26 gods. Thirteen of these gods live in Anaria which is equal to heaven, and the other thirteen reside in Agaaron which would be the equivalent of hell. Despite the difference of places, none of them were actively writing fate or something, they all did their jobs and the world ran fine. Oneday however, the thirteenth god of Anaria, the god of law and order, decided to travel to the human world. During his travels he fell in love with a woman. But when he tried to approach the woman, he found out she had someone else. He became filled with jealousy and followed them to their home and killed the man. In his rage, the woman tried to intervene but she ended up dying at his hands as well. He was brought back to Anaria and was exiled by the first god. Coincidentally, the woman's brother happened to be a person of power in that world, as well as having personally known some of the gods. He ascended to godhood in place of the old god and stripped him of his title. After being cast down from Anaria, he rid himself of everything they gave him, including his name. He became known as 13, his old name being lost to history. Many of his old followers stayed loyal and branded the gods fake. He went into hiding and it's been radio silence since.
"That's a pretty intense backstory for a god." Syn said sarcastically.
"But what about that Aria person," Maya said, "that paper said something about seeing someone called Aria east of the church."
"Aria was originally a curse made by 13," I say, "it later ended up in the real world from the dark core incident, eventually getting exercised by my grandfather and given a physical manifestation known as Aria. ever since then she's become an object of worship for 13's cult. I guess they found her somewhere east of the church. Speaking of directions, where are we?"
"We travelled east for about three hours before the sun set and then came here to rest for a bit." Lily says.
"Then we should keep on going," I say, "if someone like Aria is actually here then she'll be vital to moving forward. Is Rex able to move."
"He's able to walk but not for a long period of time, his arm is still banged up pretty bad." Syn says.
"Aria does know some advanced healing magic so even more reason to go see her." I say.
We pack up and get ready to go. Syn slings rex over his shoulder as they hobble along with us. We continue east as the last of the moonlight fades into the distance and the sun comes up at the other side. Syn flips through the menu as we keep on east.
"what are you looking at?" I ask Syn.
"I'm messaging the others that we left behind." he says.
"I didn't realise this thing had a messenger feature." I say back to him.
"No one told me we had a menu!" Lily says in surprise.
"What's the news from back yonder?" I ask.
"Apparently they all formed factions of sorts," Syn says, "some wanted to stay and others wanted to venture into the sunset. The ones that wanted to stay stayed, and the ones that wanted out, well they they went out. Half of them are trying to come to us while the rest are trying to figure out the immediate surroundings."
"How many are in the group coming for us?" I ask him.
"Roughly ten including the guy I'm messaging." he says.
"Hopefully Belgi doesn't come back to life and kill them." I say blankly.
"I doubt that would happen as they're currently in the chapel," Syn says, " they were resting there and will probably catch up to us soon."
"Well it won't be hard to find us." I say pointing towards a green sign.
The sign stands along what looks like what once was a highway. The sign has faded letters showing that a town called Chiba was just a bit further down the way. The old highway leads into a large junction that towers above the ground. Several layers of old and broken roads intersect here and branch out. We find another sign that points to Chiba and follow a broken road that turns to a dirt road. A few miles down the way and we encounter a sign reading "WELCOME TO CHIBA '', the population number has faded out and now reads "1". A little further down the road we spot a small cluster of white buildings which we can only assume to be Chiba.
"Well guys," I say,"we did it. Welcome to Chiba."