In a world where monsters were strewn about, lurking in the shadows of a perpetual night the purple sky permanently leaked onto this corrupt continent, the former Agents of ANZEN sat together. Gathered around a campfire, embers from flames warming his hands, Ace slid them back to propel a warm breath into his palms. Sunglasses hiding the coloration of his red eyes, Convergence shined as a pale hand slid back, holding a stick with piles of meet stabbed into the tip aligned throughout the middle to the end. To the right of a woman's leg, there stood the mutilated body of a monster, its chest was torn open to reveal a hollow interior devoid of meat with only edges of bones-the rib cage-protruding outward to the air.
With teeth sinking into the food, sucking all the juices engraved within the meat, the way she so easily tore off a chunk with saliva entering the air after. Swirling all the tinier bits around her mouth accompanied by satisfying moans, she held her puffed cheeks moving her legs back and forth so the soles could hit the log happily,
"Man, you look so fucking disgusting when you eat, no wonder any guys wouldn't date you," Ace casually insulted his sister, that comment gifting him an elbow in the gut to which he comically reacted with a groan, "Owwwwahh," He went,
"Oh, hush, dumbass. Tis tastes disgusting but I'm eating it quick so I can eat something and just forget the taste… Bleh," June's words remained muffled as she answered her brother, gulping down the remnants, her body shivered with goosebumps then fading soon after,
"What's it taste like anyway?" Kima inquired of her lover's sibling, closest to the redhead to the right specifically, legs donned in black leggings enclosed,
"Eh.. actually, it's more like pork," June took another bite after coming to this conclusion, shrugging her shoulders with a simple roll, she wiped her lips.
Indistinct noisemakers, the two women were, it seemed none of them realized the situation they'd been thrown into. One where their home had been effectively obliterated, their mentor vanishing before their eyes; everything they came to know and love had turned to dust in front of their eyes. And worst of all, for Katie, among those things was not only her new joke but one of her family, her father she'd unintentionally abandoned when fleeing the corrupted Island. Her eyes no longer naively held sight of childish anticipation for a family, instead, it was replaced by a swirling sphere. One still marked with the darker azure coloration of her pupils, nevertheless, that look was not that of kindness or affection for any one person or idea. It was almost as if…
"Katie?" Ace called out to the young girl, to which she turned her head toward the source,
"Hmm..?" Quietly asked Moon with a subtle mumble, gathering the collective states of her worried teammates,
"Sorry, didn't mean to bother you- it's just that you sorta looked like you'd… died,"
It was almost as if… she were dead. That illuminating brightness indicating the force of life persevering into her soul had all but faded, with no semblance remaining to her former self, the one that'd gradually been emerging from the darkness to be enveloped in the sun's light. But what more could she say? If these orbs of color were any indication of her state, lying would be pointless, but speaking the truth; equivalent to a dagger piercing into the fragility of her heart to squeeze out those liquid chunks of red. Even Ace's comment hadn't sent her back to reality, that light didn't seem to return, even as she faked her smile with a humored chuckle placed between her words,
"Oh, you don't have to worry 'bout me! Just... thinking about my dad, I guess," Katie replied to her ginger cousin, but as June inched to the blue-eyed beauty, jokingly hitting her with her pointy elbows, Ace couldn't shake this feeling.
An indescribable dread, an emptiness slowly consuming not only him but infecting everyone. It was all a chimera, a basic illusion none could bear witness to, a mask that donned over his features, Ace couldn't help but air it all out, ignoring the sounds of familiarity and comradery. That emptiness, for him, seemed closer, ironically. Those flashes of the past, not too distant, yet rapid in his mind, replaying infinitely like a broken record. Dark like an abyss, bottomless like a dimly lit well with no water in sight at the end, but just then, it all revealed itself to him as the familiar voice of a purple-eyed woman ringing out to him,
"Ace... come on, we've been here too long, we should go," Kima's voice was as loving as that of a mother's comforting her son, informing her child how much she adored her offspring, Ace couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.
In the end, she truly was the most beautiful thing in his life, no matter what new thing appeared, as he ascended from his seated posture- he cracked his neck all around,
"Alright, then. Lead the way," With that, they set off on their new journey through the fragments of the destroyed Remnant World, their feet driving them forward… toward their justice.
In the end, their goals had changed, from uncovering the truth of their home to avenge those lives lost in whatever event ravaged the Island's premises. Kima led the charge through these murky waters, with June right behind her, arms tied behind her back, Ace right beside his sister with that murderous glow emanating off scarlet-colored Divergence. But, just tucked nicely in the rearguard with a whitened handle tightly gripped around her pale fingers, Katie couldn't help but barely stroll along, with her speed differing from the others at a gradual amount. Like that of Achilles and the tortoise during their race, she could never reach that type of happiness they had, it was almost impossible for someone like her… to truly feel long-term joy.
Everything would be taken from her without hesitation and swiftly. For all the time she'd have in this world like this person, that was the eternity she was resigned to with chains stabbing into her flesh to keep her locked down… as if she were nothing more than a vile puppet to be toyed with by the whims of fate itself. The gift of knowledge had infected her brain, and with that, independence, guiding her to stroke her blade right through the heart of the target- in other words, there was nothing more for Katie Moon, at this point.
Her goal was nothing more than just unbridled rage and vengeance toward her enemies. At the end that's all, there was to it, animosity in its purest form toward that amount of disgusting self-righteous evil. And so started a new journey, and while their intentions differed, they moved together as a pact. For their 'justice… without a shadow of a doubt, they'd meet their goals, whatever it took, no matter what.
Fast forwarding a week or two in advance, the date now settles in September, the beginning of a chilly season where snow dared not fall. The emerald coloration from those leaves shifted ever so slightly to an orangish tint, readying itself for a calming descent in the dead of a snowy season. As one foot pushed them out of the city, Kima fell to her face, then June on her back, and Ace just collapsing entirely with a giant thud. The trio all out of breath, clothes dirtied with blood and mud, bags visible under their eyes,
"God… I never wanna fucking walk again," Kim muffled into the grey concrete RIGHT in front of her face,
"You?! You could've had Ace carry your ass the entire time… I had to even run," June added to the complaining with her arms on her chest, continuously panting, stomach inflating then deflating procedurally,
"Shut up.. just shut up, bitch," Ace blatantly disrespected his sister, luckily for him, she was naturally weak,
"God, you guys are so weak," Commented Katie as she scratched her neck, emerging from the border, her eyes widened at the experience she underwent just then.
The other three had their strength drained from their souls extending outward to their physical vessels. And while Katie was just on the verge of it all zapping away, dwindling strength just barely holding onto her father's Blackened Blade, she could make out that odd feeling. Like her organs were twisted around, her stomach spinning so much she felt she was gonna puke, a terrible headache that split her vision in twain, and a stabbing sensation perceived against her chest. The boundary of the known universe had effectively shattered, not just figuratively, but literally, as the scenery laid before her was that of sight out a fantasy story.
In contrast to the gloomy apocalypse of the three boroughs surrounding New York City, now, they were here, having walked all the way to see some semblance of green… a glimmer of hope keeping them alive for the future of this world. And now, as her black strands of lengthy locks moved with the wind's flow, the near Autumn laid out an adventure for them. Dragons seemed to fly overhead just under the clouds, with the distances silhouette of humans riding on their backs, a train soaring right past as fast as a bullet along those tracks.
However, that too, was quite in the distance, for the area around them both to their right and left were placed houses of decent sizes. Peeking out the doors were human faces of different complexions. Black, white, tanned Hispanic, in the end, the color of their skin didn't matter in this new world where hybrids were normalized. Revealing themselves from the shadows insides of their homes, Katie couldn't believe her eyes. Something out of a Greek myth, with a beard over his lips and long hair to his back, his lower half had completely been that of a horse. In other words, a literal centaur right before her eyes as if she were peering into the destroyed records of Greek mythology,
"What the hell…" Said Moon in astonishment with a sparkle in her dark-blue eyes,
But that wasn't all. The longer she stood there, paralyzed in a state between confusion and astonishment, the more civilians started pouring out their homes. Humans with ant-like hind legs and same with that of arms, antenna poking out their temples, some with thicker arms like wolves, claws poking out the tips of their fingers while their tails wagging. All of them gathering around her and her comrades, Kate stepping back at a quickening pace, she unsheathed her blade and revealed the tip of the Crow's Blackened Blade radiating with a certain scarlet hue, sparking rapidly like lightning.
Just as she was about to slash away at the hybrids gathering around her frightened figure, a calming voice has spouted only one word before it all came crashing down,
"Dreams~"
Just like that, she fell right to the concrete road between these houses, just moments away from cracking her head against the pavement. Luckily for her, Ace came to her rescue catching her head just then, crouched downward, with one hand extended out to the crowd,
"STEP BACK! I'm not afraid to kill all of you…" Ace's pale skin was riddled with goosebumps, not to mention sweat endlessly dripping off the secret pores locked into his skin.
All in all, Ace was a pretty terrible liar, to say the least, however, the thing about this was; none of the residents showed any sign of activating a technique. Their shadows cast over the ginger, yet their murmurs of confusion remained, until he emerged from the crowd, just right through the center. Donning a hood that shielded their eyes, Wilder could make out the distinct coloration of them… bright enough to almost light a whole city, there was no mistaking it; he'd seen it in his memories before.
Not of his own, but through Eternal Sight engraved into his father's eye sockets, as he sheathed the hood from over his face, he recognized the man before him. With long flowing black hair kept in a ponytail, the lengthiness of a single kept-together strand leaning down his back, while dark blue eyes radiated outward with a signature shine… clean-shaven face, he couldn't help but chuckle,
"You recognize me, do ya? Funnily enough, I'd never even met your father- not truly, anyway. Allow me to introduce myself, Mr. Wilder," The cloaked man bowed in the presence of the new arrivals, his shroud flying off his body, pupils shining like the Moon's lunar illumination in the dead of the night,
"Welcome to Evolutionary City, my name is Hanniel Griffith. Please, allow me to guide you to your lodgings for your stay."
Evolutionary City Arc - Start!