A blood-curdling screech echoed in the dim caverns for a short moment before the characteristic sound of burning flesh overtook it.
Light steps could be heard moments later as a relatively handsome young man strolled through the caverns curiously looking around.
"Strange…" He frowned, noticing the distinct lack of miasma in his surroundings.
A white dressing shirt under a black vest accompanied by black leather pants and combat boots adorned the young man, his crimson blade matched his eyes barely visible through the gas mask.
He wore a blood veil functioning as a long dark coat of sorts.
He doesn't look like it but he is a researcher, at least he calls himself such. He was studying to become one, just like his father, before the collapse happened.
Louis' wander came to a halt when he found himself at the edge of a pit with no end in sight. He didn't stop exactly because of the fall but due to the lack of miasma. The young researcher already had a few ideas about why that is.
And as if the world wanted to confirm it, he saw a pair of revenants exploring the caverns at the other side of the pit, they were way many levels under his so he had the perfect view of them while remaining hidden, mostly.
Even with a revenant's enhanced perception, it was too hard for him to discern the duo. He only noticed them because one of them was making quite the ruckus with his bayonet. With a pair of goggles, Louis managed to understand the strange situation with the miasma.
"This… hahaha. I cannot believe it!" His guesses based on pure logic and forethought were blown out of the water by a scene that could only happen in fantasy.
The little detour he had taken once he discovered that his usual secretive passage had been covered in rubble turned out to be his way to possibly finding a solution to all of his problems.
…
"Hahahahahaha! I had my doubts but you really can take off your mask!" Oliver joyously laughed as he sat beside the recently purified mistle, the magical plant that purified miasma. "Don't you love it? The clean air?!"
He was acting like a child who just tasted candy for the first time.
"Well… it is humid…" Although Adam didn't seem to share his enthusiasm. He actually winced once he took off the mask.
The miasma might be gone, but the smell of the dark waters beneath the rubble which had been tainted by blood, guts, spoiled food, and many chemicals wasn't pleasant. The recently awakened revenant guessed that Oliver's twisted perception of fresh air came from the idea that breathing without the mask won't turn him into a grotesque monster.
'But then again, expecting clean air in the apocalypse is wishful thinking.' He was contemplating putting the mask back on as it blocked most smells with his blood.
"Is your hand alright?" Oliver asked when he saw Adam still extending his hand forward.
"I'm fine. This is nothing." The way he had his hand made him seem like he was examining his injury, though his purpose was different.
'Hope that Louis saw it all because it's time to keep moving.' With possibly having one of his objectives cleared, meeting Louis, Adam wanted to keep their quick yet steady pace to see if he could save someone. 'Pretty sure that Louis would have no trouble keeping up if we haul ass to the general direction where the Blood Spring should be.'
"Alright. Gotta keep moving!" With Adam's words, the broad smile on Oliver vanished.
His eyes widened as he remembered Io and another thing. "Oh right!" Not wearing a mask underground meant nothing but a death sentence, so when such a consequence disappeared he got a bit too excited. "Better keep moving." He nodded, putting his gas mask on.
However, Oliver's determination faded soon after.
'Too late… I was too late.' In just a few minutes, the duo found themselves in a rather big cavern with littered bodies of Lost. The center was weirdly devoid of corpses except for a former revenant on his knees with stumps for arms. Many scraps of weird metal laying on the floor around him. Adam could see the slight movements from one of the twins he had seen on the surface earlier, the ones he had seen many times from the beasts in human form…
"...you shouldn't be here…" The brunette muttered as his hands trembled, turning into tight fists trembling with too many emotions to show.
"RE-" Oliver's calling was cut short by Adam, he extended his arm to stop him from running towards the body in the center of the cavern and shook his head. "...are… are you sure?" The brunette asked with a voice on the edge of breaking between gritted teeth, clenching the handle of his hammer with indignation.
"...yes."
"Dammit…" With a deep breath, Oliver began to drag himself behind Adam who had begun his approach to the twin with steady steps, stabbing a few of the corpses lying on the ground right through the chest with his bayonet.
The beasts in human form could only hiss as they were killed before even fully waking up. Adam had gotten better at analyzing his opponents with his eyesight to the point that he could distinguish between the dormant Losts and the ones that were only resting. From their chest moving during their breathing and the twitching in their limbs whenever he got close to them.
He only keeps getting surprised by his visual capabilities. The moment he saw Louis take out goggles to watch them from afar, Adam realized that he had underestimated his own eyesight too much.
This was also the reason Adam was at the front and not Oliver despite the latter being a tank. Better get rid of the fake dormant Lost than having to deal with a horde the moment Oliver crushes one.
"Ren…" Oliver whispered once he got near the kneeling revenant, only stopping ever so slightly when he didn't get a response. But steeled himself and got closer slowly, almost dragging his feet, seemingly in fear of what he was about to see... a broken mask hugging his comrade's face giving full view of his pale face, gaining a purple tinge all over. Black veins ran around beneath his skin, the corrupted and sickened blood showing through. It was now a dormant Lost, nobody knew when he would wake up, it could be now or a year later.
There was a pause before a depressing sigh left his mouth, Oliver's hands moved swiftly around the neck of Ren and grabbed his necklace before walking back beside Adam who had the tip of his bayonet's blade pointed at the chest of the dormant Lost.
The kind-hearted revenant carefully wrapped the necklace in some cloth before putting it away in his chest pouch, a place that he will protect with his life.
"...do it."
Adam nodded and stabbed Ren through the chest and the duo silently watched as he turned to ashes.
A vestige is left in place.
{Yami! Remember, we were humans too!!!…}
A distorted voice came from an ominous crimson crystal. The voice creepy resounded inside the listener's head.
'Should I?...' Adam wondered if it would be right to take the crystal… but given Oliver's emotional state at the moment, he refrained from doing so. The crystal would still be there, after all, he is the only one capable of touching it without turning Lost.
Besides, Louis is should be watching them. He would probably jump in if they needed help.
No words were exchanged and only steps could be heard as both of them exited the cave through a government issue ladder. Adam noticed the destruction around the edge which is a sign of Ren's last struggle, but he didn't comment on it.
"Revenants lose memories when they die, although not many know that they lost them… most remain unaware of it until it is too late," Oliver said quietly, walking behind his new comrade. "We only realized this when the ones we knew stopped being themselves. When they started… dying…"
Adam kept his pace.
"Would you still wish to take back your memories even if it meant remembering how much you lost? Don't you ever just want it to stop… hurting?" He spoke with a hitch in his voice.
Oliver asked a question that would've surely been answered with a resounding "yes" from Oliver himself, or at least Adam guessed as such. 'Didn't think that the death of that twin would affect him that much…'
Adam stopped right in his tracks and faced the other revenant. "When we were still humans, when we still had to face our mortality, everyone wanted to leave a 'legacy' of sorts. An image of greatness for future leaders to amount to, goodwill to pass on to strangers that will make people more willing to help each other, stories and tales of wonder that will inspire children to improve, to be curious and adventurous, heroes even.
The superhero in your childhood who made you want to become a stronger person, the old man who shared his last meal with you, the one who you respected and looked up to tell you to not give up.
We are not humans anymore, but we can't forget our humanity, even if it hurts. Our memory means much more than you think. It hurts when I try to remember, but that won't stop me." Adam ended his little monologue with a fist bump lightly hitting Oliver's chest, where Ren's necklace was guarded.
'A bit too cheesy…' The young man internally groaned. It was too wishy-washy and thankfully the mask hid most of his expression, but Oliver needed those kinds of words.
'They are not from Cerberus, that I am sure of.' Louis observed from afar, not wanting to reveal himself. His heat vision came in handy in the almost pitch-black caverns.
He might've approached if the one with purifying blood was alone. He was sure that both of them were thralls being used like slaves by some despicable trafficker. People whose blood and flesh have been turned to ash by his crimson blade.
The blood veils and rusted weapons gave that much away. Besides, there is no way Cerberus would waste resources to take back the underground. There are better places on the surface.
The desperation and need for a partner to survive in this place would have pushed Adam to partner with Louis without the need for an unnecessary standoff. But given that he was with the hammer wielder, Oliver, Adam didn't need more help. It would be too suspicious for him to offer help out of nowhere.
'Besides, he might've already noticed me…' Louis had already drawn a scarily accurate picture of the situation with only his observation skills.
From the way Adam brandished his weapons, Louis could tell that he didn't have much experience evidently but could pick up and use any weapon around him. Making some questionable decisions despite having such swordsmanship and marksmanship meant one of two things.
1st. He is a dumbass
2nd. He had just woken up or revived after an arduous fight.
Given that he was also a thrall and was somehow sent down to collect resources with only one partner meant that his captors also knew nothing about his special blood. They would've surely come down with Adam to take the dried Blood Spring for themselves if they knew… although there was a possibility that Adam's blood would not affect the tree. That is something Louis would have to confirm for himself.
Another point that proved his 2nd theory was the fact that Adam hadn't used any gifts and was seemingly trying to learn how. Revenants might forget about their past but they don't completely forget how to fight, mostly due to muscle memory. So it's not uncommon for them to know how to swing a sword but have to relearn some of their Gifts that require prior knowledge of certain concepts.
Aside from him apparently only having a high awareness of his surroundings, no other special trait had been displayed.
The idea that he had been noticed had been in his mind when he analyzed Adam's capabilities. But that held little to no water due to the inaction of Adam. He almost decided to not reveal himself as he already had collected Adam's blood and with help of Coco, he could track him down. But the chance of getting someone who can purify mistles was too good to pass up and leave for later
…
*bang* *bang* *bang* *bang*
sHouldN'T gRaB iT CuZ It WouLD Be meAN
*click*
thAT VEsTige COuLd wAit a LItTle LoNGer
*bang* *bang* *bang* *bang*
-wait, don't I need Io to extract blood codes? At least for the first time?... Oh My God, I actually forgot about that!
*click*
What a goddamm dumbass!!!
*bang* *bang* *bang* *bang*
I was a good shot in my past mortal life, but that keen accuracy became easily my worst in my new revenant life.
I quickly reloaded my bayonet with inhumane precision and dexterity before raining death on my enemies. But still, the damn slimes, that came from who knows where, are hell-bent on ruining everybody's day.
Seriously, where did these damned dollar-store Grimers originate from? They don't even turn to ashes after getting 60% of their body disintegrated! They aren't even categorized as a Lost!
*bang*
What
*bang*
The
*bang*
Fu*k?
*bang*
Did those scientists get bored while creating immortality? Did they think that making acidic sentient blobs was a good idea? Did they think that creating those microwaved playdoh fu*kers was somehow contributing to society with their great powers of destroying valuable architecture??
*click-*
"Shit, out of ammo!" I had already used all my ichor cartridges and slimes have no blood, therefore no ichor… we might be fucke-
"Fuah&$%#%!" A screech from a wandering Lost climbing from the side of the cliff was heard by yours truly. Moved by his act of kindness, I gave him a hand and pulled him up before stomping his windpipe and stabbing the blade of my bayonet in his heart of gold, then clawed him with the blood veil for good measure before he turned to ashes. You can never have too much ichor.
What an absolute mad lad he was. Will miss him dearly.
Using the blood of a hero, I shot the last remaining slimes. If they got any closer they might have jeopardized our crossing. Can't have them damage the infrastructure of this place anymore.
"Little help here!!" Oliver shouted as he stopped two giant swords from cutting him in half… two halves, actually.
Wait, isn't that the same-
*Klanck!*
"AdAm!!" He cried once again.
"Just retreat, don't test that bridge anymore!"
He took two more attacks before jumping back and rolling to my side, getting off the shaky stone junction that connected to what looked like a rundown government facility.
"Oh man, got any ichor on you?" Oliver grunted and shook his hands, getting rid of the numbness in them.
"Yup." I reached the collar of my blood veil and took out a small cartridge connected to it. "Just got done refilling it."
"Thanks."
Oh well, without the threat of the slimes melting the bridge that we want to cross, we could finally deal with the real problem. The Keeth and Frampt-looking asses.
Though I'm sure they are called Snouted Wanderers or something like that. They look like anthropomorphic moles that work out a lot, never skip leg day, and also have the Redditor posture.
Not a pretty sight. They also do have their skin somehow mutated with a blood veil or some kind of cloth which makes it look like they stayed in the sauna too long.
Man, I like having hawkeye vision on steroids and super-powered rifles that make rudimentary windows on demand in concrete walls, even if the one I have is kinda busted, but seeing this monster is just… I kinda wish my eyesight wasn't as good as it is.
Also, did I say that the snouted wanderers look like moles who hit the gym 150 hours per week? Well, one of them looks like it takes fu*king roids and eats primordial serpents for protein. Must be because it has a rotten mistle on its back.
Now, how did that happen? How did that get there, did it accidentally dig under a mistle by accident?
No idea.
But all you need is kill and I shall follow that duty thoroughly.
"Leave the big boi to me. Pretty sure you can deal with the other on your own." The big one is ironically faster than the smaller one.
Oliver nodded, "...just…don't risk it too much, I will help you when I'm done." He has seen by himself now that I've gotten more in tune with my new senses, I'm almost untouchable. Even so, he has gotten a bit overprotective.
But I would say that after all that has happened, we are in the bro phase of our relationship. Feels good to be trusted.
*bang*
I shot the big snouted monster in the eye but the bastard moved just enough for the bullet to only hit the temple of its skull and proceeded to charge at me on four like a damn animal.
I was surprised that it still had more than half of its face. But It completely ignored Oliver and ran at me, so the first issue was solved.
Good.
Guess that I made it mad by trying to blind it. Kinda weird that a mole-looking bastard would be this mad about sight out of all things though.
Its claws easily dug into the ground, and the momentum it gained in such a short distance was rather frightening, but compared to the battle IQ of the shield lost I've fought before, this beast was predictable.
With a swift roll to the side, the monster passed by and I managed to sneak in a shot to its muscled arm when it tried to claw my side the moment I got out of the way.
Getting into position again, I began to aim again but the sword flying at Mach 1 speed towards my direction told me that moving was my only option at the moment unless I wanted to be a kebab. One sidestep and a shot to the leg of the incoming monster was enough to make it buckle.
The beast was three times my size and was smart enough to protect its sensory organs and heart, so I needed an opening.
*bang*
Another injury on its wounded arm stopped it from protecting its heart.
I was getting the hang of fighting in this new body. That and the talent I've taken from the original owner did wonders too. The fast decision-making in the heat of battle, seconds that didn't feel longer but something akin to attaining a certain clarity. Like going from 30 fps to 120 fps. The seconds don't last long but I could process a lot more than before.
Such a wonderful feeling.
Inflicting an injury on one arm in a successful exchange, making the enemy tumble with a shot on the leg the moment it let go of its weapon and capitalizing on the injured arm to make it stop protecting its main weakness.
Not more than 7 seconds had passed.
With my new intellectual and cognitive capabilities, I had made a perfect scenario where the chances of my opponent's survival were marginally 0%.
I stabbed the blade deep into its chest and pulled the trigger so the last bullet of ichor could fulfill its role.
*clunck-*
Well, it seems like I'm not good at math.
*cli-cli-cl-*
Of-F*cking-Course The C*ck Sucker Jamms JAMES JAMESON GODAM-
*-whom!*
And like this, I realized that attaining 'clarity' didn't translate to immunity from being at my wit's end!
Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity to fuck up someone else's day, would you take it?
YES.
Seeing the twisted claws directed at my chest, I stubbornly trade them with a slash on the monster's eye using my spare glaive.
"F*ck You!" I jumped back and rolled on the ground with terrible chest pain. "Just… *cough* seriously… go f*ck yourself… ughhh." I told no one in particular.
I know my bayonet has seen better days. It should be able to shoot 16 bullets but the magazine is busted, good thing I can still use ichor cartridges that give me 4 shots, and the tubes that let the user use their own ichor aren't in working condition, but still… it hasn't jammed that bad before.
I've never been told "fu*k you, b!tch" to the face by lady luck so blatantly.
"Oh." A nasty big purple foot wanted to turn my skull into dust, an unwanted outcome I must say.
"Not getting murked by Keeth!" I rolled on the ground and avoided a few more stomps from Frampt before realizing that I was about to fall off a cliff. "Ah, crapbaskets…"
The snouted beast didn't have time to exploit my vulnerable situation as a rush of flames hit its back.
"A&@GH?@" A pained shrill escaped its atrophied mouth as the flame burned his flesh, this made it commit a horrible mistake, turning its back to me.
With a swift swig on the back of its injured leg, it fell on one knee and made it easy for me to climb on its back to make a hole in its burned torso with my blood veil.
I made my actions as quick and efficient as I could to not get burned, and yet the flames avoided me as if they didn't want to hurt me.
Guess it's not called Prometheus, the God of fire, for nothing.
Neat.
Flames surrounded me for an instant before I saw them open a path in front of me. And goddamn I saw Louis approach me like Moses himself to deliver me from this hell.
A slick entrance, respect that.
Now, if I ignore how a fuc*ing Amaterasu flame flickered on his hand the moment we made eye contact, I would say that I feel safe surrounded by his flames.
"Thanks for the help, man," I said to Louis then, smooth as jazz, he strolled out of his little trance and held his hand forward as the flames died down.
"You're welcome. I'm Louis Amamiya, by the way." The man spoke with the etiquette expected from someone who spent his childhood buried in books, studying to become a doctor.
Heh, quite the opposite of his messy black hair.
I took his offer and stood up, "Adam Hart, nice to meet ya!"
"Adam! YoualrightIsawfire- oh!"
"The big guy is Oliver," I pointed at the brunette running towards us and then at my savior, "meet Louis over here!"
__________________________
Word Count: 3,835
The Amaterasu flame part is an exaggeration. But given the crazy stuff that happens in Code Vein, a flame with such power wouldn't be a rare occurrence.
Also, I kind of forgot to change how Oliver's blood veil should look a bit more like tactical armor since it's really damn dumb that blood veils don't protect your heart…