In the streets of Thraven, a flock of seagulls had congregated and were in the midst of stuffing their bellies full of whatever they could find. Naturally, of course, these were not normal seagulls. Normal was a concept that went out the window alongside the giant flaming monster.
These seagulls were larger than a swan, with feathers that glistened with a metallic sheen and beady eyes that were almost popping out of their skulls as they enjoyed their feast.
Their beaks, which were naturally black yet had become stained red through their indulgence, were stout and sharp with serrated edges to give them better tearing power.
They happily gorged themselves on everything in sight, quite literally. The multitude of bodies that littered the streets, lampposts, scattered vegetation and abandoned cars. Their beaks tore apart the metal like it was paper, pulling apart the engine and guzzling down the oil that filled them.
Even the smaller ones of their own kind were not safe, being bit into by larger seagulls that either didn't realise or simply didn't care. They simply ate without any sign of stopping.
An especially chubby looking one, which had just finished devouring an entire minivan and the lamppost it had crashed into, was still feeling hungry. Its beady, onyx eyes darted around until movement caught its attention.
A juicy looking vine had flopped down the side of a nearby building and was still swinging softly from the momentum of its drop.
The gull's tongue slithered out of its beak, licking up the excess oil from its previous feast, before it began to approach the next meal. It was positively starving after all! How could it possibly let this new morsel go?
It approached the swinging vine, opening up its serrated black beak and prepared to fill its gullet when-
KERSPLAT!
It exploded into a glorious salvo of blood, viscera, and partially digested metal scraps. Feathers twinkled in the moonlight as they gently fluttered down to the ground, which now resembled a macabre painting detailing what happens when the chicken tries to cross the road.
A stone hand emerged from the bloody crater where the bird had once stood, gripping the ground and pulling the rest of its body out.
Coal rose from the sunken ground, looking around as the other seagulls let out panicked cries and squawks as they quickly flew away from the thunderous sound of his unexpected arrival. Although some had a more difficult time than others with the bites taken out of them.
"That's supposed to be bad luck, you know. Killing a sea bird."
Cynthia landed with her own splat, yet unlike the inconsiderate bird she quickly rose from the puddle she made and didn't leave a disgusting mess. Naturally, she was talking to the man behind the curtain, the puppeteer that was controlling the golem from 10 floors up.
"Ughhryad."
Is all she got as a response. Seth had been working on some more tricks for his puppeteering, seeing how far he could take it all. Although talking was a subconscious action, it was still difficult to get his loyal puppet to actually say anything more than strained grunts that one would only usually let out when having a challenging time in the bathroom.
"Keep trying buddy, You'll get there. But hey, at least you scared away all the birds. I bet you're used to that, must happen whenever you walk into the room."
"Rrrrngnnht."
She couldn't help but laugh at her own joke and the strained groans she got in response. Quickly Seth gave up trying to talk and had Coal raise his finger in a more understandable, non-verbal response.
While Cynthia was still chuckling to herself, they were joined by the last member of their 'Ropes are for losers' club. The man with jet turbine-like arms slowed himself down, streams of air blasting from the holes in his palms as he slowly descended. A goofy smile was plastered across his face as he couldn't help but feel like Iron Man.
Once he landed, ink flowed into his hand and manifested itself into a cutlass with a yellow eye decorating its crossguard.
With the vanguard in place and rangers at the ready at the top of the vine, the others could finally start their descent. One by one, slowly but surely climbing down the glistening vine.
Oddly enough, the vine itself was wet to the touch and squelched slightly with every grip, yet no matter how much of those glistening juices they got on their hands, their grip never faltered. In fact it was easier to grip onto it yet their hands didn't feel sticky in the slightest.
That contrasting feeling was, for many, the strangest part of climbing down the side of their work building in the middle of an apocalypse.
While Seth was waiting for his turn to descend, he could help but look over the collection of different weapons this ragtag group had at their disposal. There were mostly swords and axes with a few daggers and even a bow with a quiver of quill shaped arrows, although the user of said bow was an absolutely dreadful shot.
'Why are they always old style weapons? Will we ever get a gun?'
[No. You will never receive a gun as a Requital. Projectile weapons will always be given in a form that requires adequate skill to use.]
'That seems a little unfair…'
[I am here to guide you, I am not your babysitter, so do not expect to be coddled. We do not stop you from using your existing guns, nor do we stop you from making your own. But we will not reward their use either.
While many can be skilled with ballistic weapons, they do not require skill to use them. A monkey could kill something with a gun. A corpse holding one in its hand and being shocked could kill something.
Therefore they have been deemed unproductive in furthering your progress.]
Seth clicked his tongue in annoyance at Angel's insistence on the matter, but he had to admit they were right. Guns were the big equaliser. In the old world, plenty of toddlers had even killed people with them without realising what they were doing.
But even if he could understand the reasoning, it wouldn't stop him sulking about it. Guns would have made this much easier. For once in his life, he was jealous of the Americans.
Then again, they had limited ammo so their use would also be limited. Arrows could be retrieved and used again. But bullets? Even if you dug them out of a corpse, they were nothing more than useless lumps of metal.
If he had been given a gun as his first weapon, there was no doubt he would have spent its ammo by now and be left with nothing more than a gun shaped club. Still would have been cool, though…
Letting out another sigh, it was finally his turn to shuffle down the vine, so while he performed that mindless task he instead focused more of his attention on Coals eyes.
He scanned the empty street, somewhat thankful for the scavenger birds that had cleared it out after the more active hunters had had their fun.
Trailing his eyes over the rows of abandoned or crashed cars, he couldn't help but shake his head at the state of them. Further away, where the scavengers hadn't touched. He could still see some bodies.
Some were sitting in their cars having died from collision or some creature that had slaughtered them without mercy. Some cars were still intact while others were torn apart, some from the outside and but a few were ripped apart from the inside by monstrous passengers desperate to escape.
The wrecks, the bodies, the little red man, the overgrown foliage of roadside trees and bushes. It was a depressing sight. It was… Wait… Little red man?
He quickly scanned the sight again, his brain finally catching up with his eyes and needing to double check what they saw. The anomaly amongst the destruction.
Dozens of metres away, standing atop an overturned delivery truck was a figure clad in red. No, not dressed in red. Their very skin was crimson like freshly spilled blood.
Even at this distance, he could tell that they couldn't be more than 4 metres tall. Stubby legs, gangly arms that reached down to their bulging knees.
A long crooked nose and what looked like pointed ears so large that they drooped slightly under their own weight.
Their mouth was filled with pearly white, jagged teeth that were plain to see as they displayed them with a grin so wide it almost reached their ears and overflowed with sadistic pleasure as it watched the group.
Seth finally made it to the bottom of the vine, followed by the final member Sirius, as he looked at the strange being that was watching them. He wasn't the only one who noticed it either.
"What is that?"
"Is it a monster?"
"M-maybe it's a person?"
"Of course it's not! Look at it!"
Conflicting voices emerged from the crowd, but they were quickly shut down by another. Not a member of their group, but by the stranger themselves.
It grinned even wider as it arched its back and opened its mouth wide, Its chest rose as it sucked in the air hungrily, before letting out a blood curdling scream. Yet it wasn't one of fear nor of rage. It was a scream of excitement of what was to come.
It let out its war cry, eager to drive fear into the hearts of its new victims.
But unfortunately for them, they weren't the only ones who heard it. As the creature finished its war cry, it gave them one last sadistic look before hopping off the truck out of sight.
Yet before any of them could even breathe a sigh of relief, the ground began to tremble.