It was hot. Scorching. The heat pressed down on him like a physical weight, the sun glaring relentlessly from above, its radiance gleaming across the endless golden desert. Each step sent sharp aches pain through his feet to his body, the coarse sand grinding against his skin with every movement. He had lost track of time, he had been walking for too long. Too much time had passed.
The patchwork blanket wrapped around him did little to shield him from the harsh elements. A mismatched array of dirty cloth scraps, it clung to his pale frame, offering neither comfort nor protection. Another gust of wind picked up, sending a spray of stinging sand into his face. It hurt.
He paused, turning to look behind him.
It was still there, the beast.
Something like a wolf, though not entirely. It towered over him, even on all fours, its form rippling and distorting with every step as though it were not bound by the same rules of reality as he was. Its fur, a shifting black mass, looked less like fur and more like liquid shadows spilling and reforming endlessly.
He tried remembering, he had tried to run from it, he didn't know why he even tried, had he gone mad at that time? It was obvious he could never outrun it. He remembered he sprinted across the dunes. But no matter how far or fast he went, it followed. Unyielding. Tireless. Now, he saw no point in running. He saw no point in walking. but he kept at it anyway, his walk for eternity.
The boy kept in his march through the endless desert, though stretching around him in every direction. He looked upward, squinting against the sun's harsh glare. It hung there, unwavering in its intensity, mocking him with its inescapable heat that damn light it was as if it were alive, at that he stopped looking closer at the ball of fire.
A low, silent growl rumbled through the air, was the beast angry he stopped. He turned just as the beast pounced. It moved with impossible speed, closing the distance between them in an instant. He tried to dodge, but it was futile. The wolf collided with him, pinning him to the ground effortlessly.
The boy struggled, his arms pushing against its massive form, but it was like trying to lift a mountain. His breathing quickened, his chest rising and falling as he braced for the inevitable teeth tearing into flesh, claws ripping through him. He shielded his face with his hands, ready to fight to his last breath.
But nothing happened.
The beast didn't bite. It didn't claw. It didn't harm. It simply laid on him, its immense weight pressing him into the scorching sand.
He moved his arms cautiously. The wolf's fur, if it could even be called that, was cold. Not just cold, but soothing, a stark contrast to the unforgiving desert heat. The chill seeped into his body, wrapping around him like a balm against the searing sun.
The boy felt his muscles relaxing despite himself. The wolf's touch was familiar and comforting in a way he couldn't explain. He wasn't used to this feeling this strange relief from pain.
The beast shifted slightly, its massive head lowering to meet his gaze. Six eyes stared down at him, three on each side void-like and unfathomable. Those eyes bore into him, deeper than flesh, as though peering into the very core of his being.
And then, it growled again, a deep rumble that vibrated through its body and into his own. The sound wasn't threatening, but he could feel the judgment in it, as though the creature had seen his soul and didn't like what it found.
Even so, he couldn't bring himself to fear it even when he knew he should. and that fact only scared him more.
The wolf exhaled through its nose, a cool breeze brushing against his face. It was soft, soothing, and he closed his eyes. The heat, the sand, the ache in his feet all of it faded. There was only the cold comfort of the beast, its presence both oppressive and calming. He felt himself drifting, sleepy, he fought against, but i was to much. his eyes closed.
"What's their status?" a voice asked, muffled but distinct, like a whisper slipping through thick walls.
"Stable," another voice replied, accompanied by the steady rhythm of a beeping monitor. "The GN serum is integrating well. They're conscious."
A faint thud echoed, followed by footsteps growing louder.
"Good. I want them to meet their future comrades in arms. Come... " small footsteps were heard as the beeping noise got louder turning into a pounding, like the heart beating in one's chest.
"." The words faded into static, and Clip's consciousness began to stir but nothing made sense just echoes of screams, the clash of steel, and a blinding light. A pounding rhythm overtook the beeping, turning into the thunder of countless hooves.
Clip jolted awake, his vision blurry and his senses dulled. His eyes adjusted to the sight of an ocean, no, the sky, churning like water. Shapes swam through its vast expanse, alien creatures gliding in the currents.
He tried to move but chains bound his body, and he sat atop a white-armored horse, its movements unnervingly smooth. Around him were knights clad in pristine white, their glimmering armor a stark contrast to the crimson-red ground. Behind them, bodies in black, jagged armor were chained to horses, dragged across the jagged terrain.
'Obviously, this body wasn't human, ether but then again those allies didn't look very human ether' he thought. 'Are they going to come back? Is that why they're chained?' finally he came to the conclusion that escape was meaningless, he couldn't fight chained and he definitely couldn't outrun a horse he also doubted he'd get far with beams of light being shot at him.
Clip craned his neck to look over his shoulder and was met with strands of pure white hair, whipping into his helmet's narrow slit. Annoyed, he turned back to the dragged corpses.
"I thought you wouldn't wake," a soft voice broke through the silence. It was soothing yet edged with something unreadable. "Your reawakening was... slow. For a moment, I thought you had chosen to stay dead. Just to spite us."
Clip didn't respond, his eyes remaining fixed on the strange terrain. The ground beneath them was unlike anything he'd seen before, red formations that looked like bleeding wounds in the earth. Above, the oceanic sky swirled with shapes too alien to comprehend
"You're quieter than I expected. No curses? No threats? Or is this silence born of defiance?" she mused, her tone almost playful.
He felt a strange part of him wanting to speak but Clip stayed silent the more he looked around the more the land looked devastated, in the distance two mountains their topes seemed to curve in on themselves as if a slash parted on to make two.
The knight sighed, as though disappointed by his lack of response. "Your god... and my god. Two sides of a coin, but it seems only one side was destined to win."
At that, Clip scoffed softly. Gods. Religion, in his eyes, was a tool a convenient fiction used to manipulate. But for some reason he felt an anger at her words.
"You fought admirably," she admitted. "For a moment, I thought you might turn the tide. But strength alone isn't enough. Sometimes it's the purpose behind it that matters."
This one-sided conversation continued through the day, it was something Clip found barely interesting his attention was more into the one speaking around him, every now and then he'd hear a sliver of what was happening peacing together a story phrases, like "end of the war" "trial of the god" "last child to execute". Ultimately, he found that the battle he had participated in was considered the last battlefield and the snuffing out of the remnant of a once powerful force.
Occasionally, one of the bodies being dragged behind would twitch and wake up, showing faint signs of life trying to struggle meekly, only to go limp again moments later. The jagged terrain wore away at their armor and chains, but those pieces would grow back not perfectly but they would grow back confirming a few things for him.
As the sun set, the world shifted. The light faded from the sky-ocean above, leaving a dim reflection in the churning waters. The white knight spoke again, her voice quieter now, almost reverent.
"Do you wonder why your god abandoned you?" she asked.
And for a moment Clip's body tensed it felt as though he went completely hollow for a moment and then then sense of anger came back stronger the feeling he wanted to tear this bitches throat out. When the night fully descended, the knights set up camp. The red-clad soldiers tended to the corpses, stabbing them with jagged spears whenever they began to reanimate while others gathered around the fires seeming to eats something without taking their helmets off. The white knights, in contrast, stood like statues, their armor glowing faintly in the dark. All except for the one sitting across from Clip.
"You know," she said softly, gazing into the fire with those mirrors for eyes, "when you're executed, it won't just be you that dies. Your god will perish too." She met his gaze, her tone devoid of mockery. "Doesn't that... concern you?"
That feeling to snap back clawed harder at him now, something inside him wanted to say "I won't let that happen". For the first time, he responded, though his mouth did not move. His voice felt disconnected, projected from somewhere deep within.
"What concern is a god's death to a tool?" he replied. "My purpose ends when my mission does. The rest is irrelevant."
Her expression did not waver, but her silence spoke volumes. She pressed further seeming dissatisfied.
"But if your god is gone, then... what of your purpose? What will you be, then?"
He didn't answer immediately, instead gesturing with a nod toward the red-armored soldiers stabbing reanimating corpses.
"Why aren't they doing that to me?"
Now that he looked back the ones clad in red seemed a bit less advanced still using stone weapons like the jagged spears tips and stone armor and swords, perhaps the red stone was special.
She tilted her head, considering his words. "Because you're still new. Still young like me." She held up her caved in helmet, but something was different he saw as the dents were being ever so slight popped into place slowly.
It felt like just another way of calling him weak Clip stood and walked toward a large red rock nearby. The white knight made no move to stop him, as though she knew he had no intention of escape. He kicked the rock, shattering it into fragments, and dragged a smaller piece back to his spot near the fire. He sat down, only for the slab to crack and break beneath him slumping him back to ground level.
A faint snort of laughter escaped her. "Strength isn't everything," she said. "Without direction, without purpose. it's nothing but chaos."
She stood, drawing her blade. With a single, precise swing, she cleaved a nearby rock, shaping it into a smoot seat. She sat down with an air of satisfaction, looking back at Clip only to notice him awkwardly shoving his fingers into the slit of his helmet.
"Wait... when did you get free?" she asked, her voice laced with surprise.
He froze, his hand hovering mid-air, before sliding it back into the chains.
"Well, it's not exactly like I can do much bound like this," he said plainly as if he didn't just slip out of his chains.
The grounding of dirt against palm was heard and Clip turned to face the noise he saw clearly a pack of creatures on all fours their arms longer then their bodies as they crawled around seeming to try to be sneaky and failing at it. White turned and looked to were Clip was looking and immediately had her hand to her sword her armor glowed brighter and that seemed to have the creature retreat further back.
A curious act he saw as the light had spread from under the armor to the white plate, the she illuminated the more he saw the dented helmet glow just as brightly as the rest of the armor, he looked at the chain and they grew brightly as well but he also saw something in his himself that glowed but it wasn't a white glow it was like a reveling darkness, curious. He closed off his senses and focused on what was inside pushing everything off and focused on forming what was inside.
"Stop that." The soft voice said with a stern tone
As clip opened his sense again, he found the light around dimed and as his focus broke the shadows retreated and the light came back brighter.
The white knight came back to sit once she saw the monster burro back into the ground the glow that the armor illuminated went back to it's normal glow, she sat on the ground again staring at Clip through his helmet slit as if trying to see what was inside the Erebus armor.
"You may not care for gods or their wars, but you must care for something. Even a tool has a reason for being used, you think yourself nothing but a tool... but I wonder if you fear what comes after your purpose ends. What happens to a weapon with no one left to wield it?"
Clip… remained silent.