"Zeus…?"
Both Rosa and Adelfred could really only take a step back as they felt a sudden pressure weighing down on them, harshly crawling across the back of their neck as the light glowing from Lucian's left eye started to flicker.
If one would remove Lucian's mouse ears that were the size of his head, he truly would only be the size of a large adult male's thumb — and yet right now, it almost felt like they were looking at a colossal creature that could block the entire horizon along with the sky itself.
"S… Sacred Spirit!"
"No, Adelfred!" Rosa quickly covered Adelfred's mouth and prevented him from kneeling. But alas, it was already too late as Lucian's violent glowing eye was already looking at them, "N… no… please, we didn't—"
"Relax." But all of a sudden and without even any transition, the light in Lucian's left eye calmed down; his face, no longer showing any signs of anger or rage, "And why are you so scared, you actually think I would kill or hurt the two of you…?"
"...Yes?" Rosa just took in a small gulp as she decided that the best way to treat Lucian was always to be honest with him.
"Ouch, I'm not some vengeful and petty god that would do that, psh…" Lucian then turned and started slithering away, "No…
…I will just kill you for no apparent reason at all."
"Eep!"
"Mue…muehehe!" Lucian then just started bursting out into an evil fit of laughter; even raising two of his hands to the side as well as the strands of his hair that were carrying the scorpion assassin blade,
"Ha… I'm just kidding, just kidding."
Both Rosa and Adelfred could really only look at each other as Lucian continued to laugh on his own.
"What are you guys still standing around there for?" Lucian then clicked his tongue as he turned around, "And you, lover boy. You'll be carrying the water jugs from now on, we don't want any dead weight here."
"But Lucian, his body still needs to—"
"What his body needs is to move," Lucian once again clicked his tongue as he looked at Adelfred from neck to toe, because he did not want to look at his ugly disfigured face, "If he can kneel and pray, that means he can walk and carry the water…
…or are you saying you can't even do that when your woman has been carrying you across the Wasteland, Freddy boy?"
"..." And without even saying a word, Adelfred just limped toward the jugs of water and started attaching them to his waist.
"My love, are you sure that—"
"This is a test of my devotion to you given by the gods, my love," Adelfred shook his head and stopped Rosa from helping him with the water, "...Let's, let's just continue on."
And with those words, Adelfred went ahead, and although limping and practically just sliding his other leg, there was a certain strength with each of his steps.
"...Is he like that always?" Lucian could really only squint his eyes as he watched Adelfred go, "You don't seem to be a fanatic like him, at least not at the level."
"We don't have the same beliefs," Rosa shook her head, "I believe in the Order of Nature like my mother and father, and their parents before — and so do most Hestians. Adelfred believes in—"
"The Olympians," Lucian whispered out, "The Greek Pantheon."
"The… Greek Pantheon…?" Rosa blinked a couple of times and tilted her head to the side, "But… yes, the Olympians. You... know about them?"
"The version I know might be different from the version you know, Woman."
"I... I see."
"And why don't you believe them?" Lucian gestured to Rosa to start walking before just leaping back onto the top of her head.
"Oh, I believe them — they walk among us," Rosa did not even seem to mind that Lucian just invaded the top of her head as she just started walking, "They are beings of immaculate strength, holding infinite mana in them — but I do not see them as gods, Lucian…
…A god you can see is no different than a man, just infinitely more powerful."
"Ho… I like that," Lucian tapped Rosa's cheek with the side of his scorpion blade several times, causing her to close her eyes and try her best not to 'eep' again, "And…
…where do these Olympians live, exactly?"
"No one knows," Rosa sighed, "Some say they live beyond the wall, and some say they live in the sky."
"The… Wall? What is this, A Song of Ice and Fire?" Lucian squinted his eyes, "What's The Wall?"
"You… do not know what The Wall is, Lucian?"
"Do I look like I know it? Woman, I shot out of my father's dick like only a month ago," Lucian crossed his arms, "I don't know anything about this world."
"...But you said you've been alive for a million years?" Rosa let out a small giggle while gently shaking her head so that Lucian wouldn't fall, "Anyway, the Wall is a giant wall that surrounds Ipiros."
"..."
"I…Ipiros is where we are," Rosa explained before Lucian could ask, because she felt him getting more and more agitated by the second, "The continents of Murcan and Hestia, divided by hate — and the result of that hate is where we stand, the Wasteland."
"Interesting," Lucian squinted his eyes, "Just to be clear… this world isn't flat, right?"
"No… at least we don't believe so?" Rosa let out a small hum, "No one has really gone beyond The Wall."
"Not even the Murcans? They have helicopters powered by fusion reactors," Lucian then crawled down from Rosa's head and onto her arm, leaving Rosa no choice but to just place her hand in front of her so that she and Lucian could talk face to face while walking.
"Hmph," Rosa, however, quickly let out a small harrumph before shaking her head, "We also have ships that fly in the sky, even better — but no, no one has gone beyond The Wall. Our ships, and even the Murcans could only go as high before Nature stops us."
"As in…"
"Our ships fall down without reason, as is intended by Nature," Rosa smiled and nodded.
"...Interesting," Lucian squinted his eyes even further, "And where is this Wall?"
"Hundreds of miles beyond the Ocean of Styx."
"..."
"The… the Ocean of Styx surrounds Ipiros, and then The Wall surrounds the ocean and Ipiros," Rosa cleared her throat, "Some say that the Wall is actually an ancient Sacred Spirit, Ouroborus, a giant snake that swallows its own tail. And that it is asleep now —- but once it wakes up, it will signal the end of the world as we know it…
…since it will continue to devour itself, becoming smaller and smaller until it crushes Ipiros with it."
"Interesting, very interesting," Lucian placed his hand on his chin.
"But of course, that is just what my mom used to tell me when I was a child, and many other mothers tell to their children when they are misbehaving," Rosa chuckled, "Did it scare you, Lucian?"
"Do you want me to eat you first?"
"Eep!"
"If no one could go beyond the sky, then I suppose the Murcans don't have satellites?"
"...Satellites? You mean those things they leave beyond the clouds?"
"Oh, so they do. But—"
"My love? Why did you stop walking?" Rosa then completely strayed her attention away from Lucian as she noticed that Adelfred stopped walking. Lucian also turned around to look at Adelfred, only to see him pointing forward.
And there, some sort of wolf with limbs as tall as Adelfred himself was watching Adelfred; the wolf was almost hairless, making it look… extremely feral. But most importantly, Lucian was looking at the thing hanging between its hind legs.
"Is… that its penis?" Lucian blinked a couple of times as he focused on the wrong thing, "Why…
…is it shaped like a human ar—"
And before Lucian could finish his words, the mutated wolf just suddenly stood up on two legs; its unusually long penis that was shaped like an arm, shooting toward Adelfred without any warning and quickly grabbing him by the face.
"Oh, fuck!"
"A…Adelfred!"