The man knelt by the second grave, the makeshift cross leaning awkwardly in the dry, decayed soil. With slow, deliberate movements, he began to dig, his hands moving methodically, brushing aside what was once earth but now felt like dust beneath his fingertips. The sun hung high, casting a pale, sterile light over the desolate landscape, but he paid it no mind.
After a while, he hit something solid. Another skull. He lifted it gently, the brittle bone fragile in his calloused hands. He stared at it for a moment, as if weighing the significance of what lay before him — what was left of the person whose name had long been forgotten. Without hesitation, he slid the skull into the same bag where the first rested, the two now together again in death as they once were in life.
He stood, his boots sinking slightly into the sand as he looked down at the empty graves. They lay dug out, hollow and barren, much like the world around him. No more prayers, no more memories. Nothing but silence.
The wind picked up, swirling the dust around his feet as he pulled the bag over his shoulder and turned back the way he came. His path lay ahead, stretching out into the endless desert. The horizon was a barren line separating the endless sky from the ocean of sand beneath it. No buildings. No sounds of life. Only the faint whistle of the wind and the muted crunch of his footsteps as he moved.
It was a world of solitude, as if everything had disappeared, leaving him alone in this sea of nothingness.
"Me and the Professor will save this world," he whispered to himself, the words barely audible against the stillness. "Even a world without faith... can still have hope."
The sky began to change as he walked, the sun slowly sinking toward the horizon. Its light dimmed, casting long shadows across the landscape, painting the desert in hues of deep orange and purple. The world grew even quieter, the silence more profound as the day transitioned into night.
But he didn't stop. There was no reason to. He continued walking, his gaze lifting toward the distant horizon where the last remnants of daylight faded. The sun set, but he kept moving, his thoughts quiet, his mission clear.
He said nothing as the darkness began to envelope the world, his silhouette now just a shadow against the dimming sky. And still, he walked, disappearing into the desert.
The world was quiet.
And he walked on.
END OF CHAPTER 59