August had no time to celebrate his freedom from the forest, there was too much to think about. On one hand, he was now in new territory which could be more dangerous than the forest, whilst he was also carrying his dying friend.
He was now under open sky, which made him prey to the reptilian birds that roamed the skies. While they were beasts August could dispatch with little to no effort, even the lion was injured by a swarm.
Even so, he continued on desperately, his body may have been reinvigorated, but his mind was tired, his heart now had much more strength to pump with, but each beat forced him to think on the passage of time.
Alia's body had returned to normal temperature, but the blood soaking through his sweater told him she had not been healed.
She was breathing raggedly, so much so that August wondered if one would be her last. He really hoped not, he had just gotten her back, having her die once again was too cruel.
He carried on into the new environment, a large plain, littered with grassy hills. Strangely enough, there seemed to be no creatures wandering it, though that did not stop him from remaining vigilant.
The sky was totally black, with a single glimmer in the distance, which August marched towards without slowing.
At some point before, he had stopped riding the flat of his blades. It became much too apparent that Alia could no longer handle the quick and violent movement. Now though, he wondered if he could try once more with her newly bettering condition.
Her pale face was covered in dried blood and scratches, during their travels before, she had not risked washing her cuts whenever they came across a river, or even drank from them for that matter. They did not know what kind of bacteria were present in the waters of the forest, so it was an unnecessary risk to take.
So instead, they simply relied on the fruits for both nutrition and water, neither of which were present in enough abundance to sustain them. Fruits could also be poisoned, but they also carried sustenance along with water, it was an easy choice.
But, they had still both gone without proper nutrients for over an entire month. August would be lying if he said that cooking the meat of creatures was something he had not considered, but lighting a fire in the forest was something akin to beacon for trouble. Not like they had the capacity to do it anyways.
Pushing through the gnawing hunger and thirst, he carried on.
After what felt like hours, August came to what seemed to be a dirt road heading towards the glimmering light. A small light of hope suddenly ignited in his heart, and he carried on, walking along the road with both glee and anticipation.
Roads– if you could call this crudely dug up walkway a road, were only built by one kind of creature, and that was humans. August had not met any humans other than Alia in the past few weeks, and those weeks had felt like years.
He stared down at Alia for another moment, making sure the girl was still breathing. Being finally free from the forest had lifted an unseen weight from his shoulders, allowing him to think without worry.
And since he now had time to do that, he realized that the girl in his arms was the only reason he was still alive.
From caring for him whilst he slept to searching for food and starving herself so he could eat. She had also fought the behemoth for him and allowed him to escape, suffering gruesome and consecutive injuries for days on end.
He had to admit, when they had first met, she was keeping him alive.
Now however, it would not be a stretch by any means to say the redhead was his equal. She may have been physically superior to him, but he also had a versatility she couldn't hope to match. Over the course of their time together, Alia and him had learned to coordinate these two things in such a way that they could operate as a single unit.
Firing that connection was unusually easy for him, especially considering his past track record. August struggled to form close bonds in the past, but now, this single girl had shown him that all it took was a little effort.
She was the only friend he ever made, and she had fought for him countless times, so he was not going to fail to repay the favor now.
He continued along the dirt road, climbing over one last hill as he gazed ahead. His eyes widened suddenly, and he almost thought he was hallucinating.
Before him, there was a vast grassland plain, and erected from the ground was a walled city.
Giant limestone walls lined with what seemed to be modified catapults, the light of torches burning brightly above them, bathing the golden grass ahead in orange light.
He looked far over the limestone ramparts, and took in the sight of a beautiful city.
The buildings were built with limestone bricks, and closely resembled that of earth's, multiple stories, square windows and elegant balconies. For a second, it felt like home. Got a single, fleeting moment, August felt as though he had finally come home.
The city was split right down the middle by what seemed to be a man-made canal, which converged into many smaller streams and ponds, then disappeared below the surface.
His eyes tapered down through streets that seemed to be made of crude asphalt and bricks, even streetlights glowed along the roads of the city. It was truly a civilization of humans, he could finally be around people again.
A few hundred feet in front of him, large stone gates were erected, presumably to keep out the beasts that wandered this world.
But all August could think about, was getting his friend help.
So he rushed forward, gliding down the hill with unfamiliar precision, deciding to simply bound down it to save himself the discomfort. The dark forest had not been fully level by any means, but the hilled nature of this grassland plain was far removed from what he had grown used to.
As he moved forward, he realized something odd. In front of the city, a single person stood. Looked down upon by who August presumed to be the guards of the limestone city.
The person had long, blonde hair that came down to the waist, they were tall and lanky, with arms that seemed simply a tad bit too long. The person also wore what seemed to be a knee length leather tunic and what little was exposed revealed a plethora of weapons strapped to their legs.
August paid the person no heed as he attempted to walk past, holding his dying friend. Then, a male voice stopped him.
"Boy! Are you from here?" The person called.
August did not know if it was the unfamiliar nature of another human voice, or if there was a tonal cue he had failed to pick up on. It may have even been due to his paranoia when it came to people, but he was filled with annoyance, it was strange, right now, should he not have been shredding tears of joy? Why was it that a human voice was angering him so much?
Yet he attempted to feign amicacy.
"No, I'm not." He responded calmly.
Looking back, he saw the blonde man's face contort into something of a smile before he responded.
"Come with me," the man said "I will take you to a place far from these heathens, where you may be closer to God."
August watched as the man reached into his tunic's pocket and pulled out a small golden star.
"Closer to God? I think I'm fine with this distance. "
August was already done with this conversation the second God was Mentioned. He turned away and continued on with his attempt to reach the gates.
Suddenly, the air behind him became searing hot. He spun around on his heel, and immediately jumped back.
The man was holding the golden star in his hands, it was glowing and vibrating in his palm. A golden ball of flame slowly taking form above his head.
The ball of flame continued to grow and change, eventually becoming something of a miniature sun.
"If you associate with the heathens, so be it, die with them."