Optional music if you wish: (I know it wont make the quality better, but hey for some ambient)
It took a good while to reignite his flame. His spirit, while not healed, was patched enough to think with clarity. The first conclusion that came to his mind was: “This should be an isolated phenomenon! It’s quantifiably impossible that the whole planet has been affected....It should be...”
He looked at the situation, sitting down on the sofa. He discreetly inspected the place. “We need to clean ourselves and take some precautions first. Do not touch the ashes, or if it's unavoidable, touch them as little as possible. We do not want to end up like them."
“Why, Master?” Zippy asked curiously, moving his ears around the place in high alert.
“If it's a pathogen or a virus, it would be best if we clean ourselves. We also need to treat each other’s wounds, disinfecting and such.” He gathered his thoughts, considering what might have happened. “Still, it doesn't make sense. I have wounds, unlike they had. I should be the most vulnerable in this scenario. The food? Can any food even cause... this?! Ugh, let’s clean ourselves first.”
He picked up the towels and carefully inspected the surfaces for any external products or contaminants. After a close inspection, he determined it was fairly safe to use. With the potable water, he cleaned his arms and legs, as well as Zippy with water and soap, scouring every part his hands could reach.
"Master, it tickles!" Zippy giggled, filling the scene with joy, even playing with the bubbles for a bit. In contrast, Chump's smile was half-forced and trembled with ticks, he made an effort, processing everything that happened. After both of them finished disinfecting themselves, they went back to the first scene of the crime. Chump put towels around his hands, limiting but feeling safer treating this unknown effect firsthand like that. He pressed the emergency numbers multiple times, but to no avail. Nobody answered on the other side.
"If i had APRIL perhaps..." Chump added, being absorbed on his mind.
Meanwhile, Zippy tilted his head and asked, “Oh right, who is APRIL, Master? Zippy doesn’t know anyone with that name…”
The realization struck him while attempting to tamper with the devices of the victims. “Oh right, I forgot that I invented her the night before they captured me. Wait, did you just follow along my lines just to lay on my shoulders?”
“Yes! Your shoulder is comfy! And you like when people give you affirmation!” Zippy commented naively and happily.
Chump facepalmed so hard that his face turned red for a little while. “Zippy, we are in an emergency situation. Forget what I like, okay? We need to tell each other the truth, okay, little buddy?” He petted his head, trying to convince the little bunny to do his bidding. “No one is answering. Has it affected the whole country? Calm down… Remember, Chump, it goes to the nearest emergency centre.” He remembered.
“Yes, Master!… What are you gonna do with that metal stick from the fireplace?” Zippy asked as he saw Chump kneeling down carefully to the ashes.
“Checking a thing…” He moved the ashes around, trying to look for her phone when he noticed something flashy between the ashes. After some digging, he discovered a celestial liquid among her ashes. He found the phone as well, but was no longer interested. He crawled to the next pile of ashes. More unknown liquid. Another pile, another remnant of that liquid. “Are you seeing this, Zippy? Just checking if I didn’t go mad.”
“Yes, Master, that's the Goddess Essence! It's what gives Zippy his powers and lets me do awesome stuff, with a tiny blessing.” He cheerfully claimed as he jumped around the piles playfully, creating sparks wherever he jumped around.
“Oh well, that explains eve- WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S "GODDESS ESSENCE"???!! Zippy! I told you to tell me the truth!” Chump overreacted with the new info in his head, only to get a confused bunny looking at him blankly.
“Master, I am telling you the truth.~ You're being funny right now~.” He giggled as he started fluttering in the ashes after being cleaned.
He extended his hands to stop Zippy from getting dirty again or licking the essence, but it was too late. He just started doing it. “Stop that!.” He groaned. He took a moment to breathe and put his hands together. ”Just….Tell me what this 'Goddess Essence' is, please…” As he sat down with him on the sofa.
“Of course, Master Chump! The 'Goddess Essence,' or well known as 'Remenant.' She came in a revelation this morning before the people turned into ashes and gifted me with her blessing and all I needed to know~.”
“Oh dear god…Alright…I knew you were exceptional, but…You never knew about this before today?” The bunny shook his head, and Chump looked towards the horizon, more realizations striking. “That’s…The essence of the Goddess….Alright, jump off. I have an idea.”
It took him twenty minutes to get to the laboratory and gather enough tools and different samples of this substance, as well as protection equipment such as gloves and protective glasses for his normal glasses. "They look uncomfortable, Master," Zippy commented, as he just nodded and sighed.
“It is…Alright, we have not only proofs and a trail to follow but enough samples to run tests back at my base….Right, most of the machinery is here. SHIT! I don’t want to touch anything outside either" He looked at the horizon, contemplating his options "…Alright, there's an industrial zone nearby my base. We can run proper analysis of materials later there. Anything more you want to share, Zippy?”
“I love you, Master!” Zippy started snuggling again, full of ashes, making him cough and laugh. He was later scolded and retaliated with a stretching of his tiny cheeks. “Ouch ouch, oki sorry hahaha! Let’s go home, Master!”
“Well said.” Once they were ready to leave, Zippy cleaned himself and jumped over the shoulder of the young man. Once outside, he stretched out and got ready for anything. Unfortunately, no weapons were laying around, or at least, nothing he knew how to use. “There’s no worse weapon than the one that you can harm yourself with…Stay vigilant, if you do, I will give you treats~."
"Strawberries?! Let's goooooo! What do I do then? What do I look out for?" His telepathic voice raised in volume, his belly making noises just thinking of the noble prize.
“Anything that moves, except for flying bugs. Those are usually annoying but harmless, and there will be a ton.” The trail of ashes was everywhere, from any direction, even in the wind. A beautiful yet so mortifying scene to witness. Up front, there were rows of jeeps and other vehicles, but he took a great interest in the jeep. He got up to one of the doors, and with some tricky manoeuvring and slight of hands through the windows and some cards lying around, he broke the windows and opened the door from inside.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Master, how did you do that?! That’s awesome! We can go inside it now! It’s more comfy than my bed!~” The fur-ball jumped inside the vehicle, excited to see everything. Like a kid, he was fascinated by anything new he watched and asked questions that the human ignored or answered with tiny names he didn’t get.
He giggled, seeing the little bunny having such fun. His positive attitude and careless demeanour made his worries fade away while adjusting his seat belt.
“Oh, right Master, let me help with turning the car on!~” A tiny spark came from his little paws while aiming towards the jeep and turned it on. However, Chump's eyes were catching the attention of something that appeared on top of Zippy.
“Thunder Creation” And "Thunder Control” Activated Remenant used: 10 points. (5 and 5 each "skill") 450/5000 points remaining
“What the-!”
A large and rectangular-shaped phrase appeared on top of him, a holographic projection. He tried to touch it slowly, but before his hand reached out, it disappeared. “Zippy-“
“Yes, master! I did a good job, didn’t I?” Zippy jumped into the human's lap, freeing himself from the seatbelt and snuggling him again, wanting some snuggles.
Chump half snapped out of it, patting his head automatially. "Ouch! Spark. Dang it. Zippy…Can you…do a spark to the ground? It's not to accomplish something, just checking on something.” As he opened the driver's door and pointed the nearby ground.
“Of course, Master!” In an instant, Zippy did the same type of Spark to the ground, and when it finished, once again, almost an identical sign appeared.
“Thunder Creation” And "Thunder Control” Activated Remenant used: 10 points. (5 and 5 respectively) 441/5000 points remaining
Chump was ready this time and reacted. He moved his hand towards it…And through it. Unknowingly, Zippy reacted to Chump’s hand movement and looked upwards, “Oh, Master, what are you doing with my stats?”
“What?! You, you can see it too?” His eyes widened, to a point that hurt a bit from the unclean treatment received. After scratching them, the letters fade away. “Z-Zippy…What is that? Do you know what’s going on?”
“Of course, Master! Those were my stats showing in the air! It helps us both to see how the situation is going and how much I have in the reserve.” My bunny said with such a sweet and innocent voice; it’s so cute. “Oh right, let me give you permission to check my stats at your own will, Master!”
Authorized permission to see “Zippy Lethner” stats to “???????????” (Error recognizing the entity)
He took a moment to process the whole situation as he expressed with exaggerated movements with his hands, and his face being pale. “Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on...I…Since when do you have a character sheet? I know you since basically your birth, I never saw it!”
“Oh, it’s okay, Master! The goddess gave it to me, so she can help me with my powers this morning! Look, just wish to see my stats and they will appear!~” Zippy jumped back to the co-pilot seat and looked directly at Chump while waiting.
He took a breath of air and moved his hand forward, towards Zippy's head, and thought with all his mind to see the magical bunny stats. And lo and behold, a giant sheet appeared. Like an electronic tablet, he could interact with it, and being familiar with technology, he moved around it without complications.
Public sheet Name Zippy Lethner Age ~0.5 "Earth" years. (184.57 days) Titles: -Pet of ??????
-Survivor of "The Harvest" Gender: Male Race: Electric fur-ball (Electrofluffle Inductolus) Remenant Skills "Thunder Creation" 1/10 ★ (100) "Thunder Control" 1/10 ★ (100) "Wind Control" 1,5/10 ★ (1.000) "Amplified senses" ~2,32 ★ (45.000) Stats Remenant capacity ~1,85/10 ★ (5.000) Remenant control 1/10 ★ (100) Constitution 1/10 ★ (100) Intelligence ~0,95/10 ★ (80) Wisdom ~1,15/10 ★ (200) Agility ~2,32 ★ (45.000) Physical strength 0,5/10 ★ (10) Physical defense 0,5/10 ★ (10) Remenant Resistance ~1,65/10 ★ (2.000) Will power ~3/10 ★ (1.000.000) Total level: ~14/100
“This should be impossible…What’s going on…” He forced himself to breathe slowly while inspecting every aspect of this tablet. He tried to amplify the meanings or double-tap the skills, but to no avail. The system didn’t allow more than watching over it. “I have so many questions. You said it appeared this morning?!” Zippy nodded happily. “You said that they were given to you by a Goddess? But you had the “powers” already..” He quickly thought. “Did my bunny get Isekai’d and back?”
“Oh yeah! Goddess explained that my soul resonates with the Remenant in the air that was put many months ago and so she changed my characteristics to resonate with it.” As Zippy nodded with all his body and sniffed around the air.
“Remenant? Yeah, that was in those statistics as well…and you said it was the Goddess Essence…” He laid his back against the seat while looking at the front. “Zippy…” Zippy's behavior changed to a worried one, looking at me with puppy eyes. He closed his eyes and took deep and slow breaths. Inhale, breathe in. Exhale, breathe out. He placed his hand on top of the bunny’s head, even if the sparks made it twitch and back up. With all his will, he patted the fluffy head, smiling at him. “You are awesome!”
“Thank you, Master! I do my best!” The bunny snuggled his owner’s hand, showing his affection towards his kind caretaker. After a bit of time playing around, they decided that the best decision was to improvise a baby chair with planks and jackets filled with dust and put many belts around it. It was not the best for his protection but safer than before.
“System!… Activate system?… My Character sheet?… Hello? Any weird voice like those anime’s or manga’s?” Nothing happened. “See Zippy’s sheet?” And Zippy's sheet appeared again. (I am not gonna copy-paste it again) “Alright, that's bad…I do not feel anything different from a couple of hours ago. Putting aside the injuries of Sharlindra’s mafia, of course.” After a bit of tweaking on the jeep, he sent an old-fashioned message to his own e-mail: “S.O.S. Prepare drones and defenses. We are on our way home. Time estimated, five to seven hours.” A couple of times. He could check the internet.
No news of this phenomenon or videos anywhere.
It was ten minutes past noon. But they were four hundred kilometres (two hundred fifty miles) away from their city. He knew it usually would mean around five or 6 hours to get there, including pauses and a food stop.
A windy afternoon filled with dust and fear.