“Run! Use your scrawny little legs and run!”
The former Heroes continued to dash away from the giant Black Dragon until some of them were too tired to continue. They had either been incredibly lucky and the flying lizard had not noticed their flight, or the giant reptile was sent by Kain to defend them. Either way, if they had not already realized that trying to fight Darksol was a futile endeavor they certainly did now.
The dragon was easily as tall as a 4-story building and easily far longer, not to mention how wide it was with its wings unfurled. Taking on such a monster would either be so dangerous that it would result in several deaths or downright suicidal, so they did the smart thing and bolted before they had the chance to find out if it was hostile to them.
Now, after running away in a hurry, they were at the very edge of the Gallows Woods. Oddly enough, the path that the Goddess Lumina had opened through the nightmare-inducing forest was still open, although smaller bits of foliage and the visible taint of dark magic had crept into the path itself and made the trail seem like it had been deserted for at least a year, which it had not been. Ash-colored grasses hid the knees of the former Heroes as they walked through the gap in the trees and occasionally had to move around a shrub covered in needle-like barbs or two.
After entering the forest, they walked for a few more hours before retiring for the night. Thankfully, they did not have to sleep in the open, as Pierre used his power over all flora to craft a decent shelter for them that smelled faintly of honey and citrus. At least with this shelter they would not have to worry about the lingering smell of death hanging in the ambient air or the risk of being attacked in the night.
Despite what Kevin would have said, these former Heroes were, while not the sharpest tools in the shed, still pretty smart. They recognized the thing that no one else in the invasion force had noticed; The nightmare-inducing hallucinations were the result of chemicals in the air released by the corrupted foliage. Almost as if the plague doctors of Medieval Europe were right, the chemicals in the air could be diluted by other strong smells. Mind you, the former Heroes did try and share this info, but they were ignored because Kevin had forced everyone to play by his rules.
…
As soon as the first glimmers of daylight were visible through the thick cloud cover, the former Heroes set out once again. They left the shelter to be overtaken by the dark energies saturating the place and simply kept moving. Occasionally they would have to fight off a crazed wild dog or some other manner of less-than-mentally-stable creature, but all in all the trip was far less eventfully than it had been the first time.
Last time they had been lost for a few weeks, just wandering around while following the people in front of them, as had everyone else in the invasion force. Now they actually had a path to tread. It was a path that was overgrown with knee-high grass and a few scattered thorn bushes, but at least they were not hopelessly lost like last time.
A two days after their first stop, they set up camp like they had every night before and huddled around a fire while Jesus Rojo Mendoza sat a bit farther away.
“Not too much longer now.” Alice said as she warmed her hands over the flames. “We should be there in another two days if we keep at the current pace.”
“If Necrograd is anything like the Dungeon City, I expect that we may have made the best choice.” Vladimir added.
“That is only true if the letter can be trusted. You can’t tell if someone is bluffing or lying through written words alone. At least, not usually. I for one am not too knowledgeable in that regard, so if I had to guess I would say that there is about a 50/50 chance that he is lying and luring us into a trap.” Kristof remarked.
“While I can’t support Capitalism in any way, shape or form, I support banditry even less.” Jesus said in a loud enough voice to be heard from where he was.
“Come to think of it, none of us really know anything about what the world was like for each of us before we were taken. I know Pierre was from Vichy France and Alice was from England. Kristof is obviously from Germany and Jesus is from Mexico. I’m from Japan and Vladimir is from Russia, but what was the world like for each of us before we got spirited away?”
At Nagato’s words, everyone realized that yes, they did know next to nothing about each other.
“I’ll start.” Jesus said before beginning his vocal autobiography. “I am now 17 years old. I was born in Mexico, the nation directly south of the only Capitalist nation left in the world, the United States of America. My parents drilled the teaching of Marx and the other Communist leaders into me and I was glad to be in one of the most prosperous nations in the world. I always intended to go up north and follow in the footsteps of the great revolutionaries and bring the last bastion of the evil capitalists to the ground. Aside from that, I really don’t have much else to say.”
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“When were you taken?” Alice asked with a worried face.
“June 19th, 1999.” Jesus stated.
“Huh, either you are from a different timeline or your parents and community lied to you.” Alice said.
“Impossible! When were you taken? Sometime in 1945? That was the year before the collapse of the United Kingdom and the rise of the British Socialist Republic!” Jesus yelled in defiance.
“May 20th, 2006.” Alice retorted.
“And I was taken on December 7th, 1998. Russia was just leaving the complete mess that was the collapse of the Soviet Union, so Russia wasn’t communist anymore.” Vladimir added.
“Yeah.” Alice replied. “Mexico also wasn’t communist at the time you left, Jesus. Hell, it never was communist.”
“But… but why would my parents lie to me about that?” Jesus asked after realizing his comrades had no reason to lie.
“Maybe it was because your parents were isolated and thought they could make you that much more devoted to the cause they believed if they told you lies. I heard that once you’ve been in an ‘echo chamber’ long enough, you deny that any information counter to your beliefs has even a grain of truth. But we’re getting sidetracked…” Alice stated calmly.
“But…” Jesus tried to inject, but everyone had already moved back to the original topic.
“By the western calendar, I am now 16 years old. I was taken on August 1st of the western year of 1915. I was from a modest household, but we were still better off than others who lived nearby. I always admired the samurai and their strength, which may have been the reason I got the power that I did. My passions are listening to and reading stories about samurai and making sure that people are treated right. Nothing much stands out in my life before coming here, so I guess that’s. it.”
Alice spoke next.
“I am now 18 years old and was taken from London on the 20th of May 2006. I am the daughter of a well-off socialite and business mogul and was always treated like daddy’s little princess for far too long. I never liked being treated that way and being expected to hold up the high standards set upon me. I am a bit of an otaku regarding manga, anime and novels and also was an avid player of Lairs and Leviathans until daddy found out and forbade me from playing, watching and reading. After that, I was sent to learn the manners and behaviors of a ‘proper lady’ before being taken while I was on the plane back to my dad.”
Vladimir told his story next, which, when summarized, stated that he was 17 years old and basically had little to nothing of his own and lived paycheck to paycheck to support his ailing family. Kristof was really no different and was only 16 years old, while the now 17 year old Pierre had tales of how his family hid Jews and those that the Nazis viewed as ‘undesirables’ while maintaining the appearance of die-hard supporters of the new regime in order to help the Free French Resistance with their endeavors.
With that out of the way, the gang decided they would chat a bit more about the various current events that took place during their lives. Occasionally, the people from the later times would have to explain things to those from earlier dates, and everyone agreed that, despite them potentially having world-changing knowledge by the end of their chat, they would likely be powerless to change anything. This was because some of their families still existed in the time when Alice had been taken, so it was assumed that, if Kain’s words were true and they could go back to Earth the moment they left by dying, they would be unable to alter history in any way, shape or form. It seemed that fate was set in stone.
“Well, that was depressing.” Nagato grumbled after learning about the ‘R*pe of Nanking’ and the other atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese military, along with his nation’s refusal to teach their children the truth about what they had done.
“Yeah. But all our nations did nasty stuff during one point in time or another. We’re all just human, after all, and humans can be downright evil to their fellow man. Just look at Kevin for an example of what a monster in the guise of man can look like.” Kristof said as he sharpened a stick.
“Indeed.” said a booming, deep and masculine voice from just outside the reach of the firelight. “Shakespeare was right when he wrote the lines spoken in his play. Man is a piece of work if ever there was one. But all things aside…”
The former Heroes turned and gazed upon the colossal figure of the Abominable King. They all gulped audibly, which caused Kain to chuckle.
“What… what do you want?” Nagato asked with visibly rising fear overtaking him.
“I see and hear everything in this place. I saw you were low on provisions and I did not want you to run the risk of going crazy after eating and drinking the stuff that is in this place. So, here.” He said as he placed a few baskets on the ground. “Just take your time and don’t worry about a thing. In the event that you face something in this place you can’t normally beat, expect ‘air support’.”
“So, that dragon was yours?” Alice asked.
“Yeah. Pluton is a loyal dog, if ever there was one. He may gripe about being sent away from me for a time, but he is more than able to bear the responsibility I thrust upon him.”
Kain began to walk away, fading into the fog and the darkness.
“Remember to keep on the path, or at least what is left of it. I don’t want to have to open another path like I did for you guys the first time you came here. It’s already a pain dealing with this gaping hole, so don’t make me have to make another.”
With those words, Kain vanished from sight and the former Heroes were left wondering what exactly Kain could ‘see and hear’ and where they could go to avoid his gaze. After all, everyone wants privacy when they have… business to take care of and knowing that you’re being watched while doing that is uncomfortable. But they did not have the time to worry about Kain’s seeming omniscience for very long. They had a long night ahead of them and the new food and water rations would have to be checked for contaminants.
After doing so, they hit the hay and tried to get some sleep while occasionally glancing around to try and spot an eye or something watching them. It was going to be a long night.