After only a couple of minutes, Gus was already ready to move once again. Who knows what else might come for them if they stalled for too long? Yet still, he decided to wait just a bit longer after seeing Marco’s disheveled look. With tired-looking but sharp eyes and damp hair that was strung over his face, the tan man looked quite handsome with a more messy look. Mixed with the suit and sharp jawline, Gus could imagine Marco might have been quite popular with the ladies back in the human world.
No offense, Cricket….but you are one lucky lady.
While not bad-looking herself, the frail short-haired woman still unconscious in Marco’s grasp did not have such eye-catching qualities as her…boyfriend?
I don’t see those rings, those uh…wedding rings I think they are called, on either of them. So that rules out them being married.
Gus was curious about this human relationship. It didn’t appear the two were siblings, so it could only be assumed they were lovers, but something felt off about that statement.
Maybe…I’ll just ask Marco now.
“So Marco…are you two…in that type of relationship? You know, the relationship where an intellectual species would give consent to mate with each other in an exclusive bond of consent and love?” Gus yapped.
“...uh?” Marco uttered.
“You know, lovers. Are you two lovers?” Gus asked once again.
Marco looked at Gus for a few seconds and then chuckled, a smile appearing on his handsome face.
“Ah…never thought you would be interested in stuff like that, Gus. Didn’t strike me as the kind of Golem. But I suppose I could answer your question… it's just a little complicated to explain,” Marco answered wistfully.
Marco looked down at Cricket temporarily and brushed a hair from her face before returning his gaze to Gus.
“I guess the short answer would be no, I suppose. We are currently not in that type of relationship,” Marco admitted with a sad tone.
“Then why did you just touch her face like that? Isn’t that…something weird to do to people you are not in love with?” Gus asked with suspicion.
Marco laughed at Gus’s words and a small blush could be seen on his cheeks.
“Yeah…yeah it is weird. But I wasn’t finished yet. While it is true we are not in a relationship now…it didn’t mean that we weren’t in the past. It’s just…well things happened. Issues emerged, both from things beyond our control and from our own personal problems. Yet even then, we are still in love…probably.”
“Probably?” Gus asked incredulously.
“Like I said, it’s complicated,” Marco said with a soft smile, “Us humans are like that. Complicated creatures…with different takes on rationality. Even then…you just can’t help but act irrationally at times.”
Marco paused, letting his smile fade as his eyes turned dark.
“When I saw Cricket gone from the wagon, I just couldn’t help but imagine the worst. I knew that something happened behind me in our defenses, but in the heat of battle, I couldn’t afford to check. But after you came, and eased our load, I went to look for her. And it was then that I saw the pile of…flesh and blood on the front of the wagon consisting of mangled corpses of those that were once with her. At that moment, it felt like my heart was ripped out as I looked between each body for her…I never felt more scared in my life. It was then that I was told by Larry that Cricket had crawled from the battlefield to this place, so I left the group in a hurry to look for her. When I did eventually find her, she was in a terrible condition, coughing and suffering from a terrible fever as her body convulsed. I didn’t know what to do, it was horrifying. All I could do was hold on to her…whisper words to her, and do what I could to try and calm her down. As you finished the rest of those sand creatures, Cricket finally calmed down and fell asleep. So…while I suppose I may be a little irrational now, holding her still like this despite being just an ex-boyfriend of hers…I can’t but feel like it's only human to do,” Marco finished.
Gus could only look at the once stoic leader in silence and admiration.
Wow…how fascinating. How fascinating indeed!
Human love, how tricky it was. To cause irrationality in the rational, yet be such a pleasant feeling. Gus could not imagine.
Am I really that love-sick? I’ve been saddened by this fact twice now in a span of ten minutes.
Snapping himself out of this daze, Gus finally stood up and looked at Marco.
“It’s time we return, who knows what else lurks here in the desert. I can help you with Cricket if you need me to.”
Nodding his head, Marco let Cricket’s small body be picked up gently by the giant stone golem as the two of them returned to the wagon.
***
Not much had changed at the wagon while they were gone. The humans were still either recovering, healing, or burying their fallen companions with sullen eyes. There was little conversation between the survivors until Gus and Marco arrived. When they did, the humans were excited that their two best fighters were back until they noticed Cricket's limp body in the golem’s hands. From afar, it looked as if the woman was dead, causing the group to fall into silence over the death of another compatriot. But when they noticed the unconscious woman breathing quietly in Gus’s hands, they all let out a sigh of relief collectively. Even if Cricket didn’t have a P.G.R. to help them fight, just one more companion surviving was enough to lighten their already terrible mood.
Walking to Larry, Gus observed the acne-covered young man who was once such a brat back in the library. Larry had changed drastically, starting from the first test to now. His eyes were darker and sharper, and his expression was more cold than before. Yet despite looking stronger, Gus noticed a weakness still permeating inside the young man’s eyes, as if Larry would break if one more terrible thing happened to him. It was a relief that Jack had survived then, or else Larry would have been forever broken. Noticing the golem coming towards him with Cricket, Larry's eyes perked up.
“Hey… it's good to see that Cricket is still living. I don’t know if I could have taken another loss,” Larry admitted.
“Yes…it’s a blessing from the stars,” Gus said as he looked down at the slumbering Cricket.
“Stars?”
“Oh, it's just a saying of mine. Besides that, I wanted to ask…” Gus paused with hesitation, “Is the front of the wagon…still available?”
Larry’s eyes turned sullen at the words and slowly shook his head.
“It’s…still in a bad state, we are still cleaning it, but the damage done there was particularly bad. The injured…had no way of protecting themselves.”
Gus nodded slowly at the words and looked at the rest of the humans. Laura had her head down in sorrow, Ronald had a grim look in his eyes, Bruno closed his eyes in shame, and even Neve seemed to tsk her tongue in disappointment.
I see.
Without a word, Gus entrusted Cricket to Ronald to be checked up on with Marco by their sides and moved to the front of the wagon. The sight was both appalling and disgusting. Gus would have wanted to barf if he had a proper mouth and stomach. But alas, the golem could only stand and look with hollow eyes in the scene. After a couple of seconds, Gus moved to the mangled mess of bodies and began to clean. He moved the corpses delicately and cleaned the loose flesh with care. The humans could see the sorrow in his movement, and soon, others began to join him in the cleaning process. Larry, Richard, Laura, Bruno, Marco, and even Neve all stepped in to help. Not much was said between them as they collected the fleshy parts and buried the bodies, but Gus could feel that at that moment, there was a collective moment of shared desire between all of them.
After finishing, they silently stood before the makeshift graves in the gray sand and made their last goodbyes. With both regret and newfound determination, Gus solemnly swore to himself he would allow no more deaths to the humans on this journey. The Gray World would be his for the conquering.
***
Things moved fast after that. With most of the humans healed to stable conditions by the now exhausted-looking Ronald, the humans were able to resume back their planning for the journey.
Before they departed, however, Marco explained to Gus the mission they were assigned. It was much simpler than the golem expected, though, with it turning out to be a simple guard mission where the humans must protect the mysterious gray wagon until it reaches the fortress. The wagon itself though was the real mystery. Despite looking like an old-timey wooden wagon that would you have found on the Oregon Trail except for the extended front of the coach, it contained a few supernatural abilities that made it seem almost mystical. Not only could the wooden wheels glide effortlessly across the sand as if they had no mass, but the wagon itself could move without anything pulling it forward. All it needed were souls next to it for it to begin moving at a comfortable pace. Yet the strangeness did not stop there. The wagon also contained the ability to empower those protecting the wagon, giving them increased stamina and strength just by its presence as well as a lack of need for food and water. It was for this reason that the humans were able to endlessly fight the golems despite their mundane bodies being much weaker than them. Yet it appeared even that was not enough to help them overcome the last fight.
Sadly, the ability the wagon held to empower those around it did not seem to work for Gus despite him also protecting the wagon. It was a shame, but Gus could already not only contend in the desert but also strive in it. Such a boost would have made him too fearsome of a predator.
As Marco continued, Gus’s demeanor slowly became more glum as he went through the reports of everyone who died. The last battle had massively dwindled the human numbers down to a pitiful state, but it turned out there were even some casualties before it as well, albeit low at just the number of two. Yet even then, the injuries those battles had still waned on the current survivors. Even Ronald’s magical P.G.R. could not heal some of those injuries, especially the mental scars and severely broken bones.
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“So how many people can fight now?” Gus asked, eying the group in the meantime.
“Well…I suppose it would be faster if I just showed you our whole fighting potential right now. I already prepared a written list of everyone’s abilities, so it should be easier if I just show you that while answering your questions,” Marco responded.
Oh? I should have expected no less from the leader.
As Gus nodded his head, Marco reached his hand into his dust-covered dark navy blue suit and pulled out a small notepad and black pen. But before handing it to Gus, Marco ripped out some pages and crumbled them into his hands with a darkened expression. Gus did not bother to ask the dark-haired man about it. After some moments of additional scribbling, Marco finally handed the small notepad to Gus.
“Here…I adjusted it a bit to show a better look at our current situation. I can help you with it if you need me to.”
Gus nodded his head and looked down at the notepad. The tiny thing of paper looked funny in his hands, looking out of place in his giant stone palms. Using just one of his fingers, Gus flipped the page and began reading the pages.
Contestants Page
Contestants (Alive): ------ 13
Me (Marco): Full Condition
Cricket: Unable to Fight [ Unconscious ]
Doyle: Full Condition
Neve: Full Condition
Bruno: Unable to Fight [ Broken Arm / P.G.R. requires two hands ]
Jack: Unable to Fight [ Serious Loss of Blood ]
Larry: Full Condition ( Mental State is shaky, however )
Richard: Almost Full Condition [ Loss of Some Blood, may run into more issues if wounds appear ]
Ronald: Unsuitable for Fighting [ Lacks proper weapon / P.G.R. seems to inflict exhaustion on Ronald after use ]
Laura: Unable to Fight Properly but can still do [ Broken Arm, luckily not on dominant arm / Weapon requires only one arm, allowing her to fight with it ]
Nina: Unable to Fight [ Severe Blood Loss ]
Quillon: Unable to fight properly but can still do [ Sustained damage to the joints that inhibits full fighting ability ]
Frankie: Full Condition
Overall, not the best fighting force I have. Despite there being thirteen alive, three cannot fight at all, another three are too injured to fight properly, and Ronald has no way of fighting. That leaves me with six fighters total. Marco, Neve, Larry, Frankie, Doyle, and Richard, although the latter might be on the weaker side now. This…isn’t the best, but it's still manageable.
Flipping the pages, Gus was interested to see what Marco had written about each human. He must have known more about their personality, fighting ability, and even more importantly, their P.G.R.s abilities than Gus could have learned.
Well, what do you know…
The first page was about the one and only writer of this notepad, Marco.
Me ( Marco Reyes )
Status: Full Condition
Fighting Ability: Trained in various martial arts in the past, but no real combat experience.
Characteristics to Note: (Not Inputting)
P.G.R. Name: Pistol of Honor
P.G.R. Characteristic: Flintlock Pistol
P.G.R. Ability: By inspiring those I am leading, I can create bullets from thin air that are especially potent. It appears that the more respected I am, the more powerful these bullets can be. However, I feel like this connection can be expanded upon…but I am unsure how. Perhaps look into this.
So each P.G.R. also comes with a supernatural ability?
Gus had to rethink his options. He knew that some of the P.G.R.s had supernatural abilities, but he didn’t know that every single one did. This…complicated his trust with the humans, but not enough to shake his resolve to protect them.
And besides…I don’t think anyone would try something on me unless they have a death wish. But…Neve might still try though. I should probably warn Marco regardless afterwards.
Putting away those thoughts, Gus then flipped to the next page.
Cricket Erling
Status: Unable to Fight [ Unconscious ]
Fighting Ability: None
Characteristics to Note: Frail but strong-willed. Has an uncanny ability to sense impending death.
P.G.R. Name: None
P.G.R. Characteristic: None
P.G.R. Ability: None
Sense impending Death? Does that have to do with the Destined Death and the Florist I remembered reading about in Havory? I would love to ask more…but alas, she is currently unconscious.
Yet as Gus was reading, he noticed that the eyes of the surrounding humans were growing impatient with waiting. It seemed that even they too were sick of standing still in this horrible desert, afraid of what attack might come next. Gus mentally sighed to himself and decided to rapidly speed up his pace. Luckily, Gus was an incredibly fast reader after spending such a long time in a library as his home.
Doyle Conan
Status: Full Condition
Fighting Ability: Veteran soldier for the U.S., yet never talks about what he did. Highly competent fighter regardless.
Characteristics to Note: Strong, Stoic, and doesn’t flinch at death.
P.G.R. Name: War Hammer of Trepidation
P.G.R. Characteristic: A medieval War Hammer that can glow up on its metal parts.
P.G.R. Ability: When it senses Danger, the War Hammer will glow and alert Doyle of the coming danger. Will remain glowing as he fights, empowering the War Hammer till the threat is gone.
Neve Jasmine
Status: Full Condition
Fighting Ability: While she says none, I have suspicions she is hiding something.
Characteristics to Note: Hates Gus. Had an extremely close relationship with Primis…a suspiciously close one.
P.G.R. Name: Unknown
P.G.R. Characteristic: A large dagger shaped like a chisel.
P.G.R. Ability: Unknown except for its strange power to pierce through objects
Great…she is still hiding stuff.
Gus knew that Neve still held a grudge towards him, but seeing the extent still upset him yet at the same time, comforted him. Seeing her still wishing for revenge on Gus made it easier for him to accept what he had done. Gus wanted Neve to hate him as it eased his guilt…so he was quick to get over the fact that she remained a threat to him.
Flipping the page, Gus decided to speed through the last survivors, checking first the capable fighters who would be by his side for battle.
Richard Smith
Status: Almost Full Condition [ Loss of Some Blood, may run into more issues if wounds appear ]
Fighting Ability: None
Characteristics to Note: Durable, strong-minded, and responsible, yet has an inferior complex about his height and bald head. Don’t mention topics around him.
P.G.R. Name: Berserker's Ax
P.G.R. Characteristic: A one-sided ax you would find with Vikings or in fantasy. Wood handle, steel top.
P.G.R. Ability: Yelling or roaring with this P.G.R. grants strength to its user as well as extremely durable skin. Makes one not feel pain while yelling.
Frankie Scott
Status: Full Condition
Fighting Ability: Played Baseball as a sport for a while. Otherwise none
Characteristics to Note: A young, athletic, flexible woman of good heart. Yet naive and weak-minded.
P.G.R. Name: All-Star Batter
P.G.R. Characteristic: Baseball bat
P.G.R. Ability: With a proper stance, the swing of this bat can launch most things flying. Anything resembling a ball specifically will get launched with insane speeds.
Larry Asher
Status: Full Condition
Fighting Ability: None
Characteristics to Note: Young, close to being mentally unstable, cares deeply for those around him, and is good friends with Jack.
P.G.R. Name: Jade Zhua
P.G.R. Characteristic: An elongated hand on a stick made of clean-cut jade. The hand appears to be a mix of monkey and man.
P.G.R. Ability: The hand has sharp nails and it seems to be autonomous, having a mind of its own. Other than that, the hand does not have much use other than as an improvised mace.
So these will be my fighters.
Gus wasn’t exactly happy with the lineup. The lineup appeared to only consist of melee fighters except for Marco, which was troubling for the golem as he only needed range fighters to accompany him. Fellow melee fighters wouldn’t be able to keep up with his combat as well put themselves at risk more.
It would be harder to protect the humans if they went out into the front lines with me.
Gus was stumped on what to do. Consulting with Marco about this would be necessary in how to organize the group.
Yet before then, Gus had to do something else.
“Okay…I read what I urgently need to know. I think it's time we depart,” Gus announced to the group.
Nodding their heads, the humans moved quickly in a hurry as they finished their preparations. The day was long, yet they must act with haste. Too much time was wasted in their battles, and soon night would fall. Who knows what lay for them then? Thinking such, the cohort agreed that wasting their chance to gain distance would be a terrible idea, especially when they are currently residing in a hot zone of Domineers.
But little did the caravan know that trouble was already coming towards them. Far away in the distance, a stampede could be seen heading right, leaving a storm of dust clouds. Dark eyes lit up on the faces of the beasts. These were not the simple humanoid Domineers of the desert. No, these were the real beasts of the gray lands. And they could not wait for the feast that was soon to come for the pack.