Oh, to feel the roiling winds again. The scenery whipping by so fast, it's almost as if I'm warping through space. Even the monsters seem trivial, when they can hope no longer to intercept my path.

I almost wish to slow down, cancel my Longstrider, so I may enjoy this fucked up scenery of a collapsing world. There's a certain beauty, to all this destruction.

But, our quest continues, to find those who survive. I kept on running for a good few minutes, until I stopped in front of a store. A workshop.

"Philip's Plumbing" the scarred signage says. Very mysterious. I've no idea what it could possibly be about.

Moments passed, I just stood there. Flaze had been strangely quiet, we've already arrived at our destination.

Flaze? I neighed at her, shaking her position on my back a little. You okay?

"Samantha..." She finally spoke, "Those Provataurs are going to find her and kill her aren't they? She's likely already dead..."

...Who? I whined and tilted my head, confused.

That caused Flaze to snap, for some reason. I winced as she started screaming so close to my ears. "The one at the Flower Shop! Samatha's Lilies! We literally just passed through there, and we saw her! We led the monsters to her!!"

Alright, alright. No need to start shouting. I thought back to the wild chase we had with the Provataurs, and I remembered the event and person that she meant. Yeah, she's probably dead.

I lowered my head, a moment of silence, my deepest condolences.

"...Do you not care, Jackal?" she breathed, a cruel assumption when I'd just wished that woman's soul peace. I felt Flaze's grip on my back tighten.

I managed to not give a response. I'm a horse, and it'd only make her feel worse.

She whimpered and leaned on myself, I felt her forehead press into my long neck. She sobbed, droplets of tears soaking into my mane of gold and maroon.

"I just... I just don't know what to do. I knew she was there, I saw her. And I did nothing. I stuck to the plan, and doomed her to death..."

And for that, we live. I pointed at ourselves, and then shrugged. She was right smack in the middle of Provataur territory. She'd have been found, sooner or later.

I gestured towards the door to Philip's place. Worry about your friend who might yet be alive.

I heard her sniff from behind me, but I felt that she agreed. Flaze disembarked and dropped to the ground, walking towards the two-story house's doors.

I followed her inside.

We were greeted with white walls, transitioning into brown by the back, bare wood that surrounded the workshop area. It was empty of people, quiet, a single naked gremlin sleeping on the counter. He stood up, startled, and I summoned a fireball, but Flaze stopped me and called upon her clone, both of them approaching the creature warily.

[Warrior - Lvl 32]

Well, whatever. Fucking weakling.

I found a corner to sit in, and I felt myself dozing off as I leaned against a nearby wall.

I took the moment to collect my thoughts, that entire trip to Darkvoid's place, and then the journey back, after the disappointment. We met monsters beyond our evolution, and the difference was staggering. Although I suspect that those wolves were not the first ones above level 100 that we've met, given the many terrors that we've seen. They were merely the first ones we've Identified.

My gaze drifted back to Flaze. She'd taken away the gremlin's weapon and had now captured the monster. She was asking him questions, a sad tone to her voice whenever the creature snarled and spat at her, relentlessly trying to attack and claw her face off but to no avail.

She was trying to find out if this was Phillip, her friend. I'd met him a few times, a plumber that's also really into charity work and the community or whatever, just like Flaze. I think I remember him doing a job back at my apartment back in the day, I didn't quite understand what he did, but the shower worked again.

I guess magic always existed.

~~~

Flaze was sitting next to me when I woke up from my nap. The smell of blood filled the air, and I saw a dead gremlin lying prone on the tiled floors.

You confirmed it's not Philip? I tilted my head.

Flaze shook her own. "No. I don't know. There's no way to tell. Absolutely no way to tell. But we can't just leave it alone, else the monster potentially attacks those that still survive. We both know that once Ego Death truly happens, as you call it, there would be no coming back."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

She paused, taking a deep breath.

"Maybe it's an excuse. But we've killed so many monsters already. Any one of them could have been someone we once knew. And it'd be wholly impractical to not kill them just because of what might be."

Yeah... I neighed. There's no way to undo monsterization anyway, just like how it was impossible for Darkvoid.

But are you sure you're okay Flaze? I neighed and nuzzled against her.

She smile weakly and placed a hand to my mane.

"I'm fine Jackal. I keep telling you. And after how you acted back then, after confirming Darkvoid's death, I really don't think you've room to talk."

It's not a competition. I rolled my eyes.

"...Yeah. I don't mean to hold that against you, Jackal.. " She stood up and went to the workshop area. There was a couch there, and she laid atop it. "I'll get myself some sleep too, you go keep watch this time."

I raised my right leg into a salute. Flaze chuckled.

I guess we'll start looking for Orlean Piercer now. I hope she survived, another person that would thrive in this environment. Rather, she likely feels fucking vindicated, her stupid theories and conspiracies now confirmed.

Not that she actually got it right. Aliens have not claimed us as breeding livestock.

Well, I hope not.

But I don't care if she's wrong, really. I only hope she's alive to tell me, not matter how smug her face, "I told you so."

~~~

Morning came, and we explored the rest of the place. We looked around the workshop, and the second floor doubles as Philip's home. I rummaged around his fridge for breakfast, but found it to be nearly empty. The house was messy in a way that looked like someone had gone over it, food being what seems to be profoundly missing, our search only yielded a single pack of chips by a bedside drawer.

It occurred to me that someone had been here before, and Flaze echoed my idea. We searched harder around the house but all we found was a level 70 harpy in the bathroom, the kind where the head is fully that of a bird's. We defeated him easily, the monster showing no signs of sentience. His build was of a speedster rogue, a strategy so very easily countered by Flaze the moment she uses her taunt.

Did the monster eat all of the food? I felt like that wasn't the case, none of the monsters we've met so far have been this thorough, usually leaving more of a mess. The harpy had likely stayed in that one area.

It's far more likely that Philip, the owner, came here and took some stuff, or he could've been here when all of this began. It makes total sense that he'd leave afterwards, and maybe we're just being stupid by going around our friends' houses to find them; It'd make total sense for them to leave, even if they were there when it all started.

"Ah." Flaze spoke. She made herself comfortable, in the casual attire of her base form. "We've wasted our time yet again."

Yeah... I agreed, and began writing with my flame. It's all just so... pointless.

"Perhaps it is." Flaze found a chair and sat down. Her expression was now one of calm. Serene, even. "Perhaps it always has been."

We took a moment, to just take in that conclusion. It's something I might say as a joke, something that Darkvoid would have said and meant every word. But for it to have come from Flaze is nothing short of surprising. And strangely, I'm just fine with that.

Magic at first, made me think that there must be a greater meaning to the world. For me to turn into a horse, for the world to have been upended like so. The opportunity to become more powerful than whatever gods we believed in. But perhaps, it is quite the opposite.

"Even fantasy fails to provide a purpose, for the constant struggle. Even with magic, we remain insignificant. Our joy, our pain, a single blip in the wider universe. If that."

I struggled to complete the thought, and so Flaze finished it for me. A disappointment, to be accepted, and let go. Perhaps I'd yet be the horse that uplifts the world, or perhaps I'll break it. But most likely, it'd remain an endless series of attempts, just like how my experience with theater has been. And while I can't say I've quite accepted that, I must be prepared for it.

"So..." Flaze said after a while. I'm surprised we were able to have that prior conversation so seriously, without devolving into making a joke out of it all. "What do you wish to do now?"

I gave it some thought, and then I smiled. There's probably still a wealth of entertainment hidden away, from the societies that once were. I walked over to Flaze and held out my hoof. Let us start with the Light Novel, that you plundered.

She returned the smile, and held out the book for me.

"Here you go, friend." She said. I looked at the cover, and saw that it was an adult comic about a horse that lay with man.

I froze. I looked at her, with my most piercingly judgemental stare. The face of a horse, contorted in disgust.

She covered her mouth, I could see her straining. Until it all exploded out, for no longer could she hold her laughter in, amidst the thick awkward air.

I saw her body fly way, the chair she sat on tossed aside. She landed on the ground and rolled around, releasing constant wheezing bouts of humor heard throughout the otherwise empty home. A cheer that was eventually contagious, my guffawing neighs joined her in her chorus of joy.

I blame whoever it was that had such a fetish, a book about it left behind for this stupid woman to find.

I hope they got turned into ugly goblins!

I realized then that Flaze must have swiped the book away just for this joke, back when I was still breaking down over Darkvoid's death and doing the most reckless of shit. That... made me a tad uncomfortable, but more than that, far more; It made this entire situation all the funnier.

I will have my revenge. Someday.

_______________

Name: Jackal Dolmer

Level: 60

______________

(Unassigned MANA: 0)

Vitality: 100

Strength: 100

Magic: 160

Agility: 160

Intelligence: 80

_____________

Class:

[Thy Blessed Pony]

[Hell Baby]

Skills:

[Foal Blessing] (Level 1 / Integration 95%)

[Hellborne] (Level 1 / Integration 98%)

[Hellish Fireball] (Level 2 / Integration 100%)

[Trailblazer] (Level 1 / Integration 80%)

[Blessed Heal] (Level 2 / Integration 100%)

[Longstrider] (Level 2 / Integration 100%)

[Horsekick Gambit] (Level 2 / Integration 100%)

[Curse of The Horse] (Level 1 / Integration 11%)

_____________