Exiting the cemetery lifted the last of the weight he had been feeling off his shoulders. Whilst he still carried his experience in the catacombs with him, on the form of both rewards and scars, he was at least putting some distance between himself and the site of his almost funeral.
He had stopped by his mother's grave to pay his respects one last time before he left the flowers still their and reasonably fresh, but he didn't allow himself to wallow in his grief like he had done so many times before. He was a changed man now that he had confronted death, stared it in the face and sent those that would slay him into its cold embrace. He was still sad, but feelings like self pity just seemed so far away from him and the new reality he was living in.
He even found himself smiling when he had swatted away a couple of creatures that had tried to assault him, the undead lacking any sense of self preservation. The thrill he got from seeing the rotting hound leap at him and the subsequent satisfaction of cleaving it in half and leaving the parts charred husks told him all he needed to know that he had changed. If it was for better or worse was yet to be seen.
Now, passing through the cemetery's iron gates, he set his sights on the residential area not too far away. He had just acquired power but there were many he knew wouldn't have been as lucky and whilst he didn't have any clear goal right now he might as well protect them. They would also know more about the situation here on the surface than he did, as well as having differing experiences with the System he might be able to learn from. In this rare case his morals perfectly aligned with logic, so he started making his way towards the block of houses.
Leaving the graveyard behind, he didn't actually see any creatures roaming about. It struck him as weird since the location he just came from was crawling with them. He might've guessed that they took had fled the miniature earthquake caused by the catacombs closing but he doubted the shaking had reached this far. Still, it made for an easy journey that let him recover a bit more of his mental energy.
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To pass the time once it no longer hurt to think, he tried playing with the excess Fire Mana generated by his axe. Any of the energy that would've been wasted by going over his weapon's capacity was instead expelled into the air around it. He leaned on the Tier Bonus to try to move it, but it felt like trying to hold sand and it kept slipping through his metaphorical fingers. He could barely even sense that the Mana was there and even that much was likely due to his Soulbound link to the newly Named Relic. It wasn't visible but it appeared to the same sense that allowed him to feel his Spirits as flickering specks of warmth that quickly blinked in and out of existence.
They were docile when he left then alone, gently drifting through the air, but when he tried to move them they became agitated. They flickered between states faster and darted about to avoid him grasping them with his control. Eventually, he neared his destination and gave up for now, but he would revisit this again as soon as he was able.
The first thing he noticed was the quiet, not even birdsong could be heard here as he entered onto the first street. Cars remained parked at the sides of the roads, which were undamaged besides the usual pot holes. No bodies or blood or anything to tell him what had happened to the people living here was present. All that existed here was eairy silence.
He proceeded carefully down the street, axe at the ready in case anything jumped out at him. The absence of sound set him on edge, especially since he could hear his own footfall sounding much louder without any other noise to compete with it. Unwilling to stay out in the open for too long, Liam picked a house at random and approached it. He was surprised to find that the door was unlocked and easily opened when he tried it. He entered and found what he considered to be the normal, lived in, insides of a house. The only issue was that it looked like whoever had been living here had been whisked away without them even fighting back.
Toys lay scattered on the living room floor and there was still pasta in a pot of water on the inactive stove. At least whoever had taken them had been nice enough to turn the electrics off. He left and tried a couple more houses but was met with the same situation. He couldn't even say they had all left in a hurry since there would be signs. Instead, he had very little to go on besides the fact that violence has not been used, even though he doubted whatever had taken so many people had peaceful intentions.
He returned to the street disappointed not having found anything of real value and not even having any enemies to take it out on. However, when he went back outside he was shocked to find that something had changed. Carved into the ground by what he could only assume had been a jagged blade from how crudely the lines were made, filled to the brim with blood and surrounded by scorch marks, was a word.
LEAVE