Ajax and Shaula walk. They start to get a feel for their enhanced strength and agility. They inhale their power and take the time to feel it circulate their bodies.

They slowly start jogging. The forest ahead of them is starting to get thicker. The roots extending out from the trees are getting larger and more obstructive to their path.

Ajax and Shaula jump over them swiftly and gracefully, their feet more nimble now than ever. Rather than allowing their feet to step on damaging ground, they start to avoid the rocks and splintery twigs in front of them.

Ajax and Shaula start running, passing tree after tree in front of them.

Their running skill at their current capabilities is that of the man of legend running to inform the Greek senate of victory in battle, before collapsing dead.

Ajax and Shaula start sprinting. Their strides get longer than they’ve ever been. Their hearts beat faster than normal. Their lungs start intaking more and more air but this doesn’t really have any effect on their stamina anymore.

All of their endurance now comes from their abilities. Ajax’s ability to absorb energy from his surroundings and Shaula’s ability to take that vitality for herself.

They run for a few minutes, a distance of ten kilometres total. They don’t even speak. What need is there to speak? They’re just getting used to the novelty of their amazing powers.

As they continue running, Ajax notices more of the bright deer on the tree branches. They flee at the sight of Ajax and Shaula.

Shaula can see small animals in the distance around the two of them but because of their sprinting speed, she doesn’t get a good look. They look fairly similar to... rabbits?

She notices one in a tree some distance above her. She gets a better look for a brief moment. White fur, rabbit ears, and a horn on its head...

Horn? Huh... it’s like a needle almost. Reminds me of when I pierced my ears... wait...

Shaula had just been talking about her earrings with Ajax. But, where did... where did they go? Those fucks had told them that she didn’t have earrings when she arrived.

That whole arrival process wasn’t made clear to her. Where had she landed? Did she land with the rest of them? Did she really arrive fully naked?

Shaula feels her ears.

Wow... they’re... my piercing holes are... they’re healed up, huh...

It shouldn’t be too surprising; after all, the burns she had on her arms were also gone. Apparently, any trace of injury disappear when she landed. She had been reborn...

They continue running at a breakneck speed.

“Ajax?”

“Hm?”

“Where do you think our stuff went?”

“Well... I was thinking about that and my theory is that they’re still in our classrooms? Like all of our stuff, our clothes, my watch... your earrings?”

“Yeah... it feels weird not having them. Do you... do you think that... that your parents will find--”

“Shaula, don’t...”

“I’m sor--”

“It’s fine, just... just leave anything about them until... until I can...”

“Sure... I didn’t mean to be--”

“I know... I’m just... I don’t want to think about it... I can’t... do anything about it yet...”

“Ajax... just know that I love you, ok? That here, even here, you are still loved... you’re not alone... I will never leave you alone by yourself.”

“I love you too, Shaula. I love you too.”

Ajax and Shaula sprint in silence from that point on. Shaula can feel his grief in his hand that she’s holding.

She steals glances of his face and notices watery eyes and sniffling. He has lost everything.

They sprint in silence for an hour. Ajax doesn’t wish to speak. Shaula wishes to just be with him. That’s all she can do.

They continue to observe the forests for the new creatures. They see more deer, more rabbits. The rabbits are the most common creature in the forest, it seems.

It seems like where we were running earlier, there weren’t a lot of animals. Maybe, those church guys killed the animals near their building to prevent them from fucking up their shit?

Shaula makes this observation because in the area she’s running now, there are more instances of animal feces on the ground, mostly around the trees. Especially compared to a few kilometres ago.

This is a natural forest after all, no caretakers. Various drops left by various species of animals. Not just deer or rabbits, but potentially other larger creatures that they haven’t seen yet.

Ajax and Shaula start to slow down. They start jogging through the forest, trying to break up the monotony of it all. Just trying to suppress their respective pain.

Shaula tries to forget about her ordeal with Gratia. She obtained her dignity back by killing the man who touched her dead, naked body.

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But, that alone is not enough to mend her fear, the evil of his actions still clings like a parasite to her being. What they must have done to Ajax as well...

Ajax and Shaula start to notice more of the local fauna around them. The forest behind them had a lot of wildlife but the area here is even more teeming with it.

Shaula notices something. There aren’t any birds in this forest. An odd sight.

She is familiar with the sight of small birds everywhere in the city. Pigeons, sparrows even the occasional mockingbird.

But a forest without the chirp of a bird? She had run a great distance with Ajax, many kilometres and not a single bird call, not a single wing flap... no flying creatures at all.

But, there were feathers on the ground. Every so often when she was running she saw stray feathers here and there, small ones.

If there are feathers... where are the birds?

Ajax and Shaula slow down to a walking pace together still holding hands, silently, just enjoying the comfort of each other’s company.

Ajax notices a horned rabbit digging into the ground. He points it out to Shaula. A horn like the needle of an awl. Maybe a difficult creature to trap and kill. But still, not impossible.

The rabbit is burying something. Ajax and Shaula silently watch it a bit of a distance away. It takes items from its mouth to bury in the ground.

Hmm, what’re we going to do about food? I think I can condense ice just with my power and turn that into water with Shaula’s help... do any of these trees have fruits or nuts? Man, that rabbit is cute as hell. What is it burying? Probably hiding its catch, huh... Wait a minute...

Ajax makes a tangential realization. Hiding things. Their stuff... if all the heroes didn’t wake up right after being summoned, then... what if they took their stuff? The holy knights, the archbishops, that church or whatever...

Shaula’s earrings, his watch... their phones... items and technology like that would be indispensable, wouldn’t it?

“Hey, Shaula...”

Ajax whispers, trying not to alert the rabbit.

“Hm?”

“What if those church guys have our stuff?”

“No, I doubt it... I don’t think they would do something to disrespect the heroes they summoned... oh... That does remind me though...”

“What?”

“You know... we left them behind... the other summons...”

“Who were the other summons? That archbishop told me there were, like, 300 others, right?”

“I don’t know if you were knocked out when Ahura Mazda said this but they were... our classmates...”

“What!?”

The rabbit notices Ajax’s surprised shout. Ajax and Shaula run from it, not wishing to disturb the creature’s possible hibernation preparation.

Now they walk at a slow pace. The trees are getting thinner and forest less dense in this direction.

“So... how do you know that? That... our classmates...”

“That’s what God said. That god failed to give us the protection of the hero or whatever and mentioned it was our classmates who were coming with us to be heroes.”

“So... everyone of our classmates...”

“And probably Christa...”

“Ms. Rowfield too... Fuck. With those guys... those monsters... Wh-what... what do we...”

“Nothing.”

“Huh?”

“Those guys have the protection or whatever. The ‘grace of God’ was something they called it.”

“So... so why don’t we have it?”

“Ahura Mazda said that He couldn’t give it to us. It was something He tried to give to us but failed to. In a very spectacular way, literally exploding...”

“Why couldn’t he... wait no, so, we just leave them there?”

“Ajax... how do you think something like that would go? I saw you... you don’t like killing... can you... can you really save them by killing all of those men?”

“I... I don’t... know...”

“Plus, there’s no guarantee that if we attempt to do this, that we’ll succeed without losing any of them or making it out alive ourselves.”

“Well...”

“Have you suffered a head injury and healed from it?”

An important question. Something Shaula has to consider.

“Uh... My spine was severed and I felt my legs go numb for a bit... I broke my neck once and my upper body went limp for a bit there too... but...”

Shaula looks at Ajax with some surprise at what he’s had to face. A hell, just like her.

“So, no head injury, huh... Neither have I... I don’t know if we can survive head injuries... and I don’t intend to find out.”

“But what if--”

“Ajax, shut the fuck up... you know a bit of my past... survival is something I can basically guarantee so long as we don’t do anything reckless.”

“Hm...”

“Our powers don’t make us unkillable. We still feel pain. We still get hurt. We can probably still die... even if it’s harder...”

“Why? Why didn’t we just receive it? The protection or grace of God or whatever...”

“Ahura Mazda kept talking about us in a very odd way... almost like... like He was in awe of us... didn’t He create us? He called himself the supreme God but he’s not all-knowing... he didn’t even know what we were...”

“Not... human...”

“He had to send us away because he was going to try to do something that we were preventing...”

“The Dominion something...”

“He said there was a price to send us there... he mentioned the ritual of water... the ritual of fire...”

“Shaula... do you think there’s a heaven?”

Out of the blue, another question, while Shaula considers what Ahura Mazda had told the two of them, searching for any clues.

Having met God, Ajax asks a question. Ajax has not believed in a long time in a higher power... or an afterlife... not even reincarnation.

But now... he had been given proof. He could no longer have faith in God because faith came from blind belief.

He had the knowledge of God’s existence. But not all the pieces... is there an afterlife? Reincarnation?

“I hope there’s a hell but... I don’t fucking know, who do you think I am to be able to answer questions like that?”

“Well... you’re Shaula.”

Shaula’s lips formed a wide grin. Her face beamed in happiness.

“Aw, you little sweetheart!”

Ajax feels like he’s said something embarrassing without even thinking about it.

“Sigh... Oh yeah, Shaula.”

“Hm?”

“I had a dream... A dream that didn’t feel like...”

“So did I!”

Shaula explains her dream to Ajax as best she can remember it. The fact that she can remember it as if it were a real life event shows to the both of them the significance of the dream.

“So... we both had the same fucking dream?”

“Yeah, Ajax. I felt like... I learned how to use my powers in that dream...”

“Me too! Like I can touch anything and consume it frozen in an instant...”

“I can pretty much burn through anything.”

They continue walking, reaching a new area. A plain of wild grass and flowers. A beautiful meadow.

The trees are behind them now.

“But... what was all that... other stuff? The frozen and burning trees... the white clothes we were wearing... the wall of fire...”

“I don’t know... it felt very symbolic... like the kind of thing that means something to you after going through years of therapy to decipher it...”

“Shaula...”

“We were really naked for a while.”

“Shaula, wait--”

“Did you see my scars... no, not imp--”

“Shaula!”

“Huh?”

Shaula looks over at Ajax’s face. His somewhat tense face. But Ajax isn’t looking at her... he’s looking at...

Shaula turns her head to the direction he’s--

“Oh...”

A short distance away from the two of them are five very similar looking animals. Creatures with long tails, powerful legs with pointed sharp claws and somewhat long necks. Bodies covered in feathers, almost like fur.

These feathers, white in colour could be seen around the area as well, among the grass.

“...so that’s where the feathers came from. Not from any birds...”

Shaula ties up that loose end to her satisfaction. But still... were there no birds on this world?

Those creatures were feeding on something large, together as a pack. Ajax and Shaula couldn’t get a good look at their heads or their prey until...

It’s... One of them is looking around... Ajax and Shaula can see its head now as well as its forelimbs. Looking around for a strange new smell in the area...

“It’s like... a fur covered velociraptor...”

“Those are feathers...”

The single raptor looks in their direction. A bright yellow eye, almost magic.

“Sigh...”