Four months later, Erik dashed through a tropical jungle chasing a hound that broke through the brush ahead, breaking trees apart as shattered debris flew about. Erik was faster than the beast, but zigzagging through the debris field in the Hellhound’s wake nullified his speed advantage.

  “It’s heading towards the cliff!” Emma’s voice crackled through the earpiece on Erik’s right ear.

  “I got it!” Erik responded as he ran, knocking away a piece of flying wood.

  “It’s a hundred-metre drop straight down to jagged rocks!” Emma snarled.

  “I said ‘I got it’!” Erik said, morphing his legs and jumping. He burst through the thick canopy, finding the aforementioned cliff much closer than he would’ve liked. In fact, his current trajectory would take him straight into the middle of the ravine. “Fuck!”

  His jump turned to a fall as the air whooshed past him. To his surprise, the hound hadn’t noticed him disappearing from behind it and was still running away towards the cliff.

  The hound jumped. Erik’s claws extended as he grinned with both exhilaration and horror as his and the beast’s trajectories were on a collision course. Erik landed on the hound with sharp feet and extended claws, each entering his victim without so much as a drop of blood spilled. The hound roared as it rolled, both it and Erik tumbling through the air.

  His opponent was dead before hitting the jagged rocks and harsh stream of water below, and Erik jumped off the beast moments before reaching the ground, the added upward force easing his landing somewhat. He evaded the spearing tip of a stone, instead hitting its side before he crashed into the furious water.

  “I told you I got it,” Erik said as he climbed aboard the helicopter after having spent several minutes in the heavy winds of the aerial vehicle’s rotors to air dry himself.

  “If you had it, why did you let it jump down the ravine?” Emma asked with a mischievous smile, fixing a brown lock of hair that had blown over her face from the wind after Erik shut the side door.

  Erik sat down opposite her, removing the small radio from his ear and putting a larger headset on, which drowned out the sound of the churning engine of the helicopter as it rose back up into the air.

  “It was a controlled descent with an added free cleaning service and bath, it was fine,” Erik said, prolonging the last word as he leant back.

  “Anyway,” Emma said and plugged a cable into a pad in her hands, her screen being duplicated to another one above her that Erik could see. “We have one last target located in the Sichuan province in ex-Dynasty China, near Chengdu.”

  Erik looked at the map showing the GPS tracker on the hound as it zoomed in further on China. “You know, just yesterday, this one was the last one.”

  “Well, sucks to be us, I guess. Wheels up as soon as we get back to the airstrip.”

  An hour later, the aeroplane was already rising through the clouds. Erik, Emma, and one additional officer handling requisitions were the only ones on board, besides the two pilots. The secondary pilot was technically an engineer, but was also taking his pilot’s licence.

  The requisitions officer was handling flight plans, helicopter rentals, vehicles and so on wherever they went, while Emma handled most of the big picture stuff alongside Angela, who was partnered with Jessie, doing the same thing as Erik and Emma were.

  “Have you spoken to her yet?” Emma asked as the plane levelled somewhat.

  “No, not since last month,” Erik replied with a solemn tone, his mind wandering as he looked out at the clouds below them.

  “Don’t you think it’s time? I know it’s been hard, but the two of you had the closest relationship I think I’ve ever seen anyone have without any kind of relation. I hate to see that just…wilt away like this.”

  “Even if we were to talk, I—…She won’t forgive me. She can’t. It’s better this way,” Erik said, closing his eyes. He breathed out and got comfortable to prepare for the long ride.

  Back in a helicopter outside Chengdu, Emma continued the conversation from the earlier flight, much to Erik’s chagrin. They had had this discussion before, and Erik had learned to ignore her.

  “Have you considered that maybe you’re the one who won’t forgive yourself? Knowing Jessie, she’s probably struggling with the exact same thing right now.”

  “Just leave it be, Emma. I got her sister killed when I should’ve been protecting her. No one can argue that. It was just her and me. Now drop it.”

  Emma sighed, her face dropping to look at the tablet to keep track of the target. Below them was plenty of rocky terrain with large patches of grass and small wooded areas. Emma had hoped the sight would be as beautiful as the pictures made it seem, with traditional architecture, calm rivers with lotus leaves, and rice paddies. From up here, and with all the travel she had done the last few months…it was just normal. Emma had never been to China before because of the strict visitation laws and difficulty getting approved.

  When China left the Dynasty to become a solitary nation half a decade prior to the Beast War, the restrictions lessened somewhat, but people in public positions with other affiliations such as the military or the government in other nations couldn’t enter at all.

  Now, not only was she a civilian, but President Zhou invited her himself because of the Hellbeast sighting—not by name, but as part of an entity that comprised Erik, herself, Jessie, Angela, and a handful of other people.

  This entity had got several names in a multitude of nations across the world, but they hadn’t named themselves anything. This was all temporary, after all, and they all hoped they were on their final mission right now.

  Emma eyed the map, finding their own GPS tag only a few kilometres out from that of the beast. A third tag was showing further east.

  “Alter our heading a bit to the west, close to the mountain range. It’ll have difficulty retreating north into the mountains, and the area south of it is open,” Emma said through the mic on the headset, the pilot responding to her orders by altering course in a moment.

  Both Erik and Emma jumped out of the helicopter after it landed on a flat piece of grassland, though even here there were plenty of small rocks littering the ground.

  “You’re coming along?” Erik asked, surprised to see his partner jumping out behind him. “You usually keep to the air.”

  “Well, one last hurrah, right?” she lied.

  They were about a kilometre out from the beast’s position, and both started walking as the helicopter waited for them to get out of range of any debris its lift-off might send flying. They followed a path around a small, wooded area with a tiny river flowing right through the centre. The light, trickling sound was very calming; Erik even lowered his chronically tense shoulders on the short hike, Emma noticed.

  Coming up on the location of the hound, a pained whine echoed from the mountains to the north of them. The familiar scream of a Hellhound caused Erik to increase his pace to that of a run, Emma having little chance to keep up with him with her normal human body despite it being a well-trained one.

  Erik dashed past rocks both big and small, coming up on a large field of grass and bushes, spotting a familiar form searching around an odd structure of roots and rocks.

  “Angela?” he asked as he reached her. “What are you—” he started, then sensed Jessie’s aura nearby. He shouldn’t have been surprised that Jessie and Angela were together, as he knew they were working together just like he and Emma were, but he had expected none of them to be here.

  “Hey!” Angela beamed, jogging towards Erik and hugging him tight. “It’s been a while. How are you?” she asked.

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  “Well, just a month, but I’ll take the hug either way,” he answered, his body growing more tense the closer Jessie’s aura got.

  Jessie came from the other side of the structure, rounding the edge and looked at the two. Emma came rushing in behind them.

  “Hey!” Emma almost laughed as she hugged Angela.

  “Hey, yourself! Let’s, uh…give these two a minute,” Angela said, the pair’s planned manoeuvre of forcing the Remnants to meet working thus far.

  The two slinked off towards the opposite side of the structure, leaving the other way than Jessie was coming from. She approached Erik with careful, hesitant steps. She refused to meet his eyes, just as he was focusing anywhere other than on hers.

  “Hi, Jessie,” he finally said as she stopped a few metres ahead of him.

  “Hi…Erik,” she answered.

  “I think we’ve been set up,” Erik said in hopes to see her smile, yet knowing she wouldn’t. He was right.

  “Yeah,” was all she responded. It wasn’t cold or angry. Her voice was just…distant. Like last time, before they realised her sister wouldn’t return. After that, it was sad. Never angry.

  “The hound?” Erik asked after several silent seconds had gone by.

  “Angela wounded it. It crawled somewhere inside there. It’s alive, but we haven’t found the entrance. Something about it is making it difficult for me to sense inside it.”

  It was more words than Erik had heard her speak in four months.

  “Let’s check it out, then,” the Titan responded, walking towards the structure.

  Its thick, plentiful roots and jagged rocks formed a circular dome. Either by sheer happenstance—or the structure was about ready to fall anyway—the first root Erik pushed on after searching the frontmost area of the structure gave way and revealed a small hole with marks like those from a Hellhound’s paw.

  After telling Jessie about it, he crawled through the small tunnel which dropped downwards and went on further inside than he expected. Once he crawled out of the tunnel on the other side, he found half of the tagged Hellbeast, its entire chest, forelegs, and head gone, severed cleanly from the hindquarters.

  Jessie crawled through after him, finding the same odd sight in the undercroft they found themselves in. Erik helped her out of the small entrance on instinct, reaching his hand out and pulling her out and up.

  “What is this place?” he asked, looking around.

  No sunlight entered the cavern-like structure except for a minuscule amount from the hole they entered through. The walls were smooth rock, unlike the outside stone, and were covered with roots, both thick and thin. Most of them were long, like rope hanging from the ceiling, growing from somewhere out of sight.

  Jessie ran her fingers across the bumpy walls, answering, “I can’t sense outside. Not even through the hole.”

  Erik cleared his throat. “Um…speaking of. It’s gone.”

  “What’s gone? The hole?”

  “The hole is gone. And also the rest of the hound is gone,” Erik said, looking back to where he was sure they had crawled out from.

  The last half of the hound that had been there earlier had vanished without so much as a trace amount of blood remaining where it had laid.

  “Don’t mess with—it’s gone,” Jessie half-snarled before checking the wall where she, too, was certain they had come from.

  “Do you think they found the way inside?” Angela asked, circling the structure for the second time.

  “They wouldn’t just leave, right? So they must have,” Emma answered. “Hey, look here.”

  Angela ran up to Emma, who was showing the way inside, claw marks and all. “Jessie? Erik? Are you in there?” she shouted into the hole. There was no answer. “Well, at least we know which of us is gonna crawl inside,” Angela then said, her face as straight as on her first day of being a recruit.

  “I’m not going in just because I’m shorter than you,” Emma growled.

  “No, you’re going in because you didn’t refuse,” Angela smirked. Emma gave a disgusted-sounding ugh in response and started crawling through.

  Moments later, the scuffing stopped. Angela waited for Emma to say anything when a cacophony—almost like an explosion some distance away—blasted in her ear. Angela turned, at first seeing nothing out of the ordinary, but she then saw she had been mistaken.

  A blue wave unlike anything she had seen, even in the last half-year, covered everything in sight. The wave was fast, crossing the horizon in an instant, making her somewhat hesitant to believe what she had seen. It passed through her, feeling like nothing and having no apparent effect on her.

  Emma finally shouted through to her from inside the structure. “What the hell was that?”

  Angela turned towards the hole with hesitation, afraid another wave would come, despite it not doing anything as far as she could tell.

  “Uh…I don’t know. Some kind of…light? Are you through?”

  “Yeah,” Emma said.

  “And?” Angela asked, a bit annoyed she had to ask.

  “Well, the hound is dead. The front is severed clean off, but I can’t find it. No sign of Erik or Jessie anywhere in here, though.”

  “Where would they go?” asked Angela.

  “Where are we?”

  The Remnants had found what seemed like a carved crack in the stone wall inside the structure. Once they touched it, it slid open with a loud rumble, revealing the outside to them.

  Unlike when they had entered, the sky was pink in the late stage of the ongoing sunset. There was no sign of Emma and Angela around, but that was hardly a surprise when they noticed the entire landscape around them had changed.

  Rather than the mixed rocky and grassy terrain on the ground below them, there were now roots and grass stretching as far as they could see. Flowers and plants grew from the roots, none of which Erik and Jessie had ever seen before.

  A quick look at the sky showed bluish clouds despite the pink sunlight, and a large moon was lit up clear as day above them. The moon was green like a lush jungle.

  “Erik! I think…I think we’re…this is Hosu’s world!” She smiled for what he thought was the first time in four long months.

  Together, they walked in a random direction from the structure that seemed to have brought them here. Everywhere they looked, they found more new stuff, like a bush that grew green apple-like fruits that released thick sap-like juices from the skin, and a plant that glowed purple from its flower down to its roots.

  They had only walked for ten minutes when Erik couldn’t take it anymore and he wanted to take advantage of Jessie’s recent upbeat mood.

  “Jessie, can we talk?” he asked, causing her to stop beside him. Erik stopped as well after another step.

  “I don’t want to,” she said, though she wasn’t fighting it like Erik was afraid she would. It was as much of a consent as he would get.

  “I want you to have this,” he said, handing her a familiar notebook from beside her. He stepped back behind her as she looked at it before he continued. “I…just wanted to say—”

  “Erik, I’m sorry. I should’ve been there! I could’ve stopped her from coming along with us, and I—” Jessie said as tears ran down her face from when they had stopped walking, unable to hold them back anymore.

  She turned to face her friend, but Erik was gone. On the ground where he had stood were slithering roots covering up a shrinking hole, claw marks fading as the roots healed themselves.

  “Halt!” said a loud, masculine voice from the east, and Jessie turned to see a series of large men and women wearing padded leather vests, helmets that halfway covered their faces, and leather skirts. All wielded spears, and they were darting towards her.

  Three days later, in the Chengdu region, a rumble from the structure sounded, a stone door opening from the inside. Two men exited the undercroft clad in fine, silken shirts and wielding extravagant weaponry. Both men took deep, long breaths to smell the air.

  The largest man had long, dark brown hair which was tied in an intricate pattern that ran down his back. A single, long lock hung over his shoulder in the front. He wore a massive silver sword on his back and a long curved blade on his hips, both adorned with flowery patterns on their shiny blades.

  The other man was a head shorter than the first, but was still over two metres tall. He had shiny metal pauldrons on his shoulder, a massive plate armour like that of a mediaeval knight, only exaggerated to inhuman proportions. Black gauntlets on his hands had jagged edges and spikes on them, and he had a massive longsword fastened to his back. He had no hair on his head, but wore a goatee on his face which almost covered a wide scar across his mouth.

  “This place is filthy,” the hairy one said in disgust as he spat on the ground.

  “It isn’t the first industrialised world we’ve been to, but rarely are they this far gone. How these peasants can live in this poison is unclear to me.”

  “We’re not supposed to call them that, A.”

  “To Afterlife with that bullshit, T. We’re superior to them in every way. I know you don’t believe in that Resurgence crap.”

  “How else would you explain that wave three days ago? I’m telling you, it’s coming back. It has to,” T argued.

  “Even if it was, why would that mean that we should stop treating the dirt-breeds like they’re worth anything?”

  “Beats me. Gods should be treated as gods. My father says we should take advantage and kill all the filth now before more of them will rise to our ranks. I kind of agree with him. There are enough of us running around, and not enough monsters to tear apart.”

  “I wholeheartedly agree, T,” A said, taking another sniff of the acrid air. “Especially on the monster part. So L is supposed to be here somewhere?”

  “Yeah, this should be the right world. I was born here, you know? In the north,” T said.

  “I’m guessing that was in another time. Any idea where that silver-haired freak would be, then?”

  “North, probably causing trouble. He’s always been predictable that way.”

  Erik woke, finding trees and plants all around him—a weird sight considering the trees were growing from roots that themselves were growing on the roots that made up the entire ground. He looked around, only remembering vines grabbing hold of him and pulling him down into the ground. Where was he?

  The ambient sounds of animals filled the forest. He saw a tiny, squirrel-like creature with a long snout jumping from branch to branch in the canopy above him. Somewhere around him he sensed an unfamiliar aura, but he couldn’t figure out where it came from. It was stronger than his, likely Bronze like Tuwa’s and Sun’s.

  It felt friendly, the aura almost playfully tugging on his own. Erik asked out loud if anyone was around, but he got no reply. He wandered about the forest, never escaping the second aura no matter how far he went. Hours went by, and the sunlight that beamed through the canopy never dimmed or faded.

  The forest proved quite large, Erik finding no trace of the edge even after days of travelling in the same direction. Something was wrong, he had realised, but he couldn’t place what.

  As he bathed in a small, warm pond with steam rising from the water with no wind to rustle it, a familiar figure showed itself after almost a week stuck in this forest. The ever-present, unfamiliar aura came from this person, he realised.

  “Angela?”

  truly finished project (probably needs more edits of course), I can safely say it only gets better from here. More worlds loom, more Remnants and more powers await. The next chapter is a (skippable) breakdown of our two Remnants' powers and ranks after the four-month time skip! Nothing new here as they've been busy, but I decided early I didn't want half the chapters filled with copy-pasted power-dumps, so it can also be used to refer back to their powers later.

  Patreon depending on tiers, and a lot of stuff has been happening! Join now so you can catch up before it starts getting really exciting =]