(Reverence 4, 59 / 8:37AM)

  (Hope) Both of you changed each other…

  Before Luke’s speech, a young woman still had her knees tucked like a rollie-pollie.

  In front of her, an old teenage cat-girl still had her hands on her hips, tapping one of her wedges on the frostbitten floor. Her thin brown jacket barely kept her warm, and her spine let out a long trail of shivers that repeated in one-second intervals, with each interval shorter than the st.

  But Hope wasn’t cold.

  Despite her lips cracking and turning a pale-ish blue, dead skin scraped off from mostly her upper lip, joining the fray of ice and frost below. Her fingers were numb, and she looked to see Elizabeth’s gaze still casting down onto her.

  (Hope) But how does this rete to Luke’s promise?

  (Elizabeth) If your promise were for him to not let his inner demons out, then that oath would be eventually broken.

  (Hope) But…

  (Elizabeth) So create a new oath.

  Hope furrowed her right brow, both of her pale fingers sinking deep into her thighs instead of her shins. Looking down, both of her eyelids were shaded bck, making it seem as if she was running on little sleep.

  As for Elizabeth, she folded her arms on the center level of her stomach, her left lip arching upward to form a sly smile. Both of her cheeks pushed up, her cheekbones began to blossom pink from the frigid air.

  (Elizabeth) Don’t give me that attitude. Creating a new oath with him that seems reasonable would be better in the long run.

  (Hope) But what oath … what oath would he be able to keep …

  (Elizabeth) I don’t know, maybe something that he would look good in.

  Hope raised her head high, looking up at Elizabeth’s brown eyes.

  Letting go of her thighs, she let the back of her hands slowly fall onto the frozen floor, her knuckles crinkling and shimmering the moment it made contact with the metal. Both bottoms of her feet dug into the ground, her tailbone which held the weight of her body began to shift forward.

  By letting herself stand up, keeping her hands to her sides, she let the frozen air molest the mucus yer of her throat. Both being the same height, Hope had a single hair or two kneel in front of her pupils, causing her to sway her head.

  (Hope) I’ll decide on that ter. I don’t know what I see him as other than Luke…

  (Elizabeth) Well, it’s obvious you like him.

  (Hope) W-Well—

  (Elizabeth) What nickname would you give to the person you love?

  (Hope) I uhm …

  Clutching both of her hands together, she kept them on top of her crotch as she fiddled with her frost-covered fingers. Keeping her head down, both of her cheeks flustered a reddish pink, warming her face up to battle the air around her.

  Tapping her right foot, the tip of her boot began to crack some of the ice on the floor, making a crunching noise that lightened the room. Ceasing her tapping, she slowly raised her head, looking toward Elizabeth with pushed-down eyes.

  (Hope) Maybe a h—

  (Pacifica) Heya girls! Those-those boys are coming downstairs, they brought Luke to his senses!

  Pacifica popped her head out of the freezer door while having the rest of her body bnketed by the oven air from the main building. Her palms safely sticking to the doorframe, pieces of ice jabbed softly into her skin, making it feel like her palms were pinched by crab pinchers.

  Keeping both of her eyes on Elizabeth and Hope, her cheery smile outshined that of Elizabeth’s.

  (Elizabeth) That’s Johnny for you! Always managing to bring out the good in you!

  Walking out of the frozen freezer, Elizabeth put both of her hands inside the thin jacket that warmed her, letting her close her eyes and push her cheeks up to their limits. Now shivering, the frozen air that she found soce in soon began to freeze her, her face growing pale along with her lips churning a sinister blue.

  Following Elizabeth, both girls exited out of the freezer room, with Hope looking over to the staircase that rattled with many boots.

  Standing still, in the center of the group was a young man with light brown hair and red eyes.

  (Elizabeth) Come on Pacifica, Hope’s alone on this one!

  (Pacifica) Gotcha!

  The two girls walked off toward Christian and Chris who sat on a wooden crate, it let Hope do the one thing that Luke was only good at.

  Apologizing.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Reverence 4, 59 / 11:09AM)

  The sun’s rays shone on the bck asphalt, along with the grains of sand that bnketed it down like a cloth.

  Dunes in back of them, the brown van that plowed through the road with its mendicant tires got stabbed by the raining sand, flying sideways to the left of them. Both of his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, Jack noticed the region ahead that was only a mile away, a region that was shaded in a swampy green.

  To Jack’s right, Luke also kept his eyes forward, seeing a green billboard sign shining in white letters.

  “Culkia - 50 Miles”

  (Luke) We’re almost there.

  (Jack) Good thing that the station is on the outskirts of the city, compared to Ridgemente.

  (Johnny) Take it with a grain of salt, that you guys would not want to visit Culkia. At all…

  In the back of the van, Luna, Miles, Benn and Hope sat on the left side of the van, as in front of them was Christian and his two siblings, and Elizabeth. In the center of Jack and Luke, Johnny had his head blocking the opening communication hole.

  Leaving the Nabu desert, the van entered the doorstep of the Tyche Swamp, a wetnd region filled with kes and ponds. Bck muddy water glistening underneath the sun, both Jack and Luke furrowed their brows at the instant change of region.

  Scratching his head, Luke took in the twenty-foot tall mango trees and dense bushes, as well as the thick dark green leaves that didn’t sway nor swerve in the dead wind.

  (Luke) Why is there a big change in the region?

  (Johnny) Geography-wise, most of the tropical monsoons either hit the southern Ticia or Aizzonia, but rarely Haxouburg. Most people say that the desert’s arid climate pushes away the tropical moisture needed for rain.

  (Jack) But that doesn’t expin Luke’s question.

  (Johnny) It’s just a theory, but have you heard of the artificial world theory?

  Luke nodded his head back and forth slowly, his eyes squinting straight at Johnny with his right hand underneath his chin.

  Getting Luke’s attention, Johnny had both of his hands out as he moved them from right to left. Keeping his back straight, Johnny let the words stream out of his mouth, causing Jack and Luke both to keep their lips sealed.

  Having his eyes on the road, Jack nodded at every sentence that Johnny finished, his hands loose from the steering wheel.

  (Johnny) Don’t call me crazy, but there’s a theory that might be true. People say that this world wasn’t natural, in that all of these biomes or regions are vastly smaller than ecologically estimated.

  (Luke) How so?

  (Johnny) Some ecologists say that a natural biome would take a day to travel by car, compared to Terra’s six to twelve-hour drive.

  In the back of the van, the Dark Angels all perked up their ears at the hearing of Johnny’s lips, listening through the faint words from the closed hole. Miles, who was the nearest to the hole, kept his left ear pressured on the metal wall while pcing both of his hands onto the metal as well.

  Hope, Christian and his siblings, and Elizabeth all nudged their bodies closer to the words, while Benn and Luna remained unchanged. Rolling her eyes, Luna folded her arms as she looked out into the dense dark green trees and bushes.

  (Johnny) Another popur theory is the underwater city beneath Aseneth Swamp.

  (Luke) Sorry, but I highly doubt that an underwater city can be built.

  (Johnny) If civilization is advanced enough, yeah. You know, for a man who yearns for the truth, you sure don’t like conspiracy theories.

  (Luke) Well, most conspiracy theories are mostly false.

  (Johnny) We’ll see.

  Jack tapped his right finger up and down the more he continued to drive deep into the Tyche wetnd, the bck leather steering wheel already staining his finger. Using his left hand, he scratched his cheek repeatedly as an abundance of dead skin and dirt swept off, leaving his armpit exposed.

  Sniffing twice, he raised his left arm, hovering his nose to take in a huge shift of air. Widening his eyes, he put his left arm down, clearing his throat while swaying his head back and forth.

  (Jack) After this, we all need to take a shower.

  (Johnny) No wonder some of you smelled funny.

  (Luke) We haven’t showered in two days. Not only that, but we also got our hands dirty on that ranch as well.

  (Johnny) True …

  In the back of the van, Benn faced directly in front of Christian, seeing the tanned man folding his arms with a pushed-down face. Having his back straight, both of his boots pointed toward the shark-human, his feet glued to the floor as he just stared at Benn.

  Benn only kept his eyes downcast, letting his hands droop down to his thighs while keeping both of his feet ft. His back straight, not a beam of sweat cleaned out from his temples, but his hands trembled.

  (Christian) You don’t have to raid the train with us you know. You could stay and keep an eye on my brother.

  (Chris) Wait, I’m not going to raid it with you guys?!

  (Christian) It’s for your own good. Besides, I think you had your fair share of the outside world.

  Chris scoffed as he rolled up his hands into fists, looking away into the back window that dispyed nothing but road and thick green trees.

  Meanwhile, Christian unfolded his arms, letting his hands grip onto both of his kneecaps. Slouching his back, the back of his head pressed itself onto the metal wall of the van, keeping his eyes remaining on Benn.

  (Christian) If you step foot on that train, you’ll be gunned down harder than a cockroach inside of a cowboy bar.

  (Benn) Is this your way of being nice?

  (Christian) I’m saving you from yourself.

  Christian slowly arched his back forward, hunching it while pcing both of his elbows firm on his thighs. Csping both of his hands together, they tightened so that not even a tug or pull was enough to pull them out.

  Benn looked up to Christian’s nonchant face, noticing his ft lips and snted eyebrows sinking deep into his soul. His hands trembled more, a soft exhale of air escaped from his rge nostrils.

  (Benn) I know what I’m getting into. I am a target.

  (Christian) And you’re going to py that role? Being bait?

  (Benn) I’ve always been good at pying that role.

  Christian remained silent, pursing his lips closed so that not a single word or letter seeped out of his mouth. Looking downward onto the ground, both of Christian’s hands began to clench tightly with one another, his fingernails on the verge of digging into his skin.

  His back still hunched, his elbows still pressured on his thighs, it looked as if Christian was in a prayer, yet his eyes were still wide open.

  (Christian) What’s your goal?

  (Benn) I don’t have one.

  (Chrisitan) Desire?

  (Benn) I just want peace.

  (Christian) For yourself or others?

  A slight road bump caused the van to jolt up, leading everyone in the back to rustle with the motion. Ignoring the jumping of the van, both Christian and Benn kept their stances unchanged, both of their feet still glued to the floor of the van.

  Benn’s hands began to curl, his thick chubby fingers lodging deep into his bluish-gray palms. Letting his eyes darken, he stared into the floor of the van, his mouth shut from letting any dry breath seep out from it.

  (Benn) What do you want me to be?

  (Christian) It’s just a question.

  (Benn) Simple? Nothing in my life was—

  (Christian) We get it, your life was hard. Is that your reason for peace? So that you could live a carefree life without discrimination?

  Benn hunched his back evermore, as both of his elbows began to grind against both of his knees that ached from the pressure. Bruising his skin, his biceps gleamed with exuberant muscles trapped within his leather jacket, his forearms already tensing up from the bulging.

  Without noticing Benn’s muscles bulging up, Christian continued to talk with his eyes beginning to push downward.

  (Christian) Most beast-humans that I know want society to change. I rarely find a beast-human that only looks after itself.

  (Benn) I didn’t say that.

  (Christian) But you said you want peace for yourself, right? You can’t live in peace if your kind is on the bottom of the totem pole—

  One of Benn’s fingernails cracked.

  Blood trickled down through his finger to his palm, the red liquid sunk deeper into his leather sleeve, traversing into his jacket. Split in half, his fingernail looked as if one slid off another, with one half being lower than the other.

  Christian puckered his lips into a sealment, looking away as a trickle of sweat swept down from his cheeks. Keeping his hands clenched together, he had them pressed onto his stomach, along with his eyes staring into the back window of the van.

  (Christian) Sorry.

  Benn only exhaled a rge plume of air out of his mouth, the dry air scraping against his waterless lips. Letting his hands motionless to gravity, his elbows locked downward straight, letting the blood trickle down the metallic floor of the van.

  (Benn) It’s nothing …

  But both of his eyes snted inward, his forearms and biceps trembling and bulging repeatedly. Both corners of his lips reached down to his jawline, his cold frown kept everyone else from talking to him, leaving him with only his thoughts.

  (Benn’s thoughts) The only shark-human that tried to negotiate peace was Curt The Shark-Human, and look what happened to us…