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Chapter 100

You don't even want to know how we woke Sir Blarg. Trust me, some things are better left unsaid, especially in this case.
Anyways, I soon find myself soaring through the air on the back of the tired and grumpy animal. The breeze created by Blarg's wings blows up leaves from the Wold we're flying so low, a whirlwind of red and yellow and pink and orange whistling and fluttering around us. But everything else is eerily silent like this morning, still and quiet.
I try to fall asleep, leaning back against Coal and resting my head on his shoulder, but I feel unsettled, like something is watching me (No, not the skull, that was just an expression).
"Look." I open my eyes at the sound of Coal's voice, and ahead is the Old City.
New York City, as it used to be called. And, as far as I know, which isn't exactly saying a lot considering my quite limited means of travel (Yeah, flying goat and walking- the odds aren't looking too good) the only city from before to survive the end.
"Oh my god," I gasp quietly, taking in the enormity of the ruined city.
In it's prime, I can only imagine what it was like to walk through those streets, to look up from the ground at the magnificent height of the buildings. Only one stands out from all the rest, still rising up from the ash and fog like a defiant warrior from the past, a monument for all those who perished over a hundred years before my time.
The lone tower stands far beyond the height of even the Palace in the First City, which actually isn't the first city, considering this one has stood for much, much longer, and has survived a whole load more of bad stuff. It's peak tapers upwards in platforms, until there is a single tall pole reaching many feet more up through the ruin and disease and waving us forward like a beacon of hope.
Glass says it's called the Empire State Building.
Pretty soon we're soaring over the ruined city, the steady thump of Blarg's wings the only sound in the silence. The heavy breeze he makes stirs up ash on the streets and caved in rooftops as we fly lower.
I feel Coal tense, and I shiver in the eery, foggy silence. Buildings, great ominous shapes, the rigging bare and the glass broken, loom out of the musk like monumental Beasts left over from a war long come to pass.
I grip his hand tightly. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end, and I nervously smooth out my tail with my free hand, not able to shake the feeling I'm being watched.
Blarg comes down heavily on the roof of a mostly intact low building, the ash and dust and remains of old newspapers rising up and swirling around us. The structure noticeably sags inwards, creaking horribly under the Beast's weight, but it holds.
I thank Blarg again and tell him I won't be long. Either that, or I'll be dead.
We've already discussed the plan. Me and Glass are to go into the City, and search out any lifeforms that might lurk there, any abandoned Impurities who might have so far escaped the reach of the Order. Coal will follow along behind us, so at our signal he could step in and use his power with words to help if needed. Yeah, we both agreed it wouldn't be the best idea to stroll in there fat, dumb and happy, arm-in-arm with the guy lots of people would love to personally murder in the most painful way possible.
"Be safe," Coal murmurs at our temporary- possibly permanent parting. I snort.
"Yeah, that's gonna happen." I turn away before I can change my mind and jump, screaming, onto Blarg's back. I know there are survivors somewhere out there, because they're watching me right now, and I know they could kill us all at any second.
But me and Glass turn our backs to the rest of the group, and I can only hope they won't die- And that's the best if the plan goes well.