Platinum Skies (The Manifests Series #2)

[22] The Last Refuge

It was a quiet trip going to Cat's hideout, and nothing but sound of the smooth engine and tires of the van plowing through Gyeongsan's derelict, snowy avenues was heard.

Most of the team inside the van had their eyes shut and napping---extremely tired of the events that had transpired for the past three days.

All except for Zeke, Jihyo, and Yejun, who were staring at the window, gazing at the desolate road as the van just keeps moving.

Yejun's face looked rather bored than tired, seemingly not caring about his wounds and gashes. He felt like he should be doing something other than rest---something that he feels that he could learn and eventually perfect. But none came to mind.

The next big event to prove himself to everyone that he is a master wielder is far from sight, and thus, he is left stagnant.

Yejun suddenly opens the van's sliding window and randomly flings his Manifest boomerang far out the avenue out of complete boredom. It knocks and destorys a snowman that was just wandering around, and soon, the boomerang returns to his hand perfectly. He closes the window and closes his eyes.

Jihyo, on the other hand, was just staring blankly out the window, lost in thought. She didnt feel any pain anymore from their previous fights, as the Seraphim passively helps her gradually heal and rest.

She feels a huge tinge of emotional unrest, however.

She badly wanted to find Mina, and the constant delays in their mission was starting to get frustrating deep inside. But there's only so much she could do in this raging apocalypse. There were a few blurry leads to where Mina actually is, and despite her wielding a mystical weapon forged by a celestial being, at the end of the day, she was still human, and she had limits. She cant keep fighting and searching consistently forever without taking breaks every once in a while, especially now that the Koul'ins are getting stronger and stronger.

She just takes a deep breath as she continues to get lost in thought.

Zeke, on the other hand, is fiddling with his phone on the backmost part of the van. This is the first time in a week he was able to hold it after everything that has transpired the past few days.

He was constantly swiping on its small screen, moving pictures from his gallery; trying to grasp the feeling of the simple, mundane life that was before this whole apocalypse began.

A picture of his work here, a meme there. He continues to scroll and scroll until he finds pictures of his family and friends.

Zeke wonders when will he be able to go home.

Or the better question is, will he ever get home?

Zeke understands that the enemies will be tougher the longer he embarks on this journey. The percentage of the chances of his survival fluctuate, and the only reason why these percentages are in his favor is because he has determined friends to back him up.

Not to mention, the friends that he has in this catastrophe consists of really talented and famous people. Star-studded, even.

He only needs to survive, just like them.

"...Oi, you guys trapped in Dreamland or something?" A female voice said as Zeke, Jihyo and Yejun snapped out of their thoughts. They look, and see that Cat was standing outside the van, and realizes that they've finally arrived.

April 30, 2023, 12:23pm, Cat's Safehouse, Gyeongsan, South Korea.

Zeke and Jihyo soon nudged the rest to wake up. They rouse from their slumber, wincing as they still feel the wounds and the fatigue from the fight. Everyone soon goes down from the van groggily and and looks at the two-storey safehouse in the middle of a field of barren trees and plants, blanketed in ice and snow.