Bygone

12

Vow

The night before their wake was far from eventful, though the premade meals that Moira concocted for them definitely did the trick. Their makeshift fire died soundly as they slept, waking up to see the remains of the crater leaving its mark.

It was a brand new day. Their second day in the Between. Their second day away.

Despite having all felt like they'd awoken from their revitalising slumber later than they should have, the light seemed to have only begun its regrowth as they rose.

Chloe was the first to awaken, also the earliest to witness their first ever.. sunrise? She knew it couldn't have been a sunrise, well, without a sun. Dawning, or daybreak would be a better word at the moment. But leaving her delighted thoughts to stray away, she'd gently nudged on the two afterward and had them begin to prepare.

They were now about halfway through their journey for the infamous artificial intelligence that hid from them. Their second target in only God knows how many more they had to find.

As Marcus and Jaclyn similarly began to pack their things and ready themselves up for the new day (and perhaps another long one), she couldn't keep the thought away that what if they were just working for the Sedition? She's gone over it before, but it was just really hard to believe that Robin defected because of his own bloodlust.

It was hard to believe that they could all live hundreds of years.

But it was also hard to believe that they now wielded weapons of great power. Great, magical and almost uncontrollable power at that. Yet, they had those same weapons in their hands now. There was that off-putting notion that they were able to beat Robin, who could've so happened to be the strongest of the Sedition.

Maybe they just wanted to have fun while a couple of innocent and unknowing children ran their errands for them. An errand that would construct a machine of immense strength for.. them.

It could all very well just be a game puppeted by the Sedition. And if it was, Chloe knew that she couldn't allow them to keep every Sedited Prime they came across alive. For a moment she could feel that same bloodlust that was told that Robin also had. If the only way to bring what she believed as righteousness and goodness to the Between, maybe killing every adversary they faced was that way.

And she hated it.

Not too long after they all rose from their sleeps, their packs were strapped back on and they began their supposedly perilous hike through the forest ring. They all subconsciously agreed on keeping their helmets and breastplates off for the journey, knowing it'd keep them from collapsing with each step. But the pieces of gray armor were just strapped onto the packs, so Marcus couldn't see the reason to apart from being able to freely move about with ease.

Which, he guessed, was pretty convenient.

The pattern he noticed that the forest ring followed beautifully showed itself again. The outward edges being rather dense, and that same density waning the further and further they went into the ring. Almost like a natural shielding that the trees all unanimously agreed upon. With the artificial intelligence being at what was almost the center of the region within, it only meant the A.I. was supposed to be there.

Both he and Chloe stayed on Jaclyn's trail, as they did, being a little closer to her now. Getting lost was something they couldn't afford, especially without almost any complex understanding of the technology granted to them, or the world they were still learning.

Marcus kept his eyes bouncing to and fro his bracer's screen. The map that Moira provided them with was being updated in real time from whatever satellites that the Odium, or even the Custodes has sent into the Between's exosphere. It lacked all sense to have an endless night sky without layers to it.