Myriad

Chapter 4 - Encounter with Death

Ilin Highway - Cycle 499 - Day 259

Cierce's POV
"Hey! Stop holding onto me!" Jonas shouted. I was attempting to cling onto Jonas, in show of my love towards him. "For the last time, stop holding me. We may have loved each other last time, but I don't remember a thing! Stop clinging onto me!"

I pouted at him.

He frowned at me.

This highway, the notorious Ilin highway, was infamous. It was famous for bandits and the occasional Deathless. After all, the highway was littered with many cars, from the remains of pre-Final War. They were all killed when the dust bomb dropped, but surprisingly, the scientists who engineered the bomb, only made it affect humans. Everything else was left intact. The shells of rust were the result. Many bandits liked to hide behind these cars and raid anyone who passed by. Today was not an exception.

"Aieeeee!" I screamed.

A bandit jumped out of the spot in front of us. He was armed, while we were not. What were we to do?

Jonas' POV
Now I have a girl that's screaming at a bandit. Great. How can this day get worse? I sighed.

"Hand me all your valuables, and I promise I will let you go, no strings attached." He threatened, swinging his knife around to demonstrate. He proceeded to walk closer to us, while counting, "10,9,8..."

Cierce was gripping onto me so tightly that it was hard to breathe. "Let... go... I can deal with this. Don't worry." I proceeded to take out my moonrock. The bandit's eyes gleamed at the sight of the priceless object, his gaze locked onto it.

"Give me that now. Or you will never make it out alive." He proceeded to attempt to stab Cierce, but stopped before he could touch her. "Now you know I mean it. Hand it over, no tricks."

Cierce was trembling from head to toe. I threw the moonrock at Cierce, knowing that the bandit would target Cierce instead. She fumbled to catch it, and saw in shock that the bandit was dashing to her, his eyes gleaming with hunger. In the nick of time, I launched myself at the bandit, trying to kick him. However, I ended up failing as the bandit managed to dodge. I ended up in a heap with Cierce.

Cierce's POV
"Ouh getting hasty eh?" I could feel Jonas above me.

Jonas' POV
I stood up just as the bandit announced, "This is what happens when you try and attack me! Now I'll be off, with this precious find of mine."

Just then, at that moment, the temperature in the surroundings dropped tremendously. Remember when I also said that Deathless encounters were also common? Apparently, a Deathless was about to attack.

The bandit shivered. "Are you doing this? Please tell me you are the one that is doing this. Oh... no..." From a distance, a black shadowy figure was dashing towards us. In a matter of seconds, it was 10 meters before us. None of us could react. The thief immediately dropped the moonrock out if haste and ran as fast as he could. The Deathless waited a few seconds, then dashed after it.

Cierce's POV
Immediately, Jonas lay down on top of me, hugged me and covered my eyes. If it wasn't for the situation now, I would have enjoyed it. I could hear the sounds of the bandit screaming "Help me!!! Save me!!!!" before huge tearing sounds were heard. The screams died down until it was silent except for our heavy breathing. "Oh god, no."

"Cierce whatever you do DON'T move away from that spot!" Jonas shouted. I nodded in acknoledgement. He dashed towards the dropped moonrock and ran back towards me. I caught a glimpse of the remains of the bandit, and saw that the Deathless was running towards us.

"FASTER! JONAS HELP!" He arrived just in the nick of time, and at the same time, the Deathless slowed down to a conplete stop a few meters from us. We heaved a sigh of relief. The Deathless growled at us menacingly, paced around us for awhile, then it sprinted away.

Jonas rolled off me. Even though I was enjoying the moment when he was hugging me, I was partially scared yet comforted at the same time as Jonas was there to protect me. He stood up and stretched himself.

"Tired?" He grinned at me.

I nodded wearily. He picked me up as though I was a paperweight, and let me piggyback ride him. Slowly, leaning against him, I could feel his heartbeat, beating in time with mine, and I fell asleep. I knew that I could put my safety in his hands. Soon, I was fast asleep...

They say when you fall in love, the world around you becomes more filled with colour. Although Myriad is a monotone black and white landscape, with Jonas, my world became a brighter place...