Gods Aren't Perfect - OFFICIAL

Chapter Two: One HECK of a Time

After a very long three hours or whatever, Quincy the Canadian Goose landed on a tree, smacking all three of its riders into the trunk. Tronso groaned, sliding to the floor - and then Faceless landed on him, the mute one managing to grab onto a branch. It broke moments after - the boy still hanging on. Then the entire tree burst into flames. Yelping, the duo on the ground scrambled away from the fire, their buddy hopping away as well with the branch he managed to grab.

Now that they had a moment of quiet, the trio decided to scope out where they had ended up. Well, technically only two of them scoped it out, since Tronso collapsed on the floor after a few seconds.

The world around them was on fire. There was some more fire. And of course, a lovely bit of fire. Whatever this world was, its creator must have really liked fire. To his right, the mute boy in the hakama saw the tree they had crashed into, Q.U.A.C.K. honking happily in the flames. Perhaps this was where it lived.

Thankfully, there was a sign nearby. Faceless gave it a quick look. "A fiery welcome to Imefita, the world of Flames. Population: 1 god, 1 family of angry shapeshifting geese, and a lot of subjects." Badly scrawled black marker added the words "and misery" and "and death" after "flames".

"Where... are... we?" the blond boy groaned from the floor. "I... can't... feel my... arms."

The masked man picked up the sign, turning to the child on the floor. "Are you... melting?"

"No, but... I can't... feel my... arms," he replied, gasping for air. "Where... are... we?"

"It says 'Imefita' here, but I have no idea where that is, so we're just as lost as we were down there, but now there's a metric ton of fire around instead of a metric ton of trash." Faceless replied, his glowing blue eyes peering down from behind the plague mask on his nonexistent face. The mute boy walked over to him, nodding and pointing at a faraway spot.

"Speaking of which, we never got your name. What's your name, kid?" The middle-aged man turned to the dark-haired boy, who held the mostly-not-on-fire stick and wrote something in the sand. After the last letter had been finished, he dropped the stick, which proceeded to burst into flames and release a swarm of seagulls in the distance.

"K... O... U... M... E... I..." And with that quick reading, Tronso passed out on the floor.

"Koumei?" the masked man repeated. The mute boy nodded, a smile on his face.

"Okay, got it. What was that you wanted to show us?" This time, Koumei pointed back at the spot in the distance. Squinting - or, at least narrowing the eye-holes of the mask, Faceless could just about make out the silhouette of a castle.

"That's where we're headed, huh? Let's go, then." Picking up Tronso's unconscious body, he walked off, Koumei trotting after.

• • •

Moments later, in the distance, three girls fell out the sky and crashed into a tower of the castle that Koumei had been pointing to.

"My head..." groaned Rosaluma, grasping on to a tile so not to fall off. "You two still there?"

"I am alive, and so is she," Farrah replied as she grabbed on to a tile as well. Eleanor just perched on the very tip, taking care not to sit down on the point. The three of them stayed in silence for a bit.

"Oh, so it didn't lead us to Atlantis. I was expecting it to not be a world where everything is on fire, but I guess we can't have everything in life," Eleanor piped up again, pushing her curly hair back from her face. "I wonder what's going to happen now."

All of a sudden, a flaming arrow zipped past the trio. Squeaking, Ellie tried to keep her balance. A cry of "INTRUDERS" came from the lower areas.

"Just perfect. Come on." Rosa drew a pair of daggers, holding them both in one hand, and slid down to the main floor of the castle. Farrah followed, gripping a winged staff. Eleanor just stood there for a moment, then hopped down after the other two with a dagger of her own.