The Northern Aberration (3)

"Phew..." Alyssa let a cold air escape her lips as we stepped past the sign that marked entrance into the official city 'North'. 

The buildings around here were a lot different compared to the varied architecture of the city's edge, where we had travelled from.

Everything here was brutalist. The buildings barely were built out in varied, hard-to-understand shapes. They had little to no color, every wall, every door, every protrusion being monochrome. It was like the entire world around us was nothing but black and grey, all made out of cold, unfeeling concrete and steel.

The temperature was just as we expected - extremely cold. I could already feel my suit going to work trying to keep me warm, and Alyssa just silently tugged her Parka closer around her body.

We didn't say much. Instead, she just quietly fished for a cigarette from her pocket and lit it. She was doing so a little more often these days. 

In total, the trip from the edge to the North took a little over two weeks. It made me wonder just how Alyssa had found her way from the North to the gas station on the city's edge so quickly...or, the better question of if she had really come from the North at all.

I barely knew Alyssa. Now, she just wasn't talking to me anymore. Not in the same way she used to.

"So, where's the freak-thing we're supposed to be getting rid of?' Alyssa took a deep inhale of smoke, the sheer warmth of the acrid air keeping her from the cold.

"No idea." I admitted. "I just know that it's supposed to show up here sooner than later. Maybe we're a little too early...?"

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at me, frowning deeply. It looked like she wanted to say something, but she held her tongue, and continued facing forward. Seeing that coldness in her red eyes hurt more than any toss-back insult she had given me.

"Whatever. Let's just find a place to settle down. I'm honestly tired of walking, and the sun's going to set soon. Don't wanna be out when shit hits the fan at night."

She shuddered at the thought, put off more by that idea than the cold that was currently biting away at her body.

"Sounds good."

I agreed with her on something for once.

-----

We ended up in the same church that we had before. It was a little bittersweet, actually. But, this time, we met some fellow survivors. 

Considering how much of humanity had been erased on the day of the Tutorial, it was actually rare to meet other people, once they'd all split up.

Two or three weeks in, even more people would have died or gone insane. So they were even harder to find.

It was only through the existence of Guilds that people could still be united and brought together in some capacity.

That was why, in that last Regression, seeing so many dead people in one place, frozen altogether...it was uniquely disturbing for those of us who had grown used to the lack of human presence besides ourselves.

"So, you two are travelling together?"

A man asked us. He was a weary old man, wearing the outfit of a pastor. It seemed he was the man who had, a long time ago, been in charge of looking after this church.

"Well, somehow we found our way together. This one can be a little difficult, though."

Alyssa was silent. I could feel the unique hostility coming off of her, prickling my skin. But the people around me, all seemingly normal with no combat ability, just figured her to be the quiet type, I guess.

Every now and then I'd catch her looking at the man's pastoralrobes, hatred burning in her eyes.

"Ah, that's good...the last of my...congregation and I have been holed up here."

The man's voice was shaky. He appeared kind, but at the same time, he sounded like he could fall apart at any second.

"After that...the encounter with the beings known as 'Pixies', we...we thought of no other place to come back to except here."

I could see a haunted look in his eyes as he spoke. Alongside the eyes of the people behind him.

They all looked tired. Weary. Exhausted. All of them were barely hanging onto their lives in this place.

It was understandable.

Unlike me, who had long since started becoming used to living this way, these people were experiecing all of this for the first time in their lives. 

Perhaps this pastor had killed someone to live now. Perhaps the congregation members had, too. Perhaps they barely endured being hunted down by some monstrous things to earn the right to keep living, like I had to.

...it was easy to forget that this was what most people were like. People who had received 'duds' as their Tutorial reward. Who had no abilities, no combat skills, no capability to learn, and barely any ability to adapt.

"It's all because, even now, we still keep the faith. There must be...something awaiting us at the end of this tribulation. Yes, we believe."

The pastor clasped his hands together, and so did the other congregation members around us. Like some sort of mantra, they sent up silent prayers to a higher power they hoped would guide and protect them.

I opened my mouth to speak. But Alyssa spoke first, venom flying out.

"What a load of trash." She spat, her eyes narrowing on the pastor's surprised expression. "You're all just a bunch of weaklings. A bunch of trash. Impure souls...nothing's going to help you if you just keep sitting here and brainwashing yourselves. You're going to die like this. Just hoping and hoping and hoping for something that's never going to come." 

"Alyssa."

I cut her off with a stern voice, but she was already up, storming away from the conversation. The pastor was silent, alongside the congregation.

Maybe, once upon a time, they would've offered some sort of counter-argument to her. They would have tried to say that she was wrong, or that she had no idea what she was talking about.

But in this world, who had that kind of bravery? Who had that kind of unwavering determination in themselves to refute such words?

They tirelessly resigned themselves to Alyssa's words. Somehow, they looked even more disheartened than before.

"...I'm sorry, pastor."

The man slowly shook his head, a sad smile coming to his lips.

"No...I know well, just why she would explode like that. Many of us would...no, have, already."

He looked almost longingly at many empty seats within the church, his eyes far away.

"...please, feel free to use any of the back rooms. But...do be careful. It has just been becoming dreadfully colder and colder..."

The man slightly shivered, and I felt...completely confused. Sure, I was cold. But...not that cold. Still, I simply nodded, and headed after Alyssa, who naturally set herself up in the back of the church.

-----

Alyssa had already laid down, turning herself away from me and refusing to say anything once I entered the room. I sighed, closing the door behind me and settling down next to her.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I began to further the map that I had in my head. Veins...that's where I had stopped last time. I needed to go deeper than that.

But even then, it was easier said than done. Most people could vaguely imagine their limbs with their eyes closed. Many more could visualize each finger, toe, and follicle of hair on their body...but what about going deeper?

Did most people even think about things like blood vessels? Arteries, veins, organs...how many times do those things really cross your head when you visualize your own body?

It was incredibly difficult. Meditating, mapping out more and more of myself. It made me realize...just how little I knew the body that was 'me'. 

The world had faded away, and I wasn't even sure how much time had passed.

That was when I slowly opened my eyes...and saw Alyssa in front of me, on all fours, staring deeply into my eyes.

"The fuck are you doing?"

"AH-!" I jumped back, obviously surprised at her sudden closeness. I had been so incredibly focused that I hadn't even noticed when she had gotten up - well, I didn't expect her to get up to begin with. "Holy-! Give me a warning or something!"

"What do you think I've been trying to do? You were knocked the fuck out, you weren't even responding to me when I tried shaking you."

Alyssa replied in annoyance, getting to her feet. 

"Well...what did you need me for, anyways?" I groaned, settling back into calmness. Alyssa looked away for a second, before sighing and looking back at me.

"Uh...those old bastards in the church disappeared. Got no idea where they went."

"...what? What do you mean they disappeared?" I didn't really panic. Maybe this was a sign that something in me was broken, but I was more curious than anything else.

"I mean they disappeared. Whoosh! Abra-cadabra! They're gone!"

She explained. 

The two of us looked at the small window that remained within the church's back room. It was still pitch-black outside. 

"...we'll check it out in the morning." I replied simply. Even for Alyssa, heading out at night wasn't even something to joke about.

"Alright. Well, I'm goin' to sleep again." Alyssa muttered, going back to her spot and...obviously just pretending to sleep to avoid further speaking to me.

I sighed. I could close my eyes and try to focus, but this odd friction with Alyssa was distracting me. Not to mention, this convenient disappearance of the people in the church.

The words from the pastor about how cold they felt...

The fact that they had just disappeared into the night, taking a suicidal step out into the darkness that threatened to consume anyone that tried braving it...

I shook my head.

'...I might already be too late.'