The dark earth crunched as four legs walked on it; the air was frigid and stale, and the scent of blood permeated the air around the two men. Ruined buildings covered the dry landscape, towering above the two men.
"What could this place be? Are we still on earth, you think?"
Solaris inquired of Ember.
"No, we definitely are not anywhere on Earth. If I had to make a guess, we are not even in the same galaxy as we previously were. If I had to make another guess, we are in another plane of existence, or perhaps even another dimension. But I can't be certain until we find some life in this desolate hell."
Ember theorized.
The two had been walking for hours. The tree that had brought them here was nowhere to be found, and so the two had started walking to hopefully find another one, or at least something that could get them back.
The walk was long and arduous.
From the distance that they had traversed, neither had seen any signs of life except the towering ruins of a city.
During the walk they would take short rest bits, in these short bits of time, Solaris had started to experiment with his demon mark, he had learned some interesting things about it, such as that it was controlled by him as if it were a part of him, which allowed him to sense a small distance around the shards, this allowed him to send the shards around acting as a barrier that could auto protect him if a hostile object were to come into contact with this small area, then allowing him to send the others and form a shield.
Of course, this wasn't all the shards could also fly quite a distance, so by sending three or four in a small cluster, Solaris could sense a rather sizeable area around the clusters, giving him a small heads up for any danger.
This wasn't as if he had a second pair of eyes; however, it was more of an alarm that sensed movement, still making it incredibly helpful for detection and scouting.
After a small rest break, Solaris and Ember stood up and continued their walk. They had been walking for hours in the cold, barren land, yet no snow, no wind, and no typical signs of weather were anywhere to be seen. The blue moon had moved slightly over the past few hours, and yet it was possibly because of the distance they had traversed; the land was cracked, and the road they walked on was almost completely gone, leaving only the grey dirt, with fragments spewed here and there.
***
After the start of this walk, not a single sound other than us has been produced. How odd, well at least we don't have to worry about sound drowning anything approaching us, heh,
His lips moved into a slight grin, yet his eyes still displayed a subtle layer of fear, no matter how hard he tried to keep himself calm. Solaris felt a crushing level of fear, yet displaying this may inspire doubt in Ember, even knowing that he probably felt the same. He didn't care; he had to at least appear tough.
For the first few hours, the two had talked about their situation and possible plans to leave, yet at this point, they almost rarely spoke; the silence was not broken by any sounds outside their footsteps.
Time passed, and the landscape subtly changed from a desolate city filled with massive buildings to a city of houses, lining the streets. a neighborhood of sorts. The houses are almost touching, and there are no fences because there are no yards, just lots of houses separated only by a grid of roads.
"If I had to guess, this is where the lower class probably lived, and that we are most certainly in the middle of the city's circle."
ember suspected they were in the center of the city, as they had seen no exit roads or even a border. The two had already assumed that the cities in this place were circular and class-divided, as it had mostly been back home, yet they couldn't be certain, as there were no maps and little in terms of structure. While the building still stood, it was clear it was just by a very small amount
The two had not learned very much about the world, other than that it had very weird qualities; they could breathe very easily, meaning it had to have plants somewhere, or at least an atmosphere supplying a majority of oxygen. There was, however, no wind; the air was always static and slightly cold. Ember had been wearing a trench coat and was not affected by the air; Solaris, on the other hand, was starting to feel somewhat cold. Luckily for him, Ember could start fires with no problem, so when they stopped, he wasn't cold during these moments.
Hours were passing by, their demeanors and attitudes had slowly begun shifting.
Solaris had been somewhat lively and ready to move, and Ember had been calm and focused purely on leaving this place. After the silence and the walking combined with the fact that they felt as if they were getting nowhere, it truly started weighing on them. Both were getting more and more irritated with each other, both were starving, and both were incredibly bored.
Finally, the two had to stop and sleep. The day had been long, and they were both already sore from the fight; their minds and especially their bodies needed time to relax and get some rest.
Searching for a building with a roof still intact wasn't difficult, so they found a small house in rather good condition. Pushing through the door and taking a look around, they saw nothing of note. deciding to sleep in the open living room, the two sat down opposite each other's walls and began to drift off into sleep. They had considered taking shifts but decided against it, as Solaris placed shards around the house's exterior, and so if anyone were to approach, he would instantly know.
If they don't alert me, I'm sure my other half can protect us, heh.