Raindrops plummeted the hill that had formed atop the enormous ribcage. Beneath all of it, an elf, a fallen archangel, and two insectoid aliens faced each other.
With a stone-cold face, Nevigne aimed her staff directly at the two scavengers. She was about to burn them down when Fidelis signaled her to stop.
She looked at him, waiting for answers until Fidelis spoke.
"Now, why are the two of you pretending to be Muratians?"
The two insectoids were curled up next to each other and holding hands. They were looking at Nevigne and Fidelis with no signs of aggression at all.
'Pretending?' Nevigne asked in her mind. She then noticed that, although huge, these two were nowhere near the size of a regular scavenger.
The two "insectoids" stood up and their guise fell apart. As the dark exoskeletal armor detached from their body, Nevigne and Fidelis saw limbs of wood. Their faces were also wooden, carved into the form of a human face.
They were magical puppets created a long time ago.
A time when Eden was home to many races and civilizations. When it breathed life itself.
"Magical puppets..." Fidelis muttered.
Meanwhile, Nevigne stared speechless at what she saw. She slowly removed her hood, revealing her long white hair and pointed ears.
The two puppets looked at her and almost instantaneously said:
"Professor."
The elf felt a hot sensation in her eyes.
"You're alive, Professor Nevigne."
She sensed Fidelis's gaze but her eyes remained on the two wooden humanoids. They were the last people she had expected to meet in her return.
"Py and Thon... you guys," she uttered with a trembling voice.
***
A few minutes had passed and the rain eventually stopped. Nevigne, Fidelis, and the two tall, wooden puppets walked on the wet soil with a smell of the after-rain.
"We are glad to know that one of the heroes is still alive, Professor," Thon stated with a monotone. "Sadly, as you can see," he glanced back at the giant set of skeletons resting across the land. "Master Alfonso didn't make it."
Fidelis quietly observed Nevigne and the two magical puppets while they walked. She hadn't uttered a word since telling the story of how and why she returned to Eden.
Py looked at Fidelis. "And who is this charming gentleman, professor?" he asked.
Nevigne glanced at Fidelis and then back at Py. "I'm not sure about charming, much less gentleman. But his name is Fidelis. He's the fa—"
Everyone looked at her when she stopped her own words.
"He's my helper on this journey."
Fidelis extended an arm toward Py and Thon. "It's a pleasure to meet you, wooden fellows."
They shook his hand. "The pleasure is ours," the puppets said at the same time.
Nevigne and Fidelis explained their plan to infiltrate a scavenger base and steal a ship. The magical puppets listened and confirmed through their knowledge that it was, although extremely difficult, doable. After some time, they reached the end of the battlefield and the threshold of a lush forest.
"You know quite a lot about the Muratians," Fidelis commented. "How did you find out about the precise range limit of their telepathic ability? You also know almost all locations of their bases and the predictions you made about their future harvest spots are pretty believable, too."
They walked under the shade of the damp trees. Nevigne was avoiding the mud because she was wearing her sandals while Fidelis watched her futile struggle with great amusement.
"We have been living amongst them for eight hundred thousand years," Thon responded. "We ought to learn something."
Py spoke as well.
"From the first day the hungry steel sucked through the earth until its belly was full of the magic that once belonged to Eden, how the giant insects used mankind however they pleased, we've seen it all."
"They are never satisfied," Thon said.
"They don't see Eden as anything more than resource," Py added.
"They cannot be stopped."
"No matter what we did."
"They took and they took."
"They ate and they ate."
In listening to them alternately talk, Fidelis clenched his fist, his eyes sharply gazing at the path.
"We were created in a golden world."
"But lived most of our lives watching it stripped."
"It was as though we were born to witness death."
Fidelis suddenly felt a hard hand gently patting his back. He looked over and saw Py behind him.
"Good thing you two will save the world. The only shame is that we won't be there to see it."
"What do you mean?" Nevigne asked.
Py and Thon looked at each other.
"We will be gone soon," Thon answered. "Our life force is nearly spent."
Right. Nevigne remembered Alfonso saying that they could only live for about five thousand centuries. It was a long life by human standards, but still a mere moment for beings like Nevigne and Fidelis.
She never made a deal out of someone's lifespan. She outlived everyone and had been used to doing so all her life. What mattered was how full a person's life had been, not how long it was, and Nevigne was just glad that Py and Thon remained together until the end.
Night time came and the four of them had to spend the night in the woods. Fidelis gathered some twigs and branches which Nevigne lit up to create a campfire.
They sat on logs around the fire, grilling the meat Fidelis had brought them for dinner.
"These Muratians are no match for Master Alfonso," Py bragged. "He's bigger than any of their large sky-farers, his punch could shatter mountains and split oceans. If he's alive, he would be able to drive them out."
"Lilith herself had to join the battle just because of him," Thon said. "And he wasn't just big and strong, he's extremely intelligent as well for creating us."
Nevigne laughed. "Alfonso did create many wonderful things."
"He mentioned that you were a great help, professor," Py blurted. "That makes you our creator as well."
Fidelis ate his food while listening to their conversation about the past Eden. It was the first time he'd seen Nevigne wear a genuine smile of happiness.
The next morning came and they were ready to move out. But before they could even leave the camp, the shriek of an engine tore the silence, followed by a laser beam burning through the forest.