Chapter 10: Questions in the Apocalypse

... Lyra awoke to the grey sky and dark patches of fuming black clouds.

She lingered. Her body sore and grinding with pain and a splitting headache. Her eyes and innards weren't except from the tremors that rocked her body.

But at the moment, Lyra paid little mind to that and instead stared emptily at the dark sky struggling with her lukewarm memory.

She felt dreary, her thoughts slow and foggy.

What had happened, she asked herself and blinked her burning eyes slowly. Soon her attention drawn to a voice from the side.

"You've woken up." 

Slowly, painfully, she turned just her head toward the source and met with the vibrant red eyes of a young man with lustrous messy black hair and an unearthly beauty. His face was still and aloof, exuding a subtle sense of distance and allure.

His eyes were steady, those vertical pupils lingered unreadably still on her body.

Lyra forgot to breathe, then her memories all came flooding back.

The Den, the knights...all of it.

Ultimately, she realized she was alive.

How?

She jerked up only to wince from pain immediately. The man continued to sit still with a long black sword resting against his bare shoulders. His expression was still and stoic.

Internally, he huffed to himself.

'Nailed the entrance.'

'You've woken up,' only the universe knew how much he rehearsed that one line...

Lyra quickly stabled herself, feeling the man's pierceing eyes on her. She shifted tensly on the surface and stared back warily.

In silence the two held the gaze of the other; Huey trying to build a sense of mystique and suspense, Lyra gathering her thoughts for the first question.

"You should stay still. Your body was corroded by foreign energy when I picked you up. I was able to cancel out a vast majority of it, you would be dead otherwise."

Lyra trembled when she head the monotone voice of the person before her. Inevitably, her gaze went down to her fingers.

They were white and pale and trembled weakly. Her body still suffered the after effect of the "Mana" radiation.

Wait.

"My fingers?"

Then she realized, her visor was utterly broken and her body armor completely damaged, reduced to mere fancy accessory now.

That meant her skin laid bare to the fuming atmosphere of the contaminated Earth.

Panick immediately began to settle in.

Huey silently observed the distressed expression of the girl and tilted his head just slightly and then asked, taciturn.

"What is it?"

Lyra gasped and raised her trembling eyes at the voice. Her lips bobbed, she lingered in hesitation. Then she stuttered a strained response.

"The air... its properties are deadly to people like me. W-without the right gear, I fear I'll be dead soon."

Huey straightened his head and back, maintaining his leveled gaze and fixed mask.

He gave a small voice of affirmation and nodded mildly, limiting himself to a single utterance.

"I see," he said.

Then the white of his eyes turned black; his red sclera beamed with a vibrant crimson glow, highlighting the orange pupils that slimmed and cut through.

Instantly, Lyra felt cold horror embrace her body. Beads of cold sweat formed down the sides of her face and drenched her back. Her eyes widened, visibly trembling as the object of the bestial gaze of the man.

Her mind went blank, filled only with strained screams and horrid cries. She was so scared she could only scream Internally.

But all of the fear suppressed following the next words of the man.

"It's fine. I watched your body slowly grow and adapt to the remnants of foreign energy in it. There were times the energy ran wild and threatened your organs but I would sharply disperse it, however." The color of his eyes slowly reverted, and it was only then did Lyra realize there was no previous animosity in his actions.

"Eh?" Lyra stared dumfoundedly at the explanation, failing to grasp the implied meaning.

Huey lingered for a few short seconds.

"Simply put, from my divine— cough— I mean, intervention, I have now made you're body immune to the dangers of the energy by letting it absorb a little at a time while you were passed out."

He paused then his aloof gaze wandered in thought before adding.

"Theoretically, I've made you stronger."

Lyra stared speechlessly, in disbelief, for a moment before looking back at her fingers.

She flexed them. She was breathing. It didn't hurt as bad; the pain was still there, but it was from her already acquired injuries. The sensation of having her organs and brain swell inside of her no longer existed, she did feel feverish, however, and even light headed. But if what the man has said was true, then that would only be for a few moments more.

As someone born into the era of ManaTech, Lyra could realize the deep implications on what Huey had just done to her.

He had just casually resolved one of humanity's greatest weakness and drawback since the fall of the world.

Braving the toxic atmosphere of the bleak Earth without necessary protection was only something Mages like John and the other Knights with Mana Cores could do.

Regulars like her needed the support of gadget and masks just to step out of the fortress for a short minute.

And here she was, standing alive, bare to the murky dark air of the planet and there was no crushing pain that made every single second of living a blinding hell. And she wasn't even a Knight.

Lyra suppressed those thoughts and looked back at the man and once more found herself entrapped by unearthly scene that unraveled around him.

His long hair fluttered despite there being no wind, his expression was soft and alluring, gemmed by his vibrant red eyes that stared emptily into the distance with somber grace. He exuded a subtle distance from his inaction as he sat there... still and unmoving like graceful figure.

'She's looking again...' internally, Huey mused. His eyes weren't directly on the girl but all of his attention and senses studied the body movements and reactions of the lady sitting opposite him.

He had only thought to try out one of those famous 'hundred yard melancholic stare' to tickle a reaction, and was safe to say, he was pleasantly satisfied with himself.

Huey shook out of his reverie then sighed internally.

'This isn't the time. As much as she makes me feel better about myself, I can't sit around here doing nothing. Something's very wrong about everything, I have to find the family and Grampa.' he lamented, realizing his priorities.

On the outside, his aloof mask hadn't shifted or flickered.

He glanced back at the girl, took the long black blade rested on his body and stood up.

It was then once again did Lyra realize how tall this person was as she craned her neck and stared with half wide eyes.

Huey took just half a step to turn around before glancing back at the girl.

"I watched over you when you were passed out and even helped you body to adapt. Once you feel you're strong enough to move, you should return to where you came." Saying so he turned his head.

"W-wait!" Lyra cried then stumbled forward. She raised to her unsteady feet, hunched over. Her stomach churned and tightened and the inside of her throat tickled unpleasantly.

She raised her head and stared at the face of the young man.

"You haven't told me who...or what you are?" She posed.

"You came from that red Rift, didn't you? That means you've been to the 'other side', right? You're obviously not a Regular seeing as you can stand the radiation of the atmosphere without any gear or support...plus you also don't look like a Mage," she rose and took half a step forward.

Throughout the time, the red gaze of the man's eyes remained unmoving against her figure; applying an invisible pressure to descend on her.

That was why her lips bobbed and she slurred over her next words while stuttering.

"Who...who are you? Where did you come from? What are you?" Lyra was greatfull for all the man had done for her, including protecting her while she was passed out, despite her supposed to have been dead from the radiation.

He had cured her and even made her body strong enough to slowly brave the toxic atmosphere of the world, all without asking for anything back.

But Lyra was still human. Her curiousity and wariness burned. She had to know who...what this person... monster...is? 

Merely standing in his presence brought existential fear and distance over her. She could instinctively tell this person was unfathomable, the knights she had grown accustomed to couldn't even begin to compare even with the highest grade Mana Cores and high level gear.

She had never felt fear as omnipotent as when she stared into his eyes before.

That was why she had to know...

Was he a monster for humanity...or a monster against mankind.

Huey considered the questions of the girl then suppressed a tired sigh from breaking his lips.

In all honesty, he had only stayed by the girl when she suddenly passed out after getting a closer look and thought she was hot.

Maybe he could score a few points when she woke up.

If it were any other circumstances, Huey would have lingered longer and fired a few shots but, he couldn't get this deep sense of unease out of his mind.

Something was wrong with his Call Of Duty account, and he knew it...

Eventually he decided to shrug Lyra and her questions off and replied coldly.

"That's none of your business. I am just who I am." Hie voice felt colder and heavier, the reptilian pupils diluted into tiny slits in his his red eyes.

Lyra gulped as she could only watch Huey turn his back and begin to walk away.

But she couldn't let him go.

Never.

Huey was her jackpot to something big...and terrifying.

She just knew it.

That's why she pushed on.

"The year is 2094!" She declared and continued when she noticed Huey's distancing figure paused, and the suspicion in her heart only grew.

Then slowly, Huey turned around with sharp black eyes and pierceing reddish-orange pupils.

Lyra felt a tremor of horror sweep her heart, but bit down on her tongue hard enough to bleed.

She stood her ground with trembling legs and a racing heart.

Then she said:

"I know you have questions. So do I."

***

Authors' Note:

I'm back, and done with my exams. And I want apologize for the very late chapter. I was considering changing up the release schedule but decided against it, for now. I'll be back to the usual time from tomorrow, and we'll see from there what happens.

Also, please do bring any typos or grammatical errors to my attention, either by chapter or paragraph comments so I can immediately fix and attend to it. As I am only human too, there's only so much I can do without making mistakes

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