章 4: An Immortal’s Guide to Life
Lucas no longer considers himself human. He is above all that makes one human. But at the same time, he would not dare call himself an apostle. He was not called upon by the rapture, and he does not heed to the blood-thirst that drives most apostles.
He does not eat, he does not drink. Most bodily functions have stopped working. He couldn't poop even if he tried anymore, not that there is anything to come out anyway since he does not eat, and same goes for peeing.
The only things that are working in his body is his heart and lungs. The body requires oxygen as a form of fuel for the body. Without oxygen, you wouldn't be able to move, hence why his lungs still worked. And his heart kept pumping blood because blood works a a medium to carry oxygen around the body.
The energy to ignite the oxygen in his body comes from the guardian Angel. It's an infinite source of usable energy. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out a way to use his angel to power a building yet.
So really, the only thing keeping him alive right now is the guardian Angel. It provides him with energy, it heals most injuries he sustains almost instantly, as well as keeps him from permanently dying.
Lucas spends his days trudging on through the wasteland, one step at a time. He'd often collapse due to exhaustion and lay there for several days. Weeks even. His heart had stopped beating once, which put him out of commission for a bit. He was afraid that he would never be able to move again, but luckily it started back up again. He always got back up. He didn't really have much of a choice. It was either sit there for all eternity, or keep moving. He chose the latter every time.
Being an immortal, he has all the time in the world. He never pressured himself to get anywhere in a hurry, which is part of the reason why he'd lay for days on end. But now? Now that he had somewhere to go. Somewhere he wanted to be. It put a little more pep in his step.
He had been headed east now for almost four hours. Dusk was drawing near. The mountains were larger now, he could see the barren tips of them, devoid of snow.
He could also see something flickering in the distance. Lucas paced himself a little faster now, curious to see what the flickering was.
The sun was obscured by clouds. The entire sky was engulfed by thick, fast-moving clouds. This wasn't just water vapor in the sky. It was dust. A lot of dust. It's what gave the sky its yellow tint.
There was a nuclear incident a short time after the rapture which kicked up literal tons of dust into the sky. This dust blocked much of the sunlight, so there wasn't much heat. Even near the equator it was freezing.
Despite that, you could still tell where the sun was. It usually gave a larger glare in the spot where it shined directly onto than other places. That glare was about to fade behind the horizon to the west.
Lucas hated the night. Apostles become more aggressive during the night. There had been a time when Lucas got stuck in a mob of apostles during the night, and he couldn't see any of them. He essentially had to let them torture him until morning when he could put up a reasonably good fight to get away from them.
Lucas had reached the source of the flickering. It was a power line which had given way. The wires were sparking with electricity. Lucas was giddy with excitement. Somewhere, power was being produced, which was making its way here!
A light came on. It had to be a half mile down the road, but it was a light. Then a second, then a third. A light came on right above Lucas. The street lights were activating.
Lucas walked over to the pole of the street light. He leaned beside it, feeling at ease for the first time in years. There was power. Maybe that "world restoration" was actually a possibility. He now knew that there was someone out there actively restoring the power, and possibly trying to restore the earth!
He let himself slide down the pole and sit at the base. He felt waves of exhaustion wash over him. He hadn't truly slept since the rapture.
He doesn't allow himself to sleep. Sleep is for the weak, and only mortals are allowed to be weak. He wouldn't afford himself a single second of weakness, but for the first time, he let himself fall onto his butt and truly rest.
His heavy eyes began to droop. He allowed it. His body began to relax. He allowed it. He allowed himself to drift off to sleep.
There is no room for weakness. Not now. Not ever. When Lucas woke up, he was reminded of this important fact. An apostle stood over him. Its oily black limbs were outstretched. The claws on its hands curved like sickles. The sickle claws bended to the will of the apostle which bore them, and they straightened in a swift motion, likening them to swords.
The apostle thrusted it's claws forward, right into Lucas' skull. They pierced both of his eyes. His vision turned into a solid red color in one moment, and to black the next. One of the claws went into his nose, tearing through the cartilage. Blood poured from his eyes, nostrils, and mouth. The blades went all the way through his head. Through his skull and brain. He could feel his mind going dark as more and more synapses were destroyed.
The apostle lifted Lucas, carrying him only by the blades at the end of its arm. All noises were drowned out by an insufferable ringing in his left ear. A blade must've torn through his auditory cortex, effectively deafening one of his ears.
Lucas did not scream. He did not panic. Although the pain was immense, he simply let the apostle lift him. It pierced his chest. The blades came out his back. As the apostle pulled the blades out his chest, Lucas could feel a great pressure. It was a horrible burning sensation. His heart. It was his heart. The apostle pulled his heart out from his chest.
The weight of his lower body slowly pulled him downward, and the blades in his head began to cut upward. At this point, there was not a single thought in Lucas' mind. The damage his brain had sustained had rendered him incapacitated.
The blades cut to the top of his head until there was no longer anything to hold his body by. Lucas fell harshly to the ground, effectively dead.
The apostle held his heart in it's hand. Blood leaked from all of the many cavities in it. But something strange was happening. The blood seemed to evaporate. No, disintegrate. It solidified into grey flakes, which broke down even further to microscopic levels. It couldn't be seen. The blood on the blades followed suit. The heart itself repeated this process as well. The top of the organ disintegrated into the flakes and disappeared into the air.
The apostle dropped the heart onto the ground next to Lucas' body. In its peripherals, it saw flakes forming into the gaps in his minced head. It transformed into solid tissue and skin.
Lucas moved his right arm. It was a mere twitch. Then he lifted it, and perched it firmly on the ground. The next arm followed. He lifted himself to his knees. The heart at this point was gone. The hole in his chest was healed completely.
In a horrific presentation of Lucas' regeneration ability, the eyes that had been pierced rebuilt themselves. You could almost see the life come back to them as they healed.
The blood that had poured out of him was now missing. All of it had flaked and returned to him.
Lucas stood up, losing balance at first, but he gathered himself and stood strong. He pulled a knife out, ready to strike.
Every apostle had a weak spot. A vital organ, a core, or something of that nature which held their impossible build together. The one that had attacked Lucas was called a "Lurker." Tall oily humanoid creatures with inhuman proportions. Their arms and legs were long and slender. It should be an impossible task for them to carry any weight on them, let alone their own, and yet it managed. Their torsos were bulky skeletal structures. A sequence of ribs forming a ribcage to make up their torso. It's spine held its head, which was solid and shaped like a regular human head, but lacked features such as nostrils, ears, eyes, and mouth. It had the most human form of any of its other parts.
Inside the ribcage was a crystal. It was essentially a nerve center. It is what allowed it to carry itself and move. It organized its thoughts, however limited they may be, and allowed for planning, as well as a basic comprehension of cause and effect. It was the brain of the creature. Destroy that, and you destroy the rest of it.
Lucas got in a fighting stance. The apostle had watched in incertitude, unsure of the events it watched unfold. Lucas was no regular human, and it understood that. Lucas ran forward, plunging his knife into the ribcage. The bones shattered, giving way for the knife to go further.
The jagged edges of the ribs tore into Lucas' arms, leaving deep gashes. The Lurker sinked it's blades into his abdomen. Lucas did not falter, however. The knife pierced the crystal, splitting it in half.
The Lurker ceased all movement. It's head slowly turned to stare into his eyes. It pulled its claws out of his gut and let them fall to its side.
The Lurker began to flake, just as his heart had. It disintegrated slowly from top to bottom.
Lucas put his knife back into his pocket. He took a peek at the gashes in his arm. They had been cut so deep you could see bone. He sighed, watching his wounds heal.
He looked to his left, somewhere off the road stood the guardian Angel. It was under a dead tree, standing in a pile of leaves.
(Lucas: "Thanks for the help.")
Lucas sarcastically thanked the angel for its contribution to the scuffle. It stood in silence. Not a word. However, in all honesty, Lucas knew he was wrong. He shouldn't have let his guard down. He shouldn't have let himself rest. He shouldn't have let himself be weak.
He shook his head disapprovingly before continuing east. The sun was rising now. He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but he figured it had to be over a day now.
The street lights were still on. Someone was still maintaining that power. He needed to find them. Sooner rather than later. Who knows if they'd survive much longer. Most people didn't even make it past the first day of the rapture.
So east it was. He followed the road toward the mountains. He'd have to finds something eventually, right?
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