Epoch of Desolation

Of course, Rain wasn’t certain that what he was staring at was a pod, but what else could be a beautiful but grotesque piece of large seemingly rumpled flesh?

It definitely was a pod; that was what his intuition told him.

And just like the color the Plexus’s messages had, the pod was also of a combination of a blue and purple-ish hue. It was not translucent, but an energy of light could be made out swirling gently within its walls. Lastly, it was beating—pulsing, to be more precise—like it was a heart.

Rain was utterly amazed beyond words, so much that he could almost hear the sound of his blood rushing.

Surely this euphoria he was drowned within was natural, right? This was how a person felt when they came across something that was fascinating beyond comprehension, right?

Right?

His hug with J had long been put to an end now, the Jaguar’s breathy puffs with it. And that meant there was nothing stopping Rain from fully embracing the new spark of desires he was having. In fact, he was already inching closer to the beautiful lump of flesh before him with his right hand outstretched.

The attraction between a metal and a magnet, that was what the scene could be likened to. Rain the former, as he was the one being pulled towards the pod in such a slow manner that anyone seeing him would instantly figure out that he was in a trance.

It seemed J was not an exception. The big cat suddenly bit Rain’s leg in a rather gentle-like but suspiciously hostile manner as probably a means to pull him free from whatever it felt was holding him hostage.

“Damn it!” Rain snapped awake due to the unwarranted pain which had shot up from his leg to his brain. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, paws-for-brains?!” His words had come out stiffly, since they had been uttered with gritted teeth.

He looked down at his right leg, at the spot where his Companion had bitten, and his face squeezed. The blood had taken its time, but it was trickling out now.

This little kitty. Rain sighed in an exaggerated manner, releasing the tension in his muscles while slowing down his racing pulse. He believed that there was no point in wasting what little energy he had on berating the Jaguar. Tsk. Puncturing my body when I don’t have any medicinal blood with me; what a jerk—

All of a sudden, he realized something. And instantly his gaze shifted from the blood swimming out of his calf to the injuries all over J’s body.

Rain was met with disappointment. The injuries were still there.

Does that mean taking my blood won’t heal it? Rain looked back at his calf, then clicked his tongue as he locked his hazel eyes with the ambers of J’s. Too little, I suppose.

“Come drink,” he said nonchalantly as he shifted his leg toward his Companion. J always looked incredulous, but now it was rather evident. Rain sighed. “You better hurry up before I change my mind. Since drinking the blood of those Coyotes didn’t heal you, then maybe mine will. You’ve bitten me already so it won’t hurt trying.”

J hesitated, but Rain stomping his feet drove the nail into the coffin. The Jaguar began to lick, and as though Rain’s blood had some sort of excess sugar, the cat didn’t stop licking until there was almost nothing trickling out again. At that point Rain was almost afraid the Jaguar would go the extra length and rip his leg off. It didn’t though; it merely shifted back.

I guess it was hungry. Maybe I should have given it time to feast on those Coyotes. Nah, that would have been risky. I made the right choice; we can hunt for food later on, the easy ones.

Rain was using those thoughts of his to pass time as he anticipated the healing of J’s wounds. But now that it was nearing the half a minute mark, he was beginning to think that his notion was wrong. J seemed to have caught on too. Its face twitched before crumpling for a moment there.

Is it that only humans can heal from drinking the blood of other species? Rain decided to settle on that. What a shame. He felt bad for J, but there was nothing he could do. It was obvious that the Plexus was biased to humans; and honestly, rightly so.

It was only because of J that he was even thinking otherwise. After all, those beasts could turn themselves into monsters larger than houses; that was a big enough trade for the healing factor he had found out human’s possessed.

Still, he wished J was at least an exception.

With a sigh, Rain turned to his side and tore a piece of a rag lying on the floor there, wrapping it around the place where J’s fangs had dug into his skin.

He was just turning his attention back to the pod behind him when suddenly he noticed a rather bright but silent expression plastered on J’s face. It was one of ecstasy which was obviously brought forth from the fact that its body had been completely healed.

Rain, despite all his prior thoughts on inequality between man and beast, was no different.

“You’re all healed!” he voiced as he sprung at his Companion, moving all around it while carefully scrutinizing every part of its body. Then he gently scooted over with a wide smile and sparkling eyes and grabbed J by its jaw. “You’re all healed. I’m glad.” J purred deeply at those words, its eyes closing for a moment.

Rain stood up after a few seconds, placed his hands on his waist and heaved out a relaxing exhale.

“Now,” he paused, then shot a bone chilling gaze at J, causing the Jaguar to shiver visibly. “You listen here carefully. I’m going to turn around to quell my curiosity, so you better stand back. Do you understand?” J chuffed, recalling Rain’s lessons on how it must always reply to his questions.

He knew why J had stopped him—or rather, realized after his brief tantrum. The pod had been pulling him without his consent; in other words, it was dangerous.

That was why he was going to be mentally sound this time and fight against its pull.

He couldn’t pass on catching a better sight at what made up the pod; he needed that image implanted in his head at all cost. At the end of the day, information was one of the most important assets one could have in a ruined world.

The beautiful, grotesque ball of flesh came before Rain’s hazel eyes again, and as soon as it did he felt the same magnetic pull he had felt the first time he’d let his eyes linger on it for more than a couple of seconds.

It was strong but calm. Wicked but kind. Savage but gentle. The pull was both good and evil.

Rain knew there was only one way he would be able to stop himself from succumbing to his desires to approach the pod, and that was to focus on the cons of approaching such a thing.

He instantly thought up countless scenarios that would leave him dead, and before he knew it his psyche was no longer bound by the oldest and most powerful ur-emotion of man.

Though he knew such a state wouldn’t last long.

With widened eyes Rain quickly inspected the pod as much as he could. And then a few moments later he swirled on his feet, turning his back to it before huffing out a deep exhale.

“That was tough,” he said while smiling at J as he wiped off his sweat.

Undoubtedly, he had questions. But Rain knew better than to bring them to center stage at this moment, since that could rekindle his curiosity for the pod, causing him to once again put himself in harm’s way. He sealed those questions.

Well, at least one thing was answered, and that was the pod not being a trigger for any of his lost memories.

At that moment a low rumbling sound shook the building of the restaurant, startling Rain into looking at the ceiling of the store room he and J were in.

“What was that?” It was merely a second’s wonder, since as soon as those words left his lips he was back in the serving area of the restaurant. There, he stood, staring through its broken storefront glasses at a blue sky, which had once had the sun, on the verge of being tainted by darkness.

“A storm is coming.”

What an abrupt occurrence. It was still in the distance, but Rain could hear the sharp whistles of the approaching wind rising in intensity. And the more he listened, the more the quivers in his stomach worsened.

He whirled around, taking a long look at the place he had chosen for a resting spot, and after a while, he frowned.

“J,” Rain called to his Companion as he turned back to stare up at the cloudy sky worsening quicker and quicker with each second. “We have to move to a safer location.”