Journey To Eden

"Let's eat ladies and gentlemen." old man Kabal said as the cannibals ran towards the four students with hungry looks on their faces. 

Koko reached for his sleeve to pull out a knife but the cannibals were closing in and he wouldn't be able to get himself free in time. 

"Tina, do something." Koko whispered.

"What?" Tina asked, confused.

"Anything. Just distract them." Koko whispered, his voice sounded desperate.

The distance between them and the cannibals was reducing by the second. Koko struggled trying to get his knife but he knew that he wasn't going to make it in time.

"Old man Kabal." Tina shouted making the cannibals stop as though giving her the opportunity to say what she wanted to say.

"Give me the opportunity to say something before we are devoured." 

"Hmm, last words. Very well. Proceed." old man Kabal said.

"Thank you." Tina inhaled deeply before speaking again. "I know that I'm a royal and I don't understand what you may be going through but I want to ask. Why do all this? Why go through the trouble of conducting a train to just pick up people like us and eat us? Why do it?" Tina asked.

"All valid questions and I'll answer them with three simple words. I. Love. It." the old man said with a smile on his face. The other cannibals also began chuckling. 

"You love it? What kind of twisted human are you?" Ezra said in disgust.

"At first it is indeed true that we did this out hunger but as I collected more freaks like this during my travels through the continent. It became a sport. The screams of children as their bones crack, the warmth slowly fading away as they lose blood and the soft meat that they have stored up with added flavor from their soul animal. It is all exquisite." The old man's eyes were like that of a mad man. He had no humanity left.

Tina looked at the rest. The men with lustful looks on their faces. The women with crazy looks in their eyes, they all did not look in any way human. No human would do this. They had given in to their urges and became the beasts they tamed.

"You guys are gross. I knew we shouldn't have joined the same train as fishy bastards." Koko said.

"He's called us gross." one of the cannibals said.

"That royal has a foul mouth. Eat it." the old man ordered.

The cannibals began running towards Koko with knives in ready to cut him up and feast on his body.

"Not today, ladies and gentlemen." Koko said with a smile as he cut the rope freeing himself.

Notus: Wind Punch.

Koko punched on of the cannibal's jaw and a gust of wind blew them to the opposite end of the train next to Kabal. 

"How did you get free?" Kabal asked angrily.

"As my brother, Eki always says, always carry a knife when going out into the wild for such situations." Koko said as he freed the others.

"You guys are gross but pretty organized. Using illegal binding rope because our bonding would destroy normal rope. Smart. Although you made a huge mistake when you exposed yourselves to us. Now I can fight you without holding back."

Kabal was really angry. He clenched his fist and bonded with his goat. The other cannibals followed as well. Koko and the rest also bonded and took up battle stances ready to fight.

"Ezra, are you okay?" Tina asked. 

"Yeah let's fight these cannibals." Ezra said with a smile on his face that instantly vanished with he saw Koko stab his needles into a cannibals eyes and into the heart of another. 

He looked at Delilah and saw her slice the neck of one of them open with her daggers and stab into another's head before dragging her blade in the woman's skull. He then looked at Tina who was shooting the cannibals with her hunting rifle and put her pistol into the mouth of another and pull the trigger. 

"Hey guys you're killing them." Ezra said, horrified. 

"Of course we are. They are trying to kill us." Koko answered before stabbing another cannibals.

"We don't have to, right?" Ezra asked.

"The fuck are you talking about? Of course we have to. Don't tell me you joined Aizen College when you don't know the law of the wild." Koko said. His tone sounded judgmental but he was genuinely concerned.

A cannibal saw that Ezra was frozen and tried to take advantage of to kill him. Fortunately for him Tina shot the cannibal and killed him. 

"Ezra, I need you to snap out of it." Tina said looking Ezra in the eyes. 

"Let me tell you about a cruel truth that haunts us all but we have to accept it. In this world, you either hide or hunt. That's the universal rule. It is either we get killed by people like them and trust me they are not the only people like that out in the world. There are people that will want to kill you simply because you're strong. You can choose to hide forever or kill them before they kill you. That's the law of the wild."

Ezra looked at her with so much shock in his eyes. He couldn't believe what he had heard. 

"She's right. If you're going to save the world, you need to make some sacrifices." the eagle said.

"I don't want to make sacrifices. I don't want to lose myself to save the world. I don't want to kill people." Ezra yelled to the eagle but everyone heard it including the old man and he began laughing.

"Hey kid, I can help you with that just stand still and I kill you before you kill anyone." Kabal said while laughing his ass off.

"You really think you'll fight the Elder Gods and keep everyone alive? People and soul animals die. What matters is how many people survived thanks to your sacrifices. Thanks to your selflessness." the eagle said. 

Time appeared to slow down for Ezra as a group of cannibals ran to him at full speed ready to attack. 

He thought for sometime as a lot of thoughts when through his head. He didn't want to do this but he had to. He had to kill people in order to save people.

His face became deadpan as he looked at the cannibals. He then helped his sword with one hand and held it close to his thigh almost like he was unsheathing it. He bent his right leg forward and for a moment he closed his eyes and could sense each cannibal's beating heart. He launched off of his left leg and in a flash he appeared behind the cannibals with blood dripping off his sword. 

He turned to them with a dead expression as their heads fell off right before his eyes. 

"Damn that was fast." the old man thought. He tried to ran away through the window but before he could jump out.

~BANG~

A bullet was fired into his skull making fall out of the window and onto the train tracks but as his body landed on the track, his horns were caught by the trains wheels. The train began losing control and the group, held something sturdy with Tina holding onto Koko. 

The train coursed off of the train track and crashed into some trees before falling into a swamp near Christville. 

"Is everyone okay?" Ezra asked.

"Yeah, Tina and I are good." Koko replied.

"So am I." Delilah said emerging out of a fur ball. 

"Good. Let's leave the train." Ezra said but as they were attempting to leave the train, it started moving again but this time it was moving upwards.

Ezra pocked his head out of the window the old man fell from and saw a giant snake holding the train. He made eye contact with the snake and looked at it for sometime. 

"Alba..."