Chapter 29: Ground Zero?

San Diego ... much like many cities around the world, the city was smashed and blown to pieces. Near the ocean, this city was like many coastal towns that took the first hits as the bombs fell. Three major blast craters permeated the area. One was dead center where the highest concentration of buildings was at. Another struck the naval base where it seemed where the missiles were aimed. Another hit the Coronado Naval Station across the Coronado Bridge that led to it.

Wrecked ships lined the coastal area. Both military ships and ordinary vessels dotted the region that poked its heads above the water, where they never sank completely. It was desolate and seemed almost hauntingly quiet. Ground Zero was a place that marked the beginning of the end of humanity. Skyscrapers that weren’t vaporized from the nuclear blasts were disheveled, disjointed, in shambles, or wrecked onto the street that they came from.

Near the waters of San Diego Bay, the long stretch of the harbor that led to the Pacific Ocean, one of the massive craters of the bomb blasts stood. A flash appeared from the dead center of the explosion crater as Ryujin, Theo, Estrella, Renenutet, and Rex stood as a group. The teleportation was complete as they began to look at their surroundings.

“Jesus...” Rex commented. “So this is what it looks like from ground zero ... now I understand what it must have been like for the Japanese in World War 2.”

The massive crater was partially deep but not enough to crawl out. The area was littered with mostly vaporized debris in the center. The outer edge was lined with shattered debris from building as an occasional building had fallen into the crater as well.

It was getting dark. The sun had set. This was beginning to make vision harder for Estrella and Rex to look around.

“I can’t see too well,” Rex noted. “Perhaps it was bad for us to come here...”

“No, in fact, it can make it easier to spot the crystal. It supposedly glows, so if there is one around us, we might be able to see it better.”

“Plus, Ryujin’s eyes can see very well in the dark anyway,” Theo commented as she pulled her heavy revolver out. “Those dragons and those eyes of theirs.”

“This place ... such,” Estrella shook her head. “Malo ... malo.”

“You can say that again,” Rex replied. “Evil ... destruction.”

Estrella’s eyes focused on the far distance and could see a partially standing building. There were scorched marks that looked like people.

“Are those? ... people?” Estrella asked.

“Yesss,” Renenutet replied to her as her tongue flicked in the air.

“Vaporized from the explosion,” Rex said. “It was instant. You were dead before you even saw the flash. Probably the best death, actually.”

“I would not want to die that way,” Estrella shook her head.

“It actually would. Quick and painless... , or at least it should be. You wouldn’t even know it. Instead, we survive and ... well look at the shit we had to go through in the last month.”

“Your right,” Estrella shook her head.

Ryujin was scanning the area around him. “Start looking. We have all night to look.”

Everyone in the group began to look around themselves. The group began to scatter a little bit, but Renenutet and Rex walked together for the most part, and Estrella and Theo were in their own group. Ryujin began to watch the area intently.

Theo stopped as she used her hoof to kick a piece of rubble near her. The rubble and dirt flew a little bit, revealing nothing underneath.

“This is how you search?” Estrella asked her.

“Yes. We have aerial searches here all the time. The crystal is tough to pick up. Magic, for some reason, is just hard to pick once it gets deep in the sand. Literally, this is what we do most of the time. We just scour the ground and hope we find it. If we had more members in our group, then this would be quicker.”

“It’s too bad you couldn’t get more humans to help you out.”

“And have them get radiated every single time? There haven’t been many humans around left even to do that anyway.”

“Good point,” Estrella said as she could see nothing but vaporized remains of human bodies. There were occasional skeletons that marked the outer edge of the crater. “I wonder why those people didn’t die from the blast?”

“People trying to find loved ones that might have survived the blast and stayed?” Theo asked. “Who knows? People, regardless of how much they know about nuclear explosions, don’t know how deadly radiation is. They don’t even know they are getting pelted by the tiny bullets that they never see.”

Estrella swallowed hard as she even thought about it. She knew she was being exposed to it right now, along with Rex. “Those people ... how long did they survive after the explosions fell?”

“A week ... maybe?”

“Why didn’t you guys help them?”

Theo shook her head. “We didn’t know what to do, and we were convinced that you humans were to blame. It wasn’t our position to do anything about it,” the minotaur said as she reached down to pick up some of the soil. She looked at it carefully before letting it fall back to the ground. “Some of us wanted to help, though. I was one of them.”

“What did you do?”

“Not much. Our own rules prevented us from doing anything. We can’t expose ourselves to the human public, even this situation.”

“Even though you would have been saving lives?”

“It is such a fun argument. That damned argument always lives in the Coalition of Deities and how many times we convince ourselves of it. In the end, it always comes crashing back to us. Most agree that if we started revealing ourselves to everyone, then what happens to the survivors? Think about it. How did you respond?”

Estrella thought about it. “I saw you do things I never thought were possible. Miracles ... being able to control time alone.”

“Next thing you know, the survivors would see that and start to ... worship us as gods. Some would blame us for the apocalypse. New religions would form overnight, and people would use those religions for nefarious reasons.”

“It can be used to create order.”

“True, but whose order? Even with our numbers, everyone would want it their way, and it would only end in further argument and violence. Of course, that changed once we learned of the crystal. That is more important than anything right now.”

Estrella nodded. “At least you guys are doing what you are doing now. I wish things were different.”

“There will be a day we reveal ourselves to you humans in the ... corrected timeline. You humans show such promise. One day I see people trying to kill each other, and at the same time, I see such strength and passion for life. For example, I can look at those skeletons, and I can picture what they were trying to do before they died. I can imagine that they were trying to help save people from the rubble. I can picture them trying to find food or water for themselves or somebody else.”

“It was like that in the first couple of weeks for us ... then everyone, including ourselves, started to take by force instead. It was every man for themselves, and then even they started to die off too. We were lucky we found those anti-radiation meds, or we would have joined them too.”

“Yeah...” Theo replied as she reached down and used her fingers to sift through the soil near her hoof. She spotted something on her shorts as she picked it off her.

Estrella closed her eyes as she sighed. “Weird ... have you checked that spot over there?” she asked as she pointed to a pile of rubbish and debris.

Theo’s eyes went and focused on the debris as she walked over to it. She used her hoof to knock it over and looked at it carefully. “I don’t see anything,” she said.

“Hmmm ... that was weird.”

“What was it?”

Estrella shook her head. “I just had this feeling that it was there.”

Theo gave a questioning look. She extended her hand over the debris and focused with her mind.

“It was here...” Theo said as she opened her eyes and began to sift around the pile of debris. “That is really interesting, indeed. You picked it up. There was a crystal here...”

Ryujin’s clawed feet walked over the soft, broken dirt of the crater. He would scan the area very well, slowly but surely as he had done before.

“You keep focusing on the same spot as before,” he heard a familiar voice. He looked around and saw nobody there. He knew what it was, though. He knew nobody could hear the voice but him. It was the voice of her.

“I keep looking for it, my beloved,” Ryujin spoke out loud away from the group. “I will search for it a hundred times over to find it.”

“I know it isn’t easy, my dear husband,” Haru’s voice echoed in his head. “You will never give up. You must find it.”

Ryujin closed his eyes. “I know you are not there and just a part of my imagination,” he said. “The quiet isolation is not helping me.”

“You must reach out to the others. I know who you are. After I passed away, you just stayed away from everyone, even our son and daughter. You didn’t have to do that...”

The dragon shook his head. He kicked a pile of debris as he looked at what was underneath it and saw nothing but dirt.

“I remembered everything ... all of it. What I was before and what I was now,” the dragon said to nothing.

“Did remembering your past stop your love to me?” the internal voice rang out in his head.

“Never ... I just remember my past love before I met you. Then I was reminded of you and your passing ... I hate it.”

“You betray us by not thinking of us. I was happy to be your wife and to bear you a son. Each day of isolation, you hurt yourself. You have friends and family that reach out to you and want you to be a part of it. The dragons even want you to join their beloved circle.”

“Circle? ... You mean Sárkány and his strange circle? No ... no, I never wanted to be a part of it.”

“Your son and daughter joined it twenty years ago. Our own son joined it, yet you still don’t want to be a part of it?” Haru asked him.

Ryujin stopped and looked around. He huffed a little bit from his snout. “I think it is nothing but a silly farse of ideas. Why join a circle when we are part of a Coalition as it is? I would join two groups and have to listen to both.”

“You avoided the question, my love. Your son tried to encourage you to join it, yet you preferred to be the lone wolf ... you don’t have to be that way.”

“My beloved ... why are you trying to convince me on something like you always do?” he sighed. “Maybe if things are not like this, I will think about it ... and I said, I will think about it.”

The scene was quiet as he put his hand to the soil and sifted around. It was still getting darker, but his eyes allowed him to see the landscape with ease. He could see better than the rest, but all he saw was nothing but destroyed roads, rubble, debris, and the massive crater that they were in.

“You know ... sometimes I like being alone because I can hear your voice much better than being in a group,” he said to the breeze around him.

“I know you do,” the voice told him in his head. “The problem is that you know that I passed away hundreds of years ago, and you choose to isolate yourself just to hear me. You have left your family alone, and I am not happy with that. My son and your daughter deserve to be treated better. You were not against it when you were reunited with her.”

“I know that...” He said as he stopped over a piece of rubble. He used his claws to swipe it away. There was nothing there. “That was before I fully recovered my memory, and you were there. You were alive.”

“I am sorry, husband, but you can’t keep living with my past memories. You losing your memory was the best thing for you because you looked forward to your future instead of being dragged back in the past. Recovering your memories...”

“I know what you are going to say. I have heard it many times before. Maybe if things are different, I won’t be like this ... instead of trying to find this crystal.”

“We will see husband ... we will see.”

Ryujin saw a pile of sand that was thicker than amongst the dirt itself. He took both of his claws and shoved them into the soil and lifted it up. He let the sand fall between his fingers as he stood up. The dirt began to empty from his hands, revealing nothing.

“What we could do with an Earth deity that could shift sand and dirt ... too bad they are used everywhere else,” the dragon said.

“Ryujin!” a voice called out to him. It broke him from his internal thinking. The voice of Haru was gone, and he was brought back to reality as he heard Theo’s voice call out to him. The dragon turned around and looked at a fair distance to the others.

Theo was gesturing to him to come forward to her. It piqued his interest as it was customary to spend several hours crawling through the dirt to find nothing. He went and closed the distance to get to them. Within less than a minute, he was back to talk to the two.

“We might be on to something,” Theo called out. “I just picked up the magical energy of the crystal we are looking for.”

“Where is it?” Ryujin asked.

“Right here,” Theo pointed. “The problem is that it isn’t here anymore.”

“Somebody found it before we did...” Ryujin said as he put his hand to one of his whisker tendrils. “Hmmm ... not good, but at least we are getting close. Good work, Theo.”

“I would like to take the credit, but Estrella was the one that found it.”

Estrella smiled a little bit as the dragon looked down at her.

“Very impressive, that isn’t easy,” the dragon replied. “You managed to accomplish something that we have spent several weeks trying to do.”

“I ... don’t know how I did it.”

“You had mentioned earlier that you were potentially psychic. You might have actually picked up the energy from it without knowing it.”

“Well, don’t ask me to do mind readings...”

Theo patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. At least you are here to help us find it. Now we just need to find the...”

Before the minotaur could say anything more, a gunshot rang out. It was loud as a bullet struck the dragon’s forehead and bounced off, flying to the dirt next to him. The dragon hissed a little bit as he looked around him.

Everyone looked around them as Rex flipped the safety of his shotgun off and took aim at where the sound came from. Estrella jumped a safe distance from Theo as the group spread out. Ryujin was unfazed as he looked around him.

“Are you alright?” Estrella asked the dragon as she lifted her rifle and took aim at the direction Rex was looking at.

“I am fine, it hit me straight on the head, but it was a normal bullet. We are dealing with...”

A series of gunshots began to ring out as the team realized they were being fired at.

“Take cover!” Rex yelled out as he aimed his shotgun and fired. The loud bang of the gun filled the air as he pulled the forestock back and forth, ejecting the spent casing and loading a new round in.

Rex and Estrella dove behind the other three as a bullet hit right near Estrella’s foot. Dirt was kicked in the air.

Renenutet took her long rifle and aimed it at the sound of the gunshots. She had a hard time seeing the targets.

“I can’t sssee them well...” the snake goddess commented.

“I can see five men that are shooting down from westward where we are facing,” the dragon commented. “Do you know who they are?”

“No,” Rex replied. “We know some of the gangs around the city, but nobody lives at Ground Zero. These people should be dead by now if they have been here for a while.”

A bullet struck Theo in the arm as the bullet bounced off of her.

“Renenutet, use your magic and aim at the cluster of debris by the wrecked building right there,” the dragon pointed.

The snake goddess got an idea as she was instructed. She lowered her rifle as she took her free hand and emitted a green light from it. “Overgrowth,” she said as her hand lifted up to the sky.

A series of plants began to grow from underneath the shooters. Hard to see from the darkness, the gunmen had no idea that the plants looked like small mushrooms that grew from the wrecked roads and dirt. The men kept shooting with their rifles as the mushrooms got bigger and bigger and then exploded.

A mist-like powder erupted from the exploding mushrooms that a couple of men took notice. Toxic spores filled the area as three of the men began to start choking from it. Another man held his breath as he ran from the site. Another man tried to hold his breath as well as he was confused at the event. He stood up, but Renenutet took aim with the rifle and fired a shot with her long rifle. The round hit the man’s shoulder as he fell back down to the toxic spores.

Estrella could see the man running as she aimed her rifle and fired. The shot missed.

“One got away,” Renenutet told them as she pulled the bolt back and loaded a new round in the chamber.

“I’ll stop the person,” Theo responded as she held her hand out.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ryujin told her. “They were just scavengers that were trying to ambush us.”

The area was quiet once again as Rex and Estrella stood forward and looked at the area ahead of them.

“We should check out the bodies,” Rex told them.

“Wait another minute for the toxxxic sssporesss to clear out,” Renenutet advised. “Then, we can check that area out.”

“Nobody should be living in this area,” Estrella told Rex. “Were getting hit with the radiation as it is, but these people are getting it too. We should be alone right now.”

“I don’t know why there are people here too. We should check the bodies to see if those people have the crystal or not.”

Theo lifted her hand and closed her eyes. She lowered it, opened her eyes, and shook her head. “I don’t sense it is in that direction. Those men don’t have it.”

Ryujin scanned the areas beyond the crater but saw nothing. “Renenutet, use your power again and start illuminating the crater area. It will help the search out for everyone else.”

“We might only be illuminating ourselves to others by doing that,” Rex commented.

“Let them,” the snake goddess said.

Rex shrugged as he pulled out another shotgun cartridge and inserted it into his shotgun.

Renenutet once again lifted her hand as a green light emitted from it. She turned her head to look at Estrella. “You are sssafe to check the bodiesss.”

Rex watched as the crater around them began to develop a series of green plants that arose from the area. Estrella began to walk to the bodies. Theo decided to join up with her.

The inner portion of the crater had a series of small green tree-like structures that lined the outer edge. Rex himself noted that the snake goddess was putting a lot of effort into this. The tree-like structures grew branches as they began to bud a series of leaves. Even Estrella herself watched with amazement at the area. The leaves on the trees started to emit a small glowing light from them as the snake goddess ceased her magic. Most of the crater was almost lit up. It didn’t provide the perfect illumination, but it was enough that you weren’t walking in the dark. It was a pretty unusual sight that marked the scene.

“Incredible,” Rex commented. “To have this power.”

Estrella resumed her walking as she kept her rifle ready. She, along with Theo, reached the edge of the inner crater area where the trees were at. This was where the men were at.

“I see the remains,” the woman remarked. “Four men.”

Theo took a knee as she reached down to check the men closer. “Dead. Renenutet did a good job dispatching them.”

“The men...” Estrella noted. “They look different.”

Theo checked the faces a little more. “I see what you mean. These men looked like they have been exposed to high amounts to radiation, but they were alive.”

“I agree. I have seen men die from radiation exposure, but these men should have been dead for a long time now. You can see the massive blistering on their skin.”

“Did they have access to medicine?”

“No, even with the medication you don’t go and walk around this area. Two days ... till you die from exposure. By now, anybody except Rex and I should have the senses to come to this place.”

Theo stood up and checked another body. “Dead and similar radiation blisters. These men had been alive for a while now.”

“Would the toxic spores do this sort of damage?”

“No, these men were killed rather quickly from the spores unleashed. The bodies just collapse and shut down. To cause this form of blistering would have to be something else, and that was the exposure itself.”

“Then that would mean ... what?”

Theo stood up as she looked back at the group away from them. “They found another means to survive in this area. Come on, let’s rejoin the group.”

They both began their walk back to the group.

“If that is the case, then there might be more men in the area.”

Theo shook her head. “You guys are in more danger than we are. We are used to fighting the odd bunch of mortals. I am more worried about losing you than my life.”

“I feel that we are fine, but ... no ... there is something else here.”

Theo scanned the area again but saw nothing. She lifted her hand and concentrated but felt nothing. “I don’t see anything. There is nothing in range as well.”

“Maybe it is just a feeling.”

Theo snorted a little bit. “Your hunch led us to an area that was supposed to have a crystal. I will keep an eye out, don’t worry. What is it that you feel?”

Estrella paused. “Malo ... malo ... cold ... evil.”

The minotaur nodded and acknowledged her words. “We will be ready.”

They reached back with the group as they were still sifting through the soil and dirt, trying to find something. Rex just shook his head as he stood up.

“The men were heavily exposed to radiation, but their lives went beyond it. They have been here for a while. Estrella is also getting a feeling that there is something else here,” Theo told them.

The dragon walked up to Estrella and looked down at her. “What direction do you feel we should go to?”

“What?” she reacted.

“We are in a situation where you helped lead us to a place where a crystal was at,” Ryujin explained. “Us three have no idea where to search. It is best to let you help guide us to it.”

“I don’t even know how it works,” she held her hands out.

“Don’t worry about it,” Theo told her. “This ability you have works simply as that. Just let yourself guide to the direction you feel is right.”

Estrella took a deep breath as she looked at the scene. It was still getting darker as the trees were trying their best to light up the area. She pointed eastward. “It is that way ... I ... I think.”

Ryujin turned his head and body to look in that direction. He observed closely. “I see something. Looks like another group of twenty men and women. Some are wielding various guns, from pistols to shotguns to rifles. One has an RPG.”

Theo turned to look at Estrella and Rex as she looked near them. “There is some large wrecked debris a little bit from our spot. I want us to move to that location there so that you two have cover.”

“Agreed,” Ryujin replied. “Let’s head there and let them come to us.”

The group turned and headed over to the debris cluster. It was near the outstretch of the ring of trees that the snake goddess made.

“These men must have some courage trying to come after us like this,” Rex stated. “Four out of five men getting killed, and that isn’t enough to persuade them to go away?”

“This looks like there is enough to help shield us from the bullets and use for cover,” Estrella commented.

“With the exception of that RPG. That needs to be taken down. Otherwise, the cement and fallen sections here should work.”

The group reached behind cover as they saw a large number of men getting closer. They began to come through the ring of trees that lit the surrounding area.

“Hmmm...” Ryujin noted, looking at the men that were approaching them.

“What?” Renenutet asked.

“Something isn’t right about this. All the people are armed with the exception of one. He is an older man, and he is in the center of the group. The men and women are surrounding them.”

“Evil ... I am getting cold,” Estrella reacted.

Theo turned to look at her. She had perched her rifle behind the cover of the stone cement slab along with Rex, who looked at her.

“What is it?” Theo asked. She was on a state of alert as she pulled her gun and got ready.

“That group that is coming. I felt it again. I felt this cold ... and darkness coming.”

Ryujin was on a state of alert as they stood out in the open. All was set. Estrella and Rex were safe behind cover but could quickly peek over and shoot if need be. Theo and the other two mythics stood in front of them, not far from them, so that they could hold the position.

The large group of men got closer and closer as they waited. Ryujin put his hands to the handgrips of his swords as he got ready. Theo pointed her gun in the air as Renenutet fully loaded her rifle and perched it on her shoulder.

“Ssshould I go ahead and ussse my magic to kill them?” the snake goddess asked.

“Not yet,” the dragon replied. “This man ... he wouldn’t come unarmed to a fight. He wants to talk. Let them waste their time.”

The group got within thirty feet of them as the men and women parted ways to let the older man step forward. Within a better visual range, Rex took a look at the men. The men and women were all armed with various weapons. They wore the same vest like materials that Estrella wore. The older man, however, was dressed entirely differently. He wore a black suit and tie.

“What the fuck?” Rex said, looking at the man. “The man looks like some business executive in a middle of a fucking holocaust?”

“This isn’t right at all,” Theo replied to his words. Her tail flicked in the air as she looked at them. “He looks completely healthy too. I don’t see the blisters like I see in the other men.”

The older man that stepped forward was utterly calm. He gave off a relaxed demeanor as he looked at the group in front of him. He had a light white, and gray beard that accompanied is pale complexion. The men and women all seemed to be in a state of unease or nervousness around him as they stared at the group.

“He isss no human,” Renenutet noted to the group.

The older man gave off a small smile on his face. His presence gave off some terrifying vibe to Estrella. He got within range to address the five he saw in front of them.

“My friends! My friends, there is no need to be alarmed,” the old man explained in a very calm and collected deep tone to them. “A dragon, a minotaur, a snake, and ... what do we have ... ah yes, two humans altogether. Very curious as to why you are here?”

“Those men that shot at us earlier. Were they a part of yours?” Ryujin asked.

“Why yes, of course. That is why I came down here is to find out who was encroaching on my territory.”

“Who are you?” the dragon asked.

The older man waved his finger at him. “No ... no, that is not the way you should be asking. The question is, why are you here?”

“You don’t seem surprised at all to see a dragon stand before you ... are you a mythic?”

The older man smiled while keeping his tone very calm. “You come to my territory and start shooting my people. You will not answer my question as to why. Perhaps a little violence will answer the question. Men kill them!”

Theo watched as all of them opened fire on them. One of the men that she spotted that carried the RPG lifted it up and aimed it at the group. She watched as he pulled the trigger.

The rocket-propelled grenade was fast just as she lifted her hand and yelled, “Halt!” The entire scene froze solid. The negative image appeared as she walked forward with her gun. She didn’t need any more excuses to shoot. This group was hostile, and she was already prepared. She saw the rocket-propelled grenade in mid-flight. She walked up to it and saw it frozen along with everyone else. She used her four fingers to grip the grenade in mid-flight as she turned it around to face the shooter. She then took aim and fired her gun at one of the men. The bullet left the gun and froze in flight. She then repeated the step with the next man, another woman, and two other men that stood together. Theo then walked right up to the older man. She put the gun straight to the man’s head.

“You wanted violence? You won’t...”

Theo watched in shock as the older man, even though seemingly frozen, turned his eyes to look at her. A deep smile came from his face. She had no time to react.

She tried to pull the trigger, but the older man grabbed her hand as the gun went off, and the spell collapsed. Everything went back to normal. The negative image of the surrounding environment went back to the standard color. Five of the people that Theo shot fell to the ground dead as the RPG round struck and blew the shooter to bits. The shockwave hit some of the men and women as they fell to the ground. Everyone stopped shooting.