— Agatha. — The little girl answered shyly. — Like those colored crystals...
— Hmm, Agatha… — Sete repeated, noticing a certain blush growing on the child's cheeks, along with a small smile. — What a beautiful name.
Embarrassed, Agatha hid her reddened face in the blonde girl's embrace. She found the child's shy behavior amusing and, turning to Sete, commented:
— I think it's time we got out of here before the E.G.O. misses its train. — The blue-eyed girl turned her attention for a few seconds to the other two ex-prisoners already outside the van and, receiving a nod from them, continued speaking. — My name is Lillia, by the way. I suppose we can consider ourselves allies in this mess, thank you for saving us...
Bianca, Thomas and Kai nodded and smiled, agreeing with Lillia. Sete exchanged glances with Ethan, who added:
— We'll take you to our shelter, where you can change and get some rest. — He paused, watching as the new members of the group agreed with his words. — Let's have a meal and pack our things before we leave. We need to get out of this town as soon as possible.
༻ ༊*·˚ ༺
On the way to the underground base, the young deity's attention was drawn to the System, which alerted her to a new notification with the sound of a bell.
"Sete, congratulations! You've completed one of my [Rescue Missions]!" — Vez's shrill voice exclaimed inside Spring's head, echoing in an irritating way through every part of her brain. — "You've gained another 3% divinity!"
"Do you have anything else to tell me?" — Sete asked in thought, her eyebrows furrowed at the annoying robotic timbre, which was already starting to give her a nagging headache. — "You know I don't intend to spend much more time being disturbed by your presence."
"Oh yes, I know that very well! If everything goes according to plan, you'll soon find yourself almost free of me ^-^" — The System's cheerfulness was rather suspicious, but the young deity paid attention to what he said next. — "To complete the first [Rescue Mission] I've proposed, I suggest you head east with the heirs, as I mentioned earlier. In that direction you'll find a good area to build a permanent shelter, and you'll be closer to our objectives."
Sete sat in thoughtful silence for a few seconds, occasionally interrupted by the relaxed chatter of the large group of heirs heading for the bunker.
She wondered what Vez meant by our goals. After all, Sete had made it clear that she wanted to find the other seasons, but what about Vez? Was his objective to recover or create a physical body, finally achieving his own goals and ridding the young deity of his annoying omnipresence? What else was the System planning?
Well, she knew that Vez had been sent by the other Gods to help them recover their powers and divinity, so his intentions couldn't be bad, could they? Sete would like to believe that, but what she didn't know bothered her too much.
However, if the System was helping her to see her close friends again and protect the heirs, what harm was there in temporarily collaborating with it?
"Right, let's head east." — Sete decided firmly, not letting herself get carried away by Vez's noisy celebration inside her mind.
༻ ༊*·˚ ༺
In the bunker, the four former prisoners still acted a little hesitant around their new allies, but they were clearly gradually loosening up. Everything said that their future relationship would be very good.
Bianca prepared a quick meal with the purified meat of some mutant vulture they had recently shot, while everyone changed and tasted the oranges and cherry tomatoes grown by Sete. Ethan poured some steaming mint tea for each of them, surprising the newcomers with the sweetness and refreshment of the drink, which made them feel invigorated after so many tense moments.
While they ate, the older man introduced himself as Hiroshi to the others. The red-haired boy did the same soon after, answering that his name was Reed when Ethan asked him.
Sete didn't say much, only getting up from the table full of people when she was satisfied with the food and starting to organize the supplies they would need to take with them.
The heirs followed her one by one after finishing their meals, packing all the canned food they had into backpacks and bags, as well as clothes, medicine, bandages and camping equipment such as sleeping bags, tents, water bottles and cooking pots. In general, they took everything they thought they needed and put it on their backs.
Ethan, for example, carried a bag especially full of his old technology trinkets, which he imagined would be put to good use in the future.
— And where are we going now? — Hiroshi asked, adjusting the straps of the large rucksack on his back, his mid-grey hair being blown by the breeze that snaked through the dilapidated buildings of Ousbury.
— East. — The young deity replied and, without further questioning, headed in the direction indicated on Thomas's old map.
The unusual group of nine crossed the ghost town in silence, their eyes seeing far beyond the gray landscape that awaited them in the distance.