“We came here to looking to get some souvenirs.” Kevin spoke up showing Kaehl the bag he was carrying.

  Kaehl looked at the woven bag he was carrying, at a glance it was full of various dolls, carvings and other stuff.

  “Do you know where we could get something simple?” Eric said, “I’ve seen most of your people wearing bangles, I think I would rather buy that.”

  “Of course, follow me.” Kaehl showed a smile gesturing for the two to follow him. “I know just the place.”

  As they walked, they passed through a street where the walls were painted with bold Ingan text.

  “The end is inevitable.” Eric said as he translated the text using his interface.

  “How…” Kevin was about to ask him how he knew that when he saw the interface.

  Throwing his hands he yelled, “You made a translation software. How? When?”

  Kevin rolled his eyes, “When you were happy writing a dictionary.”

  “What is this about?” Turning to Kaehl, Eric spoke, “Even earlier we encountered a group shouting this slogan.”

  “…”

  The three of them stayed silent before Eric elbowed Kevin on his ribs.

  “Ow” Reacting exaggeratedly, Kevin jumped high, his face contorting ridiculously, “Why me, can’t you use your fancy gadget.”

  His face going slack and his shoulders drooping, “Two thousand words, I wrote two thousand words, and it was all pointless.”

  “Come on man. It can only do texts.” Eric said helplessness marring his face. “You are still the best translator there is.”

  “No.” Kevin said stomping his foot on the ground. “You clearly don’t need me no more, so bye.”

  Vigorously whipping his head, Kevin left Eric and Kaehl who was dumbfounded, speechlessly rooted at the spot.

  He tried speaking to Eric but remembered he couldn’t understand him. Eric saw Kaehl's actions and waved trying to show that everything was okay. Turning to his interface he wrote a piece of text and showed it to Kaehl.

  [Don’t worry, he just occasionally acts that way. Everything is fine.]

  The program immediately translated the text into the Ingan language allowing Kaehl to understand it. Eric reached out into his bag, taking out a small electronic device. The device enlarged to form an eight inch tablet. Powering it on, he opened a certain program and handed the device to Kaehl.

  [Use this to communicate, write on it and it will translate]

  Kaehl picked the tablet, his heart bursting form holding something so precious. He tentatively touched the screen and viola, like magic, his touch turned into ink strokes.

  The two sat on a low wall by the side of a building as Eric spent some time showing him how to use the program. Before long Kaehl had mastered basic commands and they could now communicate fairly well.

  [What does “The end is inevitable” mean?] Eric asked his curiosity peaked.

  Kaehl got busy tapping and swiping the tablet, writing the response.

  [Ever since we discovered that we were the last people, a group emerged believing that the others outside the storm were taken to the kingdom of god.]

  [They advocated that the kingdom would be destroyed and that we need to move out. Then we to will be chosen by god.]

  [The group has recently grown much larger due to the recent events in the kingdom.]

  [They don’t know fully how dangerous the outside world is.]

  Kaehl’s face darkened and seeing this Eric thought he was thinking of his team that died. Standing up parted him on the shoulder trying to comfort him.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  The two resumed their journey though much quieter now.

  Kaehl informed Eric by pointing to a grand building with a large wooden sign at the doorway, ‘Iadnuyh Jewelry Store.’

  The moment they entered through the marble doorway, the entrance bell rung, a subtle chime resounding through the shop. The air inside was cool and fragrant, laced with the scent of old wood and exotic incense. Warm lights flowed through the windows, brightly illuminating the room and glinting off the clear glass displays.

  The store was spacious its architecture a blend of stonework and woodwork, gracefully and elegantly entwined together. Necklaces, rings and bracelets seemed to shimmer on their red velvet beds under the displays. Some of the jewelry actually were shining, incorporated into them were the glowing crystals.

  Dozens of Ingan shoppers shifted their gaze towards the new customer, Eric, their eyes marred with curiosity. For a moment the store went silent. Eric ignored the gazes and scanned the store, his eyes focusing on the products behind the displays.

  A certain lady seemingly coming to her senses hurriedly came forward welcoming Eric to the store. Eric recognized the gesture and nodded in acknowledgement. Walking towards the display Eric turned to Kaehl informing him to help him in the translation.

  Together with the sales clerk Kaehl begun explaining the stories behind each jewelry that caught Eric's eye.

  Eric was shown several bracelets and necklaces. The blue bracelets were supposed to be gifted to one’s spouse, made from a rare blue metal. There was white bangle which was made from this substance that was pure white, looking at it made it seem like it was a hole to a white void. The ones with embedded with glowing crystals each having different colored crystals. The ones with red crystals symbolized the bonds between siblings. His mind thought of Lana who was like a sister to him, it would be fine if he gifted her that.

  Eric came out of the store satisfied, on both of his wrists was the purely white bangle, perfectly complementing his shade-less look two dimensional look. Right at this moment his interface chimed. He glanced at the notification he just received.

  [Thanks for your help, I gotta go now, it’s already my sleeping time.]

  Kaehl was stunned reading that, he glanced at the sun at its zenith and looked back at Eric confused and puzzled. Eric let out a chuckle seeing his actions and begun walking towards the camp waving bye. At this time Kaehl hurriedly rushed to him trying to return the tablet but Eric pushed it to him.

  [Have fun with it, I return it after a week three days.]

  After that Eric quickly flashed disappearing with a gust of wind. Kaehl’s pupils contracted, was such incredible speed something mortals were capable off. Then again, after all he had seen these people do, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising after all.

  …

  Eric returned to the campsite, and immediately a rich aroma of stewed meat and vegetables hit his nose and he couldn’t help but gulp. The noisy clamor of overlapping voices and laughter brought the camp to life. Most of the team had made it returned, their presence weariness masked beneath their still present excitement.

  A Kevin saw Eric and beckoned for him. “Look I kept your portion safe.” He lifted his chin his face all smug.

  Eric picked his plate and carefully examined his food.

  “What is this?” he said picking out a suspiciously large piece of meat the size of a fist.

  “Rabbit meat, that part is its thighs.” Kevin said honestly.

  Eric looked at him for a while then took a bite, carefully monitoring Kevin's expressions.

  “What! Do you not trust me that much?” Kevin sighed.

  Eric ignored him and focused on his meal, he was famished, his stomach was even about to digest itself.

  As he was enjoying his meal, he caught fragments of a heated discussion within a cluster of researchers seated around a computer.

  “I’m telling you, it isn’t an error,” one of them insisted, tapping the screen with a gloved finger. “The pulse came from deep within the mountain. It wasn’t small either. We picked it up across three sensors in different locations.”

  “Then what the hell is it?” another asked, voice edged with unease. “A volcanic stir?”

  “That’s our best guess right now, the data fits a type A event.” a third muttered, arms crossed. “As if the mountain is a dormant volcano reawakening. It’d explain the tremors, and those mild quakes we’ve logged since arrival.”

  “That’s the problem.” Another interjected, swiping the display, switching the view. “That mountain is not a volcano, it’s a solid block of crystals.”

  Meanwhile, a more subdued group stood apart, their faces heavy with frustration. They were the tasked with studying the storm.

  “Sigh.” One of them let out a breath, “We should call it a dead end guys.”

  The others looked up as if to object but they returned to their dejected expressions. Clearly their research wasn’t as smooth as they expected.

  …

  After finishing his meal, Eric went back to his tent. He was sharing with Kevin. Normally they would have been assigned as look outs but this time they were in a relatively safe place, so the captain allowed everyone to rest.

  Arranging the futon, Eric closed his eyes, focusing on his heartbeats. He took deep breaths and with every exhale his heart slowed down.

  Breathe in. Breathe out. 70 beats per minute.

  Breathe in. Breathe out. 50 beats per minute.

  Breathe in. Breathe out. 30 beats per minute.

  Breathe in. Breathe out. 20 beats per minute.

  His mind seemed to drift away and time seemed to stretch endlessly. Royal blue floating specks of energy appeared before him. Calling upon his spirit he began drawing the meditation symbol. Each complete stroke forming a rotation. And with every rotation the blue energy was drawn into the symbol and into his blood.

  Lub Dub. Lub Dub. With every beat of his heart, the energy was distributed throughout his body. His body heated up as more energy was drawn in, stopping when he felt uncomfortable.

  He had spent about thirty minutes in the meditation. Letting out an exhausted exhale, Eric glanced at his already sleepy roommate.

  “Kevin, Kevin.” Eric called out.

  “Argh.” Kevin groaned awake, turning to face Eric. “What?”

  “Good night.” He said before flipping a switch that plunged the tent into darkness.

  Fuc –