The early morning sky is softly bright where Ajax and Shaula are.

Three hours have passed after Ajax and Shaula set off from the tree at dawn.

The plains in front of them are now visible enough that they don’t need a light to illuminate the way. They can see for a great distance ahead. Both of them walk while carrying the tortoiseshell with them.

It has yet to prove itself to be an obstruction to their travels.

That night sky was… beautiful… but where exactly is Omicron compared to our world?

Ajax considers the nature of the new world he’s been dropped into. Neither Ajax nor Shaula has knowledge of celestial constellations in detail so they were unable to check how different this new night sky was from their own.

They wouldn’t even be able to tell where Mars or Venus would be in the sky above them on that particular night.

Is this place in a parallel dimension? Is it a part of our universe? I’m guessing… parallel dimension because of the existence of magic. But other than that, the laws of physics seem to be the same. Our physical abilities and our senses don’t seem to be drastically affected… at least by any different laws of physics.

Ajax considers the nature of this world. If this world where magic exists were a part of their universe, it might be expected that their homeworld would also be able to manifest magical phenomena but… their homeworld advanced along the path of science and technology dictated by natural laws.

Ajax is trying to disregard the elephant in the room. Namely… his supposed divinity. Being a god would be unthinkable.

His reasoning in this matter when Shaula had confronted him with her theory was that they could be injured and feel pain. Angels and Gods surely have to be creatures who aren’t bound to suffer physical consequences.

Hm. But Jacob did wrestle an angel in the bible, didn’t he? 

The more reasonable idea is that Ajax and Shaula have been made demigods; Gods with physical forms and mortal ancestry or in this case, mortals who have been raised to divine status by real gods.

It isn’t unthinkable that a god turned us into gods ourselves. A lot of stuff isn’t unthinkable anymore…

Ajax doesn’t want to confront the possibility of being turned into a higher form of life. He doesn’t even want to consider the possibility that these powers will be with him always from now on.

The fact that he has been given powers he has yet to fully understand… along with the possibility that his lack of understanding would hurt or even kill people… his life now has far more responsibility thrust upon it all at once.

If he were to think through the possibility of divinity then… when he returns to Omicron, would his family, his mother, father and Rita, be doomed to die as mortals while Shaula and he kept to their godhood?

What if he makes mortal friends, a mortal wife… would their children be divine and unkillable? Would he be able to live on after those important to him die?

The only guarantee of having a somewhat happy life is if he found an immortal mate… like Shaula…

Huh? Shaula…

Ajax looks over at Shaula… she has been silent in her own thoughts. She is a particularly beautiful woman, the most beautiful woman to a lot of people. Even to him.

N-No, let’s stick to one thing at a time… Shaula is definitely-- no, one thing at a time.

Ajax blushes. For as long as Shaula has been living with him, he has never considered romantic feelings towards her. This is because he had begged Shaula to accept his help so she wouldn’t be homeless.

He could never try to date her in such a situation. He had effectively become her landlord and held the power to push her back to the streets even if he would never do such a thing.

If he ruined their situation by attempting to initiate a relationship then… she might leave… she might go back to her life in homeless shelters, building up endless amounts of stress and pain.

If she didn’t leave, then the power dynamic would always be in the back of Ajax’s mind.

This was not a situation where Ajax could make a move because rejection would only mean her suffering and pain.

Unknown or unconsidered by Ajax is another reason: Shaula’s misandry.

With every single other man than Ajax, Shaula ignores them at best and despises their very presence at worst.

Perhaps if Ajax’s father had been living with them when Shaula came into his home, she wouldn’t have stayed with him.

With Ajax, the one person she loves more than anything, being his romantic partner is a different dynamic than the one they’ve had so far, which is deep friendship; an escalation in their relationship she’s not certain she can commit to.

Even now, Shaula is thinking not about her realization that they might be holy beings.

She is considering how the man Gratia had touched her; when she was naked and lifeless, he had taken advantage of her corpse.

Did I kill that prick too quickly? I haven’t killed in so long… should I have savoured it more? Ajax still hasn’t told me who else hurt him. I think he’s been hurt before after he woke up here. How could he know he would heal with his chest cavity destroyed if it hadn’t happened to him already? Shit. He shouldn’t have had to hurt others. I should have killed them for him. How pathetic...

Ajax and Shaula continue walking through the early morning thinking these thoughts.

For hours and hours, they walk and observe the behaviour of the animals around them. Quite a few large tortoises are grazing in the area. None of them approach.

Perhaps they see the tortoiseshell that Ajax and Shaula are carrying together. Perhaps, like the raptors, they instinctually fear the two of them.

Ajax and Shaula also see some horned rabbits here and there, the shadows of the little creatures mostly fleeing their very presence.

Shaula recalls something. There had been no moon in the night sky before. It might be too early to believe this alien world of Omicron has no moon at all, it could simply be the day of a new moon.

Still… I should keep an eye on that.

Ajax and Shaula eventually got back to the rhythm of talking to each other. They discussed other details about their new world.

Ajax talks to Shaula about the animals of this new world, namely the feathered reptiles which reminded him of the prehistoric Cretaceous period velociraptor.

They seemed very similar to wolves on earth, at least their pack behaviour, their reliance on pack hierarchy… Shaula could see the similarity, especially in their submission behaviour.

Eventually, Ajax and Shaula reach the mouth of a valley lined by small, green foliage-covered mountains. It reminds Shaula of some beautiful computer wallpapers she’s seen.

Neither of them has taken trips through long stretches of highway in Britannia where such sights are common.

They start walking forward through the valley path, taking in the sights before them and the sweetness of the air. Ajax can feel a light breeze on his skin but… not its warmth or coolness.

It feels somehow hollow…

Soon Ajax and Shaula find themselves at a dead end with a series of consecutive cliff faces obstructing their path forward. It makes Ajax think of the stairs that the mythical titans might use.

Currently, they stand before a cliff face about twenty metres in height. This will not be an easy climb especially with a heavy tortoiseshell in their arms.

Will Shaula have to let go of the tortoiseshell at this juncture?

This could be a problem. Hm. Ah! How about...

“Ajax, start absorbing heat from the area. I think our best option to go forward here is to gain the strength to jump from cliff to cliff with the shell.”

“...Ha? Is… is that really the only option?”

“What would you have us do? Take the long way along those mountains around us? Jump without the shell?”

“N-No… I guess there isn’t really a problem for us to do that… I was just surprised is all...”

“I think it’d be wise to gain experience using our powers more and more don’t you think?”

Ajax had just been thinking about the lack of expertise he has in using his new abilities. Practice makes perfect.

“...Yeah, you’re right. Alright, let’s do this. Stand back a bit, I’m going to try absorbing a lot of energy at once.”

Shaula walks away from Ajax with the shell in her hands, a few metres away.

Ajax prepares himself. He consumes the heat in the ground through his feet.

He localizes the heat energy transfer to the soles of his feet so that he doesn’t crystallize and shatter the garb that Shaula had fashioned for him from her skirt.

In previous instances, he would consume heat through the entire surface of his body.

This wasn’t an issue when the temperature only changed to near frostbite temperatures; however, at lower temperatures when Ajax absorbed large amounts of heat at once, secondary effects occur such as water crystallizing on his clothing causing rips and tears.

The ground turns frozen. The wild grass slowly wilts in his vicinity as frost forms on the plant life and soil on the ground.

He increases his heat ingestion. He also turns on the heat absorption at the palms of his hands. Water vapour sublimates as ice on the surface of his skin. As does Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen.

Ajax halts his absorption. He has obtained enough strength.

Shaula walks towards him with the tortoiseshell in her right hand.

“I’m going to touch your hands, ok?”

“Alright… just tell me if it’s too cold.”

Shaula takes Ajax’s right hand in her left.

“No… it’s warm… I feel it.”

Life flows through her veins. Energy and strength fill every muscle fibre, every piece of skeletal matter, increasing their tensile strength and density.

Her eyes see even smaller movements around her. More subtle shifts of wind and air pressure become clear to her. She looks up towards the cliff faces.

Still holding Ajax’s hand, she says,

“Ready?”

“Yeah... Yeah, I’m ready.”

Ajax and Shaula jump, Shaula holding the tortoiseshell by herself in her left hand. Their feet escaping the ground below leave imprints and small cracks in the now frozen soil.

They clear the first cliff-face in moments, jumping to the top of it.

They complete a second jump above the next cliff-face, this one about twenty-five metres in height. A third. A fourth.

After about ten consecutive jumps, they reach the last cliff face in their path.

Although they cannot see past this face, the next stretch of land is mostly flat ground, moderately filled with Omicronian bushes and more reasonably small trees, a different species from the trees earlier.

But, there is something different about this cliff. This cliff face is about fifty metres in height. It can be climbed, no doubt about that, but they’ll need to secure more energy to make the jump happen.

But that’s not all that’s different. At the base of the cliff, there is a cave entrance. The entrance is large enough for people to enter and exit it with ease.

Within its depths, the corridor appears comfortably traversable.

At the mouth of the cave is a structure. A large, metal portcullis with thick bars, blocking the entrance for anybody who would attempt to intrude.

But more than anything, this is their first sign of civilization and intelligent design since leaving their earlier hell.