'... Well, I haven't tried talking to them yet?'

"HELLO!" the boy awkwardly yelled out, his voice shaking.

The monsters jerked and took a step back in surprise. Confused, they exchanged glances towards the survivor and amongst themselves. After briefly wagging their tails, their bewilderment ended and they resumed their attack.

'It was worth a shot. Goodbye, cruel world!'

The middle monster leapt.

*BANG* *CRUNCH*

A white flash fell down from the sky, shattering the exoskeleton of the pouncing abomination.

"EEE!!!" the boy let out a high pitched scream as he wildly slashed with his knife and took a step back, nearly slipping and falling down the cliff before correcting his footing.

[Die.] the machine nonsensically spun the knife around.

The ant-wolf that had lunged was now lying flattened down like a pancake, motionless and lifeless with yellow blood oozing from every crevasse.

An angelic boy with wide wings on his back stepped off the dead creature. He lifted the thin gray branch in his hand off the carcass.

'Eh?' the survivor watched the angel's back.

The other two monsters growled, their tails vibrated intensely as they gave their attention to the angelic entity.

The angel shifted his position to the side of the cliff, carefully eyeing the monsters.

Both creatures ferociously stampeded towards the angelic boy like bulls, their maws unhinged.

With a flap of his wings, the angel was sent high into the air. It was too late by the time the monsters noticed. They plunged down the cliff with enraged grunts.

The squished ant-wolf on the bare dirt twitched. The yellow blood around it began to flow in reverse and back into its body as it prepared to stand back up.

The winged boy flew a little off the ground beyond with outstretched wings, rapidly homing in on the monster like a missile.

"Haah!" the angel yelled, swinging for a home run.

*SPLAT*

Glistering gold blood splattered from the animal as it was launched far over the cliff's edge.

"Holy gwakamoly!" the boy exclaimed.

[Decaying biomass successfully terminated.] Duke stopped his flailing.

The angel looped around above the cliff and landed near the boy. The two locked eyes.

The winged boy looked to be around the same age as the other one. He had cloud white hair with vibrant cyan eyes and a thin round face with an angelic beauty. Two slim and wide white wings protruded from the backside of his shoulder blades, making the extended wings look like another pair of arms.

Countless subtly transparent stiff white feathers with a yellow tint hung like chandeliers from two smooth curved lines along the wings, one line framing the wing at the very top while the other split from the first and grew outward below the top column of feathers. Both lines were thick glossy cylinders that narrowed and sharpened near the edges.

The boy's thin frame was covered with bright casual clothes, the only unusual thing being the oval cuts at the shirt's back from where the wings stemmed.

"Are you okay?!" the angel asked with a soft childish voice as he rushed towards the survivor.

"You're not hurt...?" the winged boy asked, concerned.

"H-huh? Oh... no, I-I'm not... Thanks..."

"Ah, okay." the angel let out a breath of relief.

'Ahhhh!! Why?! A person! Is he even a person? Because those are some insane body mods.' he glanced at the cliff below. 'Maybe I should jump...'

"Ah, don't worry about those. I don't think they can get back up..." he looked over the edge.

"Y-yea, I-I was uh... they can't."

"I'm Angelo by the way!" the angel gave the survivor a warm smile. "And you?"

"I'm, uh, Duncan." he answered, not meeting his eye.

"Duncan... I see... Do you wanna be friends?!" Angelo's eyes glistened.

'Huh? Huhhh?? HUH?! What?! W-what do I say?!'

"I- yea! Sure!" he stammered.

"Yuppie!" the angel exclaimed, lifting his hands in the air.

Thick coagulated golden blood dripped from the end of his long stick.

"Uh, yuck." he tried to wipe it off the dirt, but that just made the dirt stick to it.

'... I'll wash it up later. Hm?' Angelo thought and noticed Duke watching intently with its eye lens.

"Oh, hello doggy!" the winged boy gave the robot a smile.

[No, I am a war machine.] the automaton unfurled its hand holding the knife.

"H-hey! Duke, give me that!" the survivor presented his hand as the angel giggled.

[I refuse. I wouldn't even give you my disease.] Duke obediently handed over the blade that the boy then tucked away along with his own.

"Haha! Is that also yours?" Angelo pointed to the drone.

"Oh- uh, yea. I wanted to... record... stuff..."

"Alright! And that's all? You're all alone?" the winged boy browsed around the forest.

"Yea... it's just me. There was no one else a-around."

"Huh... Okay then! Wanna come with me back to my base?!"

'Do I?! I don't! Ah, but I can't say that! Aargh, what do I do?!?!'

"Sureeee..." Duncan trailed off.

"Great! Follow me!" Angelo turned his back and marched along into the sparse silver forest.

'Whaaaa... Why did I just agree to follow around a stranger? Why am I like this...?' the survivor silently wept in his mind as he tailed behind the winged boy.

'Actually, why did he even save me in the first place? Eh, who knows. Maybe I could've killed those mutants myself...'

'Where's he leading me to anyway? Looks like its the direction of the tall gray trees?' the boy's hands were tightly holding onto his backpack.

'Oh no, is he -- and whatever group he's apart of -- the cause of all the missing people?! I mean, body mods like that didn't exist back then... Let me try to probe a little...' Duncan's already exhausted heart thumped harder.

"Hey uh-" he called out to the winged boy hopping from bump to bump with a grin. "Are there... other people at that base of yours?"

"Hm?" Angelo turned. "Oh, no. It's just me!" he hopped back a few lumps such that he was side by side with Duncan.

"A-ah... I see..." Duncan didn't face him. "Oh, aren't you gonna fly?"

"Heh, nope! Flying tires me out too much." he kept energetically jumping over lumps.

"Oh! How old are you?" Angelo asked.

"I'm, uh, sixteen..." Duncan peeked towards the angelic boy.

"Ah! Me too! We're the same age!" he spun around after landing.

"C-cool... Also, how can you fly? Are those body mods?" he asked, his voice growing quiet.

"Yea! Aren't they awesome?! Mommy made them for me!" he answered with two dimples.

'Wha... Whaaaat?! What sort of mom does he have?!'

"Cool..." the survivor's eyes darted to the angelic boy and back.

"You know, I'm trying to find her." Angelo said, his lively mood dying down.

"But I don't know where she is... No matter where I look, I can't find her..." he drooped. "Will you help me find my mommy?" he asked, nearly pleading.

"I- well- why not!"

"Thank you!" the boy smirked and regained some of his enthusiasm.

"Maybe you know her? She was really popular! Her name is Tatiana Lanlonovska."

'Huh? Where have I heard that name before...' the survivor felt a chill.

'Wasn't she... One of the top dogs that made the eimav...?'