The God of Gravity part 2: Olympus

Desperation to Live

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It's already afternoon in the desert, and the sun to the west is blindingly bright but not that hot anymore. Hiroki led the way, followed by Sayuri riding on Jasper the camel, and Jack at the back end of the group. The camels were never tiring and never hungry riding west for a month now. Jack's metal limbs were tinted yellow-orange because of the sandstorms they have encountered. The Oriental light skin of Hiroki has been tanned into brownish but Sayuri's fair skin is still the same. As a goddess, the forces of nature don't affect her that much as well as common diseases of humans and infections. These microorganisms that make these diseases possible cannot affect ones who have Olympian Strength. Furthermore, she enjoys (not that she actually shows she does) shade from the sun using her power to make an umbrella. The desert climate didn't bother Hiroki anymore because he got used to it.

Then at the southwestern distance, they saw a caravan of carts and traders. Hiroki felt glad at the sight for he thought that they might have supplies.

"Lady Sayuri," he uttered her name as he twisted his body to face her. "Can we have a look at them so we might get to trade some valuable goods?" She nodded once. "Thank you, my lady," he thanked then adjusted the course to the right to intercept the caravan. She hid her sword and unsummoned her umbrella.

Jack narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the caravan from the distance. His goggles magnified his vision and got a clear view of the eight wagons pulled by eight donkeys and covered in blankets. There are other men riding camels that surrounded the caravan. Then he noticed how the men looked like they just stopped from panicking. He deactivated his telescope.

Hiroki led them for almost ten minutes until they are a hundred meters away from the caravan that already stopped. A man approached them from the caravan that wore traditional clothes of the Ra people (just like Mustafa).

"Hello, fellow travelers!" he called. His face looks haggard and dry and his clothes smell like strong perfumes that dried but stayed for a long time. "How may we help you?" Then he glanced at Sayuri and marveled at her beauty. He also noticed Jack with all of his limbs being covered with fabric.

Hiroki smelled the perfume and his nose got irritated as he rubbed it then said, "Can we trade for some food and water? We are running out."

The man nodded and Hiroki made his camel walk to the direction of which the caravan is located but the man stopped the camel by pushing its face. "No need to tire your camels and avert your course," said the man with a cheerful tone. "We will bring our goods to you!" He waved at the caravan and a cart pulled by a donkey and controlled by another man went to them. As soon as they are near Hiroki, the man pulled the blanket and showed the goods. There are pickles in jars, dates, dried fishes, dried fruits, salted meat, water, salad in jars, and other food that won't get spoiled for a long time.

Hiroki looked at the food while swallowing as his throat is craving for salt. Then he pulled a gemstone from his pocket. It's an unrefined ruby from the village they came across a month ago. He gave it to the man after he went down from his camel.

"Hmm...," hummed the man as he assessed the stone by closing his other eye and looked with his magnifying glass while using the setting sun as his source of light. He nodded and said, "This stone will give you five of our goods. Do you have more of these stones? I will gladly trade everything on this cart if the stones are equivalent to it."

"Thank you!" said Hiroki cheerfully as he pulled a small purse of different unrefined gemstones. The man looked at each of them carefully and was astounded as he assessed every stone to be real. There are emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and other varieties of gemstones.

"This is magnificent!" he exclaimed. "Take all of the goods and this donkey!" He bowed down as his other companion gave him the donkey and the cart full of goods. "It's a pleasure doing business with you! Well, off we go!" He signaled the whole caravan to continue traveling north and he bowed once more as he went to join them along with his other companion. And he saw the camel which the fair maiden is riding as it is whispering at her ear.

Then a loud sound of an unsheathed sword was heard. Sayuri jumped off from Jasper and had her eyes glowing violet with her face frowning. She sliced downward and the whole caravan stopped as their animals panicked because the tall wall of violet fire burned and sliced the sand.

"What?!" exclaimed the man. He pulled something from his chest but Hiroki knocked and pinned him down the sand. The revolver fizzled as it slides on the slopy desert sand. The other one already pointed his g*n at the back of Hiroki and pulled the trigger then missed after Jack shot him at his hand holding the g*n. Then Jack killed him with a single bullet to his head.

Sayuri walked slowly to where the caravan is as the men went down from their carts and camels, pulled rifles, and started to shoot at Sayuri. She walked at a steady pace as she just dodged slightly and mostly sliced the bullets. She is keeping her head down in anger and the men felt instant dread.

Then out of nervousness and desperation, a man charged at her with a scimitar and he got sliced in half. Another man from the carts pulled and pointed an RPG rocket launcher but his head got blown up to bits from Jack's sniper rifle from the distance. Then they started to shoot at him instead. Sayuri summoned a wall of blades to protect them. Jack flew over it and shot back to the remaining enemy.

"Is it over yet?" asked Jasper as he lied down the other side of the slope to avoid getting shot by a stray bullet while Hiroki is still pinning the man.

"Not yet, of course!" answered Hiroki and tied the man's hand on his back while his face on the sand. Jasper pointed the g*n at his head so he won't make it hard for Hiroki. "What do you have in your other carts?!" he yelled at the man.

But Jasper answered, "I smelled the white stuff and sensed a lot of sobbing under some of the covered carts. This guy here," he tapped the g*n on the man's cheek. "is a trafficker." Then he moved closer to the man's face. "You hear that?" he asked and they heard the screams, slicing flesh, splattering blood on the sand, and the cracks of the guns as they fired behind the mountain of sand. "If you and your friends didn't threaten or shot at us, you would've been spared and you won't get to hear their screams."

"No!" begged the man as he sobbed. "Please don't kill them! Don't kill them! My son!"

He cried and looked at the body of the dead man beside them. Hiroki stood up and felt guilty as he realized that the man Jack killed was the son.

"Stop crying," said Jasper patting the man's head. "it's your fault."

"Curse you!!!" he screamed. "The Heir will bring havoc on you!"

"Heir?" asked Jasper. "Interesting....," he smirked. "After all of this is over, you are gonna tell me-"

Then Hiroki pulled Jasper at the moment the man bit a button in his mouth as he said, "'Al'ab yantaziruni'."

Then his body exploded into bits with shrapnels that Jasper absorbed by using his Sword Breaking to protect himself and Hiroki behind him. After that, they tumbled down the slope and stopped at the bottom.

"Crap!" cursed Jasper as he sat down and smirked while shaking his head. "That guy's insane.... blowing himself to bits."

Hiroki looked confused and surprised, also horrified at the near-death experience and the sight of the man with his torso and lower body got separated ten feet apart. He frowned in horror as he heard that the sounds of fighting have stopped. He climbed up past the blooded sand and stood on the summit of the dune. He saw Jack and Sayuri standing near the caravan and all of the threats we killed. He guessed that they did the same thing as this blown-up man behind him: Fighting to the last breath.

At the caravan, Jack went to uncover the carts and saw Raan (human race of Ra) women of different ages, all tied up and their mouths muffled by cloths. They were terrified at him but he untied them one by one and they felt at ease. Sayuri did the same to the others on the cart at the rear. And among the eight carts, there are only two carts that carried captured women and the rest are supplies but most of them are the white powdered stuff. The total women rescued were twelve.

"My Lady!" called Jasper after he transformed from a bird then into himself beside her as she untied the women.

He helped her and collected water and food for the women as dusk crept over the sky. They ate and drank all they want and she watched over them while her companions burned the drugs along with the dead bodies of the men at the distance. It lit up like a sun in the middle of the sea as some of the women sobbed quietly while thinking that they are finally rescued from evil. Sayuri cleaned a little girl using a damp cloth and dressed her properly. She hugged the goddess and never let go while crying. Sayuri just patted the girl's head.

Hiroki, Jasper, and Jack sat on a cart while watching the corpses and drugs burn at a safe distance and facing downwind so that they won't smell the burning flesh and toxic chemicals that those white stuff are made out of.

"Why do people do things like this?" asked Hiroki at the right of Jasper.

"To survive, obviously," answered Jasper.

"To the extent that they will do evil things?"

"Yes. If you are born in absolute poverty, you will have no time to think about what is evil or not. The drying throat and the grumbling stomach of you and your family will be your basis of judgment. If doing something that can pacify these suffering, you do it without hesitation because that could only be the way to survive and you don't know if you can survive tomorrow or the next day. This continent is mostly desert. Only lucky ones are born in Ra City. If you are born outside, you will be there forever."

"But why don't they let these people in?"

"To control the population. The irrigation system can only moisten a handful of fields for farming. And going past the maximum limit of these fields to support a population, will be catastrophic. So there's no choice but to abandon others so that the rest may not suffer. The world is two sides of the coin, Hiroki. As others get comfort, others suffer."

Hiroki sulked but Jack tapped his back with his metal hands. "I hate it when you're right," said Hiroki.

Jasper laughed gently and said, "Well, I wish I'm always wrong."

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