The Earth After Rebirth

Hubris was walking at a slower pace than usual, depressed. But Kiro ignored his feelings, he'd already said everything he wanted to say and he meant it. Hubris only needed to say his piece of mind.

So Kiro kept himself sane by making up things in his head, he didn't want to think about the possibility of being stuck here forever. Nothing even hinted to the fact that, there was a way out.

But he comforted himself in that, Hubris made it out. They made it in. Somehow, there must be a way out, even if it requires bloodshed, he was ready to fight.

The sand went as far as they could see. It was a barren land, though the further they walked the more the sand looked deathly pale. Bones of unknown monsters protruded from the bowels of the sand.

Dead, devoured and slightly buried. The sand felt like a monster of its own, it felt alive but it the same time dead, reduced to just a graveyard for bones it couldn't properly devour.

They walked with grace and caution. Neither wanted to let their guard down, they were after all, in the Underworld according to Hubris anyway.

The heat was getting unfathomably hot. The mirage told them all they needed to know about the conditions they had just set their feet on.

Kiro being mostly naked felt it the most, but he wasn't too uncomfortable thanks to his high constitution and melanin.

He looked over at Hubris. He didn't seem to be bothered by it, he looked right at home. Instead of baking, his fur flame resonated with the the sky as one.

As they walked, he felt burning coming from his shoulders, when he looked he noticed that a drop of fire had eaten through his skin, it rested comfortably on his collarbone.

He instinctively looked up, drops of flames were falling from the sky, this area was deserted, so they'd have no way to run in a shelter.

"Would've been nice for you to mention this Hubris!"

"Sorry for my incompetence master, I simply do not remember anything about this world."

Tried as he did to maneuver out of harm's way, the flame drops pierced his skin like hot knife through butter.

They didn't pity his delicate skin, as they ate through it. He screamed in agony, it was a pain he'd never known. It was as if, because he was in the unknown realm it was multiplied. The scorching desert was nothing compared to the fire that fell from the sky

The pain he felt while being beaten to death, paled in comparison. Hubris quickly pounced and landed over Kiro to protect him.

He had already instinctively taken the fetal position. Without mana he didn't think he could survive this. Just then, red, purplish energy served as a shield around him.

Which caused for Hubris to be expelled as if he were an enemy attempting to attack. Kiro slowly opened his eyes and looked at the energy protecting him.

"Of course, this, I have this here."

He had absolutely forgotten that he had subdued a new type of energy, that accepted him. Which he knew it was called ancient kaos, he had no idea how or why but he just knew.

It was strange that it came from deep within his bones. But at least now he could withstand the solar rain.

"Hubris, are you alright?" He ran to him, he didn't know what to expect. He not only knocked him out, there was also this solar storm happening.

"Yeah, the flame doesn't hurt me, your energy did though. Suppose it thought I was attacking."

Kiro had subconsciously called upon the kaos energy. He felt that the flames would kill him if he did nothing, so when he thought mana he envoked Kaos.

"Hubris, how come you use mana and not this, if you were born here?"

"That's energy you get, only through hard work master, it's not something you're born with even for us."

Kiro started to feel sorry for his mount, just how young was he when he was tossed out. He remembered how much of a scared and stubborn pup he was back in that bear cave. He almost chuckled at the thought that, an ancient beast was almost devoured by a rare ranked beast.

He wondered why Hubris could still use magic but he couldn't. He concluded that, it was just coding. Hubris was coded for this to be his home, his code was written, therefore life predetermined.

Whether Hubris went and got revenge in the future that Kiro wasn't part of, he didn't know. He knew one thing though, if he did come back, he would have been using magic even then.

"Hubris..." Kiro called out while they were walking through the graveyard of unknown monster bone.

"I don't know."

"Huh?"

"I don't know what monsters were these or what we should expect."

Kiro clicked his tongue, 'is this what superhuman intelligence is?'

"You didn't read my mind did you?"

"I wouldn't dare, even if I could."

Kiro was liberated for a bit without the system, but now he had Hubris who could deduce what he would ask. He felt, undeniably dumb.

"How does the rain feel for you?"

Hubris didn't cut him off this time, he wouldn't do it again, since his master didn't seem to like it very much.

"It feels like the hot spring we used back then, except, slightly hotter. It feels great for me, it's like, nourishment."

"How unfair, I thought my soul would burn to cinder."

They walked days and nights, with occasional unhelpful rests. Since it was a desert they couldn't do much to help anything, the solar rain took as many days. Hubris wasn't sure when it would end, it took a whole week.

Kiro commanded the energy that protected him, he never once ran out. But he could feel it depleting. He fainted nonetheless, his body wasn't quite used it to it. Hubris carried him most of the way.

While out of it he could feel it being replenished, seeping into his bones once again. It wasn't painful this time, just something that was foreign to him. Unlike the last time he fell into a coma, this time, he woke up after 3 hours.

"Hubris, am I going insane, or is that a shrine?" He asked in a hoarse voice, he got up to stand on top of his mount.

He used his hand to cover the sun that was blocking his view from seeing what he thought could never be in the middle of a desert.

"I, see it, too."