The following day, the group had finally returned to walking, it had been their first day together, and Darian understood that they would definitely arrive soon.
"I've never pushed myself this far…" pointed out Darian as he glanced around the empty desert. Next to them was the mainland, from which multiple sounds of Krukins were coming, Snowy, sitting on his shoulder, was curiously moving his eyes too.
"Sadly, I covered almost the entire distance while flying against my will… I don't think I can remember how long it will take us," said Catripple.
"Are we sure we aren't going in the wrong direction?" asked Vane as he felt a bit unsure about everything, wondering if they had already moved past the city.
Catripple, next to him, shook her head. "I noticed that next to the city there was that blue thing," answered Catripple, then Darian took the lead and spoke again.
"If what she told us is true, that on one side of the city there was the sea, we just need to walk straight until we actually reach the end of Africa" answered Darian.
"And she told us that both the old city and the newest one were at the border, so as long as we keep walking in the middle, we will be able to reach the city," added Liro from behind. In fact, the group was walking extremely close to the small river dividing the mainland and the desert.
After some hours, the group finally reached something. In front of them was finally the end of the desert, but what they saw made their hearts beat faster. There were the debris of an old city in front of them, but this one was completely ruined.
It wasn't anything like Yalemba after the attack, this one looked older, and there wasn't a single building left standing. "What is this…" whispered Liro as his whole body started to shake the moment he took a step onto the debris. Under him, the rocks were still stained with blood.
"This is Karyuz," said Catripple. She didn't even look at the debris, but she gulped and looked in front of her. Vane stood transfixed by the view as well.
"If we've arrived here, it means…" Darian was about to yell when he noticed the horrified looks on everyone's faces. Darian looked up, and what he saw made his heart beat extremely fast.
On the mainland, across the river, there was a big city, but nothing like the ones the group was used to. From the city, thick grey smoke was rising, Darian had never seen anything like it in his life, as everything related to pollution had been removed from his world.
Darian noticed the similarities to a city from the industrialization period. "What?" whispered Darian, clearly unable to believe his eyes. If he was getting used to what the new Earth was giving him, everything had now stopped making sense.
Liro noticed the weird look on Darian's face. "What is it? I'm sure that the smoke isn't normal either, but what is that?" he asked, confused.
"Catripple… where do people work in this city?" asked Darian as he slowly turned his head toward Catripple, who looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean? Like, everyone works in the factories," answered her. "Facto-what?" shouted Vane, confused.
"Factories," corrected Catripple next to Vane. "Here, people create the bullets for the pistols and the bodies for the metallic guards; everyone works there under Ashikunz's leadership," added Catripple.
'So that is how they were gathering the gunpowder…' Darian felt like he was finally able to arrive at a small conclusion, even if he still had a lot of questions.
"But still… where do they even get the materials? How is this possible?" asked Darian, more confused. The others started to wonder about this too.
"Oh right, I haven't told you about Zrelekai." Hearing this name, the others seemed confused, as it was their first time hearing it.
"He's essentially—" The moment Catripple started to explain this mysterious figure, something worse started to walk in their direction.
This creature stood over six feet tall, and its whole body was totally black. It was very thin, no larger than a small young girl, but it was extremely tall.
"Hey guys…" Vane interrupted Catripple, he had already given up on listening to the explanation when he found a small stuffed animal next to him. Its body was pink and looked extremely childish, but the thing that was worrying Vane the most was the fact that this object was moving and looking directly at them.
"A stuffed animal?" pointed out Darian as he slowly kneeled down next to the object. Liro, next to him, started to shake his shoulder in fear. "Darian… we have bigger problems!" he shouted. Darian, confused, slowly moved his eyes only to see the six-foot-tall creature.
It was an extremely large stuffed animal, but unlike the ones Darian was used to, this one looked horrifying. Even a child who loved giant plushies would feel scared; this creature had three extremely long claws. Even though its body was that of a plushie, you couldn't tell if they were sharp or not.
"What?" whispered Darian, confused. Suddenly, more and more small plushies started to reach the others. Catripple was confused at first, but after some seconds, she finally realized something. "It's the Seamstress!" she shouted as she pointed toward the creature, her other hand touching her wings in anxiety.
"What?" shouted Lily next to her, confused. "But these objects are so cute…" whispered Lily as she looked at one of the plushies. Suddenly, as she looked it in the eyes, a plushie in the shape of a small chick opened its mouth and screamed as loud as it could.
The sound was terrifying, filled with children's cries. Everyone, in fear, slammed their hands against their ears. Snowy didn't give Darian time to cover his ears and fused with his body.
"We have to fight!" shouted Catripple. Thanks to her wings, she was able to float up into the sky. "Feather burst!" Suddenly, she plucked one of the feathers from her wings and threw it toward one of the stuffed toys, the moment the feather touched the ground, it exploded, setting the animal on fire.
Seeing that, the Seamstress emitted what sounded like a cry and immediately, from the debris of the town, other stuffed toys came out.
"I'll explain later, we need to survive now!" shouted Catripple as she started to glide directly toward the Seamstress. "I'll go and help her!" shouted Darian as he rushed toward the Seamstress. The moment he started to run, multiple stuffed animals in the shapes of strange beasts rushed toward him.
It felt as if the Seamstress said something while raising its hand. Suddenly, some plushies on the battlefield started to fuse together, their bodies becoming larger and looking scarier.
In front of Darian, there was a plushie with a circular shape, around its body were multiple feathers from a chicken plushie. This plushie's legs were extremely small, and on its large circular shoulders sat other plushies.
Darian, at the sight of this weird plushie, couldn't help but gulp. "Feather burst!" Catripple, from behind, plucked two feathers, which regenerated on her body almost instantly, and threw them toward the huge plushie in front of Darian. Smaller plushies threw themselves toward the feathers to tank them; the feathers weren't able to pass through their bodies and exploded on impact.
In front of Liro, Vane, and Lily, there was another big plushie and many smaller ones. Liro looked back toward Darian, who was alone against his huge plushie. "Do you need help, Darian?" shouted Liro in panic, as a huge plushie in the shape of a strange alien rushed toward them.
The big plushie in front of Darian didn't give him time to answer and immediately threw itself toward him by rolling on the ground. 'Dammit!' thought Darian as he rolled away, firing a small shard directly toward the stuffed animal. "Let's see how resistant your body is!" shouted Darian. Liro, understanding that he had to think of his own safety, returned to face the other big plushie.
The moment Darian's shard was shot and crashed against the creature's body, it was completely smashed, the shard turned into crystals almost instantly, not being able to deal the slightest damage.
"Eh? Isn't its body made of fabric?" whispered Darian, confused. It felt as if the creature didn't even feel the slightest damage.
"It feels like their bodies become more resistant the moment they get bigger," answered Vane as he tried to pierce the huge stuffed toy in front of him with his buffalo horns.
The huge chick near Darian emitted a very loud sound. Darian, caught by surprise, couldn't help but cover his ears. The moment he closed them, the plushie rushed toward him again.
Catripple, nearby, was fighting against the Seamstress. Suddenly, from under the weird creature, two huge stuffed animals in the shape of birds came out, each of them had beautiful colors that almost distracted Catripple.
Vane kept pushing into the creature's body with his horns, but the fabric was too hard to be pierced; his attempt was useless.
Liro had created the illusion of a fire next to him so the plushies, scared, would not get closer, while Lily was smashing multiple plushies with her roots.
But the roots she could create weren't enough; there were more plushies than she could fight against. "Vine walk!" she shouted. Suddenly, more plushies were able to free themselves from her roots and were about to reach her body, at the last moment, she managed to rush away.
"I need it too!" shouted Vane as he was about to lose strength; the stuffed alien was slowly pushing him back. "Vine walk!" Lily created roots under Vane too, so that he could escape without any problems.
Vane turned back to normal just before the alien was about to smash its fist into him. Luckily, the roots activated just in time and were able to move him away; his body landed next to Lily, who had arrived next to Liro.
Liro was currently using the illusion of a buffalo, the same one Vane had turned into before, to bait the alien plushie, and it worked. The illusion rushed away and the alien fell right into Liro's trap, leaving the battlefield.
"How is this possible? I'm sure stuffed animals can't move like this," joked Vane. In Therya, plushies were extremely rare, seeing this many surprised him.
"I guess it's that creature's power…" suggested Liro as he looked toward the Seamstress, who was fighting against Catripple, the more he looked at it, the stranger it was.
"How can it be possible for an inanimate object to move without any problem?" shouted Lily. As she waited for many plushies to get close, a very large root came out and grabbed all the plushies; Lily started to smash their bodies together.
"I've already tried… the poison doesn't work against them." Annoyed by this, Lily could only smash their bodies together, but because of the fabric, many plushies were able to free themselves and rushed toward the three of them.
"I'll take care of the ones who escape!" shouted Vane as he turned into a polar bear and began to smash the creatures' bodies with his claws. Liro finally removed the illusion of the buffalo now that it was far enough; the moment the alien plushie reached it and smashed its fist into the creature, it completely disappeared. As the alien glanced around, there wasn't anything, just the empty desert.
Liro, to distract the plushies that were able to free themselves, created multiple illusions of roots rushing toward the plushie. But this is where Liro becomes weaker: once there are multiple enemies, his power can only create one illusion at a time, no more.
'Please… let them be stupid enough…' thought Liro, as he had thought of a plan to counter this problem. From a single root's illusion, multiple others appeared to branch out and rushed toward the plushie, which, scared of being caught, dodged. Vane didn't lose the chance and slammed his claws toward it.
"I didn't know you could create multiple illusions at once, Liro! Why have you never used it?" asked Lily next to him. Liro shook his head. "In fact, I don't have a limit on how big an illusion must be, as long as the illusions are connected to each other… I can create more baits too!" In fact, the other roots were starting from a small piece of debris; the moment the roots rushed at an enemy and it was baited by them, Liro would remove them instantly. "Mmm, smart," said Lily amused, next to her Liro smirked proudly.