Curious, and perhaps a wee bit thirsty, you motion to the Zealot. "What's your name?"

"David." He spits, "Why?"

"Because your new name is... Slave." His eyes widen in horror as you sink your teeth into his soft and milky flesh, this time getting it on the artery. The blood squirts down your throat, and the high that you get is unimaginable. Sweet and slightly sour blood, like apple-juice. The euphoria you get is uplifting, and you feel... Happy. Power surges through your veins, and your stomach does happy somersaults as it absorbs all the nutrients from the Zealot's warrior-blood, and you continue chewing on his neck, trying to get as much as you can from this man before he falters. Just sublime...

"Goddammit kid, your mother must have been some sort of an abuser." Kelso says with a chuckle, pulling you away. "But I think that' enough drinking, your new slave is deathly pale, but still breathing, albeit very slowly and inconsistently-- a sign that you've drunk just enough." He points out, "But hats off to you kid, you've got yourself a ghoul."

You both stand, waiting for your slave to wake. The pale Zealot opens his eyes back up, a glossy look to them. He doesn't speak, but instead lazily lets saliva and a red substance that likely is blood ooze out from the side of his mouth.

Nervously, you command him, "Lead us to the Wolves hideout." He lazily tries to get up, only to fall back down again. "Now." Firm. He gets up, straight this time. With uncoordinated steps he begins to march, stumbling through the sand and skin beginning to redden from the sun. You shrug, and follow your new ghoul. By the time you pass the City the trek is already nearly over. You take another left from there, then a turn to the right... And soon Kelso directs you and your new slave to stop.

"This," he begins, "is where I take my leave."

"What?" You exclaim, "Why now? Didn't you say that the other Creations might be on the Professor's side?"

Kelso tilts his head to the side, "The longer I think about it, the less it makes sense. But I've been worried about something, and I'm nigh certain I'm correct on this."

"What do you mean?"

Your mentor walks to your ghoul, tugging at his armor's sleeve to get attention, "You, David, what does the Church know about Simon Kurschner?" Who?

The slave replies in monotone, "Can't be found or traced. Not among Creations, unknown if even still alive."

You raise an eyebrow, "Who's this Kurschner?"

"The Professor." Comes the reply from Kelso.

"But I thought our plan was to see if the other Creations know where the Professor is? Which could mean that they still serve him. Or not."

"Exactly. If the Church has no idea of his whereabouts, then it's unlikely the Wolves have something definite either. Even though the Wolf and I have had our  arguments, I still trust him enough to give you vacancy while I search for the Professor."

"So where are you going?"

"Anywhere. The world left is just a desert, and traveling by night only will waste time, which is why we have t split for the moment." Kelso frowns, and holds out his hand to shake.

You firmly grasp it, "Then stay safe, Master. I trust you will return soon?"

He stares at you blankly, "I have no idea how long it will take. But I believe in you just as well. You can make it on your own, especially with how you proved yourself today. Strong decision making and vast knowledge on how survival works have made you to what you are. There is very little that I can teach you that I even know. You shall grow past what I can even guess you can do." He begins to let go of the hand shake, but you hold on.

Tightly. "There's one thing that you still haven't told me."

"And what's that?"

"How the World came to this pitiful state."

You kelso's tale (Optional)

Kelso sighs, "Too true. It is about time I fill you in on the details, even if they're hard, even for me, to recall. It was a spread of about two decades. Surprisingly small for the whole world to collapse, but when shit hits the fan it has to either be cleaned or it'll spew out everywhere," he chuckles, motioning the Ghoul to continue the walk toward the Wolves. The story will probably take a while... You begin reanointing your sun-tan lotion while your mentor explains what happened.

"Years before you awoke, the world was in complete order. Governments were somewhat conciliatory with each other, and liberty and justice was preserved. It didn't take too long before the peace was endangered, the militant Religious-- like the Zealots," he shoots your Ghoul a glance, "began rioting, terrorizing less fortunate countries and gaining power there. While the governments were large and powerful, they were inexcusably... lazy when all this happened. Soon, this spread to the more developed places on Earth, like this continent. For a little while, these religions were corner-stones of society, but this weakened it. People were scared, and fear makes the common man do things they wouldn't do otherwise. To say the least, the 21st century was not off to a good start. And it slowly, but sneakily, went downhill from there.

"Amidst all this, the earth was a beautiful, natural place. Ecosystems filled with life and splendor were everywhere. Civilization was at its peak, human beings were able to do wondrous things like fly, and cure almost all illnesses and conditions using scientific means. The methods used, of course, bothered many 'men of God', like your slave. They wanted to stop progress in the name of a deity long dead. After years of struggle, they were quieted to close-knit communities, and had no impact on politics and scientific progress. During this struggle, the terrorists began gaining traction. Even worse, new viruses began infecting parts of the globe, and the irresponsible Governments continued doing nothing, until it was too late. Developed countries or not, many fell ill of the horrible new diseases, and the Old-Zealots started to control more and more land, becoming the dominant force in most places. That's why the world turned to desert and we've already found a lot of remnants of the Old World buried in it; they were pillaged by the hordes of humans, and as the population dwindled, plants weren't tilled. Soon later, there was drought, and the entire world as we know it has become a giant Dustbowl, just mixed in with disease and raiders. Simon Kurschner became the 'man with a plan' for years during this. He garnered enough support from the local governments with his experiments to get funding, as well as a whole Facility to save the human-race. His science was new, revolutionary even; and while many disapproved of what he was doing, the Professor was recognized as the last hope of humanity."

"What'd he do?" You ask, with vague memories coming back. Tidbits of information allow you to remember, but not enough...

"He created me and you. He found a way to create human beings with extraordinary powers, with abilities of legend. His Creations were disposable humans; ones who were going to die regardless. Even though he had no authorization to do so, he began using these dead bodies for his experiments. He gave the dead and dying new life, even with a price. The first experiments he made were immune to disease, and he said he hoped to save the human-race this way. But that wasn't true, he wished to rule what was left of the human-race with his new super-soldiers. Kurschner sent his Creations to fight the Militants, with each one as powerful as you or myself, ten of them made easy work of five hundred Zealots at a time. His new humans were invincible fighting machines, and all under his control. Similar to ghouls, only a step above that.

Regardless, even after the Militia problem was solved, the Professor began to mass-produce his Creations, each of them ravaging wherever they went, unregulated. Under his command, they annihilated whatever was left of the World Governments, and soon came upon humanity. The bastard trapped us in capsules, letting my friends out just to go on psychotic rampages on the humans opposing the Professor. That's where the other Zealots, of the Church, come in. Even though they were smaller at the time, they managed to push the Professor back  by exploiting the Creations' specific weaknesses, and silver. They managed to destroy most of his Facilities, fighting against what they thought, and still think as, the devil. They grew very large as well, and have taken part of what is rebuilding humanity, with religiously-suited technology and a brand new gospel. But absolute power corrupts absolutely, and they ordered their men to kill any Creations left, regardless of malevolent intent. Our Facility, Facility 13, was the last one standing. By then the Professor was on the run, but the New-Zealots were laying waste to any of his work, believing that they should reset the World, like God did in his bible. Fueled on fear-mongering, the only human societies left rely on fighting evil, us, even though they massacre us now, as if it's open season. But no, they believe we are the Devil's work, and as such our sentience means nothing to them. So we run, and we fight, but only in self-defense.

Now we're back in the Dark Ages, all thanks to the Professor, and once again, the Church." He kicks at the sand with a frown, but continues marching with you through the beautiful, though dead landscape, reminiscing about the world that was.


You barely speak throughout this, considering all of it.