Chapter 7: The Green Sahara, 4250 BCE

What the fuck is happening right now?! Am I in an alternate universe?! The Sahara is green?!

"You alright man?" Kingo asked me.

"Y-Yeah… I'm good." I quickly recollected myself and turned to Ajak. "Ajak, this place seems abundant in life, I want to request some time alone."

Ajak frowned at my words. "What do you mean Pluto?"

"I want to explore this vast land." I simply told the truth. "This place is flourishing, I wanted to study the ecosystem and the animals inside those green pastures and grasslands. Maybe I could discover a good combination of constructs."

"Your thirst for power is alarming Pluto. And you're ruining the plan we just discussed." Ajak said in a low threatening tone.

"I'm just curious is all…" I said in defense. "Don't worry, I'll do my job, I'll kill the deviants on this continent."

Ajak pondered for a while. "How long?"

"Not sure…" I murmured. "Phastos, can I ask you something?"

Phastos groaned once he heard me call him. "I swear man, if-"

"Can you check if these pastures and forests will dry out?" I continued. "I have a feeling it will…"

At these words, Phastos turned serious, and he quickly tinkered with the computer of the Domo. A minute later, he discovered something. "As a matter of fact, it is drying…" he murmured. "Probably in a couple of hundred years, these pastures and grasslands will be a desert…"

"How did you know that?" Sprite asked me with narrowed eyes.

"Like I said, just a feeling..." I muttered, so it will still be the Sahara Desert… I must've slept during history class or something when they talked about how the Sahara was once green…

"You are clearly lying right now." Sprite rolled her eyes.

I sighed. "I am not lying." I am lying. "Anyway… Do I have permission to separate from the team? "

"Do you really hate us that much?" Thena stepped in, snorting at my words.

"What? No… of course not." I quickly said. "Especially you, Thena, I would never hate you." I tried flattery to get into her good graces, but it seems she is annoyed that I am requesting to leave and get all the action while she's staying here with the rest of us…

"Flattery will not make you go anywhere." She rolled her eyes. She then turned to Ajak and said: "If he's allowed, I'm coming with him."

"Thena…" Ajak slowly said.

"You know, I don't like idling around like this, Ajak." Thena added. "If he's allowed, then I will come with him."

"Um… you don't have to…" I said to her, I do NOT want her to follow me. She'll just disturb my experiment.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Pluto." She said flatly, fuck me…

Ajak just sighed. "Tell me the true reason why you are going to separate from us, then I might consider it." She said to me,

"Honestly, I want to absorb as many specimens as possible, and by that I mean deviants and animals…" I answered truthfully. "And you've been restricting me for the past 750 years, I wanted to stretch my legs a bit."

"Is that truly all?" she questioned, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." No, I wanted to go to Wakanda to get some Vibranium too, for my weapon, of course.

Ajak narrowed her eyes and sighed. "Very well, both of you can go."

"What about the rest of us?" Ikaris questioned.

"Can I suggest something?" I offered, and Ajak nodded. "While me and Thena scour the rest of the continent, the rest of you will only scour the river." I pointed at the Nile River on the map.

"That makes sense." Phastos nodded. "Deviants mostly gather around the populated areas, so the number of deviants around the river is quite high."

I nodded. "And you have to deal with the humans too, me and Thena don't, so it's quite fair in my opinion."

"I agree with Pluto." Sersi said.

"Fine enough for me." Sprite shrugged.

"Very well…" Ikaris solemnly said.

"Well, I have no choice… so… okay. " Druig said, while Makkari just nodded.

Thena turned to Gilgamesh. "Do you want to come with us?"

"Nah, you two have fun." He smiled at the woman. "I'll be here protecting the rest."

She just nodded, and suddenly, Kingo said. "Wait, can I come with you two?"

"Kingo, I thought you liked the idea of being popular?" I raised my eyebrow. "You'll be more famous if you fight near the settlement rather than come with us."

"You know what, that's a great point, actually." He nodded wisely. "I'm staying."

"Then that's settled." Ajak interrupted. "I suggest that you two prepare and head down first, while the rest of us approach the settlement."

I hummed, and me and Thena left the room for the 'armory' to wear our armor.

"Why are you coming with me?" I asked the woman beside me while walking towards the armory.

"I have a feeling it would be more fun coming with you." She simply said, Damn, that sentence can be interpreted the wrong way if I'm not careful…

I sighed. "I've noticed that you're a bit distant from the humans." I pointed out.

"Aren't you too?" She raised her eyebrows.

"But they sort of fear me, remember?" I stated. "While you can still mingle with them."

"I'm not volunteering-"

"Yes, yes, we know that you didn't volunteer because you wanted hugs from humans." I rolled my eyes as I cut her off. "But can you at least try? You said it yourself, you're bored because you have nothing to do. Well, you can ease that boredom by talking to the humans…"

Thena turned quiet after that. But then she suddenly said, "I also have a feeling not to get too attached to the humans."

Deep down, she knew huh… "Well, if you trust that feeling, it's fine. I don't plan to control you, but just a bit of advice, just try." I continued.

She sighed. "Very well, I will try it once I have the chance."

As we walked down the hallway, we passed the statue of Thena, the one that I made for the Domo. We stopped for a second in front of it.

"I always thought that your statue was my best work to date." I commented.

"Really?" She raised her eyebrows. "But I look nothing like the statue."

I laughed. "I suppose that's true… but that's the beauty of sculpting, isn't it? "

"I don't get what you're saying at all." She mused.

I sighed at her words. "Well, let's continue."

We proceeded to the armory, and quickly put on our armor. After that, we quickly exited the Domo, landing near the Nile River. We're probably in modern-day Sudan right now.

"The grasslands and Savannah are quite beautiful." Thena commented beside me.

I hummed. "Too bad it will disappear in a few centuries…"

"Our world is always changing." She remarked wisely, huh... "Now, where do we go first?"

"We never thought about where to go first, huh…"

"Your idea of separating is rather spontaneous." She pointed out. "So, of course, we don't have a plan."

"You sound upset," I stated.

"I talk this way, you should know."

I sighed. Then, I summoned one of my flying constructs and jumped on it. "Let's go." I offered my hand to Thena so she could climb on the back of the construct.

"And where are you planning to go?" She asked while taking my hand and climbing the back of the construct.

"We'll scour the coast of the continent first. After that, we'll go to the center."

She raised her eyebrows at my statement. "Why is it the last?"

"No reason." I shrugged. "It's more efficient… I think."

She narrowed her eyebrows and said, "Very well, it's your idea after all."

"You're the one who's forcing yourself to follow me…" I said as we took off.

Then, I commanded the construct to fly as low as possible, as we were also searching for signs of Deviants.

"But first..." I stated. "I wanted to see what this green Savannah looked like before it completely became a desert."

"You're not serious, are you?" She asked, looking a bit annoyed.

"I'm completely serious, Thena. Maybe I found interesting animals here, who knows?"

She sighed. "I'm starting to regret following you..."

"Your own fault." I shrugged as the construct turned in the direction of the savannah.

What I saw is breathtaking, to say the least. It's an experience to see a 'green sahara' like this.

The rolling grassland as far as the eye can see. Shrubs and isolated trees were scattered everywhere. The warm air of the savannah hit through me as we flew as close as possible to the ground. It's a nice feeling.

Even though I'm saying that it's a 'green sahara', I can see that it has already begun to dry up, which is sad, but I can still see small lakes throughout the grasslands, I can see zebras grazing the pastures of the savannah, I can see giraffes hanging around trees, and I can see a group of lions laying around lazily underneath a tree... Wait, Lions!

"Thena, I think I saw an interesting animal." I stated.

"Which one? The black and white one? Or the one that has a long neck? " She was rather dismissive in her question.

"I was thinking more of the hairy one..."

"That one?" She raised her eyebrows. "What's interesting about it?"

"It's a carnivore, I think..." I muttered, then grinned. "Perfect for a construct."

"You're going to kill that herd of... hairy ones?"

"Hmm.... Now that I think about it... I don't want to kill them... Let's just play the waiting game. "

"What do you mean, 'waiting game'?" She asked in a high voice, sounding like she knew what I meant...

"You know... Wait until one of them is dead of old age or killed by someone else..."

"You're not serious, are you?" She sighed.

"I'm serious..."

"You know what? I'm just going to go down there, kill them all, and you can do your thing. That way, we can get to killing deviants more quickly. " She stated, ready to jump.

"Wait what? No no no no, I don't want to hurt animals, Thena. "

"But you wanted their body? Besides, you see humans hunting all the time. What's the deal? "

"That's different." I murmured. "Hunting for sport is not good."

"But we're not hunting for sport? We're hunting to get you more constructs…"

Now that I think about it, The lions are not endangered yet... But still...

"No Thena, we'll wait." I stated it seriously, making Thena confused.

"Why?"

"They'll be extinct if we hunt them too much."

"Are you serious? You fear that they will be extinct? " She asked, annoyed at my logic. "From the looks of it, they are the apex predators around here. Pluto, they won't be extinct for a long time. And besides, you're just going to kill a herd of them, not the whole population. "

"Still... look at it..." I pointed at a lion cub playing with his mother's tail.

When she looks at what I'm pointing at, her gaze softens a bit. What? What is happening right now? Thena's weakness is children?

She sighed in surrender. "Very well, we'll wait.

You know what? I won't even question it anymore; I'll know it sooner or later. "Thank you for understanding, Thena. Maybe I can search around the savannah for dead li- hairy ones or something."

"You have a name for this animal?" She asked as we flew down near the savannah.

"I was thinking... Lions? "

"Lions huh… do what you want. " She said as she hopped down the construct. "I'm going to gather some materials to build a shelter. We're going to stay here for a couple of years after all… make sure to not just gather Hai- Lions... gather other animals too. "

I smiled at Thena. "Will do Thena, Will do…"

After that, I flew again, wandering around the savannah, searching for dead animals to absorb...