Raising her arm to the heavens from the rubble of a once-large cave, Saomi climbed out of the wreckage as she gasped for air, her clothing completely covered with dirt and dust while standing up with sweat plastered over her shocked face.
Looking up at the bright blue sky, its merciless rays of the sun hit her face, causing the young woman to squint her eyes and say, "That...that was..." She has no words left other than how happy she is to be alive. She had thought the place would've fallen over her and killed her.
Sighing in relief, she continued to grip the hilt of her katana, unwilling to let go for some reason. At last, her ordeal is finally over. The monster who was responsible for nearly committing complete genocide is dead by the blade of her weapon.
Justice has been served, as the saying goes, or so she thought when Saomi heard the desperate pleas of a familiar voice close to her vicinity: "I'm stuck, Janus! Where the hell are you?! I know you're nearby!" The said voice became clear and loud for Saomi to hear, and she pinpointed the exact location where it was coming from.
Moving away from her position, she walked through the mountain of rubble before her eyes laid on a dead bishop with its mouth open, revealing no one other than Schrodinger himself: "You!" The white feline said in surprise, "What are you still doing here? Forget it; get me out of this disgusting filth first."
A smug smile appeared on her lips, moving to the side of this corpse before lowering both of her legs. "Why would I do that?" Watching him with only his head and front paws out from the monster's mouth was visibly cute to her, "after you have been gracefully rude to me when we met," reasoning in how he insulted her when they.
"JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE OR SO HELP ME!!" He roared in fury, growing angry by the second. "WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT FROM ME?! DO YOU REALLY ENJOY MY SUFFERING?!" Hissing, Schrodinger displayed a great display of emotions in his face, which only amused her even further.
Despite wanting to say something or, rather, do something, Saomi could not. She is rather finding this enjoyable; seeing this rude person suffer makes her day more fun than it used to. "Hmm," she says, tapping her own chin with her index finger. "Nah, I don't think so."
Schrodinger was beyond pissed; the only reason he can't just teleport out of this mess is how mentally exhausted he is currently. And with these boiling emotions, it won't help him recover enough to leave this place anytime soon.
Instead, he forced himself to say the dreaded words to convince someone nicely as he bared his teeth to her, grinding them harshly, "I'm..." Why is it hard to say? He couldn't fathom how this was so difficult for him. "I'm..." It's too hard and humiliating for a proud Ultharan like himself to announce them.
She smiled ever more wickedly, already knowing what he was attempting to do. "What was that?" Placing her hand over her right ear, she leans closer. "Were you going to say, please?" Saomi is having too much fun tormenting him to the point of weakness.
The cat sneered, unable to break his pride in humoring this foolish human. "S-s-s..." He wants it to end; this is beginning to be too much. In second thoughts, this is actually worse than being stuck in this monster's stomach for all eternity.
"You are almost there!" Saomi humored, enjoying this too much. If the feline had to choose between death and this, it would make her almost feel bad for him. "Come on now, speak up. Say the magic words!" I am trying to push him further to say it.
As he inhaled a deep breath, Schrodinger hissed with eyes filled with loathsome hatred. Desperately forcing the word out of his throat, "I am—" Just when he was about to say it in full sentence, he was suddenly snatched with invisible force before being gently hovered next to her side as their eyes focused on Janus, who was standing in front of them at a safe distance.
"Saomi," Janus said with his eyes locked onto hers, "Schrodinger," averting them to his feline companion. He then said, "You two seem to be getting well," the god of time joked, walking towards the pair with a steady pace, "and in one piece no less." The sarcasm in his tone of voice was very evident to either of them.
The young woman stood up and asked, "Why didn't you kill him right away?" Glancing down at the dead monster, she says, "I watched you fight him on equal footing." She knows how powerful he is, especially his claim to being god. But what doesn't make sense is how this man would lower himself to a weaker opponent.
He chuckled, stopping in a comfortable spot to speak with them face-to-face, "Because I was having fun." Janus answer was as expected for Schrodinger, who just rolled his eyes, except for Saomi, who was bewildered by the reason for not defeating Rugos any sooner.
"Fun?" She does understand why anyone would fight it for fun; "taking another life is not fun." Saomi has seen plenty of horrors in seeing others killed, whether it is through sickness, disease, or violent nature. But none of those are ever meant to be anything but a tragedy and unfortunate end.
However, Janus shrugged his shoulders. "Not that kind of fun, but the fact I have a respectable opponent is definitely entertaining." He did admit that this now-dead adversary had become an interesting fellow, albeit a bit rough around the edges. "Regardless, the thrill in having to humble myself to a lesser or weaker form makes everything worthwhile."
This greatly confused her to the extent that she can't understand what type of person he is. Is Janus a good or evil person? Or is his sense of moral ambiguity in nature? "What exactly are you?" She began to question his very existence: "Are you some sort of entity who enjoys the pain and suffering of others or alien in human disguise?"
Janus chuckled. This girl is quite entertaining with her constant questions of him. "I embrace my bizarre, unpredictable ways, whether what you describe is good or bad in your view of point," he answered with a rather vague tone of voice. "As to what I am, it's more of what I am not." He looked upward into the skies with the brightest, most serene smile in his mind. "I don't comply with the morals you humans try to apply yourselves; I just do whatever I want in whichever way possible; the how or why is not a concern."
"Then what about the people in need?" Saomi countered, pointing at him with an accusatory tone of voice as she stared at him in deep thought, "Do you care about them?" The young woman is greatly intrigued by his moral framework; it sounds so alien and yet familiar at the same time.
"Is me not caring about someone and letting them live their own lives, good or bad?" Janus asked as he focused his attention back on her, "Perhaps their lives are better left uninterfered, but each life has different environmental factors along with how they handle situations that could affect their outcome in those around them or themselves." He then tilted his head aside, "So answer this, what should I do to fit into this?" Janus pointed at her with a question in mind.
Lowering her head for a moment, "I think...you are a somewhat good person." Finding it hard to decide her thoughts on him, she can say that Janus is not the worst, "even though you might do things I might consider questionable; you don't really seem like an evil man...I hope." Whether she is right about him or not, Saomi would prefer to think about it later instead of deciding.
A choking sound can be heard as they turn away their attention from Schrodinger, who was seemingly caught in a coughing fit. "I-I..." The words couldn't come out while he still struggled to vomit something out of his throat.
This concerned her, as despite how rude this cat was, Saomi is not a cruel person to ignore another being in need. So rushing up to him, she begins to rub Schrodinger's back in an attempt to soothe him. "There there," the young woman said softly, hoping he could finally release whatever was stuck inside him.
Eventually, he managed to spit out what appeared to be just an ordinary hairball. "Ugh," the cat muttered with a disapproving expression. "I hate it whenever this happens." This is why he always prefers to teleport rather than walk all the time.
Relieved, she stood up and crossed her arms together, smiling triumphantly. "I helped you there, didn't I?" Knowing this, the white-haired cat merely rolled his eyes while still muttering in annoyance, but not making another remark.
"Fine," giving in to her demands, "I'm sorry." As difficult as it was, Schrodinger finally uttered these two simple but dreadfully dishonest words: "Are you happy now?" Unable to stand the embarrassment, he decided to turn his head elsewhere.
"Oh, please," Saomi snorted, seeing right through his act, "if you are truly apologetic, you would've done this earlier, but..." A genuine smile spread across her face. "It's fine, no harm done," she said, shrugging her shoulders in acceptance. "You can't expect everyone to apologize immediately, right?"
Seeing how everything was sorted out, Janus levitated himself and the pair high up in the sky, rapidly ascending themselves much to the woman's confusion. "Look down," he ordered before stopping mid-air, making their distance approximately twelve thousand meters above ground.
In this position, what they saw was an enormous wreckage of the cave they were in, covering hundreds of kilometers throughout the harsh plain desert. Leaving her with chills from seeing the sheer destructive power that caused such a calamity.
The mere sight of it made Janus cringe upon seeing it again. He promised himself to avoid collateral damage, but at least there weren't in populated place. Making him sometimes question his own cravings or feelings due to how obscure he is.
Hell, he doubts that he can even understand himself sometimes. It's like some otherworldly force compels him to do that or this. He feels a little bit different every time it happens, as if the very cause and effect are constantly altering his perceptions to fit the circumstances.
"Quite view from here," Portunus commented at the sight, "this would show the rest of why these cultists need to fear and respect us," satisfied at what had transpired here, "do you think it reached the village prior to coming here?"
Closing his eyes briefly, his mind searched throughout the endless void, witnessing untold numbers of futures that could happen. After a few minutes, he reopened his eyes. "Only a few times," referring to the previous incident where Cthulhu's followers tried to pillage a peaceful community, "in this reality we are in, this is the many versions that didn't further damage that place."
"Then you don't need to worry about it," the logical voice reassured him. "The matter of the situation is right now; what should we do next?" He questioned their host with the utmost patience, hoping to avoid any distractions that could jeopardize their own interests.
With that in mind, "first things first," Janus waved his left hand upwards, "do either of you prefer to walk or fly?" He eyed the pair curiously, as he would not judge their decision. It is a wiser option to give them a choice than to force someone to do something they don't like.
Schrodinger was the first to speak. "Fly," he answered without any hesitation. "I'm tired of constantly walking all the time," whined the white-haired cat, feeling already bored of using his limbs. "And it's not like anyone is paying attention to what's in the skies? We can get across quickly and easily as long as we don't overuse it."
"How about you?" The god of time asked her politely, "What would be your preferred method of traversing this desert?" He watched her ponder the appropriate answer. Giving her the time she needs to deliver her own verdict.
Hoping that she won't have to come across this horrible desert again, the girl replied with much certainty in her voice, "I choose to fly." She gave him an approving nod, "As much as I love walking, I would rather not make this journey twice in the same place," scratching the back of her neck in annoyance.
