The following morning was uneventful. Joel had awoken when the sun was surprisingly high in the sky. He hadn't gone to bed late, he just wasn’t used to spending so much time on his feet. His body had been tired from the day of walking and needed some extra rest. 

He found some bandaids in one of the upstairs bathrooms, which he carefully wrapped around some of the blisters he’d developed the day before. He stuffed as much of the unspoiled food as he could into his backpack, as well as some petroleum jelly and expired medicine. He’d found a stick of dried out deodorant, which he quickly applied. Levi had said he had ‘heightened senses’ and Joel wanted to make sure he didn’t stink if they spent another day walking in the sun.

Joel was glad he’d listened to Levi and followed him off the main road. It meant that most of the houses out here hadn’t been raided. Initially, Joel had mistakenly thought that with so few humans left there’d be plenty to raid, but so much of civilization had been destroyed during the wars, and then the apocalypse. After ten years of scavenging, most goods were hard to come by. 

Joel had found a pair of name brand sunglasses at the house, but he still squinted against the sun as they traveled North.

“How much longer until we reach Moose?” he asked. 

“As early as tomorrow evening if we keep a steady pace.”

Moose was normally a four day trek; they were shaving off an entire day of walking. “Why don’t more people come this way?”

Maria and Luca had been walking trade routes back when their father was still alive. It seemed strange that they hadn’t discovered this shortcut already. 

“Most humans fear breaking off from the main road because it’s easier to get lost. Also…” Levi’s voice trailed off and he scratched the back of his neck. “The view isn’t as nice.”

The view? Joel looked around. To him, the clearing they cut through looked just like the rest of scenic Wyoming. Maybe he just wasn’t observant? Even so, he could handle a few hours of ugly earth if it meant he wouldn’t need to walk as far. 

“You said that you’ve come this way before. Do you travel between the camps a lot?”

Levi shrugged. “Not really. Most humans are hostile to my kind, so I try to avoid them.”

Even though less humans were being caught in angel-demon crossfire, everyone still hated the biblicals. Joel had seen bibs when he traveled with Maria and Luca, but they always kept their distance. Levi was the only biblical he’d ever seen up close, let alone had a conversation with. 

“How do demons spend their free time?” Joel asked. He'd always been curious and assumed this might be his only opportunity to find out. 

Levi gave him a sideways glance, but kept walking. “What do you mean?”

“Well… what do you do all day?”

“Oh. Mainly hunting, I guess.” 

“What do you hunt?” Joel asked. Maria and Luca loved hunting. They always brought back pelts and meat they would dry from their trips. It was part of what they traded during their route. They had taken Joel on a hunting trip once, but he hadn’t had the stomach for it. 

They’d given him basic training with a bow and arrow before their excursion, and his aim had gotten surprisingly good. He’d felt like a jerk for wasting their time when he had been unable to release the bowstring and take down the doe that had crossed their path. He’d felt his resolve crumble when she’d looked at him with large, trusting brown eyes. Her long ears twitched as she tilted her head at them, the gesture was so timid, yet trusting. It had melted his heart.  

Maria had been ready to kill the deer herself, but Luca had stopped her. Let’s let this one go, he’d said, giving Joel a sympathetic smile. Her pelt would be too small anyways. 

The memory made his chest ache, renewing his determination to find the siblings that had become a part of his found family. 

Levi gave a long pause before finally answering Joel’s initial question. “Angels. I hunt angels.”

“Oh.” Joel could feel his stomach drop. After a day of traveling together, he’d already forgotten that Levi was a murderer. Angels tormented humanity just like demons, but Levi still slaughtered them. He’d probably killed plenty of humans as well. All demons had at one point or another.

A terrible thought crossed Joel’s mind. Would he have to watch Levi kill someone? He hoped not. He knew that the twins had killed people before, but it had always been in self-defense, and he’d never seen it happen. 

The air between them felt heavy as a tense silence ensued. Nan said you could trust him, Joel repeated to himself like a mantra. But Nikki was right, I shouldn’t get too close to their kind. 

Joel licked his lips nervously. “How– how do you kill an angel?”

The demon gave him an incredulous look. “Do you really want to know?” 

Joel shrugged his shoulders. He was curious, but he had no intention of killing anything. Luca would be foaming at the mouth when Joel told him though. The man hated bibs more than anyone else Joel knew. 

Levi hemmed for a moment. “You can’t really kill biblicals in the sense you’re probably thinking. You can destroy their corporeal forms, which prevents them from coming back to Earth, but that’s it.” 

“You’ve used that word before. Corporeal. What does it mean?”

Levi tilted his head to the side, as if trying to find the right words. “We can manifest one physical body to exist on this plane, Earth. Once that body is destroyed, we can’t come back here. The soul is bound to heaven or hell, depending on its origin.”

Joel was temporarily speechless. He’d never heard such a thing, not even in gossip. “Really? Is that why people have been seeing less bibs recently? They can’t come back here once their form is gone?”

Levi nodded solemnly. “Yes. It’s been ten years, so many have lost the ability to be on this plane. There are still plenty here to fight, but we have to be smarter about it. That’s why there have been less large-scale attacks. The fighting will end when only one type of ethereal being is left. That determines who wins the holy war.” 

Joel felt like he was drinking from a firehouse with all of the new things he was learning. “What happens then?” he asked eagerly. “When the war is over?”

 Could humans finally be left alone in peace? Could they rebuild society without the extra looming threat of bibs? 

“It depends on who wins,” Levi said simply. “If a demon is the last biblical on earth, the planet is cleansed with hellfire. If it’s an angel, the earth will be bathed in holy water.”

Joel stilled. He could feel his face had gone ashen. Levi was still walking ahead of him, and he reached forward to grab the hem of his shirt, slowing him down. 

“Wait,” Joel said, forcing the demon to stop and face him. “So when the war is over, all humans will die?”

Levi’s dark eyes met his for a moment, before he glanced away. His lips pressed together in a grim line before he nodded. “Yes. When the holy war is over every living thing on the Earth will die.” 

Joel could feel his heart race erratically in his chest as his breaths started to come in short, shallow gasps. Everyone. Everything. It would all be gone. He could feel his thoughts getting jumbled as his legs became unsteady. People referred to the appearance of bibs ten years ago as the ‘end of the world’, but it wasn’t. The worst was still to come. 

Unable to stand on his shaky legs, he sat on the ground and pressed his palms against his eyes. He’d been so proud of humanity’s resilience. Despite the torments, despite the powerful entities that walked the Earth, despite losing so many loved ones– humanity had survived. They’d somehow persevered through everything. To learn that none of it mattered, that everything was still doomed, shattered his heart. 

We’re all going to die. 

“Joel?” An uncertain voice cut through his racing mind and he felt a weight press against his shoulder. “Joel?”

Joel sucked in a deep breath. He couldn’t let Levi see him like this. The demon had already complained to Nan about traveling with ‘someone like him’. Joel was just proving him right. He was proving he was weak and scared and a distraction. He tried to tamp down his emotions by focusing on the sensations around them. 

The warm breeze on his face. The buzzing of cicadas. The smell of damp Earth, and the scent of something smokey and musky he couldn’t quite place. He forced himself to swallow, his dry throat clicking in the process. 

“Is– Is it close to happening?” he managed to ask. His voice sounded shaky in his own ears as he glanced at Levi. The skin between the demon’s dark eyes had pulled into a crease and his mouth was set into a grimace. 

“No, not yet. You’ll be fine. You have time.”

“But someday? Everyone, everything will die?”

Levi scrubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I’m sorry. I sometimes forget people don’t already know. I–I shouldn’t have told you.” He turned away, running a hand through his black hair. “Honestly, we’ve all gotten pretty good at avoiding each other. It could be decades before it happens, or it might never happen at all. Who knows.” 

Joel tried to find comfort in Levi’s words, but despair still clung to his lungs. “Yeah,” he mumbled back. “Who knows.”

Levi cleared his throat uncomfortably. He did look genuinely regretful at sharing the information, and now seemed desperate to change the subject. 

He cracked his knuckles before unsheathing the massive sword he carried on his back. “You asked before how we killed each other. The best way to destroy a bib’s corporeal form is with something like this.” He lifted the blade into the sky, letting the light reflect off of the gleaming metal. “This is a reaping blade. Reaping weapons are forged with the fires of hell and quenched with holy water.”

Joel recognized Levi was just trying to divert his attention, to take his mind off of the terrible news he’d shared, but he couldn’t help but be entranced by the weapon. He felt like a crow that had been distracted by something shiny, but the sword was like nothing he’d ever seen before. It looked as though it was literally glittering in the sunlight. The magnificent weapon was enough to distract him from the spiraling thoughts he’d been trapped in. 

His eyes caught on the symbols that ran down the center blade. “What do those mean?” They looked similar to the ones that covered Skyline and the engravings on his necklace. 

Levi brought the weapon closer to him, and ran a sharp nail over the marks. “This is the creator’s language. We can use it to channel the power they bestowed upon us.”

“The creator, like God?”

“Something like that,” Levi said with a rueful chuckle. “These specific marks help ensure that blows are fatal for our kind, or at least difficult to heal.”

Understanding began to dawn on him. “Is that why people can’t kill you guys with guns? The bullets don’t have those markings?” 

“Exactly.” He reached out his toned arm and pointed along the puckered scars that ran up the entire length of his bicep. “These are from bullets. It stings and bleeds when we’re shot at, but that’s about it. Sure fire way to piss us off though.”

Joel let out a small laugh. It was one of the reasons why camps were so weary of biblicals. No human weapons could kill them. If a bib wanted you dead, that was it. Unless you were really, really good at hiding. 

Sigils, which Joel now understood were marks in the ‘creator’s’ language, were the best way to repel them. Unfortunately, most humans had no idea what markings would keep them safe. Joel’s fingers brushed against the white pendant he wore around his neck and wondered what it said. Would Levi be willing to translate for him? 

“Can I hold it? The sword?” he clarified.  

Levi stared at him wearily as his fingers flexed along the hilt. It only took Joel a moment to realize why he was so hesitant. This weapon was actually capable of destroying Levi’s ‘corporeal form’. It would be reckless for him to pass it off to some random human. 

“I’m sorry,” Joel said quickly, feeling embarrassed. “Forget that I asked.” 

Levi tossed the weapon between his hands before speaking. “It’s heavy. This one is alloyed with osmium, the densest metal on this planet.” To Joel’s immense shock, Levi held the weapon towards him. “Here.” 

Joel reached out, his fingers brushing against Levi’s as he grabbed the hilt. His muscles tensed as he tried not to drop it. Somehow the sword was even heavier than he’d expected. He grunted at the weight, trying his best not to appear weak. He held on to it with both hands, using all of his muscles to keep it upright.

It didn’t help that the pair had been walking up a massive hill. He was already out of breath and the added weight was exhausting. 

“Holy cow,” Joel said. Despite his fatigue, he could feel his hands tingle, like power was pulsing through them. 

Levi made an amused sound. “I know what you mean.”

“I can’t believe you carry this on you all the time. How do you wield something like this? It weighs almost as much as I do!” 

“Practice,” Levi said with a smug smile. “And some demonic strength. Now give it back so you don’t hurt yourself.”

Joel wanted to protest, but his arms were already tired. He handed it back without complaint.  They were finally reaching the top of the hill they’d been climbing. Joel’s legs were killing him and he was excited not to work against gravity. 

“I think that might be why humans have–,” the rest of his sentence died in his throat when he reached the peak. He looked out at the wilderness before him, his mouth going dry.

“This is what I meant before,” Levi said quietly. “About the view.” 

Joel could barely focus on his words. He was too busy staring at the disastrous scene in front of them.