GTS Syndrome Vol 2 Ch 2: An Unsettling Future, Red Eyes Revealed!

(Braden)

I stood up, brushing gravel and dust off my pants, and glared down at Penelope like I actually had the guts to intimidate a walking mountain. She was just sitting there, calm as ever, but I was done pretending everything was fine.

"Your home? Seriously, Penelope?!" I threw my arms up. "You want to drag me—a small—into a city full of giantesses?"

She raised a brow. "Yes."

"Smalls don't last in giantess cities!" I shouted, pacing on the flat boulder like it would help me think straight. "You know that! I'm basically bite-sized in there!"

Penelope tilted her head, her expression unreadable. Then, slow as a shadow stretching across the ground, she leaned in. Her face filled my vision—eyes the size of dinner plates, lips slightly parted, and breath warm enough to make me sweat.

She got so close I could feel it—each exhale brushing across my skin like wind off a furnace.

"I will protect you," she said, voice low and soft like a promise. "As soon as we're back, I can label you under my name. You'll be marked. You'll be my property."

I blinked. My mouth dropped open.

"Property?!" I shouted, practically shaking with disbelief. "Are you out of your mind?! I never agreed to be your property! That's not how this works!"

Penelope didn't blink. Didn't move.

"In fact," I went on, voice rising, "I still don't even think traveling with you was a good idea in the first place!"

There was a beat of silence.

"...What?" she asked quietly.

I clenched my fists, heart thudding in my chest. "I said I think we should go our separate ways!"

Then the world exploded.

"BOOM!!"

I was thrown off the boulder like a rag doll, landing hard on the rocky ground as a wave of dust and small stones blasted into the air. I curled into a ball, covering my face, coughing as grit filled my mouth and nose.

"What the hell?!" I shouted, squinting through the haze.

Then everything went dark.

Penelope's face loomed above me, shadowed and huge, her brown hair falling forward like a curtain, blocking out the morning light. I looked to the side—her fist had smashed into the earth right where I'd been sitting. The boulder I was standing on? Nothing but cracked gravel now.

Her eyes were trembling, lips quivering. And then... that sadness. That look.

"Y-you want to separate," she whispered, voice breaking. "Y-you want to leave me..."

The trembling stopped. Her eyes shifted. For a split second, they turned red—glowing, burning, wrong.

Oh no.

"No... no, I didn't mean that," I said quickly, getting to my feet and trying not to trip over my own panic. "I was just upset! Okay? That's all! I—it's just..."

I looked into her face. The quivering was back. She looked like a kicked puppy. A very, very large kicked puppy.

"This is the first real home I've had in a long time," I said, awkward smile creeping onto my face like it had no idea what danger we were in. "It hurts thinking about leaving it."

Penelope slowly sat back up, wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, and let out a shaky breath. She sniffled once, then nodded.

"You shouldn't scare me like that," she said, voice steadying. "We should stay together, Braden. After all, we're best friends."

"...Uh huh," I said, forcing the most awkward grin in human history.

But inside, I was screaming.

Because I knew what I just saw. That flash. That fire in her eyes.

It was the madness.

The same madness that destroyed the world.

And it was still in her.

I took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of my nose, trying to force the tremble out of my fingers and the pounding out of my chest. She hadn't meant to scare me—at least, I hoped not—but damn if I didn't feel like I'd just stared down a freight train wearing lip gloss.

I looked up at her. She was calmer now, sitting back on her heels, watching me with that weird mix of softness and "I-could-accidentally-punch-a-mountain" energy she always carried.

"I still don't feel good about this," I muttered, voice low. "A giantess city isn't exactly my idea of a safe vacation spot."

Penelope tilted her head and gave me a half-shrug. "It's a better idea than the alternative."

I squinted. "What, dying?"

"Basically." She rested her elbow on her knee, chin in her hand. "No city of man is going to take you in—not after what you've seen. Not with me following you around. Even if they did, they couldn't handle me. No food. No shelter big enough. They'd chase me out or hunt us both down."

She gestured around to the rocky wilds. "And we can't stay out here. Not forever. There are things in these lands, Braden. Things that even scare me."

She wasn't joking. Her eyes had that dead serious gleam now.

And I hated it. I hated how much sense she made.

I didn't want to say it. Didn't want to agree. But I knew she was right.

With a sigh, I dug into my pocket and pulled out the only thing that had ever given me real hope. A small, metal handle—curved, solid, etched with strange symbols that glowed faintly when I first found it. The Draughtbane. The so-called "ultimate weapon of mankind." Legendary blade of resistance. Last hope of humanity.

Yeah. All I've got is the handle. No blade. No energy. Just a glorified paperweight that mocks me every time I hold it.

I stared at it for a second, shaking it like maybe today was the day it'd magically ignite and save my sorry life.

Nope. Still useless.

"Fine," I said, slipping it back into my coat. "We'll go to your city."

Penelope lit up like the damn sun. She clapped her hands and actually did a little bounce on her heels, causing a few rocks to slide down the gorge wall behind her.

"But," I added quickly, pointing up at her, "I'm not gonna be your pet. Got it? No collars. No 'Property of Penelope' signs. None of that weird stuff."

She gave a big, toothy grin and nodded. "Okay!"

Just like that. Like she hadn't just obliterated a boulder two minutes ago in a fit of rage.

"So..." I asked, brushing dust off my pants again. "What's the name of this magical place we're risking my life to visit?"

Penelope stood up, rising to her full, terrifying height. She placed one hand on her hip and looked down at me with pride.

"It's called Zaeram." She smiled. "The City of Sand."