HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Piles of corpse of the parasites that came to take over the territory covered the beautiful garden into a graveyard. Archie stood there silently with his left arm missing, his middle and pinky fingers of his right hand missing as well. The sword was still wet from the black blood of the parasites and painted the wildflowers below it black.

“It always get the job done…” Archie lifted his trembled hand while he stared at the black sword. “Thank you for leaving his behind, Iohann, I will bring this weapon back to Marshal…” Archie slightly smiled and saw his own reflection on the blade. He furrowed his forehead as he just realized that his hair has turned white and his face changed into someone else that he didn’t recognize, “So this is me now…” Archie smirked and scoffed weakly.

Archie decided to go to the cave where he and the others came from, but then a chill wind blew his face, “Don’t leave…”

Archie heard a faint voice, a soothing and comforting voice. “Who’s there?!” Archie looked around while he tried to grip the sword.

“Come…” As the wind hit his face again, he noticed that the voice came from the wind and he still couldn’t believe that the wind spoke to him.

“Am I imagining things because I’m dying?” As Archie dragged the sword while he looked around.

“Come, we are waiting…” The voice was clearer and it convinced Archie that it wasn’t his imagination but the wind was actually calling for him. He decided to follow the voice and went the other way away from the cave.

The wind guided him deeper into the forest and he wasn’t suspicious about the wind at all, there were no parasites as well while he was following the wind. The voice kept telling him to follow her even though he already followed the wind without questioning her.

After an hour of being guided by the wind, the wind suddenly disappeared and he just realized that he stood in the middle of the forest and that he didn’t remember how he got there as if he was being hypnotized by the voice. “Where am I?” Archie asked himself while he rested his shoulder on the tree because the wounds on his body started to itch.

Since it was nighttime already, Archie couldn’t resist closing his eyes and fell asleep under the big tree.

“He was different from the last time we saw him.” A woman’s voice could be heard in front of Archie.

“Are you sure that’s him, sister?” Another woman’s voice seemed to be coming from next to Archie.

“Well, she knows better than both of us so I think he’s the right one.” The first woman seemed to be talking with the woman next to her.

Archie was awoken by the voices and he slowly opened his eyes and was startled by the presence of two women staring at him up close.

“Who are you?!” As Archie jolted from the ground and hugged the tree behind him. His arm and fingers had fully regenerated and he glared at two women in front of him.

“Wait… I know you! You are the Ex-Humans that killed them!” Archie pointed his finger at the grey-haired woman in front of her.

The white-haired woman giggled and looked at the red-haired woman next to her, “I told you, sister won’t make a mistake since she could hear the voice.”

Archie seemed to be ignored by those women, and while he was being ignored, he used the chance to grab the sword next to him. When he tried to reach the sword he realized that the sword wasn’t there, he panicked as he looked around for the sword.

“Looking for this?” As the red-haired woman shook the sword in her hand.

“Give it back to me!” Archie raised his voice as he glared at the red-haired woman. The red-haired woman chuckled wickedly and then bursted into laughter that made Archie a bit scared of her.

“Here, take it,” The red-haired woman smiled mischievously then offered the sword to Archie,

As Archie tried to grab the sword from the woman’s hand, a fierce flame came out from her hand and slowly melted the sword.

“Do you think I would be stupid enough to give you this dangerous weapon?” As the woman stared at Archie while the flame on her hand devoured the sword.

Archie was furious when he saw Iohann’s sword was being devoured by the flame.

“Give it back!” Archie’s hand reached out to what was left to the sword and when he touched the flame, his hand felt an unbearable pain that the heat reached to his shoulder and down to his chest.

He retracted his hand while he frowned his eyebrows. “Give it back, please!”

The red-haired woman just stared at him and didn’t say a word until there was nothing left on her hand. She put out the flame and then she squinted her eyes, “This sword doesn’t belong to humans, this sword belongs to us. It was the source of power to the parasites, to us. We are not going to let a human possess this material because it’s very dangerous to us.”

“Aren’t you used to be a human?! You still look like a human! Why are you pretending that you’re not a human?!” Archie screamed at her with anger.

“We are no longer a human, and so do you. You have become one of us now, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You were chosen, just like us,” The red-haired woman weirdly looked at Archie.

Archie scoffed with disbelief. “Chosen? I’m chosen? Do you think this is something that I want? This is a curse! I have been suffering for… god knows for how long!” Archie couldn’t hold his anger and frustration anymore.

The grey-haired woman looked at Archie while she smiled at him, “Don’t you think your life is easier with that power you have now? You were decapitated a few hours ago, and now look at you, your wounds healed, your body regrows.”

Archie looked down and looked away while he scoffed. “Easier? Yeah, sure, but I don’t want this kind of life… I’m a monster…”

“Even if you’re a monster, do you think that you’re that different from a human?” The grey-haired woman tilted her head while she tried to look into Archie’s eyes. “The only difference between us and humans is that we are invincible. Even if you still don’t like that, there’s nothing you can do, it can’t be undone.” The grey-haired woman carefully touched Archie’s shoulder to comfort him.

“Don’t touch me.” Archie removed the woman’s hand from his shoulder. “You know that we are not that different from humans, but you acted like you’re a parasite, you ate them. I saw you both ate them, you have no right to say that…” Archie showed his sour smile at her while he looked at her with disgust.

The red-haired woman chuckled while she rested her head on the grey-haired woman’s shoulder. “You will understand, eventually. You will experience it yourself, and we are not going to ruin your fun.”

Archie looked at her with a cynical expression and didn’t know what to say because it sounded like she was giving him a warning.

The wind blew so strongly and the three of them looked up into the sky. “It wants to see him…”

The same voice came back and then the grey-haired woman looked at Archie. “There’s someone waiting for you beyond this place.”

Archie looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed. “Someone? Who?”

The grey-haired woman smiled at him. “You will see it for yourself because we can’t describe it to you.”

Archie was so confused and since they didn’t know the person who wanted to see him, he decided to not ask anymore.

The red-haired woman was still staring at the sky. “Could you guide him there, sister?”

“I will guide him…” As the wind blew.

“You called the wind, your sister? Is she a ghost?” Archie looked at the grey-haired woman with curiosity.

The white-haired woman smiled while she shook her head. “No, she could control the wind and become one with the wind. Her body no longer exists and she’s now one with the wind. It’s a bit hard to explain.”

“There’s another sister, she’s now around here with us as we speak.” The red-haired woman looked at Archie while she raised her eyebrow.

Archie looked around but he couldn’t see anyone around, then the red-haired woman chuckled and pat the tree behind Archie. “This is her…” Then she turned around and spread her arms, “Every tree in this forest is her…”

“So, she has become one with trees?” Archie is confused and then looked at the grey-haired woman.

“No, her body is buried inside the ground, and she could use the trees to communicate with us. She even can control the ground if she wants to.” The grey-haired woman shook her head.

Archie was speechless because it was something he couldn’t believe that something like that exist or even possible. He was skeptical at first until the tree behind him slowly leaned toward him and the branches started moving as if it was waving at him. Then he remembered when the woman who escorted him was decapitated by a tree branch, and now he believed and was convinced that the grey-haired woman wasn’t lying about it.

“So, one can control the wind, the other one can control the trees and ground, and she can control fire, then what about you?” Archie looked at the grey-haired woman with curiosity.

“I can become one with water, and I can control the water as well.” The grey-haired woman smiled.

Archie couldn’t believe that the Ex-Humans were far stronger than Axis-Humans, and now he knew that there was no chance for him and Iohann to be able to bring them and only death await him and the others.

“Come…” The wind blows.

Archie looked at the sky and nodded with understanding then he started to move and follow the wind.

“Hey, we are the only ones in this place, so if you feel like you don’t belong with the humans, you can come to us. Our sister will guide you here,” The grey-haired woman looked at Archie as if she was worried about him.

“Thanks for the offer, but I still don’t like you guys,” Archie mockingly smiled as he looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

Those two women were waving at him even though knowing that Archie hated them so much for what they did.

Archie followed the wind and ended up in a vast field with something floating in the middle, something that nobody could describe as what the woman said earlier. An unworldly being that looked like rings stacked into each other with flames surrounding it, hundreds of eyes could be seen and they were staring at Archie.

The light was blinding him and it felt like his eyes were burning by just staring at it.

“Do not be afraid…”