HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“You want me to become Adam? What’s that supposed to mean, Angel?” Archie pressed his chest and clenched his fist on his shirt.

“You will be the first Drautnir that will take over the earth from humankind.” Throne ascended and looked down at Archie.

“Draunir? Is that the name of who I am right now?” Archie asked and pointed himself with his index finger while he raised his eyebrows and looked at Throne.

“Yes, you are Drautnir and you have seen other beings like you.” Throne descended and stared at something behind the trees.

Throne mentioned the same beings as Archie and the only thought he had in mind was the parasites.

“You mean those monsters that live in the forest?” Archie looked at Throne while he pointed his finger at the forest next to him.

“Those are the lost soul, they were soulless and their only purpose here is to bring humankind to its end. Drautnir is the being that you spoke with.” Throne rotated its rings so slowly.

“The ladies that I spoke with? The one that can control the fire, wind, water, and earth?” Archie raised his eyebrows with confusion.

“Indeed, those are Drautnir that protected the forest and the lost soul from humankind as He ordered.” Throne’s rings were expanding and Archie had to take a few steps back to make some distance between him and Throne.

“If their mission is to protect the forest, then what is my purpose?” Archie nervously asked Throne while he gulped.

“Your first task is to find your Eve, Drautnir…” Throne glared down at Archie.

“My Eve?” Archie questioned Throne with confusion.

“Your Eve is waiting, but you are not the only one who is seeking for Eve.” Throne turned itself upside down.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are the humans also looking for her?” Without him realizing it, he put himself out from the humans.

“There are 7 other Adam that is seeking for Eve as we speak, Drautnir…” Throne rotated itself so slowly that made Archie dizzy.

Archie was shocked when he heard that there are more than 7 Adam excluding himself.

“Why there are so many Adam? Is there a reason why for that?” Archie furrowed his forehead while he shook his head with confusion.

“Every one of us chose the Adams from different places, and we, Thrones chose you as the Adam.” Throne kept rotating itself and Archie finally gave up on looking at Throne directly.

“You’re saying that there are other angels that are not the same as you? You’re Throne, and what the other 7?” Archie took a glimpse at Throne then looked at the ground.

“There are more than us, Thrones. Seraphim, Cherubim, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and lastly Angels. Every one of us chose a human to become Drautnir that will roam the earth.” Throne’s flame was blazing and it startled Archie.

“You mentioned 8 names of the beings, but why there’s only 7 Adams?” Archie finally could see Throne in the eyes again after it stopped rotating itself.

“Cherubim is protecting the Eve from harm, that is the only task that He ordered.” Throne aligned the rings horizontally.

Archie covered his mouth with his hand while he was thinking and rubbing the bottom of his nose.

“Are you trying to say that we have to compete with each other to see who’s worthy to be with the Eve?” Archie looked up at Throne’s flame that was still blazing which was so beautiful to look at.

“Indeed, you are intelligent, Dautrica…” Throne started to move the rings again.

Archie thought if he could get information about Eve’s whereabouts he could just go straight to meet her. He looked at Throne who was still glaring down at him, and he knew that Throne could read his mind so that meant it was ready to answer it.

“Do you know where Eve is at, Throne?” Archie gulped as he looked at one of the eyes.

“We do not know, Cherubim hide her from all of us. You must find her on your own. During your journey to find Eve, you might encounter the other Adams, and you could tell by a glance if they are the same as you or not. If you encounter them, submit them.” Throne’s flame was blazing again.

Before Archie could ask a question, a very loud sound was being sounded from the sky. An eerie sound that made Archie tremble in fear as he looked at the sky, his eyes trembled and his heart was pounding really fast. Throne was glaring at the sky and the flame was raging and it burst around it, and suddenly it ascended and disappeared for a moment then came back down in a blink of an eye.

“The time has come, the last Adam has been chosen. Your journey is starting from now on as Drautnir, you who know of our existence.” Throne glared down at Archie.

“Should I leave now and go back to where I came from, Throne?” Archie was still in fear from the sound he heard that came from the sky.

“No, your journey will not start from here. Before we go, you should speak to other Drautnir that you met.” Throne spun the rings rapidly.

Archie nodded and then left and went back to meet those women.

(Somewhere inside the cave.)

A woman was drenched in some kind of gooey blood that fell down right to her, then something fell on top of her head. She grabbed that thing and ate it whole, she smiled as she bathed in that black blood. She opened her eyes and looked up, a creature like a dragon was dead on top of her with the creature’s throat slit open.

“The trumpet has been sounded, the last Adam has been chosen…” A being with wings covered its own body looked at the woman who was bathing in the blood.

“Ah…” The woman seemed to be aroused by the information that is given to her. “My Adam, my last Adam is finally here…” The woman continued and smiled and her eyes were sharp enough to intimidate anything that she looked at.

“Eve, you are supposed to offer yourself to Adam.” The being looked at Eve with a blank expression.

“Those Adams were weak, and thanks to them I have become stronger and feel like I’m more special than anything in this world” The woman walked toward Cherubim and came out of the cave revealing herself to the sunlight.

A beautiful woman with silver hair looked Cherubim in the eye. “Even if I’m supposed to do that, at least I have the right to choose my Adam, right? That’s what you said to me back then…”

“Promise me that you do not eat the rest of them or we would punish you for your action.” Cherubim spreads its wings and it inflicted fear on Eve.

“I promise…” As Eve bowed her head to hide her excitement and smile.

Archie’s heart was still racing and he felt uncomfortable even though the sound disappeared already.

The wind hit his face. “Come, we are waiting…” The soothing voice of the woman calmed him down a bit and so he followed the wind to meet with all the women.

“It seems that you have seen it.” A Red-haired woman leaned on the tree and was staring at Archie.

“Yes, it was something I couldn’t describe…” Archie was zooming out for a moment while he tried to remember the presence he saw earlier.

“How lucky, we weren’t able to see it because we are forbidden to enter that area.” The Red-haired woman crossed her arms while she looked in the direction that Archie came from.

“Do you now know about the situation?” The grey-haired woman peeked her head behind the tree while she looked at Archie.

“Yes, I know everything and I still can’t believe it even though I have experienced everything myself…” Archie was blankly staring at the tree while the two of them stared at Archie with a weird look.

They had no idea what was Archie talking about because they had no idea about Adam, Eve, and the angels.

“So, what are you going to do now?” The grey-haired woman looked at Archie with her eyebrows raised.

“I have to find someone, someone that seems to be important to me.” Archie looked at the grey-haired woman with a bit smile on his face.

“Oh, so it’s time for you to leave then?” The red-haired woman looked at Archie while she tilted her head.

Archie furrowed his eyebrows. “How do you know that I have to go soon?”.

“I heard it from our other sisters…” The wind blew.

Archie looked around and was confused by her statement.

“Other sisters?” Archie looked at the two women in front of him.

“Right, we didn’t tell you, huh?” The red-haired woman stood straight while she kept crossing her arms. “Each Fallen Continent that the humans called, every one of them has a protector, Ex-Humans. You should already know about our job and why we are here in this place. Our other sisters were looking for the ones like you, and that was our job as well so we have heard the same stories 7 times about this quite a long time ago.” The red-haired woman rested her left hand on her waist while she swung the other hand.

Archie was shocked when he heard that there were more of them in each of the Fallen Continent. Now that he heard from them that there were the same events that happened in the past 7 times, he believed that those Adams were chosen long before him.

An ambient sound came and Archie looked around confused but it seemed that he was the only one who could hear it, “Your time is up, it is time for you to leave, Drautnir.” The voice of Throne was calling him.

“Leaving already?” The red-haired woman looked at Archie who walked toward the voice.

“It’s calling me… and yes, it’s time for me to leave.” Archie turned around to look at them.

“I never have the chance to ask your name, all of you.” Archie stopped and turned around to look at them.

“You can just call us witches, the four witches of this place. We will introduce ourselves properly when the opportunity allows us to meet again.” The grey-haired woman smiled while she looked at Archie.

“We will meet again.” Archie slightly smiled at them then went to meet Throne.

“Are you ready to leave, Drautnir?” Throne glared down at Archie.

“Yes, I’m ready…” Archie nodded as he clenched his fists.