HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Archie chewed on the guy’s heart, he was surprised that it taste weird but it wasn’t disgusting since he had been eating something far worse. He kept eating what remains from the guy’s body as the wind witch watched from above him. After eating everything up, he felt nauseated that he wanted to throw up but his stomach prevented him from doing so.

His whole body felt warm and as if he had a very high fever that he could feel his eyelids so hot whenever he blinked. He stood up but his head spun like crazy that he collapsed immediately, his vision was blurry and it spun really fast that he decided to close his eyes.

“Rest up, Archie, we will protect you…” The wind blew and whispered into his ear.

Archie let himself off and fell asleep immediately.

Archie could feel cold on his forehead which made him awake, he then opened his eyes and saw the black-haired witch sitting next to him with her hand on his forehead.

“You have finally woken up, that took you long enough,” the witch said.

“How long did I sleep?” Archie asked as he realized that he was sleeping on the witch’s lap and immediately sat up.

“You have been asleep for almost a week, how are you feeling?” The witch replied.

Archie hummed and looked around, he noticed that he was inside the forest. He stood up and he felt something weird about his body, he looked down and he saw his body was a bit buffed and he felt like he could hug a tree and crush it.

“What happened to my body?” Archie asked as he looked at his arms and chest.

“Ah, you have attained his power. Now you’re possessing all the abilities he had, but unfortunately, we don’t know much about it. You should find out about it yourself.” The witch replied. “By the way…” The witch said. “You ate his brain, you should know about his past from his memories, right?” The witch asked.

Archie turned around and nodded. “I did, it was weird because most of the time, it was just voices,” Archie replied. “I know for sure that his name was Gideon Armen and he was chosen in the year 2106 which was more than a hundred years ago…” Archie continued.

“What else did you find?” The witch asked as she stood up.

“He was the fifth… He met the sixth and the seventh on his journey but he couldn’t kill them since he wasn’t strong enough back then,” Archie replied.

The witch hummed with understanding. “So, where did he originally from?” She asked.

“The Northern Nation, he was chosen but he didn’t meet your sisters. He didn’t know about your existence and after he knew that you guys exist, he decided to kill your sisters in the north,” Archie explained. “One thing that I’m so curious about is the person that informed him about the other’s location. He knew about them in detail but unfortunately, I couldn’t see or hear the person that gave him that information,” Archie continued.

The witch nodded as she leaned on the tree. “Well, let’s skip on the details of the dream you had. How about you show me what kind of power he had? Can you do it?” She asked.

“Yeah, I can…” Archie said as he stared at his hands that were slowly transformed his fingers into blade-like claws. “I watched and felt when he got this power…” Archie continued as he moved each finger that became a blade-like claw.

Archie took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then his whole body felt sore as he opened his mouth to adjust his jaw. The witch was surprised when she saw Archie’s whole body was covered with tissues, he looked like a mummy but it was black bandages. His whole skin turned dark grey and his eyes were pitch black and his hair turned black as well, only his pupils that glowed red.

“Wow, you look… terrifying right now…” The witch said as she looked at Archie.

“Am I that scary?” Archie asked with his voice deepened and it shocked both of them.

“Well that’s surprising,” The witch said and scoffed.

Archie looked at his hands that turned dark grey like ashes then he looked at his blade-like fingers. He tried to use his power and modified it, he managed to extend his fingers and the muscles underneath the tissue that wrapped him up felt like they were trying to adapt to his new ability.

Archie looked at the giant tree in front of him and decided to slash his fingers at it. The tree was cut in half so cleanly that there was barely any mark on it. He walked toward the tree trunk and gently scratched it with his fingers, it so sharp that he couldn’t feel anything while the tree trunk was deeply carved with his fingers.

Archie scoffed and looked at his hand. “So this is how it feels like…” Archie said as he turned himself back to normal.

“So, are you going to challenge The Mother?” The witch asked.

Archie smirked and shook his head. “No, I don’t think I’m still strong enough for that, am I right?” Archie replied as he looked at her.

“Maybe, unless you have mastered those abilities that you have, you might be able to defeat her.” The witch answered.

Archie shook his head. “You might be right, but I can’t show myself like this in front of those humans. I don’t want them to know who I truly am and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can.” Archie said. “Also, I’m going to use that meteorite fragment as my weapon so I don’t have to rely on my ability so often since it hurts when I used them every time,” Archie continued as he looked at her.

“If you keep hiding your abilities, how can you become strong then? You said that Gideon was the fifth, and do you think you would be able to fight the fourth? The third? Or even the first chosen one?” The witch asked as she crossed her arms and looked at Archie.

“Just because I want to hide them, doesn’t mean I don’t want to train them. I will make myself strong and as you said back then, once I know that my power is limitless, I will start to hungry for power,” Archie said as he glanced at her.

“Well, it’s up to you since you managed to kill that guy and we are really grateful for avenging our sisters that he killed,” The witch said as she smiled at him. “Also, you might want to check those humans, our sister said that it was pretty bad over there but they managed to repel the horde,” She continued.

Archie raised his eyebrows and immediately looked at the outside of the forest. He saw smoke coming from the city up high in the sky, he then ran to the city to check on the condition.

Archie walked in the middle of the abandoned city and saw so many dead parasites that were burned. He could see a lot of soldiers patrolling around to find the parasites that were hiding. Archie avoided them and used the wall he broke to enter the city, he felt a bit relieved that the city was safe only the south wall that was in ruin.

The first place he went to was Marie’s house, he sighed with relief when Marie was enjoying her time in front of her house. Archie approached her and waved at her, Marie seemed relieved and pressed her chest when she saw him.

“Archie! You’re alright?” Marie asked as she grabbed Archie’s hand.

Archie nodded. “I’m fine, are you hurt? Were there any parasites that entered the city?” Archie asked.

Marie shook her head. “No, there were not a single people in the city that were hurt during the horde. But there were so many soldiers that were fallen during the defense and it made me so sad when those soldiers died from protecting the people like us and they didn’t even have a proper burial. Not a single person in this city that mourned for them as if they were born and raised to die like this.” Marie said with a sorrowful expression.

Archie slightly smiled. “They’re born to die for this, Marie, it’s been like that for centuries and if it’s not them, then you can’t live peacefully like this,” Archie said.

Marie nodded with understanding and then she looked at the city. “I know that they sacrificed their lives so we can live peacefully, but that also means that we can still live like this by sacrificing their lives.”

Archie just smiled and listened to her and then he looked to his right and saw Vincent, Ruby, Tommy, and Daniel walking toward him.

“You’re finally back,” Ruby said as she smiled with her right arm wrapped with bandages.

Archie smiled and nodded. “I’m back.”