HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Chapter 17

Throne ascended and it spun the rings rapidly that Archie couldn’t see the rings anymore. He was mesmerized by it and suddenly the scenery changed drastically, he looked around and realized that he wasn’t in the same place where he was standing. The forest was different and the air felt different as well, he had no idea how he ended up there but one thing he knew was that he got teleported to this place by Throne’s power.

“Drautnir…” Throne descended as he glared down at Archie. “You are no longer a human, you will start to lose your understanding and interest in them. You are a higher being than those humans now and you can do what you want to them, as He has abandoned them.” Throne spun itself and the tone of its voice was something that a father would say to his son.

“God has abandoned the humans?” Archie’s eyes were shaking as he looked at Throne with disbelief.

“He has chosen you and the other Drautnir, you can guide them, abandon them, or you can take them as your servants.” Throne glared at Archie with the rings aligned horizontally.

Archie stared at nothing and was dumbfounded by the fact that humans were abandoned by God. He wanted to protest Throne and God but knowing how small he was and how powerless he was, he didn’t dare to do so since he was chosen by them and it was something that nobody could achieve no matter how hard they tried.

“Drautnir, your journey starts now. Find your Eve and we will come back to give you your next task.” Throne slowly ascended into the sky.

“Where should I go? I don’t know where Eve is at.” Archie lifted his head to look at Throne.

“All the decisions and paths you take will lead you to somewhere new. Your path decides your fate as Drautnir, become something that the earth needs, and do not be afraid, Drautnir…” Throne kept ascending and then disappeared into thin air.

Archie was left alone with nothing on him but the watch that belong to Iohann, he started to look around and find a way out of the forest.

(5 days later.)

Archie ripped the head of the parasite with his bare hands, he was covered with injuries and broken bones all over his body. He was too weak to fight those parasites since he had nothing on him, but thanks to his regeneration from eating the parasite’s true form inside the body of the parasite.

“How long have I been walking?” Archie groaned as he leaned on the tree trunk while he looked at his wounds. Archie looked up and saw the sunlight. “I feel like I have been walking through the forest for almost a week now…” Archie yawned and closed his eyes then immediately fell asleep.

Ravens were gurgling croaks around Archie and it startled him, he opened his eyes and saw dozens of ravens eating the remains of the parasites that he killed. He stood up and looked at all his wounds that already fully healed.

“You guys are hungry, huh?” Archie looked at the ravens who were ignoring him while they kept munching the flesh.

Archie continued his journey until he ended up in a vast river in front of him, he dipped himself in the river to take a bath since he hadn’t bathed for a very long time.

As he washed his face, he looked at his reflection in the water, he still couldn’t believe that the face didn’t belong to him but at the same time, he could still resemble his old face to the new one. “Whose face is this, and why did the parasite change my face?” As Archie rubbed his cheeks and stared at his own reflection.

While he was staring at his own face, he noticed something in the reflection, he turned around immediately and his eyes were wide open. “Isn’t that?” Archie walked through the river to make sure that he didn’t imagine it. A Sky Station could be seen from where he stood, he smiled happily and chuckled with disbelief then he immediately got out of the river and ran toward it.

Archie ran as fast as he could with a big smile on his face, he kept running and dodged every obstacle in front of him. When he reached the end of the forest, he stopped and looked up, his smile disappeared immediately as he saw the long bridge that connect each station was destroyed.

“What happened?” Archie walked so slowly toward the field as he looked up at the broken bridge in the sky.

“Why the bridge is like that? Isn’t the bridge supposed to be unbreakable?” Archie stood there while he caught his breath. “Wait… it’s only a one-way bridge and the bridge is on the left side of the Sky Station. Could it be that I’m in the Eastern Nation?” Archie looked at the Sky Station and the bridge that lead to somewhere hidden in the thick clouds.

Archie decided to find the entrance to the Eastern Nation since he could see buildings in the distance.

After a half-day of running, he reached an abandoned town, he looked around at the remains of the buildings. He decided to stop by every building he found because he needed a new pair of clothes to wear since he barely have anything to cover his body. He found a grey sleeveless hoodie and white shirt in the wardrobe, he immediately put them on and found ripped black skinny jeans hung behind the door and sneaker shoes behind the door.

Archie was looking for food but he couldn’t find any, so he decided to find something that he could use as a weapon but he ended up not finding anything as well. He sighed while he sat on the window and looked at the abandoned city. The wind was so cold and he immediately hid his hands in the hoodie’s pockets. “The wind, is it fall already?” Archie looked at the trees that grew wild around the city.

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

Archie immediately turned his head to the right where the gunshot came from, he immediately jumped off of the three-story building and ran toward it as fast as he could.

A guy on the ground while he tried to crawl away with a handgun in his hand, his hand trembled in fear because a parasite in front of him crawled at him and tried to bite his foot. Archie immediately looked around to find something that he could use as a weapon, but all he could find were bricks on the road. He grabbed one and threw it as hard as he could at the parasite, it hit the parasite’s face and the brick broke its face.

The guy lifted his head to look at the person who threw the brick to save him, but then he was startled by Archie’s presence already next to him and leaped toward the parasite. Archie grabbed the parasite by the head and cracked its head then pulled it off like plucking wild grass. Archie was surprised that the parasite was so easy to kill compared to the parasites he fought in the forest.

“Who are you?! I mean, thank you for saving my life…” The old man glared at Archie with his gun and was still pointing at the parasite that was already dead.

“Yeah, no problem… I’m glad that you’re safe, Sir…” Archie nodded while he was still holding the head of the parasite.

Archie looked to his right and heard footsteps, a group of people ran out of the corner with guns in their hands and vest and melee weapons on their backs.

“Major! What happened?!” A woman with short brown hair ran toward the old man and checked his body thoroughly.

“I’m fine… it was all thanks to that young man over there…” The old man smiled and slowly put his handgun down.

All of them looked at Archie and then looked at his hands that were holding the head of the parasite. The woman stood up and approached Archie while looking at him from top to bottom.

“Thank you, for saving the major, we owe you one for this.” The woman offered her hand for a handshake.

“My hands are dirty…” Archie dropped the head and showed the blood on his hands.

The woman scoffed and grabbed his hand and forced a handshake. “It’s just blood, no need to worry about that.” The woman smirked while she kept staring Archie in the eye.

“What’s your name?” The woman raised her eyebrows as she pulled her hand from Archie’s hand.

“Archie… Archie Lancaster…” Archie looked at the woman’s hand that still covered with blood.

“Lancaster? That’s a name that doesn’t belong to the Eastern Nation, you’re from the Western Nation? Archie?” The woman pointed her index finger at Archie and then crossed her arms.

“Yeah, I came from the Western Nation,” Archie replied with a smile on his face.