HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“So this is how it looks from the inside,” Archie said as he looked at how spacious the inside of the king looked like a big tunnel.

Archie was hanging on the king’s throat with his swords stabbed into the walls. He then jumped down and walked deeper into the king’s body in the dark.

“What’s your plan now? Don’t tell me you don’t know what you’re going to do next?” The wind witch asked as she walked next to Archie.

“I do, I’m looking for the source of the parasite that made this possible. There must be a place inside this giant body where the parasite resides,” Archie explained as he looked at the seawater being pushed out from the body.

“If that’s what you’re looking for, it should be deep inside the body and it will take a really long time to find it. You might end up getting dragged into the deep before you can kill it and you won’t be able to survive because of the pressure,” The witch said and warned Archie.

“That’s not the reason why I’m looking at the parasite, I’m thinking of taking it and seeing if I can get myself a new ability,” Archie explained as he went deeper into the body of the king.

“You won’t be able to handle it,” The with said.

“Why can’t I handle it?” Archie asked and stopped walking.

“This parasite has been living since it landed on earth, it has evolved more than hundreds of times. That’s why the parasite can make this massive body in the first place, and if you eat it, it’s either you become a part of this or you will become a mindless parasite,” The witch explained.

“Then how did Eve manage to become that strong? She fought a king like it was nothing to her,” Archie asked with confusion written all over his face.

“She has been living for hundreds of years, she might have been chosen the moment the meteorite came down to earth. She must have eaten hundreds of parasites and that’s not something impossible. Not to mention she ate two of Drautnir and her power is beyond our imagination,” The witch answered.

“So you’re saying that I won’t be able to fight her if she’s coming for my life again?” Archie asked.

“I don’t think anyone in this world can win against her no matter how hard they tried. She could destroy the whole world on her own if she wants to, but knowing that she didn’t do that, she must have a reason for it, and that reason you must find it because it might save your life,” The witch answered.

Archie went silent and thought about the reason why Eve had been hiding the whole time and didn’t make a scene at all. He knew that Eve must have been informed that there were multiple Adams, so she might be looking for the right one for her and kill the rest. If that was what she planning, he thought to himself to avoid her no matter hard it would be because her eyes were already pointing at him.

“You should start thinking about killing the king, Archie, it seems that he’s swimming toward the human ships,” The witch said.

Archie snapped back to reality and immediately went back to find the king’s brain.

Ruby watched the calm sea since they had gone far enough from the whirlpool and thunderstorm. Everyone was resting inside the cabin because their journey was going to take at least a week to reach the island. She looked at the calm sea and she felt something was off, she then decided to go up the mast and check the area where the king showed up.

Fanheim watched her climb the mast as he kept the helm steady with their course. He was a bit worried that Ruby had been acting very differently ever since he sent her to check the landing site and it got worsen the more he checked up on her. He knew half the truth from Archie already but it wasn’t really affecting him at all and that reason might be because he was too old to worry about something he had no control over it and just accept or ignore it.

The calm sea suddenly started to waver and both Fanheim and Ruby noticed. Fanheim ran to the back and saw the source of the waves that came from and he couldn’t see it clearly because of the mist. Ruby watched the waves around the ship and everyone started to notice it as well then checked where they came from.

“This isn’t good,” Fanheim said as he walked back to his position and rang the bell to notice all the people on the ship. “Set the sail! Set the sail!” he shouted.

Fanheim’s voice and the rang of the bell made the other people from the other ships look at him. Marlon came out from the cabin and immediately checked what with the commotion until he saw for himself the abnormal waves that came from behind them.

Before all the ships could set the sails entirely, the king went to the surface from the distance and made a deep eerie sound. They watched the king rose and dove with the massive waves it created, they were running around the ship and setting the sails before the same thing happened to them again.

Archie cut his way through the walls of muscles and flesh of the parasite that looked like tissues of parasite that looked similar to his. The body structure of the parasite looked weird as if it combined dozens or even hundreds of species into one.

Archie kept cutting the roof of the mouth of the king as the king himself struggled and tried to stop Archie from destroying the inside of its mouth. The seawater washed Archie’s body as he tried to put himself inside of the roof of the mouth, and he managed to do so before the whole mouth was filled with water.

“Now what can you do, huh?” Archie said as he kept stabbing and cutting his way up to the head of the king.

Ruby observed the king’s behavior and looked a bit odd to her because the king was swimming toward them earlier but now he was just swimming around in a circle as if something had happened to him. She wasn’t the only one who thought like that, Fanheim and Marlon were thinking the same thing.

The waves were getting bigger and bigger but their ships could withstand them if those waves didn’t become bigger than that since there was too much damage on the ship from the massive waves from back then. They watched the king start to swim away and went to the west really fast that Ruby and Fanheim started to think that Archie did something and prevented the king from approaching them.

Archie was only a few feet away from reaching the brain of the king after he cut off all of the muscles behind his eyes. The king couldn’t see a thing and it was the reason why it started to move randomly and in circles.

“There you are,” Archie said as he climbed into a small hole he made and looked at the brain of the king.

Archie held both of his swords so tightly and then swung them at the massive brain of the king. He was thrown from side to side since the king shook his head because of the massive pain in his head. Archie kept slicing the brain open and jumped down in between the brain then started to cut them without even being bothered by the massive shaking.

The king was unable to even move half of his body anymore then he was unable to use his mouth to call for help. His body was slowly diving down into the sea but the moment Archie cut a part of the king’s brain, the king started to swim to the surface again.

Archie gasped for air as he climbed up the slimy brain that looked like jelly. He looked around him and the brain looked like a wet macaroni in a bowl, he then cut his way out since the king had stopped moving for quite a while.

Archie climbed up and finally, he could breathe fresh air after hours of smelling rotten and fishy flesh. He wiped his face with the shirt inside his trench coat so he could see clearly. The moment he opened his eyes he was surprised that the king was stranded on an island with half of his body on the land.

Archie stood on top of the king and looked at the massive island in front of him. “Is this the island that we are supposed to go to?” he asked.

Archie slid down from the head of the king’s head and could feel the soft grass again. He laid down as he stared at the sunrise and then he fell asleep with the dead body of the king next to him.