HALF: Dead nor Alive

The eldest fire witch looked at the bottle and she had no idea what she was looking at, but then the eldest wind witch grabbed the bottle and explained it to the other witches about the serum. Unfortunately, even the eldest wind witch had no idea how much is too much since she only knew the final product when it already became a bullet.

“I see, so this is the serum that’s enough to kill a king? Unbelievable,” The eldest fire witch said as she stared at the serum. “Give it to me,” She said as she reached out her hand toward the eldest wind witch.

Eve was suffering from pain but she didn’t make any noises as she tried to endure it.

“What about her? Should we do something about her?” The fire witch asked as she looked at Eve’s back which looked like it was getting burned and started to melt.

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” The eldest fire witch answered. “If a king couldn’t even deal with it, there’s no way we can endure it. She’s different from all of us, she will be fine since she’s not asking for our help,” She continued as she looked at them.

Eve grunted as she stood up, she looked at her back and ripped her skin and wings from her back. Everyone was looking at her with a bit confused but they realized it was to prevent the serum from spreading all over her body.

Everyone looked at the wings and skin falling off of Eve’s body, they knew she was really in pain and could feel it by just staring at it.

“Alright, let’s give Archie a single drop of this serum,” The eldest fire witch said as she opened the lid of the bottle.

All of them nodded with understanding.

“You both need to get out from his body, I don’t want both of you to suffer from this serum because you’re in there,” The eldest fire witch said as she looked at the water.

Both of the water witches came out from Archie’s body and dried the pit because they didn’t want everyone inside to get exposed to the serum because of them. The eldest fire witch carefully opened Archie’s mouth but he suddenly tried to resist that she accidentally poured almost half the bottle into his mouth.

Everyone looked at the eldest fire witch with a shocked expression, she, on the other hand, looked at Archie and gulped nervously.

It didn’t take long until the serum took effect on Archie’s body and he started to have a seizure. His eyes rolled back but he didn’t scream or even groan in pain which indicated that the parasites were still controlling his body.

Archie was laying in the darkness and suddenly his whole body trembled. He didn’t know what happened but he didn’t feel any pain anymore, he then stood up and looked around him because he started hearing noises and voices in the distance.

Archie walked toward the voices and they got louder and clearer, he then saw a dot of light in the distance. He immediately ran toward it without hesitation and knew that the voices were coming from that light.

“What do we do now, sister?” A woman’s voice echoed in the darkness.

“What’s done is done, let’s hope he would go back to his sense,” Another woman’s voice answered and Archie recognized her voice.

“Is that the fire witch from FalCon-1?” Archie asked in his mind. “Am I in FalCon-1? Did Eve bring me there so they can help me?” He continued and kept asking questions in his head.

“Should we leave him be for now? We should do something about her as well?” Another woman’s voice asked and Archie recognized her voice as well.

“Wait, that’s the fire witch from FalCon-3. Am I hearing it right?” Archie asked as he furrowed his forehead and kept running toward the light.

The moment Archie stared at the blinding light in front of him, the voices were getting louder and clearer. He was slowly walking toward it and exposed himself to the light, and the moment his body was fully exposed by the light, his whole body felt like it was being burned.

Archie was sucked in and immediately took control of his body, he was shocked and confused at the same time. He screamed in pain and rolled his eyes back to the front, he looked at all the witches gathering around him and they were all surprised when they heard his scream.

No matter how often Archie was injured and lost his limbs, it couldn’t be compared to what he was feeling at that moment because all the parasites inside his body stopped working. He couldn’t regenerate and reduced the pain that he was feeling, the worse part was that the pain got more intense the more he felt it.

“Archie?!” The eldest fire witch looked at him in disbelief.

Archie stared at the eldest fire witch as he grunted and tried to endure the pain. He couldn’t say a word because of the pain, he wished to be dead at that moment rather than had to suffer from the pain.

“Sister, we need to do something! He’s not looking good and he might die from this!” The water witch from FalCon-3 asked the eldest fire witch.

“There’s nothing we can do, he has to deal with it on his own,” The eldest fire witch replied and kept staring at Archie. “It was my fault, so if they decided to come, I will take full responsibility,” She said as she looked at the other witches.

“Eve…” Archie said weakly and looked at the eldest fire witch.

“Eve is suffering the same thing as you right now,” The eldest fire witch said. “She went to grab this serum to bring you back, but it looks like she got shot by this when she tried to get this,” She continued.

Archie looked at the pit he was in and then he looked at the eldest fire witch as he tried to reach her hand.

“Eve…” Archie said again because he wanted to see Eve.

The eldest fire witch nodded her head and then carried Archie out of the pit. Archie’s skin was sticking onto the eldest witch’s arms but she wasn’t bothered by it.

“Eve…” Archie said as he looked at Eve was struggling on ripping her own flesh and skin.

Eve turned around the moment she heard Archie’s voice, and she looked so happy but her face turned into guilt the moment he saw his condition.

Eve staggered as she walked toward them and when she stood right in front of him, she reached out her arms and took him from the eldest witch’s arms. She carried him carefully even though she was still suffering from the pain, but the moment she held him, the pain wasn’t as painful as seeing him in that condition.

“Hi,” Eve said as she showed her sour smile at him.

Archie couldn’t say anything but he tried his best to smile back at her.

All the witches stared at them and decided to leave them alone on their own, but before they leave, the eldest earth witch created a descend hut made from soil. They all left the moment they gave what those two needed to be protected from harm even though Eve didn’t need those.

A week had passed and the witches were protecting the area from the parasites. They hadn’t seen them left the hut, the wind witches were observing them from outside the hut in case something happened to both of them.

“How are they doing?” The eldest fire witch asked the eldest wind witch who was floating on the edge of the cliff.

“They both are still sleeping. I don’t think they’re going to wake up soon after days of suffering from the serum,” The eldest wind witch answered and stared at the hut in the distance. “I’m worried about Archie because he must be starving right now,”

The other witches were standing behind those two as they stared at the hut.

“What do you think will happen after they both recover from that?” The fire witch asked.

“Who knows, but if a king could be weakened by this serum, then there’s a possibility that the parasites inside their bodies are going to die,” The eldest fire witch answered as she stared at the bottle in her hand. “Whoever made this serum, they need to die because of how powerful this thing is,” She continued as she gripped the bottle so tightly.

While they were staring at the hut a strong wind and blinding light appeared from the sky and descended to the ground in a blink of an eye. All the witches were thrown away all the way to the other side of the forest.

“Cherubim…” Throne said and stared at a woman in all white with six wings on her back.

“Throne…” Cherubim looked at the hut.

“You came as his order as well?” Throne asked.

“Yes, he has spoken and he wanted me to protect her,” Cherubim answered.

“I came to protect this child as well,” Throne said and looked at the hut.