HALF: Dead nor Alive

Eve was surprised that Archie recovered his whole body in a week even though she was sure it would take him two weeks. He was asleep for five days straight and she was watching the process of the regeneration, it was fascinating that she wanted to take the ability from him, but she didn’t.

Eve looked at Archie and thought that it might be because of his regeneration ability from the parasite that kept growing and evolving. She believed that one day, Archie wouldn’t be able to die even if his heart or head was taken from him.

“Eve? Are you listening?” Archie asked as he stared at Eve with his eyebrows raised and stretched his arms.

“No, I was amazed and confused about your regeneration ability, I was deep in thought,” Eve answered as she looked at Archie’s body. “What were you saying?” She asked.

Archie sat down next to Eve because he wasn’t fully recovered since his body was sore and it felt like his body would fall off if he moved too much.

“I’m saying that the Adam that lives on that island is dangerous because he has the ability to make anyone hallucinate,” Archie said as he looked at the island and played with the sand. “The witch believed that it was because of the weird-looking flowers, but I don’t think that’s the case here,”

“I have seen and encountered a parasite that could do something like that,” Eve replied and stared at what Archie was drawing on the sand.

“Oh? How do you fight it? If you tell me how to deal with the hallucination, I think I will be able to defeat him,” Archie asked and looked at Eve with curiosity.

“I said that I encountered one, I didn’t say that I defeat the parasite since it ran away before I could do anything,” Eve answered and stared back at Archie. “How about you lure him away from the flowers and see if it’s really because of the flowers?”

“I was up high on the tree over there and I shouldn’t be affected by the hallucination because I was far away from the flowers,” Archie explained as he pointed at the tree and saw how tall the tree was.

“Then maybe it came from the tree?” Eve asked.

Archie let out a big sigh. “Alright, I will try your plan then,” Archie said and sounded a bit disappointed with the answer.

“You should be fine as long as the parasites inside your body is fully recovered and they should be able to do something more than what you know,” Eve said with a smile on her face. “Let’s spend a week training with me on this island before you decided on fighting the Adam. What do you think? I believe you can defeat him once you know what the parasites inside your body are capable of,” Eve explained.

“Yeah, that would be great. I was planning to ask you that as well since you’re here,” Archie replied as he nodded his head. “We haven’t really trained together and I haven’t had the chance to go all out ever since that fight against the King-type parasite when I left the Eastern Nation,”

Eve chuckled softly and looked at Archie. “Should I go all out as well?” Eve asked.

“As long as you don’t kill me, I think that’s fine by me,” Archie answered as he laughed nervously.

A week had passed, and Archie had fully recovered and decided to go hunt for food while he tested the changes in his body. One thing that he noticed was that his body had become warmer than usual as if he was having a fever even though he wasn’t.

The wind witch had been observing the Borneo island and she didn’t see any movement from the Adam. She could sense the Adam with the winds around the giant tree, she believed that the Adam knew about her presence but he decided to ignore her.

“Are you ready for the spar?” Eve asked as she walked toward Archie who was done eating his food.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Archie nodded his head as he wiped the blood on his mouth and cheeks. “I think we should go to another island because I don’t want him to know about this,”

“Fine by me, there’s an island that might suit for the occasion,” Eve replied as she pointed at one of the islands in front of her. “That one over there,”

Archie nodded with understanding and he formed the wings on his back, but when he did that, Eve looked at him with a mild shock on her face. He was confused and then looked at his wings, he himself was shocked when he saw the wings were so big and wide like dragon wings.

“Wow, it looks like the parasites are ready for whatever you want to do. That’s good to know,” Eve said with a smile on her face. “Well, I don’t want to lose to you so I will show mine,”

Eve spread her wings and it was beautiful because it was nothing like anything else. It looked like angel wings that he read about in the book after he encountered Throne. Eve’s wings were white and they had feathers but when he looked at them, they were made of soft skin.

“I can see that you’re amazed by it. These wings, I copied it from Cherubim, beautiful, isn’t it?” Eve said as she rubbed the wings and it looked like the wings were soft. “Anyway, let’s go,”

Eve jumped into the air and flew so quickly that Archie blinked once and Eve was already far away.

They landed on the island that Eve pointed at, it was a small island that could only fit a football stadium. Archie looked around and there were only a few trees on the island, the ground was covered with dirt and dried grass. It was a perfect place for a spar because there were no obstacles.

Archie immediately unsheathed his sword and swing it around because he had to adjust his grip and strength. Eve, on the other hand, spread her wings open as if she was challenging him and ready to beat him up.

Archie flapped his wings to give him a boost because he had been training with it while Eve was unconscious. He moved so swiftly that Eve was amazed by how fast the movement speed that she had to fully pay attention to him.

Eve dodged all the attacks that Archie threw at her because the sword could hurt her and didn’t want to get hurt by it. She slowly took control of the fight and started to push Archie back with her claws and wings.

“Where did you learn how to fight, Eve?” Archie asked as he blocked her sharp claws that had scratched his skin off. “Nevermind, you have been living for hundreds of years,”

Eve chuckled. “You should pay attention to your surroundings rather than asking a question,” Eve said and then swung her right wing at Archie’s face and cut his left cheek open then stabbed him with her left hand on the chest.

Archie coughed blood but he suddenly grabbed Eve’s arm as he transformed himself into a parasite. Eve watched him grow bigger and she was surprised when she couldn’t pull her hand back.

“Nice try,” Eve said, and then she grabbed Archie’s left hand with her right hand. “You think I would back away?” Eve asked then threw him to the side so easily.

Eve watched Archie roll over to the edge of the island as she fixed her hair. She flew toward him and saw he was still laying on the ground and didn’t move a muscle.

“What’s wrong? Have enough already?” Eve asked as she walked toward Archie with a smile on her face.

Archie started to move his fingers and slowly pulled himself up, he groaned but his voice became deeper like a parasite. When Eve saw Archie’s body keep growing bigger and bigger, she started to get worried until she looked him in the eye which make her look so scared.

Eve immediately dashed forward and flew above the ground toward Archie. She kicked him in the chest and pushed him down to the ground so hard that the ground was shattered.

Eve transformed her wings into needle-like wings so that each finger on her wings could move freely. She stabbed his shoulder, arms, wrists, hands, thighs, knees, ankles, and feet while she stabbed her claws onto his chest.

“Archie!” Eve screamed as she stared at him with a panicked expression. “Can you hear me?! Come back!” Eve screamed her lungs out as if she was calling him from somewhere deep inside his body.

Archie’s vision went black and his body felt so light, he didn’t know what happen the moment he turned himself into a parasite. He suddenly saw a light that came from in front of him, he approached the light, and then he was bewildered when he saw Eve screaming at him from a small window like how it was back then.

“No, it can’t be,” Archie said to himself. “I don’t want this to happen again,”