Mutagen

Day 374 - 12:06 AM - Mountain Back, Lemahkembar Village Ruins, Sumberasih District, Probolinggo Regency, East Java, Indonesia

The night of the day that everyone reached the ruins of Lemahkembar Village had arrived. Since they would continue the journey early tomorrow morning, everyone slept on schedule.

In the darkness of the night, the whole camp was quiet. There were also no guards on the scene. It was because there was no need for everyone to worry about their safety while staying on the back of the giant, mountain-sized turtle.

It was not like there were no guards or lookouts in a literal sense. After all, the golems of Mark's group need no sleep. There were also their pets with a keen sense of danger.

Unfortunately, it was not like everyone was okay.

Inside the tent where Mark, Mei, and their three daughters were supposed to rest, a vague silhouette could be seen moving.

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There, Mei sat on the bedding with a worried frown hidden by the veil of darkness. Her right hand moved as if she had been gently caressing something, and her eyes only looked down and never anywhere else.

On where Mei's eyes landed was Mark, whose head she placed on her lap as his pillow. He had a deep frown while asleep. Even though Mei had been caressing his head, it did not seem to have any effect.

Ever since Mei had met Mark, she knew he had never been a heavy sleeper. Slight movements around him could wake him up, and his uncontrollable [Empath] abilities made it worse for his sleep.

But since a few days ago, Mei found something new about Mark.

Mark slept deeper when having nightmares.

The situation was just like what was happening at the moment. Even though Mei woke up, moved near his head, and lifted his head onto her lap, Mark did not show any sign of waking up.

It was because Mark was in a deep sleep due to a nightmare he was currently having.

And Mei knew what nightmare Mark was likely having. It was because Mark did not hide it from here, or rather, he could not hide the fact that something was happening.

Unfortunately, there was nothing Mei could do but stay beside him in this situation.

It was because Mark would not wake up unless he did on his own.

***

"Why? Why are you doing this?!"

A woman with a plant-like skin asked in despair while being caged in a dark place.

***

"You monster! Give my family back!"

A burly man with bull-like horns shouted in anger as he tried to break free from his shackles.

***

"I will kill you! I swear I will kill you!"

A young man with snow-white skin and pointy ears roared his curses as the doors of his prison closed tightly.

***

The scenes blurred and changed incoherently. Different cries of anger and despair echoed with every scene.

Yet, the recipient of such words filled with emotions remained unperturbed, if not utterly dissatisfied.

As he held his tools, he did various things. Dissecting creatures in various states of living, studying their body compositions, extracting their essence, fiddling with their souls, and countless other nefarious acts.

Despite the man's disregard towards other's lives, or maybe even his own, he was still unsatisfied.

The man could not reach his goal. He could not find what was missing.

"This is not enough..."

The man... no... Mark... murmured.

"I should get more specimens."

Mark said as he put down his tools, aiming to go outside his laboratory.

Then, he soared in the sky by constantly pushing his body using [Telekinesis].

Days passed like that. Mark was searching for the perfect subject for his experiments.

It was when he found a tribe of humans. He was not interested in them in the slightest.

But then, Mark saw a pair of siblings with high purity of [Spirit] bloodline despite being humans.

It was when Mark knew he found the perfect specimens.

But as Mark was about to capture the two...

"STOP!"

A panicked shout of a child entered his ears as he felt a strong tug on the cloak he was wearing.

Mark turned his head behind him. There, he saw a strange, ghost-like child. But for some reason, the girl did not get his attention at all. He immediately turned around to continue what he was about to do.

"I said! STOP! You aren't that monster! Don't get consumed!"

That was what Mark heard last before his body received an impact that was so strong that he fell from the sky like a meteor and created a nuclear bomb-sized crater.

At the moment of the impact with the ground, the scene blurred.

And the next thing Mark saw was darkness.

***

"Gege?"

Mei's voice entered Mark's ears as he looked up and saw her face looking at him from above his head,

"Again, huh..."

Mark murmured as he tried to get up.

However, he felt a strong, painful sensation on his back. As Mark touched his back, there was nothing wrong with it. It might just be an imaginary pain that came as a result of suddenly being woken up from a nightmare.

Mark then glanced at his daughters. It seems they were sleeping nicely. Even Miracle, who did not need sleep, had already adapted to a human's proper lifestyle.

"Should we take a short walk?"

Mark asked Mei, and she nodded.

The two then sneakily went out of the tent to bask in the cold darkness of the night.

"Are you okay? It looked worse this time."

Mei grabbed Mark's hand and asked.

"Except for a little bit of psychogenic pain, I think I'm fine," Mark replied as he tightened his hand around Mei's. "Azra's always asleep, but she's pretty active when waking me up from those nightmares. But it seems she overdid it a bit this time."

Mark checked his subconscious world a little. There, Azra was asleep as per usual. Yet, during his nightmares, it was Azra who always woke Mark up.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do but wait until it passes," Mark said as he led Mei to a nearby boulder to sit down. "It's just one of the consequences of my actions."

Back during the battle against the Deities of Auraboros, Magwayen warned Mark about letting souls into his body. However, Mark did not listen as he sheltered the corrupted souls inside his body to weaken the enemy.

Now, the lingering emotions and memories of those souls, along with the fragmented memories Mark absorbed from the Deity of Soul Sacrifice, began haunting Mark's sleep. It began recreating scenarios from the memories and created nightmares where Mark had to relive the experiences of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice.

It sure was an unpleasant experience. Luckily, just like every nightmare, the memories of the nightmare would become blurry and fade until forgotten. Of course, it was until Mark decided to dig the memories up once again within his subconscious memories.

Mei leaned on Mark's shoulder while they sat on the boulder.

"Gege should stop doing dangerous things. Seriously."

Mei spoke with a pleading tone. It was not the first time. In most fights they had experienced, Mark would go trying strange and possibly dangerous things. In some of those cases, he experienced unexpected effects. Yet, he failed to learn anything and would always try new and dangerous things.

"I can't promise that, unfortunately," Mark replied with a sigh. "There are still other enemies out there where we don't know if the usual methods will work. In that case, we can only try new things, even with the danger accompanying it."

Mei stared at Mark without responding to Mark's words. She understood what he was saying. Even so, she could only wish that such things would not happen.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sounds of sluggish footsteps echoed behind Mark and Mei. As they turned their heads to the source, they saw a girl walking towards them.

"She's also outside again..."

Mei could not help but say.

It was not the first time this girl was outside in the middle of the night.

Without saying anything, the girl approached the two before sitting between them and snuggling to the two.

"At times like this, she behaves like Sellarea."

Mark could not help but remark as he patted the half-sleep girl's head.

Mei also did not mind and hugged the girl, making her feel warm.

It was not long after another pair of steps was heard.

"Uhm... Is she there again?"

The owner of the voice, the purple-haired leader of the Moon Chasers, Luna, spoke with a sigh.

Mark and Mei then showed Amisha, now asleep, while snuggling between them like a small animal.

"Once again, sorry about this."

Luna apologized. It was not the first time, after all. The previous times, Amisha would go out in the middle of the night and sleep where Mark was, whether it was their tent or the workshop.

And now that Mark and Mei were sitting on the boulder, Amisha also came there to sleep.

"There's no problem."

Mark shrugged Luna's apology.

"Haahh..." Luna sighed as she picked up Amisha and carried the girl into her arms. "Why are you doing this, you brat... Are you looking for your father's warmth?"

Those words were asked without receiving an answer. Luna bowed her head slightly as a gesture before leaving with her niece to go back to their tent.

"Is Amisha really the [Inheritor] here in Indonesia?"

Mei asked Mark.

"I can't be mistaken," Mark answered. "Val'Flora's first report said that one of the crystals was here, meaning that there were witness accounts of it. However, Alston had no profile of the [Inheritor] of that crystal since no one found out who it was. In that case, it was highly possible that no one witnessed the crystal entering Amisha's body since it was in the middle of the night.

Furthermore, since it happened seven years ago, Amisha was too young back then to actually realize it."

"What made it even harder to determine is the fact that..." Mark added with a sigh... "Sellarea's crystal is heavily damaged even back in Eriellis. It's likely why Amisha wasn't able to manifest its abilities. Even so, when she's not aware of it, Amisha is displaying some of Sellarea's habits."

"Like snuggling beside you?"

Mei asked.

"Yeah," Mark shrugged. "To be exact, snuggling beside Freed. You can say that Freed is her father figure. After all, Ellarea's just eleven during the final fight in Eriellis before its destruction. Just like Keeper, Ellarea had no parents. Freed was the first person to show her what it's like to have something like a father.

And that snuggling thing is the result."

"To reach the final battle... Is her ability strong?"

Mei asked while glancing at Luna's tent.

"Not at all. You can even say that it's weak without any fighting capabilities. But without Sellarea... things would have been harder for Freed and his companions."

Mark then explained.

"Sellarea's ability is similar to what Elise displayed during your battle a few days ago. It's also similar to some of my [Empath] abilities."

"Really?"

Mei asked, remembering Elise's manifested ability, which shielded everyone from the psychological effects of the Night Goddess' presence.

"Yeah, but not exactly the same," Mark shook his head. "Elise's ability channels her emotions to people around her. Just like what I had said before, Elise is my [Empath] abilities' complete opposite. But I also had my [Emotion Induction], which allows me to implant emotions I absorbed onto my targets. On the other hand, Ellarea's ability did not require her own emotions.

She can freely control the emotions of her targets. Her abilities allowed Freed and the others to fight without fear despite the adversity. She's pretty much the pillar that kept the last order of knights mentally intact despite all the absurdities they experienced."

"That's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

Mei remarked.

"Yeah," Mark agreed. "But it's also an ability that is dangerous to fall into the hands of bad people. After all, it's pretty much direct brainwashing. Even with its limitations where it can only cause positive emotions, it could be used to command an armed army without fear."

"I guess that's true."

Mei nodded, understanding the dangers of the ability currently sleeping inside Amisha.

"But since it's that girl, it should be fine. There's no need to take it."

Mark decided.

After the talk under the night sky, the two went back to their tent. Of course, it was for Mei to take a good rest. As for Mark, he had already lost interest in trying to go back to sleep.

And the next few nights of Mark and Mei would be spent like this.

***

The next few days were quite uneventful. There were the usual stops to scavenge, but there were no major threats or issues.

And after a long journey on the back of a mountain-sized turtle, they finally reached the eastern coast.

From there, across the Bali Sea, they could see the silhouette of the Island of Bali on the horizon.

-Volume End-

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