Undead (Part 1)

The camp lasted for the rest of the day. Bonfires to smoked meat. The party was fierce. Smiles, laughter, jokes, screams, kisses.

Mel sat at the back of the party. Axel sat next to her. The two watched from a single log on the edge of the woods. They sat silently until nighttime turned them into silhouettes. They sat until the moon rose high. She turned to him.

"Axel, about your eye. I have a theory." (Mel)

"A theory... Eye... Evil..." (Axel)

Mel watched the party. She looked at Axel. She looked at his height. His inches over her. She looked at his stern face, his focus on the enemy in front of him.

"You talked about a mission remember? It was a week ago. You talked about some horsemen you needed to kill." (Mel)

He snapped out of his trance.

"Oh... Yeah yeah. It was all in a memory, and I can barely remember it now." (Axel)

"It's fine. You don't have to remember it. I just wanted to confirm something with-" (Mel)

"A theory..." (Axel)

He held his head tight. He took off the star covered cloth and tossed it to the ground. He covered both his eyes. The Curse and Harmony. The light and dark.

He fell farther and farther.

His mind turning to mush.

The white scythe. The-

"The man dyed red." (Axel)

"A man dyed red? Are you remembering something?" (Mel)

He remembered more. The vast emptiness of the world. The silent stalking sounds from the darkness below. The bodies upon bodies.

"Thousands died. So my punishment was a thousand years." (Axel)

"What are you saying? What's happening to you, Axel? Is this a dream?" (Mel)

He fell farther and farther into his head. The memories falling deeper and deeper. Disappearing faster and faster. Erased, destroyed, lost, taken, his eyes.

"The golden-eyed- Gabriel-" (Axel)

He had fallen.

Mel grabbed Axel, but Axel grew limp falling back from the log and onto the ground. Mel jumped with him, catching him, holding him in her arms. She grabbed his hands and pried them from his eyes. His silver eye released back to the world.

He woke up to a world an inch apart. An inch apart. Mel's face an inch apart from his. His face an inch away from hers.

"Can you-" (Mel)

"What... Are you doing?" (Axel)

She dramatically realized where she was, how close she was to him. She pushed herself away and slid a foot in the opposite direction, stuffing her face in the ground.

"You shouldn't have woken me up, I was almost there I could see something on the other side." (Axel)

"What! I thought there was something wrong with you. Your body went all limp and I thought you were gonna. Explode." (Mel)

"What? Explode? No I was... I was... I can't remember. I can't remember a thing. All I have is this feeling. Like I unlocked something. But I can't remember anything." (Axel)

He leaned forward. His face in deep thought, trying to recall what had just happened.

Mel looked with confusion. Trying to process the situation and the words he was blurting out in random.

"I'm confused? Are you saying that you found something in your memories?" (Mel)

He fell into deeper thought. Trying to piece together the puzzle. The mysterious words that went through his head, the thousands of years that flashed in seconds, the thousands of years erased in seconds.

"No no... I... I think I found something else. Someone else." (Axel)

"Huh?" (Mel)

---

"Mike it's not working." (Hike)

"What do you mean not working? It should always work." (Mike Yellow)

Hike pulled out a small purple crystal and pointed it at Axel who sat on the other side of the party.

"Look look. There's no reaction." (Hike)

The purple crystal stayed purple stayed the same.

"Is he not from here?" (Mike Yellow)

"No. That wouldn't be possible. It just means... It's hard to say this but... If the crystal didn't connect to him then he doesn't have any energy." (Hike)

"But that's not possible? Everyone has energy." (Mike Yellow)

Wendy popped into the conversation.

"Actually not everyone has energy. if someone were to extract or use up all their energy they wouldn't have any left. But the price would be death, or to be cursed." (Wendy)

"Then is he cursed?" (Mike Yellow)

Wendy looked at his pristine tall figure.

"No, he doesn't look cursed. If he was cursed then he would be a giant blob of black goo. I'd say he has such little energy that the crystal can't pick up his Harmony." (Wendy)

Mike grinned.

"So he's a weakling?" (Mike Yellow)

"Yeah. A weakling. But that girl next to him. She's strong. A stronger magician than me." (Wendy)

"Then we're gonna have to postpone our plans." (Mike Yellow)

He turned to Hike.

"Is it ready?" (Mike Yellow)

"I've never tried it on someone this weak, but it won't hurt to try." (Hike)

Mike stood up large and proud. His arms in a gigantic hug, screaming to the sky. He danced for the rest of the night.

"He's drunk." (Wendy)

"Yeah." (Hike)

---

On the edge of the Orange Sea. A desert spanning miles in all directions, a wasteland of crisp burnt trees and dried up bushes. An empty wasteland, pure orange sand for all sides, any way you went.

Nothing lives in the Orange Sea. Nothing survives in the Orange Sea.

The group reached the edge of the empty sea. Mike stood at the front of the group leading the way.

"No time for stopping everyone! We will march in the day and hold out through the night. And stay on guard while we traverse. Don't get split up." (Mike)

Mel and Axel walked in the back of the pack. Gen walked next to them with her heavy backpack strapped tight to her arched back.

"Gen are you ok with them treating you like that? She hit you, poured dirt on you?" (Mel)

Gen smiled, she looked at the C and B-Ranks marching in front of her. She shook it off, her eyes glaring with resentment and self-hatred. She looked at Axel. She looked at his face. His eye. The cloth wrapped across his right eye. She smiled. She remembered yesterday. When he picked her up. She smiled. She regained a small ounce of confidence.

"It's what Wendy said yesterday. I have to work harder, I have to be perfect. It's how this world works, you should know that Mel. If I don't try hard and if I don't look to the future I won't be promoted. You know what I mean Mel? You know what's coming up right?" (Gen)

Mel looked down in disgust, in hatred.

"Yeah it's that time of year, isn't' it?" (Mel)

A long gust of wind fell across the Orange Sea. Sand tornadoes, blankets of dust, and small particles. Mel raised her silver coin to the air. She crossed her two pointer fingers. A small bubble formed around her body.

"Reirrab." (Mel)

The bubble grew bigger and bigger. A small barrier formed around Mel, Axel, and Gen. The falling sand bounced off of it like water droplets on an umbrella. But the rain started getting faster. Started hitting harder. Soon the rain turned to hail, then to a storm. Eventually, the surrounding Adventures were invisible in the strong orange fog.

"It's just an orange sand storm. Everyone else should be fine. I heard they look dangerous but they are actually harmless." (Gen)

Mel turned serious. Her face remembering a past memory.

"Gen, are you really gonna participate in the Promotion Trials?" (Mel)

"Yeah, it's in a week from now. Are participating, Mel? Are you an Adventurer? You're strong and your Harmony is insane! You could easily be a B-Rank-" (Gen)

She stood silently, her eyes masked in the shadow of the dark. Minutes passed. The sand storm slowly dissipated. Mel released her fingers, she released the barrier, the bubble, her Harmony. The floating silver coin fell in her hand. The barrier fell like a curtain, the sand fell like rain. The bodies fell-

Three dead Adventurers. Three C-Ranks dead. A Healer, a Tank, a Magician.

Nothing survives in the Orange Sea.

"Monsters!" (C-Rank Adventurer)

"Everyone quickly, group up with me!" (Mike Yellow)

"Now it's time for action!" (Axel)

Axel stepped forward. His grinning smile against the death and blood, the mush and black dirt. Mel grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.

"Gen get behind me! You too Axel! This isn't your fight to fight. It's theirs." (Mel)

The four B-Ranks and four C-Ranks stood over the puddles of muddy blood. The orange sand dyed dark red. Mike pulled his short sword from his sheath and pointed it to the invisible distance.

"Come out here now, Monster! There is no hiding anymore! Your sand trick won't work twice! We will avenge our fallen brothers!" (Mike Yellow)

Silence.

Axel stepped back. His silver eye watching close. He saw the connection, the care, the feeling of disappointment, the hatred in his eyes. He saw Mike's conflicted heart. The good and the evil. Empathy and Hatred. Two sides of the same coin.

He looked at the dead bodies, the three dead bodies in the orange sand. His smile disappeared.

---

Empathy or Hatred. Which do you choose?

Empathy.

Wrong!

Then I chose Hatred.

Wrong!

Then what do I choose?

"Death defiance life." (Gabriel)