‘How can I see, then?’
His surroundings had changed completely too. It used to be a dreary, endless pitch blackness, yet it was now filled with greenery, ancient trees that were so tall that their leaves covered the skies. The whole place brimmed with life.
“Alex!”
A voice came from behind him. It sounded familiar yet foreign at the same time. Alex turned his head around, his neck crackling from the sudden movement.
The sight of a green skeleton running towards him made him jump.
“Holy sh*t! What the hell is this?”
Alex wanted to run, but he was rather slow. He used to move around with a fleshy body, so running required muscles. Without them, his bones wouldn’t move like he wanted them to. In just a few moments, someone charged at him, and he fell to the ground.
It was the green skeleton, who had lunged towards him and pinned him to the ground, sitting right on top of him…
‘Oh sh*t, from its voice, this skeleton is definitely a woman. Is she going to assault me here?’
‘But…’ He glanced at himself. ‘I don’t even have that thing anymore!’
He wanted to struggle his way out, but his bones wouldn’t heed his command. He panicked and started screaming. “Hey, don’t… Don’t be in such a rush. I don’t even have the right tools to do that now. There’s no use rushing me. Let’s wait till I grow back out and you… You can try again!”
The green skeleton used her boney hand to cover his mouth.
“Don’t scream. It’s me, Mystic Maiden!”
“Huh? Oh hey missy, why… Why did you turn out like this? Your entire body is green, and it’s kind of… Oh, why do we look like this now? Are we dead? Are you dead too?”
“That’s Miss Maiden for you!” Mystic Maiden corrected with a lowered voice. She looked around the place to check if there was any danger around her. “Don’t speak It’s dangerous here. There’s a big guy around.”
Alex was speechless. He couldn’t see anything else except the green skeleton on top of him.
Thus, just a moment later, a roar filled the skies.
Roarrrrr!
With this, everything turned silent.
A hundred meter deep pit lay beside them now. The ‘living fossil’ had been captured by a large golden bird. The bird grabbed it by its scapula and swooshed into the sky, disappearing into the horizon.
“Wh… what is this place?” Alex whispered, still shocked.
“We call this place the Afterworld,” Mystic Maiden replied.
Alex took a while to digest all the information. “Then… Have you seen Daya and the others?”
“Follow me, they’re all here. And we’ve been waiting for you for two years.”
“What?”
“For two whole years?” Alex’s eyes bulged.
‘How could two years have passed?’
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