Training as a Slime (95)

"Meeeeeeehhhhhh Meeeeeeehhhhhh", chirped the giraffe-like lamb perched on the tree. The animal fluffed its silvery white wings against the backdrop of the luminous moon.

"What the hell is that?" Sky asked.

"That animal is a lambchop" Cori answered. "Don't you guys have an observation skill that shows details of everything?" he asked the gang.

The rest shook their head.

"You're like the walking encyclopedia," Gate said.

"Lambchop sounds delicious... is it edible?" Shanson asked.

"Erm, it's a protected species. According to the system, it's rumoured to taste like chicken," Cori answered much to Shanson's delight, whose eyes immediately lit up. 

"Oei, protected species. It's a protected species, you can't eat that," Gate jabbed Shanson in the stomach.

"Here, you can have this instead," Cori passed a fasting pill to Shason. Thinking it was some sort of sweet, Shanson grabbed the pill and popped it in his mouth without hesitation.

"Anyway, now that everyone has gathered here, let's figure this thing out between us. Who we are on Earth. Where we used to live and how we ended up here," Sky suggested.

Gate was not the least surprised by Sky's revelation.

"So let me start first. I am a 30-year-old man, making a living selling properties. On the day I was diagnosed with a brain tumour, so I went drinking and ended on the wrong side of the pathway and got hit by a truck. The next moment I woke up, I became a baby slime with two loving parents," Sky narrated.

"You got hit by a truck too?" Cori asked.

"Me too!" Shanson added in. "I was snorkelling and I saw a truck coming towards me. I was so stunned I swear I drowned before it hit me!"

"Even underwater? That's crazy." "Why am I not surprised..." "Who is he for them to go after him so hard?" They thought.

Meimei raised her hand meekly, "I fled from my wedding and I got involved in a truck accident making my escape... I was brought to a white room and there was a god who blessed me with skills. Then I pretty much blacked out and woke up as a baby slime in the arms of the tribal chieftain."

"I was rushing home after exams, I did not see the red light and the truck rammed into me. Then I woke up as a baby slime in the middle of a kitchen struggling to do things myself. I then found out a god occupied my body and is living my life," Cori recalled.

Gate, "It was my 13th birthday. I was helping my parents to buy cigerrates and alcohol at the corner store. I was paying for the things with the salary from my work but i guess they don't matter anymore after the truck sent me flying in the store."

With the bright blue moon ascending across the skies, a flock of lambchops galloped across the starry skies and back to their nests.

"Wow, you don't see that every day," Sky exclaimed, momentarily mesmerised by nature, "So we were all involved in traffic accidents, I guess that makes sense."

"No, it doesn't make sense. People die in accidents, it means we are probably dead on Earth," Gate rebuked.

"Not necessarily, someone took over my body and my life," Cori calmly interjected.

"Maybe the truck was special, it only sends souls to a different world. Iseikai they called it," Shanson added. "I can't imagine working part-time to support your family at 13."

"It's common where I'm from, don't worry about it," Gate consoled.

"Which country and year are you from?" Cori asked, suspecting something amiss.

"The states. 1930," Gate.

"Wow... I'm not sure if you're lucky or unlucky. I sure would not want to be back in the 1930s," Sky marvelled, "By the way, I'm from Thailand 2014."

"I'm from Wales. 2024," Cori.

"2011 Ethiopia," Shanson.

"Atlantis...sorry I can't recall which year I'm from," Meimei shyly said.

"I knew Atlantis was real, just like Santa!" Gate remarked with childlike wonder.

"From where I am from, it's extinct. What is it like?" Cori asked.

"It's a metropolis and a party city," Meimei answered meekly. "We're known as the country that never sleeps. I think you are referring to a different reality, in my reality our country survived the great cataclysm," she revealed.

"I'm from Eo and it's time to sleep Master," Alice added peeping out of the bag.

"Is that a smartphone?" Sky asked.

"Not really. This is Alice," Cori answered.

"The same Alice in the castle?" Meimei asked.

"I supposed so," Cori answered.

Alice, "That couldn't be, there is only one of me. I'm unique in this world."

"She claimed that she travelled back in time," Cori answered hoping that Alice had a clue on what was happening.

"..." Alice stayed silent as if calculating the possibilities. "It's not impossible... but I have to meet this Alice."

"Won't it cause a space-time paradox?" Cori asked.

"What is space-time paradox?" Gate asked.

"It means space-time travel is contradictory. If an event is changed by a time traveller in the past, the future where the time traveller was would have not existed. Which means the time traveller could not existed in the first place," Sky explained.

"Unless it was an item so insignificant that it won't make much of a difference," Alice explained.

"Or... uhm.. if it was just a parallel universe traveller. In Atlantis, we travel to an alternate parallel universe so our current universe won't be affected. Hmm.. like, several similar universes are functioning concurrently at different time-wavelengths with the same outcome. Parallel world travellers often visit different periods based on the relevant parallel universe. And because changes take time to settle, parallel world travellers usually have a time limit in the other universe before returning to their home universe. And uh... once the outcome changes, that universe's reality will shift to align with another parallel universe. So it is fundamental to return home so they won't be stuck in one universe," Meimei explained softly.

"Which means that Alice from the future is here to change a certain outcome and would not be able to return to her universe?" Cori asked.

"Exactly, since parallel universes with the same outcomes are grouped together. Eventually, when the outcome is changed, it will leave the boundary to join another group with the same outcome, " Meimei answered.

"Does it mean, even if we find a way to return home, it might not be the same home universe anymore?" Cori questioned aggressively.

"Maybe... but since there seemed to be a higher power involved, it is hard to say," Meimei answered with an unsure tone.

Gate threw a bunch of ground powder into the bonfire. The flames cackled with golden sparks. "That's a lot to absorb, shall we start the barbeque?" Gate asked.

"I got some food as a reward from the duchess tonight," Cori happily took out a bunch of delicacies.

Shanson on the other hand was not as enthusiastic, "Oddly, I don't feel that hungry anymore, what did you give me Cori?"

"Erm, fasting pill," Cori gave a naughty smirk.

"Wow, it's super effective," Shanson was astonished, "but so much good food..."

"Here, take a bag in case you need it in the future," Cori said, dangling the glass container in front of Shanson.

"Thanks, and how long will the effect last?" he asked.

"1 day," Cori answered. Shanson's face blackened.

"Marshmellow and hot chocolate?" Gate interrupted.

The group cheered and feasted under the dark stars, with the cooling breeze marking the end of An Chéadaoin.