Search (2)

Mendell carefully plodded the forest grounds as he passed by the many pine trees scattered throughout the forest. Different chirping sounds and moans reverberated across the area, indicating the presence of wildlife roaming within the vicinity. Even then, he continued walking as he searched for his family's whereabouts, marking arrow signs on the tree barks so as not to get lost. He even set-up stones as trail signs. He knew he had to do even the smallest things to help increase the odds of surviving the night.

He kept on walking until he reached a river. "Well, at least I can follow the water as I search for them." He inserted a large pole with a red flag near a boulder, securing it properly so it would not stumble. When he was done, he sensed that his phone alarm vibrated and checked it out. "5 PM. Never expected that it took me almost two hours to reach this place. No wonder it's getting darker. But there's no safe place inside this forest so I might as well continue with my search."

Even though it was dark, he could still see his path so he opted to save the flashlight's batteries. Slowly, he walked by the riverside, his eyes glancing at every corner from time to time. With the still silence, he could hear every sound within the forest. The rustling leaves created eerie music that brought chills to his spine.

"Fuck! What did I put myself into?" Mendell gripped his knife sharply as he calmed himself. He was about to continue walking when he saw something just beside the rocks. There were two herbs - red and green. He opened his knapsack and took out the mortar and pestle he brought from his house. Luckily, these herbs were easy to mix and even the civilians could easily do them. With the use of his knife, he carefully pulled out the herbs and placed it inside the mortar. He ground this with the help of the pestle until it became fine powder and transferred it into a wide-mouthed bottle. He then secured it all inside his bag. When he realized that he was getting hungry, he took out two apples, a chocolate bar, and a water bottle. After eating, he rested for a few minutes before he started walking again.

He kept on his search when he realized that his alarm buzzed off again. "Time goes by so fast...never expected that an hour has passed by already." He persisted once again, picking up the herbs he saw on his path until he noticed that there was a human figure standing several meters away from where he was. At once, he crouched and made his way to the nearest tree and hid. He peeked and observed that the man was still standing like a frozen statue. Knowing that no sane man would act like that while inside this dark forest, he did not dare call out this unknown person and considered him as dangerous. He wanted to take advantage of the light reflected from the river to save his batteries but that 'thing' was preventing him to do so.

Mendell picked up a stone and hurled it in the opposite direction. The unknown man followed the sound and started walking as he made growling sounds.

Even though he was far away, he could hear the grating growls, which reminded him of something - the humanoid monsters he saw in his dream.

Mendell's heartbeat went faster as he realized something, which made him shudder. Even then, he needed to confirm if his suspicion was right. He had to see this man's appearance. Wondering if he had to wait for tomorrow to do this, he heard cawing sound just above him. When he looked up, he saw a silhouette of a bird swooping down toward him.

At once, his fighting instinct activated, just like what happened yesterday when he confronted the criminal back in the RPD area. Even though he could not see where his assailant was, his instinct could somehow observe its whereabouts like he had a third eye or something. He dodged to the right and swung his knife, and felt that he had hit his target, which crashed on the ground.

Since the bird was creating a lot of noise, he knew it was useless for him to be discreet with his actions. He turned the flashlight on and saw its true appearance - it was a mutated crow. When he noticed that it was still moving, he struck it with his knife, first on the chest, then on the head. Not contented, he severed its head off.

Mendell heard the growling sound became louder, which he suspected to be coming from the unknown man. He pointed the flashlight to where the unknown man was and finally saw his true appearance.

The body was almost rotten, its stomach was wide open as if something was gorged out of it. Its skin was bluish, with open wounds all over its body. The other eye was nonexistent while its remaining eye was staring at him like a dead fish.

Indeed, his guess was correct. This was similar to the humanoid monsters he dreamt back then, whom they called zombies. He wasted no time because he knew that his situation was getting awry.

He looked around and saw a tree branch good enough for whacking things while keeping a safe distance. He opened his bag and took out Menetrio's head flashlight and wore it on his head, making sure that its straps were tightly secured. Then, he returned his other flashlight inside his bag and carried it on his back. He secured his swiss knife back to his secret pocket to free both of his hands. When he was done, he picked up the tree branch, which was heavy enough to bash things. He stood in a fighting stance, waiting for the zombie to arrive.

It was only two meters away from him when the zombie suddenly lunged forward as it opened its mouth. Mendell dodged to the left and swung the tree branch like a baseball bat, hitting its right leg.

The zombie stumbled and hugged the ground with its open arms. Mendell followed it up by bashing its head. Again. And again. And again. Until its head was cracked wide open. He did not want to take any chances so he continued hitting it two more times. Then he waited, poking it from time to time to determine if it would rise again.

When he knew that the monster was truly dead, he exhaled deeply. His face was covered with sweat due to the intense fight but he knew that this would not be the last time to encounter this monstrosity. After resting just enough for his strength to come back, he stood up and whispered to himself, "I think I have to wait for tomorrow to take advantage of the sun." He was about to set up his tent when he heard mechanical whirring sounds coming from above. He turned off the head flashlight and looked up. There he saw a helicopter.

He remembered the time when he was inside the RPD. "Are they the cops deployed by the RPD to do the search and rescue mission?"

When he thought that he could rest, his head throbbed in pain, its intensity increased as time passed by. He took out his handkerchief from his pocket, rolled it into a ball, and bit it to avoid screaming. He unconsciously knelt on the ground due to the agony as he held his head, his eyes even shedding tears. Then, his vision dimmed and he became unconscious.

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"This dream again..." Mendell whispered to himself, this time he knew that it was more troublesome than the previous ones because his current body was still inside the dangerous forest. He knew he had no choice but to go through the script to get this over with and stood still, waiting for the black portal to shine. Several minutes had passed but nothing happened. "Well, somehow this is different."

He knew the ins and outs of his dream so he realized something was up when the expected scene did not happen. Curious, he attempted to move his right hand and was surprised that he was able to do so. Then, he raised his left hand and moved his feet. He could indeed control his body. He was about to touch the portal when he heard the familiar voice behind him.

"Hah! So happy to move again?"

Mendell turned around and true enough, he saw his older doppelganger, this time wearing the very clothes he wore today. Alarmed, he stepped backward and stood in a fighting stance, saying, "Who are you?"

"I'm you," he replied and grinned.

Somehow Mendell understood why this person grinned and frowned. "You're making fun of me, right?"

"Hah! You do know me because I'm you."

Mendell somehow had an inkling suspicion in his heart that what he was saying was correct. Even then, he requested, "Please explain."

The other Mendell nodded and started talking, "You see. Your world is one of the alternate versions of our planet called Earth. The Ancient Legend, the alien invader, wanted to destroy the original Earth - the world I live in - but humanity was able to prevent him from doing so. Even though we won, albeit poorly, the Ancient Legend was able to control our power cores and energy source, making our lives miserable. But humanity was intelligent so we're able to find his weakness, the Sherring Crystals. Its origins are unknown but they appeared at the same time the Ancient Legend was revived. The Ancient Legend tried destroying the Crystals but he failed. He even attempted to blast it outside Earth but some barrier was preventing him from doing so. Therefore, he created alternate Earths, of which one of these is your world, to hide these crystals to prevent us from gathering them."

"Are you saying that our world could be destroyed by the Ancient Legend any time since he's the one who created it?"

The older Mendell shook his head. "No. After all, he used the original Earth's power core to create you. In short, if our world goes kaboom, then your world goes kablam. But not the other way around. And I should emphasize that only one Chronicler can exist at any given time in a particular world because the alternate Earth will reset back to its earliest timeline and they both die."

"Then how are we gonna find this Sherring Crystal?"

"That is the work of a Chronicler like you. Like me. Like us. To reach your world, as any Chroniclers would do, I needed to sacrifice a part of my soul with the help of this godly machine - the black portal. This soul then will travel across the alternate Earth, capturing the body of a fetus that is most compatible with me. Regardless of how your parents look like, the baby will grow up and have my appearance. But there's a problem. Because of a side-effect, your memory was hidden inside your subconscious, and the only means to regain it is to trigger certain events."

Mendell knew what he was talking about and remarked, "So, the trigger was this forest and the zombies..."

"Correct. And since we're connected, if I die, you die. If you die, then I'll die as well. That's the risk I have to take once I decided to become a Chronicler."

"How do I know that you're telling me the truth?"

The older Mendell sneered. "You know exactly if I'm telling the truth or not."

Mendell understood what he was talking about because he felt that his soul was truly connected with the person before him. Even his mind and heart were telling him that they were one. "Then what should I do?"

The older Mendell paused for a few seconds before saying, "I don't have to explain it to you. Once our souls fully assimilate, you'll naturally know what I know. Remember, when we're inside an alternate Earth, our ability is limited and constrained by the alternate Earth's ruling power. There's no time to waste. Let's start the process."

Mendell nodded. "Please, do so." Like a magic word, he lost control over his body and his mind became blank.

The last words he heard before his vision dimmed was, "From now on, my abilities are yours as well."