Chapter 46 - Somewhere I Belong

07.09.1642

The Outside World

29:51

A dark little space with no way out;

Creatures of darkness freely wandering around.

Such a tale behind their vanished smile,

Faded from a civilisation now kept hostile.

The outside world seems the same as ever. Nothing really changed ever since we came for the first time with the team of soldiers here. Same deserted land, almost telling you that there is no life on this planet besides those heroes. Same two suns that shine bright into the horizon... and same dark spaces that hide from the light, in which the creatures feared live in.

In a cave nearby, one of the demons seems to mind its own business of simply living its life. It rests peacefully on the ground with its eyes closed, and such a weird position to sleep in, considering that they were once humans. But his sleep is disturbed, as his instincts sense something that shouldn't be here. So, it opens its eyes, begins to sniff around the area and then gets wild with no given explanation. After that, it begins to run towards a specific location, growling menacingly as if it even tries to scare that sense away.

Then, a small light appears on one of the walls that the demon runs towards to, getting bigger by each second and making the demon even more angry than before. So when it is near to its arrival, the small light now becomes a huge hole, from which three figures stand and look at the glowing white eyes that come towards them. Then, the demon arrives, jumping right on the side that separates darkness and light, even trying to bite the person that stands the closest.

Even so, it fails, with the man just looking at the angry creature that stares at it while growling. He doesn't seem to be scared though. Leo just admires the demon as if it is not a threat to him at all, while the other two remain a bit behind out of pure fear of these creatures.

[Leo]-Fascinating little guy...

[X4NDER]-Are you sure what you are doing is safe, Leo...? That thing seems pretty angry at you...

[Leo]-I am confident in my decision. After all, he is one of my own who just happened to endure an unwanted mutation.

Though it has been only a few days, Leo seems to begin and speak closer to the way these beings do too, though his accent didn't leave. In the meantime, maybe both of the boys have stood so much to talk with him that he has adapted to the way they converse every day quickly. Sure, he still needs some time to leave that vocabulary present in the books he has read those years and begin to speak informally again as he did in USA and the spaceship, but he is way more understood now than before by the ruler. It's like he has learnt another language on his own.

His left eye then begins to light up again, not powerful enough to scare the demon, but just to call VERA for her to come. When she comes, she begins to scan the creature entirely, searching in her data and finally coming with a conclusion.

[VERA]-This creature is not a pure blood human, Leo. What you have said earlier isn't true anymore. It has not suffered of any mutation, it was born this way.

[Leo]-Was he?

[VERA]-Yes. My scanner doesn't detect pure human blood in its body at all. It is rather a combination of human blood with a new kind of blood that has the same structure as the parasites analysed by your kind more than a thousand years ago.

Leo seems weirdly happy about this new information though, while the others only look at the creature to analyse more how it looks like.

[Leo]-...Amazing! Such a discovery could've spared us from the first Phoenix attack! Hahah, oh, if only we had undertaken what these unfortunate souls have been doing their entire existence!

[CHE5TER]-...What do you mean by that?

[Leo]-I imply that these humans have the ability to reproduce! Look at this beautiful specimen! Not human, yet not parasite either! He is a Helio-Homo Sapiens!

And while saying those words, he tries to put his hand on the head of the demon, almost as if he tried to calm it down. Unfortunately, the demon wasn't happy about his presence, trying to bite him the moment his hand got closer to it, but Leo managed to back off pretty quickly, leaving him with no marks. Even so, that joy on his face doesn't disappear, no matter the anger of the creature.

[Leo]-Heheh, hey now! Do not bite the hand of the people that brought you to existence, little thing!

Then he looks back at the two boys who stare at the creature, being ready to defend themselves at any point. He continues with his joy though.

[Leo]-Isn't it splendid?? Just look at this small child of a faded kind! Look at his delightful body and the radiance of his soul! Look at how lively it is! Oh, a human that is not a human! Did this ever cross your mind to happen, VERA?? I have thought for a millennium we all were affected by the attack, but look at these people having the ability we now lack with no help given by any machine! Look at my beautiful kind!!

...Such a pitiful creature seeking for help after he had lost everything in this merciless life. Such a shame... His salvation will never come back, nor will his people. All he has left is that insanity he now battles. Truly amusing.

While he was screaming in joy like a maniac, the two boys looked at him confused, even at each other as if they were trying to communicate with their minds and having the same thought when seeing a man that is over a thousand years old behave like this: Has he gone insane? Even more strange is that he calls a creature that is taller than him and even more powerful a "small guy". Even so, the machine expresses no emotions and only responds to his joy.

[VERA]-Technically speaking, from what my scan has found out, this Helio-Homo Sapiens is a different species than the most humans that have been affected by the parasites. I do not mean the blood, I mean that they seem to have their own differences. Like your kind had people with different hair colour, eye colour or skin colour, they seem to have a difference in their brain function, body height and development.

[Leo]-You think so?

[VERA]-Yes, but it isn't something that new. They have been registered during your kind's existence these types of beings as well. More exactly, he seems to be one of the kind of species that is able to think, but not on the level of a mature human being. His intelligence could be measured with one of a seven-year-old, while he will also act based on his instinct like the other species. The other breed is not able to think, they only act on what their instinct tells them. You can also see that he is a smaller being than the rest, so it should help you know that he is from a more developed species.

[Leo]-Really? I was under the impression that he is rather young, not that this is just the natural appearance of his species.

[VERA]-Depends on what you define "young". My scanner says that he is older than a hundred years old.

[Leo]-Well, from my perspective, he is indeed quite youthful, considering that I am two thousand years old.

[VERA]-That is true, but he isn't that young to be considered even a teen for his breed. He is an adult Helio-Homo Sapiens and can live up to more than three hundred years.

[Leo]-Even more than Homo Sapiens-Nyx?

[VERA]-Yes. Your species' researchers have found out that their mutation is even more developed than yours. That parasite seems to gain them a longer lifespan.

[Leo]-And given that they have the ability to reproduce, it would imply that they could inhabit this planet even longer than the Homo Sapiens-Nyx... Heh, and to think that they were once humans with families and friends. Now they have lost even the tiniest memory on that reality...

His joyful face is rather strange, considering that he says words which hurt him as well. Maybe he tries to stay positive? As if he stood like this his whole life, even if his fate brought him such disasters? But even if that was the case, why would he choose to do so? No matter, he turns towards CHE5TER with such a smile, speaking gently.

[Leo]-...Thank you for presenting me this specimen. And I apologise to both of you that you had to witness me in such state. I've been trapped in that room with nothing but ancient books and a robot for so long that I've... forgotten to be human myself.

[CHE5TER]-You've told me that you will help me understand my Inhoomanity after I show you my discovery which I've told you about. What can you tell me about it now?

[Leo]-Right... Well, in order for me to offer you assistance, I would like you to give me more details. How did you find it, for instance?

[CHE5TER]-As I said a few days ago, I was on a mission outside the Great Walls in search for something, led by an old map. During that time, before I found the dead body which I've concluded from your saying that it belongs to ALEX4NDER here, I was in a cave which was house to many of these creatures. As a fact, this one right here was the one who greeted me back then.

[Leo]-Really? This one?

[CHE5TER]-Yes. He presented himself as "Danny" to me by writing his name on the sand from the ground and he didn't seem to want to harm me in any way possible before I tried to take something away from him.

[Leo]-"Danny"? So you are suggesting that he has the intelligence to name himself?

[CHE5TER]-That's what I thought at first too, but after I took that something he had attached to his body, an old research book that belonged to a deceased historian, I finally got the real answer. He did not name himself, but he was named "Danny" by the historian that met him. He probably just remembers the name.

[Leo]-So Danny didn't cause the historian any harm, you say?

[CHE5TER]-No. It is how you have told me. At that time, Danny was probably either a newborn or simply a child, so being young, his instincts weren't active and was left to think on his own. He did consider her danger at first from what the historian recorded, but he got used to her the more they've stood together.

[Leo]-Well, that explanation does account for that particular incident, but it is rather fascinating that you claim he harbors no intention on you at all.

[VERA]-I believe humans did record something like this before too, Leo. Some documents registered in my data that you gave me after the whole extinction of your kind talk about how those who seem to act weird are not hunted by the Helio-Homo Sapiens.

[Leo]-You mean those affected by the parasites, VERA?

[VERA]-Yes. Those who have gained such a thing will not be hunted by these people. Theories had told that it is because they only wish to kill those who aren't affected by the parasites and leave the others suffer from the plague. If it is for them to get rid of the parasite, it would mean that they will start getting hunted too. Knowing that CHE5TER has this type of parasite even from birth, it would make sense for him to not be attacked by the Helio-Homo Sapiens at all.

[CHE5TER]-...Even if it is an Inhoomanity?

[VERA]-Even so, it seems.

[Leo]-Well, in that case, let's proceed with a test, shall we? If you may, CHE5TER, move next to Danny. Let's see whether he has any aggressive behaviour towards you or not.

...Oh, so we are playing games now, human?

CHE5TER, even a bit doubtful on this test, He obeys to the words and gets closer to the demon, who also seems to not give a damn about Him at all. He now stand right besides it, with the demon still staring deadly and angry at Leo, proving him the result of the test.

[Leo]-...Just as I suspected. This sure can now provide you some evidence regarding your Inhumanity being indeed connected to one of those parasites. As to why and what it is capable of, I am afraid I'm unable to offer an answer.

[CHE5TER]-*sigh* Alright... I understand.

[Leo]-But if I may, could we conduct another test before we go and analyse the body you believe belongs to X4NDER?

[CHE5TER]-And that might be?

[Leo]-Simple. X4NDER, please join Danny as well.

[X4NDER]-W-What?

[Leo]-Do not be afraid, God of War. Just do as I say and you will see the result.

[X4NDER]-Leo, with all due respect, these creatures are unpredictable! I have fought them for a lifetime before the war broke in and I can tell you that I could've died many times in the past! Just because he is nice once or twice, doesn't mean we should trust him entirely!

[Leo]-He lacks the capacity of thinking that way, X4NDER. He isn't familiar with the concept of trickery, nor he possesses the ability to do it himself. Just trust me.

A bit scared, the boy moves slowly to the demon with His hand on His sword, so that He can take it out and fight if something happens. Still, when He got next to the demon too, the demon still doesn't give a damn about any of these two. He simply continues to look at the last human left.

[Leo]-...Well, that sure is "cool", isn't it?

[X4NDER]-But how is--

[Leo]- --Considering CHE5TER's suggestion that you might be dead, I have thought that a demon will not hunt an actual soul, but rather the body it possesses. An issue with your body is that it is not entirely yours. Your body possesses the attributes of CHE5TER's, a reason why this demon refuses to show any form of attack towards you.

[X4NDER]-But he attacked me once! I swear!

[Leo]-I can't provide an explanation for that, but right now it doesn't appear as it intends to attack you at all. A reason why I suggested on you doing this test for me. Now that we've reached our conclusions, we can go to the corpse. Lead us, stranger.

So, Leo turns back to the demon and goes slowly the other way, while the two boys go after him, with CHE5TER trying to get to be first. But before they even manage to go two meters away from the demon...

...Go.

...the demon gets into the light, running after the human it has been staring at all this time, while the suns burn its body slowly, giving such an unbearable pain. The creature is pretty fast though, so not even the boys managed to react, but the machine managed to catch the demon in the act, keeping it hostile in its plier-looking arm far away from Leo.

Leo heard the strange sound of agony of the demon, so he turned around only to see two confused boys and his mechanical friend that keeps the creature as if it is only a huge stick, with the creature being unable to escape from the robot's arm. So, it is left burning as the suns give it such a powerful life, with the creature even starting bleeding and growling harder and harder.

[Leo]-...VERA, shield the young one from the light, please!

So, the robot obeys, activating a small platform around the area of the creature to make sure that the suns don't get to it any longer, while Leo gets closer to the machine and stares at the demon confused.

[Leo]-...He fought against the light just to eliminate me? I've never heard of such case before... A Helio-Homo Sapiens to... fight against its most formidable enemy...

He then observes the creature, seeing its chaotic breathing, even more chaotic than it was its normality, coming from the pain it suffers now. It's body now is full of flowing white-glowing liquid that represents its blood, but something sure has changed to it too. Leo has noticed that the eyes of the demon seem rather brighter than before, and they were pretty bright too, as if that change has made it take the action it just did.

But when he looks just for a second back at the ruler, he gets rather surprised to see that the confused boy isn't even aware that His eyes have changed completely too, yet with no affect on His mind or body besides the eyes. He doesn't say anything though, he just stares at the boy that continues observing the creature, with no awareness of anything. As if he made his conclusion, he lights up his bionic eye again for VERA to let the creature in the dark and then take his leave as intended, with no fear at all.