HALF: Dead nor Alive

Archie was finally awake, but his eyes were still closed because his head was spinning like crazy and the bright sun made his headache worse. He tried to swallow his saliva but his throat was so dry that it stung when the saliva went down his throat.

“Good morning,” Eve’s gentle whisper was heard right in front of Archie’s face.

Archie thought it was just a dream and he didn’t bother to open his eyes because he was still trying to get the hang of the headache.

“Open your mouth, you must be thirsty,” Eve’s voice was heard again, but Archie did exactly what she told him to do.

Eve poured water into Archie’s mouth with the bottle he brought in his backpack, and he was surprised when he felt the cold and freshness of the water. He opened his eyes and saw Eve’s face was right in front of his face, he was surprised but he kept drinking the water as he kept staring at her with confusion.

“Eve? What are you doing here? I thought you left,” Archie asked as he slowly lifted his head from Eve’s lap.

Eve grabbed Archie’s head and gently pushed him back down to her lap. “Just stay, don’t move. You’re not fully awake and let your body rest first,” Eve said as she rubbed Archie’s cheeks. “Of course, I’m still here. What makes you think I would leave you alone? I said that I will stay by your side, didn’t I?”

“How long have I been asleep?” Archie asked and he wanted to look down on his body but Eve kept his head up with both of her hands.

“Two weeks, more or less,” Eve answered as she looked down with a smile on her face. “You slept like a log,”

Archie was surprised because he was unconscious for half a month, and not to mention, Eve had been by his side for two weeks or at least he thought.

“When did you come here?” Archie asked.

“The moment you were unconscious, I came here and protect you from harm,” Eve answered as she looked around. “The witch is somewhere around here, she should be looking for food right now if you’re curious about her whereabouts,”

Archie looked at Eve’s lap and then looked back up. “You have been staying here like this, for two weeks?” Archie asked.

“Of course, I can’t let you sleep on the sturdy and hard surface,” Eve answered with a smile on her face and her head was blocking Archie from the sunlight. “This is the least thing I can do, to stay here by your side and protect you. I don’t want you to think that I would abandon you, I’m your Eve and you’re my Adam,”

Archie looked so happy because Eve sounded like she didn’t want him to be angry or disappointed in her. He didn’t know what happened for the past two weeks but it seemed that the wind witch had something to do with Eve’s words.

“I know, that’s why I’m trying my best to win this battle, I can’t let you go and I don’t want you to be with someone else,” Archie said as he nodded his head, and when he wanted to sit down, Eve kept pulling him back down. “Eve? I want to sit down,” Archie looked at Eve a bit confused.

“I told you that you shouldn’t move a lot, and let your body rest first,” Eve said and she didn’t let her gaze away from Archie’s eye.

Archie started to feel suspicious and decided to look down because Eve had been preventing him from looking at the rest of his body. He looked down and he was surprised when his whole body had turned into a living liquid.

“Wh-what’s happening to me?!” Archie asked and he looked scared and worried at the same time.

Archie could still feel his arms and legs or maybe it was just his muscle memory and imagination. He couldn’t look away and stared at his body which looked like it was melted by the sunlight like ice cream.

“This is why I don’t want you to consume the dragon’s heart tissue, Archie, but you didn’t listen,” Eve answered as she slowly pulled his head back up and tried to comfort him by stroking his hair.

“Am I going to die?” Archie asked as he looked Eve in the eye.

“No, but it’s going to be hard to make your body go back to normal. All you can do right now is just stay still and let the parasites in your body recover from the damage they took,” Eve answered as she stared at Archie’s body.

“What happened to me? Can you explain why my body turned like this?” Archie asked.

“Do you remember what happened to me after I ate the dragon’s heart? My body went hot and you had to bring me to Antarctica to cool my body down. It’s exactly what happened to your body because your body couldn’t handle the heat and it melted everything into liquid. To put it simply, you were like drinking a full bucket of hot lava,” Eve explained and then pursed her lips while staring at Archie.

“You didn’t do the same to me? You could bring me to Antarctica and let my body cool down,” Archie asked as he looked Eve in the eye with confusion.

“It’s useless, your body is not strong enough even if I brought you to Antarctica. You’re going to melt anyway before I could bring you there, so it’s better for you to stay here,” Eve answered as she shook her head. “I don’t want to risk it and see parts of your body falling down into the sea,”

Archie understood the situation and slowly took a deep breath even though his body had turned into liquid, everything was still working like how it was supposed to be. He was scared, fascinated, and confused at the same time because how could his body still work even though it had become like that.

“Now what? How long am I going to be like this until I can get my body back to normal?” Archie asked as he tried to slowly move his right arm but the only thing that moved was the liquid trying to rise from the sand.

“If you let your body rest for another two weeks, you might be able to try and rebuild your body. But if after two weeks you can’t turn your body back to normal, I don’t think there’s anything that can help you,” Eve answered but she didn’t look worried at all.

Archie looked so scared and Eve slowly leaned her head toward Archie’s face and then kissed him on the forehead. He felt a bit at peace after that and he was happy that Eve tried to comfort him and knew that she cared about him.

“How do you know about all this, Eve? How did you gain all these pieces of knowledge that you’re telling me,” Archie asked with curiosity.

“I have experienced it myself, there are a lot more of things that happened to my body that you couldn’t imagine. It’s normal because I have lived for hundreds of years longer than you are, so I know what’s best or worse for your body,” Eve answered as she looked at the sea. “I also did try some experiments on the two Adams that were with me back then. It helped me understand how the parasite works,”

Archie looked at Eve and he knew that she wasn’t an innocent woman or even a kind-hearted type of woman. He wasn’t shocked by the fact she used the two Adams for her benefits, and he might do the same thing if he was in her shoes.

“I’m glad that you chose me because if you’re not, maybe I’m going to be your lab rat for all kinds of experiments that you have in your head,” Archie said with a smile on his face. “Although you didn’t do it, I feel like you have been suggesting me on consuming stuff because you wanted to see how my body works,” Archie looked Eve in the eye.

Eve giggled mischievously as she kissed Archie on the forehead again. “You caught me red-handed,” Eve replied with a smile on her face. “I’m just curious because you have the ability that everyone wanted, your regeneration ability is extraordinary and I don’t want anyone else to take it from you because you’re mine and everything on and in your body belongs to me,”

Archie looked at the sun was about to set, the orange and red sky looked so beautiful. He realized that everything that happened to him was a curse and blessing at the same time.

“Life is so full of surprise, isn’t it,” Archie said with his eyebrows raised and kept staring at the sunset.

“Yes, even though you can predict what will happen, it always gets you by surprise,” Eve answered and looked at the sunset as well.