Mutagen

Day 21 – 7:17 AM – Village, Unknown Mountains

Mark opened his eyes not because he naturally woke up but he felt something brushing against his left cheek several times. When he opened his eyes, he saw Amihan sleeping on his pillow with her back facing him causing her right wing to hit his cheek every time she breathes. He could not help but stare at her thinking why she was here after he let her go last night. In his conclusion, it should have something to do with what he had been crying about yesterday in front of that huge tree.

'She could not return home right?'

He wondered if it had something to do with Mutagen. Considering that the last time she went out to get food was last month and there was no problem then, the possibility for Mutagen being the cause was rather too high. It was the only thing that changed the world and it was less than a month since it started.

Amihan's body started to quiver. It seemed that she could perceive his stare even though she was asleep. She turned her body facing Mark uncomfortably.

As she was too close to his face, he could now observe her appearance clearly. Amihan's hair was black with a greenish sheen when shined with light. Her face was shaped nicely like a heart, her eyelashes were rather long and her ears were pointed. The nose was on the small side and her lips was the same.

While Mark was observing her, she slowly opened her eyes.

"UWAAA!!! HUMAN!!!"

She cried out and flew away in panic. Unfortunately for her, the bedroom was too small that she immediately hit the wall the moment she tried to fly away. Dizzy, she started to float back down to the bed clutching her head. Luckily, the wall was made of plywood making it not too hard for her or else, she might have received another bruise on her forehead.

Amihan then froze.

"Awake now? Crying out loud like that when you're the one who slept on my pillow without permission."

Her shoulders drooped remembering that she was the one who slept there on her own. What she did was just rude. Although she was afraid of humans and she was a little mischievous, she was rather a honest sylph. She slept on his pillow and even though he woke up first, he did not do anything to her. Yet, she actually cried out as if he was going to do something bad to her and escape the moment she woke up.

Seeing her behavior and how her shoulders drooped while facing the wall, Mark stood up from the bed and went out. It was not like his relation to her was deep to care about everything. He then wet a small cut cloth and started to wipe his face with it before eating the left over stir fry from last night for breakfast.

This morning, he planned to find the river Amihan told him about.

He then removed the contents of his bag into a corner of the living room and prepared to go out. He wore his armor over his clothes and the backpack on his back before equipping his weapons. This time however, he also brought a rough cloth, a change of clothes and even a bar of old soap. Since he already had the information about the river, he could also have the opportunity to take a good bath. When he arrived at the village, the most that he could do was to clean his body with a wet cloth. He smelled bad now to be honest.

Along with those things, he also brought a clear one gallon plastic bottle so he could bring back water that he could at least boil for drinking and cooking.

After his preparations, he walked out door leaving the rather regrettable Sylph at home. He was not afraid that she would steal anything there considering that she herself even returned when he had already freed her. Though it was still a mystery that she chose to return to him rather than going somewhere else, there was not much reason to be worried. The worst that she could do was grabbing the basket of wild berries anyway.

Mark left the village using the southern path. About ten minutes while he was walking along the path though, he heard a scream behind him. No, rather than a scream, it was a cry.

"Waaah! Why did you leave me alone?! I'm sorry if I'm rude when I woke up but please don't leave me!!!"

When he turned around, Amihan was already flying towards him at a very fast speed that did not seem to be possible from someone of her size. Mark hurriedly blocked her head with his right palm to mitigate the impact and caught her. If he did not she would hit his armor and would surely faint again. Even so, it seemed that her body hitting his palm was still painful.

"Do you really like hitting your head everywhere?"

Mark asked with a little irritation.

"I don't. I'm sorry. Please, don't leave me alone."

She replied with tears at the corner of her eyes. Mark noticed that there should be more to this since this Sylph was obviously afraid of humans especially yesterday, yet, she did not want him to leave her alone.

After asking what happened, it became clear as she narrated her experience last night in tears. When she left, she returned to her tree but as before, she could not enter it anymore. Tired, she went up the tree to sleep on a branch and try again later but she saw eight glowing lights at one of the branches. The source of lights then lunged at her and it was actually a spider twice her size. Terrified, she flew up high only to be attacked by a bat larger than the spider.

She encountered several more nocturnal insects and animals wanting to eat her before escaping back to the village. Scared and tired, she could only think of Mark who not only did not try to harm her but even gave her food. When she returned to the house through the gap on the ceiling and roof, she saw Mark sleeping. Seeing the soft pillow under his head, her exhaustion kicked up and could only land on the pillow and sleep.

"I even lost the berries you gave me. *Sniff* Why are there large insects and animals now? I don't remember insects and animals that large last time I went out."

She cried as she sat on Mark's shoulder.

Since her story was rather long, Mark decided to hear it on the way to the river. It was now clear why she seemed to have received a trauma. He wanted to tell her what happened since the apocalypse started but it could be done later. It was because he could hear the sound of water now. The river did not seem to be as far as Amihan had said. Maybe, she said that it was quite a distance away since she was small.

Arriving at the river, it was just about two meters in width. What made Mark rather happy was that the river was actually a spring water river flowing to the south. The water source was actually a rock fracture where the water seeps from continuously. This way, Mark was sure that he could get uncontaminated water for consumption.

Since it was still early, he decided to follow where the small river flowed towards to see if he could find fish to catch. The small river seemed to have small fishes but it was something not large enough to eat. After a two hours walk following the winding river and Amihan's ceaseless chatter, he finally arrived at the lower part of the mountain range and found an about forty meter wide river flowing in a curve.

Seeing the fish swimming lively in the river Mark felt delighted for the first time in a while. There were fishes that were oddly large though. It was obvious that those were the evolved ones.

Still, Mark was rather alarmed. He could see traces of human habitation across the river. There were tents that seemed to be left there in a hurry. The camp seemed to be overturned as several tents looked like shredded to pieces.

He looked around the huge river. To the west, he found a small waterfall with large rocks to step on. Using the rocks, he crossed the river without getting wet. Seeing Mark jump long distances that was impossible for a human to do, Amihan was rather amazed.

"Are you really human?"

She asked but Mark did not answer. His focus was on the ruined camp in front of them.

Looking around the camp, Mark found that the camp had not been abandoned for too long. Likely, was set up here either yesterday or the other day. Some of the rocks had blood splattered on the surface. Even though the blood had already dried up, it still had the lingering smell.

Mark was sure that this camp was attacked by evolved animals and not the infected. Not only the marks left behind gave out a bestial feel but also Mark did not think that the infected would be able to enter the mountains this deep easily.

The mountain range was like a natural wall against the infected. If Mark was correct that the animals from the cities fled to the mountains to escape, there would be more animals at the outer areas of the mountains and there would be more evolved animals to hunt the infected that wandered into the mountains.

While investigating the remains of the camp, something caught Mark's attention. There was a red blob of mass floating down the river. The speed it traveled as it was being carried by the water should not be enough to call his attention but he suddenly felt a tingling sensation in his blood when the blob passed nearby.

The blob then got stuck along the branches floating on the river before the branches was blocked by the rocks.

Mark took out his katana and approached the blob, poking it with the sheath.

"What is that?"

Amihan flew away from his shoulder and fluttered around the blob on the water.

Unexpectedly, the blob moved and shot a tentacle towards Amihan.

"Uwaaa!!!"

She cried and flew away hiding behind Mark.

Mark however was surprised not because it was alive. The tentacle it shot was totally the same as his [Blood Whip]!

'What is this? Did it have a connection to me or something?'

He thought as he felt his blood tingling. Holding out his hand, he shot a [Blood Whip] towards the blob. On the other hand, the blob seemed to have noticed the [Blood Whip] approaching and shot its own but Mark did not feel any danger at all. The two blood tentacles hit each other but did not clash but rather, connected each other.

Unexpectedly, he felt the same sensation as if he was touching someone's blood. He tried to absorb it but to his surprise, he could not. Mark then felt as if his blood was invading the blob and its color started to change to a blackish red color. The color reminded Mark of the color of the Blood Metal he could create.

Mark then froze. He felt a connection in his mind. It was different from the energy he get from his Empathic Abilities but it rather felt like he was sharing his thougths with someone else. He then disconnected the [Blood Whip] from the blob and raised his hand and sending his intent to the connection he was feeling in his mind.

To his surprise, the blob raised its tentacle the same way Mark raised his right hand.

Amihan on the other hand who was peeking over his shoulder had her eyes sparkling.

Mark then sent his intent to the blob to hang onto the sheath of his katana which it really did coiling its jelly like body on the sheath to be lifted off the water without falling.

Looking at the reddish black blob hanging on the sheath of his katana, Mark only had one question in his mind.

'To any freaking god out there, what in the damn world is this thing?'