The scent of charred flesh sprung me to life. I gazed upon the unfamiliar territory—trees surrounded me densely, its leaves covering the sky like a canopy, a few streaks of light breaking through it. In front of me was roasting pit with a juicy chicken being cooked 'til golden—its aroma tingling my senses even further as the scent isn't enough to sate my hunger.
I started to crawl towards it but I winced at the pain on my abdomen. My belly was wrapped taut by bandaged underneath the worn military outfit. I steadied myself as I pursued the food, shrugging off the pain—heaving through every surge of pain as I walked.
The tender feeling of the food continued to slap me awake as the juice burst into my mouth. I quickly ate it all up. How many days have I been asleep? I thought to myself while meat juices dripped from my mouth.
"Oh you're awake," a voice boomed behind me, startling me. I slowly turned around to face the person, gnawing on the bone.
I halted my eating session as I saw Levy walked through the blades of the grass that were seemingly out of place in this dense forest. And I really just noticed that. Huh.
"Levy," I managed to say, low enough for him to still hear me. "I thought." I tried to get up, "I thoug—uh!" I dropped back to the ground as the pain continued to surge.
I bit through the pain as Levy scurried to assist me to a seating position. "You shouldn't have had stood up," he told me, smirking.
"I saw you die," I replied. I can't believe this. The last time I saw him, he was unmoving on the ground, bones broken and face completely indecipherable, but here he is, no scratches at all.
"Well, I did." He sat besides me, avoiding my gaze. "But you know why I'm in there, right?"
"'Cause you're ill?"
"Well, yes." He gestured his hands like it was obvious. "But did you know what mine was?" He was now looking at me, deep brown eyes pierce through me, a lock of raven black hair covered his left eye partially.
My face scrunched up as I thought about it. "I assumed that it was all that shaking, you know. That you can do stuff." Making my hands fly, making whooshes.
"So you thought that—" he stopped for a bit, looking for a word. "That monster was my Ill?"
I nodded at him, then I resumed slurping on the leftover juices of the bone.
Levy laughed at me, shaking his head. "It's immortality."
I stopped at what I was doing and looked at him wide-eyed. "You're kidding, right?"
"I wish I did," he replied, his voice seemingly serious. "I can completely heal too after an hour or so."
I positioned myself to come face to face with him. "So when you died—" making air quotes on died, "—wha—"
"What happens?" He cut me short. He did not wait for me to reply. "Well, I just black out. And out of nowhere, I began conscious again, with all of my limbs intact."
I was searching for the words as questions came rushing through my mind but nothing came out of my mind.
"You know," he continued. "People said that death was feeling utter happiness." He pursed his lips and shook his head lightly. "Not for me."
The time passed slowly slowly as none of us wanted to break the silence. I let my ears listen to the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the leaves. Levy had gone up from my side and started packing our stuff.
"I forgot to ask." My voice caught him off guard as he jumped a bit from it, and slowly looked at me. "How did you find me?"
He started to move away from what he was doing. "Well, I woke up in a morgue. The alarms were blaring and gunshots can be heard. There were no one around me and so I used that chance to get away." He paused.
I waited for him to continue, but when the silence became a bit awkward, I replied, "and what?"
"Outside of the facility, I heard glass breaking, and I saw you," he continued, scratching his head like he is hesitating to continue. "And I ran towards you to catch you but you just float."
Float? That caught me off guard. "What did you mean by float?"
"Well, you floated and your skin turned white and so did your eyes. And you were like phew phew phew with your hands." Making a gesture with his palm facing outward. "Then, you slowly descended to my arms."
I let out a hefty laugh. "I don't believe you." Levy just looked at me, in disbelief of his story. "You're kidding, right?" I stopped laughing.
He nodded in reply and got back to where he was fixing up our stuff. "So, what," I managed to say. "My powers are lazer beams?"
"I was thinking more of," he said, not looking at me but making weird gestures with his hands. "Light."
Light? This is unheard of. Well yes, there are manipulators of the elements but light? There had been none. "You think I have some sort of superpowers?"
"More than that." He looked up to me, halting his progress with the stuff. "You're a Cryptid."
My mouth dropped at the thought of me being a Cryptid. How could I be one? My lineage had always had been Ill but not to the point of a Cryptid—a being with bizarre capabilities.
"Don't worry," he told me. "I'm a Cryptid too. First Immortal." He smiled at me.
I forced myself up, shrugging off the pain. "Easy there," he said, rushing towards me as he steadied me. "Where you going at?"
"I don't know," I replied, looking away from him. "I just need a place to think. Absorb this—possibility."
He knew going against my will would just lead to trouble, and so he let me. "Just don't get far. I should still see you." And when he said that, I was already walking away, deeper into the forest.