The rays of the morning light touched my face as my eyes slowly opened and saw Gaila"s face. Suddenly, I remembered what happened to Gaila last night.
"Gaila! Gaila! Are you alright? Gaila!"
Gaila slowly opened his eyes and got up.
"Nina. Are you hurt? I'm sorry."
"No, I'm not hurt. How about you? Don't apologize. You may be hurt too."
"I'm not hurt. I'm sorry I put you to danger. I won't use my wings again."
"It's alright. By the way, do you know where we are? "
He looked around the forest we are in. We may be midway from the han gin hebi mushi to the downhill which looks like a little village proximate a river. Suddenly, I felt the urge to urinate.
"Gaila, I need toilet. I'm going there" I said pointing my index finger to a shrub.
"I'll go with you. It's dangerous alone."
"No way! Even though you're a horse or a unicorn, you're still a male!"
"Male? Who said that? I'm a female"
"What?! I really thought you're a male"
"Do I look like a male to you?" she said with a saddened voice
"Well, no. I'm sorry Gaila" I said while embraing her.
My plan to go behind the shrubs didn't happen. I found a toilet near us, which is just a makeshift toilet - a dug soil, and peed. I was still thinking about the laboratory that we've seen last night.
"Say, Gaila. Are you really born with the ability to talk?"
"Well, yes. In our generation, hybrid animals like us already have the ability to talk. But some legends say that a priestess granted a purebred the ability but died. Fortunately, that horse was pregnant and the pony got the ability. I'm not sure how it happened."
"Do you remember the room we entered last night?"
"Yes. The room which has a lot of extinct purebreds."
"I want to go back there and search for more data"
"But there are hanginhebimushis"
"We just need to sneak in. I need to k now why they abducted me. I need to know the reason behind their colony in the coliseum which has purebreds."
"Are you sure about that plan?"
"Yes. I'm really curious. There are so many of them yet only one got me. If they're hungry they should have eaten me already. When I gained my consciousness, they're asleep."
"Maybe they wanted to add you in their purebred collection?"
"Possible. And what will they do after."
"Alright. I'll go with you, but first, we need to eat."
"What and where?"
"Here in the forest. Let's hunt for food"
"Hunt? Aren't you a vegetarian?"
"Well, we are omnivores."
"Oh, geez. Let's just look for fruits, vegetables or root crops. If I had brought a canned beans, this wouldn't be a problem."
"I think those plants down there will satisfy our hunger."
"Yes! You're really smart Gaila! That is a cornfield!"
"Are we going to eat those raw?"
"Of course not. We're going to cook them"
"How will we do that?
"Trust me. I had a survival training before and I think this forest can provide us what we need."
"What do we need?
"We need fire, water and food."
"How can we make fire?"
"Trust me. Let's look for a bamboo tree"
Gaila found a bamboo tree with a diameter more than enough to put corn.
"Cut it Gaila"
"Cut? How? It won't cut if I kick it."
I made a hand gesture on my forehead pointing my finger to the sky while the back of my hand touches my forehead. What I mean by that was horn.
"What?!" said madly surprised Gaila. "I don't want to!"
"Gaila, if you won't, we can't eat"
"I have the right to say no. I can eat any insect or reptiles alive so I won't worry."
"Don't make me see that. It's disgusting. Alright. I will just look for a pointy stone."
By looking around, I fortunately found the very stone that I imagined I needed. It was a pointy handful stone that could surely cut bamboo.
"This will do." I said to Gaila and cut the bamboo. I made a hole that would fit the corns. "Gaila, get some corns while I make fire." I commanded.
She got corns – maybe four corns – and set it aside while I rub a stick to the bamboo to make fire. Finally, a smoke has appeared and Gaila took over my place in fire making while I took water from the nearest creek. We cooked then ate the corn and later proceeded to our plan.
We climbed the hill to go back to the HGHMs nest. When we arrived, the monsters were still asleep. We explored the laboratory-like room. I opened my flashlight for a better view.
"Gaila, help me memorize what is inside this place."
"Yes."
I found a paper and pen inside a cabinet. I used it to write the data I will gather. I wrote the list of chemicals and species on the paper and later I put it inside my bag.
"Nina, your flashlight will wear off if you use it too much." Gaila opened a switch that lights up the entire room.
I've seen an arrow-like triangle point on the floor which leads to the window. This would lead to some clue. When I looked through the window, I saw the sky. In this height, a visibility of something can be seen. It looks like this world's atmosphere has two glass-like layers. I took a photo of the sky using Reevhan's camera phone.
Beside the window hangs a notebook. I took the notebook and saw project names and formulas. I saw titles such as, the harpy, the unicorn, the sphinx, etc. I don't care about these hybrids' description because they are living properly and mostly do not harm others. A page caught my attention. It doesn't have any formula or description like others. It only has "the han gin hebi mushi project 880" and nothing more. Curious about the emptiness of the page, we explored more.
While exploring, Gaila accidentally walked back and hit an empty table. That was the table where I got the paper and pen.
"Gaila, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm alright. I might have broken something. Sorry."
I noticed a pile of folders had fall because of Gaila's impact. I searched the area where it came from and discovered that those were hidden under the drawer. I checked the folders and found the project 880.
"Is that related to the notebook earlier?" Gaila asked.
"Maybe. They have the same name."
I read the folder and it was like a journal. The dates were similar to our world. The latest entry in the first page says,
"August 09, 1964
The multiple breed project is computed at eighty percent success rate. The subjects succeeded polymerization in one hundred percent success rate. Night vision cannot be altered. Flight rate is faster than a purebred insect. Energy regeneration can be prolonged secondary to its large weight. The subjects were trained to collect more purebreds."
"Gaila, we will need this data. If this is unused laboratory, we could take this folder, right?"
"Well, we could, maybe?"
Meanwhile, Brix and Reevahn were having a conversation in Master Ren's mansion. Master Ren was also in their room's lounge.
"So, if Nina is lost with Gaila, they might have survived. They might also build a strong bond between them" started Master Ren.
"Strong bond?! What do you mean? A horse with a human?!" squeaked Brix.
"Brix, you really had a dirty mind. Master Ren must mean that they developed a friendship between them"
"Ah, is that it? I hope so." Brix said with depressed voice. "Even though I said she's a juvenile, I'm still worried."
"If you are really worried, why don't you consult a fortune teller? She could also look for a lost person or thing." Master Ren suggested.
"We can't waste our time. We should research and collect data before looking for Nina. She might be having stress somewhere if she and Gaila survived. Thus, we should finish our mission so if we found Nina, she won't worry for more." said Reevhan.
"You can do your mission and look for Nina at the same time"
"How?"
"Visit the fortune teller."
"Why do you keep on suggesting that?"
"Because the fortune teller I'm talking about has given a gift of immortality by the water nymph and she is the oldest citizen of Cazanette. I believe she is one of the first humans in Cazanette."
"What will we do with an immortal? Let our blood be sucked to add her life?" Brix laughed
"No. She's not a vampire"
"History" said Reevahn, "if she's the oldest, she could tell us stories of the past and as a fortune teller, we could look for Nina."
"I see. So, Master Ren, what is her name and how should we find her?"
"She's called the Elder Miredifheimild"
"Elder what?" confirmed Reevahn
"Me-red-hip-aim-mid?? Sounds perverted!" appealed Brix.
"You know, I noticed that Nina wears red because she loves bloodshed battles. I wear blue because I'm peaceful and you wear green because you're green minded. Pervert."
"Master Ren started it"
"Don't blame me. I just said her name and you were thinking of perverted things, not me."
"Master Ren, please spell it."
"M-i-r-e-d-i-f-h-e-i-m-i-l-d."
"So difficult name. Where could we find her?"
"Look outside. See that wooden bridge on the right? There erected a cottage where Elder Miredifheimild resides."
"What should we ask her? About Nina or about history?"
"It's up to you. Good luck on your journey."
Brix and Reevahn went to find Elder Miredifheimild with their horses. Still, they were still worried about their lost friend.
I was studying the other files to review related studies to find out more of these creatures. They were like robots who are programmed to get raw materials but they still continue on collecting purebreds even though the purebreeds doesn't seem of use to them.
"Gaila, are you aware of the existence of the han gin hebi mushis?"
"No. this is the first time I've seen them."
"Have you heard of anyone who is also abducted by them?"
"No."
"I don't know how to research further."
"You should take a rest first."
Slowly, I closed my eyes to take some rest and planned to continue searching later. I think I'm already stressed out as I hear human weighted foot stomps from the corridor. Realizing it was real, I told Gaila to hide as I hid too.
"HALT! Who are you? What are you doing here?! Show yourselves! I know that you're hiding!"
Surprised at the voice, we suddenly showed ourselves.
We're sorry for intruding. We just need a room to rest."
"You're lying! Who are you? Do you plan to steal the specimens? Or the data?! Say it or I'll call the monsters down there to eat you!"
I didn't know if that adult woman – maybe aged forty five to fifty five years old in our world – is the beast master of those winged snakes. According to the looks from her eyes, she's protecting something so I decided to reveal myself.
"I'm Nina. I'm not from this world. I'm just searching for clues to get back."
The woman calmed down a bit and said, "So, it's already this time. I see. Are you looking for the history of the Cazanettan species?"
In some way, she's right, but I'm surprised that she knows what my purpose of coming is. "How did you… know?" I asked.
It seemed that she didn't hear me as she stared at Gaila. She slowly walked towards Gaila with that stare. Slowly before she touched Gaila, her face had that enlightened expression. She rubbed Gaila's nose bridge and called her, "Haste… is that you?"