《Post-Living》Chapter 24: Not a Ghost Town
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No, no, no, no, there must be some kind of mistake! Isn't there a loophole or something? Am I really going to be a beginner forever?! Aggghhhhh...
Countless thoughts scattered through my mind as Mira and I continued to walk through our destination. The destination was a town on the west of the country. The country I'm currently on is the country of Ardia, which is miles away from my hometown. Ardia's beauty was its forests, who spanned across the entire country, according to the map. The man in the registration booth gave us this map to guide beginners on their first quests. They get to keep the map as a result.
It seems that the town was secluded enough. We walked miles away from the capital of Ardia, and took a couple of breaks as well. No one attacked us so far, but the way to the town was filled with trees that without these signs on the way, we would already be lost. Or are we actually lost..? Anyway, the map was confusing enough, and here I am, talking to myself in my head.
"Mira, where are we now..?"- I uttered, while yawning. Even in my immortal body, I still need sleep. Not as a means to rest, but as a sign of laziness. Sleeping is the best thing I can do in with my body, so I'm trying my hardest to achieve that sweet release of death. To top it all off, I've been secretly reversing time and getting beer from that last bar I went to, so walking.. takes a toll on me. It seems like alcohol still affects the human body.. and as a result.. Ethanol fuses with the bloooooooooodddddddd....
Huh..? What..?
Mira poked me from infront, waking me up. It seems like I was blabbering some kind of scientific theory on why alcohol makes me.. drunk. Hey, immortality isn't invincinble.. in a way.
"Hey... Mr..."
"Oh.. uhm.."- I quickly took a glance at my stolen Rail. I didn't even know who's the one I killed. Such a great guy, I am.
"I'm.. Xin..?"-Wait what?! It's like my name, only in reverse. Weird..
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Mira took off her hood, and there I saw a girl who was probably 3 years younger than my current body state. Which means she's 17. Her orange hair is tied up, and her eyes were glistening, even in the dark. I haven't paid attention, but her face seems so pure.
"Mr. Xin, is this the town that we're supposed to be protecting?"-She said, while I imagined her with a halo on her head. She seems so innocent, using that Mr. prefix and all.. and her voice, which I just noticed, sounds like a child who's now grown up but never got tainted by the maliciousness of this world...
.....
.....
.....
SHE'S BLINDING MEEEE!
Aghhhh, it hurts to watch. But I feel the need to protect her no matter what.. what the hell is this, some kind of black magic?!
"Mr. Xin? Are you ok?"-She muttered, with a smile on her face. That smile could kill a man, if looks could kill. The 2 of us then headed to the town, which looks deserted. The town looks like those movies from the west, where a cowboy duels another cowboy. But this time, it was dark, and the only light that was acting up was the moon, illuminating the dark.
Raaaggghhhh.....
A loud sound entered through our ears. It was followed by a screech, and because of curiousity, I rushed in to follow the screech.
..
I couldn't described the things I saw when I traced the screeching noise. I thought it was a woman screaming, but it wasn't. To put it in words..
It was like a bad acid trip.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDD! PLEASE!"-Said the man outside a bar. I could hardly call them men, because they aren't. They're what's left of the skeletal system. To put it simply, they're... skeletons. What the hell have I got myself into..
"Look! You said 1 beer per head! And I clearly have one here!"- The man raised a skull. The skull was still moving, so it must be alive.. somehow. The skull then spoke, "Yeah, man. I left my body at my house, and it's already irritating me enough so why not just give the man his extra beer?".
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Skeletons living inside normal houses. Great.. wait, if this is the quest, then it could mean that they're the ones that I need to destroy! That's it! - I quickly took out my scythe from my palm, and readied up. The skeleton that wanted the extra beer noticed me, so he approached me. I responded with a quick grip on my scythe, and aimed it at his head.
"WOAH GEEZ, MAN! CHILL!"- The skeleton said. Why are there using modernized words..? What the hell is wrong with this town.
"Oh, uh, sorry."- I quickly lowered down my scythe. He then asked us if we were the ones that took the quest, and the both of us nodded. He pointed us at the bar he was trying to get into earlier, and he said that the chief is inside. I find it hard to believe that undead, no, the skeletons have a working civilization. Not only that, but they seem to get beer. The only question in my mind was.. "HOW?!" Then I remembered this is a world parallel to mine.
The name of the quest, which is, :Need Help: Undead: is also misleading enough. I thought we were supposed to actually defend the citizens FROM the undead, not defend the undead. Agh, this day is a mess..
We went inside the bar, which was looming with skeletons "drinking" beer. The beer basically just wets their bones, and that's it. If you guys wanted something to soak your bones into, why not just soak it in milk? What a waste of perfectly good beer...
Mira and I was directed by the man who was guarding the bar, and he directed us upstairs, to the "Town Chief's" room. I'm still in complete denial that this is real and it is all an acid trip but.. I'm already here so, why not just see where it goes?
On the other hand, Mira looked unfazed at all. She seems calmer than me, who wasn't terrified, but rather confused. We went to meet with the Skeleton Chief, and he told us all about the problem that we were about to solve. Apparently, it's crazier than I thought.
"So.. you're the people who took the job? I see..."- Said him, who was also unfazed, same with Mira.
"I am the town chief, as you've already heard. Normally, we would've dealt with this ourselves, but we were completely destroyed."
"Say, what destroyed you in the first place?"- I asked, and I guessed that it was something else entirely.
"It was.. those.. things. It was the same as us, also undead, but they have flesh. Flesh that are made out of plants."- He said. Seriously, what the hell am I actually listening to right now?
"Ok, we'll see what we can do."-Mira responded. She was like a professional of some sorts, and there I was, still sitting in that cozy chair that he provided us with. I quickly stood up and followed her, and asked her about what the hell is he talking about.
"They're what you call Deku, or Dekus. Plant-like humanoids that can walk, and do the same thing as us. But usually, they're more sinister than some monsters. They prey on the undead, and use their bones as means to walk. I don't know how they multiplied so quickly without the skeletons noticing though."- Her explanation almost clarified my thoughts, and I just have to ask one more question to do so.
"Hey, how do you propose we kill these "Dekus"?"
"Easy, with the same material they manifested in. Plants. Dekus are spirits in plants which gained bodies of their own. If we can get the plants to absorb them completely, then we might destroy them. We can't burn or use any physical means, as they regenerate from any damage. They're brainless, so destroying them would be easy if we don't let our guard down."- She responded. This time, I think she knows a lot more than I do.
And that clarified my thoughts. Yep, this is real. This is basically the real life equivalent of Plants Vs. Zombies.
Out of all the games that could be implemented in this world.. why THIS?!
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