I've been walking around this sewer canal for hours, the roots are still creeping away from my footprints…

Maybe it's because they're afraid that they'll be cursed again…? Meaning they actually realized that I was coming to them.

They were also aware of my seriously injured body…

After all, how could I possibly walk any faster than I am right now? With my current condition… I even had to rest every thirty minutes in a place as smelly as this sewer.

“Ah... Here it comes again…” My consciousness…

~~~~~

Something rough sounded like it was scratching the surface of the stone floor. The echo rang out several times, and over and over again it rattled my eardrums…

The moment that something noisy broke, and the sound of friction then disappeared, this body again allowed me to take control of it myself.

When I opened my eyes, with this body lying on my stomach, I saw that white line right in front of my eyes.

A line that might have been made of chalk or the like…

The line that follows the shape of my posture while still lying unconscious.

Trying to support myself, pushing the floor with both hands, that's where I saw the figure of this man… “Uwoh…! What the…?”

“Oh? So you're still alive? Though I can't feel your breath or even your heartbeat even since two hours ago… What are you, man?”

“Human…? And what is this?”

Holding my aching head in one hand, my eyes fell on the lines that surrounded me. “Chalk outline?”

“Yes… Because you’re dead.”

“Hah?”

“I'm just helping out with the work of the police since they haven't appeared in this town for such a long time. Take it easy. I've done this many times already.”

What's with this guy's silly nature?

With his dirty, torn clothes, black-stained face, messy hair, he thought I was dead and thought he was a cop himself…

Should I play along?

Someone with a mental disorder maybe?

But wait… “You’re a great carrier?!”

“Oh? How do you know?” Without an expression that matched his words just now, he sat down instead. While I was also trying to maintain this poker face, I dragged myself to lean against the wall in this dark place.

Thinking about a thing or two, about who this person actually is…

“So you just want to have a casual talk with me, huh?”

~~~~~

The great carrier of evolution. Out of the three great carriers that I previously assumed to be the owner of all the roots that exist in every corner and underground side of this city, I didn't expect that it would be him who would appear…

I mean… It would make a lot more sense if who appeared was the great carrier of the fiber one, or even the ruler of the living…

But this… Someone that can evolve its own body, huh?

“So all of these roots are not plants?”

“Wow… Dude… How did you know that? Who are you?”

“You spread your own flesh, sinews and nerves all over the city? Isn't that just too crazy?”

“Yeah, it took me two months to make this whole small landmass become my second self… Cool, ain’t it?”

Did my previous words sound like a compliment to him, that's why he said something like that just now?

Let me make this clear, “That’s nothing but stupid. Don't you become in pain all the time?”

“No. All that pain was felt only by this city. Not me. But I can still feel the whole ins and outs of this city. So, who are you? The dead one?”

“I’m not dead. But whatever… I'm just an ordinary carrier… Who strayed far from my own home. Daniel. And you?”

“Philip? I guess? Everyone called me that.”

“So… Are you… Ehm… Eh…” Maybe not the right choice to ask about his current status, an old man with a bushy beard, who was clearly homeless… Right?

Wait… Will what I just said in my own mind offend him?

Gosh… I don't understand the way of communication in this western area nor how someone can be classified as racist and offensive…

I think I better keep my mouth shut as much as I can…

I don't really care if I get some racist treatment by anyone, tho… But I'm just really scared of being considered racist by these westerners…

So… “You don't have a chance to know someone named Edward, the leader of Sins Taker, do you?” I straightened my legs, thinking that talking to this man was indeed the right decision.

“I know many people named Edward.”

“Yeah, sure… But the Sins Taker one? You know Edward the Sins Taker?”

“Maybe I know him. But what’s Sins taker?”

“You don’t know anything about Sins Taker?”

“No… What’s that? But as I said, I know Edward!”

“If you don't know what a sins taker is, how do you know which Edward I'm referring to?!”

“I told you, maybe I know who he is! I know a lot of people!”

“The one leading the Sinners, the man in the white suit?!”

“You mean God?”

“No, that’s Morgan Freeman!” Somehow my mind suddenly thought about that actor. Did this man's madness rub off on me?

“So god is white?!” So he's also thinking about the same actor after all!

“Okay, that's enough! My head’s too dizzy already.”

Tried to stand up and stretch, but the movement was too fast. It felt like it had crushed something important inside this frail body of mine.

Again I fell by hitting the floor quite hard…

“Fuck…”

“You want me to help you up?”

“No, I can do it myself.” Means, fuck off…

And with this it was clear that searching for this person's whereabouts was just a mistake… I can't even expect anything from him.

I have to go home… No matter what…

Hugging the wall while bracing these shaking legs, I then asked something as a last topic of conversation. “You have a cell phone?”

“Well… About that… Do I? Let me see…” He searched all over his own body with a face as if he was hoping that it would actually come true…

And if I think about it, I still haven't had time, trying to remember Ellie's phone number.

I'm also at a loss whether I can contact someone outside of this country or not, but at least I want to contact Deo or Fanya right now. That's if only I can…

But… “No, I have no cell phone after all…”

Yep, how stupid am I. “Figured…”

“Okay, then. How about… You know where the airport is?”

“But you have no money, dude.”

Yep, I don’t have any money… Wait… How did he…?

“And how did you know that?! you searched me?!”

“Well… I mean, your body really is breathless and cold, so…”

“But it doesn't mean you can…! Ugh… I can sneak into the plane. It's not that hard for me. So you know it, right? Where then?”

“About fifty miles that way.” This man then pointed to a dark wall surface.

“How far is that in kilometers?”

“You want me to find that out?”

“Not really… But… Ew! What the fuck?! Are you… What are you doing!?”

The body of this man named Philip suddenly deformed in the most disgusting way I can ever think of, as he moved like a slime of flesh, merged with the wall, then disappeared completely from this whole sewer…

“Did… Did he just change places using his entire body that was scattered on the ground?”

Just like a teleportation skill…

Eugh… Now I miss being surprised by Ellie's teleportation ability, knowing there's a much more disgusting way to use the same magical thing.

~~~~~

“Eighty kilometers…”

“Jesus!” I jumped up and closed my eyes as hard as I could just to not witness the same nightmare for the second time.

But eighty kilometers is quite a distance, tho…

“Say… Can you move my body straight to the airport like you did to yourself?”

“No, I can only change my own body. Sorry…”

“Well, I also hope that you say no.” Thank you god…

“But I can lead you there. So, what do you think?”

“State your fee. Though I have nothing in this condition, but you have a certain purpose to come to my dead body, don't you?”

“What? No…? I came because I know you know the way to the center of my second body. I just suspect you mean bad, but looking at it from anywhere… It's obvious that you can't do anything about it. So… This is just a help from a stranger.” He’s clearly lying…

“No, you have something for yourself to take from me.”

“Well…” He scratched his head.

Muttered with his fingers as if counting, thinking long enough or even too long to force myself to ignore it and go try my own way to find the airport, moving away from him who stood so petrified that it managed to piss me off…

“Faster from here, yo…”

Someone from across the stream pointed to an intersection.

Still feeling annoyed, I was silent on the other side, staring at him who was still firmly pointing the way.

I tried to jump forward, reducing as much of my strength as I could, but my head landed first into the hard ceiling of this underground sewer.

Before then falling and being rained down by old, mossy bricks…

“You okay?”

“Can't get better than this.”

“Then follow me…”

“What about the fee?”

This man was quite adept at walking backwards without even looking forward. He thought and deliberately showed that thinking face to me while preventing me from leaving him again for the second time.

“Oh… I forget…”

“You can remember that again later… But now’s not the time?”

“Yes… Sorry.” Walking normally, slowly leaving me behind, I reluctantly accepted his help by following along…

~~~~~

But… Just want to make everything clear… “You sure you didn't cooperate with anyone to find and secretly lead me to them?”

“Well, it's good to be suspicious of strangers. You know? My mother never taught me that, so I remember, when I was a kid, I was almost sodomized by an old man once.”

Jesus… Do you really have to tell me that one specific part?

Can't you feel the thing called trauma, dude?

“I'm sure your parents taught you well when you were a child…” He again added something unimportant to the conversation.

“No… It’s not… I mean, it's just a coincidence that lately a lot of people are lying for something that makes me feel uncomfortable… So… Maybe some kind of trauma?”

“Oh… That’s bad… Candy?” Leaning his hand, which is full of small colorful balls far ahead, I shook my head, asking instead…

“Where did the candy come from? Wait… So if you can only move your own flesh, why can your clothes also teleport with you?”

“Because I have merged with all the fabric in these shirts and pants. This is my favorite set of clothes, so I don't mind not being able to take it off my own body…”

“Wow… What a dedication…” From someone as dumb as you.

“And the candy!?”

“So why are you here? I mean, you were one of the people responsible for yesterday's massive destruction in the upper city, correct?”

He didn't even care about my previous important question, eh?

“Damn… But of course you know about that fact. So… Uh… There were several people, including the great carrier of fire, who tried to kill me in order to take this- I mean… Yep, they tried to kill me. That’s all…” I suddenly became not very good at lying… Probably due to exhaustion and fatigue from enduring the pain…?

“Even a great carrier tried to kill you. So you're that strong?!”

“No, but… Yeah… Sure… I’m that strong.” I just want this conversation to end as soon as possible.

“You know? Actually I wonder why people like them, who can control fire and ice are the bad guys in this such a world.”

“Ice?”

“Yeah. What? You didn't take part in the big ice blast two days ago across town? People say, the cold explosion killed many pedestrians and children.”

Oh… That one…

Poor Ellie…

With her having meddled with Edward's affairs, and being the only person who had killed the family of one of the elders along with the passersby around, this meant that Ellie had decided to defect from the Sins Taker herself.

Though all this time I was actually trying to save her from those elders…

“Daniel?”

“Yeah? Oh… About that… Can we not talk about it?”

“What happened?”

“Dude…”

I silenced his repeated questions until he got tired of waiting alone.

Then instead, he talked a lot about completely random things that most of which I couldn't even understand what he meant by it. Either it was the accent, the use of words I didn't understand, or he was just rambling and didn't even care what he just said himself.

An hour and a half passed, and he ended his speech. “Follow me… We just need to get out of this manhole, and the airport will be right there on that road.”

The light blinded my eyes as Philip opened the manhole right above me…

~~~~~

So this is it? Oh… Wait… It’s not necessarily that when I go inside, I will immediately find a plane that wants to take off directly to my destination, right?

Also I'm afraid my face will get caught by any camera…

Means only one thing, that… “Philip… Can you go inside and check if there are any planes that will fly to Indonesia soon? Is that too much to ask?”

“I could move my eyes somewhere around that airport. I just need to spread more of my body on the walls.”

Nice… “I depend on you for it.”

It was getting late and I was sitting on the edge of this street with this… Weird man.

He whispered to whoever it was that was in his own mind, laughing and suddenly shouting and singing which then stopped and showed me a serious face. “None. But I heard unique names like Bali, and Bonadia.”

“Yes, those two cities are indeed in Indonesia.”

“What? I thought Bali was a country.”

“If I were you, I would just think the same… So that’s fine. Okay, so what time and what plane will depart to bonadia?”

“I don't know what codes are important on this screen, nor what codes state the plane here, but I'll tell them all…”

I confidently listened to all the numbers and letters which were really very messy, then I cried because I couldn't remember half of it anymore…

“What time will the plane take off?”

“Eleven o'clock at night. Wow… It took twenty two hours to get there…”

From the clock in a room across the street, I could tell that there were still about six more hours of departure time…

“Damnit…”

~~~~~

“So you came from Indonesia, huh? Is the country still at peace?”

Peace? Is there really any peaceful place in this world left?

But… Something strange…

This man…

If I remember correctly, even after everything that happened in this town and the other side, Philip didn't seem too concerned as if he had gotten used to it…

The streets are also deserted and a lot of damage remains due to the kind of clashes and chaos in this city…

And one more thing, “I heard before from people I know, that the other airport in this area has been completely destroyed, huh?”

“Yeah. Scorched to the ground… This country is not safe at all, my friend. That's why I made a place underground for my own people.”

“You made what!?”

“Oh, no… I mean, I didn't actually make it literally. At that time, I just told my comrades that there is this large empty place underground, which has been there for a long time. They were all ordinary people with no power. I've been trying pretty hard all this time just to protect them… You wanna come?” In an even tone, he offered something that sounded big enough for me to accept.

“You know that I was involved in yesterday's mess, right? You're not afraid to tell me that such important information?”

“But you look helpless…”

Not really…

Yet I didn't expect this man to be that important to the people of this place…

“No… I think that is just a bad idea…”

Because I am quite self-aware of what I can bring to others with this power in my own hands… “But thanks tho… Also for everything that you have done for me… Thank you…”

The man suddenly stood up, holding his stomach as if I would understand without him saying where he wanted to take me. “C’mon… Besides, you don't want to sit here alone waiting that long, do you?”

~~~~~

If I'm not mistaken, this city is Boston. A city, which is more accurately said to be a safe place because its destruction has passed…

But after what happened two nights ago, it seems that people who had decided to return to their hometowns here, have returned to another city which they think is much safer than this place… Well, I apologize for that one.

For me to know more than that, Philip took me to many places…

Breaking into ships in the harbor, looking for food in a pile of garbage, showing his skills in finding money scattered around the city.

But I still don't know where the chocolate candy that he often takes out of his pocket comes from tho…

After being full, there was only one thing that Philip really wanted to drink. That is a bottle of quality liquor…

Sneaking into a nightclub full of drunk people, managed to steal a few bottles, and heard their noisy music from the roof of the building.

What a quite adventure, if I must say…

Although not a beautiful thing, I would also be lying if I said that this whole thing was a bad experience for myself…

Sitting on the edge of the roof of the building, looking out at a ruin in the middle of this city… Either because it was too dark at night, or it made sense that I didn't remember this scene from this point of view, but suddenly I felt something odd right in front of me…

“This is…”

“Sorry I never said it, but… I actually saw you when you fought that night from this place… I saw the flames of the man you were against. Also I saw him looking everywhere for you… Right above the underground city, the place I told my people to go to for shelter… But as you can see here… They all died that night. Buried by rubble.”

“Sorry… I was… I was just trying to run away from that guy…”

“It’s okay. I’m used to all of this… The world is cruel, and I know it. But I don't really care.”

“Philip… This is all my fault…”

“No, you don't understand, my friend. We can't live with those words you just used. I also can't live if I have to blame someone for everything I've been through, right?”

Hearing those words, what else can I do but remain silent, staring down from this high place? Then I understood that it was at this very moment that I too had finally awakened from my other self… Just like when I woke up right before almost killing Ellie with my curse magic in that battle arena…

“But those are not my own words. I heard it from a street play that people repeated in many different places back then. I just thought the line was cool, so I always remember it to this day. I have also invited dozens of people to sit in this place and say the same sentence to them.”

What the actual fuck?

“Sometimes they even punch me because they've also heard that line from the same drama… And they thought that the sentence was lame and had absolutely nothing to do with the topic we were talking about.”

Either this man was drunk, or he thought that the story was important for me to hear, but I still managed to hear his chuckle lightly as he patted my shoulder.

“What time is it now? It's about time, right?”

I stood up and sharpened my vision to see anything that could tell the time of this night. but Philip immediately said… “Oh shit. Ten more minutes. Looks like we have to hurry…”

~~~~~

“Gate Four.” Hearing those words and thanking him in return, I walked sneakily into the runway section of the airport.

Breaking through the fence with the mist form, I saw the same man standing on the roof of the airport building…

Seeing me with his finger pointing at an airplane that I also knew that was the plane I was going to be on, I used my mist form again to enter through the gap in the plane's wheels to get into the luggage area, from the plane that was already moving slowly faster.

Right after returning to my original form, the only thing I did was to not move at all as if preparing to fall unconscious.

“Philip, eh? I hope he doesn't lose his unique humanity when we meet again someday…”

With all the shaking slowly getting weaker, no one suspects my existence as time actually goes by, while I'm hovering in my own dream…

~~~~~

Out of one plane, I decided to find and sneak into the bus bound for Guinaian city. Sne single bus is not enough, I have to change from one vehicle to another.

Walking following directions on the outskirts of town, where on the eleventh of December, I finally made it to the front gate of this boarding house…

A journey that took almost two full days, I finally arrived here in a makeshift condition…

I don't know if the two of them are still here with the scouts that Ellie has finished off, or the same girl has brought them to a much safer place, or if it was all just a misunderstanding and ended up on the worst possible route.

But I remained hopeful, knocking on the door…

Then someone came to open it… "Welcome back," she said.

~~~~~