HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

A lizard-like parasite with wings on its front legs covered its whole body with shiny scales. The parasite was so big but terrifyingly it didn't make any noise, it could walk silently and hide its presence. Both Tommy and Ruby were terrified when they saw it, the parasite itself didn't like any other parasites that look ugly and disgusting, but its presence was so overwhelming that it affected anyone near it.

"Can you run?" Archie whispered as he looked at Ruby.

Ruby slowly looked at Archie. "Run? Why?" Ruby whispered back.

"If we don't leave, we are going to die, just run on my signal," Archie said. "Are you two ready?" Archie asked and looked at Ruby and Tommy.

They both nodded while they were taking a deep breath.

"Alright, go!" Archie said and pushed them both.

Tommy and Ruby ran as fast as they could that they didn't realize Archie wasn't following them and stayed behind.

The parasite turned its head toward Archie with a silent growl that trembled the ground. Archie looked at how big that thing was and the scale on its body looked so tough that he didn't think he could pierce through it. The parasite suddenly screeched at Archie and made a shockwave that crush all the trees around it, Archie on the other hand collapsed from that screech alone and fell unconscious because he felt like his soul was leaving his body.

The parasite stared at Archie then spread its wings and flew away.

Archie opened his eyes and immediately gasped, he stood up and looked around where the trees were shattered and laid on the ground. He caught his breath and couldn't believe that something like that existed.

"Archie!" Ruby screamed and ran toward him with Tommy next to her.

Archie turned around and just stared at them silently.

"What was that?!" Tommy asked as he looked at the sky. "That doesn't look like a parasite! That's a beast!" he continued.

"It doesn't matter what that thing was, we need to find Vincent and the others! They might be in danger if we don't find them!" Ruby said.

Archie shook his head. "No, they're going to be fine..." He said. "That thing, it didn't prey on us like the other parasites," he continued.

"We still have to find them because they're not responding on the radio," Ruby said. "Let's move!" she continued as she walked over the trunk on the ground.

After walking almost a whole day, they couldn't find Vincent and the others. Ruby looked a bit worried because she didn't want to lose another person under her command. Tommy knew that she carried that burden on her own so he tried to cheer her up a bit and convinced her to get some rest before they continue searching for Vincent and the others.

Archie was staying up while both Ruby and Tommy were asleep since they exhausted themselves. He wandered around the camp to see if that parasite was near because he was curious about that thing that made him unconscious with a single roar.

As he walked around the forest, he felt a cold breeze hit his face, he immediately looked up. "I know that you have been following me ever since I entered the forest," he said.

A small whirlwind could be seen in front of Archie, and it slowly reshaped itself into a human form. Archie was surprised to see it with his own eyes, and then the human-shaped wind approached him in a form of a woman.

"It's nice to be able to see you again," The wind witch said.

"You're the elder sister of the wind witch?" Archie asked.

The witch tilted her head. "How did you know?" she replied.

"Because you can do something like that that the other wind witches that I met couldn't do," Archie explained.

"That's correct, I'm the oldest one," The witch said. "Are you perhaps searching for that parasite that flew away this afternoon?" she asked.

Before Archie could answer, the witch shook her head. "Don't, you will only bring chaos if you do that because your existence is a threat to them," she explained.

"What is that thing?" Archie asked.

The witch took a long pause before she answered. "That's the parasite that lives in the deep, one of the many parasites that the human haven't discovered. They're the parasite that came from the center of the meteorite that struck the earth, they evolved, used, and combined the form of the extinct animals that roamed the earth millions of years ago that they saw and devoured the genes," she answered.

Archie squinted his eyes. "So they're the strongest parasites?"

The witch chuckled softly. "They're not only the strongest but also the ones who reign over the parasites around the world, they're the ones with a crown on their head."

Archie was dumbfounded and shocked by the answer, he couldn't believe that there were so many things that were more terrifying than what he saw. He never thought that his existence was just one of the many that were insignificant to some.

"Don't ever think of going against them, their existence alone could make every living being suffer including us. They're not interested in what's happening on the surface, but once they decided to come out, we are done for," The witch warned Archie.

Archie looked at the stars and nodded with understanding. "I will keep that in mind."

"Thank you," The witch smiled.

"Before you go..." Archie said as he looked at her. "Have you seen our companion that came here earlier? There are four of them," Archie asked.

"They're hiding in the cave not far from here, you will be able to see the cave a few hours from here. All you need to do is to go north from here and you can see a giant cave down below the cliff." The witch replied.

Archie looked at the north. "Why are they hiding?"

"The same reason why you're out here," The witch said.

Archie hummed with understanding. "Can I ask you one more thing?" Archie asked and turned his head to look at the witch. "Do you see humans that live in the mountain? There should be a lot of them." he continued.

The witch pointed her finger at the northeast. "You see the mountain over there?" She said. "They're over there, you will see an outpost on your way there and that means you're close to their village," she continued.

Archie looked where she pointed her finger at. "Thank you, that helps me a lot of trouble."

The witch smiled and nodded. "If there's nothing else, I will leave and enjoy the night sky."

"Wait!" Archie said. "You're quite far from where you belong, is there a reason why are you going all the way here so suddenly?" he asked.

"There's no more reason for me to be there anymore since I have lost two of my sisters. My other sister is also roaming around for fun and since we are not needed anymore." The witch said.

"Not needed? Isn't there someone like me that came from the north? He might come back to see you, no?" Archie asked.

The witch smiled and looked at the ground then she looked at Archie. "You will know, eventually..." she answered. "Goodbye, Archie, and I will see you again, someday," she said as she started to disappear.

Archie watched her fly and disappeared under the moonlight, he then looked at the north and decided to pick Vincent and the others up.

After an hour of running through the forest, Archie reached the cliff that the witch mentioned. He looked down and saw the cave, he jumped down and used his claws on the wall to slow him down from the fall. He could feel a presence from the cave and heard them whispering to each other, he then entered the cave and saw the four of them on guard with their weapons in their hands when they saw Archie.

"Thank god it's just you..." Vincent said as he exhaled with relief.

Archie looked at them and tilted his head toward the cave's mouth. "Come on, Ruby and Tommy are looking for you guys," Archie said as he put his glove on.

On their way to Ruby and Tommy, Vincent and the others were looking around in fear. "By the way, Archie..." Vincent said. "Did you see it? That flying parasite?" he asked.

Archie looked at them as he kept walking. "We all did," he answered.

"That's not a parasite, that's a dragon!" Daniel said as he looked at Vincent.

"You guys don't have to worry about that, that parasite doesn't care about a being like us," Archie said.

"What makes you think that it's not dangerous?" Resse asked as she glared at Archie.

"Because I stood there in front of that thing and it left after it greeted me," Archie answered.

"Greeted you?" Prince asked.

Archie looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "Yes, it roared at me and it was enough to put me unconscious then it flew away."

All of them were shocked and looked at each other. "What's that thing, Archie?" Vincent asked.

Archie stopped and turned around. "I don't know much about them, but it's the king who ruled over the parasite in this area," he answered. "I'm not trying to scare you, but there's more of that thing around us," he continued.