Mutagen

<strong>Day 239 - 2:26 PM - Barangay Caratagan, Municipality of Calinog, Province of Iloilo, Island of Panay</strong>

Mark's group, along with Bella and Donna's group, finally left the magical realm of Mount Madia-as.

For Mark's group, they only spent a little bit more than a week inside both the Secret Realm and Kahilwayan combined. However, more than a month had already passed outside.

It was worse for the group of the sisters. While they felt that it was much shorter, they had already lost more than two months on Earth. In that two months, a whole lot of things changed.

Since Spera had only been to the west side of Mount Madia-as, it was also where they exited. Due to their exit on the west side, they needed to fly over the Panay Mountain Range. After all, their next destination should be southeast of the island of Panay.

Mark's group already got what they came for in Kahilwayan. Their next goal was to find where Sinogo might possibly be at this point in time.

The island of Panay was situated northwest of the provinces Bacolod, Negros, and the destination, Cebu. Cebu was the second island away southeast from the island of Panay, needing them to fly over a whole island and two straits, the Guimaras Strait and the familiar Tañon Strait, which Mark's group had seen before.

Previously, Sinogo seemed to be moving and attacking around the Tañon Strait. It would be nice if he stayed there since it would save Mark and the rest the trouble to find him. However, Mark was not relying much on this thought. The [Infected] were unpredictable individuals. No one would know and accurately predict their movements without actually influencing them.

Furthermore, the world had changed after the fusion of dimensions. It was very likely that the Tañon Strait was affected by the changes, forcing Sinogo to move.

The Panay Mountain Range was located on the western coast of the island of Panay. As they flew over the mountain range, the central and eastern areas of the island were revealed to everyone's eyes.

Bella, Donna, and the rest of the group could not help but peer through the window once again. One could see in their eyes that they were still hoping that what they learned about the world was not true, or at least, just a fraction of it was untrue.

Yet, dismay enveloped their faces.

Was this still the island they lived on for almost their entire lives?

They were locals of this island. Yet, they could not see any shred of familiarity on the island below them.

Everything changed. Not only were there no signs of civilization, but the landscape and shape of the island also did not even match what they remembered.

Bella, Donna, and Ilma turned to the smaller window facing the north. That direction was where they came from. The province of Aklan.

From this height, they could see the northern coast. The flatter plains there, filled with farms, were no more.

Even their hometown, the entire Municipality of Kalibo, was no longer there.

What they could see was the hilly forest covering the entire northern coast. The only different colors were the glimpses of the lighter brown sand on the beach that they could barely see. There was also the grayish color of rock pillars and hills that they could see scattered here and there.

Seeing the world change like this felt so unreal for Bella and the rest, who did not witness how the world reached this state with their own eyes.

For them, it was a whole new world they were unfamiliar with.

And in a world like this...

Their small group would not be able to survive at all. As the gorgeous woman, the [Succubus] said, they would not be able to survive. And even if they did manage to live a few days, they would die of exhaustion and starvation.

If the world became this unfamiliar, they would not know where to go. Bella and Donna would not know where to get food and water, and there was no way they would know where to stay. Since danger could be everywhere, the two would be forced to be on alert all day long. Bella and Donna might endure it for some time if it was just the two of them. But they also had to take care of three children and protect them.

It was an impossible journey for the sisters and the three children.

Maybe... the other members of their group were the right ones to stay in that realm despite losing their freedom.

No... Bella and Donna were not entirely wrong.

Bella glanced at Mark and the group that invited them. If they did not make the decision to leave, these people would likely not have the intention to invite them.

A powerful group that could traverse the new world without any problem, Bella realized what a great opportunity they had been given.

"Donna, what do you think?" Bella asked her younger sister while looking outside the window. "Should we accept their invitation?"

"Bella..." Donna grumbled. "You know that I'm not the smart type. That's why Father did not send me to college. If it's just me, I'll probably agree. There's no choice since I won't make it alone for sure. But I don't know about you. You're the smarter one and the decision-maker here since those pretentious guys are not with us anymore."

Donna was right. Up until now, their group moved and decided things through a majority vote. Bella just always followed her decisions and the children had no power.

"How about you, Ilma?"

Bella turned to their friend, who was dragged along with them.

"Bella... Why are you even asking me?" Ilma sighed. "It's obvious that I'm just an afterthought here. They are recruiting you two. What I think doesn't really matter here. If you two sisters decide to accept their invitation, they might let me join you two. But there's no reason for me to accept or for them to invite me if you two did not."

Bella gave out her own sigh and shrugged. The decision was now all up to her.

However, given the circumstances shown to them, Bella had no choice but to accept the invitation. If she declined, only death would await, not only to her but everyone with her.

Bella took a deep breath. She then stood up.

"You all wait here."

Bella said as she made her way, walking towards the direction of Mark and the others at the backside of the bridge.

"Have you decided?"

Mark asked Bella to her surprise.

As Donna said, Bella was rather pretty smart. She immediately realized by Mark's question that he knew that Bella was the one deciding for their whole group. However, she could not tell whether Mark managed to hear their whispers or did he know using other methods.

In any case, it did not matter to Bella after her initial surprise.

"I want to ask a few questions first."

Bella replied to Mark.

"Go on."

Mark allowed her without hesitation.

Bella stared at Mark. This guy had a rather eerie vibe around him.

"You only wanted me and my sister to join your group because we are these so-called [Mutators], correct?"

"That's right." Mark nodded. But then, he continued. "Your next question should be about the kids and the other woman, right? Yeah, they are only here because of you two. If you two sisters declined, we have very little reason to keep them around."

Bella stared at Mark. He was definitely not joking.

"Then, one last question." Bella took a deep breath. "Can you guarantee their safety? The children and Ilma? Will you and your group also protect them?"

But to Bella's surprise...

"No? There's no need to."

Mark replied.

"What?!"

Bell was about to lash out. After all, Mark's reply would make anyone think that the children and the close friend with them were not that important.

"Wait."

But before Bella could say anything further, Mark spoke, and she felt a cold sweat behind her back, forcing her to fall silent.

"What I mean is there's really no reason for us to protect them here. If you and your sisters decided to join us, I'll send those kids and your friend there to our base where they could safely stay. The base is secure, so there's no need for such promises. Besides, we are on a dangerous mission here. We can't bring people who would not be of help."

As Mark finished talking, the cold feeling on Bella's back vanished. She also calmed down, realizing the misunderstanding she made.

However...

"You guys have a base?"

Bella asked.

"We do." Mark shrugged and pointed to the floor. "Did you really think that we live in this thing? It's large from outside, but the space we can use inside won't fit us all comfortably."

Mark could feel Ilia's stare boring holes behind him. After all, although true, he still complained about the [Mini Cube] in front of guests.

"Is your base really safe?"

Bella asked another question.

"Will these pictures suffice?"

Mark reached to his pocket. He then took out a phone and tapped on it several times before handing it to Bella.

Bella was surprised to see a working phone. She had not seen one for months. More importantly... There was the picture that was displayed on the screen.

"Slide it a few times. There are several photos in that album."

Mark instructed Bella, to which she complied.

Bella was hooked unto the pictures. That red glowing tree being surrounded by walls, the odd-looking structures, and even the farmland on the upper side of the screen looked so surreal. However, it was clear that the photos were not some CGI or any scene captured from some movie.

"Is this place real?"

Of course, one would ask that question once they see the pictures.

"That's a real place, alright," Mark replied proudly. "Us and every one of the more than a hundred people living there worked to make that place. There was no point for us to lie since you will all see that place once you agreed to join us."

That was right. There was no need for Mark to lie, and Bella could understand that. Besides, they could force Bella and Donna to join them, but they did not.

Bella gave her group a glance and turned back to Mark.

"Alright. We accept your invitation."

Bella finally answered. She still seemed reluctant, but they really did not have much choice.

"Don't worry," Mark spoke. "The people that joined us so far never regretted it. The regret came from those that did not."

Mark was speaking the truth here. The evidence was some of the slaves that survived from the Death Valley Settlement in Infanta. Most of the slaves that Mark saved left when given the opportunity. Now, they were struggling to survive in the Infanta Settlement while seeing Mark's group, all clean and well-fed.

After finishing the talk, Bella, Donna, and their other members gave their introductions. It was the same for Mark's group, as there was no proper introduction that happened earlier.

All this happened while they were flying over the rest of the island of Panay.

While the speed of the [Mini Cube] was not exceptional, it was still faster than traveling on land. In an hour or so, they reached Guimaras Strait and would soon arrive at the island of Negros.

In fact, they could already see the tall mountain of Canlaon on the horizon. It was another so-called sacred mountain in the myths and legends of this country.

Unfortunately, it was not their destination.

Before sunset, they reached the sky above the previous city of Bacolod in the province of Negros Occidental. It was a rather large city, and even with the changes that Earth went through, this place had a lot of traces of the city's civilization before the apocalypse.

Unfortunately, there were no traces of any survivors. Not even signs of settlements or bases that withstood the fusion of dimensions.

In any case, the night was coming soon. They decided to fly past the ruined city and find a flatter area to camp for the night.