Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 284. Violet coin
I followed the others out of the cave and got nearly blinded by the strong light and intense colors outside.
The whole time we walked, our steps were accompanied by a soft crunching sound I hadn’t noticed before, as if stepping in fresh snow. It was because the earth and the grass were made out of crystals that, after being crushed beneath our feet, would magically return to their former state as we continued on our way.
Nobody spoke, as if our words would interfere with the silence that was present, accompanying the scenes unfolding in front of us.
I walked last in line while the commander had gone ahead, between trees that reached endlessly into the sky, resting on thick stems, as well as flowers that enticed everyone to pick them to taste their beauty.
We didn’t walk long until I heard the soft groaning of a man, full of pain.
We came to a clearing, the commander stopping and stepping aside, turning to me as if asking me to solve the problem, maybe because I had proven to have more knowledge than the average Joe.
"Mr. Aslan! How are you?" Chubby stood behind a tree and peeked out while Birthmark hid behind him, both not daring to come closer to the clearing than that.
Now I am really fucking curious.
I walked past the commander, seeing the faceless figures for the first time since I had come here.
There were three of them, standing unmovingly, in different positions, one looking up, one as if he was in the midst of taking a step, and the other standing motionlessly with a bent head.
"Urrgh..."
I followed the sound and found a fourth faceless figure lying on the ground. No, that wasn’t right; it lay on top of a human.
"Mr. Aslan?" I asked, stepping to him and crouching by his side.
I saw a man older than his colleagues, the color of his skin didn’t seem right, leaning more towards a bluish, and his whole body appeared to be covered in cuts and wounds.
He didn’t answer but briefly opened his eyes before tiredly closing them again.
The man lay on his back, his hands placed against the faceless figure’s chest, while the figure had imitated him, its hands on Mr. Aslan’s chest, just a little shifted so that their hands didn’t touch. Both nearly lay exactly on each other.
The commander came to me.
"We can’t lift the figure, and if Mr. Aslan tries to push it away, it presses his hands against his chest, suffocating him. Now it has come to this." He explained, looking at me with crossed arms.
I touched Mr. Aslan and flipped the coin, looking into his future, and saw him dying of suffocation because at some point he wouldn’t be able to take it anymore and try to wriggle himself out from under the figure, pushing it away, only to be smothered.
Yeah, yeah. Why am I even looking when I’m just getting bad news? This messed-up ability had really become so fucked up lazy, not showing me any solutions, instead just a future that would appear if we all lay down and did nothing.
I flipped the coin again; back of my hand; golden; eyes and ears uncovered.
I stand in exactly this clearing, watching the commander put his arm out, stopping the three men behind him from continuing.
Instead, he takes the lead, looking at the sculptures with wonder and alarm.
From one sculpture to the other, he examines them, the others coming closer as well when one figure suddenly moves.
Mr. Aslan screams and takes a few trembling steps backward as the figure takes steps toward him.
The commander comes to his aid, trying to stop the figure, but no matter the amount of strength, the figure doesn’t bulge.
When Mr. Aslan stumbles against a tree and falls backward, the figure mirrors him, falling on top of him. The commander tries to remove the figure and bellows for the other two to help, and they comply after hesitating.
Even with three men doing their utmost, the figure doesn’t move an inch.
And all the while, Mr. Aslan tries to push the face away, only for a sharp hand to mirror him, pressing against his face. No matter what he does, he is unable to free himself without getting injured or losing more of his much needed air.
Coming back, I was in the midst of touching the faceless figure lying on top of that poor fellow, yet the commander bent down, his hand instantly catching my wrist.
"It’s sharp." He warned.
Shut the fuck up; don’t behave similarly to Henry while you’re just wearing a face that should only exist once in the universe. Naturally, this doesn’t mean that Henry is not one billion times better looking than that tasteless copy.
I snorted and ripped my hand out of his hold.
"When you tried to lift the figure, were you cut?" I asked him because it hadn’t seemed like this in my vision.
"...No."
I placed my hand on the back of the figure and slid it down until I reached his lower back.
Looking at my hand, there were no wounds, not even tiny splinters.
I patted the figure’s back.
These guys didn’t seem really evil or anything.
If the light here was nurturing them, it wouldn’t be farfetched to think that they were feeding on it as well.
Every spot I had seen these figures in was always in areas where sunlight could reach them just fine; there were no figures in shadowy places.
So if they already had a way to sustain themselves, they wouldn’t need humans to satisfy their hunger, and they don’t come off as some sadists either.
Then the reason for them to walk up to their counterparts should be the natural attraction between counterparts.
I came closer to Mr. Aslan, patting his cheek until he woke up again.
"Hey. That thing doesn’t want to harm you. Can you try to push him away without defiance or something?"
The figure can choose mirroring or doing the opposite. In this case, when Mr. Aslan wanted to push it away, it clung to him, imitating his actions. Perceiving the intention of its counterpart, it decided on the action with which they could stay together because of said attraction.
That’s my bet.
"No...No...noooo!" He mumbled, going all hysterical and trying to push the figure away.
"HEY!" I yelled at him, simultaneously clapping my hands together in front of his face, seeing him freeze.
"Wanna live? Then stop fucking around and listen!" I pointed at my ear.
"Listen to me. You aren’t in danger. It just likes you, that’s all. Don’t push it away; just try to bring a friendly distance between each other so you can sit down together and drink coffee or something."
Mr. Aslan breathed laboriously, tears moistening his eyes.
"I am so scared." He whispered.
"Obviously—anybody would be. You can stay scared; just show a bit of friendliness to your number one fan." I patted the figure’s head.
"If a little puppy is clinging to your leg, are you going to kick it away? Are you such a monster?"
Well, it was only a theory, so I have no idea if it would work out.
The next course of action would be to find my crystalline counterpart and try to get it to lift the figure on top of Mr. Aslan by doing a similar movement and hoping for it to imitate it. Maybe that would work.
Mr. Aslan took a deep breath and moved his arm with what seemed to be his last bit of strength.
The figure fell sideways off him as if it were made out of paper.
I chuckled. That was just a wild guess; I can’t believe it worked.
The commander instantly came to Mr. Aslan’s side, supporting him so that he could breathe better.
"Mr. Aslan!" The office guys run to his side, overjoyed.
The whole time, the figure still mirrored its counterpart’s movement, though it didn’t receive any support.
It was kind of cute how clingy it was...reminding me of someone.
I had been in direct sunlight for some time already, and if it was really nurturing, maybe it helped my ability to recover.
I checked the wooden table in my mind and tried to flip it.
It worked.
Fuck... I breathed a sigh of relief and touched the coin, thinking of home.
No magical scene of two worlds melting together appeared before my eyes.
I tried to teleport with the giant’s power, but it didn’t work.
I flipped the table and tried to teleport—nope.
Then I flipped the table again and stared at the violet shimmering coin in confusion.
Why give me the possibility to flip the table if I couldn’t use the power?
That was when I noticed that now there was a motif visible on the previously blank coin.
Again, I was looking at the drawing of a child, which seemed to be the preferable style of my ability, showing a few mountains or hills with circles on them.
No...
People.
This was a simple drawing of a few people.
