Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 294. One
I sighed; here we go again.
"Do you know what this is about?" The commander asked me, naturally also noticing the prominent screams in the otherwise absolutely silent landscape.
He was still carrying me in his arms, and he was doing a really crappy job.
Henry would somehow hold me absolutely steady while walking; in the commander’s arms, I felt every step he took vividly.
I hated that I had to deal with someone screaming nearby because of the link and his dead counterpart and stuff. I hated that it wasn’t Henry carrying me, and I hated that the whole carry-comparison sounded gayer in my ears with each second passing.
I jumped out of the commander’s hold.
"You suck at carrying. I pity your children." I sneered at him before taking the lead in search of the screams.
"What does that even mean? What did I do wrong? You are injured!" The commander complained, catching up to me.
"Nah, I’m not. Shut it." A short rest was enough for me, though I was really tired.
Still, let’s deal with Mr. Aslan, then let’s conjure up a mattress and take a good sleep. Tomorrow I would have to flip the giant coin again—I hopefully will be able to flip the table by then—to get into another body, because I promised Henry to make a visit once a day.
Hopefully, I would get Harry’s body then, and hopefully, because of our similar stature, I wouldn’t be as motion-sick that time around.
So many ’hopefuls’.
The commander thankfully really shut up as we continued to follow the screams through the picturesque forest. I think a picture of this place would either sell handsomely or not at all because in my world we had already seen everything with AI and special effects and the likes.
When we had nearly arrived at what sounded like the source of the screams, the noise suddenly stopped, which could either mean that Mr. Aslan got it together or something had silenced him; let’s hope for the former.
I conjured up another hammer and handed it to the commander, who took it, seemingly ready to bash whatever.
After a few more meters, we saw Mr. Aslan sitting on the ground, apparently unharmed.
I looked at the surroundings and found Birthmark hiding not far away, looking scared to death. When he saw me, he ran to my side to cling to me.
"Let go." The commander ordered him, but he was ignored.
"It’s all right." I patted Birthmark’s back before pushing him away.
We three stared at Mr. Aslan, and eventually, I stepped out and walked to him, the commander right beside me.
When Mr. Aslan saw us, he sprang up all of a sudden, walking toward us.
I had the hammer ready, just in case, though I wouldn’t want to use it on him.
"Mr. Aslan?" I asked, only to see his hands in a position as if he held an invisible hammer himself.
I stopped in my steps, and Mr. Aslan did the same.
The commander looked at me.
"Why is he doing this?"
"You know about the memory transfer?" Or ’false memories’, as they thought of it in the commander’s world, as this was looked at as a sign of ’corruption’.
"Yes. But even if he is corrupted, why is he behaving like this?"
"He isn’t corrupted; nobody is. Stop that bullshit."
"Haaa. No matter what you call it, why is he doing the mirroring after the memory transfer?" The commander sighed in annoyance.
Birthmark had sneaked behind us, looking at the motionless Mr. Aslan while hiding behind the commander’s back.
"No idea. Maybe the mirroring is a big part of the crystalline figure’s life or something, and Mr. Aslan does what he remembers from the memory transfer?" I mean, each crystal itself can be described as a little mirror; maybe that’s in their DNA and isn’t caused by just the attraction to their counterparts.
"Is it only mirroring you?" The commander stepped in front of me, and Mr. Aslan also took a step forward as well.
Birthmark now hid behind me, and I looked out from behind the commander; we were all behaving as if we were performing some fucked-up skit.
"Apparently no, he is doing it with random people. And don’t call Mr. Aslan ’it’." I punched the commander’s back before stepping out and getting closer to ’it’.
When we were in front of each other, I stepped back again; Mr. Aslan didn’t mirror me and didn’t come after me or anything.
"He seems harmless." I touched him and flipped the coin, seeing us all wandering around with a well-behaved Mr. Aslan.
"Yep, harmless." I confirmed
Birthmark stepped out as well, watching us.
"We hid near the cave and then saw Mr. Aslan running out, screaming and holding his head. He screamed about ’memories,’ ’silence,’ and ’sun.’" He explained.
"Where is the other office guy?" I asked him.
"I am here!" Chubby Guy stepped out from behind another tree not that far away.
"Okay, everyone back to the cave." I let my hammer disappear but let the commander keep his.
Looking at Chubby Guy’s and Birthmark’s hands, I found that they still held their empty cola bottles as if their lives depended on it.
I put them away as well, seeing them look at me, stunned, before I turned around and walked back to the cave.
Mr. Aslan followed us like an obedient little puppy, making me miss mine even more. Inside the cave, I conjured up a few mattresses, pillows, and blankets and threw myself on them, closest to the cave entrance.
"Wow!"
"Oh my goodness." Both office guys were happy and even took their shoes off before lying down, with Chubby Guy burrowing himself into the blanket.
"Shouldn’t we talk?" The commander kicked my mattress; Mr. Aslan, beside him, imitated the action.
"Leave me alone; let me sleep. We’ll talk later." I closed my eyes and soon dozed off, too tired from everything that had happened. Besides, we had achieved somewhat of a happy ending, though Mr. Aslan would need some psychologist; that’s nothing I can help with, and I was dead tired from playing tag with his counterpart already.
********
I look at the hut at the end of the hill.
The last few days, I have been watching him—watching this other self of mine.
This is the first human self I have found; before, I only killed monsters.
To be honest, I am not only nervous but also pretty excited.
I watched him build traps, skin animals, and gather water; I looked at him combing through his waist-long hair. I even saw him mating with a woman from the village not far away.
I would be able to gather so many experiences, so many things he was doing through his daily life that I have never done before.
How do I know that this human was one of my other selves? I know, because he is the spitting image of myself, just with sun-kissed skin and overly long hair.
So identical, yet he seems so otherworldly careless, happy, and content—I really CAN’T WAIT to feel these emotions for myself.
Although I gathered the memories of a few of my monstrous other selves, their low intellect and limited emotions didn’t feel like they were enough.
Walking over in the deep of the night, without candles anywhere, which doesn’t hinder my sight, I enter the hut.
A small arrow rushed by the side of my face, and I laughed.
So he has noticed me and has waited for me; maybe he even feels that we would become one tonight.
I move with a speed he is unable to counter, grabbing his neck and throwing him on the floor with me sitting on him.
The moonlight shines through the roof full of holes, letting me see him and letting him see me.
"Œ∫ƒ∑ Œ∑€!" He says something I can’t understand, his reddish-brown eyes looking at me in shock, apparently also discovering our similarities.
"Shh... Don’t be afraid." I laugh, the euphoria hitting me deeply.
"Don’t be afraid; I am you, and you are me." Without letting go of his neck, I reach for the knife bound to my ankle, drawing it.
"∑†∂!!" He again says something in his language.
I bend down to him, whispering while staring into his tear-filled eyes that still look back at me stubbornly.
"Shhh... Don’t worry. We will be together forever. We won’t die, we won’t suffer, and we won’t stop ’feeling’. We will live, and... we will live to see."
"We will see everything there is, and after that, we will take a look beyond."
I bring my knife down, stabbing it into his eye and right into his skull.
"Everything is fine! You are a part of me, and I am a part of you." I pull the knife out, hearing him take a few stagnant breaths as his body still shows signs of being alive.
I bring the knife down again and again, his blood splattering on me, the knife I pull out having gray brain matter stuck to it, along with an eyeball.
"Shhh..." I whisper, pulling the eyeball from the blade.
"You aren’t dying. You will never die." Throwing the eyeball away, I take a deep, long, audible breath.
’We will live forever.’
Something is entering me, coming back to its origin. Memories, emotions, experiences, wisdom, a new childhood, a new language, a new family, new friends, new lovers, and new feelings.
"AHAAHAHA! SEE?" I told you.
"WE ARE ONE."
