Between Two Souls, Chapter 18
The calm darkness of the night, lit only by the moon, was disturbed by the bright light of a campfire and the sound of trees falling. Zero and Danny had successfully selected and cut down several trees, trimming three sides of each to straighten them for the raft they were building. Rose remained focused on repairing her EXO-Armour, though she stayed alert.
She was becoming increasingly aware that the night felt heavy and ominous—nights like this were when mutated monsters tended to roam. To break the tense atmosphere, she spoke up:
"Huh, looks like we're lucky there aren't any radioactive mutant monsters attacking us in this forest. And hopefully, no other danger will come either," Rose said while tinkering with her EXO-Armour, which was still badly dented from the impact of 20mm cannon shells.
"Yeah, why worry about monsters when we've already got one hanging around with us? Hahaha, I—I'm just kidding, Zero. Okay?" Danny said, trying to joke.
Zero, still busy tying together the raft, ignored the joke. His mind was more occupied with calculating the size of the raft, given the combined weight of his own body and the EXO-Armour. After some careful measuring, he determined how many tree trunks they would need.
Rose, who had finished patching up her EXO-Armour by removing damaged steel plates, came over to help.
.................
"All right, looks like it's ready. Let's give it a try!"
Rose pushed the raft into the river, holding it steady with a rope. Zero, the heaviest among them, got on first, followed by Danny and Rose. Fortunately, the raft floated steadily. They untied the rope and began paddling. The current of the river, combined with their paddling, made the journey much faster than if they had attempted to hike through the rugged terrain. They drifted down the river, aiming for the nearest road. Although it wasn't the safest route, having Zero with them made it far safer than it would have been for ordinary civilians. Zero could feel the presence of wild mutants moving through the forest nearby. He sensed many eyes watching them—but none dared to approach.
Even though they were safe from the wild mutants, they remained on guard. There was always the chance that someone else might come hunting them.
.................
After some time, just as they had estimated, they reached the Cikidung road much faster than they would have by foot.
They pulled the raft ashore and carried it out of the river, then followed a road lined with tall iron fences.
They walked until they found a gate.
Rose took off her helmet and walked toward the iron gate.
"Excuse me, hello?" she called out, seeking help from the locals who were patrolling the fence.
A friendly man, armed and smiling broadly, approached them.
"Oh, hello miss! Need me to open the gate for you?" he said cheerfully, taking the initiative.
"You're not being chased by mutants, are you? Especially not Buto, right? Now that would be scary," he joked as he unlocked the gate.
"Thank you, sir," Rose said as she and Danny entered through the gate.
"By the way, miss, you're really pretty. Where are you coming from, carrying combat gear like that? Ouch!!..."
The man was suddenly bumped by Zero, who entered just behind them. He instantly fell silent, staring up at Zero's massive, monster-like frame. Whatever he had been about to say vanished from his mind. He considered reporting the situation but decided against it—he didn't want to mess with someone like Zero.
Rose turned back to the man and asked, "Sir, do you know anyone who could give us a ride to Bandung?" she said, offering him some damp bills.
"Of—of course, miss! Let me show you the way... Ehh, looks like we're going to need a truck to carry that armor, though," the man stammered, nervously leading them toward the nearest public transport area.
Not far from there, they found a rest stop with several trucks parked. The man called out to a few of the drivers, asking if they could give them a lift. At first, the drivers hesitated, but after seeing Rose—despite the scar on her face—they changed their minds. One young truck driver agreed to take them to Bandung in exchange for Rose's payment. They all headed toward the young man's truck. Rose loaded the EXO-Armour into the truck bed with Zero, while she herself sat in the front with the driver.
"Oh, and Zero," Rose said, handing over a device that looked very similar to the mind crown Adrien once had in Valkan, "Don't forget to wear this if you want to sleep. It's going to be a long ride."
"Rose, I'll be taking my leave now. May fate bring us together again!" Danny said, bidding farewell to Rose and Zero.
"Of course, Danny! Stay safe out there!" Rose replied, opening the truck door to wave goodbye.
"Hey, miss pretty," the young driver said as he got into the truck and buckled his seatbelt, "what are you planning to do in Bandung? Vacation or something...?"
"Eh, no! What are you saying?" Rose replied, slightly offended. "I'm going there for business. I'm meeting a colleague."
"By the way, where are you from? Your face doesn't really look Indonesian," the young man said curiously.
"I was born here, but I'm originally of South Korean descent," Rose explained.
The young man drove the truck out of the rest area and onto the highway, but he still seemed eager to chat.
"Oh, were you born in an area with a big Korean community? I know a few of those."
"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not talk about that," Rose said curtly.
"Oh, right, sorry, miss…" the young man mumbled, immediately falling silent, embarrassed.
Rose turned to check on Zero in the back of the truck. She saw him staring at the mind crown in confusion. Rose suddenly realized he was still wearing his skull mask, so she quickly contacted him over the radio.
"Hello, Zero, can you hear me? Sorry, I forgot to explain how to use the mind crown with your skull mask. It's actually easy—you just wear it like a regular crown. I've modified it so it will automatically adjust itself to your mask," Rose said over the radio.
Zero sighed. If only he'd known earlier, he wouldn't have wasted time puzzling over how to wear it. He placed the crown on his head. It immediately adjusted itself, rotating and locking into place so it wouldn't fall off and could maximize the brain signal reception.
"You can sleep now, Zero. The sooner you meet your partner Adrien, the better. I'll monitor what you see and hear from here, so I can gather some information from him. Alright, sweet dreams," said Rose.
Zero leaned back, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep, while Rose kept monitoring his brain activity using a device that resembled a laptop.
The trip to Bandung would take around 4–6 hours. Rose continued to wait... and wait. It seemed that Zero had trouble falling asleep—instead, Rose herself almost drifted off. She tried hard not to disturb him until finally...
Signal detected... Connecting brains between two souls...
Rose's device finally picked up a signal. She jolted awake, trying to fully shake off her drowsiness.
"Phew... Finally. You really had a hard time falling asleep, Zero. I'm curious to see that famous face of Adrien's in person."
Soul Connector failed to connect...
"What? Why won't it connect? Zero, are you okay? Driver, please pull over! I need to get to the back!"
The truck driver quickly looked for a place to stop. Once they pulled over safely, Rose jumped out and rushed to the back of the truck. She unlocked the cargo latch and climbed up. She found Zero collapsed in the truck bed. She rushed to his side.
"Adrien, can you hear me? You have to force your partner to meet you at the Soul Tree. Zero, you must accept it. You have to force your body to accept it, even if your memories aren't complete," she urged.
Rose connected several cables from the mind crown Zero was wearing to her device.
"Come on... You're our only hope..."
Soul Connector re-initiated...
Adrien and Zero both felt a reaction in their bodies. Their hands trembled violently, as if their souls were being ripped away by the angel of death. Even Vino, who was sleeping on top of Adrien, woke up startled and ran to find Erika, her best friend. Meanwhile, Rose stayed by Zero's side, working to stabilize the signal to ensure the soul connection succeeded.
The process of soul linking using the early prototype of the S.O.U.L.S device was excruciatingly painful for the users.
Both Adrien and Zero sank into darkness. But slowly, they awoke in another place—a field of grass, gently illuminated by a growing light...
To be continued....
Note: Im sorry for the late update guys. I got a lot a job to do and B2S Comic is on the production, stay tune!