Mutagen

With the bare eyes of mortals, the place was nothing but a beautiful place. It was a bit creepy, though, due to some eerie presence in the surroundings. That eerie presence was justified, however. This place was a nest, not only to the Tamawos but also to other spirits and elementals of nature.

If one was capable of seeing the canyon\'s true appearance, it was far beautiful than what a mortal eye could see.

Large trees that dangled over the river, filled with old vines and flowers. Almost every tree was connected together with vines that formed bridges over the river.

Many houses built from the trunks, branches, and roots of the trees could be seen. Most of them were built up the trunks like huge treehouses having either thick vines or vine ladders to climb up and down.

At the center of the hidden realm, there was a cluster of trees that grew interwoven together. It formed a large structure incomparable to the houses around it.

It was the castle of the tribe. Although it might only be within the size of a small mansion, it was still the abode of the king of Tamawos.

At this moment, the current king of Tamawos, Artile, was inside the most important hall in the castle. It was where the mark of the king of Tamawos was displayed.

Artile was staring at the mark atop its pedestal as the ancient letter inscribed on it kept on glowing. It was as if it was pulsating, resonating towards something.

"Just what in the world is happening?" Artile grumbled in annoyance and agitation. "This damn mark had not accepted me all these years, and now, it would behave like this?"

The Tamawos around Artile were mostly silent. They were also confused as to why the mark was behaving like this. In all their history, it was the first time that this happened.

"My king," A tall Tamawo who stood behind Artile spoke. "Please calm down. Being agitated would not do us any good in a situation that none of us could understand."

Artile turned to the tall Tamawo for a second and turned away without a care for his words.

Nonetheless, the tall Tamawo just smiled at the king\'s uncaring gesture.

This tall Tamawo was named Terville. Artile\'s current advisor and one of the people that backed the current king when he forcefully took the throne. He was also one of the people that hated the previous king the most and the same person that urged the current king to rebel towards the elder Tamawo that led the tribe during the absence of a king.

Artile racked his brains. He wondered if he could find even a clue about what was happening.

Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing. Not the king nor his people inside the castle knew about what was going on with the mark of the king.

"Wait, my king." Terville suddenly had a flash of thought. "There might be someone who might know about this."

"Who?" Artile turned to Terville with a frown. "Quick, tell me."

"The elder that led the tribe before you, my king." Terville smiled. "The oldest Tamawo alive, Erille."

"Then, don\'t waste time! Summon him here!"

Artile ordered aggressively.

Nonetheless, Terville still smiled as he left the hall despite the aggressive behavior of the king.

***

"That kid is still immature, isn\'t he? Impatient and stupid."

Terville was, outside, waiting for the warriors under him when a gruff voice entered his ear.

Without looking in the direction where the voice came from, Terville replied.

"You already said it. He\'s still a kid. He\'ll grow up as time goes. Besides, an immature kid is easier to manipulate."

"Kekeke."

That eerie laughter was the last thing Terville heard before the voice vanished.

"Father, we\'ve arrived."

A young Tamawo arrived and stood in front of Terville. From his attire, this Tamawo was definitely a warrior. Aside from being a warrior, he was Terville\'s son.

"Let\'s head out," Terville said to his son and the warriors in front of him. "We need to bring Erille back as soon as possible."

***

Day 153 - 11:21 PM - Madrijelos National High School, Barangay Madrijelos, Municipality of Algeria, Province of Cebu

Everyone was now asleep on their beds. Well, except Mark, of course.

He moved the teacher\'s table pushed to the side of the classroom to a better location close to the sleeping Mei and the little girls.

And right now, he was drawing on a sheet of bond paper with Ignis and Crimson watching at his side. The drawing was not some anime character or a weapon design, however. It was the map of the town occupied by the Tamawos.

Using the memory he had when he flew over the town on Chaflar\'s back, he decided to draw a map to use later on. On the side of the paper, there was also a phone. It was a phone that was strapped on Ignis to record a video of the town while the sword scouted the area.

The map was getting clear as Mark went on drawing. It was unfortunate, however, as the video on the phone was too dark.

"I should get a night vision camera if possible," Mark murmured as he locked the phone screen. "Regular phones and cameras aren\'t that reliable in the dark. I should probably get some waterproof ones too."

"The US military should have some of those," The voice of Ignis echoed inside Mark\'s head. "I can\'t say for sure about this country\'s military, though."

"The Philippine military does have those," Mark replied. "But I don\'t really want theirs. The ones listed in their equipment lists are old outdated models. I rather have those sold in rich gadget stores since those are brand new and newer models."

"The soldiers in this country really have it bad, don\'t they?"

Ignis said with a voice filled with contempt.

"Kind of." Mark agreed. "There might be bad soldiers, but they aren\'t incompetent in general. It\'s just the government did not pay too much attention or enough funding to the military for them to be able to compete with other countries. Many people see funding the military more as a sign of possible dictatorship."

"So, it all boils down to this because of history, right Master?"

"Pretty much."

Mark nodded to what Ignis said as he stopped drawing.

"It\'s not finished yet, isn\'t it?"

Ignis said as it floated above the unfinished map that Mark had drawn.

"I wasn\'t able to see everything while on Chaflar\'s back. There are angles and areas covered by trees and other buildings." Mark then turned to the phone once more. "You passed by some of those areas, but the video is too dark to see."

"That is troublesome," Ignis replied. "Even though I managed to see a lot clearer, the phone did not record them properly."

At those words, Mark suddenly turned to the [Demon Sword].

"You just said that you saw those areas clearly, right? Can\'t you just show me?"

"Show?" Ignis was confused for a second. But then... "Ah! That!"

It seemed that Ignis forgot, but before it was a [Demon Sword], it was a [Cursed Sword], a being that could enter someone\'s consciousness.

And with Ignis\' help, Mark could enter his subconscious world together with it.

As such, Mark grabbed Ignis, and it invaded his subconscious. As before, they were greeted by the void that was Mark\'s subconscious world.

There, Mark floated with the childish figure of Ignis. It was until the incomplete replica of the town that Mark had drawn began to form.

"Hah..." Ignis sighed. "I really can\'t get used to this. For Master to be able to completely control your subconscious world, it was surreal."

"You don\'t have to get used to it." Mark glanced at Ignis. "Just do your job and fill in the missing parts as much as you can. I\'ll allow you to do so."

"Aye! aye!"

Ignis replied as it flew towards the incomplete parts of the map that it could remember correctly.

Soon, Ignis filled in what he could. There were still incomplete areas, but it was way better than before.

Mark and Ignis floated above the town. They stared at the almost perfect replica they created.

"Sorry, Master. I\'m just a sword, so my memory capabilities are subpar. I wasn\'t able to fill in everything."

Ignis sure was a bit disappointed.

"Don\'t worry, I\'m not really expecting much." Mark shrugged. "You said before that you saw it clearer, not memorized it."

"Ugh." Ignis groaned. "Could Master be a little bit softer in your feedback? I also have feelings, you know?"

"I\'m already holding back on that," Mark shrugged. "What me to say what I really thought about it?"

"Um... No... I guess I\'ll refrain. I\'ll accept the previous one."

Ignis backed off. If Mark was already holding back, the real words he had should be way harsher.

Despite what he said to Ignis, however, Mark was already pretty satisfied with the outcome. Pushing it to perfection was unnecessary. In the first place, he only needed the layout of the town. Also, the trail up to the falls if possible.

Unfortunately, neither Crimson nor Ignis managed to scout the perimeter of the falls and up the Matutinao River. Apparently, Ignis felt magical wards around the area and more as they go further upstream. Those magical wards were used to monitor the area and detect intruders. Both Ignis and Crimson would not be able to scout the place without keeping themselves undetected.

"Those wards might be the reason they knew when people throw garbage into the waters of the falls, don\'t they?"

Mark suddenly thought.

"Likely." Ignis agreed. "Tamawos are different from other magical beings and elementals. They can\'t turn themselves invisible for too long since their magical reserves are too low. They won\'t be able to monitor the falls constantly without getting seen by humans."

"Well, it doesn\'t really matter," Mark said. "I only wanted the layout of the town so I won\'t accidentally kill innocent humans once we attack them. You managed to locate where the slaves stay during the night so it\'s enough."

"I\'m really surprised that accidentally killing humans would bother you, Master."

Ignis commented.

"I don\'t really care too much before," Mark replied. "But Freed changed a few things about how I think about humans when we fused, so it can\'t be helped. Besides, it\'s his will, and I really can\'t deny his wishes."

Ignis fell silent. Being around Mark he already knew about the story about the Freed and other mysteries that surrounded Mark. And this fact also gave Ignis something to feel scared about. If Mark wanted it, he could also swallow the consciousness of Ignis. It was fortunate that Mark took interest in him as a [Cursed Sword]. If not, he could have been already dead, forced to become a part of Mark\'s powers.

"What are you thinking about?" Mark flicked the forehead of Ignis. "Don\'t daze around. We still have work to do."

With the map already recorded in Mark\'s subconscious, he and Ignis exited his subconscious world...

Only to find out that his lap was pretty heavy.

Mark was concentrated on recreating the map in his subconscious that he did not realize... It seemed that Abbygale woke up and climbed up to his lap before falling asleep again.

Now, Abbygale was asleep, leaning on his chest. She was not deeply asleep, though, as she was squirming around a bit.

"Seriously."

Mark could only let out a bitter smile. In any case, it would not hurt to take a little break. Thus, he waited until the little catgirl was already sound asleep on his lap. That was when he laid her back to her bed before he continued working for the rest of the night.