Author note
Hey guys before you read I wanted to apologize for being MIA for a while. I was having massive issues at school which took me a while to sort out because their system is shit causing, me so much stress these past weeks. Even after that it took me a while to properly settle to relax my mind an write proper chapters.
Anyway thanks for being patient and hope you all enjoy this new chapter.
--XX--
Miracle's Pov
"Everything is ready for the experiment."
One of the scientist voices echoed coldly as leather straps tightened around my wrists, ankles and forehead. Thick cords connected me to the chair, humming, faintly with energy.
'CHANI!? No, this is impossible! Who am I back here we escaped!? We escaped!' I thought I wanted to struggle, activate my powers but for some reason my body didn't listen to me, hell I couldn't even speak and so I couldn't do anything but watch helplessly.
"You foolish human!" Gregory's voice boomed as he came out of the shadows but he was different. He was a lot larger, more muscles on him, his body glowing dark purple, eyes burning red. "Did you really think you could escape us?"
'N-No this has to be a dream. I saw this mother fucker blow himself up!' I tried desperately to do anything.
"THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE CHAOS BRIGADE!"A massive shadowy hand reached toward my chest.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I yelled as my body blew up in green psychokinetic waves and the whole place broke like glass.
Snap. Crunch.
The sound of twigs breaking jolted me awake and my eyes flew open spotting, also picking up the sound of something running away setting off my alarm bells.
Cold air bit into my skin worse than the mosquitoes which blasted away with annoyance. Thank God I malaria was not a problem here. I think.
I was floating a few feet above the forest floor, wrapped tightly in a blanket. Pale fog drifted between towering trees,and the rising sunlight barely hit the forest ground.
"…Not again." I muttered. "Damn nightmares."
I floated back to the ground noticing that it was cracked and the tree on the left snapped in two but Slyvia and James were untouched still sleeping like logs. "I really got to get this under control." I sighed and tightened my hold on the blanket shivering at the cold weather.
It's been three days since we escaped the chaos brigade lab and have been stuck in this forest somewhere in the US. The plan I had was rather simple so far: get as far away from the lab, find a good spot so that I could use one of the phone's GPS, but so far only the Nokia has been somewhat helpful. But it was hard to get a good reading and would glitch out as soon as it came.
I wasn't wasn't a survivor expert or anything like that, the only experience I have is going through that damn lab, along with visiting some relatives at the village and watching some natural geographic and outdoor YouTube videos in my past life, but it was a good thing we weren't normal either otherwise we would have been so screwed.
But my paranoid ass is still afraid some choas brigade guys might still scout around. Some predator animals might attack us even though we haven't ran into any yet, or worst case we run into some freaky supernatural creatures, we are deep into the forest and I heard some pretty bizarre stories of what people ran into.
"Perhaps instead of stressing yourself into raising your blood pressure, you should use this chance to get a bit more rest my wielder." Tinashe's voice gently echoed in my mind.
'What are you talking about? I got enough sleep.'
"No you haven't Miracle. You were awake the whole night and only slept for two hours. You've been doing this to yourself for the past three days now."
'Meh I've had worse sleeping schedules.'
"If this is about your nightmares then you can always just come to me while your body rests."
"As nice as that is but I'll be fine. And besides I have to stay up and keep watch."
"I understand that Miracle but your abilities are heavily mental based and if you keep doing this then you'll not be efficient."
'Yeah I get it but don't worry I'll get proper rest once we're out of here or when we find a good spot.'
"Mwana uyu." She mumbled. "Very well I'll trust your judgement. But tell me just what do you plan on doing once you manage to find a human settlement?"
Her question caused me to pause and scratch my head.
'I have no idea.'
"Well just remember Miracle whatever path you choose I'll be there to assist you with whatever challenges you may face."
'Yeah thanks.'
Leaning back on the tree and began to think hard on her question.
What should I do after I'm out of here?
Once we do find our way out of this maze of forest we will be nothing but low street kids which people would not even bat an eye too, no papers, no adults no place to belong. The knowledge I had on the US was through screen and I wasn't sure how much I've seen from the series. I'm sure with our powers we could make things work in some way.
Not to mention I don't have elite PhD knowledge on the DxD verse to know which cheat channels to use. I just watched the anime which from what I heard skips a lot of stuff including content for world building from the light novels, which I regret not reading right now. Did the light novels even touch on countries like the US?
Guess we can start doing YouTube videos early or something, or sell some fruits specially made by Sylvia. But if all outs fail I can just use my 2020s knowledge to bet on NBA, premiere league and world cup games.
I could hear Tinashe chuckling at my thought process.
After a few minutes of thinking I got up unwrapping the blanket which I instantly regretted as the cold air seeped into my spine.
"J-Just w-were the fuck in the US or are we in the Alaska?" I muttered and used my powers to pull a large slightly ripped/burned, oversized coat from the clothes sac. Not great but meh what are you going to do?
Looking back at my fellow experiments who were sleeping soundly on the ground made me a little jealous at how fast they adapted to the wilderness. I'm sure they'll be fine for a few minutes, I remember James used to get through combat experiments at the facility so I'm sure he could handle whatever wild animal would attack them.
So I floated upwards through the trees, holding the Nokia high. The GPS flickered. Disappeared and flickered again getting on my nerves. It's the same BS which has been happening for three days.
'Chonda (please) man work.'
A few metres higher and… There. It finally worked and the coordinates locked in.
"Hell yeah!" I celebrated but quickly went back to reading the map.
It wasn't anything fancy though. No variety of colors. No names. Just a dull grid with a blinking dot sitting in the middle of an overwhelming amount of green so wide it was almost like it was mocking me.
"Man are you serious right now. After all that struggle to find a good reading that's all you got" I sighed in frustration but had to remember this wasn't google maps.
I tilted the phone, and pressed the buttons hoping something else would pop up but nothing.
'Okay Mvula you got this. Geography was your best subject in your past life plus your dad taught you a lot about map reading, so just locked in.' I pumped myself up.
Going back to the phone, I looked at the number on the latitude which read fifty-six degrees north which was way too high up, while the longitude read one-thirty west coast. Pressing on the buttons again to zoom out more for further inspections of the rough map, I came to my conclusion of where we were.
'Fuck we really are in Alaska but how? That guard said that we were still in the US? Wait, was Alaska part of the US or Canada? I always get that confused.' I rubbed my curly green hair.
Going back to the map zoomed in more and so there was a thin blue line near the dot which indicated a stream or river. That was good enough, people were known to settle near bodies of water so maybe with a little bit of light we might find some campers or something.
It began to get more windy so I memorized the location of the water body before I lost the signal.
"Phew at least… Ey I-I didn't notice I was this h-high up" I swallowed a lump of saliva when I looked down making me a bit nauseous.
"Relax, Miracle ,keep focus, it's okay." Tinashe stepped in to cool my nerves "Look on the bright side. This shows you're truly improving on using powers and soon you'll be properly flying through the skies."
"Y-Yeah but it's just a bit overwhelming being this high up without being on a plane." I began to breath in and out regaining control of myself then gently floated back down went back to the others.
When I got there I saw Sylvia sitting by a log crying and while James looked completely confused and panicked on what to do.
"Would you stop already?!" he snapped.
"W-Where Miracle… scared… don't wanna be alone!" Sylvia sobbed.
"How should I know!" He sounded almost as distressed as her.
"Hey. Hey." I floated next to James, making him jump in surprise. "Relax dude, it's just me."
"I WASN'T SCARED! Y-your eyes just weirded me out sometimes." He grumbled.
That confused me a bit. Sure my eyes had rings in them like the rinengan or makima from chainsaw man, till today I don't know why they are like that. But I didn't think they were that weird compared to what was in that lab.
Before I could retort to that Sylvia wrapped in a super tight bear hug which made me flinch and I instinctively began to get her off me, but damn she was strong.
"Hey easy."
"MIRACLE!!" She yelled in pure happiness catching me off guard as no one has ever been so glad to see me.
"Um yes?" I answered a bit awkwardly and hesitantly patted her back.
"Why leave us!?" She squeezed me tighter.
"W-Wow easy you want to crack my spine." I finally managed to float her off me then started catching my breath. "Eish yashu christo. The girl has a serious grip."
"Where did you go?" James asked, puffing his chest..
"Relax, I just went to get a signal."
"And?"
"I managed to locate a nearby river to the west which can help us."
"River. What's that?" They asked.
"A river is like a long road of water that's always moving." I explained as simply as possible.
"I remember what it is now Juliet and Ms. Show me pictures of it time?" James perked up. "But why does that help us?'"
"The river might have some fish for us to eat and also people have been known to stay near water. If we move along it we might run into another person who can help us as people usually live or just near water."
Sylvia looked at me in awe"Wow. Miracle so smart."
"We've been doing nothing but walking for three days!" James frustratedly huffed out some smoke.
"That time I was more worried about getting as far away from the lab as possible. Gregory had friends who would check up on him soon so I had to get as far away as possible."
James gritted his teeth and let out an inhuman growl "I would have beaten them up no problem!" He lit his right fist on fire
"Yeah no you wouldn't. We both so that devil guy would have beaten you if we didn't show up" I gave him a deadpan stare making huff and turning his head. "Look if you want to go back and wait for guys stronger than Gregory to beat your ass and take to another be my guest I don't care. Or your dragonic ass can come with us. Your choice."
''James not safe their… Your d-dra-dra. Dumb ass come with us." Sylvia tugged on his arm.
"S-Shut up cry baby!" He slapped her arm away.
Shagging my shoulder I began to gather some and used my telekinesis to gather some wood and pointed to James who understood the assignment and lit on fire then began heating the canned beef stew for us.
"I'm still hungry." complained James as his stomach grumbled loudly.
"I know man damn. But once we get to the river we can catch some fish to fill your stomach.."
"Fish? Hey they gave me that stuff one time in the lab and I've seen pictures of them Mrs. Sandra used to show them to me and Juliet."
"Huh." I was really curious about the story of those two Mrs. Sandra. From what I'm getting from James she seemed like she was on the kinder side than the other scientists. Wonder how she ended up with a supernatural terrorist group.
"Hey, look for more food." He pointed at some berries in the bushes and so I telekinetically plucked some.
However Sylvia made roots come out of the ground, squishing the berries.
"Hey!"
"Don't eat. Bad!" She warned us by flaring her arms around.
"We ate them yesterday. You gave them to us!"
She shook her head "No different. They bad for you two." James actually calmed down and was more confused.
"She means if we ate them then we would have tummy problems." I explained to James and he nodded but patted his stomach indicating he was still hungry. 'And how did you know that?" I asked her.
"Forest told me. Told me they were bad. It always tells me what's bad and what's not." Her answer caused me and James to look at each other then back to her.
But I guess it does make sense since she is part forest nymph or druid, I don't know.
"Alright let's focus on making it to the river. Maybe it has some fish that we could catch and eat." The two simply nodded and we set off.
After a few minutes of walking I led the two to the river.
"Wow." The two looked at the river in awe.
To be honest I had the same reaction, after being in a lab for so long and stuck with dense trees for three days this was a nice change of scenery.
"So pretty." Sylvia spoke with years in her eyes.
"I-I wish Juliet was here. She would have loved this. James said softly.
The two ran to the river and began hesitantly touching the water. Sylvia was giggling at the feeling while James was still in awe.
Using my powers, I. Maybe I should have looked for some soap.
"Miracle. Miracle. Me too!?" Sylvia jumped up and down so just dumped a water ball on her head dumping her messy orange hair. "C-Cold!" She giggled.
"Hahaha!" I heard James laughing with joy as he swam in the river in underwear?
When thr heck did his he remove clothes go?
'Well he seems to be in his happy place. And I have to say he is a natural at swimming .' commented Tinashe.
'He sure is, and I guess the cold isn't bothering him much. Though did they teach him how to swim there or is it just genetic?' Did those guys splice his DNA with an eastern dragon because I was sure those guys were the most water themed.
Leaving James to do his thing I floated above the water and activated my radar to sense any fish near by which there was a good amount so.
"Alright Sylvia I'm going to catch some fish. Don't get lost and don't do anything dumb.".She nodded obediently and I floated to the middle of the river.
Activating my radar I began to sense the fish in the water so using my ps I managed to bring out 12 medium sized ones. I caught extra so that the two wouldn't bother me when I'm cooking mine. Sure we had shared some supplies but to be honest I hated, call me selfish but growing up in a house with four older siblings, sharing food was not an option.
Going back to land I took out one of those daggers with the demonic symbols from the sac. I would say a lot of things about my older sisters but I'm glad they taught me the basics of cooking.
"Help?" Sylvia ran over eagerly.
"Yeah sure, get some wood so I can cut these things." I began cutting the fish and even though it's been a while, some things you can never forget.
Sylvia came back with some wood and fruits laying them down next to me. But quickly turned to the forest in worry. Before I could put up my radar a large bear walked out of the trees.
'Damn a bear. A real bear' I stared at it and it began sniffing the air then turned to us. "Shit."
It walked over and stood on its two legs and it was like what 11-13 feet tall and looked down at us menacingly?
Wait can bears get that big?
'Okay relax Mvula maybe if it just wants some fish and will leave us alone if…''
"RAAAAGGHHH!" It let out an aggressive roar.
'To hell with it!' I got over my surprise and shot a strong telekinetic pulse sending it several meters back. I didn't want to kill it and hopefully that attack will be enough to scare it off.
It got up groaning in pain and I swear it looked at me with surprise. But out of nowhere James, whose whole body was lit of fire, zoomed in and landed a strong flaming punch to his neck and a loud snap echoed in the area.
Wow he was a lot faster than I thought, I could barely even see him.
"That's it. The ones at the lab were a lot bigger and stronger!" He kicked its numb head. "Can I eat it?"
"I think so?" He grinned and began dragging the thing to me. He really expects me to cook that thing for him?
Turning to Sylvia she looked to be frozen in place but not in fear but in awe.
"Hey you okay?" I snapped her finger in her face.
"Mhm." She nodded and turned to me with a big smile on her face. "Gaîa kallístē estín."
The heck was that? All I heard was Gaia in that sentence. But I decided not to think about it too much and turned to the bear.
'Hey Tinashe, can bears get that big?'
"I don't know Miracle. My knowledge on this part of the world is not that great." She answered. "But do you suspect something?"
'Hm." I looked at the bear again trying to sense anything from it and it was a little faint. "I hope some of those assholes' failed experiments aren't running around here."
---xx----
Thanks for reading this far please don't be afraid to comment your thoughts from likes and dislikes, ask questions and leave a review if you wish.
See you all next chapter.