Chapter 281 - Push, Push, And Away!

This was heavy.

I couldn't carry it. I couldn't even push it. 

'Why did I think this was a good idea?'

Had I ever thought that it was? I couldn't really remember. 

But- forget breaking limits, this was draining even strength beyond my limit. And I was going to break my back.

Even on water, this thing weighed a frigging ton. Okay, maybe it wasn't that heavy, but still!

"I thought you were taking too long but-" the voice came from up. 

He was pretty high, so it was hard to hear. 

"Didn't I say I didn't want your help?"

Apparently, the geezer had come. I distinctly remembered declining his help. 

Though, I guess I did feel a bit relieved now that he was here. 

"Aight, I'll go back then."

"Hey, hey! I need your help! Help me!"

Yeah, I had pride. I had plenty of it. 

But there were times when that pride was useless. 

This was one of those times. 

He chuckled haughtily and came down.  "So, we're pushing?" The guy was maybe four feet tall? And though he was round, I didn't get the feeling that he was strong, at least raw strength-wise. 

We were about ten, maybe fifteen kilometers away from the shore. I'd only covered like three in the past hour. 

"What, you think you can carry this?"

He tried lifting. "Nah! Too heavy." He exhaled dropping the head. A bit of ripple went out. "Why don't we chop it up and each take a piece?"

"Well, it's currently on my barrier. Do you have something like that?"

The guy could fly and shoot lasers and stuff. 

But was he strong enough to carry this thing, even if it was half?

Instead of answering, he tried giving the thing a push. "Or we could both push at the same time?"

It was better than nothing. 

"No harm trying."

We both started pushing. 

With both our strengths combined, it was easier than before. The pace still was slow. 

But at least we were making progress. And it wasn't as backbreaking as last time. 

"How the hell did ya kill this guy. It's too damn heavy!"

Though we were pushing, we were actually floating above the water and the massive snakehead was on the water, on top of my barrier. Unlike Enira, I couldn't make it big or manipulate it enough to actually make this journey easier. 

"It was about half a kilometer long too. Very scary stuff."

He laughed. "Don't overexaggerate that much. Last time I checked, this guy was maybe a forty-fifty meter?"

"What, you knew him?"

"Kind of. The poor fella had come from the portal that connected us and the aliens. He was one of the few that came from the other world and never went back. I wouldn't call him a friend but, he did have a nice body when he was humanoid." The geezer grinned.

Yeah, I didn't need to know that. 

"Tell me, what do you think about the aliens? Having fun and all that. And these people that came through the portal you speak of, were they aliens too? I met some Mutor people below the island too." He probably knew about all this. 

We had a long arduous swim in front of us, so there was plenty of time. 

"Not quite." He grunted. This was really heavy. "The few that came out of the portal weren't fully kin yet: and they were from Neil- the old Neil of the future. We treated them and they turned out fine: this fellow degraded though. They were the originals. I heard you befriended one and well, the Mutor people you speak of are kind of a mystery to me too. In the future, they weren't a thing for like two- three hundred years. But something must have happened when we crossed time."

They came back from the future and that changed quite a few things in the present timeline. I didn't understand time travel all that well, but I could tell, all of this stuff was pretty complicated if nothing else.

Then again, if they could hasten the natural mutation of humans and end up creating an age of powers, then it was totally possible the Humanoid Mutors were just a byproduct of that….

"You do realize, you never answered my first question, right?"

He chuckled loudly. 

I didn't get why people had to laugh so much? To hide the pain? To hide the sorrow? Just for the sake of laughing?

Or was there more?

"Fun, huh? I wonder what's fun… What is fun to you?"

Definitely not pushing this damn thing in the middle of the day on an empty stomach, that was for sure!

But it did make me wonder. What really was fun for me? Fighting? No, that wasn't it. Going out with friends? Yeah, that was fun too but- there were specific times in my life when I enjoyed myself the most. And those times were also with specific people.  "Spending time with Marg and the others: my family. And maybe eating plenty of chocolate?"

He gave me a very knowing grin. "Maybe killing and conquering planets are also that kind of fun to them? They are immortal so we can't possibly understand their reasoning. At the end of the day, even after so long, we still don't understand them."

He wasn't wrong. Understanding immortals wasn't that simple. 

Wait, wasn't Enira also immortal?

But if this geezer were to be believed then she was from Neil. 

"So, was there any tech that could make people Immortal in Neil?"

He thought for a second. "You could always just become a vampire. Though it wasn't that popular of a choice as we had two suns." 

Just one was making me feel like my body was being boiled alive and two?

Yeah, I didn't want to go to that place. 

Sigh…

"What, something bothering you?"

We still had a lot of suffering remaining. 

"The headmaster said something about I'll be their new target as I beat one of their commanders. Do you think I should stay away from everyone?" I'd been avoiding this thought for a while now. 

I didn't want to think about it. What if I put everyone's life in danger just by being near them?

What if-?

He didn't laugh, instead, he looked at me, utterly serious. "From a logical standpoint, I'd say you should stay away. But as you said, you find joy in spending time with your family. And I'd say the same is true for your family. So, it wouldn't be wise to part from them on account to protecting them. After all, who knows what could happen in your absence."

I guess he was referring to yesterday. I wasn't here and stuff happened. 

I actually later found out that mom and dad had the Aliens cornered. But then Elsa was about to be attacked from behind and Dad tried to protect her but got hit instead. Meanwhile, the other aliens took the chance and attacked mom. And so, our frontline crumbled, and then shit happened. 

If I hadn't gotten in time, things would have been very, very bad. 

So, in a sense, this geezer was very right. 

Sigh.

In the end, I didn't quite have a way to say anything. 

I didn't have an answer. 

***

We got to the shore. 

But now there was an even bigger problem.

It took us a whole hour and a half just to bring it to the shore and that with this thing being underwater. 

I didn't dare even think what'd happen if we were to try carrying it above ground. 

Meanwhile, the geezer was just floating on water, looking at the sky, panting.  "Don't you have some strong friend or something?"

Super strength, huh?

I didn't actually. 

Oh wait, Enira could manipulate the barriers a lot better than me and that was how we carried the cobra last time. 

"I actually got this core from him." I showed the geezer the core and was about to give it to my saber. 

The size was still bothering me though. 

"That's a very special one. Haven't seen a red and spherical core like that in a while."

"But red cores are commonplace." If I had like maybe five gold, which I did, I could buy about ten red cores of this size. 

"Not that red kid, look carefully, there are small black dots mixed in: those dots are proof that this core would have turned black in time. Though the snake would have died a long while before that. And you can't find cores that round. Most are just crude crystals."

He did have a point. 

I hadn't seen round cores often. The few I had I couldn't remember where. And even those weren't this round. 

And wait, I looked carefully, and he was right, this did have small black dots. 

"Well, let's see if something happens."

I held the core over my saber and as usual, the core got absorbed and the saber started to radiate.

I really hope this worked. 

"Enira, you there?"

The saber stopped glowing. 

But nothing happened.

"Well, that was a waste of time," The geezer spoke. 

I really wished he'd shut up. 

Sigh.