Mutagen

Day 134 - 9:26 AM - Cliff House Meeting Room, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon Province, Philippines

After everyone had their breakfast early in the morning, the representatives in-charge of certain aspects of the base was called by Mark for a meeting.

There were Huey, Coleen, Odelina, and Hannah, who were now following orders directly under Mark and Mei.

Aephelia and Spera were also under Mark, but they were also representatives of other teams. Aephelia was with Mara for the people that were taking care of the infected they were keeping in the base, while Spera was here for the Transport Group that was in charge of transporting supplies through the portals she created.

Trisha, who was among the first people in this settlement and came with Huey's group, was also here as the one managing the food supply and distribution.

The old couple leading the farming efforts in the base were also called here. After all, one of the subjects of this meeting had something to do with the black dust.

Rollan, Nikky, and Mark's group of friends were also here. They were the ones in charge of collecting the supplies at the facilities around The Pagoda. Even though it was not officially established yet, they were more or less the supply collection group of the base.

Next were Ed and Ron. The two that also came with Huey's group was now in charge of the building efforts in the base.

Hamlin, the old man that Mark recruited back in East Port Settlement, the family that was taking care of the [Blood Child] Salacia, was also here. Being a fisherman, he was also experienced with drying fish. That was why he was helping out in drying meat and other perishables in the base. But now, it seemed that Mark had other work for him this time.

Annica and her father, Darren Salvador, were also present. Because of Annica's powers, they were currently among the most important within the people of the base. They were managing the stables and other places where animals were being used. If it was before the outbreak, taking care of the stables was not that good of a job. But now, they were actually managing a den of monsters. It was a feat for anyone that knew.

The next one was the sisters, Tullia and Audrey. Tullia was one of the slaves that was saved from the Death Valley settlement and was used as a bargaining chip to make her sister cause a problem as a spy in the Port of Rizal Settlement. Now, the two were among the leading figures that were hunting animals in the mountain.

Then, there was Mayumi and her younger brother. They were the current leaders of the tribe that joined Mark's base. As of now, they were helping around the place with whatever they could. Right now, they might not be of much help, but after Mayumi came of age, she would be a great asset to the base.

Karlene, Karla, Alana, and Jaeya were also here. They were now among the fighting force of the base, after all. Together with the four was Halley and Nicole. Well, for the most part, Halley and Alana, as fellow Otakus, were going around thinking about things they could add to the base.

And among the newcomers, Roan, and his father, Abraham was here together with Arnold.

Lastly, the Tamawo, Pefile, Edzel, even Teremillio, and his wives were called back from the Spirit Dimension. After all, this was a very important meeting that everyone that needed to know about it should be present.

Still, with everyone being called like this, they were all confused.

The room was a bit crowded now. However, all of everyone's attention was with Mark that was standing in front of them.

"Everyone I called is already here. Should we start?"

Mark voiced out, making the room as quiet as possible. In this base, Mark's words were supreme. No one would want to annoy or disregard him. None of them wanted to lose the safest place they had been to on the face of Earth's collapse.

"Okay. Then."

Mark nodded.

"Everyone here knows that the whole Earth is in peril now. Bad news. It will only get worse."

After saying that, unexpectedly, no one had a big reaction. Then, Rollan raised his hand and was allowed to speak.

"The infected were mutating further. We already know that things are growing more dangerous as time goes on."

Hearing that, Mark shrugged.

"I know that you all know about that. If it's only that, there was no need to mention it at all."

And there, the faint murmurs ensued.

"Then, I'll say what is going on." Mark continued, making everyone silent. "While we are absent here and traveling in America, I received a piece of bad news for everyone."

"The second wave of this apocalypse will come soon in the future."

The Second Wave of the Apocalypse. Those words put everyone's thoughts into turmoil.

"Boss, is this true? I mean, confirmed? It that's the case, what will happen?"

Huey raised his hand and voice out.

"I have no idea, either." Mark shook his head. "The source of the news might also be just playing with us, but I can at least confirm that he's not lying."

And then, Mark added.

"In any case, even if that guy is joking, we can't just ignore the words of an existence akin to an apostle of a God, can we?"

That caused everyone to exclaim. From an existence that was like an apostle of a God, there was no way they would ignore the words of someone like that. It was like receiving an Oracle directly.

What Mark had just said caused the eyes of Mayumi that was from the family of Seers to glitter.

The room became a bit noisy. And because of it, Mark did not continue and watched.

"Please be silent. Big Bro can't continue."

A woman's voice echoed in their minds. Of course, it was no other than Jaeya.

"Who?"

Someone shouted in shock. It was Roan. 

Even Abraham and Arnold were surprised. It was expected since they did not know about Jaeya's ability at all.

Jaeya was about to reprimand them for shouting, but Mark stopped her.

"They don't know about you. You will only surprise those three more if you continue."

Jaeya nodded after hearing that. Mark's words also made Roan's group realize who was talking in their minds earlier.

"As I said. We don't know what will happen in this so-called Second Wave." Mark continued after everyone went silent once more. "But there is one thing that is confirmed that will happen when the Second Wave occured."

"It's the collapse of the dimensional barriers."

That last sentence caused different reactions from everyone.

First, not everyone was privy to the existence of different dimensions, or even if they were, they only knew it from theory. An example of this was Roan's group once more.

On the other hand, the people that knew about it already did not know what would happen during the collapse and were confused. Furthermore, they only knew about the Spirit Dimension, not the others.

And thus, Mark explained to everyone.

The existence of the Spirit Dimension. A place where the Elementals, Spirit Races and Demons were living.

The Lower Dimension. The place where the actual Devils resided.

The Higher Dimension. The place dimension in the sky, where the messengers of the previous Gods now lived.

And the existence of the dimensional pockets created by powerful beings, Deities, and the Gods from other dimensions.

"Once the dimensional barrier collapsed, those dimensions will fuse with the current Earth."

From here, it was where the things that Ninth mentioned to Mark ended.

"Master, what will happen then?"

Jolleen asked.

Mark shook his head, however.

"I'm not exactly sure, either. But I have speculations. Since I have been to the Spirit Dimension, already, I have a hunch on what will happen in the largest scale."

Everyone fell silent and stared at Mark.

"The existence of current Earth will collapse."

Not all of them could understand it, but if it was said like this, then it was likely that the current appearance of Earth would change greatly.

"Those that were with me, and even Pefile and Teremillio's group here can attest, for the most part, the Spirit Dimension is the exact geological copy of Earth."

The oceans and seas, the mountains, lakes, rivers, plains, and even caves, all of it was the same copy from Earth.

The appearance differed greatly, however. It was because only the geological appearance was the same and not everything that was living on both dimensions. Trees, plants, and bushes grew differently in both dimensions. It also had different inhabitants, and each had different actions in their environment. Even the growth of animals was not the same.

"Geologically, everything that exists here on Earth was the same there."

Mark said.

"Thus, once the dimensions fused, I don't think that there would be problems with that."

It was not confirmed, but in the least, what Mark said gave them a breather. It was not wrong since they thought that Earth might suddenly grow or even blow out of proportion.

"As I said, there might not be many problems with the shape of the terrain. The problem lay on the things that are on that terrain."

After those words, Mark explained.

Like what he said before, while the terrain was the same, those that were on that terrain was not. Cities here on Earth did not exist in the Spirit Dimension. Instead, all of it was covered in forest and untouched land.

Once the two dimensions fused, the cityscape would fuse with that forest and untouched terrain.

Since most of the city was built over flattened land, a lot of it would end up buried in the untouched land of the spirit dimension. The large, thousand-year-old trees would invade the tall buildings of the city and cause it to collapse.

Without a doubt, most of the city built settlements would meet its end at that time.

Trees would also collide with the new terrain and be uprooted causing different calamities in mountains.

Bodies of water would be disturbed and most places on Earth near water would be in danger.

There was also the chasms that existed on the Spirit Dimension that separated the countries and continents. That would definitely cause the Earth's oceans to change drastically.

While all that existed in the Spirit Dimension would exist here, it was the same vice versa.

The crust of Earth was mostly untouched and would definitely cause a lot of demon races that lived underground to be buried alive. The places here that were untouched but were built with something by the Spirit Races would definitely face the same demise.

A great example of it was the Stone Fortress of the White Duendes. They built a fortress on the face of a rocky mountain and even made a very deep dungeon on the mountain.

Here on Earth, however, that mountain was totally intact. It would cause the stone fortress to be buried in rocks and rubble, killing everyone that was inside it.

When Mark explained this part, Felenia, that was the princess of that Kingdom of Duendes, was drained of her color. After all, she was just given the fact that her family might suddenly perish like that.

"Then, won't this place be in danger too?"

Old man Hamlin asked. He was concerned since he was with his grandchildren.

But to that question, Mark strangely smiled.

"Not really."

If all of my assumptions are correct, we're pretty much safe thanks to that bastard that turned everything around the base to dust.

Everyone was confused at this point. They could not understand what was happening.

Mark then turned to Karlene and Alana.

"Remember what the area around Chiyo looked like on the other side?"

Hearing those words, not only the two but those that were with Mark at that time remembered.

"AH!" Karlene could not help but exclaim." There's nothing but dead trees and plants at all!"

That was right. Because of what happened in the Kingdom of Sylphs, there was barely anything around their area they built this base in the Spirit Dimension.

"We only need to uproot those dead trees and flatten the land a bit around the size of our base. If we did that, we might not be affected by the fusion of dimensions at all."

That was a surprise to everyone. The situation around the base suddenly became a blessing in disguise.

While everyone was rejoicing over that fact, a sudden unfamiliar voice of a girl was heard.

"Ooh! Nice deduction! What's next!"

Mark could not help but jump back. The voice actually came from beside him.

And there, a little girl, about eight or nine stood.

Everyone was surprised.

What was more... The girl actually had three eyes on her face.