Chapter 113 - 114. Information
"Sure," Zie asked me to sit by his side and at that moment I really wished time would stop for us for a moment. Under the silence, we would enjoy the noise of the rain mixed with the grain ice. I was locked in silence, I didn't know what I had to say, what topics to discuss, until the voice I really longed for came to my eardrums. "What do you want to know? Yuurei told me that you needed some information." He asked, straight to the topic.
"Can we just not talk about it at least until the rain stops? '' I turned to him and looked at him, hopeful. "I want to enjoy this moment for a while without talking about anything related to my world." Faintly I heard him chuckle. Although the expression of this marionette was so cold, I knew there was a funny laugh for me in there.
…
Charon looked at us with a lazy look. "You again?" He said, then he gestured to us to follow him.
He took us walking along the river until my sight could catch an old building right in front of us. It had been a long time since I didn't come here, I never even knew there was an old building in this place before. The last time I came here was to catch insects for my school assignment.
"Go into that building," Charon said while pointing at the building at our front. "Whatever you see in there, just don't say anything. Keep silent, okay?" He gave us the last message.
"You simply need to walk straight until you meet a fat man wearing round glasses. Call him Vio. You can ask that man anything about the seeker to that man." He stared at us as if to stress that we did what he said.
"I didn't say that he created collectors or helped them to get bodies, but it can be said that majority collectors get the bodies from him," He added.
"I have never seen that old building before." I simply said in awe and astonishment. It was due to the huge size but I never realized it. "Is that a new building?" Charon laughed, so did Zie. "Huh? Anything funny with my question?" I asked.
"That building keeps moving. It doesn't stay in one place forever. It is like a snail or things like that." Charon explained.
"Oh! Howl moving castle? Or such a thing?" Now they looked at me, confused, and didn't know what I was talking about at all. "Oh..okay. Leave it!" Then I laughed awkwardly, showing off my teeth. I was using the wrong topic to make them understand.
"Charon, you are not coming with us?" Zie asked him.
"No, sorry…I've got many things to do." After that, he came back to his boat and rowed it. His shadow was gone behind the mist that started going down over the river's surface.
"Who is Vio?" I was curious. "Is he a man like me?'' At that moment we were walking slowly towards that building.
Zie nodded. "Vio is a human-like you but he has the peculiar feature of being able to 'see' and other special and unique features, even for wizards. He is able to communicate and help them to mingle with humans." He explained.
"You exaggerate the features of that old and lazy man." Mickey objected. He didn't seem to agree with Zie's words to praise that old man. "If he is a great man like you said, he should not give this cat body to me," He continued.
"Meaning?" I got confused with Mickey's statement.
Zie burst into laughter all of sudden. I was just looking at them both, perplexed and confused. "Hasn't he told you about it?" I shook my head.
"Mickey is actually not a cat, that is why h has power and he can speak with you." Those sapphire eyes glanced at the tabby cat that at the moment set his flat expression. Nevertheless, he is still fussy whatever he is.' Zie laughed again. Mickey was getting annoyed listening to that marionette.
When we reached the front side of that building, Zie signed us to keep calm. "Whatever you see in there, don't give any rush comments!" He said softly. Then he twisted the door rusted doorknob. A heart-shattering creaking sound was heard when that thing was pushed open slowly.
Once the door was opened I saw an old oven stove, a slightly wobbly cupboard, an old shabby wooden table with four chairs surrounding it. I guessed it was the kitchen part of the building. It looked so old with black floor tiles, and white painted walls. The white colours turned brown and green because of moss and mould.
Zie asked us to follow him. There was a door on the other side of this room heading somewhere we didn't know. He was in front of us, opened that door slowly. It was a door that connected to the kitchen we were into a hallway which was very gloomy. "Wait here!" He said. He walked back to the kitchen, picked up a candle and lit a candle for lighting.
When Zie came back to us with a candle in his hand, instantly another scene was presented in front of us. It was not a hallway, it was a kind of storeroom. Bodies were hooked on iron bars that were like fishing rods on their ends. Those bodies were like only skin with hollows on the eye and the mouths were wide open. Unfortunately, it was not only human bodies that were here, but also various kinds of animal bodies were hung along the hall, from the smallest, such as rabbit, squirrel or even deer.
Zie and Mickey didn't seem to get surprised, but it was my first experience. It felt like walking on a grave but no soil to bury those bodies. So horrifying.
"Brother?" I found my legs were shaking so that it was hard to move them. You could imagine walking on the thousands of corpses that were not only on your side but right on your head.
"Tha!" Zie's voice warned me. Instantly I focused on our main purpose for coming here.
I closed my eyes and kept walking without looking and allowed Zie to lead me. I didn't know how long we were walking in that hall until the knocks were from iron. I pushed myself to slightly open my eyes. Some distance ahead of me I saw a bright light and a shadow of a man. I opened my eyes widely to focus my sight on the room in front of us.
"Oh? Here you come!" someone perhaps only a hundred twenty centimetres came out of the door. Despite the height, he might be over fifty, his hair was greying perfectly. "Charon told me that you would come. I didn't expect it to be this fast, though.
Vio asked us to sit down. Although he looked so hospitable, his smile looked horrific enough for me. He poured something like a light green liquid for each of us. Automatically I looked at Zie awkwardly as if to ask 'Is that safe for me to drink?' Zie understood my wariness and he faintly nodded as the answer to my secret question
When Vio finally asked us to drink that liquid, honestly I was worried if that would make me poisoned. "Hm?" Out of my expectation, the liquid that looked not more than dirty water tasted so good, like matcha.
"How is my tea? Is it nice? Or does it need to be improved?" I just smiled to reply to his questions. I wanted to say that the look was so awful, but in fact, it was the best drink I had ever had. "Why don't you drink it?" He asked Zie.
"I am an inanimate object, I don't need human food anymore. Moreover, the magic in this marionette is getting weak, so slowly my body will fully turn into a marionette. And you know well what happens next, don't you?" Vio knew very well what Zie talked about, he didn't ask anything more.
He turned his attention to me. "Miss, what do you want to ask me about?" he asked and stared at me. "Yuurei told me that you wanted to know anything about collectors. I am not the expert though, but some collectors that have mingled with you, build up their bodies here," He said and pointed to some bodies of dead animals hanging behind him. That tubby cat is one of the examples that I have made," He sounded proud of himself.
"So?" I glanced at Mickey, he looked undisturbed. I was quite upset that he didn't say anything to me. Such a naughty cat.
I chose to ignore him when Vio began to explain that collectors were creatures that didn't actually have a fixed form or it was just a collection of energy. Some of them wanted to mingle and lived together with humans so he created a body for them. But since it was the collectors' true body, that body would be broken after a while.. That was why they needed a new body before the time was up, the container had to be replaced.