Chapter 106 METANOIA 2
106 METANOIA 2
"That depends on where you want to end up." Cashire cat replied.
-Alice in Wonderland-
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"What is the desert of no return?" Raine asked while walking closer towards the boy.
"Huh?" The little boy tilted his head, as his little brows furrowed. "You don't know the desert of no return?"
Raine shook her head honestly, she had never heard something like that, or knew a place with a similar name even existed.
"Weird." The boy remarked. "Everybody from this village knows about the desert of no return. That is a forbidden place." His voice dropped until it was only a whisper.
"If that place is forbidden, so what your brother was doing there?" Raine crouched down beside the table until both of them could see eye to eye with each other.
"My brother is a strong man. He is the strongest of all guardian angels." The little boy talked about his brother with a voice that laced with pride.
Actually the expression that the little boy made was quite amusing, but there was something that aroused Raine's curiosity.
"Guardian angel?" Raine repeated the strange word, her eyebrows shot up.
An angel? Is she dead?
"Don't tell me you don't know about it too." The boy made another adorable expression as his mouth gaped open. He slapped his own head when Raine shook her head. "Impossible… you don't even know about guardian angel? Where are you actually from?"
"Fulbright City." Raine answered.
"I have never heard about that place." This time, he was the one who got so confused.
This situation was becoming more and more confusing and weird after the conversation with the boy.Or probably the one that Raine should talk to was his older brother? After all he was only a child.
"Maybe your brother knows? Can I meet him?" Raine suggested.
The little boy shrugged and dusted imaginary dirt from his knees before he said like an older man. "You can use that cloak." He pointed at the grey thick cloak, which hung near the door. "And follow me."
Raine suppressed the smile that threatened to appear on her lips while following the boy. But, her smile abruptly disappeared and in exchange she let out a loud gasp when she learned her surroundings.
The world that she had never seen before.
The houses were made of fine wood while the lush trees covered their roof while some buildings were built by red bricks that rose up into the sky.Lions and gargoyles made of stone adorned the fountain in the middle of this city, or village…
Raine wasn't really sure what kind of place that she was in right now was. She felt like Alice from the story Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, as she was stranded in this strange place.
She felt uncomfortable and kept looking around, hoping she could see someone that she knew.
Some people looked at Raine with a curious gaze, but polite enough to not stare for a long time while Raine lowered her head to avert their eyes.
And like the little boy, many people were wearing woolen sweaters under their lambskin coat to keep them warm from this cold wind.
"My brother is visiting our big sister's house, over there." The little boy pointed to a small wooden house with many wilted flowers on its fences. "Come on." He waved his stubby hand to indicate Raine to follow him.
Strangely enough, though she had passed out for a week, she didn't feel lethargic nor thirsty or hungry. It felt like she had just woken up from a good night's sleep.
"Here we are!!!" The little boy beamed as he stepped on the terrace. "Sister Lydia! Brother Lucas!"
Raine stood two steps behind the boy, only now she realized that she didn't even know the boy's name, she should've asked him before.
When the door was opened from inside, a beautiful woman in her warm red velvet sweater appeared before their eyes.
She smiled brightly while hugging the little boy, who snuggled closer onto her warm embrace.
"Oh." The woman gasped in surprise when she saw Raine. "You have woken up." She released the small boy as she walked towards Raine and cupped her face with both her hands.
Raine took a step backward out of habit, she still wasn't used to the sudden touch, especially from a person that she didn't know.
But, the woman didn't mind with her gesture and stared at her face, checking Raine's complexion. "Good. You are in good condition." She nodded in agreement. "The medicine that I gave to you didn't have a bad side effect apparently."
Raine didn't say anything for that statement. She was just lost at the moment and just wanted to go home, to be with Torak again.
"Come inside it is cold outside." She took Raine's arm and led her inside the house. "My name is Lydia." Lydia introduced herself before she pointed to a man, who was sitting on the couch that was covered by some cozy white wool.
"He is Lucas." Lydia pointed at Lucas, he was also surprised to see Raine was there. "He was the one who had found you in the desert of no return."
Lucas turned his body and faced her, grinning. "Your condition was so bad at that time." He informed her. "Luckily my sister could find something to help you."
And Lucas went on with his story about how he had saved Raine. But the only thing that she wanted to know was; how could she go back home from there? And where exactly she was now?
"If it wasn't because you called me, I wouldn't be able to find you there." Lucas remarked as he took a glass of drink from the tray that Lydia had brought over.
Lydia put one glass on Raine's laps as she sat down between Raine and the little boy, who was busy moving his own hands in the air.
"I didn't call…" It was the first line that Raine said after she entered the house.
"You didn't realize when you called for help." Lucas shrugged and gulped down his drink. "Every Guardian Angel has our own way to communicate with each other."
Raine's mouth gaped open. She didn't understand this whole situation.What was it with this Guardian Angel thing?
"You don't know who you really are?" Lydia caught Raine's confusion as she concluded.
"What do you mean with that?" Raine asked, she tightened her grip on the edge of the sweater that she was wearing.
"You are one of us." Lydia exclaimed. "A guardian angel."
There was a thick silence that followed after Lydia's words, while Raine was still trying to discern the information.
"I don't…" Raine shook her head, she looked around as if she would find someone who she knew if she did so, meeting Serefina would be fine too. "I don't understand…"
"She really doesn't know anything about this world." The little boy stopped playing with his hands and stared at Raine accusingly as though her ignorance was the biggest sin in the room.
"I live in Fulbright City…" Raine said, her voice was barely a whisper. "May I know what this place is?"
"This is a village of Angels." The little boy was the one who answered her.