THE LOVE OF A LYCAN

111 METANOIA 7

Lydia blinked her eyes in disbelief. "Seriously, now I become more curious about you Raine. What kind of place Fulbright City that you lived in? How could you not know about all of this?"

"I…" Before Raine could explain herself, Lydia had cut her words.

"You really don't know about this?" She emphasized her question, by waving her hands, indicating the world around them.

"I don't know about shadow warriors, and guardian angels, or this Village…" Raine said in a low voice. "But I know a little bit about Lycanthropes."

Raine wanted to say that she wasn't totally clueless with all these supernatural creatures, after all she had been seeing them for almost half of her life.But she had never heard anything about shadow warriors.

"Hmm…" Lydia folded her arms and assessed the girl in front of her. "It will be difficult…"

"I will try to understand it…" Raine promised she would try her best to absorb all the information she was about to receive, she had prepared herself to perceive this bizarre situation.

"No, Raine… the situation here does not only need your understanding." Lydia shook her head. "It will be hard for you to understand this, especially for you, who have never lived in this kind of environment."

What was so difficult to understand? Raine was so ready to hear, no matter how absurd the explanation was going to be.She had lost her sense of rationality now, everything seemed possible for her, even if Lydia was going to say that she could grow wings, she would believe that.

Lydia sighed and finished her bread before she continued her explanation. "Shadow Warriors are our protector. I have told you before that our kind had been hunted for decades by many creatures that wanted to gain more power by sapping our energy. Then, shadow warriors are here to help us."

Raine nodded, at this point she could relate why Lydia and Lucas always said that the number of their kind has decreased.

"But, we need to do a favor for them in return." Lydia bit her lips and looked at her surroundings. "I will tell you after you finished your food."

Raine frowned, why did she suddenly become mysterious? Looking at her plate that was still half full, she felt like she didn't want to eat anymore.

Lydia changed the topic to the common one, as she explained to Raine that she would get her turn to help in the kitchen, and Lydia would ask the person in charge to put Raine on the same schedule as her.So she wouldn't feel uncomfortable, of course Raine was so grateful for Lydia's thoughtfulness.

After Raine finally finished her food, half of the hall had emptied.

Both of them carefully climbed down the stairs and walked towards the bustling street.

Small houses like Lydia's were on their left and right, covered with the white cotton like snows, while their chimney peeked from their roof.

Raine didn't pay attention to this before, but now she could see how breathtakingly beautiful the view before her eyes was. This place was simply like a painting of a rural village in dreams.

"Lydia, you said you will explain about the shadow warrior…" Raine reminded Lydia softly, she had been eager to hear what was that all about, since Lydia became so secretive about that topic.

"Oh, right." Lydia slowed down her pace and looked around her. "Let's sit over there…" She pointed at the bench near a river.

Raine followed her and sat on the shore of the river, strangely, even though they were in the middle of winter, but the river didn't freeze, as if the weather didn't have any effect on it.

"The river???" Raine bemused, looking at the calm stream on the surface of the water that was glistening under the dim of the sunrays.

"This is Apricity River. This river will never freeze no matter how cold it became." Lydia explained.

"I have never heard something like that." Raine stated.

Lydia chuckled. "Maybe you don't know about this also, but winter in this place will last forever." She said.

Raine almost hurt her neck when she turned to look at Lydia in shock. "You mean the winter is the only season here?" Where is she really? North Pole? The only place that would snow all the time.

"Yes." Lydia nodded. "But, it is a good thing for us actually, because it will prevent some creatures from coming closer to our border."

"Border?" Raine reiterated.

"Like you see now, we are in the middle of winter.But at the same time, only a few miles from here, there is the Desert of No Return." Lydia pointed at the direction of the desert, where Lucas had found her there. "Not many creatures could survive from the desert, you and Lucas were very lucky."

Lydia stood up and approached the river, took off her gauntlet and washed her hand on the river.

"Come here and try this." She waved at Raine to follow what she was doing.

Raine could feel Lydia's reluctance to explain further about the shadow warrior, but Raine still followed her, and removed her gauntlet to feel the water from the Apricity River.

Surprisingly the water was warm, it felt so good when her cold skin touched the warm water, but Raine still not forgot about the question that she wanted to ask.

"What do the guardian angels have to do, in return for the protection from shadow warriors?" Raine looked at Lydia as she witnessed her expression slightly dim.

"Ourselves." She said curtly.

Raine not sure if she understood with Lydia's answer. "What do you mean with ourselves?"

"Raine…" Lydia smiled gloomily, as she touched Raine's hands. "Please look at this matter on the bright side."

"What is it?" Raine was uncomfortable.She wanted to pull back her hands, but didn't want to hurt Lydia's feeling, thus she just sat there frowning.

"Many creatures want to sap our energy, and once it happens, we are nothing, only a soulless body. The condition that is worse than death itself." Lydia sat closer to Raine, still holding her hands. "But, the shadow warriors are here to protect us. We have been living shoulder to shoulder with them for decades, that way we can survive."

"But, what do your kind give to them in return?" Raine didn't want to be distracted from her main concern.

"Our kind, Raine, our kind." Lydia corrected Raine's words. "You are one of us."

Right, if Lydia claimed Raine as one of them, which probably was true.Then she had to follow the rule here.Whatever it was, in order to survive.

This fact alone made Raine become nervous. What was the rule? Why do they have to give themselves?

"What did you do for them in return?" Raine stared at Lydia's right in her eyes, she could feel fear started to creep in her heart.

"Every guardian angel needed to be paired with a shadow guard." Lydia said it carefully as she assessed Raine's expression. "That is not all bad, I promise!" She hurriedly explained, and raised her hand to make a promise sign.

But, Raine had pulled her hand from Lydia's grip in surprise.