"What did you just say?"
Erutan widened his eyes in astonishment. Not believing what he was hearing.
"I am from another world."
Ye Mu repeated. Not understanding why the man reacted that way.
"You are a Mirhïm? The ones that only appear every 1000 years to bring great changes upon the world?"
Erutan speaks quickly with astonishment, seemingly unable to believe his own ridiculous words.
"Pardon? A what? I am no such thing."
Ye Mu resist the urge to burst out laughing again. This older brother keeps saying the funniest things. He is simply hilarious beyond means.
"But you said you are from another world..."
Sounding unsure, he questions again feebly. But Ye Mu leaves him speechless again.
"I did. I was in jail enjoying my drink when suddenly some weird hand appeared in my cup. Next thing I know I'm lying on a pile of corpses swallowing my own bile. Have you ever smelled a thousand decomposing human bodies aggregated in one place? I thought I had been through everything before I came to this godforsaken world. Not only that but this piece of sh** darned f**king heck of a tree decided that it wanted to see me suffer through hell out of nowhere! Then this random Chinese woman appears and makes me spit blood! All I wanted was to cross the lake just give me a fucking boat or something! And..."
Perhaps it's because he can finally speak to someone about his experience, but as soon as he started explaining, he couldn't stop himself. Every irritation, aggravations, and annoyance he experienced since coming here came pouring out. He didn't stop speaking until he noticed Erutan's face turning paler and paler at each of his words. Now that he thinks about it, he hasn't said that many words at once in years. It felt refreshing.
"What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Saying these ironic words full of mirth, he sneers at the bigger man while asking for his well being.
However, Erutan doesn't laugh at the joke. Instead, as if he has truly seen a ghost, he starts to back away slowly while stammering on his words.
"You- You- what are you?!"
The sneer on Ye Mu's face quickly wipes off as he stares at the retreating man in surprise. What's wrong with him? Did I say something weird? Is it that great that he came from another world? It can't be that he got scared of the horrible experiences he told him about right? Is he that much of a wimp? At those thoughts, an evil smirk starts to form on his beautiful face. With the idea of wanting to further scare a child, he starts to lower his voice and widen his eyes. His hands creeping towards him and his back slightly hunched, he couldn't look more like a lunatic out of a mental ward.
"I am a monster."
With the creepiest voice he can muster; slightly raspy and breathy, like the witch preying on Hansel and Gretel, he speaks out while boring into Erutan's eyes.
Shivering in horror, Erutan seems to see an actual monster as he trips and falls down on the floor.
Ye Mu freezes on the spot and frowns in confusion, his delight completely gone. No matter how he looks at it, this man is acting weird. Such a buff and serious guy actually fell down in fright from a little bit of taunting? It cannot be any more suspicious.
"Tell me, why are you so scared? I want to know."
Erutan doesn't speak. His frightened demeanour disappears as he readjusts himself in a meditative sitting pose. His eyebrows frowning and his eyes glazed, he seems to be in deep thought; one can almost hear the cogs turning in his head.
Suddenly, his shoulders droop and he deflates helplessly. As if he has accepted a harsh reality, he sighs and speaks out in a slightly hoarser and deeper voice than his usual voice, as if swallowing tears.
"Even though you are a crazy lunatic, the fact that you are a Mirhïm doesn't change. I guess our family could be considered lucky in a sense."
Not really following him, Ye Mu cannot help but feel that Erutan has a serious problem with managing his moods. Is he really the lunatic here?
"That explains a lot. I guess it makes sense. This era is about to change. To think the sky has chosen our family to welcome the Mirhïm. Is this why my brother had to die?-"
Erutan mumbles incomprehensible things on his own in his own corner while Ye Mu starts to get bored and yawns. He was much more fun when he was screaming and shouting, now he just wants to go to bed.
Suddenly thinking that nothing is stopping him from leaving, Ye Mu promptly turns around and opens the door to his room. The water is probably cold by now anyways. He can shower tomorrow.
"Wait! Where are you going?"
Erutan seems to notice the retreating form of his younger brother and tries to stop him in vain. Ye Mu doesn't bother to turn around as he shuts the door and goes to lay down on the soft bed. It's been a while since he's slept on a bed. With that thought, he falls into the hands of Morphé.
^_^
The night passed without any more bustle.
Staring at the 'linsel' that tastes like coffee that his 'wife' meticulously brewed for him, Ye Mu tries as hard as possible to not meet the eyes of his crying 'father'. The pained looks of the family members as they look at him with eyes full of grief are almost as painful as hot oil poured onto his skin.
When he left the baths that night, he didn't think that his considerate brother of his would directly make a beeline for his parents' and sister in law's rooms. He now realizes that he must have been the only one sleeping well last night, as one cannot imagine the feeling of falling into despair, before seeing the light of heaven, only to fall even deeper into the abyss.
The mourning lasts for a while longer which feels like centuries to the awkward Ye Mu. Finally willing to address him, his 'mother' is the first to speak out:
"I know this is very confusing to you, so we will keep things as short and concise as possible such that you can quickly understand."
With relief washing over him, Ye Mu starts to focus entirely on the words of this strong woman that didn't even shed a tear at the bad news.
"A long time ago, a few thousand universes merged into one, creating the greatest calamity ever known to the world. Multiple worlds were forced into one, and some even got absorbed and disappeared. Due to this, many mysterious things have started to happen which we cannot explain. One of them is the emergence of the Mirhïms."
Ye Mu listens to this point with an open mind. To be completely honest, he couldn't care less about the history of this world and how it came to be, what he is truly interested in is the word "Mirhïm" that he keeps hearing recently.
"A Mirhïm is a being of another universe. They tend to appear randomly at random times; sometimes it is a few thousand years, sometimes a few centuries, even times it can be a few millenniums apart. In any case, every time they appear, it is to bring great changes in the world. Since no one knows why they appear, some have started calling them messengers from the sky."
Ye Mu starts to look a bit sceptical; why does he feel like Mirhïms are some sort of heroes from corny webcomics for angsty teenagers? He hopes they don't start asking him to slaughter some big dragon to save a damsel in distress kingdom.
The mother continues to speak about Mirhïms and the world for a while, but Ye Mu only listens half-heartedly. Honestly, this is beyond boring.
After everyone has finished their little talk, the cups are disposed of and Ye Mu goes outside to get some fresh air. Stretching his arms under the sun, his pretty-boy face looks relaxed and carefree. This world may be sh**ty, but it feels nice to not have to constantly be on edge for a gunshot or a sniper.
Eurielle watches his broad back from behind and cannot help but stare. She finds herself quite unlucky in her marriage, she didn't exactly love Ye Mu, but she was very attached to him; like family. Now that she has to see his face every day knowing that he is dead, she isn't sure if she can handle it. Should she divorce? But her reputation would be ruined.
Ye Mu seems to know she is standing behind her as he speaks without turning around.
"It's a bit of a weird situation for you, so I won't force you to stay if you wish to leave."
At that, her face visibly pales.
"You- You want me to leave?"
Ye Mu turns around to look at her in the eyes. His piercing stare bore into her black orbs deeply. She notices that his eyes feel a little different than before. They used to look quite plain and guarded, very dull. But now, they seem almost beautiful, filled with pride and maturity. Like a dusty onyx has been finely wiped clean to reveal its true mystical beauty.
His expression bears no smile as he sharply looks at her, now fully facing her. The sun shining on his lean body, that has gained a lot of muscles and looks a lot different from the thin pretty boy of before, creates a reflection on his dark shoulder-length hair blowing with the wind. For the first time when looking at Ye Mu, this childhood friend of hers, her heart starts to beat frantically. Her cheeks flush a pretty pink as she suddenly feels a bit self-conscious from his deep stare. Yet she is unable to extricate herself.
"Should I take it that you want to stay married to me regardless of my state?"