"May I ask something?" She looked around in wonder. "Do you live alone?"
"Yes, and no..." He pointed at a nearby forest. "After the forest, there is a village. And after the village, there is a smaller town. I just don't like people much lately." He then pointed at his garden. "Plants are better friends."
"Sometimes, yes." She patted the flower nearby and smiled at him. "Listen, I need to go back. May I take this book with me?"
"Of course." He gave her a book and saw her sighing and chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about you. Who would believe me? They would think I'm crazy. Right?''
Seeing his big smile she nodded. " Yes. Thank you, John. If I find a way to come back here, I must find out about your world bit a more, before making any bigger movements." She needs to find out what and how she could use the given information for the future.
"No problem. Be careful." He saw her eyes getting dark and her body slowly fading out. "Child, even if I said about you, they really might think I got crazy. Live well."
Anne appeared back in the apartment and saw panicked expressions on the faces of two people. "Mom... Fabius... I think I just went to another world. Look what I brought."
The two people stared at her with a gaping mouth. Jenny suddenly clapped her hands almost scaring the other two. "You... you got portal ability! Oh, my baby. I'm so happy for you. Not even those nasty people have the portal ability. Hahahaha. Yes, that might be a new start. The Providence gifted you really with something good. I must find a way to thank her."
Anne saw her mother mumbling something, turning around and leaving. In wonder, she stared at Fabius Maximus. He just shrugged.
''How should I know. She is your mother." He really had no idea what Jenny was talking about.
Anne had to accept that her fussy mother had something in her mind, but what is that about providence?
She sat down and opened a book while Fabius Maximus sat naturally right next to her. He never heard about such power. "Can you explain portals?"
Looking at his earnest expression she chuckled. When he is so quiet and listens to her, she found him a tiny bit cute. Just a tiny bit...
"There was a theory about portals to other worlds..." She started explaining while he calmly listened. But the more he listened, the more he got confused.
"So you want to say there are other worlds. Or at least one more world like ours, that is similar to ours, but not completely." He recounted while he started pacing in the room.
"As it seems, yeah." She was already deep in the book and just answered absentmindedly. "This world I was in is quite interesting. Look..."
The world kept their original name Pangaea. But a long time ago a huge meteor hit the Earth and almost destroyed the planet.
Fortunately, the Earth survived and instead of having big continents, it got tens of thousands of smaller islands.
"This is interesting. They seem not to care about race differences. Their culture is similar to the different cultures of our people. Atlantis? The answer to my worries lies in that damnable city. Maybe, just maybe..." He could finally get rid of his curse and close his eyes finally.
Anne could see the pain on his face and she sighed. "I don't know what is going on with you. If you don't tell me, I won't be able to help you. Going to that place maybe is to save me, mom, humanity, you or all together. Tell me your story."
He smiled. "No. You have a big burden enough. Everyone must carry their own stone. If you happen to end up finding Atlantis, then, just then I will tell you my story."
For the first time since they met, she felt warmth in his eyes and was astonished. This big stone has a warm core. Who would have thought?
Jenny was about to enter the room and just turned around as she saw the two people staring at each other with a smile. Being the third wheel is not an option. Nope...
Moments later they realized how near their faces were and sudden heat rose to their faces. Fabius Maximus moved away awkwardly, while Anne just blinked in surprise.
"What?" Anne literally had no idea why is he staring at her with a strange expression.
He rolled his eyes. "I guess you need to learn more about men. No. Don't." He changed his mind as he imagined her smiling at some random people. "Just stay as you are. It's better."
"Hm?" What is this idiot thinking about now? Anne suddenly thought of something and a small naughty smile appeared on her lips. "Fabius..."
Seeing her smile, he had a bad premonition, but it was already too late. She moved so fast in front of his face that he had no time to react.
He just realized how strange her eye colour was. He always saw her eyes as green. But looking up much closer she had green surrounding and inside a pink colour mixed in.
He never heard of anyone having such a strange mixture. With fascination, he watched her eyes intently, until a cough made him realize how near he was again. Is she a magnet?
"I need to see that book as well. May I?" Jenny cautiously peeked around the corner as her eyes went from one to the other. She really was not trying to stop them, but curiosity was killing her.
Anne saw her expression and started laughing. "Mom, of course, you can have it." She already knew her mind and rolled her eyes while laughing. "No, mother. Impossible."
"Yeah... If you say so." Jenny just flashed a smile at stunned Fabius Maximus, grabbed the book and was about to escape, when a strange thing happened.