"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.
"H-huh?"
"Sari!" Ate Clydelle appeared out of nowhere and called me.
"Thank you for saving us, but I have to go," I said as I ran over to my cousin and helped her.
"Sari— I sense an unusual aura from that guy," she said.
"He's the one who knocked that beast unconscious and burned it; I never anticipated seeing someone with superhuman abilities like us."
"No, I mean—that guy is not a human being."
I noticed the guy and ate Clydelle glaring at each other until it decided to come to us and yanked my brother to his shoulder.
My attention was drawn to what he did right away, so I confronted him. "Stop right there, who are you?" I yelled frantically.
"Let's not talk here," he stated firmly and politely.
"Ate!" Tyler exclaimed as he limped towards us, about to attack the man when he suddenly lost consciousness.
"Tyler!" we both yelled, sprinting toward Tyler.
"I'll explain everything if you all decide to come with me."
"Why would we go with you? You're a dangerous person," Ate Clydelle asked cautiously, but I had made up my mind and simply disagree with her decision to doubt the guy.
"All right, we'll come with you," I said. When I finished summarizing what had happened to us, something changed my mind, and I had this strange feeling that we already knew each other.
"Sari?" ate Clydelle worriedly uttered.
"He's dangerous, but we can't deny that he's the one who saved our lives."
"He's still a threat, Sari."
"I know, and he could be the one who started all this commotion and pretended to be our savior... I wanted to know something," I explained openly, allowing him to hear me.
"You did well in putting your trust in me," he said.
"I don't trust you; all I want is the truth," I spoke firmly.
When the guy yanked Tyler to his shoulder.
A purple enchanted circle with unfamiliar symbols appeared on the ground, much to our surprise. I felt sick when the view was distorted, and it felt like we were in an elevator that was speeding down. Later on, the surroundings became more recognizable.
"You knew where we lived?" I surprised him when I realized we were standing in front of our home.
He rang our doorbell and said, "Yes, I have something to discuss with your family."
I ran in front of him and pushed his hand away, preventing him from ringing the doorbell again. "No way! Why do you think I'll trust you now that we know you have knowledge of our personal information?"
"Old lady Naomi said to come here when the time is right, and the time is now."
"How—?" I couldn't finish my question because my mother had already opened the gate for us. How did he get to know our Lola Naomi?
"Good evening, Mrs. Cara Moon; I've come to speak with you and the old lady's grandchildren concerning the situation in Zeraschia," he explained. My mother was taken aback by our appearance, and she later seemed to understand what the man had told her because she welcomed him into our home.
We followed them inside with caution, and the man gently placed Frank and Tyler on our sofa.
"Ma—?"
"Take a seat, I'll call for Sophia and Victoria," my mother said, ignoring me, and was startled when she noticed our wounds, "Clydelle, Sari, get a wet towel to clean yourself, and please do the same with the two boys."
She left the house after instructing us, and I hurriedly grabbed towels and a water basin to clean us up. I didn't even realize she hadn't told us to get first aid, so I just got some myself. When I finished gathering all of the first aid supplies, I gave some to my cousin.
"I checked your background and it appears that you've known us since we were kids, but most of your memories were blocked as if you knew I was looking through you, and you purposely showed me those memories of you looking after us," Ate Clydelle conveyed to the man while tending to Tyler's wounds.
I sat on the floor next to Frank and wiped the dirt off his face and arms after I had cleaned myself. I saw his wounds and wondered how he got them when all he did was run.
He replied, "I'm an old friend of the old lady."
Maybe it's during those times he tried helping those people trapped inside the building... I thought.
"And according to the data I've accumulated, you have a massive amount of chakra in your body, as well as this unusual aura—which proves my suspicion that you're not from our world."
"That's normal for people who live in Zeraschia."
They exchanged more personal and bizarre questions, which I believe they answered truthfully. When my mother returned with our aunts, they simply stopped talking.
—
"We can talk here; it's better to tell them the truth," my mother said as she sat in the vacant seat.
When they saw our wounds, our aunts shrieked hysterically, "Oh my— what happened?!"
"There's a beast that happened to come here and go on a rampage; we tried to stop it from destroying everything, but we're still weak; I'm sorry, we failed as Lola Naomi's student," Ate Clydelle replied shamefully.
"No, you did great! As long as all of you survived," Aunt Sophia said as she praised us and checked Tyler's condition before returning to the right spot to look at the four of us.
"Tyler made a lot of contributions, so he was badly injured," I apologized.
"Don't worry about it; now focus solely on me and stop moving," she said.
So I sat down on the sofa next to Frank.
Aunt Sophia chanted a spell, which was followed by a huge bubble barrier that kept us inside, as well as tiny bubbles that gradually appeared and surrounded our body.
When the tiny bubbles burst, water filled the bubble barrier, and the pain we had endured disappeared completely. This is the first time I've seen auntie Sophia's power. I had no idea what kind of ability they possessed because they never used it on a daily basis and they strictly forbids us from discovering it at the request of lola Naomi.
"What brought you here, kid?" Auntie Victoria inquired.
"I hope you still remember the old lady's dying wish, which is to put an end to Chaos' obsession with finding Lucy. All the leaders and elders from each kingdom came together and eventually agreed on inaugurating the tournament in search of the 9 warriors to lead the 9th Blood Moon War," he said.
Blood Moon War?... I thought.
"Yes, we remember that, and by the way, when does the tournament start?" Aunt Sophia queried.
"It will begin in a few days."
"But... aren't they still too young to compete in the tournament?" Aunt Victoria worriedly asked.
"It'll be fine, ate Victoria; this will be a good opportunity for them to discover the truth by themselves and reach the pinnacle of their abilities," my mother convinces her.
Huh? Tournament? Putting our skills to use? And my mother agreed to it? I thought, which perplexed me.
Aunt Sophia agreed, "That's right, they still have 5 years to train before the war."
"Hey kiddo, can we come to Zeraschia and take care of them?" Aunt Victoria asked.
"I'm sorry, but you knew you couldn't come with us because the old lady already informed me that you guys were supposed to be the guardians of the mortal realm, and don't worry about your children, I owe her my life, so it's my responsibility to protect her little ones," the guy explained, convincing my aunt.
"All right then— Sari and Clydelle, please look after each other because you're the eldest," my mother worriedly reminded us.
"Ma? I'm sorry, but I don't think everything has sunk in with me yet? Uhh... Why—? What's going on? And what do you mean by Zeraschia? What is it about? What's with the war?"
My mother reached for me and took both of my hands in hers. "Do you remember the story your Lola Naomi always tells the four of you before you go to bed every night?"
I replied with a nod, "The tale of the three gods who were cursed for an unrequited love?"
"Yes, Sari, and it is based on a true story; unfortunately, Chaos mistook your lola Naomi for Lucy's reincarnation, which is why he took her away from us."
"You mean—the god of destruction from Lola's story is the reason why Lola Naomi died?" I asked, my voice cracking.
"Yes, it is." She replied. "Now, go with this young man to Zeraschia, where you can freely practice your ability without any constraints, and strengthen yourselves so you can be one of those who will stop Chaos and his underlings from ending Zeraschia and our world," she said, smiling. We hugged, and she wiped my tears as she let go. "Do your best!" she exclaimed.
Our father hurriedly returned from work and looked over each of us. According to their conversation, he has been strongly opposed to us going to war even when Lola Naomi is still alive. He despises it when Lola teaches us about our abilities; he prefers that we live our lives as any other normal child would.
My brother and Tyler were both awake when my father returned home, and they were also informed of the circumstances. Although they appear overjoyed, I can see a glimmer of worry and confusion on their faces. It's understandable given that we're only kids and have no experience with war, but we're sure it'll be an exhausting and terrifying battle.
"I chose to stay here because life here is much safer than life in that world!" he exclaimed, adding, "The kids will stay here."
"Leone..." my mother called out to him.
I'm taken aback we he said, "I'll volunteer myself."
"No, Pa, you'll stay here and be safe with Mama; protect the earth, and we'll protect each other while we're in Zeraschia; we can do it, our Lola trained us for it." I convinced him.
"Sari, life here is perfect for you kids; there's no need for you to fight for something that's already gone; Zeraschia's world isn't yours to protect."
"But it's for Lola Naomi, pa. I also want to know the truth about her death and everything about our existence."
"It'll be a dangerous place out there, Sari."
"Yes, Pa, but I'm sure that world is full of people like us; we won't have to hide our ability anymore, and, as Mama said, we can hone our powers even more. We can use it for good reason. I'm willing to volunteer myself, and it'll be fine if the two boys don't come."
"Yep, I'm intrigued to discover more about other cultures and magical beings in there," Clydelle agreed.
"It's scary, but it's making me," Frank added which made us look over him.
Tyler nodded, "Yeah."
"You guys are coming, too?" I asked, taken aback.
"Of course, we wouldn't miss such an amazing adventure," they both laughed.
After a few minutes, we bid each other farewell.
We stood next to that peculiar man. Then a magical circle reappeared below us, and the scenery are becoming distorted.
"Here we go... A new adventure awaits," Ate Clydelle said, sighing heavily.
"Let us protect each other as we always do."
The fact that this is our fate still escapes my mind.
That there is a world other than ours...
And that we will now concentrate on preparing for the inevitable war, so we must prepare and strengthen ourselves.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And when we're ready, we'll save the world...