Everything was back to normal as if nothing bad had ever happened. Just like when the water monsters were rampaging on Musi Lake. The presence and traces of the monster-destroyer battles had also been lost, in the forest where Daniel was nearly killed.
"What do you think? Still, thinking about Musi Lake which was hit by the tsunami? The experts have confirmed that there will be no such thing again and that it is not a tsunami." Wendy grimaced and munched on her breakfast, a brown jam bun mixed with peanut butter almost two centimeters thick. She liked the food.
Daniel mused deeply, apparently reluctant to answer Wendy's useless questions. But he still had to answer it, he still had to approach Wendy slowly to ensure that Wendy had never been possessed all this time. So far, Daniel had not been able to decide who between Wendy and Prof. Ian was possessed, although to be honest Daniel had been able to guess who, but evidence and objective research was a better thing.
"I just thought about a few things, especially when I was in pain that night and you called the rescue team for fear that I might die. But instead, you left me in the room and found Prof. Ian who just came home from somewhere. Then we…. "
"Dan, stop! Stop! Stop!" Wendy turned her head in embarrassment as if she couldn't take it anymore. "I've heard that story more than thirty times this week. Uh, or maybe fifty times. But, I never thought that you were serious about that story.
"Let me be clear again, OK? I never got up just to take care of you, or maybe to call a rescue team. And Prof. Ian? Why do I have to meet him? I know I love you, my cousin. But my sleep is much better than taking care of you unless you are about to die.' Wendy chewed on her jam buns indifferently.
Soon Uncle Ted emerged from a room. It turned out that he had been listening to the conversation between two teens whom he had been caring for since childhood due to various accidents that befell their parents. "What's wrong with you, Dan? I also hear stories like that from you over and over in a week. After all, I've never been out of town in all this time. After finding you in the forest because of last week's fire, I've never been anywhere. So how can you escape my surveillance?
"And am I that bad about leaving my two underage kids alone after an accident happened? Mrs. Nana also never felt like I was leaving you."
Apart from the fake tsunami incident at Musi Lake, all the memories that existed regarding all the trips that led to the battle with the monsters had disappeared in everyone's memory. Uncle Ted insisted he didn't leave the house and go out of town, Wendy insisted on not getting out of bed the night they should have gone to the hospital with Prof. Ian, and Prof. Ian also insisted that he never stopped by Uncle Ted's house to pick up Daniel and Wendy.
All people's memories had been destroyed, and Daniel was sure it must be because of Luna, because of her power which turned out to be that great. That way Daniel increasingly wanted to know who Luna was, and also the other fighters who defeated the branch monster that night.
It had been a week since the kidnapping and fighting in the forest, and Daniel was waiting for the fighters to appear again. Daniel intended to ask who they were, and how to beat the monsters. Daniel needed that information, as a child who has always been overshadowed by a monster who wanted to kill and eat him in strange ways and as a child who had lost his parents because of their crimes.
And besides, that Daniel wanted to ask how many monsters lived on this earth? Then could they be completely wiped out from this world? Because as far as he could remember, as long as his untouched memories, the earth had been free from monsters since thousands of years ago. This was indeed strange when Daniel got a memory that no idea where it came from, he just didn't know that the memory was true.
It could have happened because of the old energy that had been stored in the core of the universe in Daniel's body. The energy gave him small memories, including the memories of Nerodus when he was still alive. But it was just that Nerodus's memories were thinner in Daniel's memory, or sometimes dropping in with dreams.
Daniel tried to explore every possible place for the monsters to come. Usually, these places tend to be quiet, dark, and untouched. Because in that way the monsters could freely take action and eat humans.
The mysterious loss case was also being investigated by Daniel. As long as the cases were still ongoing, Daniel would not hesitate to come to them, waiting for the appearance of a monster to catch his eye.
To be honest it was tantamount to suicide. Because, what if later the monsters attacked Daniel while no one could help him? Fighters might appear but who could guarantee? Because the reason for their arrival couldn't t yet be revealed.
Daniel was too absorbed in all his thoughts that he didn't hear the rebuke coming from Uncle Ted. Uncle Ted now looked a little irritated when he found Daniel's disrespectful attitude. "Dn! Are you ignoring me?" Uncle Ted had his hands on his hips, his face red and hard.
Daniel looked up quickly. Seeing Uncle Ted's angry expression, he knew what kind of mistake he had made. Ignorance and disrespect were not the only reasons. Uncle Ted needed even more reason to scold Daniel.
"Did you hear or pretended not to hear?" scolded Uncle Ted, with his hands on his hips. Wendy had already dashed up to her room to avoid being dragged into the conflict. "Just because you don't like the topic I'm talking about that you can use the excuse of 'unfocused' and 'not listening' here. I won't tolerate that, Dan. You've been going too far lately, and I've been wanting to say it for a long time. "
Lately? Oh, looks like Daniel knows.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Ted. I'm just researching with Sam. We were too late and played late into the night." That's the only excuse Daniel could get. He didn't even ask Sam at that time.
"Research or no, I don't like seeing you in a quiet place like a forest, abandoned house, river with fast currents, or even an empty building. I don't like seeing you in places like that alone or even when you are with Sam. I didn't like you to be friends with Sam from the beginning. He was a strange and somewhat mysterious boy. Who knows if you got a lot of bad influences from him?" Uncle Ted began to grab the dirty utensils and wash them after he quickly swallowed his breakfast.
Daniel didn't answer much. He wanted to defend Sam because Daniel wasn't taking him anywhere. To be honest, since Daniel's first meeting with Sam about a week ago, Daniel never took Sam anywhere. The two of them only spoke casually as if they were strangers who had just met, not two friends who were fighting over something.
After all, Daniel still didn't know who Sam was, and why all of a sudden he came into his life and tried to be someone close to whom Daniel had ever recognized.
"It's not Sam's fault, Uncle Ted. I forced him out." Daniel looked down.
"Come to think of it, things have gotten worse since you did your research on the monster world that you like. I don't mind if this doesn't harm other people. But you started to come home late, bothered me and Wendy, and even you almost made Wendy's life lost. I don't mean to put strict limits on you, but I do have limits myself."
Daniel looked up and squinted. Uncle Ted's words were dangerous, and unfortunately, Daniel would never know until Uncle Ted acknowledges his point.
"I burned all your journals!" said Uncle Ted nonchalantly, turning around and starting to finish his washing activities.
***