Chapter 14 – The Courage and a Mother
Dareen was still standing in the same position as far as the eye could see. Everything looked pure white without adjusting his surroundings and walking down the area there.
Empty and strange, as if he was in another dimension, the Saintess was already waiting to sit on the wide bench, looking at him as he walked closer.
"Thank you very much for helping me to meet the god," who arrived and stood before the Saintess.
Without a word, he stood up, walked a few steps, spread his arms towards the sky, and said a prayer.
Dareen, who was nearby, saw a great light dazzling the eyes more than the sun's rays; however, it wasn't hot. It was cold and calm. The feeling of peace that enveloped the surroundings emanating from it made Dareen not want to return to the human world full of deceit and cruelty.
The Saintess was seen talking with the light; there was no sound, only a foreign language came out of the all-greyed human. He turned his face towards Dareen using white eyes strangely; he wasn't surprised at all at sight.
"God already knows the desire to meet the owner of your original body." Saintess lowered both hands.
The great light was still there as He watched the two of them. Dareen just nodded; a feeling of worry and fear filled his body.
As a hunch led him to walk straight ahead, another light blue light appeared, and a door leading to the other side would find the answer he was looking for.
A wide field stretched out with small flowers spread out.
"There he is." Walking quickly over to the person who had been targeted all this time, he found someone familiar to him with long hair showing his back. There was a feeling of joy and mixed emotions.
"Before that, I will hit his head." She was already behind the person, then turned around and smiled at Dareen.
"Have you arrived?" he asked.
That woman is the figure of Claretta, whom Dareen misses as the owner of her body.
"Dareen?" he confirmed.
The woman chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand.
"It sounds weird for someone to call me by my name," she replied.
"There may be a lot of questions you want to ask me," interrupted before Darren started the conversation, "but before that, please, get used to your new body now; I'm already tired of the previous world as the successor; to Mana controller..." Her words trailed off as she breathed.
"All I want now is what it's like to have a mother." continued Claretta, looking up at the sky.
"You must know a lot of information about my world now because you are an intelligent and tough person sent by a god," said again, looking at Dareen's face, her gaze turned elsewhere.
Their faces stared at each other, who could not reply to every word of the brown-haired woman; Darren felt it was unfair with the one-sided body swap made by Him to the two of them, only he did not know this.
Feelings of compassion arose in the minds of each as they understood the pain, suffering, and sadness all this time. Claretta took Dareen's hands; her tears could not be held back.
With a smile and said, "Maybe it's because I'm already in a woman's body that my feelings become a little more sensitive."
[Hufth] took a deep breath.
"Will you give up our present life?" she asked hopefully.
Darren saw the tiny hand and grasped it. The man's heart became shaky before he met the body owner, intending to hit the person's head hard, who willingly asked the gods to exchange his body without permission.
A cool breeze blew, fluttering flower petals around them, ruffling Claretta's long hair.
"I am gorgeous." Dareen thought.
Puts his hand on Claretta's head and caresses his saying, "it's okay." Dareen said calmly.
Finally, they let each other go and lived a life separated by a golden glow.
"I will take care of your mother as my mother because I love her so much," said her; only a voice could be heard.
When he became Claretta, it was hard to face his life's realities; he hated the figure of all men because of the torment of the people who were supposed to protect them but were almost raped and abused.
Dareen faced being hated by his own family and the residents of Rhodes because of his mother.
Their lives are not much different. Claretta, who is lucky to still blend in well with the environment and has a mother who loves her very much, is in contrast to Dareen's life which receives a lot of pressure.
The residents of Rhodes acknowledged he would protect them and prove them wrong assumptions about outsiders untrue and erase them, though that suspicion had to be planted if it looked dangerous.
"Hope you have a better life, Dareen," he thought.
The prayer room was silent; no one dared to make a sound.
The Saintess walked out of the floating altar towards his son. Jase still saw Darren motionless.
"It's okay, my son," patted the shoulder.
Emotions and curiosity melted away hearing his father's words, making him unable to argue or dodge because he knew better.
Jase followed behind him, turning again in a direction he couldn't forget. Having left the sanctuary, the main door closed.
Pino approached Dareen. The magic circle that had been floating had disappeared.
"You peed in your pants, huh?" mocked him.
Anger resurfaced hearing that annoying voice.
"No," he replied, "let's get out of here." he continued.
Dareen turned around and walked towards the edge of the pool of water, causing ripples with every step of her feet, soaking the ceramics, the traces of which disappeared immediately.
Following the exit to the main door, Pino followed him from behind.
It pierced the Saintess family's humble hut, wood walls, and furniture. Upon entering that place that had been a luxurious and majestic room, a sense of amazement.
The smell of firewood was warm using the fireplace; his footsteps made a creaking sound from the wooden floor.
[Krieek…krieeek]
The room is a partition between the bed and the bathroom; the exit is next to the kitchen, complete with a fireplace cooking food.
There was no one in the house; the occupants knew of guests passing through. Pino turned to the study place she'd been to last night, lucky she wasn't anywhere near Jase now.
After getting out of there, Dareen re-entered the forest, heard a whisper behind the bushes triggering his alertness, remembering that before meeting the Saintess, he was being chased by people he didn't know, and swiftly jumped up a tree to look around.
Sure enough, they were waiting for him to enter a trap that had been prepared for a net web covered with dry leaves; above it was a long rope ready to pull the game up.