The night was getting late, Odette couldn't sleep at all. The sounds of the creatures living in the forbidden forest were very disturbing. Howls, roars, even voices that sounded like women laughing and crying alternately sounded from all over.
Every now and then, the ground below shook, which was probably caused by the battle of the giant snake-like monsters they had seen earlier.
No one would be able to sleep under the circumstances. Odette finally decided to get up and walked over to Rion who was sitting outside the cave, her eyes open and watching the surroundings closely.
"Rion." Odette sat next to Rion.
"Why don't you sleep?"
"Huff, who can sleep like this? How about you? Aren't you sleepy? You've been sitting here for a while. You can go into the cave and lie down, while I keep watch."
"I can't entrust my life to you," Rion said flatly which made Odette feel offended.
"What do you mean? Are you saying that I'm unreliable?" Odette said, annoyed.
Rion flatly answered her with a nod. "Um."
"You…!! Hmph!" Odette looked at Rion before she finally turned her face away from the man in disgust. But soon, her expression changed drastically when she coincidentally saw the bushes in front of her moving. She was about to tell Rion about it, but the man had already stood up and was walking towards the bush.
"Rion, be careful," Odette said quietly when Rion started to examine the bush, and they were a little surprised to find a small red bird lying on its back with its wings occasionally flapping.
"What a pity." Odette watched in pity as Rion lifted the bird and they saw the bird's condition up close. Its condition was so weak, it couldn't even lift its head.
"Does it hurt?" Odette raised its wings and tried to find out if the bird was injured or not, but she couldn't find any injuries.
Odette was still trying to figure out the reason why the red bird in Rion's hand was currently so weak. She was surprised when she didn't find any wounds, until she finally saw the foam on the bird's beak.
"It's poisoned," said Rion and Odette nodded in agreement.
"We have to help it. Anwen brought an antidote in the bag, hopefully we can help it," said Odette. She then walked towards the cave, and Rion followed her.
In the cave, they worked together to make the red bird drink the antidote in the bottle. Because the bird wouldn't open its beak. Rion was forced to open the bird's beak forcefully.
"Quick, put the antidote in," said Rion.
The bird struggled, and tried to break free, but it was powerless.
"Hey, calm down. We're not going to do anything bad, we just want to help you," said Odette with a warm smile.
The bird's red eyes stared intently at Odette's face which smiled warmly at it, then it began to stop struggling and became calm.
"I hope this works out well and it can be saved," said Odette shortly after giving the antidote.
Rion removed his hand from the bird's beak and tried to make the bird stand up, but the bird was still so weak that it staggered to its feet, and it finally fell back down. Odette was worried. She lifted the bird in her hands and felt the small body tremble.
"Hold on, don't give up. You're a strong bird," she smiled. The bird's eyes stared at her again. The reflection of Odette's smiling face was clearly visible from the red eyes.
"Come on, I'll warm you up," said Odette and placed the bird by the dimly lit fire, and started stroking the bird while humming a little tune, as if trying to calm the bird down and reassure it that everything would be fine.
In the past, when Odette was sick, her mother would always stroke her head while humming a little tune, and it made Odette feel very calm.
Meanwhile, unnoticed by Odette, Rion was silently watching. His eyes looked alternately at Odette's hand which was stroking the bird's head and Odette's face which was humming, then suddenly….
"Mom." The word just came out of his mouth.
"Huh?" Odette was stunned and slightly surprised when she heard the words Rion had just said. She turned her head towards the man and stared in confusion with furrowed brows.
"What is it?" Rion asked as Odette looked at him with a confused face.
"What did you say?"
Rion furrowed his brows, he also looked confused by Odette's question. "What are you talking about?"
Odette looked at Rion intently and wondered if she had heard it wrong? She heard Rion called her 'mom'.
The voices of the creepy Randle Forest dwellers must have depressed her, that she started hearing things that weren't there.
"Nothing," said Odette, shaking her head, and then resumed her activities, which was stroking the bird while humming a little, and Rion was watching her again. For a moment, the atmosphere felt a little calmer, but suddenly a dazzling white light appeared at the entrance of the cave and shocked the two people in the cave.
Rion and Odette instantly stood up. Rion quickly stood in front of Odette and made a cover. He stared intently at the light while mounting his stance, ready to attack the oncoming enemy.
Over time, the light began to dim and someone's shadow was seen behind the light. Rion watched the shadow without blinking, but his eyes immediately widened as the shadowy figure he was watching became clear.
He immediately lowered his sword and walked over to the ruby-eyed man standing at the threshold of the cave entrance. Meanwhile, Odette was watching silently. In her heart, she wondered about who this handsome man was, and how he suddenly appeared. Then … she turned to the small creature flying over the man's broad shoulders.
'A fairy?' Odette muttered in her mind.
"I pay my respects to the great wizard Aathreya," said Rion, slightly bowing to salute the man in front of him.
Hearing Rion call the man by the name 'Aathreya', Odette's eyes immediately widen.
'He is … Aathreya?' She wondered in her mind. She looked at Aathreya's figure from bottom to top. 'I thought he was an old man with a bushy mustache and a purple hat.'
Odette pictured the figure of an old wizard in her mind. She really didn't expect that Aathreya was such a handsome man, much younger than what she had expected.
"No need to be so formal, Albert," said Aathreya, which made Rion and Odette surprised.
"His name is Arion, not Albert," said Narine.
"Huh?" Aathreya turned to look at Narine confused "Really?"
"Hmm." Narine nodded.
Athreya turned back to face Rion. "Sorry, Alex."
"Arion."
"Ah, I mean that. Listen Pinky, I—"
"Arion!" Narine started to raise her voice.
"Shut up, Kevin!"
"Narine!"
"Up to you!"
Odette wore a strangely disappointed expression. Aathreya's attitude was not as cool as his appearance. He was very disappointing and seemed unreliable. Now, Odette felt that she had made the wrong decision to enter this spooky forest to meet such a wizard.
"Nice to meet you, Zoe," Aathreya said to Rion, which made Narine and Odette had weird looks on their faces, but Odette's expression immediately changed drastically when Aathreya looked at her, then walked towards her. Odette was a little tense when Aathreya looked at her very closely.
"I'm here to meet you," he said, surprising Odette and Rion.
"Meet me?" Odette is confused as to why Aathreya wants to see her when she came to that horrible place to meet Aathreya.
"Listen to me, Alice Catychwamanakakiquekakupapamanaveshriabelletillaredrixietipaleparissabekoekoekpetokpetok uu aa hu ha hu ha."
Narine's mouth and eyes were wide open when she heard what Aathreya had just said, even Rion who had been keeping a straight face since then, seemed to have a strange expression, not to mention how Odette's face was when she heard Aathreya calling her by such a long name.
"I ... well, my name is Odette," said Odette with a smile.
Aathreya furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed his chin. "So, you're not Alice Catychwamanakakiquekakupapamanaveshriabelletillaredrixietipaleparissabekoekoekpetokpetok uu aa hu ha hu ha?"
Odette shook her head.
After seeing Odette shake her head, Aathreya turned around, intending to leave.
"Let's go, Jonathan," he said to the little fairy flying through the air.
"I'm Narine, WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR YOU TO REMEMBER SUCH A SHORT NAME?!" Narine shouted furiously. She didn't like it when people changed her name carelessly, but Aathreya always called her by a different name every time.
They had been together for many years, but Aathreya never once called Narine's name properly. Seriously! Narine felt the urge to hit Aathereya's head with a rock, but she couldn't do that because she needed Aathreya's protection in this cruel Randle Forest.
After all, she was just a fragile little fairy and was helpless in the face of the ruthless inhabitants of Randle Forest. In the end, Narine could only take a deep breath and exhale roughly. She had a lot of patience in dealing with the wizard.
"We're here to see Odette, you said you wanted to tell her something important," she said which made Odette surprised and Rion furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Is that true?" Aathreya looked at Narine confusedly, then looked at Odette, his eyes wide open as if he just remembered something. "Oh, yes."
He approached Odette again and spoke, "I know you are here to meet me. Actually, I don't like leaving the mountains, but seeing your courage to enter this terrible forest just to meet me, I decided to come here. I appreciate your courage, young lady."
Aathreya looked different when he started to talk seriously. "I will send you back to your era."
Odette was a little surprised to hear Aathreya's last words.
"Is that true?" Instantly, her face turned very bright.
Aathreya nodded. "But on one condition."
Narine flew towards Odette.
"Condition?" Odette was confused.
"You have to cure Zoe of his DID."
Narine came closer to Odette's ear and whispered in Odette's ear, "He means King Arion D-Panther. Please understand, he is almost three hundred years old, so he is a bit senile."
Three hundred years old? Odette had a hard time believing it, but she wanted to focus on the conditions the wizard gave.
She was quite surprised when she heard the conditions put forward by Aathreya. Healing Rion from the DID he suffered?
Instantly, various questions popped in Odette's head. Was it true that Rion had DID? Odette remembered when Rion barked loudly at her in the forest and then when Rion pointed a sword at her shortly after she jumped from the bathroom window, and if she was not mistaken, the man named Trish called Rion by the name of Lucifer.
Odette looked at Rion, who seemed also surprised to hear Aathreya's words.
'Does he really have DID?' She wondered in her mind, then looked back at Aathreya suspiciously.
"How do you know that Rion has DID? How did you know about DID? It's medieval time right and why did you ask me to do that?" asked Odette in succession.
Narine hoped Aathreya's senility didn't recur and her wish came true.
Aathreya looked fixedly into Odette's blue eyes.
"Because I am a wizard, okay? And because you are a psychiatrist." Aathreya answered Odette's question, but there were unanswered questions left in Odette's head. Before Odette asked again, Aathreya had already opened his mouth. "All the questions that are in your head right now, you will answer them yourself. I know you can, because you are a smart woman and one who never gives up."
Aathreya recalled Odette's mother figure in his mind, then added, "When you succeed in achieving my condition, I will come to see you and you can go home. Let's go, Alex."
"But–" Odette's words were cut short when a blinding white light reappeared around Aathreya. Narine was seen flying into the light, and in an instant, both of them had disappeared.
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From the author:
Ahh...! So that's how Odette will be able to go back to the future. I hope you like this chapter as it's quite long. I will post moarrrr soon. ^^