After a long day, Autumn and I decided to return, thanking Diablo and Sarah for everything.
"Wait," Sarah says.
"Won't you want to know where to go from now? How to get back to Earth?" She asks.
"Ohh right. We totally forgot. A lot happened today I feel." Autumn replies.
"I know. It is hard but you have to get through this. It would be best if you go to Selaria."
"Selaria?" We ask.
"Yes. It's the chief capital city of Kwangya. It's boisterous and very lively. You will definitely get some information there. Also, you might meet more people like you on the way." Sarah says before growing serious.
"Also I have heard that Selaria is the treasury of Kwangya's all mysteries. There are ancient texts hidden somewhere that dictate the laws of this world. The answers to these strange occurrences lie in those texts." She finishes.
"To Selaria," I whisper.
"Yes, you girls should pack all the requisite and head on tomorrow. If you need something then come here and we will get you all the necessary. And most importantly...."
She gets out a small box and opens it.
"Take this."
We both get surprised.
"Isn't that....." Autumn says
"It is. It is that strange white crystal from the first day! " I say hysterically.
"You know about this?" Sarah asks seeming astonished.
"Yes, we don't know what exactly it is but on the day that we got here, we found one and.... it.... it was strange! We gave it to one of the vendors and she seemed like she was under a spell. Gave us a lot of food!" I say unsure.
"This is a special crystal found in Kwangya called clair. It exudes some unknown energy that subjects its victim to lose their sense of self. For a moment they forget everything and act hypnotised. It is like they are enchanted and lose all sense of their surroundings. It can manipulate the subject person's thoughts and behaviours. And most importantly, it only works on Kwangya's people. That is to say, it won't work on you or me." She finishes.
Woooowwww, so this is what happened on that first day. We accidentally manipulated that shop lady to give us all of that food free of cost. Dang, my conscience feels guilty. It's ok K. You didn't know, moreover you had to survive. Looking at the other side tho, this is such a useful tool. But I don't get one thing. How does it work?
"What did we exactly do to manipulate that lady? " I ask Sarah.
"The crystal works as an embodiment of your thoughts. It manifests them. When you direct the target person in your mind, the crystal takes effect. The size of one determines how long the person stays manipulated. Once the effect wears off, they forget everything. It is really a convenient weapon. However, I would never condone exploiting somebody for one's own gain BUT this time the case is different. If you ever get in some danger in your journey, use this! I am sorry I only have one" Sarah gives a look of regret.
"No, we are really thankful for all you have done Sarah," I say
"Yes, we were so lost, you got us the path. Now we know what to do, and what we are aiming for. We are really grateful." Autumn says.
Sarah smiles and embraces us.
"I wish the best for you both." She says.
"You and Diablo take care as well," I say.
Autumn looks at Diablo and says,
"Thank you so much, Diablo for bumping into us today. For getting us to Sarah."
"Yeah, you were the catalyst. Thank you for believing in us and taking us to her. We are so grateful!" I say
"It is alright. Just take care and stay safe. If you ever can't find a home, remember we are always ready to welcome you." Diablo smiles and says.
"Also come early in the morning tomorrow and take some food from here," Sarah says.
F*ck, I feel like crying. These people are gems! I would literally hunt the person down myself if somebody was to ever even scratch them! Autumn and I hug them, tight and bid our farewell to go towards our temporary house. Nice people do exist!
"Ahhhh, K wait! How do we reach Selaria? We don't know our way there." Autumn stops me.
"Don't worry. Do you remember that map-making machine? We are going there tomorrow first thing in the morning and get our directions to Selaria. For now, let us just rest and pack for tomorrow. Also, keep the clair safe." I tell her.
"Alright." She replies.
We reach back home and start packing all the necessities we could require for our venture. Pack clothes, safely keep the clair, and pack bottles. There is some stuff that we need like toothbrushes and sleeping bags that we thought of getting from Sarah's place tomorrow itself. Autumn and I soon after go to hug each other to sleep. We need to be well rested. Tomorrow is the beginning of the adventure.
The next day we wake up, gather our stuff and set out. This house is again abandoned. Poor house! If it has a spirit, it must be saddened.
We reach Sarah's place and she gives us some food to take on our journey. We also ask them for other stuff that we required and they gladly gave us all of that. I am seriously so glad for these generous souls. Sarah and Diablo are the kindest people I know!
After that, we go for that map-making machine.
Here lies our way to Selaria,our ticket to the fated chance. The anticipation is make me feel jittery.
"Do you know how to use it?" Autumn asks me.
"Not really but remember yesterday Diablo explained its functioning. I will try to get it to work.Trust me on this."I look at her with sheer determination.
"K, you look.. weirdly passionate. Wait,what am I saying" She closes her eyes and softly shakes her head with a soft smile.
"We are living your dream of exploring the magnificent. Of course you are" She says.
" I am glad you have already understood that about me.I guess this is the power button." I press the button and the system gets to life.
"Good, now I guess from here we select the place we want to go to. Selaria, let's look for it! Got it!" I choose the location and in front of us, on the screen appears a map with all the possible routes to Selaria. Selaia, the place of opportunities and truth! That is where we are headed!
"Look, all the routes are differentiated by colours. It indeed was pretty organised.
"This red one looks the shortest, however, it goes through some forest. The Blue one is the longest and it is taking some roundabouts. I would not choose this one. Then there is this purple route, which seems pretty average, and goes through some cities. What route should you think we choose?" Autumn asks me.
"I think we should skip the forest. We are no experts at surviving severe conditions. One has to always be up on guard in the wild. As for the purple and blue ones, both look safe. The map doesn't suggest any complexities or dangers either. I would go for the purple one. It is shorter than the blue route." I say.
"Well then. Let's print this out."
"Yeah."
We get the printout and the first city to greet us would be this 'La Lune Violette' or 'The Purple Moon'. Sounds French! We set out on our way out of the town. I now realise that this town we landed in is reallllyyyy small!
"There comes one small town before the city". Autumn says taking the map from me.
"Um... K?" She calls me.
I hmm her. She then says"Are we going to venture this entire journey by walking?" She asks.
"Nice question and to that, I will say," I say confidently
"ItCompletelySlippedMyMnd" I say in a hurry. My face contorts into that comical anime expression when the character gets all embarrassed and fake laughs. That was exactly what I was doing because I could sense Autumn's shock and her pissed-off vibe oozing at me.
"Are you kidding me K?' Autumn bursts at me. She looks so cute. Her cheeks are fluffed out like a Jigglypuff. Ahh, I want to squish them. Wait, probably not the right time to think this.
"Hey, it seems easier in animes. Remember pokemon? Ash, Misty and Brock would travel regions far and wide on foot." I said while folding my hands behind my head and casually walking.
"Does it look like pokemon to you, K? Gosh, I don't believe this! When will you realise it is a reality not isekai? Ugh! I should have taken the responsibility myself...."
Autumn keeps on talking but I tune her out. It is a nice day.
"And also... hey, are you even listening to me? Kayyy" She jerks my arm.
"Oww."
"I am talking to you and how are you so calm?" She frets.
"Now, Autumn, we are fated for this journey, right? Might as well chill a little and not think too much. Moreover panicking would only make us stressed out more. Hence what I say is, we should enjoy and go with the flow. Ahh, the weather is so pleasant today." I close my eyes and take a deep breath through my nose!
I myself don't know how am I acting so calm but I feel like romanticising nature today. And the fact that an exciting adventure awaits us and not that stupid boring dreadful college, I can't help but feel delighted.
"If you say so," Autumn says.
"Good." I say and pat her on her shoulder.
"Now, let's keep moving forward". I say excitedly.
We follow the map and keep on walking till it was something like... noon. There are so many little stalls and shops set up on our route to 'La Lune Violette", cue the french accent, selling cute souvenirs. I wish I could buy some. We stop by near one of those shops and sit down on the meadow and take out the lunch that Sarah packed.
"K, what will we do about our other meals? We have no money to survive."
"I know Autumn, that is something that has been bothering me for a while. I couldn't ask Diablo and Sarah either, they already did so much for us." I say.
"I get it, hey maybe we can use clair?" Autumn suggests.
"We can but I don't know if claires are reusable. Last time we traded ours with the shopwoman, hence we don't know if a single clair can be used multiple times. If they can only be used once, I would suggest we rather be careful with its use." I say.
"You have a point. Gosh, I feel stressed now."Autumn says softly.
"It is ok, I am pretty sure, we can get by somehow. Let us eat for now."
We devour our lunch! Yeah, we were that hungry and ohhh, Sarah or maybe Diablo, I don't know but whosoever has cooked this lunch should be God's personal chef! My taste buds are really jumping from ecstasy. This feeling, this taste is light-years better than an orgasm.
Autumn goes through our bag when she spots something.
"K? Did you pack this small envelope? What does it contain?"
"An envelope?"
"Yeah, let me open it and check." Autumn opens the envelope and takes out some paper bits.
"What are these? Hold on! These...is this cash?"
"What? Show me!" I take the paper from her hand and look at it. Indeed it has some trademark signs. It also does look like some currency note.
"How did they get here?" I wonder. Then it hit me! Both Autumn and I say it together.
"Diablo and Sarah! We exclaim.
The sweetest souls.