"What did you hear?" Aunt Alina looked very impatient, one hand clenched in the shape of a fist, the other clutching the railing of the stairs.
"Are you Selene Whiteley?" A man who looked about the same age as Aunt Alina walked up to her.
This time it was a very polite-looking man, clearly not like aunt Alina's previous boyfriends passing by. He wore a black tailcoat and a black cane with a falcon-shaped head. He wore a silver chain hanging over his chest with a chain of beads. The pendant is a pair of wings connected to a leaf by a bright, teardrop-shaped white stone. He looks like a man from the nineties. He looked at Selena with a kind face and smiled in a friendly manner.
"I am Selena Whiteley, sir." Selena looked confused; she said a sentence when Aunt Alina stopped: "There is no Selene here. I hope you come back to your town."
"But Mrs Smith, Selene needs to know about Liam Patrick and me. Because every child with Bellatore's blood has the right to attend school." The man was still adamant about something Selena did not understand.
"She is Selena. Furthermore, she does not need to know anything about that damn place either." Aunt Alina heard the word "Liam Patrick", even angrier. Aunt Alina's eyes were sharp and cold as if that place contained an entire sky of painful memories of her aunt.
"I want to know… I think I have a right to know." Selena seemed determined. Not only was she curious about "Liam Patrick", but deep down, Selena was curious about her past and her parents. Selena slowly walked down; she looked at Aunt Alina, who was tightly clamping her lips as if trying to stop the curse from coming out of her choked throat.
Then Selena turned to the strange man right next to him. Selena was about to ask him what he wanted her to know, but she hesitated to speak in her breath. She was so nervous that her chest wanted to burst.
"I am a Bellatore *[1]. A God of War." The man said the first sentence, and Selena grimaced in confusion at the phrase "War God" that had just been uttered from the man.
While aunt Alina suddenly closed her eyes as if trying to suppress her anger. That old man continued to talk about strange things that Selena had never heard of once. The little girl was confused, and she even thought that her aunt had just brought a psychopath, and he was rambling about things that were not real.
Nevertheless, the man told Selena about a tribe of warriors, not Humans, and certainly no devils, but not yet all-powerful to be. The Gods of War have always lived in a land called Landcaster, and there are even some living Gods that mingle with Humans all over the Earth. The existence of the Gods of War was to protect the good and punish the bad.
"Or rather, you and we are middlemen. We are souls that exist on earth to perform a mission for God – to kill Demons." The man continued to interpret in front of little Selena's wide-eyed and dumbfounded face.
"That's enough!" Aunt Alina looked more worried than angry with trembling lips; she continued to stammer: "Actually, you guys are just a bunch of useless people calling themselves Holy to work for God!" Aunt Alina interrupted the other man's words as if his story had unintentionally or intentionally touched the depths of her anguish.
"But… is there something dangerous?… I… I overheard… I do not understand…." Selena tried to ask more out of curiosity than fear. The girl seemed stunned by the man's story, but she still half doubted and half-believed.
"Because there are some people, a collection of bad guys, who try to catch you and bring me down before you have a right thought of good and evil." The man boldly.
Nevertheless, Selena still could not help but wonder, and she even asked if he meant a metaphor for his plan to raise a fifteen-and-a-half-year-old orphan before it turns into an addict like a lousy friend or seducers.
Selena could only see his shoulders move slightly up and down as if he had just suppressed a smile at her stupid question.
"I am Athelstan Charles, Principal of Liam Patrick Academy. I came here because I wanted to call you to school and take you back to my world… Because Liam Patrick is the only place that will guarantee your safety, and Landcaster is where you belong to." He spoke calmly.
Aunt Alina, whose eyes had softened, felt as if Mr Althelstan's words were convincing. Aunt Alina looked at Selena and took a deep breath. Then she turned her back to the old sofa in the centre of the room and dropped heavily onto it. She leaned forward, reached for the pack of pills, lit it, and took a long drag. It seemed that thought had passed through Aline's hardened heart that made her decide to let go of her thin hands from her growing niece.
"Alright. You can go. Scat. Get out of my sight." Aunt Alina said to Selena the usual harsh words.
The white cigarette smoke had blurred her aunt's face from Selena's sight and also obscured the true feelings from the depths of current Alina's heart. Aunt Alina tried not to look Selena in the eyes or scream at her, but Alina's words were unspeakably hesitant this time. Selena also felt sorry for herself for the first time because of her aunt's scolding; for the first time, Selena felt abandoned, as if her only loved one no longer needed her.
Although Selena initially wished to leave this place, she hesitated this time. Selena's eyes were filled with indescribable sadness, and then she lowered her head and stared at her bare feet. She is afraid that her aunt will be alone in this cold neighbourhood with no one around when she is gone. She loves her aunt.
Sir Athelstan could feel the worry in Selena's eyes, and he comforted her that she could still visit home at the end of the term; he also promised her all sorts of things about the excitement and grandeur of the Landcaster – Region Land of the Gods.
Headmaster Althelstan was silent for a few minutes, then he turned toward Aunt Alina, put his hand on her shoulder as a goodbye, and reached for his hat from the table. He paced around the small living room, walking in a daze as if he paused for a beat before taking the next step. Mr Althelstan told Selena and her aunt that he would come again tomorrow morning. He suddenly stopped in front of Selena, he looked at her, and then they both bowed as a formal greeting. When Selena looked up, Sir Athelstan was gone; his place just now was only a thin white smoke like a chiffon strip of a particular lady accidentally dropped indifferently.
Selena was stunned, her mouth wide open in surprise at the Principal's miracle. Selena felt her stomach sag, a rumbling with an interest in magic and warriors like Mr Althelstan mentioned a few minutes ago. It was only early in the morning that she encountered a series of such strange stories. Before Selena had time to put everything together, her aunt stood up and quietly passed her, sauntering to her room and slamming the door. Leaving Selena standing alone at the corner of the stairs with thousands of questions. In the end, what is her? Who is trying to harm her? What crimes did her parents commit in the past? What made a Headmaster personally come to pick her up like that? The streak of white magic smoke that Sir Athelstan left behind was slowly fading away, but what remained in Selena's mind was a string of confusion and excitement about both the ancient past and the future.
[1] Bellator: Latin for Warrior, singular of Bellatores.
Selena had not eaten all day; she just hid and locked the door in her room. She sat blankly, eyes lowered, staring at the golden coin in the palm of its hand. Little Selena was about to toss a coin and told herself that if she did, she would leave Sloane Street and go to that strange place called Landcaster. Selena threw the first time, and the coin fell to the ground with a jingle like a bicycle horn and then spun around a few times. She bent down, and her eyes narrowed to see in the face. Selena released a second time, this time, and she closed her eyes for a few seconds before she dared to open her eyes to see, still the picture. It stays like that for the fourth time, still the same face. This red-hair girl did not know whether to be happy or sad and did not know whether to go or stay. Perhaps more accurately, this fifteen-year-old girl's confused train of thought did not know what she needed in the end. Is it a new journey but full of dangers? Or a tedious, boring but peaceful life.