Several days had passed, but Mariel was clearly depressed. The recent incident had left a deep scar on her heart and inside because of killing Chaos who was with a miserable and depressed background like herself in her previous life, Mariel felt extremely hurt and disappointed that she could not save Chaos's life. The thought of wanting to help Chaos to have a better life, not having to be obsessed with evil anymore, but in the end, everything failed completely. She lost to the demons that destroyed Khaos in front of her. These feelings were still stuck in her mind, and she could not easily forget them.
"Are you still thinking about Chaos?" Beatrix asked with concern.
"I wasn't good enough to help him." Mariel replied, blaming herself.
"You did your best. Don't blame yourself anymore." Mania tried to comfort her friend.
No matter how hard her two best friends tried to cheer her up, Mariel couldn't feel better, she was still dazed from these and she still blamed herself until her friends had to tell Principal Hector about this happen.
"Hmm… So that's how it goes." Hector said, stroking his beard.
"I understand what Mariel is going through. Thank you for telling us about this. We will try our best to help her." Elizabeth said.
"Thank you very much, then we'll leave now." Beatrix and Mania said before bowing and leaving the principal's office.
Hector thought for a moment and seemed to think of a way to heal Mariel's mental state, so she could be better again.
"Eli! Make a phone call to Deric and Claudia." Hector ordered.
"Mariel's parents? Sure!" Elizabeth replied immediately.
Not long after, someone informed Mariel that principal Hector had requested to meet her in his office, and that she should come at 5 p.m. in the evening.
Knock, knock! There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Hector said.
"Excuse me, principal…" Mariel said as she opened the door and entered the room, but she immediately fell silent because there were other people in the room besides Hector and Elizabeth.
"How are you? my daughter." Deric and Claudia said together.
Mariel didn't say anything else, but she immediately hugged her parents with emotion, and her tears unconsciously flowed.
"I miss mom and dad so much." Mariel said, crying.
"We miss you too. Didn't I tell you that you must tell us if you have any concerns?" Deric asked.
"Principal Hector and Vice-principal Elizabeth called us, and then we had to rush to school right away. I'm really worried about your mental health, my dear." Claudia said, patting her daughter's head affectionately.
"I don't want to cause any trouble to you. I think I can handle this..." Mariel tried to explain.
"But it's not like that, is it? It will have a huge impact on your studies, physical and mental health." Deric reprimanded.
"I'm so sorry, dad." Mariel replied with remorse.
"Ok, it's the weekend. Why don't Deric and Claudia to take Mariel home to rest and everything will get better." Hector suggested.
"But... I'm about to prepare for my final exams. There are only a few more days. I'm afraid..." Mariel said.
"Please listen to what Hector says. It's good for yourself." Elizabeth said.
"Then I am ok about this." Mariel agreed.
Deric, Claudia and Mariel said goodbye to Hector and Elizabeth and then they went to the girls' dormitory. Beatrix and Mania understood and agreed that Mariel should go home and rest to recover before she had to come back for the final exams.
"I agree about this. Please let Mariel rest at home for a day or two days, maybe her mental state will be better." Beatrix said.
"Get better soon, Mariel. I'm worry about you." Mania said with encouragement.
"Thank you so much." Mariel said, hugging her two best friends before packing her suitcase with her clothes and other necessities before leaving the girl's dormitory with Deric and Claudia again.
"Are we going home? " Mariel asked her parents after getting into the car.
"Who said we were going home?" Deric said.
"What?" Mariel exclaimed in confusion.
"You'll know where we're going, my dear." Claudia said with a smile.
They drove out of town. Mariel saw the grassland and felt an indescribable relaxation. The tension in her mind gradually changed for the better. Meanwhile, Deric and Claudia talked about various things and laughed together. It didn't take long for them to arrive at a forest where isn't far from their village.
"This forest seems familiar, it's located on the other side behind our village, right ? " Mariel asked.
"Yes, this is where our parents used to go camping when we were child." Deric said.
"It reminds me of when we were young. Other couples would go on dates in the city or other places, but you invited me to go camping in the woods just the two of us." Claudia said.
"At night, it's not so noisy, and there aren't other people to bother us." Deric said with a smile.
"You are really cool." Mariel said.
When the car arrived at its destination, it was discovered that the three horses that were in the barn at the house had been brought here from the beginning, with a man in the village taking care of them.
"Unicorn!!" Mariel said as she ran to hug her favorite horse. The unicorn was also glad to its owner.
"Today, I brought our three horses out from our barn. As for the chickens in the barn, Mom and Dad have already fed and filled them with food and water. Anyway, we'll go home tomorrow," Deric said.
"What about these three horses?" Mariel asked curiously.
"Put them in the back of our truck, Lol." Deric said with a loud laugh.
"Thank you very much for staying here and watching our horses." Claudia thanked the man who was standing guard for the horses.
"No problem. I'm happy to help you. Then I'll go home now." the man who was taking care of the horses said before he immediately teleported back to the village.
"Let's set up our camp and ride our horses in the fields." Deric advised.
They helped to collect the stones, along with pieces of wood and leaves to prepare for the fire. The large tent for camping was prepared and ready. Once all their belongings were left inside the tent, they rode their horses out to the grassland near the forest.
"Go, Unicorn!" Mariel shouted as she rode her horse ahead of her parents.
"Wait for us, my dear." Claudia said with a smile.
The three of them rode their horses happily. The natural surroundings gradually restored Mariel energy. After several hours, they went to collect fruits and catch fish to cook dinner together around the campfire.
"Drink this tea, my dear." Claudia said, handing her a pot of tea made from a type of tea plant in the forest. Claudia had picked them, washed, and boiled it into a large pot of tea.
"It's bitter but it's good." Mariel said after drinking it. This tea made her body feel energetic again after several hard battles that had made her feel tired and hurt.
"This type of tea contains an ingredient that helps recover your muscles and improves blood circulation." Claudia said.
All of them ate dinner cooked over the fire in front of them. After they were done, they began to talk about various things until they reached the highlight that worried Mariel the most. Tears started to flow uncontrollably after she talked about her feelings about Chaos to her parents.
"*Sob* it's my fault for not being able to protect Chaos. Why did these demons have to take the life of an innocent person? It's so unfair for him." Mariel said in tears.
Deric understood the pain in his daughter's heart very well, so he slowly moved to sit closer to her and Claudia who also sat beside Mariel too. Then he leaned on his daughter to rest on his left chest and stroked her head with concern, causing Mariel to burst into tears due to her resentment.
"Cry it out, my dear. Mom and Dad will always understand you because we have been through this too." Claudia said.
"This is what a life is. We are born, grow old, get sick and die. It all depends on how each person faces their fate in life." Deric said.
"Why do demons have to hurt humans? Why don't we just live separately and not harass each other?" Mariel asked curiously.
"Somethings don't make sense, Mariel. It's like the good and bad people in society. Why doesn't this person hurt others, but why can another person hurt others so coldly? It's the subconsciousness that lies within each person. The same as demons, because they were born with evil. So, the only thing they do is to destroy all other livings, whether they're humans, animals, or other monsters as well." Claudia explained in detail.
"Chaos, who had such a pitiful childhood, had to die, having his mind and soul eaten away by the devilish infection. In the end, I was defeated by these evil things that could not save his life." Mariel said with sadness.
"At least you defeated Lord Dark. Defeating a mid-level evil mage is considered a victory." Deric said with encouragement.
"I must eliminate all the demons from this world!" Mariel said with resentment.
"Whether you can do it or not, lets it be for the future. Just the fact that you have a kind heart, want to help and save other people's lives is something that is most admirable." Claudia said with admiration.
"How safe is this world? Because it seems like I haven't encountered many incidents of demons in the past. I've only heard about Segal memories, the incident where our village was attacked, and the various incidents I've encountered." Mariel suddenly thought of something and asked for more information.
Deric and Claudia fell silent for a moment, which made Mariel feel a bit worried.
"Actually, the situation we are in right now is quite dangerous. The reason why you can still sleep well every night is because the people in our village have worked together to protect us and defeat the demons that have invaded here many times." Claudia told the truth.
"What?" Mariel was shocked.
"Before you were born, our village was infested with many demons and monsters. Many lives were lost, and many were disabled and died." Deric said.
"Have you ever noticed, Mariel, why we never take you to visit your grandparents? There are only the three of us, father, mother and daughter. When you ask, we will say that they live far away and not to be worried." Claudia asked.
"Yes… I never knew that before." Mariel replied.
"Because they sacrificed their life to protect us so that we could survive until today." Deric explained.
Mariel was shocked by what she heard because she did not expect that her happy life, surrounded by people and friends at school, would have to come at the cost of many sacrifices from previous generations.
"Now, let's hear about our stories then." Claudia said, taking a deep breath to prepare to tell Mariel the secret of their past stories that she had been keeping for a long time.