Chapter 19
"History"
Adrian, who was sleeping, dreamed about something which was queer and inexplicable. His mouth rambled gibberish, while in his dreamworld, he watched nothing but blackness.
His vision caught the shadow of a girl, slowly but surely, it gained colors and shape. Yet, her face remained unknown as though something was stopping him from knowing her true visage.
The girl was laying down, her lips twitched, her breath too was heavy. The girl tried to hold Adrian's hands, he was able to feel her warmth through her hands.
Adrian only looked at her in bewilderment, but soon the poor girl smiled at him, her smile was rather pure…
He then returned the smile back at her. Suddenly, the girl attempted to utter words from her fragile mouth. Adrian soon listened closely as she muttered:
"Seek the light."
Adrian tilted his head in confusion, but unfortunately for him, the dreamland soon was shattered. He didn't have chances to understand the weird subconscious world even further.
His body jolted without a signal, he looked around while his breath was rather quick. Adrian once again was puzzled by the strange occurrences which were happening so many times—mysterious murmurs, dreams, and hurtful headaches too.
"What's really happening to me? Am I being haunted again? Why always me? Hell nah, I hope those weird dreams and murmurs are gone," Adrian muttered, trying to soothe himself from this uncanny experience.
"Huh, why does my body still feel tired?..." Adrian said as he relaxed his body, after doing that, he then stood up and examined the quiet room once again.
Adrian's gaze was suddenly fixed on the table by the bed, his curiosity truly shrieking to him in his mind to walk toward the table and check the drawer.
Agreeing with himself, Adrian then stepped toward the table, he grasped the drawer's handle and drew it outward to reveal something that may extinguish his curiosity.
To his surprise, Adrian discovered a sheet of grayish paper in the drawer—it seemed tangled with the aroma of wood emanating from it.
Sheet of paper? Wait, this event is kinda similar to when I found that strange book inside my table… How odd! Adrian took the paper out of the table and began to scrutinize it—of course—without missing a single detail.
He found a few lines of words written on the possibly-old-paper—the ink was rather sharp black as though the void. The words penned on the paper were understandable to him, Adrian continued to observe it even further.
"Another chant? Why are there so many chants scattered over this world and are possibly always found by me? How strange it is…" Adrian frowned as he contemplated chanting the orison in another curiosity, "Maybe I should try it?..."
"Shepherd in Blue, Anchor of Souls, and Tower of Spirits-"
But before Adrian finished the chant, his curiosity somehow faded away like mist… He then looked at the paper for a few moments, before putting it back into the drawer.
Hell nah, I'm not doing that! I don't want to meet another cosmic entity! Adrian truly didn't want to repeat the same mistake: drawing the attention of cosmic entities beyond stars, whether hostile or cordial types.
Adrian's attention soon focused on searching for Nairda, with him walking toward the door and twisted the handle; before stepping outward from the room, and examining around.
From the second floor, his eyes fixed on the giant chandelier with attentiveness—it seemed odd, yet he didn't know the reason behind it.
Forgetting about it, Adrian then walked toward the curved stairs; one of his hands held on to the fences tightly as he came down.
Step. Step. Step…
The mansion was fairly quiet, before Adrian's gaze fell on someone who was sitting and staring at him in the living room—of course, it was Nairda
"Ah! Nairda, I finally found you!..." Adrian said to Nairda rather shyly.
In the living room, there was a table and five chairs with wooden-like materials—all the colors indeed were gray. On the ceiling, a small chandelier hung and emitted white lights upon them.
Before Nairda, the persistent table was filled with lots of food on top of it. Varied from cooked meat to healthy types which were fruits and vegetables—also accompanied with quenching drinks for the parched.
"OH, Cadeyrn! Come here and sit down, you must be hungry, aren't you?" Nairda invited him eagerly, insisting Adrian to sit down and enjoy the exquisite food.
"Ah!... Ok-oke!" Adrian murmured and out of words, he then sat down on one of the chairs.
Nairda shortly spoke to him to shatter the awkwardness that wrapped them, "How's your sleep? Did you sleep well?"
"Very well, if I must say… The room is quiet and peaceful, you know?..." Adrian replied lightly, trying to hide the weird dreams he had experienced.
Nairda smiled at him, before saying, "Well then! Let's eat these foods before they become cold, shall we?"
"Oh… ok-oke!" Adrian replied quietly, grabbing the cooked meat and putting it on his plate.
He then reached for the knife, trying to imitate how Rosey sliced the cooked meat for him. Although Adrian was still amateur and hardly sliced it, before taking a few slices into his mouth.
The tastes are… bland. There are no salt and spices, why is Nairda able to enjoy this? Hah! Okay enough, I'm lucky I have to eat, I must be thankful… Adrian put another slice into his mouth although the tastes were flavorless, the tastes were rather like cardboard.
"Do you like the meat, Cadeyrn?" Nairda asked him with a faint smile, proceeding to eat this rubbish while waiting for Adrian to answer his question.
Adrian cleared his throat, before responding, "This meat is so good, you know, these are like cooked by the heavenly chefs!"
Nairda was only able to smile at him, continuing to eat the bland-tasting meat.
Adrian soon drank the ashen-looking water, attempting to find flavor inside this glass of water. Unfortunately, too it was bland like sea water.
Of course… it's just a glass of water, nothing else. Adrian continued to eat the meat, while observing his surroundings for unknown reasons.
With the living room falling silent, Adrian then remembered the strange paintings at the wall of the quiet hallway he had walked in. According to his memory, there were three paintings that depicted:
The first painting, depicting a single white tree emanating celestial light and particles in the painting. It was so wonderful and pure.
The second painting was depicting a black-colored gate with dark fog wreathed around the very gate, indeed it was mysterious to Adrian's mind and seemed horrible at the same time.
The last painting, of course, depicted a happy family with smiles etched on their faces, it was somewhat comfortable and peaceful. The family consisted of five people, however, strangely their eyes were censored with black boxes…
Those paintings… Should I ask Nairda about those mysterious pictures? Maybe yes… Adrian cleared his throat once again, looking at Nairda who was eating and savoring his food.
"Nairda… I have questions for you, and… do you mind that?" Adrian questioned gently, trying to not bother Nairda who was enjoying his food.
Soon Nairda replied to his question, excitedly saying, "Questions? Well, you can ask me about anything, anything that I know of course!"
"Do you know about painting that depicts a… white tree, maybe? As I remember…" Adrian asked Nairda, waiting for him to reply to his first question…
"White tree?... Ah! I know that! That's Tree of Life, it's a revered and renowned tree as I remember!" Nairda began to become a private historian for Adrian, explaining the tree's history and spilled information into his mind.
"It's the tree where the first Talerians came from, Agavon and Puella! Born of its divine root, their life was so delighted if I must say!
"You know, live your life without bearing any hardship and just wander around with your loyal companion!... Without worrying anything about the future, like just enjoying your life as the first existence on the Lands of Thousand Tales!"
Lands of Thousand Tales? So this gray-colored world is Undying World as I remember, and the world outside this game is named Lands of Thousand Tales? Interesting to know… Adrian seriously listened to Nairda's explanation, his mind was filled with lots of information through this small conversation.
"Woah, cool! What about a painting that depicts… uh… A dark gate?" Adrian asked Nairda for the second time, ready to digest information from Nairda once more.
"Hm… According to my memory, that black gate is called 'Evicta Gardath' which means Dark Gate, that gate acts as a portal to this world! It's so unique to me!" Nairda explained eagerly, ignoring his food which gradually became more and more cold.
"When I first came to this world via the gate, me and my family witnessed marvelous landscape! The green meadow it's so beautiful and wonderful, from the distance the wind came to me and blew my hair!
"Until now, this world is still beautiful, the sky it's blue as the ocean of the Black Sea! The sunbeam that warmed my skin at my family's picnic!" Nairda passionately described this colorless world, Adrian was only able to listen to his description.
The sky it's blue… yeah, blue… Adrian leaned back after finishing his food, with Nairda finishing his explanation.
"Do you like my explanation, Cadeyrn? This world is wonderful, right?" Nairda asked Adrian curiously, hoping he would like it!
Adrian then replied to him, with a smile of course, "It's so cool! You really have a nice family and experience, like… I don't have words left to say but it's cool!"
Nairda soon chuckled upon hearing his answer, Adrian was only able to follow suit and not try to shatter the happiness that wreathed them. It was a happy and cheerful 'dinner' indeed.