I suddenly tensed up. My hand froze, hovering over what I wanted to pick. I slowly turned to face the unknown person.
"No need to be afraid. I am not scary," the person spoke.
Who wouldn't be scared when an unknown person says that line? I stared, studying him quietly.
"Why do I feel uncomfortable under your gaze, Miss? By the way, I am Lenos Mundus."
Only when I heard his name did I calm down. I redirected my gaze and pointed at the product.
"Why shouldn't I pick that?"
He replied with a confused look, as if to say, _"Haven't you heard about this product?"_ I smiled weakly as he gave a response.
"I mean, it contains a lot of chili pepper and won't be good for you. Don't you know?"
I suddenly burst into laughter at his reason.
_'Out of all the things I expected, this was the reason he stopped me,'_ I thought.
"Did I say something wrong, Miss?" he asked politely, with a faint smile.
Hearing him speak so politely made me pay more attention to him.
He had a calm and mature aura surrounding him. His red eyes glowed brightly in the dark, like a vampire's, along with his neatly packed long black hair, making him look far more mature than his age. He wore a dignified attire: a golden robe with red lining. Beneath it were sophisticated patterns, and he wore dark trousers.
"Lenos Mundus," I muttered. "The fallen hero."
"No, you didn't. I really appreciate your consideration," I smiled.
He walked forward to a shelf and picked up a product. He gave a pleasing smile and said,
"This will be good. By the way, what is your name, Miss?"
I froze, wondering how I would answer his question. No matter who he was, I couldn't tell him my name. First, I barely knew him. Secondly, who knows if telling him my name could have a dangerous effect on the timeline?
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, I answered.
"I am Janette May, but you can call me Janette."
"Janette. What a wonderful name," he said.
With that out of the way, I asked the question that had been bothering me for a while.
"What are you doing here?"
His smile suddenly froze. The atmosphere in the shop turned cold. The air became heavy. His gaze intensified, scanning my entire body and soul.
After a fraction of a second, he returned to his original expression. Eerily polite. Like nothing had ever happened.
"Well, I guess you aren't from here. There have been many unexplainable cases occurring for the past three weeks, and this is the most prominent of all," he explained.
He moved forward, paused, and turned his head in my direction.
"If I were you, lady, I would leave this place."
That was the last thing he said before he disappeared. His presence vanished completely from the area.
His words hung in the air as I processed what he meant. My head was completely blank. The only thing I could think of was the last thing he said:
_"If I were you, lady, I would leave this place."_
It took me a few minutes to grasp the meaning behind his words. The site of a crime is never safe. The criminal may come back, or some unknown authority may arrive, and that could be troublesome.
I took the product and moved onward. I set my sights on the next settlement.
"It looks like I have two choices: either to chase down the villain or the hero."
But another problem arose: where to find them? Each one of them was shrouded in secrecy. There was no information about where they were, or even about the battle. It was only the residue of the battle that gave people proof that they had fought.
The only thing I had on the guy was his name and the attire he wore.
"Yes, the attire he wore seems to be special. Like those worn only by dignified personnel. That's where I would start my search," I smiled.
I stared at the ghost town one last time before continuing my mission. I picked a specific direction and began to walk.
_'It was risky since I could get lost, but I have faith I would find the guy again,'_ I thought.
After a grueling two days of walking, I made my way to a town named Millivile.
"Maybe I shouldn't call it a town," I said, dumbstruck.
What was in front of me was much larger than any town, even a city. It was more like a metropolis.
Thousands of skyscrapers lined every district of the city, with countless people living in them. The entire city was crowded with a great number of people.
What really shocked me to the core was the technology.
"None of this should be possible!" I blurted out.
The past shouldn't be more advanced than the future, but this city was an anomaly.
"Technology shouldn't be like this in the past. Or am I missing something? There seems to be a paradox somewhere," I concluded.
I reached the entrance gate, where I was greeted with scorn from the guards.
"Another asylum seeker. Do they think our country can provide food and safety for them?" one guard said with a disdainful look.
"If more keep coming, our resources will run out, and we ourselves will be thrown into famine," another replied.
"Hello, I am still here," I politely reminded them.
The first guard threw a disdainful look at me and scoffed.
"Do you take us for fools? Yes, we saw you there, and we decided not to talk to you."
"Jess, this is what happens when we keep tolerating them: disrespect. They'll start seeing themselves in the same position as we are, whereas they are not. They're just freeloaders who feed on the resources we worked hard to gain, without doing anything in return," he snarled.
I smiled, barely containing the anger about to burst out. Just before I gave them a piece of my mind, someone spoke.
"Is that true?"
The guards suddenly tensed up, fear written on their faces. They shivered to the extent that one of them wet his pants.
"No, we didn't mean that, Sir," their voices cowered in fear.
Surprisingly, the person was the fallen hero, Lenos Mundus. He turned his head toward me with a charming smile and asked,
"Are you okay, Miss?"
_'It seems like fate has a way of drawing us together,'_ I thought.
"Yes, I am fine. I really appreciate your concern," I thanked him.
"It seems we are fated to meet again, am I right, Miss Janette?" he smiled.