The Petals of A Dream - II

Discovery ((Chapter 6))

I sprinted with exhaustion.

"Hey, Abrielle!" the young man called out.

I screamed. "I told you, I'm not that girl! I'm Nancy! Nancy! Leave me alone! You're crazy!"

My legs were long enough, suited for covering short distances. Unfortunately, his ridiculously giant strides negated my only advantage.  I ran away from him, but he was faster than me. I got pulled by him into a side alley. I struggled fiercely but in vain.

God, why are guys this strong?

He's a total stranger. I never saw him before, never in my entire life. He had wild black hair and a foreign face. Overall, a totally handsome and hot guy. But I felt afraid at his insistence. He seemed harmless, but his queer bright eyes made me uneasy. It was my first time to meet a heterochromic.

His left eye is a light shade of amber, while the other one is a friendly sky blue.

For some unknown reasons, he suddenly popped this morning and followed me on my way to school. I think he mistook me for some girl. He's so stubborn and didn't believe me, no matter what I said.

"Will you try to listen to me?" I shrieked in irritation.

"No, you listen to me." He spoke calmly, but in a serene tone. I felt a lump rose to my throat. "Okay?"

I nodded at once.

"Yhuelle is not coming today," he stated matter-of -factly.

"You know him?" Are they friends? Made sense. Well, Yhuelle seemed to be the only one almost at par with this guy.  Despite his handsome features, this hetero-guy looked strangely boyish. His small frown didn't suit his animated face. Wait - what did he just say? Yhuelle what?

I stopped struggling. "Why is he absent? Did he caught a cold?"

Oh, it would be bad if Yhuelle got sick.

"He's not coming back," he murmured.

"No way! Why? Is he leaving already?"

I never thought that he needed to return back to his country at once. Oh my, I never even told him how I feel and now it's too late.

"Hernan and his men took him." His brows knitted as he sighed.

One of my brows arched up. "Who?"

"I'll tell you everything on the way. But right now, I need you. So let's hurry. We don't have much time left." He pulled me towards the opposite direction of school.

"Stop! What are you doing? Let go off me! I'm going to school." I protested but he ignored me. Terror flooded me, I couldn't hear anything else but the buzzing of my ears. I felt cold as he dragged me away.

Someone, please help me.

Suddenly, a white flame burst from my hand. My captor yelped in surprise. He rolled on the ground as he howled in pain. I couldn't believe it either.

The ground shook under me, at first I thought there was an earthquake. I then realized that it was just me, with my knees shaking too much under me.

What happened? Am I dreaming again?

But everything was too real. The young man slowly sat, his right hand burnt. He ripped off a piece of his clothing and bandaged his injury. He then lunged towards me.

I knew it. He's angry. I'm going to be hit. He's gonna kill me! Oh my god, I'm going to die!

His good hand grabbed me on the arm and pulled me up.

Here it comes. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain. A few seconds ticked by, but still nothing.

"Come on. What are you waiting for?" He smiled at me, trying hard to sound nice. "Yhuelle needs us."

"O-kay." I croaked in disbelief. Is he sane? Will he let me go just like that?

I think I deserved a punch or two.

Despite my confusion, I ran with him, trying to understand and put together the facts that I know. According to his small talks, there are three things I'm sure of.

First, he's clearly not normal. I was clearly not normal too.

Second, we both knew Yhuelle, although he knew him better than I do.

Third, Yhuelle is in deep trouble, and we're going to go save him.

From what? I asked myself.

My eyes grew wide as a weird mass of colorful smoke enveloped us. I couldn't see anything, aside from the spectacular sight of swirling clouds of colors. If only I was not holding the stranger's hand, I would have thought I was alone. I felt buoyant, like I'm underwater, only that I'm not drowning. Rather than swimming, I felt like I'm floating.

Like a vacuum, everything disappeared in a flash. I gasped and lost my balance. Luckily, the stranger caught me and held me tight.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. What was that?" I asked curiously.

"A portal."

"A what?"

He beamed at me, and gave me a great bow.

"Welcome back to our world, Celes, Lady Abrielle vi Saccharin Leone."