Besok adalah hari keempat belas sejak kepergian Ildara. Untuk yang kesekian kalinya dalam beberapa hari ini, Venus merasakan kemarahan yang berlebih akibat Ildara yang sama sekali tak memberi kabar padanya. Venus bahkan sempat berpikir, kenapa waktu itu dia tidak memberikan masa tenggat lebih cepat dari ini pada Ildara. Ketidaksabaran membuat anak itu menjadi gerah terus-terusan berada di rumah besar ini. Meskipun punya teman tak kasatmata seperti Mustaka atau Kaisar—meski yang satu ini jarang sekali bertelepati dengannya—tapi Venus tetap merasakan kesepian. Benda yang disebut dengan televisi … Venus hanya menyalakan itu saat ia butuh melihat berita tentangnya lagi. Lagipula, Venus tiba-tiba menjadi benci dengan segala film yang ada di dimensi bumi ini. Semua film menceritakan tentang kebaikan akan selalu menang; bahwa kejahatan pasti akan hancur. Sesuatu yang menjadikan diri Venus lebih sinis dari seharusnya. Takdir nyata tak seindah dalam halusinasi film semata, pikir Venus saat
“Kau sekarang termasuk atasanku, Venus.” Venus menoleh menatap Ildara. Sudah seminggu sejak ia berada di kamar serupa rumah sakit itu, dan kini Venus sedang menikmati masa-masa kewarasannya kembali. Kekuatannya sudah lebih baik. Meski telinganya masih suka berdenging menyakitkan di waktu-waktu tertentu. Venus bersandar pada sofa yang didudukinya dengan perasaan tanpa beban. “Apa Kaisar yang menyuruhmu?” tanya anak itu perlahan. Ildara mengangguk. Ia menyesap teh di cangkirnya dengan gerakan anggun. Venus menoleh lagi. Pandangannya menyapu ruangan serupa ruang keluarga yang dipenuhi perabot dan hiasan serba emas itu. Ada foto-foto berpigura yang diletakkan di atas meja, beberapa digantung ke dinding. Sebuah monitor besar menempel di salah satu bagian dinding. Benda itu seakan menyatu dengan dinding itu sendiri. Venus mengawasi jalanan dan beberapa perumahan yang tampak kosong dari monitor itu. Ildara tinggal di sebuah kompleks elit di ujung kota Sembada; tempat yang pasti akan
Di sana banyak sekali para penyihir yang sangat handal. Helena berharap dia bisa menemukan jawaban atas pertanyaannya. Dia melewati hutan yang begitu gelap, suara auman serigala membuat dia merinding. Seketika nyalinya menciut, dia takut berada disini sendiri. Helena memutar arahnya, sangat sepi kota di malam hari, semua orang pasti di rumah berkumpul dengan keluarganya. Dia duduk di kursi taman, menatap bunga-bunga indah di hadapannya. Helena paling suka melukis bunga, kelopaknya yang berwarna-warni dan aroma harum dari bunga selalu menginspirasinya. “Kenapa aku bertemu denganmu lagi?” ucap Vale yang tiba-tiba muncul di hadapan Helena. Dia yang sedang duduk hampir saja terjungkal karena terkejut. “Astaga Vale! Kenapa kau mengejutkanku!” teriak Helena gemas. Dia mencubit lengan Vale, namun lelaki itu malah tertawa. “Kau tau kan julukanku dewa angin, aku bisa muncul kapan saja,” ucap Vale menyombongkan dirinya. “Ya, seperti hantu. Kenapa kau ada di sini malam begini?” tanya Helena.
(ALL THIS IS INDONESIAN VERSION. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME, DON'T PURCHASE JUST YET! WILL EDIT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!)“Jadi, apakah ada yang tahu apa batasan dalam menggunakan Bakat?” Saat ini, Venus dan seluruh murid kelas satu sedang berbaris di tengah-tengah sebuah lapangan tertutup. Dinding-dinding hitam yang mengelilingi tanah lapang itu tampak berdiri angkuh, seakan ingin menghalangi siapapun yang ingin masuk ke lapangan itu tanpa izin. Mereka berada di sana dalam rangka praktik pelajaran Pengembangan Bakat, tepat setelah jam istirahat selesai. Pak Zub, krona pelatih berwajah tegas yang barusan bicara, memandang wajah-wajah di depannya dengan tajam. Venus menoleh pada Virzash dan menatapnya. “Apa?” bisik Virzash, merasa terganggu. “Kau tahu jawabannya?” selidik Venus. “Kau tidak pernah membuka tabletmu?” Venus memutar bola mata. “Kau berkata seakan kau sudah tahu,” gumam Venus sebal. “Kenapa tidak menjawab pertanyaan dari Pak Zub, kalau begitu?” Wajah Virzash memerah. “Aku per
Cakrawala sudah mengguratkan sulur-sulur oranye di angkasa saat Shad dan Venus bangkit berdiri. Mereka bertatapan selama beberapa saat, sebelum akhirnya Shad mengangguk dan tersenyum. “Kau tidak pernah jahat, Ven. Ingat itu,” Shad berujar. Anak laki-laki itu membelai lagi pipi Venus dengan lembut, dan Venus menggenggamnya di sana selama yang bisa ia lakukan. Suara berdenting menarik mereka perlahan kepada kenyataan. Shad menoleh sekilas, tangannya masih menempel di pipi Venus. “Para Pengaman,” sebut Shad sambil lalu. “Sudah cukup, Nak!” seru salah satu Pengaman. “Kembali ke kelasmu! Sebentar lagi Pesawat Darurat akan tiba di sini!” “Bolehkah aku melihatnya saja?” pinta Shad. “Tidak.” Shad menghela napas. Ia menoleh pada Venus yang masih memandangnya. “Sampai jumpa, Ven. Aku tidak akan pernah melupakanmu, aku janji,” Shad bersumpah. Satu belaian terakhir, dan Shad menjauhkan tangannya dari Venus. Ia tiba-tiba berlari, tidak berhenti hingga ia tiba di dalam lift. Bahkan, Venu
Suara berisik tiba-tiba membangunkan Venus. Gadis itu bersusah-payah membuka matanya dan berkedip-kedip memandang jam dinding. Pukul delapan malam. Venus mengeluh dan merutuk dalam hati sambil memeluk kembali bantal gulingnya. Sedetik kemudian ia duduk terkaget saat pintu kamarnya digedor dari luar. “VENUS!” Venus mengeluh lagi. Itu suara ayahnya. Dalam dan besar. Gadis itu tersaruk-saruk menuju pintu untuk membukanya. “Apa-apaan kau ini?!” bentak sang ayah begitu melihat Venus. Venus mengucek mata sambil mencoba merapikan rambutnya menggunakan tangan. Gadis itu merengut sebal pada sosok tegap nan galak di depannya. “Yang apa-apaan itu Ayah,” gerutu Venus. “Kenapa, sih, membangunkan aku malam-malam begini?” “Rapikan dirimu, ganti baju dan sandalmu, lalu pergi ke kamar Ayah.” Ekspresi datar sang ayah mengganggu Venus. Apa ia akan dihukum karena sudah membentak Sella? Namun, kenapa penampilan harus begitu rapi? “Kena—” “Sekarang!” Laki-laki itu kemudian meninggalkan Venus ya
Venus pikir mereka juga akan diantarkan ke dalam bangunan itu setelah Meres membuka pintu. Namun, ternyata ada seseorang yang sudah menunggu di balik pintu untuk menyambut, atau lebih tepat, mencoba mengintimidasi mereka. Orang itu adalah seorang lelaki paruh baya berbadan besar dan kekar. Tatapannya begitu dingin dengan bibir yang senantiasa merengut. Di mata Venus, Meres bahkan tampak lebih ramah dibandingkan orang ini. “Sudah selesai?” Pria itu bertanya pada Meres dengan suara berat. Meres cuma mengangguk, lalu ia keluar bersama Lan tanpa berkata apapun. Dan, dengan berani Venus mengganggu pria seram berpakaian serba putih di depannya itu. Tentu saja dengan perasaan agak keder. “Siapa Anda?” Suara Venus terdengar kecil, tapi ia tak peduli. Lelaki itu memandangnya, seketika menguarkan hawa dingin yang menakutkan. Gawat, Venus bakal ditelannya bulat-bulat! “Rokuga.” Venus membuang napas lega tanpa kentara. “Ayo,” ucap Rokuga seraya berjalan pergi. “Jadi, kita harus memanggiln
Malam itu Barbara kembali bermimpi tentang hutan gelap tempat ia bertemu dengan nenek menakutkan. Ia kembali ketakutan di kegelapan hutan itu, tapi ada sesuatu yang tampak berbeda dari mimpi yang sama sebelumnya. Seorang cowok seumuran Barbara tampak berdiri diam di bawah sorot rembulan, bagaikan lampu panggung yang menyorot seorang artis. Barbara mempertajam penglihatannya dan melihat bahwa wajah cowok itu cukup… imut. Sesuatu seperti menggelitik pikirannya, seakan-akan otaknya sedang berusaha mengingat sesuatu. Namun, sekeras apa pun ia mencoba, ia tak dapat mengingat siapa cowok itu. Cowok itu tiba-tiba menoleh dan menatap Barbara yang langsung terkesiap saat melihatnya. Mata cowok itu berubah menjadi merah dan darah tampak mengalir lambat ke pipi. Ia mengulurkan tangan ke depan seperti akan mengajak seseorang. “Bara, kau dari mana saja?” cowok itu berkata dengan suara parau. Barbara tak bisa mengalihkan pandangannya dari mata cowok itu yang terus-menerus mengeluarkan darah hi
She was a woman who looked so graceful. Her face was like the moonlight in the night: soft, beautiful and radiant. Her hair was jet black; even so, streaks of gray were clearly visible in her hair that hung down to her back. Her fingers were slender and smooth, her body was in a pale blue silk dress; she is like the image of a goddess in the past. When she turned around, a smile crossed her face. However, you could not help but see how sad her eyes seemed to be. A middle-aged man came up to her. His body is sturdy and the destiny of the life he lives makes his expression in such a way: flat, unreachable. However, when he saw his wife smiling, that face was no longer frozen. A smile now broke the violence on his face. This man, without saying anything, took the woman in his arms, caressing the back of the figure he loved so much. In the silence of the night, on a quiet hill and among the singing of the crickets that seemed to chime in rhythm, they were silent, hugging and enjoying t
"Vina, do you want to change your name?" the man asked her seductively. "Why do you look so displeased when I call you by your name?""Shut up!" Vina snapped. "I can't possibly change the name my mother gave me!"The man in front of her just smiled and then just walked away from in front of her.Vina Hansen sighed. She hopes to tell her readers that she is a realistic person even though she likes to fantasize. However, what was she supposed to say other than that her brain might have been damaged and she was having severe hallucinations? Maybe it is just a sad nightmare, maybe it's a reality that only exists in the minds of lunatics. Vina could almost imagine how the readers raised their eyebrows with disapproval expressions at her.They should know I am sighing by now, she thought.She really wants to type a status on her social media that she is not a good person who should take up the valuable time of her readers.Vina is a girl, twenty years and three months old, who had never act
In the end, Vina did not fantasize that day. Instead, she immediately took her dirty clothes in the laundry basket and went to the well behind her house. She does not have a washing machine to be able to wash clothes automatically; at least she could not afford it just yet. Every time she had planned in the previous month to buy a washing machine, for some reason there was always another, more important plan in the next month. She couldn't blame anyone for that. After all, it was her own brain that had such plans. She used to think about buying a washing machine, but then finally decided that buying land and building a house was more important than that. Barely a year later, had her plan worked. Her house is small and simple, roomy enough for just two adults like Vina and her mother to live. However, she is a human; Vina sometimes has dreams of renovating her house to be even better. Fortunately, for her, she has a little common sense to prioritize work so that she earns more, so sh
Her arm was still throbbing in pain. She was trying her best not to cry; she had never been hurt so seriously in her life. The worst she has ever had was a scratch, just a little scratch. However, what one of the Seven Beauties said just now seemed to stop the pain for an instant… only a moment, because a split second later the feeling hit her again. Like crashing waves crashing against rocks, then blown by the wind that comes so fast from the middle of the sea. Vina realized that people who dream wouldn't realize that they are dreaming… and cannot feel the pain from a wound. The girl froze as she grimaced, glancing at the seven women in front of her as well as Xingsheng who looked just as surprised as she was. The Chinese actor pinched himself and his expression twisted slightly and then froze, just like her. "What the hell are we going through right now?" Vina hissed at Xingsheng, between bewilderment and anger. She gritted her teeth as she bent slightly against the pain in her a
Xingsheng almost lunged at Astha as she thrust the silver dagger straight into Vina's gaping wound. However, the other six women held his efforts back. Surprisingly, Xingsheng's strength really doesn't match them, even though the Chinese actor has a fairly muscular body and often does weightlifting. "What did you do to her?" Xingsheng shouted angrily. The man's anger became more and more unbearable when Vina kept screaming in pain with her body limp, but for some reason it seemed as if she couldn't get up from her current position. "Stop it, you bunch of bastard!" Vina cursed loudly until her voice was hoarse. "Stop!" Astha, the woman with sharp narrow eyes, didn't pull the dagger she stuck into Vina's arm nor plunged deeper into it. She just left the dagger there, her hand raised to chest level, right above the girl from Siji's body. What she did was to prevent Vina from getting up from her current lying position, as well as to minimize the rebellion from the girl's body. Thus,
"You speak so confidently, as if you've experienced this before," Vina squinted, her eyes fixed on the patch of clouds in the sky that was visible from the open ceiling. Liu Xingsheng half turned his head and let out a sound like he was chuckling softly. He moved to lift the bamboo chair with light steps, but had to be surprised and almost fell backwards because it turned out that the object to sit on was quite heavy. He wondered why that was. The man glanced over, but Vina didn't seem to notice him. He let out an imperceptible sigh of relief. "Well," Xingsheng mumbled lowly, his muscles bulging slightly as he returned to where Vina was lying carrying the bamboo chair. "I have to admit, I've never had anything quite like this happen, but I've been imagining, speculating, whatever you say; and it turns out to be facing something that makes me… kind of dumbfounded. Although what I suspected wasn't something bad." Vina turned her head to the side when she heard Xingsheng lower the ch
"You can't just walk into a room and say you want to kill someone all of a sudden just because they didn't say their name," said Vina flatly but piercingly. "Vina!" Xingsheng warned quietly. The emaciated man looked at her so sharply. "You could say that if I really were your enemy right now." Xingsheng frowned with a questioning expression. "Who are you?" The man as pale as a corpse walked over. Vina couldn't help but think about how the steps taken by that figure could seem so heavy, even though his body looked like it was only made up of bones. She blinked in surprise, as the figure got closer to them. The small rod with the sharp tip seemed to glisten slightly as the light from the open ceiling hit it. It was made of metallic iron; looks small, but dangerous if the wearer knows how to use it. The figure suddenly pointed its eccentric weapon towards Liu Xingsheng's neck, to which he half raised his hand, alarmed by the threat of the strange man in front of them. "I'll ask you
Nawa closed the door of the Hall of Beauty slowly, then turned to Heuras and smiled sweetly. The emaciated man who had just received a smile from one of the Seven Beauties simply nodded, while he sat on the ledge leaning against the post, his hands tightly gripping the iron rod. "You shouldn't be so nice to them," Heuras muttered in a deep voice, but it sounded so bitter to Nawa's ears. The mature woman who had a near-perfect stature walked over. She stood in front of Heuras, her hands on the ledge, her head tilted up, gazing affectionately at the cornflower blue flowers. Nawa finally looked down again after a while, and then looked at the man who was as pale as a corpse calmly. "Father doesn't have to worry like this all the time. They, however, wouldn't have ended up like this if Lord Immortal hadn't committed this crime ever again." Heuras, Nawa's biological father, snorted as sarcastically as he could. He gripped his sharp iron rod tightly. "Why do you go along with calling hi
"That much?" Xingsheng exclaimed in surprise. "And they… Lord Immortal brought them all here?" The three Beauties nodded slowly. However, a few seconds later, the petite woman in the orange dress shook her head. Her facial expression was neutral. "If only the Portal could be closed forever," the woman said, her eyes staring into empty air, "Lord Immortal wouldn't be able to do this anymore." "I don't understand," Vina interrupted suddenly. They all looked at her. "I mean, this guy did a lot of evil deeds, didn't he? Why do you have to address him so respectfully like that?" The three Beauties looked at each other in three directions. Vina rather wanted to feel what it was like to glance at each other in three directions. Again, the woman in the orange dress answered, while Nawa could only smile awkwardly and Astha didn't put any expression on her face. "He has a special relationship with the royals," she said in a casual tone. "You can't go too far or you will lose your head."