Right before dawn Roman knocked on his daughter bedroom door. No answer. He gently opened the door. His daughter was still asleep.
“Irina, wake up.” Roman lightened the room with a flick. “Let’s have some tea. I want to talk to you.”
Irina opened her eyes and sat lazily. “What time is it? Is it dark outside?”
“It’s dawn.”
“Let’s have the tea in the morning then.” She flicked the light out and tried to pull the blanket up.
The room was dark for a second. Roman held the blanket as the same time the light back on in the room.
“Papa please, let me sleep little longer. I’ve been up late reading Elder Mory’s spell book.”
“I’m sorry darling, I need to tell you something before everyone come in the morning.” His daughter looked at him in deep pout. He added. “Tea will freshen you up.”
“Fine.”
“In the kitchen! I don’t want to bring the tea here.” Said Roman when his daughter crossed her legs one on another, prepared for
Admiring many kinds of loaves and breads in front of its shop, Irina tried to decide which loaf she wanted to buy since everything looked delicious in her eyes. She already bought a bottle of milk from the previous shop, it stayed safely in her bag next to a little bottle of wine that she secretly put in without Marthe knowing it. When Marthe unpredicted action, she left the kitchen untidy and unclean to follow Irina, made the later baffle. She didn’t want to be followed. In her mind, she deserved solitude and alone time before another hard training with her father. “Going somewhere?” Asked Irina when Marthe stumbling from the kitchen to the living room after Irina before she could walk outside. Marthe smiled. “Give you company, Miss.” “Ah… Marthe, I’m sorry. You don’t have to follow me today, just stay home, alright?” Irina paused a second. “I want to be alone and focus.” She showed her the books in her arm. “Besides, you heard my father giving me pe
“Here you go, Stu.” Lucas pushed a stack of book. The man, Stu leaned on the large polished table. “Thank you, Lucas.” He came forward then added in whisper. “Couldn’t ask the lady, though. Have to spend all my day in here finding these.” He pulled the books closer. “Maybe she had a lot of things to do—” “So was me.” Frowning Stu cut in. “—and couldn’t able to help you.” Lucas ended with a grin. Stu looked at Lucas oddly. What a foolish reason, he thought inside, that’s her duty to be helpful. The door behind Lucas opened. Mrs. Letty strode to her table. Her sudden appearance made the two men quiet. “Today is a busy day, Lucas.” Mrs. Letty purposely gave Stu a sharp glare. Stu rolled his eyes. “Thank you again Lucas, you are very helpful.” He said it a little louder. “Yea…” Lucas grinned lazily at Stu. He sighed when Stu’s figure disappeared outside the doble doors. “You might need to be a little nicer.”
Lucas jumped down from the tree. The Gilliant map was still open in his hand. He looked at it, mumbled something then the whole town appeared in the map. Many stars and dots filled the map. His star was alone in the woods. As he followed the path that Irina took, he searched some particular star in the map. That star must have been accompanied by a dot or two or another star. He kept looking in every possible place. Dots were all over the town, most of the stars were in the library, school, or in the Scholar-Dome. Lucas didn’t understand why the map couldn’t plot the area of the new land yet. He was curious whether the star that he looked for over there, but then he spotted unusual group gather together in one house outer the town. It was the elder’s house thought Lucas. He paced up his step, almost running passing through the bridge while asking to himself why he didn’t know this short way to the woods. Mrs. Letty almost jumped in her seat when Lucas creaked
“That is the very map I have invented.” Roman leaned on the chair. He was done observing the map. “You invented a map?” Asked Benjamin nonchalantly. “I did.” Roman replied to Benjamin then he added to Lucas. “So, are you declaring where are you coming from? Or should I say when are you coming from?” Lucas glance briefly at Nieal and Benjamin. “They’re fine.” The elder answered Lucas hesitation. Hearing the elder’s guarantee, Lucas looked at Roman in the eyes. “Yes.” “Alright, now tell us who you are!” “I come from six hundred years from now. I am the only son of King Armand, the ruler of Center Isle, there are three kingdoms, our land is covered by snow for more than two years. Our scholars been kidnapped, witches been murdered and once in a while mass murder happen somewhere. We have no idea of what force that we are dealing with. Until one day a strange book lied open on the table in my study, the prophecy book, it led me her
Riding the carriage back to the library, Lucas mind was full. Why the elder lectured him with what happened at the other land and gave him an update. Did the elder knew that he wasn’t pay any attention at the meeting? Lucas shrugged. He didn’t listen to any of the meeting’s discussion. He didn’t feel have to. He was busy observing the map on the table. The carriage entered the back yard of the library. Mrs. Letty had waited, she sat on the bench next to the back door. Her coach came forward when Lucas pulled the carriage to stop. Mrs. Letty gave Lucas a hopeful look. Curiosity had filled her eyes. But Lucas just said thank you and hurried himself to leave. Walking across the back yard alone, Lucas heard the sound of Mrs. Letty carriage’s wheels, it drew closer and closer until it ran passing him, then he stopped. Unrolling the Gilliant map in his hands. Murmuring something, then the map showed one colored bright star alone. He knew very well t
“I said that is not you call. You don’t have to go there.” Nieal helped Irina out from the carriage. “I said, it’s not yours to decide.” Irina retorted. She took Nieal’s hand then let it go harshly when her two feet safely touched the ground. “Let Edvard handle it. Your father gave him a little training. He should already master the spell and the technique.” Nieal tried again. “Nieal, you know it too. We short of people there. Why can’t I help?” “Because you’re new and inexperience.” Irina pouted. She pushed open the door. “How dare you—” Nieal’s brows knitted, he wondered why Irina suddenly stop. He saw the reason why she stops talking. He walked in and stood next to her holding the same puzzle look as her. Roman calmly sat on his seat, he casually stared at his daughter. At the same time, Lucas offered a smile when Irina stepped inside. “Papa, what is he doing here? Why he’s here?” She glared at Lucas blatantly.
A loud wind rumbled in the stomach ripped the carriage tense air. Lucas calmly reached his bag then pulled out a bundle of cloth. Murmuring something inaudibly. He opened the cloth. Irina looked down, hiding her face. The sweet smell of warm bread filled the air. A moment later the bread presented within her eyeshot range. Looking up at once, Irina threw a questioning look at the bread. “Time for early meal, I suppose.” Lucas answered her question to the bread. Then he watched Irina took the bread and started to eat it. Lucas ate his bread too, he leaned on his seat. Taking a look at the window outside, it was dark along the way with a faint light from the lantern in the front used by the coach. He felt the soft material that he leaned and sat on, they rode on a fancy carriage provided by Nieal. Resting his elbow on the windowsill, he put his cheek upon his palm pretended to enjoy the dark view outside. He enjoyed the reflection on the window, to be e
Irina sat next to Lucas in Benjamin’s residence. Sliding smoothly to the end of the couch, she didn’t want to be too close to Lucas. Apart from that, she felt stuffy, Diaz took them strolling around the little town prior to be here. Lucas pretended he didn’t notice anything. He needed to change Irina’s perception about him. That’s why he would do his best to impress her again. Making sure her safety was his first priority. He planned to follow her blindly. Diaz laid a large map on the floor. Its size couldn’t fit the available table. It was a new map, not the map that Lucas saw back on The Elder’s study. The size could tell that it had already combined and connected with the larger town where Nieal and Roman stayed. Bending over forward, Irina observed the map carefully. So, all plans that Papa worked very hard had done and already turned into a map, thought Irina inside. Her eyes glued on the map. She examined the very precise illustrative lines of drawing.