10 Chapter 2 - Alluring Nightmare

Part 4

'What is this place?'

It was so dark. Everything around was simply darkness.

'A spotlight?'

Slowly a spotlight illuminated a young man who was sitting with face down on a short stool. The stool was short enough to make the young man's arms lied on the top of his knees. It was as if the young man was hiding his face to Laum. Something was off about him. Something dark was smoking out on his body.

'Wait, I know who he is...'

Laum walked closer to examine the young man. 'I know this young man very well.' His hair, his clothes, his tattoo, his posture, he had seen it before. The young man's characteristics were too familiar to Laum that he could even tell even with his eyes closed to whom they belonged.

''I know him very well.

He is – '

Laum's gray pupil shrunk, frightened as eerie man's pale white faced up on him.

"HOW COULD YOU FORGET?!"

The mysterious young man yelled at front of Laum with voices of hundreds - no – thousands crying demons. The empty and dark mouth was so deep like the deepest abyss. His eye sockets were empty as a void.

'No, this is not me!'

To his panic, Laum hurriedly turned his face away but only to see the same horrid images on his back. His widened eyes searched around for a way to escape but the eerie young man's images had completely surrounded him.

'No, this is not me!'

It was a demon of the abyss, he convinced himself. Something he had met before. As the young man cried again, Laum felt the unholy forced which threw him backward and sent him to scenery which was all white. All he could see was the whiteness of the empty place. He stood up. His legs were shaking. He was still to recover from the previous horror he had seen. However, the urge to find a way out was more intense than his fear. He had to find a way out, no matter what.

He unconsciously checked upon his shoulder, but there was no Pixie to be found.

'This must be a dream.'

As if it was all he needed, he forced himself to conclude that this was all an ill illusory of his mind. That he was only inside of a lucid dream. He walked forward as if he had direction. Sooner, he heard a voice calling him somewhere. It was another familiar voice that he missed so much, her sweet voice, which was like the morning call of the early birds of their homeland. Then somehow, as the surrounding became vivid and colorful, he smelt his own scent and found himself sleeping in his own bed inside their Nipa house.

****

"Kuya!" He heard a gentle voice calling him but it was muddy as if he was underwater, head submerged. "Kuya, please, wake up!" Now her voice became clear as the day. (Kuya means Big brother.)

"…What? I need more sleep, so leave me alone~"

Laum's cute little sister was currently waking her hibernating big brother. She was wearing a deep blue-colored tube covering only her underdeveloped breasts, which left her slender belly exposed. Her right arm was tattooed with a blue wave, which its background was her light brown-colored skin.

Her black pupil fixed on her sleeping big brother with annoyance. Her light blue-colored hair band already kept her raven black hair in a ponytail, even it was just as early as this morning.

'Bubblehead, Even if you are that cute, I do not need that cuteness for all I need now is sleep. Sleep is justice!'

Last night, he had a fiery battle with some evil creatures. No wonder his body denied her early wake-up call.

'Evil creatures, eh? It's nothing like that narrator-kun.'

Oh, Laum is aware of me while I am narrating his story. Oh, interesting but let's continue.

Every early morning, it was always like this. The ground was still wet from the morning mist and the first thing that Laum would hear were not the first cries of the early roaster but her sweet little voice.

"It's time for your training, Kuya?"

Her voice and appearance somehow resembled their gorgeous Mother but her outgoing and cheerful personality apparently was from their Father.

"I know, I know. You don't have to tell me" he answered, though he was not planning to get up. Laum was still lying in his bamboo bed overlaid only with woven linen. It was hard on the back but his body had adapted to it. "Just give me one more moment, okay?" Then he turned on the side facing the Nipa wall.

"That will not do, Kuya" Her little sister was persistent, resilient. She walked closer to his bed, closer to his sleeping brother. "As the next Rajah in line, you must discipline yourself. You have to learn even just to wake up early without my aid."

"…."

Laum had always thought his little sister's stubbornness was annoying. He had noticed that her stubbornness was growing more and more each day. He grabbed a woven blanket, curled up, and covered his whole body. He hated the cold morning air but more her early sermons and wake up call.

"Kuya…"

She leaned forward scrutinizing his brother.

"…."

"Kuya?"

After a series of looks from left to right, she realized something was odd. Her voice rose while she pulled off the blanket out from his brother's. "Don't tell me…"

She, Mayumi, crossed her hands around her body and let out a sigh when she failed to put away the blanket from the grip of his brother. Shaking her head, out of nothing to be done than but the last resort, she recovered her sigh and -

"Then, how about this? " Slowly she raised her hands to gather mana. Her little hands started to glow blue. When the blue light was glowing enough, she compressed it with her palms. Feeling the coldness of the mana on her hands, she released the mana and created a huge water ball.

"Water Attribute: Aqua ball"

By controlling with her small hands, she divided the aqua ball and commanded one of the halves to seize his sleeping brother. The other half of the aqua ball grabbed the pair of arnis sticks together with the sling bag.

The feeling the sudden coldness and the lack of air to breath, Laum's eyes abruptly opened.

"Bunsoi...bluh... Bluh...Bluh..." 'I am fully awake now. I am fully awake from the fact that I am drowning to death!' (Bunsoi means the youngest sib)

Even her big brother was already awake and was pleading her to stop, she controlled the aqua balls and lifted up into the air without mercy on her grinning eyes.

He was like a dog thrown to the middle of the lake. Laum was flailing his arms and legs as he tried to get out from the aqua balls. But the aqua balls that his little sister created was stronger than he thought. He tried to get out from the balls but something in the middle of the aqua balls was pulling him in.

Her little sister cheerfully hummed as she threw his brother outside their Nipa Hut. Now, she successfully kicked her big brother out from his bamboo bed.

"Awake now?"

A big smirk as she looked at her big brother. Then, she crossed her arms witnessing his lazy big brother coughing with water and trying to catch his breath. 'Fully awaken, mission complete.' She thought.

"Y-yes, yes… Thanks for the great h- help."

"Then, keep going now" She pointed her finger towards the edge of the village with poise. She turned her back, left him outside, and went inside their Nipa house.

"What a heartless Bunsoi"

While recovering the sling bag and the pair of Arnis sticks, Laum shivered from the cold morning air that he hated so much. Before going to his training, he decided to change his drenched clothes.

'I don't want to catch a cold...'

He walked his way inside the house again, however, his mother stood like a block at the entranceway. The end of her lips slightly rose seeing her son drenched like a poor chick looking a shelter from the rain.

Her mother pouted her soft, red lips and whistled to call out the eastern winds. The warm and gentle wind started to circle around Laum and dried him completely. Her wind-attributed ability was the top-notched among the village. Well, given she was the only wind-user in the village. Not only that, but she could also cast her spells without chanting.

"Thanks, Inang" Laum smiled at her. (Inang means Mother)

"You're welcome, my dear son. Be careful on your way, okay?"

"Un. I will be careful, Inang. Don't worry."

He replied to her with a nod and tapped the pair of arnis sticks to create Bubble barrier. Flying with the newly created bubble barrier, he turned his head when Inang shouted to remind him of something,

"Papang's gonna be here soon, make sure to be here before he arrives."

"Okay… I got it already"

Every early morning, Laum devoted himself in training. His training ground was on the other side of the village where no one would bother. There was no hut in that part of the village so it was a perfect place for him to train.

Before dashing forward to his destination again, he slowed down when a tinkling voice shouted from his back.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind!"

It was the pixie. Flipping hard her dragonfly-like wings as she flew toward him. To make her get inside the barrier, Laum made a hole just fit for her and – shoot, she made her way inside of the barrier.

Together, they floated toward Laum's usual training ground. They passed other Nipa huts in the village. Some early birds greeted them when they passed by. Laum responded to their greeting with 'good morning'.

Laum always admired those kinds of people who could withstand the charm of the bed from this cold morning breeze. The morning sun was still to peek at the mountains' cleavage, yet these people always woke up early.

'Maybe, they have secret techniques how to wake up early… perhaps I'll ask them next time.'

****

When rivulets of sweat had already permeated his clothes, Laum decided to end his daily training in magic and in arnis. The morning sun had finally decided to peek out from the mountains and Laum had still to hunt something for the breakfast, which he was also considered as a part of his training. He wiped the sweat in his forehead and headed to sit a flat stone to catch his breath, next to Marikit.

Marikit was relaxing, basking herself into the yellow morning light. Seeing her enjoying the sun, Laum felt the heat of his head. There's something on the pixie that irritated him.

'Hmm, this pixie... I bet she forget what I had told her yesterday.'

His head turned to follow the pixie when she sat in his shoulder. Then, as usual, she smiled when their eyes met.

'Not that I could blame her, but it's hard to wake up every morning with your own life is in the stake.'

Knowing the fact that she was a pixie, Laum expected her to at least she could be a little useful like waking him up instead of his grumpy little sister doing the thing that could kill him. There's something important needed to be discussed. He felt that it should be discussed immediately or he would die on his little sister's hand. And so with the pixie's presence, he began the chiding ceremony.

"Hey Marikit, there's something strange happening at home. I hid the fruit I had gathered into the fruit jar last day and as I checked it yesterday, I discovered that there was nothing left inside the jar. I asked Inang about it. She said no one had touched the Jar. How strange, isn't it?"

"Y-yeah… how strange… maybe a group of mice stole the fruit or something like that? Ha-ha"

Laum turned his head to his shoulder to where the pixie was sitting.

"I see. That makes sense. How about the pearl I hid. It was precious to me and no one knows where I hid it except you and me. However, when I checked up on it, it was broken into small pieces. I think a simple group of mice could not possibly break a pearl as hard as that without using a skill. How strange, isn't it?"

"Y-yeah … how strange it is… maybe Mayumi knew where you hid it and accidentally broke it or something like that… Haha…"

"That makes sense too. Today, I nearly die at the hands of my little sister. How strange is that, isn't it?"

"Hmmm… no, it's not. It's always like that every day."

"However, I really thought today's going to be different. Do you know why?"

"Why? Did something happen yesterday to make you conclude that?"

"Yeah… something happened yesterday that made me believe today's going to be different."

"Ah… I see…"

"…."

"What's with that stare, my Laum?" Marikit chuckled with a cold sweat on her forehead feeling the heavy stares Laum cast on her.

"…"

"Like I said, what's with that stare?"

"I see. I know it's all you! You ate the fruit I hid. You broke the pearl that I treasured and it's your fault why I almost die this morning!"

"Eh?... I will admit that I was the one who ate your fruit and broke your pearl but it's not my fault you nearly died earlier."

"I see. I remember yesterday, some pixie was swearing to me that she would wake me up from today onwards. She was even saying to trust her."

"Don't tell me…Laum, how could you? Am I not enough? Why do you have to find another pixie? To satisfy your desire? Laum…"

"…."

Looking at her with an intimidating glare, she greatly shrunk on his shoulder making a bitter smile.

"Eh? Ah… had I swore to you like that?" She scratched her tiny head pretending not to remember that she had said something like that. "I cannot recall? Hehe"

"I just remembered. "

The chirping of the birds and the calm sound of the river nearby were clear and refreshing. The air was warming up and it felt right when the breeze touches Laum's moistened skin. However, even in this soothing and calming scene, Laum could not hold the veins on his forehead not to throb in irritation.

"What is it?"

The pixie asked sensing the danger on those words of his Laum.

"The shaman next to the Balangay (village) is currently looking for some special ingredients for his magical potion"

He glared at her. He witnessed how the pixie's panic disheveled her pretty face upon hearing the words 'special ingredient'.

"EEH? You're not – "She bumptiously stood up and grabbed his ear in which added the irritation Laum's experiencing.

"Maybe I could give him some pixie, no?"

"Eh? Promise, I'll do whatever you want. You want me to wake you up early in the morning, right?" she kneeled down, still on his shoulder and grabbing his ear. "I'll do it. I'll remember it!"

"As I said, stop pulling my ears!"

The blue sky started to shine brighter indicating that Laum had to hunt for the breakfast. He stood up and prepared to leave, grabbing his Arnis sticks. The pixie held on the shoulder, ensuring not to lose her balance and fall.

"Nee, you won't do it, right?"

It pained him seeing her worried face. She is important to him and he knew to himself that he would not do such thing like giving her to shamans knowing that she would die on their hands.

"Who knows? I might change my mind."

She was obviously worried, which made Laum thinks that it was too much. Pity from her reaction, he deliberately changed the subject, he said –

"Then, let's go hunting"

"Y-yes!"

****

They, Laum and the pixie, went to farther inside the forest to hunt for breakfast and they had captured a deer.

While they were on their way back to the village with their prey, Laum saw a man with a bolo in his waist with a red bandana wrapped on his head. In the man's back, a large wooden shield was hanging. He was dressed in 'bahag' and red colored collarless and sleeveless jacket. His attire was indicating he was the Datu of the village.

"That's…"

He was heading the same direction with them, walking toward the village also.

"Papang!"

The man was Rajah Suliman, Laum's father.

His father looked back in the direction where the voice was coming. At the moment Rajah Suliman saw his son's face, he dropped his eyes into the ground as if he did not want his son to see his face. Laum landed in front of his father while he was still holding his prey on the right hand. Marikit was still sitting in her favorite spot, Laum's shoulders.

"Oh! Laum, my son, great hunt you have."

Rajah Suliman looked at the deer while its own blood was dripping out from its mouth. Somehow, Laum noticed his father was not making direct contact with his gray eyes. Then Rajah Suliman looked and greeted the pixie on Laum's shoulder. "Yon, Marikit"

"Yon, Papang!" The pixie replied right away.

'Why is that? Laum thought to notice his father's eyes.'

"No, just got lucky, Papang." Laum scratched the back of his head as if he hid his chagrined smile printed on his face. He was surprised when his father patted his shoulder gently, at the other side where the pixie was not sitting.

Letting out a deep breath, Rajah Suliman asked. "Laum, can you give me a favor. Just leave the deer to me"

"Sure, anything"

"Anything, huh?" His father smiled hearing his son saying he will do anything if he will ask him a favor. "In that case, go fetch your Nanang (grandma), we're gonna share your hunt with the old lady" As he said that, his eyes were drooping, looking down, but he recovered it with a smile.

"R-right away, Papang"

Laum bowed down in front of him and created a bubble barrier again.

Without any second delay, both of them, Marikit and Laum, flew towards the Nipa hut of his wise grandma. Her hut was located at the edge of the Balangay. It took them merely a quarter of an hour. Upon reaching her hut, he called for Grandma, who was already watering her ornamental plants. He told her promptly his cause.

"Nanang, good morning." Laum bowed down to pay the old lady respect.

"Oh, what's this?"

Having noticed the flowering plants of Nanang, the pixie enthrallingly dashed towards the ornamental plants that Grandma had taken care of all of these years. It was simply her nature as a pixie to be attracted to flowers, next to food. Indeed, the blooming flowers were beautiful. The flowers were on different colors. Marikit could not help but become a slave to the seduction of the plants.

"Just don't eat them up, okay?" Grandma chuckled.

"Humph! I am not that glutton to the point I would eat these cute plants here, you know"

'So, you acknowledged you're really a glutton.'

While the Pixie was on it, mesmerizing the ornamentals, circling and examining them, Nanang grabbed her staff and prepared to leave her hut. Nanang winked at Laum. Her naughty intent came into his grandson and so Laum secretly cast another two bubble barrier, one for him and one for Nanang.

Decided to ditch the Pixie, they silently made their way back home without the pixie.

****

Laum immediately saw Inang (Mother) waiting for their arrival with a worried face, which somehow vanished and replaced with her gentle, warm smile seeing them heading toward her.

As they enter the Nipa hut, the aroma of Deer's meat soup and grill meat welcomed their noses. In the dining room, his little sister, Mayumi was already wolfing down the breakfast and was sitting beside Rajah Suliman, who was staring at nothingness.

'Something's definitely wrong.' Laum thought seeing his Father's absentness.

As Papang noticed grandma's presence, he looked at his mother who was crutching with her wooden staff. Rajah Suliman gave her a faint smile, then a nod.

In an instant, like an open book, Nanang had read something on her son's sobered eyes. Just both of them staring at each other made the atmosphere of the room sullen. However, as Inang did not want to let her dishes wait further, she interrupted the two by calling their attention.

"Now, why don't we have breakfast beforehand... right, Irog? " Inang gave Father a gentle smile. "See, Bunsoi, she's already gnawing the food." (Irog means Beloved).

"Yeah, have a seat Inang" Rajah Suliman offered a seat for his mother.

"Right. Speak your mind later, Suliman. Breakfast first."

Nanang agreed, nodding. She looked at Laum, saying he should take his seat too. Laum sat next to Bunsoi knowing they will be discussing something important later, after breakfast.

If Nanang was in their home, she could bear to see her grandchildren with a serious face. That was to be expected. She cheered and made her grandchildren laugh by telling funny stories and fables.

It was not that Laum was childish. However, as expected from his Nanang, decades had honed her talent of telling stories. She would charm everyone to listen to her stories.

They laughed and smiled as they finished breakfast. The deer that Laum hunted together with some fresh vegetables and fruits Inang gathered early in this morning from their backyard garden was their menu. The food became more delicious as the bamboo dining table was filled with smiles and laughter.

Nanang definitely succeeded to make them forgot the heavy emotions earlier. Though at some point, Nanang made an unusual serious face, making all of the laughs and smiles vanished in an instant. She thought it was time for them to discuss what should be discussed.

She gazed at his son, Rajah Suliman.

Laum and his little sister became silent, too. It was so bizarre to see his Nanang wear such steeled expression. For most of the time, Laum would see her smiling and laughing, showing her last hanging tooth behind her rough and dried lips. But now, her drooping eyes looked at her son, who, at the moment, almost jerked off, surprised as her mother turned the room in serious mood unexpectedly.

"So, how the meeting with the council (of Datus) went?"

Holding the tip of her wooden staff with her two wrinkled hands, she asked her son with a deliberate and humorless tone. Everyone's attention was on Rajah Suliman who was clearly arranging his words with a composed expression.

Even Bunsoi, who was still gnawing noticed the seriousness roaming around the room.

"Well, as you had heard, Brother killed Ferdinand" Clearing his dried throat, he paused and looked at the eyes of his mother. "And, I was told that the Pantala Empire would send another Captain. Moreover, I learned that the Datu Humahog conspired with Ferdinand's right hand whose name's Sebastian"

Datu Humahog, Rajah Suliman's cousin, is the chieftain of the neighboring island and is his critic. He used this opportunity to subdue Rajah Suliman and throw him from Abbalon. Datu Humahog also plotted the attack of the Balangay that Rajah Suliman's brother handled and when he failed, he looked as Rajah Suliman as his next target.

The Datu that killed the captain named Ferdinand was a half-brother of Rajah Suliman. They did not share the same Mother.

"Traitors!" Hearing his son, Rajah Suliman, Nanang stomped her wooden staff. Then with a calm voice, she said – "Well, I see it coming"

'Why the reaction then, Nanang?'– was Laum would like to ask her but his Father continued.

"But, Sebastian negotiated with the council and suggested that bloodbath is no need... " Rajah Suliman stopped to turn his eyes into her mother.

"As long as …" Nanang wanted him to fill the missing words. She lowered her head slightly or maybe it was a slight nod, but it commanded his son to continue.

"… As long as we agree to their demand that we'll be under their wings, the Empire. As the Rajah of the Abbalon, I'd like to fight until the last drop of my blood to protect the Land. But as the father of this village, I could not tolerate seeing my people being slaughtered."

"With the advice of the council, I decided to agree with the foreigner's proposal. And to compensate for the lost life of their Captain, Ferdinand, it has been decided that we've to offer someone who has a Maginoo blood, to be given to the Empire. "

With that, Rajah Suliman turned a troubled look to his son, who was sitting next to Mayumi, and his sorrows that he had been holding overflowed from him. "And that's you, the son of Rajah Suliman, who was the next in line, is chosen."

'Did I just hear that I am going to be a sacrifice? Did I just hear that I am going to be an offering? 'Laum wanted to reaffirm but no voice came out from his mouth.

'That isn't right. That isn't right! No! Datu Humahog must surely influence the decision of the council. It must be it! So Papang, don't agree with this.'

He wanted to speak aloud but he could not utter a single word. His confusion and surprise made him unable to move. Instead, in his place, His Mother strongly raised her objection.

"No!" Inang yelled as she stood up. "There must be another way, right Irog?" She looked at Rajah Suliman, looking for reassurance. However, Suliman shook his head while facing down.

"No..." Inang leaned backward and sat slowly at the bamboo chair, dejected. "There should be…"

'How could Papang let his son be the sacrifice? How could he toss me to the foreigners to save others?'

Laum was still staring at his father. His heart was beating so fast. Every beat it took, there was growing bitter feeling in his chest.

'I mean, Yes, it's for the sake of the majority, but I am also his son.'

'How could he?'

For a moment, screaming silence took over the room. Not a single sound came was heard until Laum noticed his little sister staring at him with wet eyes.

But all was suddenly disturbed. A bell-like voice with pissed tone broke out the silence of the room, enough to trigger the explosion.

"Where's Laum? I'm gonna make the boy pay!"

She found Laum immediately but stopped, tilting her head as she noticed something was off inside the dining room.

"Hello?" She turned around, confused. "W-What's wrong?"

"Papang?" Laum finally asked, looking at his father. His voice was somehow wavering.

The sudden appearance of the pixie gave Laum the courage to speak at his Father. His father answered by not looking at him. Laum felt the bitter even further. The word 'betrayal' instantly flashed into his fuzzy mind. "We… We can fight like uncle did, right?"

"…."

Rajah Suliman did not answer but he looked straight to his son's eyes. His eyes were sad and at the same time, the word 'fight' that his son said had angered him.

"Papang… we can fight, right?" Laum asked him again.

His Father gazed at him. "We're not the same as your uncle, Laum. We think!"

"Of course, we are! We have the same blood running through our veins!"

"That's not the point, my son. He was just lucky. The fact that the foreigner's big boat loaded with magic cannonball could not approach near your uncle's Balangay. He was just lucky"

His Father was talking about the foreigner's warship, armed with magical cannons. It was low tide during the foreigner's attack or it was said, so the warship was useless for it could not go near Laum's uncle's village.

"Now that Ferdinand's death has reached to their Empire, they will send hundred if not thousands of bigger boats that will trample our villages! Do you think I could permit that? We, the villages would not stand for a minute if they attack using that."

As he said that, Rajah Suliman stood up. Laum stood up too to face his father. Rajah Suliman looked down on Laum since he was taller than Laum.

"Warriors from the villages will be folded like trees against the raging storm. Innocent blood will be spilled on our own soil. Say Laum, my prudent son, would you permit your eyes to see Bunsoi lying on her cold red blood?"

As his father said that, His little sister went crying and hugging their mother.

'Of course not!'

He terrified by the horrendous idea. However –

'What about me, father? What about your son?'

All these years Laum had diligently trained his self, preparing to be the next Rajah and all would be go waste.

He was the only son of Rajah Suliman, too. Laum shook his head and turned to his father with a betrayed look. With all the confusion and entangling emotions rumbled in his tightening chest, he grabbed the pair of arnis sticks in the corner, then created a bubble barrier, and fled from their hut away.

The first to respond was his mother who tried to prevent his only son.

"Laum!" She shouted but Laum ignored his Mother's call and continued to flee. Seeing Laum still flying away, His mother turned at the Pixie to order her to follow him.

"Marikit!"

"Y-yes!"

Even though Marikit was confused and was yet to know what was really happening, she immediately followed Inang's order. With swift and rapid flipping of her wings, she caught Laum's pace, she called him many times from behind.

"Laum!" She knocked the barrier, asking her to enter.

"…"

"Laum!"

Not quite so long, because he thought of her as a companion, Laum let her in.

****

It was mid-morning when they had left their home but now, almost three hours had passed.

With the help of the bubble barrier, they were floating in the middle of the vast blue sea. The deep blue waters sparkled as the High noon sun's ray reflected into the sea. It was shining that could make one's eyes go blind temporary.

Deep forest, mountains, villages, rivers and even islands, they had already passed through, but still, Laum had some mana left to spend. He seemed he had no plan to stop from floating. However, his mana was not limitless and he had to eat something, somewhere, to refill his mana pool. Beside the pixie sitting at his shoulder started to complain.

"Ney. Laum, we've been in the air for ages now, and my head is starting to spin. Can we land somewhere? Besides…"

"…"

He looked at her guessing the next words that would come out from her tiny but perfect lips.

"We need to go back."

'Just as I thought.'

With a sigh, he faced forward, trying to ignore her. He answered her with a short, single word "No."

Wrapping her hands across her blue dress which was glittering like the waters of the sea, she pouted her lips and –

"Laum is stubborn sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, I am. So let me be now"

She flew in front of his face and spread her wings and arms. Looking straight into his gray eyes, he saw her pretty face, which was surely worried. At the same time, there was a determination written on her pretty face. He found it hilarious when her next words practically describe her.

"That's not it." She rubbed her tummy, hinting him.

'Ah, I see.'

"Somehow, I am hungry, you know."

A sigh again came out. The pixie had a point. He also felt the hunger as his belly produced weird a sound. Not away from them, he saw a lone island eastward. Since it was the closest, he decided to go in there as to rest and at the same time, to gather some food to eat.

Deactivating his bubble barrier, his feet landed the hot white sand of the island's shore. Looking around if there were some islander living in here, he found something; ruins and statues. Islanders must have occupied this place before but evidently, it was a long time ago as carved stones, statues and some remnants of huts were the only things left here.

The statues were in the form of two mystical creatures. One resembled a bird with two horns on its head, and the other one was a serpent who's in the act of eating a ball.

They had gathered food to eat, fruits, mostly berries like guavas, bananas, some blue and blackberry that they did not really know if it was edible, but still, their mouths munched it. They even gnawed coconut meat. As a refreshment, virgin coconut juice was the best.

As Laum reached his stomach's threshold, he lied back against a coconut tree.

It was sublime. He thought.

Sitting under the shade of the coconut tree as the sea breeze gushed against his haggard face like an air giving him life, he thought it was too perfect. He almost forgot what happened this morning. Turning his head, he noticed his shoulder became lonely. He found the pixie was facing to the seas, staring afar.

The cheerful pixie was in deep thought, which was uncommon for her.

Maybe, she overate - He though. This was the first time he saw this pixie so serious. The smile in her gentle and pretty face was nowhere to be found.

"What happened out there?"

The pixie finally asked. Not that he could blame her not to ask, but Laum preferred not to talk about it either. Still, she is his companion and he felt he was obliged to let her know what really happened.

"Ah, about that" Now that his head was cooler, he thought he could talk about it somehow. Displeasingly, he chuckled and scratched the back of his head. He spilled out everything before her.

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