Chapter 6: Asher

Chapter 6: Asher

"Glad I made it here unscathed." A man with long ivory-white hair that resembles that of a snow, wearing expensive clothing came out of a taxicab, lips twitched in annoyance as the hot rays of sun were radiating towards him. He unbuttoned his white long-sleeve and removed his coat, using it to cover himself. He looked around and scanned the surroundings from the tallest skyscrapers, the busy taxis, crappy billboards, and oceans of people.

"Cities are so damn annoying," he whispered to himself wearing his shades.

"I-is this ‘finally’ the place sir?" A man was catching his breath whilst trying to catch up with the other’s long strides. Panting his breath, mountains of bags were stacked in front of his face as he carried his passenger’s luggage.

"Yeah, this time it's.... for sure," the guy replied with confidence. "I think that’s the 30th time I heard you say that Sir,” the man mumbled to himself softly. “We drove like, hundreds of kilometers just to come here!"

"A hundred kilometers is nothing but a stroll. I had once made a taxicab driver drive a few miles for me. But your efforts are still appreciated." The silver-haired man pulled out his wallet, taking out money five times the amount his cab fee he’s supposed to pay.

The driver’s eyes almost popped out of his sockets as he gazed at the number paper money his passenger had paid him. "Sir t-this is too much!" he cried. The man only gave him a smile before turning his back and waved his hand to bid goodbye.

“Consider it as your tip.” The silver head stood in front of a school, gaining all the attention which he paid no mind. "So, this is where you three are hiding?"

Jade's POV

It still feels unreal, everything. Even though I witnessed all of it, I just couldn’t believe that they're not from here... I stopped brushing my curly black hair and stared at my reflection in the mirror. How will I be able to accept all of this? I sighed in defeat while thinking endlessly. Well, I think I just need to find a way then.

Wait, what time is it? I turned to the wall clock and widened my eyes as soon as I saw the time. 7:20?! “I’m gonna be late!!” Gosh! I'm so careless when it comes to time management!

Being in a state of panic, I fix myself quickly. Brush my hair, wear my glass- easy. Wear my uniform, shoes, and pick up my bag- done! I dashed through the stairs seeing my parents eating breakfast.

"You're late again," dad spoke without even glancing at me reading the newspaper from Alvarez Times, his favorite newscaster. Television is invented now though.

"Your lunch is ready," mom pointed out. I quickly put it in my bag.

"Thanks mom, you're the best!" I kissed her on her cheek. I went closer to the table to kiss dad while my fingers managed to get two slices of loaf bread.

"Bye dad! Don't you forget you have a meeting at eight!" He always tells me that I'm always late but guess what I just managed to get it from his genes. He looked at his wristwatch and also panicked, I grinned as I closed the door.

The fresh wind welcomed me. The sunshine is warm enough to tell that this day will be a good one. I'm on the way to school and passing through the highway, seeing people everywhere, the students coming out from the bus, others riding on their bicycle, and people like me who are walking to our own destination.

Entering the main gate of the school also called for the morning wind to blow stronger, I closed my eyes to avoid the dust but then I just bumped into someone making me lose my balance. ‘I’m going to fall!’ I expected to feel the hard pavement. Instead, I felt an arm on my back, while the other hand pulled my arm. “How clumsy,” A gentle baritone voice filled my ears, making me shift my gaze towards the male who caught me. Unusually sharp golden eyes that resembled a gold diamond were staring narrowly at me through his glasses. It was very mesmerizing that you can stare at it all day, especially since those thick and long, silver curly lashes complimented it so perfectly. Skin as pale as snow was painted with light pink on his proud cheeks. His tall nose was paired perfectly with his thin red lips that were begging to be kissed and sucked on. His sharp jawline made his looks extra attractive as his long white locks flowed like ink from his shoulders. He’s the real epitome of beauty, beating both men and women. ‘Like a snow Elf Prince, his looks are very alluring.’

"Are you okay Miss?" I came back to my senses when I heard him speak once more, realizing we're in a very awkward position. A lot of students are staring at us, but I know most of them were already gazing at this man since before the accident happened. I felt the heat of embarrassment! I immediately jumped off and fixed myself.

"I-I'm very s-sorry! My bad!" I bowed down and apologized, noticing how tall and well-built his body is. If Pearl was in my place, she would already be drooling all over this man’s beauty.

'Thinking of his features if I were a boy, I think this is what I want to look like!'

"No need to apologize. Next time do be careful." His gentle voice submerged like a perfect rhythm and with that he bid farewell to me. I watched him in curiosity as he dispersed in the crowd. ‘What a strange guy. I don’t think I’ve seen him before.' My eyes remained where the man had disappeared, but the school bell rang, and I realized I was already late!

I rushed to our room faster than anyone in the hallway and when I reached the room, all of my classmates clapped their hands for me winning the race again, I sighed in relief!

Thanks, our teacher is not here yet!

"Congratulations, you were almost marked late again," Janine greeted me with a battle hero's welcome as I sat beside her.

"Oh, come on, stop it," I said, then I turned to where the three were, they're just doing homework, 'homework in school.'

"Good morning, how is it?" I asked Yujin, referring to his eye patch that covers the black eye he received from that last fight.

"It still hurts so bad; I think the only thing that can heal this quickly is your kiss~" he said grinning like a devil. I blushed as he said those words, I could not control myself and quickly hit him on the head.

"Ouch! What are you doing to an injured person?!" He grumbled while brushing off his red hair.

"Yeah, keep doing that. I doubt a smack on the head will be the one you will receive next," Noctis and Edward are now laughing at their buddy, teasing him like usual. I just shook my head. These moments made me feel like nothing happened in the last week. But it's just wishful thinking because Andrew is still nowhere to be found. He didn't answer our calls or texts, we even tried to visit where he's staying but no signs of him there either. It's like he just disappeared for no reason.

I narrowly looked at Yujin when I noticed he was staring at me. "W-What?" I started to blush again, this dork! Why is he staring at me like that?!

"Can I copy your assignment?!" The nervousness I felt earlier was quickly changed, I got my notebook and threw it at him, hitting his face. The other two laugh at him again. Hmph! He deserves that!

"Ow! Not the face. You’re going to make my fans cry." He complained, rubbing his nose and forehead as it was hit earlier.

"Hah! Keep dreaming, Yuu. I doubt those ‘fans’ of yours even exist." Noctis replied while grinning at him slyly.

“Hey! I’m popular too! Of course I’d also have fans!”

“Since when did you even have one?” He roasted, making Edward giggle at the sight of his two friends bantering at each other.

“Unbelievable… This sunuvahbi--” the redhead cursed and their daily quarrel started once again.

"Geez… How can men be so dense?" I whispered going back to my seat.

"Yeah... How can they be so dense?" A wistful sigh escaped a friend’s lips, making me turn to Pearl who was staring dreamily at the guy who's currently wrestling with Yujin.

"Pearl, you're daydreaming again, stop it," I said hopelessly.

"I can look at him like this forever..." she sounded like she drank a liter of love potion. Giving up, I looked at Glory who's being quiet and staring at the window. She's been like this since Andrew disappeared.

Mrs. Avrilla, our homeroom teacher, entered with a good smile on her face. The boys stopped their playful wrestling and sat back to their seats. The noisy classroom is now quiet waiting for our teacher to say something.

"Alright, I know this is sudden but, I was told earlier that..." She eyed each one of us, making the class anticipate her announcement. “We… will be having a transferee.” She continued.

A transferee?! Our jaws dropped as we heard those words. Really at this time of the school year? I don't know but my classmates, especially the girls, act like they're hungry for human interaction.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Is he cute?"

I shook my head as I just took my book out of my bag to read the lesson we're going to tackle for today.

"Mister please come in and introduce yourself," all eyes are on the door, waiting for someone to enter. But somehow, no one did. The teacher went to check outside to see if the student was there but strangely enough, the teacher seemed confused.

“Strange… I was sure he was following me earlier. Was he lost?” She muttered worriedly, pulling out her phone to call someone in case he was found. ‘How strange for someone to get lost. But I guess I couldn’t blame him. The school really is big after all.’

Almost twenty minutes had passed and still no signs of him. The teacher already went to look for him and most of the class are thanking him for keeping the teacher busy.

“Sorry we’re late,” the teacher finally arrived, looking exhausted due to the blazing heat and looking for the transfer student. “Apparently, the transferee got lost and was found at the first year’s building… For some reason.” The first year building?! But that’s like three buildings away from ours. How did he get lost when he was following our teacher?

“Now let’s get this over with. Please enter.” She signaled. And everything slowed when a beautiful, tall albino man entered the classroom, making the girls scream with excitement.

"What the-!" Edward blurted in shock, making me turn in their direction. I could clearly see all three of them having their brows knitted together. Noctis makes a fist with his hand and Yujin just silently glaring at the new guy. Do they perhaps know each other? Everyone’s attention is all on the transfer student. Not minding Pearl drooling all over her desk while gazing at the new guy. Glory, even though her eyes were as dead as the fish in the market, the new guy also caught her attention.

"Good morning. Forgive me for taking so much of your time. I tend to get lost whenever I’m in a new place.” He started.

‘I know it’s normal to get lost but getting lost in the fourth-year building and ending up in the first year building is not normal!’

“Before I introduce myself, while travelling, many people around the globe tend to mispronounce my name. So, I'll be making it clear to avoid committing the same mistake. My name is Asher Ong, not Asher Hong, not Asher Gong, Asher Woong, and definitely not Asher On. As a transferee student, I am incredibly, truly, completely, really, amazingly and without a doubt... Pleased to meet you. Veuillez prendre soin de moi." He ended, giving us his most charming smile, which made all my female classmates scream their hearts out. Of course, except for Janine and Glory and myself.

“My~ It seems that you can speak Frenchre. Are you perhaps from Franchestree?” The teacher asked with deep interest. The silver head only smiled at her before answering.

“If you mean the last place I stayed before coming here, No. I come from Rozmantria. I went to Franchestree last December.” He said curtly, which only made the teacher and my classmates gaze at him with interest.

“Mmm~ francheq language is known to be one of most romantic languages in the world. Does Mr. Ong know other languages?”

“In fact, I do. Just name a language and I’ll whisper it sweetly in your ears, madam~” The silver-head said softly in such a seductive voice, luring everyone in and making our teacher blush.

“You seem to know a lot of languages that you are making me pick with such confidence.” Ugh. I know he’s only showing off his skills since he traveled to so many places, but flirting with a married woman in front of the class is disgusting.

“Try me. I’m quite confident with my skills as I was taught well by many language professionals. I surely do not wish to disappoint them by forgetting what they have taught me.” Asher beamed confidently.

“Then please try speaking in Philizstine language. Just simple phrases.”

He slowly leaned against Mrs. Avrilla’s ears, letting his long silver hair fall from his shoulders, almost covering his face. He glowered and started speaking softly but not soft enough for us to be unable to hear it.

“Wampipti, gib watiir.”

And with that, all the females in class squealed, fangirling over a guy who spoke in Philiszstine language for gods know what it means. They’re all hopeless.

“So that’s Philizstine language. I like how you say it but, I am curious what it means. Would you mind telling us what it means?” With such dreamy looks painted on her face, she asked him out of curiosity.

“That’s a secret.” He replied, placing an index finger against his lips as a hush gesture, winking flirty at the teacher. It’s either that he said something inappropriate, or he does not know what it means.

"How unfortunate. Do tell me next time.” She said wistfully before turning to the class, searching for a seat. “There’s a free seat at the back. It belongs to one of your classmates but he's been absent for days. For the meantime, do sit there before we arrange a new desk for you," our teacher pointed out the vacant chair near Glory, the one that Andrew is taking.

“Thank you.” He smiled before turning to Glory’s direction. Glory only glared at the guy while he made his way to his temporary desk.

Even at a given distance, I caught him glancing at our direction, giving a smirk at the men’s direction which only made the three glares at him further. There’s no doubt, these four know each other.

"There's something about him," Janine whispered.

"You think so?" I asked and she just nodded.

'Mr. Transferee huh?'

*****

The classes are finally over. Time flies fast and it’s already lunch break. I was about to get my lunch when I noticed the three boys went to Mr. Transferee. We got alarmed when Yujin put his foot on the top of Asher's desk like a school gangster.

"Yujin what are you doing?!" I was ready to go and stop them, but Janine stopped me, signaling me not to intervene.

"Let’s watch them and see how the new guy reacts," she said seriously, looking at Asher’s direction.

"Hey four eyes,” Yujin started, leaning close towards Asher. “Give us your lunch money—OW!"

Noctis smacked his head in annoyance, “That’s not the question we should be asking, you idiot.”

“But I’ve always wanted to try it.” He whimpered, rubbing his head to ease the pain before Noctis smacked him once more. “OW! What the hell!”

“Shut up. Geez.” Noctis shifted his gaze towards the silver-head, narrowing his dark obsidian eyes as he met Asher’s golden ones. “Why are you here?” he asked, voice low and threatening.

Asher only smirked as a reply, fixing his glasses. "What do you mean ‘why am I here’? As you can see, I am here to learn just like any other normal teenage human being."

“Stop lying. I know that’s not why you’re here.” Noctis grabbed his collar, pulling him close to meet his eyes. “Did Daniel send you here to spy on us?” He growled low, tightening his fist full of Asher’s uniform.

Asher only gazed at him with no interest and sighed, “As much as I want to meet Daniel and strangle him to death, no. Unfortunately, I am not under his command.” He replied. All three of them seem to be shocked after hearing the new guy’s answer but, Noctis only leaned dangerously close against Asher’s before speaking. “I don’t believe you.” Pushing silver-head back to his seat with such force and turning his back to walk away along the other two.

Asher let out a deep long sigh as if trying to calm himself down before fixing himself. “After saving your pathetic ass from getting executed, you always resort to violence if you can’t accept facts. No wonder your bitch died.”

It was so quick that we couldn’t comprehend what had happened. The last thing we saw was Noctis’ fist crashing towards the unarmed guy’s face, making the eyeglass fly midair from the force applied.

“Take it back!” Noctis hissed before landing another blow on Asher’s pale face which is now bruised by Noctis’ punch. “TAKE IT BACK YOU! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” He barked angrily.

“Noctis! Stop it! You’re going to get yourself in trouble! Yujin, hold him tightly!” Edward shouted, trying to hold off Noctis.

“Hah… Your temper is what makes you shittier. As expected from an orpha—” before Asher could finish his words, another fist landed on him, making him groan in pain. I covered my mouth with my hand, I can't stand watching this!

“Asher! Stop pissing him off! We both know that nothing good would come out if you keep running your mouth like that with Noctis in this state.” Struggling as they are with Noctis, Edward barked angrily at Asher, making him avert his eyes and finally fell silent.

Their fight is gaining attention and all of us just watched them in horror. My eyes shifted towards Pearl’s direction. She was pailing at the sight of Noctis seething in anger, but I know that isn’t the only thing that made her look like this. It’s the fact of what Asher said.

“Let go of me!”

“Noctis! Snap out of it! Getting so worked up like this isn’t like you. You’ll get suspended if you keep acting like this! Look! Everyone’s here. Are you really going to keep this up?” Yujin is having a hard time controlling the other guy. Noctis only gritted his teeth, raising his head and turned to our direction which made him pale, eyes widened with surprise as his eyes met Pearl’s.

“Pearl… I—” his voice turned soft as if all the shouting earlier never happened. Pearl only answered him by turning her back and started running out of room. “PEARL!” He shouted, pulling away from Edward and Yujin’s grasp to run after her.

I stopped him by blocking his path. “What are you doing? Get away Jade. I need to go to her!” The ravenette tried to change his way to walk past me, but I blocked him once more. “Let her be. You two need some time for yourselves. Especially you.” I said firmly, glaring at him.

He watched me in surprise but he did what I said. Noctis took a step back and looked down, looking lost. The ravenette made a fist with his palm and bit his bottom lip, glaring at the floor as if it was the source of all his problems. “FUCK!” He cursed, turning his back and ran to his desk, grabbing his back and ran out of the room.

“NOCTIS!” Yujin and Edward shouted, trying to catch up with him, but they were too late as he disappeared from the crowd of students.

“Damn it! Just how worse could this day get?!” Yujin cursed.

“What’s with this commotion?!” A deep voice rumbled across the room, making all of us look towards the owner of the mentioned voice. Oh dear. It’s the terror P.E. teacher.

“Shit” Yujin once again cursed softly enough of the teacher not to hear.

“Thanks for jinxing it, Yuu.” Edward shook his head in defeat and sighed.

“Hey! How’s this my fault?!”

“Silence! Everyone get the hell out of this room and you!” He pointed at the three males, specifically Yujin. “Follow me. You three got a lot of explaining to do.”

“Goddamn it, Noctis! I swear I’m going to punch you so hard when I see you.” Yujin grumbled, pulling his hair in frustration as they slowly followed the teacher behind.

“You there! The dog looking guy with brown hair!” He pointed at Edward.

“Dog?!” He repeated with the sound of disbelief while Yujin was holding his laugh in the background.

“Aid that white ferret to the infirmary to get treated then come to my office after.” He said, now pointing his finger towards Asher.

“F-Ferret…” Asher repeated. Now the redhead is losing it.

“And you! Laughing feral cat.” Pointing at Yujin, making him snap back to reality.

“You’re coming with me. The rest of you, get to your seat! Lunch is over!”

*****

“D-Dear customers... You’ve been sitting here for almost twenty minutes and you have yet to order anything.” The waitress stuttered, nervously smiling at us.

‘This atmosphere…’

Three unusually handsome and quiet men sitting across our table. One depressed female sitting beside me and one female silently begging to leave on my other side because of our current situation. Everyone is so quiet and it’s suffocating.

‘So awkward.’

You must be wondering where we are. We’re in a café. Somehow everyone came along with us. A lot had happened right after the fight. Long story short, Noctis is nowhere to be found. Yujin got accused as one of the people who beat Asher, Edward received his first record in the guidance office, Glory went home first, And, well… Pearl is still depressed about earlier. Janine and I planned to cheer her up, but for some reason, three boys decided to go with us after they got released from detention.

“Dear customers, if you don’t want to order, I will have to ask you to leave.” The waitress warned. I panic, trying to answer the waitress. “Ah—yes.. You see.. M-maybe we’ll take---”

“We’ll have your chocolate truffle cake and iced tea. Then one macchiato.” Asher cut me off by ordering our food. We all stared at him for a while before he turned his gaze to our direction. “It’s on me.” He beamed. Edward watched him in surprise, so did Yujin. “What? I’m serious. I’m not like that cheap ass Noctis.” He scoffed, fixing his glasses with his face plastered with bandages.

“You owe us some explanation.” Yujin started, staring seriously with his ruby red orbs. Now everyone’s attention is on Asher, expecting to hear him the million unanswered questions in our heads.

He stared at us for a good few minutes before sighing. “Finally, you guys decide to hear me out.” He started. Yujin and Edward averted their eyes, guilty for what they did earlier. “Well, whatever. I’ll try to keep it short. I’m not going to repeat what I said, so you better listen well.”

“Here’s your order.” The waitress arrived with our food on the tray. Six slices of chocolate truffle cake, one on each plate. Five glasses of iced tea and one cup of macchiato. “Enjoy your meal.” She bowed before leaving. We distributed each plate amongst each other along with the glasses of iced tea and one cup of iced macchiato. Everyone started eating their cakes while Asher took a sip of his coffee before he started talking.

“Now then,” He placed his cup on the table and slowly gazed at us. “I’ve been here for four years on Earth. Same year as you three got teleported. Only a little later.”

Edward put his fork down to turn to Asher’s direction with chocolate icing on the side of his lips. “How did you get teleported here then? You also mentioned that you haven’t met with Daniel since you left. Did something happen back there while we were gone? And how on Earth did we get teleported here?” The brown-head made a fist with his palm, gazing at Asher with seriousness despite the chocolate icing on his lips.

Asher took his cup and placed it against his lip before answering. “To be quite honest, I am suspecting it is because of the occurrence of the Great Conjunction back then. I have read some articles with regards to the phenomenon in the Mage Tower where a certain something will open every 100 years when all the planets in the Noberic Galaxy are aligned. Hence, got all three of you teleported here right before your execution day.” He answered with reluctance as he took another sip on his coffee. “But that’s just a theory. For my own arrival here on Earth, I had my own ways. I made a deal with the Dark cult in exchange to go here and follow you three.”

“You mean you’re also not sure why and how we got here?” Yujin questioned with a slight surprise expression painted on his face as he scarfs down on his cake.

‘Mage tower?’ My brows furrowed as I listened to his answers. ‘Does that mean it’s possible that they also have powers aside from just being on another planet?’

“No. But the Great Conjunction phenomena is the closest reason to how you are able to escape by teleportation.” He let out a long sigh, closing his eyes for a moment. “As for the second question…” Asher adjusted his glasses and placed his arms on the table. “The kingdom holds too many secrets. Secrets which everyone should be aware of. Apparently, Daniel is one of those people who know one of the biggest secrets kept by the palace. With the authority given to him by the king, he was blinded by his own definition of justice. I thought he was being irrational but then I realized he's nothing but a dog who willingly licked the shoes of his own master just because he was fed with a few scraps of food. He’s a lost cause. Blinded by his own devotion to someone who no one had ever seen apart from the few special nobles.” His eyes narrowed and the way he said Daniel’s name made it felt as if he ate something spoiled. In short, he was disgusted.

Edward and Yujin didn’t look so surprised. It was as if they expected this from the start, “Considering we follow orders from a master we never know about, yeah. I expected this much.” Yujin finally spoke as Edward nodded in agreement. “I’m somehow surprised how the other citizens of our country seem to accept this with no doubts at all. But of course, I’ve also seen enough people who also question the palace and the king itself.” He added.

“Since you said there are secrets that people should be aware of, then I assume you also know something.” Pearl, for the first time since after the fight, had finally spoken, eyeing Asher with seriousness and curiosity. “Please tell us.”

Asher let out a huff, taking another sip of his coffee. His eyes lowered, gazing at the caramel-colored liquid on his cup, reflecting his beautiful golden eyes before answering. “Outsiders like you shouldn’t bother but since the wine has already been spilled to the three of you, alright. I will tell you.” We took a piece of the cake and munch on it, leaning closely as we waited for his answer.

“According to my resources, this planet, Earth, is a forbidden planet. It was agreed upon by the Universal Leaders that it is forbidden to go to this planet. They released a galactic law which was mentioned in the Old book of law, section fifteen clause three that says, ‘Thou shall not cross the border to the forbidden planet.’ Of course, I wasn’t so sure about which planet do they mean by ‘forbidden’. Until I came across a very intriguing resource.” A smirk slowly made its way to his lips as he took another sip of his coffee.

Yujin and Edward looked at each other with bewilderment painted on their faces before turning to Asher. “Who exactly are you talking about? Is it someone from the information guild?” Yujin’s brows furrowed, suspicious about Asher’s ‘resources.’ I must admit, I’m confused with everything that they’re talking about. Information guild? Forbidden planet? Galactic law? It’s not something you usually hear these days. Information guilds are the medieval to Victorian era of what we now call ‘information centers’. Here on earth, those jargons were used back in 11th to 16th century, guilds are formed like clubs and organizations in the modern period. Since they used that term, could it be that their place has the same culture back in the 11-16th century?

“I don’t think it’s time for you to know about this, but I will soon reveal it when the time comes. And by that, I mean when Daniel is back to his senses and Noctis stops being a bitch.” Asher replied with a scoff, his bruised lips forming a frown and arms crossed on his chest.

“Hey...” Our attention all went to Janine when she finally started talking with her plate cleaned and glass empty.

‘She really finished her food before speaking.’

“You explained some stuff that it’s hard to comprehend. I get the gist of it but, you missed out the part on ‘how’ exactly you came here apart from the Dark cult and the Great whatever in the so-called Mage tower you mentioned.” She sat up straight with her emerald orbs fixated on Asher’s golden ones. Nobody realized that until Janine asked. It seems that we got distracted with Asher’s discovery to even realize we missed that one vital question.

Asher, who seemed to be surprised with Janine’s quick-wittedness, made the silver haired male grin with amusement. Smiling with satisfaction, Asher brushed his locks behind his ear and spoke. “You’re not as dull as you look. I commend you for that.” Janine frowned at Asher’s remarks but did not answer back. Instead, she just gazed at him with indifference. “The answer to that question is quite simple. There’s a portal.”

“?!” Everyone seemed too shocked to speak. It seems even the boys were not aware that this portal existed.

“Is that the reason why people were disappearing?” Pearl asked, sweating as if she’s trying to understand the situation clearly. “Are the people getting transported to your world?!”

Huh?!

Asher was dumbfounded by Pearl’s question. So was everyone else. But I can say if I was an idiot, I’d believe she got a point.

“You’re no doubt as dull as you look.” Asher bluntly answered.

“Hey! It’s a possibility!” Pearl whined, slamming her hand on the table as she leaned close to Asher.

Asher only leaned further away and huffed before glancing at Pearl. “First of all, no, people are not transported so casually to our world just because the portal is open. Second of all, once the portal opens, it separates the real world from the other. Which explains why you thought everyone had disappeared. There’s something we call the ‘Distorted world’. It is a realm that is meant for the portal to be accessed. It is the very replica of the present world, but it differs because it is not that easy to open.”

“So how can you access or even identify the portal? I don’t think I remember seeing anything when Daniel arrived. Or could the location be different?” Edward questioned, finally finishing his own food.

“Remember when I said that the ‘certain something’ will open when the Great Conjunction phenomenon occurs? Yes, that’s how the portal opens. Basically, it is that one thing that ‘teleported’ you three here on Earth. Your klutziness saved your dumbasses by accidentally stumbling on the portal as you were cornered by the knights. Right before the line has shifted, you manage to enter the portal after Yujin lost his footing and pushed Noctis and you along with it.” Asher took a tissue and a pen and started to draw something. “The portal is… unidentified. We don’t know what it looks like, but I have an idea how it would appear.” He sketched two circles with an arrow in the middle. One circle seems to be wobbly and wavy while the other is just a… well, circled and round. “This is what it might look like. This round one is the untouched portal, while the other is the vice versa. Think of it as water. It won’t be obvious unless it is touched. It is clear like water itself, but that doesn’t mean you can’t see it.”

Confused by his words, I immediately raised my hand to question. “What do you mean by that? We don’t seem to get your point.” Asher narrowed his eyes, sighing in defeat. “I knew it was going to be hard to explain. I think it’s better to show it to you next time rather than explaining it.”

“Andrew…” Janine spoke once again which suddenly made everyone feel a sting on their chest. Asher peers at them with a slightly confused face. Janine continued. “Our friend disappeared when that Daniel guy appeared. It has already been weeks since he was gone. Do you have any idea what could have happened to him? Initially, we would have thought that he was kidnapped. But I’m sure there could be another reason.”

“Are you sure he wasn’t lost? Was he with you while encountering Daniel and his gang?” The Silver-head asked, tilting his head on the side whilst his hair flowed down from his shoulder like ink.

“Well… Not with us. But he was with Glory that time.” She explained. With Asher’s downcast gaze, he put a finger on his lips while being engulfed by his own thoughts.

“Knowing Daniel, he would never kidnap someone without any reason. But it is indeed a possibility. He might have taken him hostage to lure us back to the planet.” He rubbed the tip of his hair playfully with his fingers while being deep in his thoughts. “Would you mind showing me what he looks like?”

“Not at all…” Janine pulled out her phone from her pocket and started unlocking it, scrolling into her gallery to show a recent photo of Andrew being with the group doing a wacky pose, like a lip bite with a peace sign look.

As soon as Asher saw what Andrew looks like, his brows furrowed, looking so disturbed as if he had seen an abnormal. Was he perhaps bothered by the pose? I mean everyone looked equally stupid on that one.

“Thank you… I’ve seen enough.” He returned the phone to Janine and everyone was waiting patiently for his answer.

“There’s a possibility that he was kidnapped by them. But other than the reason for trying to get us back on the planet, I don’t think they have any other use for him. For now, let’s just do our best to look for evidence.” He ended. Everyone didn’t seem to be satisfied with Asher’s answer. It’s more like, it only made them extra worried and scared for Andrew.

Whatever happens, I just pray that he will be safe, and everyone will be strong enough to be prepared for the worst-case scenario because things will not be the same as before. In fact, worse has yet to come.

Everyone finally decided to go home after the talk. It was heavy and hard to comprehend all the things that had happened so far. Everyone’s struggling to keep their façade up and struggling to not lose hope. I just hope it will be better for everyone even just a bit soon.

I passed by the park and stopped. This is the place where everything began. I just stare at it as if I'm blaming it for all of the things that are happening to us now, no... I shook my head.

Upon arriving home, my mother greeted me with a smile, and I gave her a kiss on the cheek. “How was your day, sweetheart?” She beamed.

I gave out an exhausted expression, slumping on the sofa while shaking my head.

“Terrible.”