Chapter 16: The intruder

A week had passed and there had not been any form of contact with father. Mother and I had been moved to a different location in secrecy. Night after night she would put me to bed and exeunt herself to sit at the balcony and weep in silence under the dark starless sky. Sometimes she held on to me even when it had passed bedtime. In those cases, I didn't feel the urge to sleep either so tried to sooth her with my baby laughters and smiles. It worked most of the time. Two weeks had passed, one a faithful night, she held me in her arms on the balcony.

"It is strange today." She said. "Tonight is such a beautiful night- a full moon. See, a full moon with so many stars. It is the stars that truly shows the beauty of the night- those natural landmarks. Where I'm from, nights like these are said to portray the the god of Mischief. Beauty always deceives. When I look at those stars (she pointed at them) to me, I see stars shaped like a sword. But if you believe what you see the first, you always will be decided. Neither the second nor third nor any of your guesses are right. What you see, what you think, are all what you know. The same for the god of Mischief, he is all.

I didn't understand a thing she spoke of The same for the god of Mischief, 'he is all', that reminded me of him. Most of her talks were prates to me and with time I drove into a deep sleep.

The next day went by like all others. We received visits from those who shared in or secret occasionally. They would talk of how the people of Pingadonia were mourning her loss. She seemed so sorry every time something of that sort was mentioned.

Mother began to grow melancholic. She began to conjecture that she had killed her husband by sending him on a wild goose chase. They would try pacifying her by saying, '...the king is a legend class...' and that '...he was strong enough to take on six salamanders unarmed...' I didn't understand anything they voiced but one thing was clear, this world wasn't so different from my 'ex-world'.

More sad nights drove by. On one of those nights, mother sat on her bed swaying her arms to and fro with me in them. She looked very fatigued and seemed to have dozed off but still held on tight like a dog and a bone. Uncontrollably, with instinct, I rolled my eyes and in a chair a bit further from bed sat my father. He looked dirty and was covered in blood. His face looked messed up and blood kept trickling from his mouth. I didn't know what to feel. Whether to be happy of his return or pity his situation. One thing was clear, he needed help. I began to make baby noises and move around for her to wake up. It didn't take long and she became astir with shock and morosnesss. She placed me on the bed then rushed to her half-dead husband then started to shout for help. Ryan came in panting. Immediately he saw his king and his position, his shortness of breath vanished. He moved closer swiftly, placed his hands on father then suddenly his hands started to glow green. The light soon flooded all over father's body then Ryan uttered:

"Fractured ribs, clavicle and knee. Some internal organs are damaged and there is internal bleeding. Excessive lose of blood- I'm guessing through his mouth. And also a fractured skull. Did he pick a fight with a hoard of beasts?- Whatever caused this much damage to a legend class must have been blood thirsty and strong. But don't worry, I will get him on his feet in a few minutes." Mother smiled with relief and wept in silence with guilt and shame.

Father was taken to bird after about six minutes of healing. I fell in a slumber after. How long I swam in that stream of slumber, no idea. What fished me out was a loud shout:

"WHAT!"

"Ritash calm yourself and let me explain."

"Explain what? You almost died instead of talking things out. What is wrong with you? You find the old man in a remote swamp he made devoid of monsters, ALONE, and then you pick a fight."

"Not exactly. You've heard of Louis. You know how he is. He believes in 'action speaks more than word'. Besides, he promised to come to our aid if I survived three days straight against him. You think I'm a mess? You should have seen what became of his previous swamp." He smirks.

"His swamp? (she sighs) This is no time for jokes. Anyway, when should we expect him?"

"In about a day. He was suppose to the next day after I."

"Then that is toda..." She was busy a knock on the door. She excused herself to answer the door with a bit of anger. She opened the door to see the visitor but saw none. She sighed quietly then said, "Even hospitals have pranksters." She smashed the door closed then turned around. In the moment she turned she stood frozen. Had she seen a ghost or something?- No. It was an intruder. She recollects herself then throws a right punch into the intruder's face, but like hitting smoke and like smoke, the intruder faded away.

"Evil lady! But too bad that was a mirage." The intruder said peevishly. Mother turned to the direction of the voice only to see the intruder in their chair with his legs crossed. She dashes for him and without hesitation, she rains a shower of punches all aiming for the face. The movements was so fast. All the punches seemed to be making contact but with a closer view, the intruder was deflecting all with a finger right before they could touch his face. He seemed to be mocking her and she didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. She finally threw the last of her infinite punches upon hearing:

"Ritash, stop. That is Louis."