Chapter 5

He motions me inside the home and closes the door behind me. His dog is sitting in the doorway of the kitchen, still not paying me no mind. “Please take a seat and tell me what’s on your mind, Miss.”

I sit down in a chair across from him where two cups of piping hot teas are sitting in their saucers waiting for us to drink them. “Were you waiting on me to arrive?”

“Define ‘waiting’.” He crosses his leg over the other and grabs his saucer to drink from his cup while it was still hot.

Doesn’t it burn to drink that?

“You’re coincidentally here while I am and you told me to go on this mysterious journey to a place that is allegedly haunted. Is this a game to mess with me or something? All I came across was riddles, lost stories, and deception.” I spit, clearly upset from the constant exhaustion of the entire journey here. I feel my headache emerge again and rest my head in my hand trying to subside it. “I apologize for my attitude but you didn’t give me any directions.”

He hums. “You arrived here without directions which is impressive, but I understand the misinterpretation of the trip here so let me unfold the truth a little bit since I still rather you find out later on.” He puts down his tea and intertwines his fingers together. “So I assume you met the one that Seria overpowered in the ocean?”

“It called you a bastard.”

The man laughs. “We never did get along.” He looks at me for a few seconds then tilts his head in confusion. “Are you alright, Miss?”

“I’ll be fine.” My voice is clipped and cool. “Please… tell me the rest.”

“Did it tell you anything else about me?”

“No… it said it couldn’t say.”

“Appropriately so.” He grins. “But don’t overthink the reason. I’m just an old man with a dog that knows that the residence down the mountain is available for you to shelter in.”

“Did the storm ever come?”

“It did.” He nods. “But there’ll be a different storm heading this way. One that’s too risky to be caught in. Try to find shelter at the castle in short time.”

“I will once you tell me the truth.”

“Of course.” He clears his throat and points to his heart. “Do you know what this is?”

“A heart.”

“Correct. A human heart is what helps us live.” He points to me. “What heart do you have?”

“What do you mean?”

“This world is filled with monsters, devils, chimeras, abnormal beings, and entities.” He says dryly. “What if I said that humans are abnormal too? That some of us are monsters, devils, chimeras, and entities? What would you say?”

“That it was obvious,” I say sarcastically.

“How would you act towards one?”

“The same way I did with the others. With respect, kindness, and understanding.”

“Kindness can only go so far with a monster.”

“But it helps them soothe the hatred in their lingering soul.”

“Years ago, this planet used to be cluttered in humans that dealt with vengeance and discrimination and although nothing has changed, we don’t decay in the abomination that consumed our lives each and every day by those who refused to open their eyes to seek truth and not forceful nature of dislike.”

“What are you trying to tell me, sir?”

“There’s a story about a heroine that restored our planet’s ruin for the better years ago.”

“I heard of it by villagers.”

“That heroine used to have a past of unfortunate circumstances and although I wouldn’t worry about a repeat in history. Try not to stumble across any… cascade of the devil’s tritone. If you catch my drift.”

“I think so.”

“Before you continue, you should rest. You must be tired.”

“Just sore.”

“I’ll treat your injuries.” He nods to my cup of tea. “After you drink up.”

I look at the tea and shake my head. “Not thirsty.”

He quirks an eyebrow. “Surely after a long journey with no food or water you would be thirsty.”

“It’s not a necessity for me.”

“Well, if you want it later, it’ll be on the stove.” He says, helping me stand up and guiding me to the room that he already prepared for me. “Just lay down and let me do the rest.”

I nod and lay down on my back. I watch him roll his sleeves to his elbows and rub his hands together.

“Alright!” He hovers both of his hands over my stomach. His gaze flickers up to meet my eyes. “Sleep.”

Before the world went dark, I thought for a moment that I saw his eyes turn a different color. An enchanting color, like gold, or yellow, but disappointingly I was put to sleep before I could tell for certain.

Sleep.

His tone sounded stern, yet authoritative. His voice changed in an unprecedented way but I can’t figure out why it sounded different. Maybe it’s in my head.

“...eerie… sooner…” I hear someone talking in my head in a hoarse voice.

“Stop…” They sound… miserable.

“Ev… noc… ten… vil.” They sound dyspneic and incoherent with their words.

They choke out their final breath with “...n ...est ...we’re ...ties,” before everything goes silent again.

Then, while my heart is hammering inside of my chest, I jolt awake, gasping for air, as I feel aghast from the voices mumbling in my head that gradually faded away to silence.

I curl my fingers on my chest, where my heart is beating out of control from the nightmare, trying to stabilize my state of equanimity, and once I feel less anxious than before, I glance down to notice I was wearing something different. I’m now wearing an elegant black silk gown, similar to a bridal gown, with small shimmering diamonds perfectly arrayed in a line on the silk-translucent sleeves, along with a pair of black ballerina slippers on my feet that has a silk black ribbon laced around my shins.

Instead of the ribbon stopping at my ankle as other ballerina slippers do, they almost reach my knees, leaving only an inch of space between them.

Did the man change my clothes?

I feel the dress between my fingers and peer at it. It’s handmade.

The sewing is sloppy in some areas of the dress, from the ruffles to the chest area, where there is a necklace hanging on my neck. It’s a veteran’s medal, an old one. The kind that fell into water, rusted, and someone tried to polish it back to good use.

But what caught my eye was the words engraved on the back ― Control.

At the top of the word, ‘control’ in microscopic letters are initials. I mouth the initials and try to think of someone with those initials.

There’s no one that I know personally with those initials.

Why did the man give me this then? As a riddle? A joke? A gift? Is it a hint to my real name?