11

Izfar

"I see."

Izfar nodded his head after Serah finished her story of how she got inside the forest.

"And then, you were found by Raon and Horan and were bought here?"

Izfar asked for confirmation, Serah nodded at his question, even though she herself wasn’t sure how she got to the palace in the first place. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled, begging to be filled. Izfar widened his eyes in surprise while Serah held her grumbling stomach.

"Are you hungry?"

"Oh, this? It's okay, I'm used to being hungry in the forest."

Serah childishly grinned. Izfar fell silent, his yellow eyes were cast down to inspect her features.

Her dark blonde hair was messy and her body is scrawny, not fitting for a child like her. Yet, she could still smile happily although she's suffering on the inside.

Izfar motioned his hand at the door. In an instant, two female elves appeared out of nowhere and paced near him.

"Bring some light dishes for this young miss."

He commanded.

Both the elves nodded their head and left the room. Serah looked at them in awe.

"What is it?"

Izfar asked, noticing her behavior. Serah abruptly turned to him and acted awkwardly.

"Ah, no, well, it's just..." She let out an awkward laughter. "Both of them, looked really beautiful, so I just can't stop staring at them."

Serah grinned and slowly scratched the back of her head. Izfar chuckled and inadvertently tousled her hair. After awhile, he excused himself and took off the blanket that was covering the girl's leg and held Serah's wounded feet.

"Do you feel any pain anywhere?"

Izfar said as he gently squeezed the wound, it seemed like the scar almost closed, thanks to the healing magic of the high priest. Serah shook her head and smiled.

"No, I'm all good."

She grinned. As she was feeling her body, she noticed a difference in fabric from the usual cloth that she wore. She looked down to see herself in a new dress, a cream colored one piece. Her eyes glimmered in excitement and she touched the dress on her body.

Izfar chuckled again at Serah's behavior.

Seeing the little human girl who got curious just for a single clothing made him think about many things, especially of what happened to the world.

When the great war that lasted for one thousand years happened, a lot of portals were forcefully opened, connecting the fairy kingdom with other world. These caused many otherworlders to accidentally enter the fairy kingdom without knowing how to return to their original world.

However, after a coup de tat by Oberon a couple of thousand years ago, his majesty and his trusted accomplices separately embarked on a journey to close all the portals of the other world so that any unwanted accidents, like the ones that happened with Serah, didn't happen.

Luckily, after many preventative measures throughout the span of many years, the otherworlder cases have declined greatly, all thanks to the effort that his majesty made.

Izfar suddenly smiled on his own.

His Majesty, I wonder what he's doing right now?

He monologued.

He remembered clearly about Oberon being a severe bookworm, that he actually embarked on a journey, mainly to read books from other world as his initial purpose and not to close the portals.

He chuckled softly, gaining the young Serah’s attention. Then he brushed his long hair backwards and caned his chin on his crossed legs as his thoughts continued.

"Are you remembering someone?" She asked and snapped Izfar back to the reality. Izfar looked at her and smiled.

"What exactly did you mean by someone?"

He asked. Did his thoughts showed on his face?

"No, it's just, you looked like you're remembering someone that you loved."

Izfar fell silent.

"...am I?"

His face softened as he lowered his gaze. After a while, he chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe I am."

***

Noel

Noel took a deep breath and exhaled. After calming himself, he lifted the knife that he was holding since earlier and focused towards the Durian on the kitchen counter in front of him. He did say to Ricky that he will make this thing edible, but the question is, how?

Noel looked at the dark green spikes that surrounded it and were reminded of his journey to the 30th world where the same component were used as a silver class armor.

"...Is this edible?" He mumbled.

His mind recalled the conversation that he had with his former douche, Ricky Kruger. That strangely peaceful conversation started with him inquiring about the Durian and it ended with him challenging himself to the impossible by saying to Ricky that he’ll make something delicious out of this fruit.

Noel inched closer to it until he’s about a meter away from the fruit, and he skillfully threw the knife that it struck perfectly at the white star at the bottom of the fruit. Because of the impact, it cracked a little.

"Whew..."

Noel walked to it’s side before sticking his fingers in to crack the Durian open. Inside, a surprisingly beautiful shiny yellow substances was seen lying in between the cracks. Noel picked a little bit of the substance and put it in his mouth.

"Mmm! It tastes like.... Socks?"

Noel looked at the fruit, agreeing with what Ricky had said about it tasting a bit gross.

"…But it's sweet."

He smacked his lips again, pondering into his thoughts. Soon after that, he bloomed a smile when an idea struck him.

"I wonder if this thing will be good as an ice cream?"

He smirked and held his chin. He discovered this idea when he went to the dairy products section back at the supermarket. The dairy section was just beside the ice cream section, so Noel was able to see various types of ice creams that he spotted a durian mochi ice cream among them.

Although it’s easier buying than making, Noel wanted to make the ice cream out of his own hardwork.

"Where is my ice cream maker, I wonder?"

He looked around. Suddenly, the whole kitchen rattled. The kitchen cabinets opened by themself and utensils were floating about while Noel casually scanned through all the things that floated around.

"Oh! There it was."

He snapped his fingers, moving the floating thigs to the side and made his way towards a shiny metal ice cream maker machine that he bought along with all the utensils in the house. The machine was shiny as it was brand new. Upon nearing Noel, the medium sized machine dropped into his hands.

"This should do it."

He cracked a confident smile.

Then, he returned to the fruit on the counter while all the utensils returned back to their respective places and started dissecting the entity. He took out all the yellow substance and trashed all the others.

After a few procedures of preparing the ice cream ingredients, he poured them in the machine and let them mix. While waiting, he checked the books that he bought from the bookstore earlier.

"Ah, this is it."

Noel took out the book from his trench coat. Fortunately, the book was pocket sized and the trench coat have a big pockets unexpectedly so the book didn't have any damage at their corners.

Noel smiled contentedly and started to read the book while he sat down on the sofa in the living room.

After page by page that he flipped, he stumbled upon a story titled 'Adventure of Eillan'. The story depicts Eillan as a naughty kid when he's just bad at expressing his emotions. After closing his real self from others for a long time, he decided to embark on his journey of life to find the real him. Surprisingly, he managed to find himself with a help of a golden retriever name Joe.

His cheerful demeanor helped him in curbing his bad habits and finally, he was able to find himself.

Noel chuckled and closed the book when the timer bleeped. While pouring the mixture into an ice cream shaped tray, he pondered about the Eillan in the book.

He couldn't help comparing Eillan with Ricky.

Was it because they have the same hair and eyes, and have the same bully demeanor? Or was it because that golden retriever that reminded him at the golden aura that surrounded Ricky?

He fell silent.

Now that he thought about that, since the day he felt that electrical surge that made his Mana flow erratic, he’s been hallucinating lately by seeing a golden aura surrounding Ricky.

While he pondered about Ricky even after finishing the ice cream and leaving it into the fridge, his thoughts got interrupted when he sensed a huge energy from outside of the house.

"What was that?"

He paced himself towards the main door, fully alarmed.

After opening the door, Noel looked at the sky and saw a red glinting light at a distant direction. His eyes narrowed.

Not many beings in his kingdom that could emit such a tremendous magical powers, except mythical creatures and the being that received his blessings. So the glint of light meant...

"Your majesty."

A deep, taunting voice echoed in Noel's head.

Noel's eyes lit up and he stared directly at the distant light.

"Did you found what I tell you to seek?"

"Indeed. I picked up a similar aura of human like the ones you seek coming from the palace of Ishtiya’.”

The Moon Palace?

Has Izfar came in contact with her already?

Noel lowered his gaze as he thought of something.

"…Understood, I will be there soon."

The red light glinted for a few moments before disappeared into the night.

Noel returned back inside and went straight to the kitchen. Suddenly he stopped, his face grimaced from the effect of smelling something pungent from every corner of the kitchen. His grey eyes darted around, seeing the sink being full with kitchen utensils that he used to make the ice cream and smelly trash bin.

He choked a sigh.

"Well, guess I'll clean up a bit."