‘I meant that even though we lived peacefully, what wrong we did that compelled you humans to come slaughter us?’ her tone did not change. She was dead on serious. Now, the only thing I could do…

…was to hope that things went smoothly.

‘What… happened to your family?’ I asked her, mustering all of my courage. There was another sound of cracking and smashing beside me. It was on the other side this time. Her nails dug as deep as they could.

‘What happened, you ask? Well, why couldn’t I tell you earlier?’ the slits in her eyes thinned, and she withdrew from me, her nails sliding against each other. Her hand bled, from the gaps the nails marked while plunging outwards. It was painful to watch, yet she showed no signs of suffering. A completely plain face was what she put up. Blood dripped off her finger tips as she walked a little further away from the shade partly under the sunlight.

I froze in my position, unable to move. The wind lifted her light auburn hair up in the air. It flew as if it had no weight, light as feathers, parting as the wind plays gently with them.

‘Much to my surprise, it began as a friendly visit. They carried shovels and hoes with them, saying they wanted to cultivate in a small part of our land. We agreed on a friendship deal. It was all going well until I knew what was actually going on. I sneaked into one of their sheds at night. And I accidentally found out their motive to infiltrate our village and burn it to the ground just for their own amazement. If they were the same humans like you, then why…? How are you different?!’ her nails plunged forwards again. Blood dripped.

I became worried again, ‘Hey, your nails a--’

‘You don’t need to worry about anything!’ she snarled, turning towards me. Her plain white teeth caught my eye instantly. She was suddenly everything the monster that I saw the night before. ‘How… Why do you even care? Don’t you understand that you’re a human? We were the ones who were all slaughtered. So then, why do you care?!’ gritting her teeth together, she screeched in a low tone, pushing me hard on the ground, glaring.

I didn’t say anything, fearing for my life. The prickly grass poked my back as she pinned me against them. Her eyes were as if a monster was about to devour his prey. What was I supposed to do then? Fight back?

‘That’s enough!’ someone yelled from the downhill. From what I saw, it was a boy, around the age of twenty or so. ‘Carina, that’s enough. You’ve gone too far with him!’ he strode up the hill where the girl… or rather succubus called Carina held me captive. Claws were literally the thing that made me fear for my life. And Carina had them.

‘But I didn’t--’

‘Just stop,’ the boy raised his hand, causing Carina to stop, and releasing me from her strangles. I huffed for air, thrilled that even she listens to someone. I sat up, hoping she wouldn’t claw me this time. When I looked at her face, she was only staring at him the whole time, like someone she admired or was her senior. I said nothing. He then faced towards me, ‘Are you alright?’

I slowly nodded at him, and then he turned towards Carina. ‘This was dangerous. You of all people should know that right?’ she said nothing after his words. Probably someone she would look up to.

‘Alright…’ she trailed off, staring at me one last time. I tensed up, hoping some more scratching from her. But she turned the other way and started walking downhill. I was left there bewildered, beside with that boy.

‘I’m sorry for the troubles Carina caused to you,’ he bowed to me. ‘It’s just that she hadn’t been nice to humans since her tragedy happened. I apologize.’ He dropped his face down.

‘No, it’s alright!’ I waved my hands in the air, causing him to lift his head up.

‘Thank you.’ He said. ‘Pardon my rudeness. My name is Hiro. And you are…?’ he stared at me, his expression icy cold. But somehow, that didn’t seem rude at all! He was just… calm. Still, as the winter pond in a December morning.

‘My apologies, I’m…’ I trailed off. I didn’t even want to remember my name from before. But to talk of that… what was my name?

‘I’m sorry I asked,’ he turned the other way, not saying anything more. I was dumbfounded, sitting on the dirt and staring at him all the time. ‘Want something to eat?’ he arched an eyebrow towards me, but not in a cheerful way, but in a more caring way, like an elder brother. ‘Come on.’ He said.

I stood up and brushed off the excess heat from my thighs and fell in step behind him. He led me to the same old house I had taken a break from. I hesitated to enter again while he stood there holding the door open for me, gesturing inside. I moved my feet hesitantly and walked with him inside. The air was cool against the cool walls of birch and plaster, like the cool air I felt under the shade of the tree, but different at the same time. I smelled something sweet and salty. I turned around to see this Hiro guy setting up the table with something resembling to me. They smelled familiar too.

‘Pancakes…?’ I asked, walking towards the table slowly.

‘No, this isn’t what you mentioned there. If I may ask, what are… pancakes?’ he looked at me with dark eyes, something glimmered in them. He wasn’t curious, he wasn’t at all angry or confused, but somehow he didn’t let me see through him, his dark eyes shielding whatever was on his mind that would show up on his face.

‘Oh, they are… sort of cakes, molded down on a pressing grill…’ the words came out like a detailed report. ‘Uh… never mind that.’ I ended. Pulling back a chair, I sat down as gently as I could.

That afternoon went in a blur. I remained in my room the whole evening until dusk. The sky had gone dark red from what I could tell from the shadows seeping in through my window on my bedroom wall. In that moment of mere seconds, I thought about Carina’s history. What had happened that made her change her into this state to-day? I wanted to know, despite myself being pinned down under her fangs. Hiro had asked me to go to bed as soon as dusk, having told me that, monsters far worse than Carina appear at night to hunt fowlers. Carina was off to her business as soon as the night fell. Hiro had retreated to his study back in another shed, saying something about an old trilogy he had found in an attic. And now, here I was laid on my back staring at the bleak ceiling, doing nothing but thinking. It was peaceful, but not pleasing. The sounds of crickets ringed in my ears as a melodious harmony; I could see the stars outside my window, gleaming one by one. I couldn’t help but be      reminded of older times when I still a normal college student, too restless to even hold an event. But then, I realized how an easy life I was having… away from all this, all innocent. I hadn’t expected to be late during the night but I suddenly got a light knock on my door as I sat up in my bed.

‘Come in,’ I started, unsure how to answer differently. It was probably Hiro. Oh, how much I wished it to be him, in a protective sense. I hadn’t mustered up the courage to face terrific Carina again after that outbreak with her. But I braced myself, half expecting her. The door creaked open as I saw the old man—the same person who had brought me to this place for staying the night, but who knew that it would turn out absolutely incredulous!

‘You still awake? Well, I guess it isn’t the time to sleep yet,’ he said in a comforting way that somehow reassured me. ‘How did things go? I suppose you met Hiro during your trifles?’ he smiled wearily at me, taking a seat at the edge of my bed. I sat up straight and did my buttons to look more formal. He raised his hand to stop me. I slowly lowered my hands to obey him. By the look on his face, I could say he was more exhausted than anyone on the compound, even more tired than me in a sense. ‘I see Carina hasn’t changed her violent tendency towards you.’ He smiled very feebly for me to notice.

‘I suppose she has her own set of problems related to arrival of guests,’ I lied without stammering. I knew it had something to do with humans. She just wasn’t… clear in her speech. That’s what she was.

‘You can drop the pretense, son,’ he patted my arm. He knew that Carina loathed humans. But, much to my surprise, wasn’t he one too? I opened my mouth and started saying something when I suddenly shut it and looked forward listlessly. The moments that followed passed away in a glint of silence. It was terribly peaceful. I didn’t feel the urge to muster up my courage to ask him my question from earlier. I thought, not asking him, was the best course of action for me, at least at that time.

‘Well, there isn’t much to talk about after the farce you went through. I am truly sorry on behalf of Carina’s behavior.’ He stood up and stated. Bowing to me once again, he prayed to me that I must not allow this conversation to escape that room. He left me again with a state of uneasiness in my mind, without shutting the door.

The moon rose up high in the sky among the stars. It was quite a magnificent stare I gave at it for the first time in my life. It was bright, and beautiful, glinted red sometimes, sometimes blue. Other times it was just golden around the white edges. It reminded me of something… someone.

Michelle.

Oh, God… what am I doing here still? I need to go back… I thought wildly just after the thought struck me. I started putting on my shirt and pants along with my rugged hat, and started packing up my things.

‘Going off somewhere?’ I turned around to see Hiro leaning against the doorframe as he slapped shut a voluptuous book on his hands. I was sitting on my bed, readying up for my journey back. I pushed myself up to face him directly. He just stared at me with an expression I could not understand. He was as cool as usual. Not a hint of tension in his voice or face.

‘Yes, it is time for me to head out. I believe I had caused you too much trouble already.’ I firmly stated and he said nothing. After a short silence between us, he began.

‘I can take you across the capital without anyone’s notice.’ He started to walk slowly and deliberately towards me until we came face to face with each other. I said nothing, thinking about it for a while, starting to gather that it wasn’t a bad idea considering the current situation at the capital. There was no way that I could get past against the hundred rebellions on the street without attracting anyone’s attention. He smiled at my answer even though I just nodded slightly. ‘Thirty minutes,’ said he, maintaining a coolness in his voice, ‘and we are off. Not a breath to anyone about this. Got it?’

I suddenly felt a little surge of excitement go up my spine as he started to walk out of the room and I followed suit. This feeling hadn’t familiar to me until then as I remembered my old school days, or more like a slight glimpse of the past I may, or may not have had. I remembered myself playing something called a hide-and-go-seek game with my friends. There were two of them as far as I remembered. Seeing back in that time, I had changed in years growing up distant and secluded from the society, before I even noticed it. Thinking about my childhood, I realized that we had walked outside through the dim halls of the house. There was already a horse cart waiting outside. One of the two horses neighed as Hiro brushed their velvety hair on their backs.

‘Let’s kick it off shall we? Miss Michelle must be waiting as far as I am concerned.’ He said, tightening the reins without looking at me.

‘How do you—’ I stammered. ‘How do you know of Milady? Were you acquainted with her before somehow?’ I asked with complete curiosity. He had no way to know of Michelle without asking me, or having met her before. Because, under no circumstances had I opened my mouth a single time, talking about her. I had to know… ore more like wanted to know. Breeze struck us from the cross valleys between the mountains far away into the horizon. I adjusted my hat so it wouldn’t hurl away in the wind. As I waited for his answer, he spoke nothing but stared forward. Then I noticed after a long pause, when the wind had died, the corner of his lips slightly turning upwards. ‘Get on, will you? I’ll explain on the way.’ He said.

When he finally looked at me through the dark eyes, I could say that he had something very secretive hidden under those eyes. I grunted a little as I stepped up the wagon and took my seat on the cold, hard seat behind him. Without saying anything, he slapped the reins and the wagon started toward a corn field road, lit up by the sheet of light by the moon. It jerked a few times, making me adjust my seat every time it did. I could clearly hear the sounds of crushing sand under the rolling wheels. The sound of crickets ringed in my ears and I could very slightly make out our path we were currently heading. The corn flowed along where the wind leaded them in their place on both sides. I was lost in thought, wondering many a things about this unusual place called the “Underworld”.

‘I knew Michelle… no, ‘Miss’ Michelle back when I was about to die in my bed. I still am, I assure you of that,’ he sighed which sounded more like a low chuckle. ‘I am the same as you are.’ He said, looking forward, ‘we’re both aren’t that different from each other. And after she found me, she gave me another chance to live—like you,’ he turned halfway towards me.

‘Wait…’ I began in distrust. What was happening? ‘Are you trying to say, that you are…’ my eyes widened as realization dawned upon me.

‘Yes,’ he finally smiled widely at me, almost grinning at my stupidity. ‘I am from the world the same as you are. The Above World.’

At that instant, everything I knew, or assumed wasn’t exactly how I imagined it. It was definitely different; and I had to change into believing that.