There have never been secrets between Iano and his twin brother, Miano. But that changes when his brother marries an heir of the most powerful fief of the village. With such power comes the right to see the face of the Goddess. Only, Iano's twin mus...
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As Alika continued to learn the natural sciences, Papa Olen replaced the ripe fruits he brought Alika every end of the afternoon with books increasingly thicker with somber-toned covers. The stories he told Alika at night before bed became long discussions of technical matters.
Even his demeanor and looks seemed to change to Alika. When Alika finally realized it, the man had already transformed from Papa Olen to Professor Olen.
Medina continued coming to take care of the domestic tasks, and Alika found all the time to specialize in her scientific subjects, studying plants and illnesses as a priority, Professor Olen brought the assignments: leaves of various shapes that Alika needed to dissect only after she named their taxonomy and described their morphology. Zooming in the cage-like cells under the lenses was her deserved reward.
The few animal samples she studied were limited to blood and muscles, taking Alika to a world not unlike the one she discovered in her fictional stories. Where warrior cells waged war against invader microbes. Where riches were traded through long canals of blood. And where generations of cells died to give place to younger ones.
And all of this had been happening under her skin since ever. As she cleaned the hauls in the orphanage, as she did everything in her power to avoid the reading sessions the sisters used to organize, and as she slept. Always.
Professor Olen was clear about this piece of knowledge just being a glimpse of all that there was to know. The curiosity tickled her most profound inner senses. In a way, all of this was more magical and mysterious than any of her fictional books.
With her back tucked against the pillow, Alika read articles under twitching flamelights with Professor Olen seated on a chair by her side. They discovered the various research projects carried out at the High Institute of Natural Sciences of Gomeh, all products of aspirant fortune-hoarders in the then-blooming field of Pharmacy technique.
Alika would learn later that they had been bait to her curiosity and sense of wonder. Professor Olen knew she was still a dreamer and supplied her with articles detailing projects that defied reality: enhancing human strength, healing blood and heart disease, even growing hair at rapid speed- all these papers promised things not unlike witchery.
One day Alika finally asked, "I want to see your works, Papa."
It had been a sweltering day, and the night hadn't cooled the air enough for relief after sundown. Before answering, Professor Olen smiled with lips shining with a fine layer of sweat and said, "I thought you would never ask."
Alika couldn't help feeling like she had failed a task she had been trusted with. But the Professor carried on as if it didn't matter. It seemed her finally asking erased the failure. "You remember the secret room?"
She did of course. There hadn't been one day where the thought of walking past the wooden black door leading to that room hadn't crossed her mind. She had stifled it with all her might, telling herself the professor knew better when the best moment was, plunging into the books she had been tasked to read to forget and tame her curiosity.
