Fabricated World

Chapter 5

"Don't be shy. Eat up!"

I stared at the food set before me, it's delicious aroma wafting towards my direction and making me drool.

"C-can I really eat this?" I asked, wetting my lips. "I mean.. it looks so expensive."

"Just eat." the man with the scar answered, picking up his chopsticks. "If you don't, Jun is going to finish it." he jerked a finger towards his companion.

Jun didn't have any comments for he was too busy stuffing his face.

"Thanks for the food." I muttered, digging into the soft, fluffy white rice.

Kai'en, the mysterious man with the spear, sat across from me, also eating dinner. Guilt chewed away at the back of my stomach as I saw the barely noticeable red hand-print on his left cheek. For a brief moment, our eyes met and I felt my heart race. Quickly, I lowered my eyes to the ground in shame, and I heard a dry laugh escape from him. We finished eating, and we sat in silence. It was Kai'en who spoke first.

"Before we get into the serious talk," he smiled, straightening his sitting posture. "let's introduce ourselves. As you already know, I'm Kai'en. These two are my buddies, Wang and Jun."

As if they had rehearsed this before, Wang and Jun nodded their heads respectively.

"I'm Rikka." I spoke in turn. "Rikka Lee. I'm from the future, another world."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Kai'en's face as Wang and Jun exchanged glances.

"We're aware of that." Kai'en crossed his arms. "And because you're from another world, we have a request to ask of you."

"Request?" I blink. What could they possibly ask of me? I cocked my brow in curiosity, letting Kai'en go on.

"You saw it yourself, didn't you?" he continued, his electrifying marine blue eyes flickered with a devilish light. "When your arm burned and sizzled."

I recalled the memory from an hour ago and looked down at my forearm. The tattoo was gone, replaced by my normal, pale skin.

"Yeah," I shook my head. "I thought I was gonna die. I don't know what happened to me -- one moment I was on my way to my death and the next my arm was burning with no logical reason. It would be nice if I had an explanation."

Kai'en chuckled at my words as Wang and Jun shifted in their chairs.

"The dragon tattoo that was on your arm," Wang began, taking a sip of his tea. "It symbolizes one of the twelve Chinese Zodiacs: The Ox, The Tiger, The Rat, The Rabbit, The Pig, The Dog, The Rooster, The Monkey, The Sheep, The Horse, The Snake, and The Dragon."

I narrow my eyes, not yet comprehending what they were getting to.

"Each of the Zodiacs is a god, and if that god has chosen your body as their own, you are known as one of the Zodiac Guardians, bearing the powers of that specific animal." Jun clarified. "In your case, you're The Dragon."

"Unlike the others, The Dragon has the power to sense other Zodiac Guardians, regardless of where they are. That's why we need your help, Rikka." Kai'en leaned forward, his visage stiff and serious. "We need your strength. Will you listen to us?"

I opened my mouth to speak but I didn't know what to say. Powers? Zodiac Guardians? This all didn't make sense, for it was too much information to swallow. Mythical creatures don't exist, and my brain had stuck to that thought since I was little. In my opinion, it was incredibly silly for people to believe such creatures were real, and I stereotyped those who did as naive. Now, here I sat in front of three adult men who were insisting that these Zodiac Guardians were real. I couldn't help but snort at the pathetic idea.