A New Light

Chapter 29

To cross an entire ocean and continent in 5 hours was completely unfathomable to me, as although I had never experienced the luxury of planes, I knew enough about them. 5 hours would not have been enough time to cross this much land in my past life.

Sweeping my eyes across the field we landed in, I was rather taken aback. For some reason, the entire area seemed to glow and give off a presence of tranquillity. The feeling empowered yet relaxed me at the same time.

As the rest got off the beast and carried their things, I took my time in wandering around. We seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but I knew better than to assume that.

Soon enough, we were led to a gate, or rather, a barrier. The wall itself was nearly transparent, making the view much more elegant than to have a large grey wall blocking every path.

By habit, I wanted to just enter the gate straight away, as it seemed pointless to wait to be told if we could enter if we already had a home there. However, as I was rushing forward my arm was roughly pulled back by Father. Halting my steps, I peered back at him with conflicted feelings.

Seeing him quickly release his grip on my wrist and sigh while frowning, I promptly become still. Father sighed once more before saying, "Try not to do anything out of the ordinary while we're in public. The situation here isn't fit for drawing any unnecessary attention...okay?"

Obediently nodding my head, I trail behind Mother till we reach the gate. Upon reaching the guards stationed at the entrance, Father swiftly handed them a jade rectangle shaped pendant that was about the size of his palm.

The guard then took the pendant and flashed a black light on it. Having my expectations of something happening betrayed once again, I stopped expecting my common sense to be accurate.

The guard roughly shoved the pendant back into Father's hand and nodded toward the guard o the other side of the gate. When he did that, an opening in the barrier formed. Trailing closely behind Mother, I attempt to discreetly look around as we walk. 

Although the outer edge of cities would typically be more run down, or poor looking, that was not the case here. The buildings had a polished and refined style, and the materials used seemed quite expensive seeing how high the purity stone was.

Taking a second glance at my pouch, I pondered carefully about how much money I actually had.

Immersed in my thoughts, I didn't notice when Mother had stopped walking at crashed into her back. Gingerly stealing a glance at Father to see if I had another scolding coming, I released a breath. His face was full of smiles towards a man and woman I didn't know.

"This is Michael, from a few years back, and Aliria, my daughter."

They took a glance over at us with bright smiles on their face.

"Come in! Come in!"

As if snapping out of a trance, they quickly ushered us into their house which had a wall surrounding it, and a gate at the center.

Oddly enough, even though the couple was the ones to invite us in, Father was the one leading the group. Strolling past the garden and pond (that had little fishies in it) I found us all sitting down in a rather open room. A few maids quietly brought out snacks and tea, then hurried away after bowing their heads.

Father and Mother whispered to each other not so discreetly and stood up just as I was about to ask them about this entire situation. 

"We will let your Aunt and Uncle chat with you two for a bit while we get some work done. Familiarize yourselves."

I nodded. Michael just stared at Mother and Father with a dead look in his eyes.

Auntie gave me a sweet smile and began small talk over the trip here and the house itself. For a majority of the conversation, I was just smiling and nodding my head, not quite sure why we were on this topic.

The stone-faced uncle simply followed the conversation between the two of us for the longest time until he decided it was getting late.

"Maria, the children should go find their rooms. Tomorrow they can meet their cousins."

With those few words, he marched off. Auntie Maria pursed her lip and directed her voice at me.

"Aliria, I'll lead you to your room."

She took not even three steps before turning back hesitantly, "Michael, you... your room is still the same... at the same spot too."

There was a pause in the air, which was swiftly broken be Auntie Maria wrapping her arm around my shoulder and leading me away. The clicking of her heels accentuated the awkward silence, and the arm around my shoulders slowly inched away until it dangled at Auntie's side.

She gave me a half smile and pushed open the mahogany door we were standing in front of.

"If you need anything, just ring the bell and someone will serve you."

Having her seem so uncomfortable in her own skin, I gave her a bright smile and tilted my head to the side a bit. 

"Goodnight, Auntie Maria."

She nodded her head and whispered what I would assume to be a goodnight to me. Gently closing the door, I listened for her clicking heels to fade away, then turned to study my new room. 

Right off the bat, it struck me as a very large room. The bed in the center of the room was elevated be a platform, and that platform extended about 3 meters past the bed. 

Also, across the door, on the opposite wall were two sets of french windows that curved outwards.

Not bothering to turn on the lights to truly see the room, I cleaned myself off using magic and dived into the bed. Although there weren't nearly as many pillows as I would have wanted, the fluffy comforter made up for it.

Letting all my thoughts drift away, I let myself sleep in the comfort of softness and warmth.