Chapter Fourteen
Those who had witnessed what I did continued to stare at me as Ellie led me down the road aligned with upper-class homes. Surely at least one of the civilians that saw what I did would report what really happened to the media, for those who hadn’t even been around me to see what caused it probably had no clue as to what was going on.
Despite what had happened, Ellie’s intentions didn’t change, for we continued to go to the bakery. “You said that that could be a good time for all the details,” she eventually said, “because I want answers just as much as you.”
The old group of people who had witnessed my creation of the mountain was replaced with clueless citizens, all of which were still in awe and staring off at the mysterious wonder. Ellie pushed pass some of those who were reluctant to move. The crowd eventually grew thicker, and before I knew it, we were in the middle of a huge mob of people. What was utterly freaky was that almost none of them uttered a word. My guess was that they were all at a loss for words as they were probably pondering a rational explanation.
“Damn it,” Ellie muttered. “It’ll take forever to get past these people.” She looked at me. “Can’t you do something?”
I shook my head in utter surprise, holding my hands up. I made sure to keep my voice low when tried to explain what happened. “I don’t even know how I did that, Ellie. Don’t ask me.” I sighed. “I don’t even think it works like that.”
I spotted a grumpy looking grandma staring at me with curiosity.
“Let’s go,” I told Ellie.
“My house is too far back,” she said. “And there’s a bakery in the square up ahead . . . if we can just make it.”
She grabbed my hand and we continued shoving others away to that we can pass by. I found a narrow opening that led out of the sea of people, and lucky enough we made it to the square. It was still crowded there, but it was nothing compared to what we just witnessed. From there, finding the bakery was a breeze.
The bakery was a scaled-up, more complex version of what the Ancient Egyptians had created thousands of years ago. The actual area where the baker worked and lived was the same: four connecting ovens made of bricks were blazing with life (which gave me the painful reminder of my encounter with the fire plant), a small hut that served as the baker’s home, and all of which was completely surrounded by a white, brick border. The modern part of the bakery consisted of a full-fledge sitting area, half of which was enclosed in a cave-like wall. All of the seats were deserted, for most of the customers abandoned their food soon after the earthquake to look at the mysterious mountain. The baker, luckily, wasn’t mesmerized, and was working away at the ovens like he actually had patrons to attend to.
He spotted us and gave us a bright smile. “Welcome . . . it’s good to see that at least at least some of you haven’t been under hypnosis.” He looked up at the new mountain. “Ever since that thing sprouted from the ground, everyone’s been gawking over it. It’s quite a sight. Many of these people have never seen land so lush before. I figure that only the hunters and gatherers have outside the city . . . but still, that’s one green mountain.”
“I’m guessing we don’t really need to wait for our tables, then?” Ellie said.
At first, I wondered if that was the wrong thing to say, but the baker only laughed in response and held out his hand to the tables. “Sure is. Is there anything in particular you want today?”
I looked at Ellie. It was way past breakfast time, and that was the original reason why we wanted to go there. But she seemed to know what to order. “We’ll have some of your chocolate pastries.”
“Ah,” the baker said, ducking down to pick through the food items that were placed on shelves embedded in one of the walls that bordered us. Glass covered them to keep out unwanted pests, and heating lamps kept them hot and delicious. With a tong, he grabbed two, yellow-looking pastries from the automatic glass that swiveled up. Once he said, “Close Door Number 1,” it did as he commanded. He handed us two plates with the pastries on them, steaming hot with an unusually sweet fragrance. “The chocolate was just imported from the Lighten Tribe. They may be poor, but they’re rich with chocolate.” He let out a laugh. “I’m glad that one of the hunters took the liberty of trading some for me.”
He saw Ellie rummaging through her leather purse, but he shook his head. “It’s on the house.”
“No, I can’t, Ernest,” Ellie held up her hand.
“Listen, its fine, just take it.” It was clear to me that Ernest wouldn’t back down on his offer.
Ellie apparently sensed this, for she sighed and said gratefully, “Thanks.”
I took a plate as well and followed Ellie to the sitting area, which was from the borders that surrounded the ovens and Ernest’s house.
It was a relief to sit after all that walking, my legs experiencing an unbearable ache. Especially my right calf. Or is that just the doctors? I wondered. I’ve been in that dream for about twelve hours now, so I guessed that the surgeons had just finished creating the initial incision. I didn’t want to think what they were doing at that moment, and the fact that it would go on for a prolonged period of time made it that much more worse.
Much like the pain that I had experienced the day before, it receded, although this time it took much longer.
We chose one of the many tables that were made of carefully woven twigs, much like the matching chairs we sat on. Almost instantly, before I could even take a bite of the chocolate pastry, Ellie was already bashing me with questions. “Who are you?” She asked. “I need the truth.”
“I’m the Lucid,” I said with confidence for the first time. “Don’t tell me you’re still not convinced. Besides, I’ve been telling you the truth since the moment you found me.”
“It’s . . . just too much to swallow.” She scratched her head. “But I guess I have no choice but to believe you.” She exhaled. “I just can’t believe for all this time . . . we finally found you.”
“Now, since you know,” I said, thinking of the butcher’s daughter, “what do we do about all the other Anti’s?”
Ellie obviously hadn’t thought about that ‘till then. “. . . I don’t know.”
I knew one thing for sure, even though she didn’t; we couldn’t let those misguided Anti’s lose the Tascaque and receive banishment from the city. “We can’t let that happen,” I said to myself.
Ellie looked up at me expectantly. “What can’t happen?” But I didn’t need to tell her anything, for she already knew. “So what do we do? There’s no doubt that the Empress would cancel a Tascaque. She even tried to change the rules a while back so that they would be held after only four Anti-Lucids are recognized. But the appeal from the city wasn’t too good . . . something about ‘tradition’.” She sighed. “And if only one of them doesn’t participate, I know that the Empress would do anything she could to either imprison or banish that person, no matter what it takes.”
“So it’s a lose-lose situation,” I sighed in despair.
Ellie nodded her head slowly. “For us.”
