Chapter 6: The Food
“Lyra, do you believe in an afterlife?” Blue started off with a question. I wondered what he meant by that but I just nodded.
He smiled a bit and leaned back on my bed, using his hands to support himself. He looked up at the ceiling as he continued, “well I’ve lived many lives before. If I remember correctly, I’ve walked on the earth for 5 times. Not typically this planet each time though” he looked at his fingers as if counting the times he lived. As confusing as this was, I believed him for some reason.
“Are you saying you’re an alien?” I asked, this boy was starting to get a lot more interesting.
“Alien?” Blue laughed, “I guess you can say that but I wouldn’t exactly call myself an ‘alien’. I’m a human either way, I walk, breath, learn, have two legs and two hands and all of the characteristics of a living human boy. But yeah, I walked on a different planet other than Earth before. It’s sort of like a parallel universe kind of thing, minus the pollution of course.” He looked out the window and sniffed the air a little before letting out a small groan, “I get used to it after a while, but god, this Earth is turning rotten by the second”
He covered his nose over dramatically, causing me to giggle a little. He sighed and leaned back on his hands again. “So you’re saying there is another planet out there with humans as well?” I asked, hugging my stuff wolf close to me.
“Yep, however we’re not exactly the same kind” He looked to me, pulling up on leg as he finally started his story, “you may think this is like some sort of bed time story your parents will tell you at night but it’s not. Dragons, griffons and many other mythical creatures live and thrive on the planet I was born in, where I lived my first life. Our home was in a huge forest with towering trees, filled with bird song and animals of all kinds. The air was clean and healthy, the animals are tamed and dragons are known as protectors. Mages live to defend their land, including other hybrids of humans as well. It was all that I wanted, to be with my mother, father, older brother and younger sister.
“There’s school too.” He said before I could ask, “we learn magic, weaponry, dealing, hand on fighting and more. There’s still math, history and all of that worthless junk too but if I were to brag, I’d say I excelled in art and math. In combat fighting, I stand out more in agility and speed practices. Or, if you prefer, ‘parkour’, judo and martial arts.” Blue made air quotes when he said parkour. “If I were to have a weapon, I’d say it would be the long sword.”
I nodded, amazed by the number of talents Blue had, “sounds like a nice place, peaceful one too. But why would you need to learn how to fight?” His expression darkened a bit and I knew I made him remember something he didn’t want to. “Y-you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…” I quickly said but he just shook his head.
“It’s okay” He said, “no secrets remember?” He smiled halfheartedly at me, “even though life was peaceful, all things have to end sometimes right? It was my 18th birthday when we were ambushed by our closest allies. Blood and death filled our camp, we didn’t want to fight back since they were our friends, but they showed us no mercy so we had to. We didn’t know why they were attacking but they were savage, killing anyone that got in their way. They tried to kill my little sister. I got in their way”
My eyes widened at the last words. He didn’t want to say it but I knew what he meant. I wanted to ask why their closest allies would attack them but I stayed quiet. I knew it wasn’t normal but I can guess why they would betray them. I doubt it was on purpose.
We stayed quiet for a while then I piped up again, “so how was your second life?”
“My second life ended a lot shorter” Blue’s gaze went back out the window, he looked rather distant as he told his story to me. “I remembered everything from my first life, the skills I learned and the fight where I fell. I remember my mother, my father, older brother and younger sister oh so clearly that all that mattered was seeing them again. I woke up with new parents and one younger brother but I never really interacted with them. They were worried about me but I never told them what is wrong, they were humans, not mages. They wouldn’t understand and besides, they were poor and I doubt they got any education at all. I kept quiet.
