Grandma Daisy

It was almost midnight when they finished, so the family invited them to sleep for the night. The ladies stayed in the same guest's room. They chatted for a while, then fell asleep.

The next day, the DNA results were out. Bella and Adelle went to fetch the document at the hospital. Adelle plans to look at the results together with Grandpa Tang, so they went straight to his house.

She and Grandpa were seated together in the living room. After Adelle pulled out the results from the brown envelope, Adelle's tears fell from her face. She embraced him, who was frozenly looking at the results. He trembles, cries, and embraces Adelle tighter. It's 99.99% matched….

Bella also cried, she embraced them both. Adelle wanted to speak with Grandma Meihui, so Bella left her five bottles of water and went shopping alone.

She went to buy different species of rabbits. She placed them in the car, drove in the park, and put them all in space. Then she repeated this in different stores until Grandpa invited her for lunch. After chatting for a while, they went to Zhang Villa for training.

After dinner, Grandma Dy invited Bella to come with her to her room. Grandma dismissed her maid and closed the door. She pointed to the small couch beside the French window, so Bella sat there. Grandma went to her wardrobe and disappeared for a minute. Bella heard soft noises like rummaging through things and a clicking sound. Grandma came out holding a small wooden box. She sat opposite her and placed the box on her lap. She looks at the window, recalling something.

"I was born in Carpi Country, in Ravenna Continent. When I was young, I loved playing in the mountains together with my brothers and sisters. I was the youngest and had short legs, so when we ran, I was always left behind. One day, while we were playing in the woods, a wolf attacked us. My eldest brother fought it while we escaped, just like what he wanted. He wants to sacrifice his life, so we could live. Because of my short legs, I knew I couldn't run. I didn't shout for help, I didn't want to be a burden. So I hid in a hole under an immense tree.

I cried silently while watching my brother slowly losing strength. When he stabbed the wolf with a broken branch, he fell on the ground together with it. It was so silent I could hear his slow breath. When I was about to come out, a small man approached my brother. I say a small man because I was taller than him. He was old, but his height was like that of a 5-year-old child. He looked down on my brother and said something in a language that I couldn't understand.

He bends down and touches my brother's forehead. There was a blinding purple light surrounding him and my brother. When the light vanished, he stood up weakly and walked away.

I went to my brother, he was full of blood. His clothes were in shreds. But he was breathing like he was only sleeping. Beside him, the dead wolf with a tree branch in his eye.

I saw how the wolf bit his body. In his arms, on his shoulders and legs. But there were no wounds when I checked him. I'm convinced that the old man saved my brother.

When he woke up, I told him everything but asked me to keep it a secret. I didn't know why at first, but later, I understood the dangers it could bring to our benefactor. So we kept it a secret and told a different story to our parents.

Once a week, we go back to that spot and bring a basket of food. We leave it there and return next week. Every time, it's replaced with varieties of fruits and vegetables that were only found deep in the mountains. We did it for a year, until one day, he showed up.

He spoke our language, but it's obvious that it's not his mother tongue. He brought us to the cave where he lives. It shocked us. Inside the cave was a large metal box. With a push of a button, doors closed and open. There were plants and other metal things that we didn't recognize.

Every week we spend our time with the elder named Oaslue. Slowly we realized that he was getting weaker. He said he's a healer, but the last energy he had was used to save my brother. His actions impressed him. Like a warrior who sacrifices his life for his people.

The medicines don't work, and he couldn't leave because he'll die when he's too far from the box. He didn't want others to know about him, so he silently endures the pain. The last time we saw him, he was too weak to move, he stayed on the bed and asked for a favor. He exchanged his life so that my brother could live. So we agreed, then he gave us these..."

Grandma opened the box. There lie two small rings, Green and white.

"He gave us the stones he called Olen, and I made them into rings so it's easy to hold. He said that these may look like ordinary stones, but one is a combination of a thousand stones. It was technologically modified to amplify the core stone. But without it, these are useless"

Bella's heartbeat slowed the moment she opened the box and felt a connection with the stones. But it was so faint, just like the feeling she had with the light blue ring that she bought in the market.

"He said that the core was lost during the impact when their ship fell here. It was fifty years ago." Bella was trembling from what she's hearing. But she's controlling her heart, so it wasn't visible.

"Yes, dear, he's not from this planet. He came from a very far place, but he couldn't tell us more. Because he thought he had time, he was planning to tell us slowly. But everything changed, so he couldn't wait for his companions anymore. The box's energy was already depleted and our planet doesn't have the resources that could keep him from withering. In his last breath, he gave us a mission. He wants us to reunite them with the core.

He told us that the core attracts the little stones. So when it's near, the keeper will know. He said that an ordinary stone would disappear after it's absorbed by their minds.

So there's a special device that prevents the core from absorbing it directly, instead, it absorbs only the energy keeping the stone intact. The device was already destroyed, so he doesn't know what effect it will bring. But he hopes that it could be useful to us."

Grandma was crying, so Bella stood up and gave her a handkerchief.

"Before we bid him goodbye, he also warned us. When the earth crumbles, we must stay far away from the cave and we must not look for him.

But my brother didn't listen. Maybe he felt burdened. Oaslue could've had more time and reunited with his companions if he didn't use his energy to save him.

When the earth crumbled the next day, my brother gave me the purple stone and told me that Oaslue advised him to give this to a person who heals before reuniting it with the core. Then he ran back to the mountain. My parents held me so I couldn't go. That was the last time we saw him..."

She wipes her tears and urges her to sit down.

"When you showed us your space, and Dean told me about the purple stone, I thought I must give these to you." She pushed the box and Bella accepted it.

"Thank you for trusting us." Bella kneeled and embraced Grandma's waist. She cried in her chest.

"Now we should stop crying. If Dean hears us, he might break through the door. He doesn't even care if that door is older than him" Grandma said with a serious face.

"Pffffftttttttt, hahahahaha!" they laughed together.

"Help me get to bed, dear, I need to rest."

"Of course." She helped her get to bed, put a blanket over her, and kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight Granny."

"Oh, I like the sound of that, call me that from now on. Stay for the night dear, it's already late Okay?"

"Thank you, Granny."

"Goodnight Isabella."

She threw the box in space and exited the room. She saw his arms crossed and leaning beside the door. Without a word, she embraced him. Dean embraced her back.

Adelle and Isabella stayed in the guest's room. Bella told Adelle what happened and after chatting for a while, they rested on the bed. Adelle had no problem sleeping, but Bella's still wide awake. She took the box from space, wore the rings, and tossed the box in space again.

Grandma used gold to hold the stones. She touched both of them and tried to feel the connection, but nothing happened. She tried touching them and recalls the lush mountains Grandma described. She felt dizzy and started having a headache, then she fell asleep. The rings lit up and then they vanished….