HOSPITALITY, HOSTILITY

It was the first night in Utopia for Kris.

According to Yuna, since Ryu had come home from the human world safely, there is a feast tonight.

In a room that looked like a bar, there were many people from across the village who came for the delicious food cooked by Yuna's parents.

They told Kris that Ryu was like a son to them, so to have their beloved son come home after two weeks time from the dangerous human world was a huge relief.

Kris did not pry any further, although she was curious as to why the so called 'human world', where she practically came from, was dangerous for Ryu and everyone else in Utopia.

She watched as everyone enjoyed their time with the food that served, and her eyes fell onto Ryu and Yuna that sat across each other, with the former watching the latter eat the meat he bought for her.

"Delicious ?"

"If it's you who bought it, of course it's delicious !"

Kris went to sit next to Ryu, not knowing what to do standing in the middle of the crowd. Now he came back, she felt at ease.

"Enjoyed your time here ?" Ryu asked Kris, turning to look at her.

"Yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Mist, along with Yuna are really nice."

Yuna watched as Ryu and Kris had a talk about her time during the party, the cut to the meat was not as vigorous anymore.

She never saw that kind of smile on Ryu.

Who is this human girl she brought home with him, anyway ?

"I can show you around Aora tomorrow, do you want to come ?"

"Aora.. as in this village ? Yeah, sure." She deadpanned, thinking that she would not just stay still after traveling across dimensions to a place that probably does not exist on Earth.

"That's tomorrow's plan, then." he replied, getting uncomfortably close to her face before he retreated back, which made her frozen on her seat.

Her heart felt like it stopped for a moment.

"We're going now, Mr. and Mrs. Mist, we had a long day." Ryu said to the elderly couple by the counter, receiving a few waves from them.

Kris hurried from the table and followed him outside, waving hastily at Yuna.

She felt a little attached to Yuna since she was the first girl she knew around her age after coming here to Utopia.

As they walked out of the bar, Ryu started to approach her by holding her shoulder, but he walked as if he did not just invaded her privacy.

He then abruptly covered her with the hood given by him earlier, covering her face partially from the eyes of others.

"What are you doing ?" Kris frowned as she felt Ryu still holding her head to make her look down.

"I'll explain to you later."

Kris let him lay his arm on her while she had a hard time trying to walk with him weighing on her.

Finally, they reached Ryu's place and Kris quickly pushed the robe off of her head, while Ryu undid his and hung it on the hanger.

"What did you do that for ?"

"Jeez, I'll explain to you."

She watched as he crouched down by the fireplace, picking up a red stone that was sitting by it before he flicked it together with a normal stone, lighting a fire in an instant on the pile of woods.

She hugged her arms, feeling chills go down her spine at the fire, growing bigger and bigger as time goes by.

Taking a seat on the brown couch next to her, she took in calm breathes before trailing her eyes on Ryu, sitting at the other couch.

"Now you're in Utopia, you need to know what to do and what not to do here."

"Is it related to what you were doing just now ?"

".. Sort of.."

Kris tilted her head suspiciously at his response.

"First, you can't go alone in the dark."

"In Utopia, we have Goddess of Light that fights against Goddess of Darkness. They were not exactly Goddess, they were the same as us who were blessed with nature that is above all else, and they alone have them since the birth of Utopia."

"At the essence of that, Goddess of Light was naturally very giving and kind to her people, unlike Goddess of Darkness, who is naturally evil and lives to exploit Utopia and people in it."

Kris nodded as she began to understood little by little, but it was still confusing, and he took a deep breath.

"The only nature that can fight against darkness is fire." Her eyes perked up at the mention of fire.

"And.. that's also the reason why you have to hide yourself more often."

The memory of that day flashed before her eyes, where her name was resounding in her head and a fireball was shot straight at her.

"Hey, hey.."

Her eyes met with Ryu's black ones when she turned at the nudge on her shoulder.

Ryu could see a little fear in her eyes.

He sighed, "Soldiers of Fire-makers would patrol at night and keep Utopia safe. Therefore, you need to hide yourself or just stay at home when the sun falls."

Her eyes fell to her lap, fingers clenching with each other as she kept thinking of being captured by the man that tried to kill her.

"Why.. why am I the target.. ?"

Ryu's eyes widened to see a tear slide down her face.

"You'll learn eventually, but until then, I will protect you."

Kris glanced at the hand that was placed next to her, the veiny hand that looked stronger than her slender ones.

She proceeded to grabbed the manly hand and clenched on it, pouring her trust and fear into him, eyes closed.

"I will always protect you, Kris."