3. The Marmalade Town

"Ahem"

Oh ..Ohh... I didn't realize i was gaping at Caleb at his last words.

"But how...Nnno way..how could you possibly know!!?..

You mean that mark!!..that thing I have been hiding from people for like my entire life now ,

Because I was always treated like a weirdo for having that

(*whereas my little brother Luke who is in his freshman year ,uses it to flex around and is currently the star attraction there)

Thattt!!! ... you are saying is the reason why I am here!?" ,

I stopped as my eyebrows shot up in air.

"I guess you are right",

He shrugged.

He looked closely at me and spoke with a bit of what i felt was was a little smile,

"I wish i could explain you all this myself but its not upon me ..we have to reach the Malkan mansion first,

You will find the answers to your questions there".

He simply took my hand and before anything could happen ..

"Hey no! no! not again! ..can't we just walk?..

I can't tolerate any of your ways of transporting ..please!!" ,

I whimpered in protest.

"Its raining aura!..

You are already dreached!!..,

You have plans of catching cold,

is it?".

Oh look! who is speaking ,I eyed him head to toe.

"I know i am drenched too,

But I will be okay ,

Though i can't say the same about you..

and

I still think walking is not a great thing to do right now."

He answered firmly.

" No,

I will be absolutely perfect ...

Dont you worry ..

lets get going"

I flashed a botox smile on his face and began walking..

I mean I dont need him fake concerned about me catching cold ..

I can handle myself even on an alien planet..he needs to stop behaving like he is baby sitting me cause my mom asked him to..

He is just too bossy..

But I am not going to let him boss me around like that..

I know I have this sorted..

"Miss Collins",

I heard him call me from behind.

"arghh!! now what!!?"

As I turned around rapidly Panpan held on to me firmly yet gently and moved quickly to wrapped around my neck like a woolen muffler.

Oh god i almost forgot PanPan..i am an idiot! but he looks so small for panda.

I looked up at Caleb as i gently stroked his pet's back and he stood rooted to same spot .

Now with his arms crossed and clearly glaring at me.

"I forgot , you have been here before ,you know the entire place like the back of your hand",

He spoke, sarcasm oozing out of each word.

A simple "oh" is all I could say as i clumsily walked up to him.

"It's this way"

He said in an annoyed yet bossy tone.

Urghhh!! again the bossy tone

But I should seriously stop behaving so absentminded , Not when I'm not on earth.

As we walk , I look around ..we choose one of those twelve path..

This place looks like it is washed with gallons of orange colour everyday...

The trees ..the flowers..the clouds are puffy red-orange even the stones are orange!!..

They are all just different shades of oranges..some of them i haven't even seen.

But why...?

"Their star-color is orange.."

I was startled by Caleb's voice

"..thats why"

He completed in a hushed tones ,as I looked at him.

His gaze fixed on me.

I managed to swallow ..what felt like a bone stuck in my throat.

He suddenly looked ahead and

I followed his eyes to see a huggggeee gateway that sparkled in shades of golden and sunset orange.

"Lovely.." .

I gasped audibly.

"Oh that ain't biggie, you have seen nothing yet" ,

He smirked and marched ahead with pride to a whole new place that looked like a magical town enwrapped in salamander and marmalade orange.

Caleb quickly took a few steps back and suddenly stood close to me as if he was assigned a job to cover me up so noone could see me.

"Yes that's partially what I am supposed to do" ,

He answered nodding ,from the corner of his mouth

..still looking around , grinning toothly as we passed many staring people.

Through the gaps left between us I managed to breathe and admire this orangey world lined up with pretty houses and shops selling strange things which included :

Crystal orbs,charts,flyings spheres of beautiful colours,cards. The place was filled with the intoxicating smell of the herbs .

This is a whole freakin'

Marmalade town!!!

We finally stopped as we stood before a luxurious mansion that looked like it belonged to a royal family .

It was beautifully coated with salmon and apricot orange in front and its strong walls seemed to be made of a material that screamed elegance and of course orange!!..

The garden was covered with such beautiful plants and flowers that it seemed totally imaginary to me.

As we were about to enter the extravagant gates a stone just jumped and through dust of voilet appeared a man..oh holly...

What the hell just happened!!!??

"Hey Ben! I know we are a bit late ..I was apparently not allowed to glit..which means transporting through glitters if someone here doesnt know" ,

I felt Caleb's pair of accusing eyes point at me.

The guy Caleb had adressed just now giggled,

And then flashed a friendly tin smile at me and said,

"Hey I am Benjamin, You can call me Ben though..

I m a sulpha thats why i turned up from a stone ,oh! and you must have met my twin Abigail at the Divisio" ,

He answered my still astonished look but it quickly shifted to a confused one..

"By sulpha he means he is a shapeshifter",

Caleb answered casually.

"Wait come back !..what!??..he is a what!!?",

I asked feeling like i will lose it any moment now.

"Let's get inside first..you will get your answers there ..trust me" ,

Caleb spoke looking straight into my grey eyes.

Oh hell he knows he is convincing!!...

"Don't you?"

I asked him sending daggers through my gaze.

"Oh yes i do"

He smirked harder then ever.

Does he even smile properly or all he knows is smirking!??

Ben intrupted us in between as though sensing the tension in the air .

"Hurry please!! old man Gray is already panicking *ahem* i mean chief Malkan".

With that we entered the Mansion and through the enormous osage wooden doors ..

The ceiling of the great hall was covered with crystal orbs hanging high and low of different sizes and all shone a glittery golden orange.

An old man wearing a heavy but spiked crown gilded with orange stones and gems,

Already stood waiting for us in the centre of the hall.

He has almost breathed in relief on seeing us and finally spoke in a kind voice,

"Dear ..dear you finally brought her ..not on time but at least you reached.."

He looked at me and spoke warmly,

"Oh your drenched you need to change quickly else you shall catch cold ,

We have your dress and room ready ,

why don't you get changed and meet me here .

Your room is right here ,

I shall show it you come with me ".

I left Caleb's side ..as I gave him a final look ..

He nodded in assurance.

As expected we reached a luxurious room,I smiled gently as i thanked the old man and before I could go in , he spoke,

" Aura i have got less time for explaination,

Please be quick we are running out of time".

I had a shower and got dressed in what was kept beautifully arranged at the dresser.

I examined myself one last time in the mirror as i strapped the strap of an elegant pair of black round toe heel around my ankle.

I wore a blush pink dress which was slightly glimmery but overall plain and quite decent.

I had let my hair down as they were still slightly wet.

I walked straight to the great hall where the man i met earlier stood eagerly waiting and was pacing shiftly across the hall as though panicking.

On seeing me he smiled immediately,

"Oh dear that dress fits you beautifully!".

I simply smiled back and gave him a look of gratitude.

"I know all this is very new and confusing to you ,

But dont be scared of us or this world dear.

We are harmless and intend to always keep you safe and protected till you are here.

I know i have a lot of explaining to do but Aura I sense a shortage of time for thats what worries me right now ,

We cant keep you here for much longer so please listen carefully to every word and i will try to make everything clear to you and

I will also try to answer your leftover questions at the end ."

Okay I guess i am ready to lose a major portion of my brain cells then ...

"Aura this all began at the beginning of the universal ,

The earliest periods when humans started to adapt to earth and its surroundings .

But some of us showed certain abilities that many others didn't possess .We were gifted with powers..with magic ..my child!..

oh yes! its true we slowly learned how to control them..use them..we learnt to live with it.

But we noticed not all humans possessed these powers ..we were only limited ..

very few and it didnt take us long to know that we were not meant to live amongst the normal humans.

Because we possessed threat to them and also to ourselves,

So we moved..all of us...we moved to a drawf planet undiscovered and unknown to humans..

Where we could survive and create our own world..that is this place

..Planon..

And we call ourselves maxipians and we are blessed by the creator with the godly light of the twelve stars.

By we i mean the thirteen Ileto's ..ileto's are like groups or communities Aura.

Each ileto is gifted with a certain power that the other can't possesss. Each ileto has a work to do ..together we all run this planet.

And each one has a star assigned to it except the thirteenth ileto.

Each month a single star glows the brightest ,that month the particular ileto whose stars shines experiences maximum power.

Don't worry I will tell you one by one the powers of each community and their names.

Later i will tell you their role here.

I know its hard to digest but i bet this is not the first time you are listening to all this..

Lets begin with the one you are familiar with

The thirteenth ileto is the one that protects us from the dangers of the inside and the outside world its called Secura,

The lady at the divisio belongs to secura, they live between earth and planon as the name divisio means a division..

There are many such shops and places at earth that connect us to it. This ileto is represented not by a star but by sun and the moon hence are in power through out the year.

So the first ileto is the one having the power of strength called the Pokotra

the second is ileto of knowledge known as Zyrad

the third is the love ileto called Leva ..you know.

The fourth being the ileto of future vision known as viscon and I am its chief my dear ..Chief Gray Malkan

the fifth ileto is the mind reading one called Gemzar

the sixth one is the ileto having an power to acquire any one animal trait it wants to and are called at a time and are called Anolor..

a very unique power indeed..

The seventh and the eight ileto's mostly work together as their abilities are regrowth and destruction respectively called Bumex and Fozino

The ninth one is ileto that can bring any nonliving thing to life for a limited time but the exception is they cant bring the dead back! They are called Nekro

The tenth ileto is the shapeshifters known as sulpha

The eleventh are the healers called Geris

the last one is the punisher or the ileto that provides justice called the Whiulus

But the magic has its restrictions Aura and we all must abide by it as the one who goes against it ..

the one who desires for bad ..suffers. And as always said by us

"Beyond the aqueous blue lies a place ,Bestowed with the divine light of the twelve stars," he was stopped abruptly as..

"Empowered ,united and protected by magic only until it's followed"

I continued the next line ,

Unaware that those words came out from my mouth .

"Ahh...you remember i see.."

He smiled affectionately.

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