Chapter 18 - Scarlet

Claraleona. A world parallel to that of earth, unlike the life on Earth, Claraleona was a world of magic users such as mage, wizards, and witches. A world where people with or without magic live as one. Even though their world was parallel to Earth, their world runs in a completely different way, much like Earth's way of using electricity and energy to power certain things, Claraleona runs on magic. Magic that runs through the cities, the small towns, and even in the wild. Back on Earth where people are classified as the upper class, middle class, and lower class, here in Claraleona the only difference was the ones that are strong and the ones that are weak, those with magic and those without magic, and those who stand on top and those who stand on the bottom. However, what makes this world so special is the single word that flows in everyone's heart within this world, and that was freedom. There was no limitation to what a person can be in their future, nor were they going to be limited of what they can do because of how society works, besides the imperial law that was created by the heavenly ones themselves that kept the world in order, there was not ant sayings to what one wants to become. This was the meaning of freedom.

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"Earth you say?"

She nodded quickly, as she watched the back of the old man who brought in a tray with a teapot and teacups. He set them on the wooden desk and poured them both some freshly brewed tea.

"Yes, I remember reading a book about a world called Earth when I was a child, but that book belongs in the Academy." He replied, taking a seat in his old wooden chair while blowing lightly into the teacup he held in his hands. "As far as I know, that's the only book about Earth that exists in this world. Reading it would be impossible since it's heavily guarded."

"The only book? So you guys know of our world?" She questioned.

"Hmmm," He said, taking his time to swallow the tea before meeting her eyes. "No, there's only a few in this world that have such knowledge about your world, if words spread out of the existence of your world, it'll only cause chaos within this world and your world if there were to be crossovers of magic users into your world. As far as I know, the heavenly ones want to keep the two worlds separate."

"Heavenly ones?" She repeated, but quickly brushed aside. "Then how did you know?"

"Hehe." The old man twirled his tea around in his cup and glanced up and out at the only window in the room. The sun seems to be setting, casting its orange and yellow rays upon the ground. "It's hard to believe, but I used to work in the Academy, but I was a fool and got curious about the wrong things." He sighed.

"I took a look in that book when it was not guarded, and because of that, I was expelled from the city." He shook his head with a smile, but the look in his eyes said otherwise.

"Expelled from the city? Just for looking inside the book? Isn't that too harsh?" She said, trying to stand on his side as well as comfort him.

"Harsh? No child, that punishment might as well be considered light. I'm grateful that they only stripped me of my magic and kicked me out of the city, it could have been a death sentence." He laughed.

She didn't know why the old man was laughing at such a horrible ending, she couldn't bring herself to laugh at all. Because of what he did, he was now living such a terrible life in this run-down house that didn't seem to offer any warmth or feeling of home.

"Now if you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you cross over to our world?" The old man asked. She glances at him with a frown.

"I don't know exactly, we were just sailing on this large ship and then a big storm hit us, and then my friends and I were overthrown with the rest of the ship. The next thing I know I woke up on shore, why are you asking me? Wouldn't the book you've read tell you how one can cross over?" She questioned.

"I never fully read the book." He reminded her. "The one who wrote that book however was probably known to be the only one that has crossed over to the other world. However, he is long dead." The old man shook his head again in sadness. "Quite sad too, he was known to be a young, determined lad. Still young for his age, but because of what he did the higher-ups had no choice but to hunt him down, in the end forcing him to kill himself, although I hardly believe that's the story, only the ones that were close to him would you."

"So he died young? If the higher-ups as you've said, disapproved of this so much as to force him to end his own life why would they still keep his book?" she questioned.

"Well...I would guess they were driven and tempted with all the information and records written in that book. That book would be simply too important than to just burn it." The room was slowly starting to get quite dark, so the old man got up and brought in some candles which he shrugged to light it up. She offered to help, as he settled back into his chair.

"His friends are still alive?" She questioned, sitting back down once the candles were lighted, and was flickering dimly in the room, casting their large shadows on the wooden walls.

"Yes, I would assume he would have told his friends of his adventure, so you want information on how to get back to your world I would find them, however, if you're going to ask me as to where to start, I have no idea. I myself do not know the man."

"Hmmm.," it was all she could say. "Then what made you guys think that we were wizards...or magic users?"

"Well, the way you dress. I'm sorry to have you guys go through so much when you guys weren't wizards yourself." He said on behalf of the town's people.

"Magic-users are usually from the large cities, and people from the cities dress differently from the normal citizens that live in small towns and villages like this one. Since you want to find out about how to get back to your world, I would suggest you head to the big city."

She glances over to the doorway to the other room where her friends were still sleeping, the old man must have caught her look of concern and smiled as he placed his cup down.

"You're a good friend, they're lucky to have a friend that would go through so much for them." He said as if trying to comfort her. In return, she gave him a small smile.

"Yeah...they're...kind of the only family I got left." She muttered.

"Anyways, go get some rest. As an apology on behalf of how the people acted in this town, I won't charge you or your friends for anything." The old man stood up and brought the tray with him.

"Wait! You can have your bed back, sorry I'll-"

"Nonsense! You're a patient, I don't even sleep here." He said, excusing himself.

She smiled, she had taken a liking to the old man. If he was family she would have given him a better life than living in this dump. Speaking of that, she wondered where his family members were? She glances out the window, it's been a long day and the thought of her in another world actually didn't sound so bad. Although she was far from home, strange enough she felt more at home here than anywhere else. She shook her head and blew the candles out, deciding to think about everything else tomorrow.

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"Claraleona? So they came to our world?!" Raven repeated excitedly, jumping lightly up and down on his chair. His excitement made his Granny laugh, before telling him to settle down before he gets injured.

"Granny, does this story exist in real life? Can I go meet Scarlet, Maven, and Yukanie?"

"Haha, silly child. You can't meet them, my dear, I'm afraid they're long gone." His Granny got up from her chair and went back inside the kitchen, checking up on the porridge she was cooking. After tasting it, she added some salt and placed the lid back on, turning the fire smaller before returning to her chair slowly.

"Long gone?" The boy repeated with a deep frown on his face.

"Nevermind child, you'll get it once you're older. Shall we continue with the story?"