Antithetic's Tale

Chapter 4

“And what the hell is wrong with that?” I curiously asked him. What’s wrong with helping someone who desperately needed help? Is it illegal here?

“You said you hate human beings but why did you help her? You could have left because you are supposed to do so.” Why is he acting like he’s affected of what I did earlier? And how did he even know what I did? I made sure that no one is following me.

I didn’t answer him. I just went inside the house, not minding any of his questions and rants. I don’t want to waste my time arguing with him. I just want to rest and sleep because I have a lot of questions in my mind, and the girl in my dream is the only one who could answer me.

I entered my room and turned off the lights afterwards. I’ll be able to sleep peacefully now that I am in the presence of darkness. After minutes, I drift off to sleep.

I roamed my eyes around the place to find that woman but it seems like she’s not around. I hope that she would show up again.

A silhouette caught my attention when I looked in front of me. He is surrounded by tall and massive trees. There’s a voice inside my mind telling me to go near that man but the other is telling me to ignore that voice. However, I am really curious with who the hell is that man, so I started walking towards his direction.

“Iris.” He stood still. Like what I’m expecting, he knows me.

“I hope you can forgive me.” My forehead creased. This is definitely the first time I heard this voice.

“I don’t want to do this but, I need to.” Seriously, who is this man?

"Reality is full of mystery," he added. I chose to listen rather than ask him questions.

"And you are the last piece to solve all of those mysteries." Wait, what? Me? I am the key to solve all the mysteries that were hidden in this world? How? I know I have capabilities that a normal human would never possess but I haven’t fully discovered everything.

"All you have to do is to protect yourself, because no one else will." I know.

"In your reality, you can trust no one. Even you will betray yourself." That’s the exact thing that the woman from my dream said. I am having a mental crisis because of these people. They kept on making me solve puzzle without giving me the puzzle pieces. In short, they are making my stay here in reality a messy one.

"Just protect them because that's your mission but, always remember to guard yourself. I can be your protector but, it won't be for a long time." I need no one in my life to protect me, I can handle myself. I can protect myself without any help from Mreine, Ion, this man or anyone.

"See you soon." He vanished from my sight after saying that.

“I guess you met him already.” My attention diverted to the woman behind me. It’s her, finally.

“Who is that man?” I asked her.

Until now, I am curious with the things he said. He seemed to know everything about me and about the things that will happen to me in the future. That’s odd.

“He is dangerous, Iris. He’ll just ruin your life,” she said seriously.

“Remember this, Iris. Don’t trust that man.” I didn’t even have the chance to see his face. How can I stay away from a person when I don’t even have any idea about his physical appearance?

She smiled at me sweetly before holding my hand. She pulled me away from that place but before it vanishes totally from my sight, I saw a strange thing from afar. It’s a black house. I wonder who the owner of that house is.

“I want to congratulate you, by the way. You already discovered another dexterity that you possess!” she exclaimed with excitement in her voice. My another ability? As far as I know I only have one dexterity as of now.

“It takes several months for that ice inside that human’s heart to melt.” I just ignored her because I can’t understand what she’s talking about.

“Oh Iris, something is bothering me. Why did you help that woman? That’s not the right thing to do,” she said while shaking her head in disappointment. I don’t get it. Is it really illegal to help other people here in reality? Her reaction is the exact reaction of Ion a while ago.

“Can we please stop talking about human beings? I need to ask you regarding the place I saw earlier.” I’m pertaining to that dirty place including those humans who stink. I thought the real world is beautiful? That is how she defined it.

“Not everything you see here is beautiful, Iris. Perfection doesn’t exist in this world. Not everything you see is true and not everything you hear is real. Even the things that you can touch and see, sometimes, those things aren’t real at all. There are some things that were just made to fool you. All you need to do is to determine whether it’s fake or real.” If this is the case, why did she show me the beauty of reality and leaving its catastrophic part behind?

Freeing myself from Mreine’s cage also means leaving my comfort zone. I went out because I wanted to experience the beauty behind that silly laboratory’s walls. I didn’t know that the other part of reality could be much more devastating than those crazy Mreine’s scientists who only think about their experiments.

 “If the real world is really this catastrophic then, why didn’t you let me see this part?” I asked her. She’s the reason why I became desperate to see the reality. She made me believe that everything here is beautiful; she made me believe how wonderful it is to experience reality.

“Iris, nothing is much better than seeing the brighter side of things first.”

“And after seeing it, you’ll be able to see the dark side of this world. After seeing both parts, you can now decide whether you make the darkness fade or be part of it. You will choose whether to make the beautiful parts outshine its devastating parts or merely continue drowning in catastrophe,” she added. In my case, even if the darkness comforts me I would still want to completely remove it for the sake of reality.

“However, human beings tend to choose the latter. They let themselves drown in catastrophe. No matter how bright the reality is, they would choose to believe that darkness would eventually swallow all that brightness. Now, that’s the thing you need to change, Iris.” Why do I need to change others’ perception and decision? I don’t want them to be part of my life and I won’t barge into humans’ businesses.

“But always keep this in your mind that there are many people out there who’ll do everything to stop you. People are desperate and selfish, they’ll act like they could be your strongest ally but eventually they are actually there to bring you down,” she said.

“Why are you telling me these things?”

“I just want you to be aware. I just want you to know that whatever happens protect the people at all cost. It’s your job and I won’t barge in your business.” That’s the exact thing the man told me.

“Come on, wake up. Take care of yourself.” After saying that, I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw is Ion’s face. Disgusting.

“Hey, woman! Could you please stop acting like you are sleeping just to avoid my questions!” he complained as soon as his eyes met mine.

“Someone labeled me as a monster Ion,” I said. I remembered what that man called me a while ago, that stinky perverted man.

“That’s not true Iris,” he assured. I know I am different from those human beings but I don’t think I am a monster. He doesn’t have the rights to regard me as one.

“You’re different from other people but, you are not a monster,” he added. I looked straight into his eyes.

“I’m sorry for disturbing you, Athena. You can continue resting,” he said. Before he finally gets out of my room, I asked him one more thing.

“If that’s the case, then what am I?” I asked. I am desperate to know who I am. I never saw Ion with the same dexterities as me so I don’t think he is different from those weak human beings. If I am the only one with these capabilities, then what am I? Am I even considered a human?

"Goodnight." He didn’t answer my question. He simply smiled and went out.

I decided not to sleep again. I don’t want to see that woman and that man again. My mind is occupied with many mysterious things. I am really confused of everything that is happening around me and I don’t want to make it more mysterious. I need to solve my remaining problems first before facing the upcoming battles ahead of me.

I guess I should start from discovering all the dexterities I possess.

That day ended without anything peculiar happened. I did my best to discover new capabilities but I failed. I just don’t understand why Mreine would hide these things from me. They could simply tell me everything but they keep on hiding who I really am.

“Athena, this is your uniform. Don’t worry, we’ll attend classes together. Just keep in mind that starting from now, I’ll be your big brother, okay?” he reminded me. I almost forgot that this is our first day of attending our classes.

 “The uniform suits you well,” he said while beaming.

“Let’s go,” I demanded.

Attending school means being surrounded with silly human beings. However, if I really want to experience having a normal life, then I should go.

 “Do you see the building over there? It’s your department. I’ll go ahead, little sister,” he said playfully before walking away on his own. I walked towards the building he’s pertaining to while looking at the white paper he handed me.

Name: Athena Clarke

Age: 20 years old

Course: Bachelor of Science in Biology

Section: 2-1

Mother: Charlotte Clarke

Father: Aider Clarke

Brother(s): Ion Clarke

Sister(s): None

Primary school:  Mreine Academy

Secondary school: Mreine Academy

College: Mreine University

Entrance examination score: 500/500

I guess that Charlotte and Dr. Willows will be my parents while I am here. I was busy reading the paper when I bumped into someone. I didn’t bother looking at all and just continued walking but she suddenly called my name.

“Athena?!” What the hell is this woman doing here?

Someone's POV

“She’s already here in our world,” my assistant said.

“That’s good.” I smirked. “It will be easy for me to rule this world because of her presence,” I said. Finally, everything is going according to the plan.

“What should we do next?” he asked me curiously.

“Nothing.” I saw the confusion on his face. I smirked devilishly as I whispered something.

“Let her live normally for now.”