168: ONISM

ONISM

Onism: Awareness of how little of the world you will experience. (n)0

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After seven hours flying, they finally arrived at the airport. There was a black sport car that had been waiting for them.

Raine didn't know where they were exactly. But then, someone who was as tall as Torak, approached them. That person talked to him in a foreign language with a strange accent.

This man was in his late twenty. His hair was dark brown, and he was rather slim for a man. He nodded his head when Torak talked to him. Raine assumed that Torak was giving him an instruction. 

After exchanging a few words with the man, Torak guided her to the car. Once they got inside it, he strapped the seatbelt on her first, before he walked around to the driver seat and drove the car by himself. Raine was curious, how many languages did Torak speak? It would be more than two handful hands to count it. 

"Are we somewhere abroad?" Raine asked, while looking at the scenery outside the window. The sun was still high. She could see a couple of clouds that looked like cotton. They were floating around, high in the clear blue sky.

This was such perfect weather to go on a picnic. 

"Yes, this country is called Rieka." Torak replied. "Maybe you are not familiar with this country, as we are on a different continent. Plus, this country is rather small for a country."

"Rieka?" Raine reiterated because the name sounded so strange for her.

"Yes, Rieka. There's a meaning behind that name. It's 'power of the wolf'." Torak explained. "To think about it again, it's quite ironic. It's because you will never see a single werewolf, or lycan here." 

"Why?" Raine turned her head, and looked at Torak.

"I will show you why." Torak smiled patiently.

They drove to the main road where it started to get crowded. They move towards the heart of the city. Inside the car, Raine didn't talk much because she was enjoying the view outside. This city wasn't very different from Fulbright City. Only that this one had less tall buildings, compared to Fulbright City.

The pedestrians mostly wore a baseball cap to cover their eyes from the sunlight. The trees that grew in a row along the road were looking lush. Behind those trees, she could see there was a row of uniquely designed houses. Most of the houses looked like an old house. They had big windows, and steps before one could reach the terrace. 

There was one little thing that Raine noticed immediately. One thing that couldn't be left to notice. The fact that there were many wolf statues in front of each of these houses. They varied in terms of size.

"Why are there so many wolf statues in front of all these houses?" Raine turned around to ask Torak.

However, before he could answer her question, another scene came to her sight. It was as if to confirm her question. On the roundabout, there was a big fountain with statues that seemed to be a pack of wolves. One big wolf was standing tall on its feet, while the other smaller wolves followed behind, there were around ten of them.

"The forgiven souls who have…" Raine squinted her eyes.Even though Torak was driving the car relatively slowly, she still couldn't catch the last words that were carved on the surface of the stone beneath the leader of the pack's feet.

"…fought with hearts." Torak finished the words for her.

"Hmm?" Raine looked at Torak questioningly. "The forgiven souls who have fought with hearts?" She repeated the whole sentence "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Later." Torak glanced at his curious little mate beside him with a smile on his face. 

Torak was exceptionally very calm today. There was no trace of his outburst from yesterday. As though it all never happened. 

"I will explain it later. I'd like to show you something first." Torak said. Reaching out his hand, and then intertwining their fingers. Raine smiled. She didn't ask anything further. Instead, she resumed to relish the scenery before her eyes. 

For Raine, it all almost felt like a dream, where she enjoyed a beautiful city with someone who loved her so dearly beside her. A moment when she didn't need to worry about someone, or other creatures who would want to harm her. This time, she had him beside her, he would make sure she was fine. 

With Torak, she felt safe, both physically and mentally. The feeling that she wouldn't even dare to imagine back when she was still in the orphanage. Because those people there had never treated Raine well.

Now, she could eat any food that she liked, not some leftover foods. She could now wear some nice dresses and other pretty clothes, not the one that they almost throw away. And now, she was in a foreign country, enjoying this lovely city.

The drive took thirty minutes, before they arrived at a place that looked like a library. It was designed akin to an ancient building from medieval ages.

Raine hurriedly unbuckled herself to get out of the car, once it stopped. She looked at the building with amazement. She was puzzled upon looking at this old looking building. Despite the look of it, there was something mysterious, and attractive about this place. Almost felt like there was a warm energy that exuded from it. 

Torak chuckled the moment when he saw Raine's reaction. She looked like a little child, who was given a birthday present ahead of time.

"What is that building?" Raine asked. When Torak was beside her, she hugged his arm naturally.

"A library." Torak answered just like what Raine had thought. 

"Are we going to read something? Do you have a book that you want to read?" Whatever this book was, Raine was so excited to read it. She was thinking that it might be related to Torak. Is he going to be featured in the book? Like part of a history?

Raine's mind was reeled with a lot of possibility. Because Torak had been keeping his mouth shut, and only led her to enter the building. Just like other houses that Raine had seen previously, this building also had a few steps before they could reach its terrace. 

In the entrance, there was a woman who had been waiting for Torak and Raine. She had a black hair that reached to her shoulders. Her pair of brown eyes reminded Raine of hot chocolate. The woman was as tall as Raine, so she was considered small. She smiled, and waved her hand at Raine and Torak from time to time, until the both of them arrived in front of her.

However, the moment when Raine took a closer look at the woman, she shrieked and backed away immediately. Her eyes grew wider when she looked at the woman. Raine hid behind Torak's back, because she saw something behind the woman's back.

A pair of wings!

"She's not a human." Raine whispered at Torak.

"Yes, my love. She is not." Torak said, while patting the back of Raine's hand to calm her, because she was grabbing his arms tightly. "She is a fae."

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