5

This time we didn't teleport at a random spot inside the city but outside the gates. There was something about this place that felt entirely different from the two previous towns I had visited. The aura surrounding it was heavy and powerful and it made something inside me squirm but at the same time marvel at it. It felt oddly familiar and like it was calling out to me. 

I couldn't see anything past the gate, it seemed like everything stopped at the told marble towers, even the sky itself which was covered entirely in grayish white clouds that made it look like crippled paper. Maleeka had shouted something at the gate and we had been standing there for some moments with the echo of her words the only sound present. The place looked abandonned and eerie but I could feel a pair of eyes looking us up and down and watching our every move. My body was stiff but I stood tall under the scrutiny, not wanting to give off the wrong vibe or impression and be the reason why we were denied entrance in that peculiar city. If it were actually a city because from the outside, it looked like a fortress.

Someone's light footsteps finally reached my ears as they descended the last set of stairs and there was a sound or groaning metal and levers being pulled before a small side door opened and a young man exited. An unexpected feeling started from my stomach and then spread to my entire body. The man looked a bit older than me but he was shorter. His dark hair was cropped from the one side and it was lighter than my black one. His striking blue eyes were nothing like my dark chocolate ones. We looked nothing alike. So it came as a shock when my whole existence sung at his presence as if he were a lost loved one, a distant relative, a kin of my very soul. There was something strongly similar about us but I couldn't put my finger on it.

He bypassed Maleeka entirely and stared at me with the same intense scrutiny that I could feel behind the walls of the tower before he asked me something with a frown on his face that only deepened when I didn't answer. He didn't look like the most patient person and when he came closer to my personal space and asked again with a more harsh and loud tone and I still failed to answer, I could see that he was ready to snap. I let out a sigh of relief when Maleeka decided to put herself between us and draw his attention. I felt like I could breathe again when his eyes weren't on me anymore.

Maleeka seemed confident enough as she tried to explain our predicament and she kept pointing at me so I was guessing that he was letting him know of my inability to speak their language. His impatience had started to subside but he still looked stiff and guarded and the doubt in his eyes was clear as day. He didn't look ready or willing to believe anything that was coming out of her mouth and I had noticed how his intensity was starting to take its toll on Maleeka. Her shoulders were becoming stiffer and stiffer and her hands were starting to shake as she made bigger and more frantic movements with them in her effort to not show how nervous she was starting to feel. I don't know what came over me but I wanted to help and even though I had already surmised that this wasn't just another region or country in the world I had known as the only since a couple of days ago, I tried every language I knew in a last attempt to show that my language was really different from theirs.

"I'm not from here so I don't undestand" The moment the words left my mouth in English, I saw his whole body freeze before it turned towards me in a slow and mechanic way. He looked at me with eyes wide in shock and curiosity as if he was trying to conclude if he had heard me correctly.

"How do you know this language?" He asked in a weird accent that made English sound far more ancient and elegant than mine had been but I didn't care about any of that as I tried to fight the burning behind my eyes. There was someone who could understand me and I could understand them! I could finally talk with a person. I may have been pretty isolated in my everyday life but I still held small casual conversation with people I met throughout the day. These two days in complete silence and foreign sounds had been a torture and I only realized how much I had missed this when it was given back to me. 

I made haste to reply before he lost his patience again. I couldn't afford to lose the only person there who seemed to know of a language I spoke. The little hope that I wasn't actually in another world returned in my heart like a weak spark and I covered it with both hands so that it wouldn't go out. I almost felt foolish for being convinced so easily that something like a world seperate from mine existed with all my scientific knowledge and research.

"This is one of the languages we use where I'm from" I replied and waited to see some recognition of England or America in his eyes but he kept looking at me like I was something exotic and extraordinary and that didn't help at all with my feelings that I wasn't from anywhere near there.

"This is a language of the Material World" And just like that, everything inside my was pounded and grinded to dust. I could feel the colour draining from my face and my hands getting clammy. I didn't register much of what was otherwise discussed between the man and Maleeka. I only followed blindly, dragging my feet on the dirt as he motioned for us to approach the gate. He stopped at the centre of it and put his hand in the tear between the two enormous doors. A yellowish light illuminated the tear and then he took my palm and put it there so that we could be granted access. He must have added something about Maleeka so that she would be able to enter because he didn't try to take her hand and from how different her aura was from his and mine, I could understand that she was something other from the both of us. "Welcome to Rapelinia"

The man announced with a proud smile and when the gates gave away with a blinding light, I couldn't find it in me to keep my despair and fear because I was met with the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. There was no sky above us apart from a wooden ceiling that seemed to continue on endlessly. The entirety of Rapelinia was a huge and endless library of different rows and rows of books that went on horizontally and vertically. Everything was quiet apart from the footsteps of different people looking around and their murmurs as they asked each other for help to find the book they were looking for and the atmosphere was ritch with the smell of a variety of papers used for the different kinds of books.

Maleeka asked something and after the man indicated a certain part of the library, she seemed ready to go there so she could search for whatever information that weird wall woman had given her, Aluna. Before she could start walking away, however, she turned and looked at me to make sure that I would be alright without her. I didn't feel irritated at her concern because if the man beside me wasn't speaking English and my whole being didn't recognize him as someone I could trust, I wouldn't want to be seperated from the only person that seemed willing to put up with me and help in this whole situation. I nodded to reassure her and smiled. She still looked conflicted but she needed to look for her book so she walked away hesitantly and slowly. After she was out of earshot, the man next to me turned to look at me with excitement and a bright smile on his lips that almost made me make a doubletake as without his scowl he looked nothing like the man before. It made some sense though. If he was the gatekeeper and protector of the city, he would need to be distrustful and careful.

"So, my name is Emal and I was thinking that I could explain the situation to you, as much as I can at least." The offer sounded perfect and godsent. A part of me still opposed to listening what he had to say because I was sure I wasn't going to like it but I wasn't stupid enough to hold onto my beliefs to the point where they put me in danger. Knowledge was invaluable and I needed to know and understand as many things as possible.

"That would be great actually" I replied with a sigh in the thought that things might make some sense, finally. He beamed at me and started walking towards an area with many tables where we could speak quitely without disturbing the other patrons of the library. Something inside me tugged at the distance that was starting to build between me and Maleeka but I had a feeling and a strange certainty that I could find her even with my eyes closed. He sat on an unoccupied table and invited me to do the same.

"So, we don't know much about your world, our little knowledge is derived from whatever was saved by another person like you who came here from the Material World. Before you ask, I have no knowledge of how the transportation manages to happen or how you can reverse it. What I offer to you is an understanding of this world you found yourself in so unexpectedly since you don't know for how long you are going to stay here" He made a pause because he could obviously see the impact of his words on me. My hope that he would be able to help me return to Japan had been small since I was certain it couldn't be that easy but it was still present until a moment ago and now it was forcefully snuffed out. I didn't like the foreboding feeling his words gave me but I nodded for him to continue. It wouldn't do me any good to dwel. "This world you landed in is called Atamaloso, or in your language the closest translation is Soul World. As you might have noticed or felt, people here look like your humans but they actually aren't. After studying the different abilities of the different realms here and their source of energy, we have come to a conclusion that we are all parts of the spectrum of the soul. A soul is like a reflective glass. It comes in many different shapes. Hold it in the dark and it looks empty. Hold it in the light and it brings out all types of colours. Each of the nations here represent a different colour."

The information he was providing was complex and a bit confusing but at the same time, I felt it resonate in me and I couldn't draw me attention away from his deep narrative voice even if I wanted to. There was something like a strength behind his words, an enegry of itself and even though he stopped to make sure everything sank in, I didn't feel the need for the break. He could keep on talking for hours and I wouldn't be tired. His voice was captivating and demanded my full interest.

"We have the Personas in Nerun. They are like what you would call a chameleon. They can blend in with their surroundings each one of them in a different way than the others. The Anima and Animus in Tuhoh that can make people see what they want them to see so they are attracted to them and do their bidding, females and males respectively. The Shadows in Foddom which are people whose shadows manifest and they can be used either to protect them or attack depending on the person. And there is us, the Self-Weilders! We have the power of speech and can use ourselves like bargaining chips, for luck of better word. We can make contracts and promises and as long as the terms are being kept from both parties, whatever has been agreed on is in full effect. And you are one of us!" He finished with excitement and he clamped his hand on my shoulder. It felt heavier than it should as his words echoed in the corners of my brain. Listening to something that sounded like a fantasy story, a very interesting one but still, was nice and all but not when you suddenly ended up becoming part of the story and what you thought was myth actually became your reality. The touch felt constricting and I tried to take some much needed breaths but my lungs were burning and dots started appearing in my vision. Emal was so caught up in his delight about finding yet another one of his own and someone from another world nonetheless that he didn't notice but I was having a panic attack.

Suddenly, every loud emotion inside me was covered by a forced but comforting calm and I felt like someone was embracing me while there was nobody there. I felt my shoulders relax and I took a few deep breaths trying not to think about how I knew these weren't my feelings and somehow, they seemed to originate from Maleeka. After I had enough sense in my head, I jerked my shoulder away from his grasp feeling only slightly guilty at his hurt look. But then he seemed to take a better look at me and realize that he had overwhelmed me because he looked sheepish.

"Sorry for dropping all that on you. I will be around if you want to ask and find out about anything else or if you will be willing to answer some of my questions." He seemed to be overtaken by enthusiasm once again but my glare made him retrack his wording. "Or a friend. You know. If you just need a friend. To talk about friendly things. Or not talk at all. That's fine too." He got up looking solemn and I had no intention of talking to another person for a while. This had been nice but it had dropped my social battery near zero. Then, a thought occured to me.

"Emal!" I whisper-shouted and he whipped around with too much eagerness. I almost rolled my eyes at that. "Are there any dictionaries here? So that I can learn the language?" My new reality had started to sink in and I really didn't know how long I was gonna stay here. I needed to make the most out of this opportunity to be in the library since they didn't look too willing to let you in, even if they were eager enough to help after you were inside.

Emal looked happy to help and brought me a bunch of different and insanely heavy books before providing me with a pencil and notebool before I could ask for it. I started working on it after I thanked him so that he would get the message and leave. He was about to do just that but my sigh of relief was cut short when he turned back around.

"I forget how you are not from here and don't know how things work. Your aura makes you feel like you were always meant to be part of this Realm." I didn't know where this was going but it was already making me feel uncomfortable. "Just keep an eye on your lady friend" I felt a surge of protectiveness course through me but before I could defend whatever he was going to accuse Maleeka of, he continued. "Even though the people with different abilities aren't forced to live in their cities and can move freely around, another part of the spectrum cannot visit or stay in the main city of a different one. They can only transverse through the neutral cities and towns. I don't know what your friend is but she wouldn't be here if she weren't accompanied by one us so keep your eyes open"

I nodded gratefully and tried to concentrate back on my studying as soon as he left but there were some nagging thoughts that wouldn't leave me alone. What was Maleeka? The energy she had used didn't seem to fall in any of the existant categories. And why was that crowd running after her?