Issue#4-Chapter 5.2: Following Melonia

Seeing myself in the same room as my previous two dreams, I scanned my surroundings and saw nothing in sight. Everything was completely empty in here.

I wondered where the woman with a crown and a shadowy monster were. I waited for them to appear yet they still hadn't showed up. When people's screams and monstrous roars echoed beside me, a red-orange light glowed on my skin.

"Huh?" I turned to where the light came from and widened my eyes, gasping. I saw the entire kingdom was burning. I frowned when I watched the horror unfold. I wanted to save it but the fire prevented me from advancing. It was hopeless for me to save it at this point.

Watching that for a while, I heard that same woman's voice from my previous two dreams, screaming for help. I quickly turned around and didn't even bother to see her.

"Hey, where are you?!" I asked with my eyes still wandering around. All I got so far was silence. Just absolute silence.

"Hello? Hello? Anybody there?" I questioned yet again and still heard no response from the woman. The moment her voice echoed for the last time, I said, "Hellloooooo?"

Then the white light flashed before my eyes, hiding my eyes under my arm's shade. I had no idea where it came from, but its shine expanded even further. It made me wonder if I was going to die or not.

When the sunlight beams woke me and Gideon up from the window, we moaned and moved around on our "beds," opening our eyes and getting our eyes readjusted. Then we rubbed them and yawned.

"Good morning, Gideon," I said.

"Good morning, Mike." Gideon turned to me. "Are you ready to start another day?"

I shook my head. "Yea, ready when you are."

"Good." Gideon stood up from the floor and wiped the hay off of his body. "Let's go do some begging."

"What? Again?" I asked when I stood up from the ground. I didn't even bother wiping the hay off of my body. "Why can't we jus' steal instead?"

"Because stealing can blow our cover if we steal too much. It's sometimes better if we beg for money and sometimes steal items from people." Gideon left the building. "Now let's go, Mike!"

I sighed. "Fine, let's go beg, I guess…"

I exited the building and followed Gideon wherever he went. I did not feel like begging that day, because I usually receive no money from begging while Gideon sometimes had some.

Gideon and I begged for money from the locals, but nobody still gave me any money at all. But when I looked at Gideon, I only saw a couple people give him a coin each. Looking down at my empty palms and his palms, I sighed when I stared at the money in his palm.

Okay, why is it that people give Gideon some money, but not me?! What did I do to deserve this?! I only jus' got here from Ashville, Texas a couple days after my death. What is it 'bout me that makes people reluctant to give me some money?! Huh?! Is it my behavior?! My clothes or what?! Oh, please tell me what it is. I can't stand beggin' for much longer…

Then a pouch dropped upon my hand all the sudden and I didn't even notice it. Somebody in a black cloak walked past me and Gideon; Gideon looked up at the person and the pouch back and forth, signaling thanks to the person.

Huh?!

I turned to it and grinned at it while Gideon turned to it.

Ha! Could it be-?!

With Gideon's head leaning towards mine, I opened up the pouch and took a look inside with Gideon. There we saw a lot of copper coins inside it and I couldn't even bother to count it.

Oh, man, this is it! I can't believe I finally got the money!!! I'm grateful for the person who's generous enough to give me all this money!

Gideon leaned back a bit, closed his eyes and grinned at me. "Well, well, well. Congratulations, Mike! This is the first time you receive some money from begging."

"I know, right?!" I exclaimed while I closed the pouch. "Now we have enough money to get some breakfast." My stomach growled at first.

"Right, but first, we must thank somebody in the black cloak," Gideon said as he turned around and pointed in the direction where that person went. "I saw this person go this way, follow me."

"Right on!" I exclaimed, following Gideon's lead.

Gideon and I fought through the crowd and said our "Excuse mes" and whatnot. Then visions of the shadowy monster haunted my mind. I had no idea why but it did anyway. I tried to get it out of my mind but it still refused to so. So Gideon and I ran, ran and ran as fast as we could, then I spotted Melonia exiting the bookstore with a basket of a couple books and a couple of maps.

I turned to and gazed at her for a second, with memories of me saving her life from earlier and her necklace, alongside the vision of the woman from my dreams. I stopped moving and turned to Gideon and my direction, then Melonia back and forth the moment she leaves.

Wondering why Melonia would carry a couple maps in her basket, that was when I decided to follow her. When I followed after her, I was able to do it without people spotting me. I was curious to know what she was planning with those maps.

Was she an aristocrat trying to escape her boring, rigid life? Was she going on a trip with the organization? Was she even the woman from my dreams? Those were the questions in my head that I'd be dying to find out.

While I was walking, Melonia scanned her environment and I stopped in my tracks, baring my gritted teeth and my broadened eyes. Oh, man. She's being cautious about her surroundings. I better hurry up and hide before she catches me. I really can't afford to be caught.

So I searched sideways and spotted a wall behind her. I turned to Melonia one more time before I hid behind the wall. Once Melonia turned around, she took a look around out of search for anyone following her.

Moving my eyes sideways, I curiously wanted to peek from the corridor, yet I didn't out of fear of getting caught. I instead waited for a while and Melonia turned around and continued on to her destination.

I swallowed my spit and I was brave enough to finally peek from the corridor and saw her continue to walk forward. Phew! That was a close one. I backed away from the wall and constantly followed after Melonia. Time to get goin'.

So while I followed her, I noticed she'd been going to different stores which made me sigh out of impatience, hiding from her whenever she checked her surroundings. I wondered why she would go to different stores.

As I recalled Melonia's necklace, I questioned myself what she would use her necklace for if she was hiding it: would it be used as some kind of royalty? Was it used for the organization? If it was used for the organization, what would she use it for?

After a little while, somebody called my name three times but I ignored that person to continue on following her. I felt somebody's hand touching and grabbing on my shoulder. "Mike, there you are. I was looking all over for you," a familiar voice said.

"Huh?!" I quickly turned around and saw Gideon panting with his hand on my shoulder. "Oh, Gideon. It's you."

I turned to Melonia and widened my eyes when I could no longer find her insight. I couldn't believe she was gone and it made me wonder where she could have possibly gone.

"Why would you go the other way? Shouldn't we go to thank the man for the pouch earlier?" Gideon questioned.

"Yes, but…I was going to see the woman that I rescued from yesterday. Now I couldn't find her."

Gideon looked for her with me before turning back to me. "Oh, I see. I'm sure we'll find her too once we thank the man for it."

I turned back to Gideon and nodded. "Right. Let's go."

Once Gideon and I left the area, Melonia peeked from the corridor and sighed out of relief the moment we left. "Ah, that was a close one," She whispered to herself as she turned to her destination and us back and forth. "I can't have people like that find out about my plans for tonight."

As soon as she stood up, she looked up at the castle, she gave it her determined, serious look on her face, nodding at it. She then returned to her destination and kept walking.

Gideon and I continued to run and look for a specific person, until we finally spotted a person walking through the crowd as well. I smiled at that person for a moment.

Looks like we found the one that we're looking for. I mean, Gideon did describe that person as 'somebody in the black cloak.'

Gideon pointed at that person and turned to me and that person back and forth. "Over there!"

I turned to Gideon and smiled, "Great! Let's get to that person already!"

Once we got to that person, Gideon shouted, "Hey, wait!"

Grabbing onto that person's cloak, that person stopped moving and turned around to see me and Gideon pant. The silver beard was only visible upon the sunlight, everything else was hidden, even the majority of the face. "Huh?"

Gideon and I stood up straight and looked him in the eye. "We would like to thank you for the money, sir. We truly appreciate that," I said.

"Ah, yes, we're humbly honored for that, sir," Gideon said.

The man smiled. "Oh, it was nothing." He noticed my stomach growling again. "Why don't you two get yourselves something to eat, before you starve to death."

"Oh, don't worry. We will!" I said as Gideon and I waved at the man. The man waved back at us.

After we left him to get something to eat, the man turned around and smirked while he snapped his fingers below him without anyone spotting it. The black dust swirled around his hand for a moment and then disappeared, continuously walking through the crowd.

"Oh, those fools don't know what hit them," the man whispered to himself, chuckling a bit.