truth

Sylvia is in her father’s hands while he flies through the colorful swirling vortex. It seems like they were traveling forever, so she decides to start a conversation with Thomas to pass the time. “So, Father, I mean Thomas. Pleasant weather, isn’t it?”

Silence.

Thomas glances at Sylvia out of the corner of his eye before looking straight ahead.

Silence.

This is pointless, Sylvia thinks. “Hey, Tom, how about you tell me why I’m here in the first place.” Sylvia says this in an almost hostile voice. Gosh! She thinks. It’s like he doesn’t have a mouth–

“As long as it keeps you quiet.”

Sylvia’s entire body twitches in surprise for she did not expect an answer. She then narrows her eyes.

“So tell me.”

“Very well,” he sighed.

“Long before you and I even existed, our ancestors were healers of the mad and insane. They did this in secret because their actions were forbidden at that time. One day, a local villager caught one of them in the act of ‘associating with an evil.’ However, he decided not to spread their secret if they passed a trial. He happened to be a sorcerer so he created another world where only the sanest people could survive. ‘If you all say you were only converting these so called insane people back to sanity, you must be the sanest of them all,’ he reasoned. Our ancestors were awestruck at just the sight of a sorcerer performing magic. Before they knew what was coming, they were launched into the other world…

Ah, we are here.”

Sylvia snaps her mind from the story as she realizes the swirls of colors are fading. They arrive at some sort of bizarre train station. The tracks are connected above the train and the train itself seems unreal and transparent. There is a boy who looks just about Sylvia’s age standing at the entrance as if he is guarding something. Once he sees the two figures approaching, he takes his glowing staff in a fighting position and says, “What is your busine– THOMAS?!?!?” He drops his weapon and his eyes sparkle and jaw drops at the same time.

Sylvia snaps her head up to her father to see his reaction.

“Good to see you, too, Jensei,” Thomas chuckled, “It’s been a while.”

“You bet, Tom!” His expression suddenly turns solemn. “So, is she the one?”

“Yes.”

Thomas’s face also turns serious, too. Sylvia listens with passivity.

“Take her to ‘it.’ I’ll be ready when you’ve finished.”

“Right.” Jensei says in an almost mutter sort of whisper. Suddenly, his expression cheers up. “Well! My name is Jensei and you are Miss…”

“Sylvia! My name is Sylvia. Eh heh, just Sylvia.” She felt great happiness to be finally part of the conversation but she is nervous and fidgety.

“Well, Miss Sylvia,” Jensei says, smiling warmly and holding out his hand. “Shall we get going?”

“Go? Go where?” She looks questioningly at Thomas. He merely nods his head and disappears into a newly opened vortex.

“Wait!! Where the heck are you go–”

“Come, Miss Sylvia, we need to go as soon as possible!” Jensei grabs her hand instead and runs toward the transparent train. Sylvia’s eyes widen as she sees angel wings emerging from his back. They both merge into the liquefied train and into the darkness.