Chapter 7: Change
Elijah followed Max who was busy packing. She also does the work that Max instructs her. Among all the busyness, she was still not convinced that all this was the truth she had to accept.
Is it possible that all this is just Max's wits to distract me? but if I look at Max's very serious expression like that it doesn't feel like this is a diversionary drama. It's real, but I've grown up and lived the way people generally are. I understand myself as a human being. How should I adapt to all this?
"Max..." Elia called out expecting special attention.
Max lifted his face from his busy pack.
Meanwhile, Elijah was confused as to how to express her confusion.
"If there's anything you want to say, just say it."
Max showed patience.
"Um, well, there is but I am confused by all this. It makes me imagine a lot of things. How vast the Underworld is, what it's like, and so many other things that I have in my head that I can't tell you what's just a character and what's a real being."
Max continued his activities like he had no more time, even though he still took the time to answer.
"The world is as vast as the human world. They live among people, which means they also work among people, become servants, become officials, become like ordinary people, essentially they are very close to us."
There were still many things Elijah didn't know and that made her want to know right away. One thing is for sure, she believes that knowledge can make her survive anything later.
"Can they recognize each other? I mean between stealth with stealth, half stealth with half stealth, a demon with a demon, and so on."
Max nodded while stuffing an ornate box of lotus flowers into his bag.
"They can recognize each other in a variety of ways, but the most basic thing is their scent," Max explained patiently.
Elijah waited for Max to continue his sentence. Despite knowing it might be difficult for her to understand, she was still curious at the moment. In a half-pushy state, she waits for Max to explain, at least the basic things she should know.
"Those at the bottom level will be recognized by their aroma, for example smelling sulfur, fishy odor, and others. Then those who entered the middle tier classes would be recognizable from their auras.
"And the most difficult thing is those at the top, they can resemble humans in all sorts of ways so that both their scents and auras are unrecognizable to others, unreadable even by a reliable 'reader', those in VVIP circles, let's call it that, even more, difficult to recognize unless they show themselves to us."
"Then what about you? Can you recognize me when we met for the first time? But why can't I recognize myself and know nothing about this? Why can't I know that you're half a demon?"
"It's easy, it's because you were raised by a human being in a human environment. After all, because we are half-human, we become easier to mingle with other humans, this is why impure beings like us can survive better than pure beings if there is a war between races."
Elijah tried to calculate Max's explanation.
"You'll be able to recognize them later, once you get used to it. And... Yes, I was able to recognize you from the start, but I don't know which of you is a descendant of which clan. I never saw that sign."
Elijah captured a nuance he didn't like from Max's sentence.
"Is that bad?"
"I don't know. Bibi and I are close, but it doesn't mean she's going to tell me everything."
Elijah's eyes were wide-eyed, she just remembered something.
"How old are you?"
She was then caught up.
"Guess what."
Elijah felt she was being disrespectful to a grandfather.
"Don't tell me it's been over 100 years!"
Max laughed.
"30 years," he said.
Elijah couldn't believe it.
"No way!"
Max laughed.
"Is it three hundred years old?"
"Age doesn't matter now. Do you want to continue with the plan or not?"
Elijah then improved her attitude.
"Yes of course. I have a lot to know. Even now it feels strange if I mingle with humans after you say all this."
Elijah receives the thing proffered by Max.
"What is this?"
"Take it, don't fall or disappear."
"What is this?"
"It's a tarot card, Sunshine's favorite thing. She won't do my request for free. She always said, "nothing is free" in this world."
"Waw... Everyone is the same. Even underground creatures are the same, they don't want to do anything for free."
"We live side by side to take advantage of each other."
Elijah then examined every detail of it. The shape is cylindrical, light like made of wood.
"The tarot card is circular? What is this made of?"
Max, who was testing his other drawer, replied, "It's made of agarwood. It contains tarot cards made of rubber, and yes the shape of a circle."
"So this is a rare thing? Does it have power?"
"Yes. Only people like sunshine can use it."
"Ahhhh, does that mean even a roadside tarot player can?"
Elijah felt the question was a stupid one when Max looked at her with a 'true' face. The sound of the drawer being pushed then locked by Max relaxes her.
"I told you only people who like sunshine can use it. This means that people who do not have the power to be a true 'reader', will not be able to see the contents. The tarot sheets will look blank to them."
Elijah felt so stupid in such an unfamiliar world.
"Sorry, I told you I need time to figure it all out. So... Please explain slowly, one by one."
"I'm done packing, bring that bag, and don't miss it."
Elijah is briefly surprised when Max changes the object of the conversation suddenly.
"Okay," Elia replied, sputtering.
"I told you, you'll know everything along the way. An explanation alone would not be enough to make you know the existence of these three worlds. Only by diving into it will you see it. Remember that the world is still the same, our eyes are different."
Elijah becomes increasingly uncomfortable with her ignorance, even though Max tells her. I wish I could get used to it. I don't want to be unable to help to know what caused my mother to be like that. I had to know everything, she said to herself and then began to suppress her impatience. She then follows Max back to the surface with bags that Max has been appointed to carry by her.
"In that case, I can ask you anytime I have a question right?"
"Yes of course."
Elijah was relieved.
Once on top, Max placed his bag on one of the tables. Elijah followed him and began to feel more comfortable seeing the sunlight.
"Wait here."
"What do you want to do?"
"Just don't follow me," Max said as he walked into his dressing room. Elijah just realized that Max is very neat in terms of arranging space. There are special rooms for sleeping, working, and also for clothes. While the relaxing room is also divided in two, the kitchen space and a relaxing room are made without bulkheads.
Suddenly, her face became red when she remembered her behavior fishing Max to her and getting her a tattoo. I was drunk, yes, it was because I was drunk, said Elijah in his head and felt so stupid.
When Max appeared again with a carry-on bag, her face was still red. Max saw it for a moment but didn't say anything. Max was very focused on everything on his mind at the time.
Knowing that he only needed to follow Max, Elijah then immediately carried their carrier bag again and then went to the parking lot following Max. She put all the bags into the passenger seat behind the wheel as Max did.
On the way to the Sunshine Shop, Elijah has curious about many mysterious figures.
"Max, can I ask you now?"
"Yes, just ask."
Max's response was flat and serious. Even so, Elia still took a chance, because she did not feel the threat or prohibition from Max.
"What sunshine is female? human? Or half a demon?"
Elijah was grateful Max took it seriously.
"I don't know for sure, she doesn't have a demon scent or a human, nor does she have an aura identical to a human or stealth aura. Her existence is a unique phenomenon among the three worlds, from another point of view she is considered a threat."
"Threat? Why is that?"
Elijah observed Max thinking. She respects the way Max explains things she doesn't know yet patiently.
"It's because she can be a friend as well as an opponent for all creatures. Under certain circumstances, she may also not be a friend or an opponent."
"Why is that?"
"It's up to her because she has the free will to do anything."
"Does everyone, ah, I mean all creatures are going to need her?"
"It can be yes, it can be not, depending on the need. In our case, we need her."
"So we went to negotiate with her?"
Elijah asked carefully. She tried to feel the need for this plan.
"Not negotiations but affirmations. I think she already knows something I don't know."
Elijah muttered, "I do not understand."
At that moment, Elijah felt the warmth of Max's palm falling on his head. Max also stroked his hair.
"I told you, you don't need to understand everything now. Don't be in a rush. Just do it gradually."
The words made Elijah feel calm and know that the process was still long. Her journey will be completely different from when traveling with her mother makes her excited as well as scared, but she is sure as long as Max is by her side, she will be fine.
"I remember my mother saying the same thing."
"Which one?"
"There's no need to understand everything," Elijah said with a smile, she was quite happy to remember happy moments with her mother.
"I asked her if she was a prostitute. Why do you have tattoos, why travel so much, and the people you meet, I ask them all. I felt like my mother didn't want to share anything with me, she was being mysterious and it bothered me. I've even verbally abused her which makes me regret it until now."
Elijah glanced at Max who remained focused on his steering wheel.
"Max, do I worry my mom all the time?"
"Yes, but it's natural because she's a mother."
"I was also worried and upset with her. Now, if things were to be confused, of course, I would have a hard time telling the person I loved. As you do now, I think my mother feels the same way. She's confused. She might want to keep this secret forever."
"It's still any time if you don't want to continue this," Max said.
"No! I still want to find out, I just regret some of the things that have happened in the past. Not knowing anything bothers me for her."
Elijah was downcast. She didn't expect Max to be quiet. She wanted Max to scold her, but her wish wouldn't be granted at that moment. She then stuck her head to the car seat.
She kept herself busy looking at the outside scenery that was seen walking backward from inside the car. Despite her efforts, Elijah couldn't help but dialogue with her feelings. "Thinking that being left behind by my mother made me angry, then facing the news of the death alone made me unable to think, now there is a strange fact around me. Something I never knew, inevitably I had to know if I wanted to know what I was doing. What can I help her with, huh? I wanted to know that for a long time, but my mother deliberately kept me out of trouble. She didn't even involve me in her simple business like washing her clothes or making breakfast for her. Does it have anything to do with all this? Will eating the food I eat affect something?"
Elijah stuttered in her way of life.
"Max, has my mom been trying to hide me from something?"
Elijah could feel Max being wary as he said it.
"There's no point hiding something from me right now right?"
"I don't know, this is just my guess, all along I also thought that she was trying to save you from something that threatened your safety. I don't know exactly, but it shows that."
"You didn't ask her what made her nervous?"
"Never. She also didn't tell me."
"Those things are Max, which you said was collected by my mother, why did she leave it to you?"
"That's also what I want to know. The real reason why she kept it in my basement. She didn't officially leave it to me. One day she came to me and asked me to make a storage room in my house.
"The result is that room. Then I asked the origin of all the things she was carrying. She can't explain everything. She just said it's her collection thing. She promises that one day if she can stay with you, she will take it all."
"The reality is that it didn't happen," Elia said with pent-up regrets.
Max nodded with a sad feeling.
"I took a hard look at every object she kept there. One by one I learned. Then I concluded that your mother...".
Elijah was waiting for Max to finish his sentence with a pounding heart.
"A hunter."
One more fact sounds like an explosion on Elijah's ship. She barked for a while. The process of incorporating those two words into her knowledge dictionary was slow.
"Max... Is it dangerous? I can only imagine a hunter using a rifle or other weapon to capture animals and sell them to illegal markets. That means my mother is a criminal."
Elijah felt something serious from Max's gaze. Even if it was only for a moment, the gaze contained a very large, deep, and very secret meaning. Something she wouldn't be easy to handle alone.
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