Chapter 3: FLYING CARRIAGE
Her hands could not stop shaking while she tried to open the envelope.
Even if the task was so simple – just tearing the flap and retrieving the contents – it took her longer than it should before completing the task.
…Because it concerned a person she had wanted to meet ever since she was young, no, ever since she was born.
Her father. As in her father.
These weird people who appeared out of nowhere said that the letter was from his father.
It sounded all like a big joke. A lie.
Still, she hoped for the best, with great fear that it would eventually break her heart, just like the myriads of cases she encountered growing up.
Red still had not learned her lesson. When it came to her parents who she had never met, she still wanted to hope for the best regardless of the consequences.
Her vision started to blur so she stopped.
The envelope was already partially torn at one side but she had not retrieved the letter inside yet. The moment her eyes beheld the thick pages of the envelope's contents, renegade tears seemed to have a mind of its own and decided to brim over her eyes right at this instant when she had needed her clear vision the most.
Giving up, she informed her guests, "Is it alright if I read the letter at home? Sorry."
"Oh, please, Your Ladyship!" The two weird men were stunned and were more shocked than anything else by what she had said. "Please… You don't have to apologize to us!"
She's getting bored. "Hm."
Her eyes landed on the majestic gold-accentuated white carriage behind the two men. The white horses neighed in the background. "Are they real?"
"Of course, Your Ladyship!"
"Why do you address me like that? It sounds like spaceship. Haha."
"It is a show of respect, Your Ladyship! It is only right to bestow you our full utmost respect from your humble servants."
"Servants?! No, just call me Red. My classmates call me Red." She smiled warmly even if in her mind, she thought she had lost sanity for making friends with weirdos who flew their way from the sky.
It was too much to take in. Even she was not fully convinced that all of it was true. 'Just ride on for now.'
"We cannot call you by any name, Your Ladyship… But maybe… Lady Red…"
"That's better." She shrugged and pointed at the carriage behind the men. "How did you do that?"
"What do you mean, Lady Red?"
"How did you make the carriage fly? Is it magic?"
"…Not magic… There's a logic behind it – a solid mechanism. I cannot explain it. I apologize. Perhaps it is the same as how metals float in the air in this world."
"Metals?" She asked quizzically. Then she remembered, "Oh, you mean airplanes."
"I'm not sure what they are called. Like those." He pointed at their farther right where a group of boys and girls Red's age were flying drones.
"But how did you appear out of nowhere? Where are you from?"
"We came from Aempleforth Empire."
"Haven't heard of it. Where is it?"
The coachman scratched his temple. "It's extremely difficult to explain. All we could say is it is not of this realm."
Red's eyes opened wider with disbelief. Yet her ears flapped fascinated by the absurdity that she's hearing.
"The hailstorm and the curtain of lights… Are those your doing too?"
"Uhm, well, not our doing per se…" The other horseman responded. "It's getting late, Your Ladyship. Please allow us to send you home." He stretched out an arm towards the majestic white carriage. "We can continue our pleasant chatter on the road."
Blinded by her queer interest, it didn't take too much effort to prod her into the carriage. 'On the road' as to how the man had put it was probably too vague of a description because there was no road. They flew high up, and no one seemed to see them.
"So…" She continued the questioning. "The hailstorm and the curtain of lights…"
"Let's just say those were the natural results of our actions. To be able to create a portal to your realm, we borrowed a significant amount of energy from the environment. The imbalance in energy levels caused those, not us."
"So you're not magicians." She seemed a bit disappointed. "But… How can you borrow energy from… from the air?"
"It is an art in our world which is under alchemy."
"Alchemy?! Then it's magic." She's getting giddier by the moment. She's actually not too sure if coming with them and listening to their outlandish explanations was a great idea after all.
"No, no. You are mistaken. It's not magic. Hmm, let's see. The art is governed by rules and principles. In this realm, perhaps it is most closely related to what they refer to as… science."
She remembered how some chemical reactions would not come to fruition without catalysts that would speed it up and make wonders.
She remembered how a man-made volcano in their science project years ago was caused to erupt by mixing vinegar and baking soda. It garnered childish whoa's from their class at the time.
She remembered an experiment they conducted last year wherein a substance, when subjected to the Bunsen burner, created an overwhelmingly beautiful green flame.
She also recalled how she used to watch the dough turn into a mouthwatering tasty chunk of bread inside the oven right before her eyes when she would bake together with Nana.
Red nodded as she somehow understood a bit of the analogy the man was talking about. "I can somehow see where you're coming from."
"We're here, Lady Red."
"So soon?" Red blinked in amazement. She only took a few seconds of pause as she let all the new ideas sink into her. It had not totally sunk in when they have already arrived on the roof deck of the five-story apartment complex she and her Nana had been renting.
"Till next time, Your Ladyship… I mean, Lady Red. Good night!" The two men bowed in respect before flying off into the night.
"Wait! That's it? What next time? When?" She almost chased after them.
While waving his one hand goodbye, the coachman called back, "Please read His Majesty's letter. The answers should be there. So long!"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone