The moon was already high in the sky when they left Barbie’s Restaurant.
Countless stars were reflected on the sea surface as if the dark sea itself was covered by a shiny carpet, beautiful and stunning. A wave would sometimes scatter the shining ripples and gave place to the gentle moonlight.
What happened today was totally unexpected for Angor. He did not know whether it was good or bad, but he did know that he was going to bid farewell to his plain past.
In front of the restaurant entrance decorated in a child’s style, Sunders slowly spoke to Angor, “Get back to The Redbud tonight and pack up your belongings. Flora will get you tomorrow morning.”
With that, Sunders nodded to Angor, waved his cane, and ordered his demon falcon to carry Angor back to the ship’s deck. The giant bird had been waiting outside all along.
Angor stood on the deck and watched as the duo flew away. The giant Cloud Whale was like a flying ark among the shining stars. Tomorrow, he would board the creature and step onto his new journey.
The road ahead was long. An unknown future could always obscure one’s sight. Angor stood on the deck dazed for a long time until he was woken up by the gathering crowd beside him.
“Hey! What did you do in that building?”
“What’s it like in there? Oh, and who are you? You from Tower of Hurricane?”
“Who was standing on that giant bird? Do you know them?”
“Why did the ballet guy bring you in? You friend of theirs?”
The talents on The Redbud surrounded Angor with their questions. Angor looked around. He saw envy, curiosity, flattery, indifference…
He also heard arrogance and slander among the voices. Even then, he still felt reassured.
Back in Barbie’s Restaurant, he was walking on clouds. Free, yet with no solid ground to support him. For a mortal like him, keeping calm in the restaurant was already impressive.
Now, he finally stepped down from the cloud and returned to the ground.
The chattering and childish clamoring of the talents told him that he finally made it back to the human world. He was relieved.
Or maybe this was what a mortal should be thinking about in the first place.
He did not give them an answer. He apologized to the crowd and made his way back to his own room, under people’s doubtful gazes.
This would be a sleepless night. For both Angor and the other people on the ship.
Angor leaned on the window and went through many things in his mind. His clear pupils shone in the gentle moonlight and wavering waves.
The world was always changing. Where did he go? And where would he be? One’s lifelong journey was filled with the unpredictable. He would start his trip, without knowing what was waiting for him ahead. Be it storms or hurricanes, they would not be the final sight.
Angor felt he just learned a lot. Maybe after today, he could try to learn about religions and philosophy knowledge from Earth. Idealism could do a good job in seizing one’s emotions. Doctrines, sentimental sayings or stories… they were all the same.
Angor finally woke up from his thoughts when the moon was already in its highest spot.
He would leave The Redbud for his new journey tomorrow. The teacher gave him one night to prepare, he should not waste it worrying about random stuff.
Angor quickly moved.
The first task, naturally, was packing up his luggage. He did not have much. Apart from spare clothes and a few necessities, most of his belongings were books he bought from Moonwater City. They took up two big wooden boxes.
Most of them were leather scroll books. Maybe not as expensive as noble collections, but they were still fine works among common folks.
Angor really wished he could bring both boxes. For him, books were knowledge, and nothing was more valuable than that. Jon and Sunders both told him that.
But… there was no way he could carry them both…
Maybe try asking Teacher to help him? No. He could not even imagine what it would look like, letting his teacher help him carry a book box.
After some mind struggling, Angor decided he would give them up.
He already stored a scanned copy of them inside the hologram tablet. He did not want to leave them because he had a natural love towards book collections.
Since he was giving them up, he should find them a new owner. Throwing books away was not acceptable for a book lover.
The only people he knew on the ship were Mara, Alan, and Aleen. Mara was not his schoolmate, so books were not a proper gift. Furthermore, considering Mara’s experience, books that were written by common men probably would not interest him anyway.
So, Angor decided to give the books to Alan and Aleen.
The clock told him it was 11 in the night. Angor did not know when exactly he would leave tomorrow, so he needed to check on the children now, even if they might be sleeping already.
Maybe it was because the food illusions during the day, many talents on The Redbud were injured. As Angor walked through the narrow hallway, he heard a lot of pained mournings and whimpers.
His mood grew sad as he walked.
He was not a hypocrite and he did not intend to sympathize the wounded. He was simply feeling sorry for his own kind.
As one of the weakest beings in the wizarding world, he felt sorrow for the fact that they could only face such consequences while not being able to control their own fates.
Especially when Angor knew the nature of the illusions. They were mere mirages that naturally occurred when a gourmet wizard did her cooking.
No one was trying to harm them intentionally. It was just an aura, inadvertently released, and it put every talent on the ship in an endless terror.
What could he say? This was how the weak would always be in the world of wizards.
Angor was just one of them. He was distressed for his own fragile fate.
After passing several crossings, Angor reached the residence of Alan and Aleen.
They lived in two rooms at the end of a fork, opposite to each other, so they could easily help each other out. Booking the rooms like this must be Mara’s work too.
As Angor approached, he noticed the door to Aleen’s room was slightly ajar, and there was sobbing came from inside. He also heard Alan’s soft comforting words.
Angor did not try to eavesdrop. He knocked on the door gently, waited for a “come in”, and pushed the door open.
Unexpectedly, he found three people in the room. Apart from the grandchildren, Mara was also here, in his usual black robe.