≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten." —Ecclesiastes 9:5
≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
LANTANA woke up again. Fortunately, she didn't die a second time! Good thing, when she examined herself, there seemed to be no problem with her body aside from the little bruise she had on her elbow. Praise the person who made medieval dresses thick! Definitely a life saver.
"Gen, she's awake…" Lantana heard the small girl whisper.
However, when she woke up, she was more level headed so as soon as she saw the pair of kids that she encountered previously, she couldn't help but to stare at them intently before she decided to confront them.
The children looked almost exactly the same which made Lantana assume that they were twins. However, the difference was their gender. One looked like a girl and the other one looked like a boy.
The girl was pale as snow, had rosy chubby cheeks, big and round blue eyes, and long blonde hair with blue streaks tied in two high pigtails.
The boy on the other hand also had the characteristics of the girls except his neck-reaching hair was laid down. The front part of his hair was also noticeably much longer than the back. Aside from that, the boy had much sharper and boyish features compared to his sister whose features were on the softer side. Not only that, the color of his eyes and the highlights on his hair were much brighter.
And of course, both of them were overwhelmingly cute especially while wearing their matching blue-white lolita style clothes.
Suddenly, she came to wonder, why did she even lose her consciousness earlier if they were that cute?
"Looks like the sky is about to turn dark…" she said while looking above before she turned her attention to the kids who were looking at her innocently with doe eyes as soon as she finished examining them.
"Now that I'm not hysterical, can the both of you tell me what's happening and who are you?" Lantana said coolly as if she didn't pass out earlier.
"What do you think, Gen?" the girl whispered to the boy as they glanced at her.
"Should we tell her about our existence, Mimi? What if she doesn't believe us at all?" the boy said in a tone full of doubts.
'Really? That was supposed to be a whisper? I can hear everything, you know?' Lantana thought.
"Well, aren't you guilty that we frightened her so much that she even lost her consciousness? Because I am. Maybe we should tell her after all? If she doesn't want to believe us then it's simply her loss," the girl said as she shrugged.
"Of course I am guilty as well! But it's not our fault that she didn't give us a chance to speak earlier because she kept on screaming," the boy replied.
"Well, you're not wrong with that but don't you think she looks and smells familiar?" the girl said as she pointed her small index finger to Lantana's direction.
"Huh? What do you mean?" the boy said as he tilted his head and placed his left hand on his chin.
"Yup, you're definitely getting old. Can't you see? She looks like our previous contractor who was deemed a hero back in the days!" the girl replied in a slightly higher tone, as if she couldn't contain her frustration.
Because of his sister's response, the boy froze in his place for a few minutes. Afterward, his already round eyes widened even more as soon as realization hit his system. With protruding eyes, he looked at Lantana and tried to analyze her face. Soon enough, the image of the previous contractor started to overlap with the person in front of them.
As soon as he heard a ding in his mind, the boy placed his small hands on his mouth as a loud gasp escaped from it.
"You're actually right, Mimi!" he exclaimed.
"Right? Told you so," the girl said while puffing her chest, boasting.
"Hey, guys. I'm still here in case you forgot," Lantana said.
Though she enjoyed seeing the two interact with each other and their cute actions, she couldn't help but to stop their small chit chat as she knew that a few minutes more that her silhouette was not seen in their mansion, the whole Leontios might turn upside-down.
"Oops," the pair said as they looked at each other and lowered their heads.
"Sorry. What do you want to know?" the girl said.
"What do you want to know?" the boy repeated.
Lantana, seeing the pair's actions, couldn't help but to place her right hand on top of her chest as she gripped it tightly.
'Dang it. They are too cute!'
Lantana's liking to beautiful things in the past didn't stop with just non living things. Any beautiful thing or being, they could never escape her. And at that moment, the two kids in front of her were the most beautiful being she liked. She liked them to the point of wanting to take them home and place them inside her pocket.
She shook her head as she faked a cough as soon as she realized what she was thinking.
"Who are you and what are you doing here in our land?" she said.
"I am Gen!" the boy said with a jump.
"I am Mimi!" the girl said with a twirl.
And so, at that moment, a vast amount of blood came out of Lantana's nose. Good thing, she didn't pass out again.
"Sister, are you okay!?" the kids exclaimed in panic as they even forgot their situation and tried to touch Lantana, which as expected, passed by her body.
Lantana's eyes widened again.
"What are you, guys? Are you really ghosts?" she asked, bewildered.
Mimi's round eyes squinted as both of her eyebrows made an arch.
While placing her arms on both sides of her waist, she replied, "of course not! We are spirits—celestial spirits to be exact. Don't compare us to those ugly things!" Then she clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Spirits? What are spirits? Are those any different from ghosts?" Lantana uttered while wiping her blood with the back of her hands.
"Yup. You don't even know something so basic?" Gen replied as he shook his head in disbelief.
Lantana's jaw dropped as she thought 'Somehow, they are starting to not feel so cute anymore.'
"Spirits are superior beings from ghosts. Ghosts are human beings in the past with unresolved issues that make them stay and wander around the land. Spirits on the other hand are just spirits. They do not need to become humans to become spirits. They are everywhere—in a tree, a flower, an insect, a lake, an ocean, a mountain, an island—everywhere!" Gen said.
"However, celestial spirits are not simply spirits. They are the highest classification of spirits since they came from the second heaven—the place where planets, the moon and stars reside. In case you also didn't know, the second heaven—which is also called the Celestial Heaven—is just below the third heaven. The third heaven on the other hand is called Shamayim. This is where God resides. It is on higher ground above the place of the celestial beings," Mimi added.
"The spirits that live on earth have no ranking. All of them are equal. Exceptions are those that came from heaven, the same place with us, but had fallen rock bottom because they chose to disobey our Creator. Those previous celestial beings are those that are known as evil spirits that like to possess, hurt or influence humans since that is the only thing they could do after being kicked out by our Father," Mimi continued.
"But, not all celestial beings have fallen, okay? Only some. Anyway, as we were saying. The celestial beings from Celestial Heaven are different. There are two races of celestial beings; the angels and those that came from the stars which are called constellations. There are also a lot of types just like how jobs work on earth. For instance, there are scribes, librarians, messengers, cooks, soldiers, and even agents. And guess what we are?" Gen happily said.
But Lantana at that moment was having a short-circuit in her mind. Almost none of what they told her stayed in her brain as everything got to the processing bureau of her mind at the same time. Because of that, an overload started which made her usual fast digestion a lot slower.
"Second heaven? Third heaven? Celestial Heaven? Shamayim? What… Are… All… These?" Lantana felt her mind was about to explode after hearing all the information that came from the twins.
The twins sighed as they looked at each other.
"We don't think you'll understand this in one session so please come back in another day instead. We're getting tired talking, and catering you and your small capacity brain," Mimi said while shaking her head in disappointment.
"Yes. We're sorry…" Gen said while he was patting Mimi's back.
Lantana's last bottle of her remaining fondness towards the twins totally just disappeared as soon as she heard their words. Hello!? She was sorry, okay?! No one told her that she didn't just transmigrate in a normal new world with a golden spoon waiting for her. She thought it was just another boring world. Who would have thought that she would be living in a real fantasy world that she just used to wish for in the past?
Wait… If that was really the case, could she have also possessed a type of magic that she could use?!
'Wait! Wait! That's not what is important right now! Gem and Mimi said that they were celestial beings. They were twins. Since they were in a fantasy setting world, could they be the same as the celestial spirits of one of her favorite anime on Earth?'
"Hey. Before I leave, I need to clarify something… You said you two are from the Celestial Heaven, right? Then… You two are obviously a constellation and if I'm not mistaken, the two of you are one because you are the twin star, Gemini, right? But… How did the two of you get sent here? No—What are you doing here on land when you're supposed to be up there?" Lantana said continuously as she pointed up to the sky.