Realm of Renee

Chapter 21

13th June 2019

RENEE

"Don't you need your watch?" Noah asked, leaning his head lazily against the tree, and giving me a cute little smirk.

In reply, I pulled the watch out of my pocket and handed it over to him. Noah looked highly amused but didn't say anything. Instead, he gently pulled my wrist and fastened the watch onto it, not noticing the blush that had crept onto my cheeks.

There. It was the simple things like this that made me wonder if we were just friends.

"Nice watch," Noah said, his eyes lifting to meet mine.

"Thanks, Noah," I said, avoiding his gaze. There was a tight moment of silence, and before it got awkward, I spoke again.
"I'm still waiting for the story, you know."

Noah grinned and leaned forward eagerly as if he were going to tell me a highly interesting bedtime story.

"Once upon a time, Lightsaber and Evil guy used to be best friends." His voice rose and fell, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"Do you mean Lord Augustus and Sir Johannes?"

"Yeah, it's those dorks alright." Noah rolled his eyes. "Then Evil guy a.k.a Johannes discovered the way to reach the White Realm. Naturally, the Evil guy told Lightsaber about his discovery."

"I'm guessing that didn't end well," I said, and Noah nodded.

"Lightsaber sneakily used Evil guy's methods to reach the White Realm, without giving Evil guy any credit for it. And when Evil guy confronted him, he wiped his memories." Noah said in a grim voice, now adding hand gestures to his story.

"He wiped Sir Johannes's memories?" I asked, stunned. "That's so unnecessary!"

"Not all of them, just the ones where he betrayed Johannes. And then, he put him in prison, for various fake crimes that he'd never committed," Noah added, much to my horror.

"Oh my god," I muttered softly. "Now I get why you hate Lord Augustus."

"Well, the public doesn't know this story, because Lord Augustus founded the ISA and rewrote history. He claimed himself to be the ultimate Spirit Guide, selflessly showing everyone the way to the White Realm." Noah recited clearly, but there's carefully weaved malice in it too.

"If this story was hidden from the public, then how do you know it?" I asked him.

Noah grew quiet and stared into the distance, his calm blue eyes now filled with anger. It was the same look he had the other day when I'd asked him about Lord Augustus. A look that changed him into a different, more serious person.

"Let's just say that history repeats itself, and I witnessed it the second time," Noah hinted, but he looked so troubled that I didn't say anything.

"Okay," I whispered. His raven hair fell over his eyes, and he didn't even bother to push it away like he usually did, some unusually long strands even meeting his high cheekbones. He was not smiling, but frowning, pressing his lips together as if he were trying to suppress his emotions.

I would hug him, trying to ease whatever he was feeling. But Shay's ghostly green eyes haunted me, and I sat there, feeling useless and hating myself for it.

It was a while before he talked again.

"So Johannes sought revenge. He went on to discover rarest types of magic and energies, and used it to escape prison." Noah said, trying to get back to his upbeat voice, which still sounded gravelly.