No Sense

"Have a seat, Leo"

Leo went ahead and sat on a wooden seat in the room and the Chief sat on the seat opposite him.

"Oh and by the way. This is Lucius and he together with Kiva are part of the fighting force of this village."

Leo looked towards the entrance where Kiva and Lucius stood. He hesitated but managed to wave at Lucius. Lucius did nothing but glare at Leo which made the latter uncomfortable.

"I don't think he likes me very much."

"Don't worry about him. He's always had a hard time trusting people in the past."

"Oh"

'Who said anything about trust. I mean he seems like he's always had a hard time liking people in the past.'

"You already met my daughter, Kiva."

"Your daughter?"

Leo looked at Kiva and then looked at the Chief and then looked back at Kiva.

'Maybe they are not related by blood.'

The Chief called to Leo's attention.

"Leo."

"Yes sir"

"Let me start by apologizing for keeping you in the dark for this long. I only wanted to make sure that you were alright."

"Well, if you counted out my clothes, I'm feeling pretty great."

"Excellent"

The Chief smiled at Leo.

"It is my duty to see to it that all your questions are answered to the best of my ability. So don't hold back and ask away."

Leo became serious and took a pause to arrange his questions in the order of their importance to him. The Chief watched Leo as he thought hard about his questions and felt that Leo's behavior was a little confusing for him. The Chief turned back to look at Lucius, who had an angry look on his face and then turned his gaze towards Kiva, who looked a bit scared.

"Sir"

Leo was finally ready. The Chief turned to face him and his questions.

"I have a younger brother. His name is Jasper Rivera. He was the last person I saw before I met you guys and ever since I appeared here, I haven't seen any trace of him. My question is this. Is he alright?"

The Chief was shocked that Leo was more concerned about the wellbeing of his brother and couldn't help but appreciate this selfless part of this young boy. He gave Leo an assuring look as he answered the question.

"Yes Leo. Your brother is alright. You were brought here alone."

Leo sighed as a sign of relief upon hearing this answer.

"But how do you know that he is alright?"

"If your brother was brought here alongside you, then you would have seen him the moment you woke up in this world."

This response made Leo seem uncertain of the Chief's answers.

"That doesn't assure me of his safety. Even if he isn't here, how do I know that he is Ok. He must be searching for me. I mean I've been gone for days now."

"Relax Leo. Calm your nerves. For now, your brother is the very least of your problems. He is currently living his everyday life the same way he did when you were with him. No grief, no distress, no torment and no suffering. He smiles the same way he did when you were around, he plays the same way he did when you were around, he even eats the same way he did when you were with him. The only difference is that you are not there with him."

Hearing this discombobulated Leo. He was initially happy after finding out that his brother was ok, but the fact that his brother was also indifferent about his disappearance made him sad.

"What does that even mean. It's been me and Jax since the beginning and now you are telling me that my absence had no effect on him. How would you even know that?"

Leo was getting more and more agitated as he listened to the Chief's answers that made no sense.

"I know that your brother is ok and not searching for you because I have seen it myself"

"You saw my brother? This must mean that there is way for me to get back home."

The Chief's face became dejected.

"This planet is called Inobiru and it resides in a different solar system than Earth. That is why there are two moons and a big difference in the species of animals that you must've already encountered."

Leo was surprised that he could call those monsters animals.

"But ever since I appeared here a few decades ago, I have never been successful in finding a way back to Earth."

"Are you telling me that I'm trapped here? That I have no way back home?"

The Chief nodded his head.

"Then how the hell did you see my brother!"

Leo distress changed to anger because to him, this old man was just senile. He looked at Kiva to see her expression and make sense of the situation but she was facing downwards with her eyes closed. Obviously, she didn't want to take part in the conversation.

"Leo. I never said that I saw your brother."

Leo's breathing at this time was already heavy.

"What do you mean?"

"What I saw was my own family."

Hearing this caused Leo to cool down.

"I could only see my family. And what I saw broke me. They were living their lives as though I never vanished. They were living their lives without me as though I never existed."

Leo was clearly puzzled. Even animals would cry over the loss of their loved ones.

"But it doesn't make any sense. Maybe they didn't love you as much as you loved them."

The Chief laughed for a while before replying.

"That's what I thought at first until some others on this planet shared the same experience after seeing their families act as if they never existed."

The Chief adjusted his position while adopting a serious look on his face.

"Anyone who appears on this planet would have their existence erased from Earth, but their role would remain."

"Eh? What are you talking about? Erasing Existence, remaining role. I know about erasing identities from movies, but there's nothing like erasing someone's existence. It's just impossible."

The Chief was unhappy to realize that Leo's imagination was still under the limits set by the standard of things on Earth.

"In order for you to understand what's going on, then you have to stop trying to make sense of everything. Your appearance on this world shouldn't make sense, the animals of this world shouldn't make sense, the little girl you just witnessed with superhuman abilities shouldn't make sense. Even as we speak, you must have already noticed changes within your own body that doesn't make any sense."

Leo began realizing and confirming that the old man had a point and in actuality, nothing in this world really made any sense. The room was now quiet. The old man was giving Leo the chance to understand the situation he was in. Leo bent his head and covered his face with his hands. Eventually, he raised his head, now having a look of conviction. He seemed to have accepted to stop making sense of things in this world and take them as they are.

"I'm sorry for losing my cool"

"That's Ok boy. Anyone in your position would do the same, some would even behave far worse than this."

Leo then remembered something.

"When the little girl jumped, the boy said something about gates. Before I came here, I received a ring from a stranger with engravings and writings about gates. What exactly are gates?"

The Chief became delighted.

"That is going to take some time to explain. But in summary. Gates are what controls this world and every single human here possesses a gate of their own."