UTOPIA

Kris looked at the somewhat dark cavern at the other side of the portal, and her eyes moved at the hand in the air, waiting for her to grab it, behind it was a smiling Ryu.

The cavern was windy as her hair and Ryu was flowing in the air.

She was nervous.

Should she take that hand and leave the place she had live for her whole life ?

The sound of explosion heard on the road, taking both of their attention which made them more agitated.

"Kris !"

She turned to look at him again, who looked at her with a slight fear. Without further ado, she took his hand and they both walked through the portal.

In the process, she closed her eyes as the wind picked up and hit her face, but as she settled onto another ground, the wind seems normal and it was not as rush as before.

"Kris !"

She choked on her breath as she turned around at the man that screamed her name bloody murder.

Her hands clenched on Ryu's arms.

The look of the man was ferocious, as if he wanted to kill her on the spot.

That look, she could never forget if she wanted to.

The moment the portal slowly disappearing, he shot a fireball towards her and Ryu, which made her screamed at the sight.

However, she felt a body hovered over her and secured her shoulder.

The portal completely closed the moment the fire was a few meters away from it.

Ryu could feel her hands started to shake.

The first time she was at the moment of getting killed, she was not as scared as she did not know she was about to get killed for a reason.

Now she heard her own name from the very own savage, it must have answered her last question.

"He's gone, Kris, he's gone."

She was still shaking in his arms, which resorted him to cup her cheeks and made her look at him in the eyes.

Not other words came from him when he saw the tears on her face.

She must have felt really terrified.

"You're safe now, I'm going to protect you, remember ?" Ryu reassured her, looking right into her eyes.

Every tears fell from those beautiful, black eyes was breaking his heart.

She nodded after looking into Ryu's concern eyes.

He was really worried.

Ryu raised his hand close to her face again, but he then stopped.

He seems hesitant, before he put his hands to his side, letting Kris wiped the tears on her own.

"Come, Kris. I want to show you something." Kris looked up after drying up her tears, trailing behind Ryu who was walking towards the end of the cave.

Reaching the edge, she squinted her eyes at the beaming light, but widened afterwards as she got the clear view.

The sky was clear with blue hues, only a few spot of clouds were seen.

Although far away, there were huge and tall buildings, similar to that of kingdoms with extravagant color and built, one could only dream of having them.

It seems they were divided, one was as clear as crystals, and the other looked more bold as a fiery, and another part looked as serene as a calm water, and finally, a breathtaking view of greenery.

Although it seemed that the striking, dark buildings looked more powerful than others.

"Beautiful.. this is Utopia ?" Kris breathed out, her eyes trails to surroundings, where cities took place close to each other, looking like where rich peoples would stay, and down to a more decent villages until only forests and cliffs, and her very feet.

"So huge.." She looked at her feet, and her eyes shifted to look down the cliff.

Her eyes widened.

She clenched her chest as she felt it tightens.

What was happening ?

The feelings slowly moved from her chest to her choking throat.

Suddenly, her eyes being concealed and in a split second, she felt as if her surrounding changed.

She held close to his hand that was concealing her eyes, afraid of what just happened.

She was losing balance, but Ryu was there to keep her still.

"R-Ryu !" She heard a screech coming from a girl and finally, she had a vision when Ryu left her and went towards the female that was running towards them.

Ryu accepted her hug who was crying in his arms.

"I-I-I thought you were never coming back ! Y-You said it will only take a-a day."

"Aww, I'm sorry to make you worry, Yuna." He flicked her forehead and made her exclaimed in pain.

"I've been waiting for you all day for almost two weeks ! You liar, you made me wait far too long !"

"I'm here, right ? Because of you, I am able to teleport here. Thank you." Ryu looked down at the teary eyed girl, still pouting even after a thank you and a sorry.

He laughed.

"I'll treat you to your favorite meat ?"

"You better !"

Kris looked up to Ryu who turned to look at her, ushering her to come closer.

She moved closer, watching as Yuna walking out of the alleyway, and Ryu waited at the end of it.

"Welcome to Utopia."

She gaped when a kid just flew over her, duck a little at it, followed by a boy that catching up to him with water flowing below his feet, their laughter made her smile.

A man in formal robe sipped the water from the ground with his hand, shaking his head at the child, spilled the water everywhere, and proceed to guide the water into a nearby barrel.

Behind him, she saw a couple laughing with each other. The boy had his hand on top of the remaining puddle that splashed behind him by the kid earlier.

A twig came out of the ground before it grows into a small plant, growing again until it grows a flower, which he plucked from it and gave it to the girl, which carved a huge smile on his partner.

"They all use.. magic.. ?"

"Sort of. It was the nature that was instill in them since birth. They are born with it."

Kris turned to look at Ryu who looked at her with a meaningful smile.

"Wanna learn more about Utopia ?"

She stared into his eyes.

Witnessing the liveliness, she felt her heart warming.

She had never felt this kind of warm in her chest her whole life, being the cashier at Seri convenience store, walking home and back to the store as long as she can remember, no one there to greet her even with a simple smile.

Until Ryu came into her life.

Could she possibly.. change her life ?

Her eyes started to become alive with sparkles, thinking of everything she could learn from here now on.

She pursed her lips as she nodded, rather eagerly.