THE LUSTING WORLD - Season 4 Episode 13

Sophia went through a range of emotions, the expressions on her face constantly fluctuating as of it were a mirror to her heart. “Aunt… Paula.. how.. how can this be..?” She stuttered continuously, unable to utter a single sentence in proper speech.

“Hmm.. aunt or no aunt.. you sure got the name right.” Having the face, she longed for so long, so close to her, Sophia’s breathing grew ragged. There was a tightness in her chest and she choked up.

“Aunt.. aunt.. you are.. alive..” Sophia could not search control her tears. Her eyes turned wet and she cried like a baby… now trying even more frantically to free her hands, all so she could touch her beloved.

Even after making up her mind to deal with this apparent mess on her own terms, Paula found it very hard to do so. Who was she to this girl? This emergence of raw emotions was not at all fake. The girl was radiating misery.

“You got it wrong, little girl.” She extended her hands to gently touch Sophia’s head. “I am not your aunt.” She had her suspicions, but for now, she could not think of any other way to stop her sobbing.

Sure enough, when she told her that, Sophia turned dazed. “Yup.. you possibly confused me with your aunt.” Paula continued but the girl vehemently shook her head, smiling bitterly.

“No aunt.. it’s you, I can’t be mistaken.” The conviction in the girl’s deep eyes when she addressed her in such a dejected tone, shook Paula for once. “I can not forget you.. aunt.. that’s impossible. I knew you will never leave me.. ahhh.. I knew it..”

Sophia’s only regret at this point was her restrained hands. All she wanted right now was to hold Paula in her own arms… all to make sure her mind was not playing any trick on her.

“Hmm.. how are you so sure? It might just be that I share a face with your aunt?” Sophia immediately shook her head. “No. I can not be wrong about it.” Tears kept welling up in her eyes. “There are only two faces I will not forget even in death aunt.. first is mother.. and second is you.. aunt.”

Intense grief flashed in Sophia’s blurry eyes, stabbing right through Paula’s heart. What was this strange feeling bubbling inside of her? Did she truly have a connection with this girl?

“Is that so..?” Paula was at a loss of words. “Then tell me more about this aunt of yours, who knows, I might recall something.” She continued. Sophia took some time to calm her distraught nerves.

Despite everyone telling her aunt Paula was gone forever, she never lost hope. Waiting for her to come back, days changed to weeks, weeks to months, and then months to years. Even master Lyod tried to convince her otherwise.

As it turned out, she was right. “I.. remember now. You.. you were the one who brought me here. Then…” Sophia turned to the redhead restrained next to her. “You brought Mrs. Amelia here?”

“Bingo..!” Paula passed on a beaming smile, gently squeezing Sophia’s cheeks. “Are you scared of me now?”

“No.. there must be a reason for this. You will not do this without a reason.” The more Sophia thought about it, the more it made sense to her. Her aunt was dragged into the dimensional portal that bring the Krypto vines to their world.

There was a good chance that she lost her memory because of that. “A reason. Hm.. well there are plenty but let’s first hear what you have to say.” She heard Paula remark.

“The vines.. you and master Lyod had been in confrontation with the vines, along with uncle Eric..” Sophia narrated the story in excruciating detail, the same as master Lyod had told her so many times.

Within a few minutes of her narration, Paula’s face changed quite a bit. She was not outrightly dismissive of the girl. She can not recall the faces from her recurring dreams, but most of the events Sophia mentioned.. will happen to the woman in her dreams.

“You tried to save uncle, Eric… I do so, the vine caught hold of you and dragged you with it before anyone can react.” Paula closed her eyes, taking her time to digest all the details. Her mind was a mess right now, her thoughts all jumbled up.

“This.. Lyod.. so he is supposed to be my husband.” During her raking of this town, she had come across the man Sophia described quite a few times. “Hm.. he rings no bells at all.”

In this entire town, Sophia was the only one who she felt any connection with. “That’s fine.. you will slowly recall everything.” With her face drenched in her tears, she smiled splendidly.

Paula was taken aback by the overwhelming affection in her eyes. “I am so happy.. so happy for you… aunt. You don’t know.. don’t know.. how I felt when you left us.” A surge of emotions again took over Sophia, breaking her down and choking her up.

“First it was father, then the mother was taken away.. then even you… Wahhh…” *Sob* *Sob* Sophia put her head on her knees and began sobbing uncontrollably. Her will had thoroughly broken down.

Opposite her, Paula felt a tragic sense of loss. Without her knowing it, tears filled her eyes as well. She looked down at her hands, aware of how to console her. For once, Paula discovered a pain worse than death itself.

“Fine.. fine.. girl, I agree with most of what you said. Now can you please stop crying?” Paula gave it her best shot, but the words still came out insensitive only. At this point, she had to do something.

Stepping behind her, she unlocked the chains clamping her hands, freeing the girl. “Here.. you are free.” Being a powerhouse on her own, she didn’t need the girl to be restrained in the first place.

That seemed to do the trick. As soon as the girl was freed she tossed herself into Paula’s chest, clutching her so tightly, scared she will disappear the next moment. “Aunt.. wwuuu.. I am so.. so.. happy..”

For the next half an hour, Paula stood in her place unmoving. The only thing she did was to rub Sophia’s back continuously until she exhausted her tears and tired herself to whimpers.

After this, there was no doubt in her mind that the woman this girl talked about was her. Master Ergon might have gotten hold of her and turned her into one of the subjects of his demonification experiments.

“What happened to you.. aunt? And why have you brought both of us here.” Sophia asked, sweeping her glance around the dark room. Paula sighed and carefully wiped the remnants of tears from her swelled eyes.

“Things have changed quite a lot, girl. I still don’t remember anything of the past that you spoke of, but my present is very clear.” She separated the girl from herself, holding her out at some distance away from her. “We might have been related. But that’s nothing more than the past for me. A past that I have forgotten.”

This didn’t bode well with Sophia. “You can not leave me again, aunt. I can not live without you.. and think of master Lyod.. or uncle Eric.. he still blames himself for that day.” She desperately tried to remind the lady of anything.. anything that can convince her to not leave.

Paula swept the next set of tears from Sophia’s red cheeks, smiling in self-depreciation. “The only one I feel anything for.. is you kiddo. I could not care less about anyone else. It might come harshly to you, but this is the new reality.”

After so many years, she got her aunt back. There was nothing in the world that can convince Sophia to give up hope now. “Even if that was my life as a human. I am no more a human. My loyalties lie with being on the opposite end of the spectrum.”

“But don’t worry. Even if we are at war with this world, I will do everything to shelter you. It’s a promise.” Paula was not going to hide from the past anymore. But even then, it changes nothing for her or her mission.

Sophia was important to her, so she will save her. However, she felt nothing for the humans as a whole. They can all die for all she cared. Heck.. she might happily kill off every single one of them here of commanded to do so.

Her words had left the young girl stunned in her arms. Obviously, she realized the difficulty of the task at hand. Paula seems to have been totally brainwashed by people on the other side of the dimensional portal.

“Don’t bother asking me what happened to me when I landed on the other side. Firstly, I don’t remember much anyway. Secondly, that kind of stuff will be too distressing of a kid your age.” Paula booped Sophia’s nose as an act of affection, trying to cheer her up.

“That’s fine. I know you will come back to us. I will wait. You are alive.. that’s all that matters right now.” Paula was amazed at the maturity shown by the girl. “You are intelligent.”

“What are we supposed to do then? Can you tell me why we are here at least?” Sophia questioned, quickly snatching the key from Paula’s hands and jumping over to free Mrs. Amelia from her bindings.

Paula watched on with a smile, not bothering to stop her. “Sorry.. I can’t. But don’t worry. Everything will be over in a few days. After that, I will bring you with me.”

Sophia knew there was no use arguing with Paula like this. “For now, I won’t shackle both of you. But in return, you should be a good girl and stay here with her, until I am done with all the tasks at hand.”

The way Paula displayed an antagonistic toward the humans as a whole, she can tell her ‘tasks’ can be nothing in service to this world. It’s probably only going to bring trouble to this place in case she succeeds.

“When will you be back?” Sophia asked, now holding Amelia in her arms as Paula got back to her feet. “I have decided to postpone my work by a day. Give me some time, I will take a bath and return.. right now I am extremely dirty both from inside and outside..”

She uttered the last sentence with disgust on her face, recalling the humiliating morning. Suppressing the hatred in her heart, she passed on a caring smile to the girl on the floor. “Once I am back, we shall have a long talk with a daughter I never knew I had hahaha..”

Sophia was left alone in the room as the fleeting shadow of the Paula she once knew left her. Using her sleeves to dry her face, she revealed a rare smile. Keeping aside how aunt Paula turned out, this had been a momentous occasion for Sophia.

It was a surreal experience, like a puppy finding its parents. Holding her arms around Amelia comfortingly, she can’t help but think about a certain boy.

After he made his way in her life, somehow all her tragedies seem to be finding an exit from her search fate. Aunt Dorothea is now with her. Aunt Paula had turned out to be alive. She can’t help but attribute it to Ryu. He had filled her life with happiness.

“Please wait for me, mother. It won’t take long. I am training hard.. One day.. I will definitely find you.” Like Ryu told her once, she need not do everything on her own. At times, she can try depending on her friends for help as well. With that thought in mind, she rested her head on Amelia’s shoulders and fell asleep.