''Hello? Anybody home? Hello?''
The man kept tapping Lorelei. She did her best to ignore it, hoping they would drop her off, but finally gave in and opened her eyes.
"Mind your manners," said the other guy, dressed in a suit, sitting beside the man who tapped her, calmly.
''Don't sweat it, I barely touched her.''
The man turned towards her after glaring at his companion, who was cleaning the top of a long black tube with many parts scattered around it that Lorelei couldn't recognize, with a handkerchief. Golden tubes clattered on the ground when the man put one of the parts he grabbed from the couch upside down. They were both wearing black suits with white fabric from their sleeves hanging off their arms, except the man who called himself Brant. Lorelei noticed that his sleeves were torn, showing his imposing stature even more. He remained there looking at Lorelei with a big smile, smeared across his face; the other one, in contrast, was barely expressive and kept cleaning his parts, not paying attention to them at all.
''As I was saying, my name's Brant, what's yours, kid?''
'' I'm-'' Lorelei heard a soft whisper in her ear.
''Don't tell them.''
''Hm? Cat got your tongue? I won't eat you, little one. Speak freely,'' he said, laughing out loud.
''I'm Reili.''
''Reili what?''
Lorelei was confused; she didn't understand what Brant was asking her, and he understood it by her expression.
''Your family name, don't cha have one?''
Lorelei shook her head. She never had what she could call a family, so how could anybody give her a family name? The only gift she got from her mother was her name. Lorelei.
''Hmm…,'' Brant seemed to be in deep thought.
''Well, I guess there are people like you. Where were you going?''
''I dOn't kNow.''
''Wha'd you mean? So ya tellin me you were wandering around here without a place to go?''
Lorelei nodded. Brant took a deep breath and gave out a long sigh. He leaned closer to her, close enough that she caught the faint scent of sweat on his suit.
"Listen here, Reili," he said, his voice low but not unkind. His eyes held hers, gauging her every move.
"You can tag along with us until ya find somewhere to stay. How about that?"
It was an offer Lorelei knew she had to accept. If she were to walk across that forest, she knew she would surely meet creatures like the one she saw. It was rather the least of her problems; she didn't know if those two had any ulterior motives towards her. The thought of taking off her glove and rushing towards them wasn't even part of her options; she knew how strong they were. Not anyone could have blasted a clean hole through that thing. By the time she took off her glove and dove forward, her body would've already been blasted away. She was trapped, and her only option to survive was to follow them.
''That wasn't part of what we agreed on, Brant,'' The man who was cleaning the tube finally looked directly at Lorelei. She hadn't noticed because he was turned towards the window, but the third of his face harbored a burn scar lengthening from his eye to the top of his neck.
''Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, quit nagging me, will ya?'' Brant crossed his legs and turned his gaze towards the window.
''Samuel, you don't actually expect me to leave a kid wandering in the lymph, do you?''
''…''
''Do as you wish, but I'm not covering for you this time,'' Samuel returned to his previous activity, but this time, he was assembling the pieces as he cleaned.
''Yeah, yeah, got it.''
Brant seemed a bit happier than he was, and a big smile once more traced his lips.
''Well, now that's settled,'' He got off his seat and walked towards Lorelei.
''What a wound you've got there. Something happened to your eye?'' he reached out his hand towards Lorelei's covered eye.
''NO!''`
Lorelei violently smacked away his hand and pushed herself back to the door. Brant stayed on the couch next to her, calmly rubbing the hand Lorelei smacked.
''You have my sincerest apologies; I must've known better and asked you,'' Brant bowed his head towards Lorelei with both his hands gripping the seat.
''I'm soRry.''
''No need to apologize, I am the one in the wrong, he-''
''Enough talking, we're arriving shortly.''
Samuel had finished assembling the pieces together and packed them in a black case that he placed on his lap. Brant went back to his seat and sat down. They remained quiet the whole way through until the door Lorelei was against suddenly opened, making her fall off. The two men rushed out to see if Lorelei was fine, and seeing her pat her head with her hand made them laugh. Samuel leaned down towards Lorelei.
''Need a hand?''
Lorelei stared blankly at him and accepted his offer, grabbing his hand with her right hand covered by the glove.
''Welcome to Vinyl, city of everlasting day.''
Samuel moved away from Lorelei, revealing in front of her the empty night lit up by the city lights. It was nighttime, but to Lorelei it did not feel like it at all. The city was just too bright for what she was used to. Every light she saw felt like little sparkles illuminating her eyes. The further Lorelei looked, the higher up the sparkles felt until they disappeared in the horizon.
''Brant, take her with you. I need to sort some things of my own.''
''Alright, take care.''
Samuel walked away towards one of the streets and disappeared into the blinding lights.
''Guess it's only us two now. Let's go back in. I think the Duchess won't mind you being with us for the time being, Reili.''
Brant walked towards the weird-looking carriage, and the door opened without him even touching it.
''What is THat?''
''Hm? What do you mean?''
''The tHing we were in. What is it?''
''Oh. It's called a car. Not many around here, huh?''
''A car?''
''Yeah, get in. I will explain it to you; I guess it is rare to see one.''
Lorelei walked into the car and sat down right next to her bag. Brant soon followed after her and sat in front of her. He flipped a switch, replaced a crystal with another glowing one, then flipped the switch again; the door closed, and the car started moving again.
''These pieces of junk are mostly reserved for high nobles or those who accomplished something recognized by the kingdom; the same thing goes for this stupid weapon Samuel has; they are called firearms. In this case, the car belongs to the lady we both serve, Duchess Iria. They are hard to get, but if you have money, power, and influence, you could get your hands on one of them.''
Brant didn't seem too happy talking about the cars and weapons; he kept an obviously displeased look and crossed arms.
''These things cannot serve a single purpose without energy stones. Highly concentrated ones at that.''
His tone appeared a bit harsher to Lorelei when he said they needed those energy stones. Lorelei immediately made the link between the energy stone she bought with Maria and the one Brant placed in the car. She was curious; she wanted to ask more about them, but refrained from doing so since she knew Brant didn't seem pleased to harbor such a subject any longer. Brant noticed Lorelei became quiet again and tried cheering her up.
''Tell me, Reili, what do you think sea monsters eat?''
Lorelei gave him a confused look.
''Fish and ships.''
Brant started laughing out loud, smacking the seat with his right hand and holding his belly with his other. Lorelei just watched him, confused. When he realized that she didn't even understand the joke, he knew he had made a fool of himself in front of the little girl.
''My apologies, pay me no mind.''
He stayed down, looking as if he was a lone puppy the rest of the ride. Finally, the door once again opened, and Brant got off first. He turned around and offered his hand to Lorelei.
''Shall I help you down, m'lady.''
Lorelei grabbed her bag, accepted his offer, and reached her hand out to his. Before she even got out of the car, a sweet fragrance filled her nostrils. She could almost taste how sweet the smell was. She stepped down from the car and was met by a garden of flowers towering above her in a continuous arc.
''Our lady loves flowers as you can see, but she doesn't have much time to take care of them, so we do it for her.''
Brant started walking towards the big white double doors while Lorelei stayed back observing every single flower she could. Every flower was different from the previous, whether it was by the shape of the petals or the roots. She couldn't seem to be able to differentiate any flowers from the whole.
''Come on, Reili, let's go.''
It was Brant speaking to her from the door. He was already holding one handle and waiting for her. Naturally, Lorelei stopped looking at the flowers and ran towards him. Even the white tiles on the ground seemed like they were perfectly brought together in harmony. Brant held the door for Lorelei and let her walk in first.
''I present to you the mansion of our lady, Duchess Iria.''
Lorelei was blown away by the number of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The ones around the roof were smaller, but the middle one almost went as low as the top of the dual staircase. The mansion had almost, from what Lorelei could count, three floors. Brant walked past Lorelei to the spiral staircase.
''Come on in, I'm going to show you the Duchess- well, I hope she's here.''
Lorelei followed Brant across the huge mansion, passing by numerous spacious hallways. To Lorelei, it almost seemed like someone purposely built this place like a maze. Brant stood in front of an even bigger door and pushed it open. When he entered, Lorelei followed right after him. She saw a brown-haired lady almost melting on her desk with towers of paper surrounding her. When she heard the door close, she immediately got off her desk, arranged her glasses, and grabbed the pen next to her. She took on a proper posture and started writing on the paper. Brant placed his hand in a fist over his mouth.
''Ahem.''
The lady slowly raised her head up to look at them and let out a sigh of relief.¸
''Oh, it's just you, Brant.''
She softened her posture and dropped dead on the desk again. Brant bowed to her, one arm wrapping his chest and the other behind his back.
''So how was it? Did you learn anything new about the pillar?''
''Not much. It's still the same as before, same symptoms from getting too close to it.''
The lady at the table sighed again.
''What about Sam? Is he not with you?''
''You know him, always on and on about his business.''
''I see. Who's this cute little one you've brought to me?''
The Duchess raised herself and sat properly on her chair. She had finally given Lorelei a proper look. It was at that moment that Lorelei noticed how beautiful the lady was. It was as if this piercing glare of hers was hypnotizing her.
''Oh...''
Brant walked towards Lorelei and shuffled his hand in her hair.
''Her name is Reili. We saved her on the way back from the Lymph.''
''The lymph? What were you doing in the lymph, Reili?''
''I wAs…''
Even she herself didn't know where she was going. Walking aimlessly, trying to find a place to stay the night.
''Never mind that. You must be tired, aren't you? Brant show her the way to the middle-floor room, the one with the biggest bath. I might be out for a couple of days, but I'll be here tomorrow morning. If Sam isn't back before then, tell him to write a detailed report of your expedition.''
''Of course. I'll tell him.''
Brant turned towards Lorelei with a big smile on his face. That smile had become almost natural for Lorelei to see. He raised his hand off her messy hair.
''Follow me. I'll show you the room.''
Lorelei took one more glance at the lady who smiled at her. Lorelei didn't understand why, but something about her smile seemed familiar. Almost as if she had already seen it before. Almost as if she had always been with her. She didn't think much of it and turned away to follow Brant. Leaving the door slowly close behind them as they walked towards the hallway.