3. Stuck In Between Life and Death

"Wait. I don't understand. You said you were the guardian of the reality and death. So I'm dead now?" asked Mal. Instantly panicked.

Lord Lorda laughed. The sound echoes, feels very close, but Mal still can't see his existence.

"Now you are indeed on the verge of a world of reality and death, but you are not dead, Mal," answered Lorda Lorda. "You die soon, in other words, you are one of the lucky humans who are caught in the middle of life and death."

Stuck in the middle of life and death?

Mal seemed to have heard the term in the middle of life and death. But all this time he did not fully understand the meaning of the sentence. Now, did he actually experience something called being in the midst of life and death?

"You're not kidding, are you?" Mal asked in a tone of disapproval. Slowly, he forced his body to stand up.

Lord Lorda let out a long breath. "This is why humans are called stubborn and selfish creatures. Why don't you believe in something you can see for yourself now?"

Correct. If Mal doesn't believe it, the circumstances around him say the opposite of what he believes.

"So, I'm not dead but not alive either?" Mal hesitated a bit when he questioned that.

"Right, and you're in luck for not being on the death side."

Mal really doesn't understand. What part could be called fortunate in the state of life and death? He couldn't even tell if he was dreaming or not. The room around him felt half real.

"What should I do?" asked Mal. "No, I shouldn't be asking about that. More precisely, what happened to me?"

Dewa Lorda was silent for a few moments, and that made Mal's curiosity very excited.

"If you don't remember, then I'll play the memory before you were here."

Then, in the next few seconds, the wall in front of Mal suddenly changed appearance. A wide screen lights up. Like a cinema which is Mal's favorite place, this big screen plays when he is in the room.

The mall opened and saw what was inside the gift package box from the game developer. Then Mal found a small object, a display in the shape of a black eagle with its wings spread wide. There was a pause long enough for him to pay attention to it.

"You remember that thing?" Lord Lorda said, just as the memory loop on the big screen stopped suddenly.

Mal hissed during a moment of thought. "I... don't really remember. But this thing makes me suspicious because game developers never give awards like that."

"That's the big point," said Lord Lorda. Then, it continued the memory loop. "You found two bottles of drink there. It's written as an energy drink. Do you know exactly what liquid it is?"

Mall shook his head. "No, I don't know. What is it?"

"That drink is like a potion that will make your body odor very sharp. You must not know that you are the target of one of the Dark Clan's people. That drink contains botulism poison which causes you to suffer from brain paralysis."

Mal glared in surprise. "What? Brain paralysis?"

Lord Lorda continued, "Yes. You feel extremely sleepy from the effect of the spells in the potion as well as the botulism poison."

Hearing Dewa Lorda's explanation, Mal suddenly remembered about someone who sent a box package to him. Rossy said the characteristics of the package delivery person, which he still clearly remembered in his brain.

"That's why the person who sent the package to me that day was different from the person who sent the package to me before," Mal said muttering.

"That's right," Lord Lorda replied. "Right now, because you are being treated in the hospital, you are neither alive nor dead. For that reason you are in this realm of verge of reality and death."

Mal's face showed disbelief. Many questions and speculation popped up in his brain. But there is one thing that is the most disturbing thing.

"Wait, explain to me. What do you mean about being targeted by the people of the Dark Clan?"

Lord Lorda was silent. But soon the wide screen display changed to an image of a carving on the wall. The carving was not very clear, almost resembling the shape of an Ancient Greek carving.

"This was an ancient prophecy one hundred years ago in the world of Amapherald—a world far away from the human plane of reality, which was destroyed by the Dark Clan at the time."

Mal watched the image on the big screen. But no matter how many times Mal tried to digest, Mal couldn't understand anything. The language, the shapes of the humans in the carvings, as well as the atmosphere in the images.

"What prophecy?" asked Mal.

"It is a prophecy that there will be a defender of the Clan of Light, named The Seeker, who will eventually search for the sources of life stolen by the Clan of Darkness. You are one of the six The Seekers."

Mal's eyebrows shot up at once. "I?" he asked, then laughed awkwardly. "How come? No. No way. You must have misread the prophecy—"

“There's no way I could have read the prophecy wrong, for this prophecy came from the oath of the god of life of the Amapherald World. He made his oath, and I was the one who witnessed from the beginning that the oath became the prophecy. People who born on the night of the red moon will be part of The Seeker."

Red full moon night. Mal doesn't really remember when and at what time he was born. But Mal still remembers the story from Rossy, his mother, about what happened when he was born.

"The sky suddenly became very dark, but there were gradations of red from the light reflecting off the moon..." Mal repeated Rossy's explanation when describing the atmosphere on the night he was born.

"That's right. It was the night of the red full moon," said Lord Lorda. "You were born on a red moon night, Mal. That's why you have to accept your destiny as The Seeker."

Mal couldn't say anything. The room was silent for a moment, then the big screen on the wall suddenly went out.

"Can I come back alive? To the world I was in?" Mal asked with concern tucked into her tone.

Lord Lorda did not immediately answer. At that time, Mal's feeling was getting worse. All the worst possibilities suddenly revolved in Mal's brain.

"There's a chance you could come back, but that requires my approval."