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"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." —Isaiah 43:18-19
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NOW, IT was the twins' turn to have their jaws dropped. They didn't especially introduce themselves as the Gemini, how did the woman know? Who was she actually? Was she some kind of prophet? An oracle? A saintess? Because how could she know if she was just a normal person!?
At that moment, the twins started to look at Lantana in a different light.
"How did you know that we are Gemini, sister?" Gen asked her with amazement.
Lantana, remembering his previous reaction towards her, placed both of her hands on the sides of her waist and spoke boastfully.
"Hah. That's so obvious, duh? You're Gen and she's Mimi," she said as she clicked her tongue and smirked.
The twins turned silent as they looked incredulously at Lantana. Obvious? What was obvious? How did she even come up with that just by using their names?
Unfortunately, the idea of zodiac signs didn't exist in Leontios which was why the twin couldn't think of a reason why she knew about them immediately and even until Lantana's last breath, they didn't know.
"Now you know how it feels," Lantama said as she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Alright. Alright. Sorry, sister, okay? We just thought that you're just a flower vase," Mimi bluntly said as she lowered her head.
"Sorry!" Gen, with his face painted in red, said with a cracking voice as if he was about to cry at any moment.
Unable to withstand any longer, Lantana busted into a loud hearty laugh that echoed in the whole place and wasn't very much befitting a noble. Her laugh was so pure, kind and gentle to the point that she even had to hold her stomach as it started to hurt a little.
At that moment, the twins totally got hit by a different kind of surprise. The woman in front of them felt very strange and distant yet she also felt so nostalgic. Her face, the glitter in her eyes when she was happy, the arch that her lips made whenever smiled, her laugh that sounded as if an angel's melody, her voice that seemed to be able to lull anyone to sleep and even the way she acted all felt very familiar. As if they had known her for a long time.
"She's not her, but she looks like her…" Mimi uttered in a low, energy-sunken voice.
"Yes… She's not… She never really came back…" Gen uttered with a cracking voice.
Soon enough, it was the kids' turn to sob in agony realizing their previous owner really already abandoned them. Well, the gold string that was connected to them and their old owner had already been long dimmed compared to the time when everything was just happiness and fun.
Lantana, whose mind was set in chaos again, didn't bother to stop the twins from crying. Instead, she was just there, staring at them as they poured out all their hidden pain. Well, if only she could, she would have loved to pat their backs as well but her touch was going through since they weren't the same beings so what's the point of still doing that?
"Do you want to know the reason why we were crying?" Mimi suddenly asked Lantana as soon as she composed herself. Gen was still sobbing though.
"I'm curious but I won't pry any further if you can't tell me," Lantana replied as she shrugged her shoulders.
She wasn't someone who would be so shameless to bug two kids who were obviously depressed and just finished crying.
"You see… Our previous contractor abandoned us here. A contractor is a person who makes a deal with us, spirits. But only the races from the constellations can have contractors since that's what they were born to be. And only humans with special abilities can also form a contract with us. The angels are focused on their tasks that God gave them to do which means that God is directly their boss," Mimi said while patting her brother's back, who up until that moment hadn't finished sobbing.
"Ohh? Really? I guess you were so close to your previous contractor that you were so depressed now that you realized that she left you, no?" Lantana concluded.
"You can say that. After all, she was the only person who treated us nicely in the past compared to our countless previous contractors who used to treat us as tools," Gen said, finally done lamenting.
"But how did you, guys, end up here? I thought you were supposed to be in second heaven?" Lantana wondered.
"You see. We are not from this part of this world, so how do you think people could communicate with us if they can't see us?" Gen asked.
"I bet you have something. A device or tool for people to be connected with you? A key maybe?" Lantana said without much thinking while blindly guessing and hoping.
After hearing them confirm that they are Gemini, Lantana couldn't stop erasing the type of magic that Lucy Heartfilia from FairyTail used. As a solid fan, who wouldn't want to see a better live action in front of them? Since she was in a fantasy world, would there be better experience from Earth than what she could experience at the present if her guess was right? Perhaps, the twins also have some kind of magic, used golden keys, and also had other twelve more beings belonging to the higher rank which were a part of the strongest constellation.
Since she knew that she was inside a fantasy world, she couldn't stop herself from dreaming even in broad daylight. Well, it was just one wish—and that was to live in a world similar to those she had watched in anime or those that she had read in mangas, manhwas and even manhuas. A world where she would also have magic!
"Why—You're actually right! Golden keys are scattered around the globe though most of the time they are lying in a dungeon. However, even if the keys are everywhere, that doesn't mean we are also there. Those keys are just as you said, a tool to connect with us who live from above. And unless we felt that the amount of magical energy that a person has, we wouldn't be able to form a contract with them. Since we came from the highest rank, we also need an abundant amount of mana—or else our contractor will die," Gen explained energetically.
"You know what? Out of all the people that we had encountered in the past, you're the only abnormal person we've encountered. We also don't know up until now how you could see us and communicate with us either," Mimi suddenly said.
"Well, I don't quite understand either," Lantana shrugged.
"I have a question though," she added.
"What is it?" Gen's eyes rounded while waiting for her reply.
"Why are you stuck in this place? If your old contractor abandoned you, shouldn't you have gone back to your own realm? Why would you stay here without a contractor when it obviously caused you to weaken?" she asked.
"We have no choice! Our previous contractor gave back our key to us and told us to find a new one who is worthy for us," Mimi replied.
"But instead you waited for her because you couldn't let go?"
"Yeah. And it's not like we could come back either even if we wanted to." Gen tilted his head as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Even if you want to… Why not?"
"You see… There's a force that prevents us whenever we try to leave this place and go back to where we came from. It's either something happened in the second heaven that stops us from going back or we really need to have a new contract before we could come back. Or maybe both…" Mimi said in wonder.
"Have you tried contracting anyone else?"
"Of course! But we told you already, no one can really see us so how could we even approach them? Aside from that, their mana is really not sufficient for us so we'll just end up killing the contractor," Mimi said, grabbing her hair in frustration at Lantana.
"But, kid, why could I do it?"
"Yeah? We don't have all the answers in this world! We don't know either!" Mimi bursted out.
"Kid… I. Can. See. You," Lantana said, emphasizing every word that came out of her mouth.
"Yeah? You can see us but we don't know the reasons why either! Ahh! You're so annoying!" Mimi ended up tearing up again while stomping her feet in annoyance.
"I! Can! See! You! The two of you!" Lantana said in an even louder voice while still trying to emphasize almost all of the words that came out of her mouth.
"Why do you keep on repeating that!? We already know!" annoyed, Mimi said as she tried to slap Lantana's leg which, as usual, just went through.
Gen on the other hand was having an enlightenment. As if he was a prophet who was shown the meaning of his vision.
"She could see us… Then maybe—she could become our new contractor!?" Gen exclaimed.