The Book Of Letters 1 Kurai And His First Delivery

I was nervous to move to another country, but not as nervous as my girlfriend, Aoko Ito. She didn't want me to leave, as she was worried that something bad would happen to me. Though, she acknowledged that it was for the best for me, and so, we promised that we would write letters to each other every single day, no matter how short the content is.

Fast forward to three days after landing on Gloxinia Town, my new housemates had already grown accustomed to a letter suddenly appearing in front of me while having breakfast.

"Don't you think that your girlfriend is clingy, Kurai?" Benjamin, my narcissistic housemate, commented. "It's only been few days since you came here and you two have been sending bunch of letters to each other already."

"Show some respect, Benjamin," said Piper, the aloof housemate. Benjamin immediately cried in pain.

"Did you just kick me?!" Benjamin yelled at Piper. "Seriously! You're the one who should show some respect here! I'm your landlord!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, sipping her tea.

Even I had grown accustomed to their constant bickering every meal time, which made me wonder why they decided to be housemates. As they continued on fighting, I finished up my breakfast and went back to my room to read my letter. As usual, the first sentence she wrote after 'Dear Kurai,' was her questions regarding if I was doing alright. Her letter continued on with the exciting life events that happened on the day before, as well as a few doodles of us at the bottom right corner of the letter. I placed the letter on my desk and quickly put on my white double-breast coat over my purple vest. I fixed my tie, combed my white hair and put on my white uniform cap, and I was ready for my first day of work.

Although, Benjamin and Piper were not. When I stepped outside the room, Benjamin complained about the dirt inside his boots and Piper blaming him for her missing tools.

"Piper, you left your tools in the mailroom," I told her. "And Benjamin, don't you have seven pairs of boots?"

"One for each day of the week!" he shouted. "And today is Sat.u.r.day! You know what that means?"

"Employee-of-the-month announcement day?"

"No!" Benjamin exclaimed. "It's torture weekend! Without my clean Sat.u.r.day boots, the whole day is bound to be sour."

"He just hates children, since they usually come by to help the post office," Piper clarified. "I don't know if they're being helpful, or they just want to spite Benjamin on a weekly basis. Speaking of them, Postmaster mentioned something about a.s.signing you on a special delivery."

The Postmaster, whose real name remains unknown, was the one who gave me the white uniform. He told me that unlike the dark green uniform that Benjamin wore, the white uniform could only be worn by Special Task Postman. The Special Task Postman's job slightly varies in different places, but very often we have to face dangers at some point, or what my girlfriend would say, adventures. I wasn't mentally prepared for such tasks since I was given time to familiarize with Gloxinia Town within two days. I wished I could start on Monday but Postmaster insisted on starting on a Sat.u.r.day.

After my housemates settled everything, we finally went out of our house. Both of them entrusted me with a copy of the key. It felt nice to walk early in the morning, when there was a hint of the sun rising and the air wasn't as cold as the night. The distance from the house to the post office wasn't that big, but it was far enough for Benjamin to complain about his tired legs. Shopkeepers were already up and started cleaning their stores. Some of them noticed me in my new uniform and shouted 'Good luck on your first day!' to me. I thanked for their encouragement though that didn't make me feel less uneasy.

When we entered the post office, we found Postmaster sleeping on the bench with his pillow and a book on the floor. I was surprised, but Benjamin and Piper didn't react much, as they were used to seeing him like that. Benjamin went to the mailroom whilst I picked the book up and looked at the cover.

"Gloxinian Mysteries," Piper read the t.i.tle out loud. "I heard that it was a vampire who wrote this, but I don't believe that, and this book, are completely true."

"You'll be surprised that all of them are true mysteries," Postmaster said all of the sudden. I leapt back and fumbled the book around before it fell back to the floor. Postmaster laughed in a gentle manner as he stood up and straightened his back.

"G-good morning Postmaster!" I stammered as I picked the book up and handed it to him.

Piper just waved him h.e.l.lo. "Well, better start working."

I turned my head to her. "Is there anything I could help? Like organizing or..."

Postmaster patted me on the shoulder and asked me to follow him. We walked to his office where he showed me a picnic basket on his desk. There was a freshly-baked pie inside the basket.

"Your first delivery is to send this to the little boy at the abandoned train station," he requested, giving me the basket. "He hasn't eaten his breakfast yet. Also, in case he needs anything, please do your best to help him."

"Why is he at an abandoned station?" I asked.

"You'll see," he smiled. It seemed that he wanted me to find out on my own. I took the picnic basket out of the post office and took a broomstick with me. Although I'm actually a magic-user, I had to use special broomstick that was made for non-magic users. I kept my magic as a secret for a reason, and only Aoko knew about it.

The broomstick was smooth and grey and at the end of its handle, there was a special gla.s.s canister attached to it. It contains the fuel that could flow into the veins of the broomstick. It acted like the magic from magic users, except the canister had to be refilled once or twice in a week, depending on the fuel usage.

"Good luck on the delivery," the Postmaster cheered with a smile on the face. I nodded my head as I left the building. I put the leather strap of the basket over my shoulder and gently shook the broom to start the magic up. You could tell it was ready to fly if it remained floating horizontally above the ground. Most people put their legs on both sides, but I like to place mine on one side.

As I was getting ready to go, Piper stopped me, dragging a two-wheeled contraption out from the alley. I noticed that the inner part of the wheel frame had small bottle, about the size of my thumb that was filled with strange green gas. I pointed it out to Piper and questioned what that thing was.

"That thing makes the bicycle go fast," said Piper with pride. "I've been working on this so that you can make deliveries faster and easy storage, unlike those bulky carriage. Normally Benjamin would do the test drive but he decided to use the ordinary bicycle instead. Want to give a go?"

I averted my eyes away from her. Piper claimed that she's an alchemy engineer, but one glance at the bottle, I could tell it was hazardous, which made me doubt her claim. So I lied. "I never rode a bicycle before, and I'll probably fumble around while riding on it, so I'm sticking to a broomstick. And besides, safety first. You should put that on top of the list."

Piper was glaring at me, making me guilty for saying I never rode one before. She exhaled and agreed that she should consider the safety for the rider. I was relieved to see her bringing the bicycle to the back, because if she really did see through my lie, I would be suffering broken bones by now.

I know broomsticks are meant to fly high, but I decided to stick to flying near the ground. Ever since the 'incident' a year ago, I developed a fear of heights, when before that I had no trouble of flying at all. On my way to the train station, I recalled all those times when Aoko would make me climb on top of the building, jump from roof to roof and tightrope across the laundry line. All without broomstick in hand and safety gears.

To give a little backstory on this abandoned train station, Benjamin told me the station used to be connected to Marigold Town. However, there was sudden quake twenty years ago, disconnecting all the routes to Marigold Town, including the route from Gloxinia Town. Strangely, the quake was focused on Marigold Town only, and though Benjamin said that the rescue teams from all of the neighbouring towns and cities did try to search for survivors, but failed to save one. Gloxinia Town ended up building another train station to reconnect with the other stations, serving the old station as a memorial place for the townspeople that lost their relatives to the quake.

When I finally reached there, I was bewildered to see the train station clean. Yesterday was much different, with dead leaves and vandalism. There was an ominous energy emitting in the area, though I wasn't sure if it was good or bad, but if Postmaster had been doing deliveries to this place for a long time, I guessed there is nothing to worry about. At the waiting area, I saw a young boy sitting on the bench, staring at the railway as if waiting for a train to come.

I loosened the canister to avoid wasting the fuel flowing into the broomstick. I placed the broomstick against the bench and the boy turned his head towards me. "Good morning mister."

"Good morning," I greeted him back. "What are you waiting for?"

"The train," said the boy. "I bought myself a ticket to Marigold Town, and I hoped to see my friend again."

I was puzzled. I was sure what Benjamin said was right, but the boy appeared to be telling no lie. I a.s.sumed he never heard about the quake, and I would feel bad if I told him about it.

"I got a breakfast for you," I said, showing the basket. "You probably haven't eaten anything yet."

"Really?" his eyes sparkled. "Then let's share! It is much better than eating alone. My name is Oliver. What is yours?"

"Kurai," I said as I placed the picnic basket between us. I lifted the cover and both of us were happy to see a freshly baked and sliced blueberry pie inside. I couldn't believe that Postmaster would stay up all night just to bake it. We took one slice for each of us, leaving four left.

"I want to save them so we can eat together with Lily," Oliver said. "She likes meeting new people, and I know she will love to meet you."

"Who is Lily?" I asked.

"She lives in Marigold Town," he replied. "About two years ago my family and I went to visit my cousins there. I hardly get along with them, so I ended up playing alone in the field. That is where I met Lily. We became best friends on that day that we promised to meet every Sat.u.r.day at Marigold train station, since it was the only time we were free. I even bought a ticket yesterday so I don't have to wait in line, but today is emptier than usual."

"Err... well... it is weekend," I decided to lie. "And you know what we usually do on weekends. Family bonding."

"I don't get along with mine," he admitted.

"Why is that?"

"Well, when you have older siblings who have really good jobs, your parents expect you to be like them," he replied. "I am bad at studying. They even expect me to learn big words like ren-dez-voos-"

"It is p.r.o.nounced 'ran-de-vu'," I corrected him.

"See?" he said. "I am eight years old and hate reading. Why can't I spend my childhood outside?"

He sort of reminded me when I was little. "Much like my childhood. Unlike you, I spent my days reading books because I am not allowed to step outside my house. One time I did complain about it, but I got scolded and locked up inside my room, but I always find my way out."

He laughed. "Well, that's what we kids do; we don't listen to our parents."

I partially agreed to that, because even though I understood Oliver wanted to enjoy his childhood, I know my parents had to keep me at home just so to protect me. Speaking of Lily, I realized that there was no incoming train from any directions. I know this place was abandoned, but with the atmosphere changed, I figured it could be some dream magic behind this, recreate the event that happened twenty years ago. Even if that was the case, the questions left remaining were why anyone would do that, and what connection it had with Oliver.

I stood up and picked up my broomstick. "Do you want to skip the train and ride on this broomstick?"

He jumped from his seat. "Really? I don't have to wait for the train?"

"She probably haven't eaten her breakfast yet," I said as I shook the container and left the broomstick hovering. Oliver was amazed with the broomstick, saying that he had never seen it before. Of course, this type of broomstick was invented six years ago. He sat behind me, with the picnic basket strapped around his shoulder and clutched onto the broomstick tightly. As usual, I flew very low. Oliver didn't mind that because it was his first time riding it. The trees along the tracks were much taller. They weren't like pine trees or anything similar to it, and as we flew further, they became bent at the top, gradually getting closer to us.

"Is it always like this?" I asked Oliver.

Oliver shook his head. I knew something bad was about to happen, although there was no bad aura emitting in the area. The branches grew closer and closer to us until...

"Mister!" Oliver called out. "Look down!"

I lifted the broomstick up before all of the sudden, large roots shot out from the ground. I regained my balance on the broomstick, and Oliver put his arms around my waist. It wasn't over yet as the trees grew taller and tangled themselves into a pair of woody claws. I continued to speed off and followed the tracks, hoping that nothing came in our way. The claws continued to follow us from behind, and Oliver was afraid to look at it.

"Do something about it, mister!" Oliver cried, wetting my uniform with his tears. "I can still hear it coming!"

Do I have any other choices left than the idea in my head? I was reluctant to even use my magic, and I still hadn't figure it out as to why it was chasing us. I tried to remember all the supernatural phenomena I have ever read in the books, figuring out which one of them was related to the current situation.

Unfortunately, my mind was too occupied that I was slow to react to the pull from behind the broomstick. When I turned my head around, Oliver was partially engulfed by the roots entwining and pulling him off the broomstick. I called him out and tried to grab his outreached hand, but the moment I touched him, everything around me, including Oliver, disintegrated to dust. The dust whirled around me and next thing I knew, I was lying down in the middle of the tracks. There were no sentient roots attacking me, and the ominous aura was gone. Yet, I felt that it wasn't right. Oliver wasn't there next to me and I had no idea where to go. I was alone in a middle of nowhere. I thought about Aoko for a while, remembering how she reacted when we got lost.

"Well there is no use in panicking, right?" she said with her hands on her hips, and confident look on her face. "The first thing to do is to stay calm. Clear your mind so it'll be easy to figure things out."

I calmed myself down and looked at my left and right. There was a fifty-fifty chance of finding the right route back to Gloxinia Town, but before that, I want to figure out what happened twenty years ago. I conjured up a black bubble, and recited a spell. "Revela pase!"

The bubble expanded and enveloped my surroundings. Everything was black and white, and all of the sudden, the ground shook. From a distance, I saw a mountain standing up, triggering my memory of reading about giants; dormant giants that slept for so long, their bodies grew an ecosystem. That giant must had woken up from thousands years of sleep, unaware that there was a town above them. I hopped onto the broomstick and flew towards that direction. Debris fell off from the giant's body like an avalanche. I felt immense guilt that I could have turn back the time again to warn the townspeople before the giant woke up, but that would mean altering the future, something that was illegal to do and could lead to consequences.

I popped the time bubble, bringing the colour back to the scenery. From afar, I could see Marigold Town's train station already covered in dirt and rubble. Sitting on top of it all, was an injured little girl crying, emitting the same ominous energy as Oliver's.

I was sure that this girl was Lily that I tried calling up to her. "Don't be afraid! I'm here to rescue you!"

The girl looked at me with despair. "Oliver? Why are you here?"

I turned around, and saw Oliver riding on a bicycle. He hopped out of it and ran towards Lily. I wasn't sure how he managed to come here all the way from Gloxinia Town, or how none of them noticed me at all. As Oliver climbed up the pile of dirt, he hung onto a rubble and accidentally pulled it out. I rushed towards to save him from the falling rubble, but then everything disintegrated into dust again. The dust spiraled back to the scene of Lily crying again, not noticing me at all, and behind me was Oliver cycling his way towards her.

I figured that these two were trapped in a separate dream loop, a complex magic phenomenon. Oliver's desire to meet Lily clung onto Gloxinia Town's train station, while Lily's trauma after witnessing Oliver's death repeated itself in Marigold Town's station. I have never seen two phenomenon happened due to the same incident, and it pained me to see it go on forever. After the loop restarted back to Lily crying again, I stopped the time. I brought her down with my magic and carried her back to Gloxinia Town's abandoned train station, where Oliver, alive and well, waiting in his own loop.

When Oliver saw another pa.s.senger at the back of my broomstick, his eyes flooded with tears. He ran towards us, and I unfroze Lily so she could see him.

"Lily!" Oliver called out, and rushed to hug her.

"How did I get here?" she asked. Lily was too stunned to know what happened.

"I don't know but this mister brought you here," said Oliver, pointing at me. "Are you okay? You got bruises everywhere."

Lily shook her head. "Not anymore. I am just so happy that I finally can see you."

They held hands and looked at me with smiles on their faces. Their bodies glowed as they were fading away, and the two of them said something that I couldn't hear, but I knew what it was.

「Thank you.」

The train station was back to its dirty and abandoned self, but it felt different. Sitting on top of Oliver's seat was a slice of pie. Just as he promised, another slice when we get back to Lily's.

"Thank you, Oliver," I replied. I picked up the pie and sat on the seat next to his. The pie was cold, yet felt so heartwarming.

❤︎

「And that's it.

I told Postmaster about what happened at the train station, removing the parts about me using magic. He was happy that Oliver and Lily finally moved on in peace, as he removed the bookmark off the section about the two in Gloxinian Mysteries book. Postmaster said that he always wanted to save the two, but he couldn't figure out how to break the time loops. I could only lie to him that I convinced Lily to go to Gloxinia Town, and he easily accepted that as an answer.

Aoko, only you know that I could only use dark magic. I couldn't tell anyone, not even Benjamin and Piper. And after today's incident, I felt more reluctant to use it, afraid that the incident last summer would repeat again.

From yours truly,

Kurai」