Chapter 682: Warning Of Thorns [Part 2]
Latifa didn’t even bother to dodge.
She simply stared as Alex swung his hammer at her.
The hammer coated in blazing flames approached her in an instant, but it stopped just a few inches from her face.
"What’s wrong?" Latifa asked. "Are you not going to continue?"
Alex bit his lip before pulling the hammer back. He glared at Latifa after that, but he couldn’t go with the motions of hurting her.
He understood that this Latifa was different from the Latifa he hugged and kissed last night before he went to bed.
This was none other than Reverse Latifa, who lived in a world opposite their own.
Feeling his own heart breaking, Alex forced himself to turn around. His hands still firmly gripped his weapon, whose flames only burned brighter without having a place to vent it.
"You and him are really different," Latifa said calmly. "You’re too soft."
"Leave," Alex said through gritted teeth. "I don’t want to see you."
"Is that so?" Latifa asked before changing her form. "Or do you want me to speak to you in this matter nano?"
Hearing the familiar voice behind him, Alex almost turned to look back.
However, he held his ground. They sounded similar, but he knew the one talking to him wasn’t Lala.
It was just Latifa taking on her form!
"Don’t make me hate you more than I already do now." Alex growled. "What do you want? Why are you here?!"
Perhaps knowing that Alex was serious when he said he didn’t want to hate her more than he did right now, Latifa decided to return to her original form.
"Don’t go to Hy-Brasil," Latifa said. "You are not ready for what you will find there."
"And what will I find there?" Alex asked. "Stop talking in riddles and just tell me what’s waiting for me there!"
Alex already received a warning from Efa about Hy-Brasil. Inexplicably, Reverse Latifa also came to warn him despite knowing how angry he would feel after seeing her in his dream.
"Do you really want to know?" Latifa asked, her gaze steady. "Are you really sure about this?"
"Yes," Alex replied. "Tell me the truth. Stop treating me like a child!"
Latifa stayed quiet for nearly two minutes before she finally spoke.
"What you will find there is the truth."
Alex stared blankly at her. He asked her to stop talking in riddles, yet she still said something that was too vague for him to understand.
"What is this truth you are talking about?" Alex asked. "Tell me!"
For the first time since she appeared, Latifa sighed.
It was the kind of sigh an adult would show to a child, who was doing unreasonable things.
"The truth about the past that has been sealed in your memories," Latifa answered. "A past that you may not be able to accept with your current state of mind."
At her words, Alex quieted down. Frankly, he didn’t care about his past.
He was curious, yes. However, he believed that he didn’t need to know his past to be happy. Right now, he was with his friends and his lovers, living a content and happy life in Frieden Academy.
With this kind of happiness in front of him, why should he bother looking at his past?
"I can tell just by looking at your face," Latifa stated. "You’re thinking that the past no longer matters. Well, you’re not wrong. You can turn a blind eye toward it and live this life that you chose. However, that is only true if you don’t go to Hy-Brasil. The moment you go there, you will be forced to face your past."
Alex didn’t answer. Because, deep inside, that was exactly what he was thinking.
Latifa was telling him that if he went to Hy-Brasil, the memories of the past Nero had sealed would come knocking on his doors. The past that meant nothing to him. Well, that wasn’t exactly true.
Evangeline was part of his past, and she meant a lot to him. Perhaps, that one part of his past was something Alex was grateful about.
"Will I really face my past if I go to Hy-Brasil?" Alex asked.
"Yes," Latifa answered. "No matter how much you try to forget, no matter how much you bury it, one thing is clear. The past that has been sealed in your memories is very much alive. Sooner or later, it will come looking for you."
The wind blowing around them suddenly grew colder.
Alex frowned. He hated how serious she sounded. It was as if she was telling a prophecy that had no choice but to come to pass.
"Enough," Alex said. "Even if that’s true, I’ll deal with it when the time comes."
"That’s exactly what I’m afraid of." Latifa slowly walked toward him until only a few steps separated them. "When that time comes, you won’t just be dealing with your past. You’ll be forced to choose between your happiness... and the truth."
Alex’s grip on his hammer tightened. "What kind of choice is that supposed to be?"
"The kind that destroys people." Latifa held his gaze.
Alex saw it in her eyes. She wasn’t looking at him with anger, hate, love, or affection.
The feeling he saw in her gaze... was pure pity.
It was as if she already knew how everything would end.
"Whether you go or not is your choice." Latifa turned around, and walked away. "This is the last thing I can do for Lala, who truly loves you from the bottom of her heart."
A moment later, the young lady turned into black flames and faded away, just like Efa earlier.
Two warnings from two ladies who shared a connection with him in ways that he still didn’t understand at the moment.
Still, Alex lowered his head as a teardrop fell on the ground.
"Lala..."
The image of the little girl who had appeared in his life suddenly, had disappeared just as suddenly.
He even remembered the time before they parted from each other.
She looked anxious. Scared even. But at that time, Alex hadn’t expected that it would be the last time they would see each other.
As the world around him slowly crumbled like countless glass shards shattering at the same time, the young man sobbed in a place where no one would see his tears.
