Leave Me Alone, Big Brothers! [BL]

Chapter 174: A World Without a Sun

The woman stood in the doorway and smiled. Her face was perfectly still, and her skin looked like polished stone.

Zane felt his heart pounding against his ribs. He knew his mother was dead. He had attended her funeral. He had seen her buried in the ground.

But the woman standing in front of him was an exact match for the woman he knew. Every detail, from the shape of her jaw to the small mark near her ear, was the same. His memories of her had started to fade over time, but he looked at her picture every single day. He was sure this was her.

"Mom?" Zane whispered again.

Nathan looked at the woman with wide eyes. He remembered the old photograph Zane had shown him once. It was a picture of Laura, Zane’s mother, standing next to Natasha.

The woman in the white dress looked exactly like that woman. Nathan felt a cold chill on his skin. If Zane’s mother was dead, why was she standing in a ruined house in a market filled with strange, cat-eyed people?

Alexander was on alert. He stepped forward and placed his body between Zane and the woman. He stood tall, blocking Zane’s view of her.

"Who are you?" Alexander asked. His voice was loud and harsh in the quiet room. "Answer me."

Zane reached out and grabbed Alexander’s arm. He tried to pull the older man back. "Please, stop! She is my mom!"

Nathan stepped closer to Zane. "Zane, think for a second. You told me your mom passed away. You told me about the accident. How can she be here? In this place?"

Zane shook his head. His eyes were wet with tears. "I know what I said. I know she died. But... but look at her! It’s her!"

He had no logical explanation. He only had the sight of her face.

The woman did not respond to Alexander’s shout. She continued to look at Zane. Her eyes were dark and full of deep sadness. She looked as if she wanted to reach out and touch him, but she kept her hands at her sides. Then, she shifted her gaze to Alexander. Her expression became calm again.

"I know you are lost," the woman said. Her voice was clear, but it didn’t sound like it was coming from a human throat. It sounded like it was echoing from the walls themselves. "You will not go back to your world if you stay in this house."

Alexander narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, ’our world’? Where are we?"

Zane ignored Alexander’s questions. He stepped around the older man. "Mom? Is it really you?"

The woman in the white dress stood perfectly still. Again, she only smiled.

Nathan was looking at the floor. The light from the lanterns outside the house was coming through the cracks in the wood. He saw the shadows of his brothers. Then he looked at the floor beneath the woman.

There was nothing. She did not have a shadow.

Nathan looked up and looked at his own feet. He realized something even stranger. His own shadow was gone too. He looked at Alexander. Alexander’s shadow was gone as well. The light was there, but they had no shadows.

"Mom," Zane said. He couldn’t wait any longer. He pushed past Alexander and ran to the woman. He threw his arms around her and hugged her as tightly as he could.

"I hope this isn’t a dream. Is it really you?"

Zane pressed his face into her shoulder. He tried to smell her. He remembered her smelling like flowers and soap. But he smelled nothing. There was no scent at all.

He also noticed that her skin was so cold. It was like touching a piece of ice. He pressed his ear against her chest, but there was no heartbeat. There was no sound of breathing. Her body didn’t move at all.

Alexander moved quickly. He grabbed Zane’s jacket and pulled him back. At the same time, the woman placed her hands on Zane’s shoulders and gently pushed him away.

"Don’t touch me for too long," the woman said. "If you stay in my arms, your body will become attached to me. Then it will be very hard for you to return to the world of the living."

Zane stumbled back. He looked confused and hurt. "What do you mean, Mom?"

The rest of the group stayed pressed against the far wall. They were terrified. They didn’t speak. They just watched.

Alexander kept a firm grip on Zane’s arm. He felt like he had seen this woman before, but he couldn’t remember where.

The woman turned around. She pointed toward the doorway she had come through. It was an old, rotting door that looked like it would fall off its hinges. She gestured for them to follow her.

Alexander hesitated. He looked at the front door. The sound of the jerky, scratching footsteps outside was getting louder.

He remembered the strange people who had tried to get them. He had to make a choice: stay in a room with monsters outside, or follow a ghost through a dark door.

"Follow me," the woman said. "I will bring you to your parents."

Alexander’s heart leaped. "Our parents? What?"

The woman didn’t answer. She stepped through the doorway and vanished into the darkness on the other side.

Alexander looked at his brothers. "Stay close. We’re going through."

Alexander walked to the doorway. He reached out and touched the air. He felt a strange tingling sensation in his fingers. He took a step across the threshold.

Immediately, the darkness vanished. The air changed from smelling like dust to smelling like fresh rain and flowers. The dim, purple light of the market was replaced by a very bright, yellow light. It was so bright that Alexander had to squint his eyes.

He stepped back into the ruined house. He saw the rotting wood and his terrified brothers. He stepped forward again. The bright light returned. He was standing on a white stone floor.

"Alex?!" Nael screamed from inside the house. To Nael’s eyes, Alexander had simply walked into the wall and disappeared. "Alex is gone!"

Zane didn’t wait for an explanation. He ran toward the doorway and jumped through. His body vanished instantly.

Nathan felt a surge of panic. "Zane!"

A second later, Alexander’s head and shoulders appeared out of thin air at the doorway. He reached out his hand. "It’s safe. Come through now. Quickly!"

One by one, they stepped through the portal. As Nathan crossed the threshold, he felt a wave of heat wash over him. He blinked and looked around.

He gasped.

They were no longer in a ruined house or a dark market. They were standing in a city. But it was not a normal city. The buildings were made of white marble and shiny gold metal. Everything was clean and sparkling.

But the most shocking part was the size.

The buildings were huge. The doors were thirty feet tall. The stairs were so high that Nathan would have to climb them using his hands. Even the trees in the distance looked like skyscrapers.

"Where is this?" Alexander asked, looking up at a nearby bench that was as tall as a house.

The woman, Laura, stood in front of them. Nathan noticed that her body had changed. She was no longer the size of a normal human. She had grown. She was now twelve feet tall. She looked like a giant compared to them.

"Follow the path," Laura said. Her voice was louder now, like the sound of a large bell.

They began to walk. They felt like dwarfs moving across a giant sidewalk. They passed other people on the street. These people were all giants. They wore long, flowing clothes made of silk.

They looked at the small group of humans with curiosity, but they did not stop. They simply stared with large, calm eyes as they walked past them.

"This is impossible," Roger whispered. "Are we in a land of giants?"

They turned a corner and came to a massive gate. The gate was made of solid white iron with gold vines decorating it all over. It looked like the entrance to a palace.

Laura pushed the gate open.

Inside was a beautiful garden. The flowers were the size of umbrellas. In the center of the garden was a large table. There were giant teacups and plates on the table, and several people were sitting there, talking and laughing as if they were at a normal tea party.

Alexander stopped walking. His eyes went wide. He saw two people sitting at the end of the table. They were normal human size, looking like dolls compared to the giant chairs they sat in.

It was Natasha and Dante.

Their parents were dressed in fine clothes. They were holding small cups and talking to a giant woman sitting next to them. When they saw the group approaching, Natasha stood up. She had a wide smile on her face. She waved her hand energetically.

"Oh! Finally, you’re here!" Natasha called out. Her voice was cheerful, as if she were welcoming them to the mansion for dinner. "We’ve been waiting for you!"

Alexander didn’t smile. He felt a surge of pure anger. He marched toward the table, his boots clacking loudly on the white stone.

"What is this?" Alexander demanded. "We’ve been trying to reach you for weeks! No one knew where you were! And now we find you here? Having a party?"

Natasha didn’t seem bothered by his anger. She walked to the edge of the giant chair and climbed down carefully. She walked over to Alexander.

"Oh, calm down, sweetheart. Trust me, I tried very hard to leave your father and ask him to come back home. But he didn’t want to leave. So, here we are."

"Where is ’here’?" Alexander asked, looking around at the giant palace.

Nael didn’t care about logic or the giants. He saw his mother and felt a wave of relief. He ran past Alexander and threw his arms around Natasha.

"Mom!" Nael cried.

Natasha laughed and hugged him back tightly. She stroked his hair. "Hi, sweetie. How are you? Did you do well on your tests?"

Nael sniffed. "Why didn’t you come back? Why did you disappear?"

Natasha’s expression turned a bit sad, but she quickly hid it with a smile. She kissed Nael’s forehead. "I couldn’t leave, Nael. That’s why I asked your grandfather to bring you here. I wanted to see you one last time before the season changes."

The group looked at each other in total confusion.

"Grandpa?" Roger asked. "He sent us here on purpose?"

Natasha looked at Nathan, and her smile widened. "I forced him to bring you all together. You don’t know how much he protects you. It took time to make it happen. But finally, you’re here."

Zane stepped back, looking at Laura, who was now standing behind Natasha. The giant woman who looked like his mother nodded at him. Zane felt as if his head were spinning. Everything he knew about life and death was being challenged in this bright, oversized garden.

Alexander looked at Dante, who was still sitting at the table, calmly drinking tea. "We’re going home. Now. All of us."

Dante looked down at his son. "You can try, Alexander. But look at the sky."

Alexander looked up. There was no sun.

"What do you mean? There is no sun," said Alexander.

"That’s exactly what I mean. You can’t just go back whenever you want. This world isn’t like the one you’re living in. Once you go back, you’ll never be able to come here again. So take your time and enjoy it."