At Roy’s house, Alice sees him sitting on the sofa.
“Roy? Where’s your mom?” Alice wondered.
”My mom went to sleep early today. I think now is the perfect time to tell me about your journey,” Roy said, he fold his feet.
Everyone goes upstairs and Alice told Roy everything that happened on her journey in his private room while Phoenix stands watch near the window.
“Transported to another realm? Does it really exist? I thought that other realm isn’t real,” Roy said.
“It’s true. The world was more than you may think. In fact, there is more than one world. Blue Vine came from the Night realm and he is not a Human,” Alice explained.
“Really?” Roy wondered.
“Yes, I am. Hold on a moment,” Vine said.
He struggles in bringing the wings outside after they were folded and his tail with arrow-shaped tip grows from between his feet.
“I am known as Valkyrie in my world, the Night realm. In that realm, there is no such thing as sunlight. There is only a false moon shining its false light upon us from the night sky. Because of that....the people in that realm have fallen into madness. Anything they saw as suspicious will be banished or in the case for spirits, exorcised just like the spirit of a boy whom Alice met,” he explained.
Roy leans his head to the side. “That world seems cruel. You said that you saw a ghost there?” he asked.
“Indeed. That boy had a sad fate. He vanished after he managed to fend off the townspeople mob in the Night realm by himself. I felt like I know him from somewhere,” Alice admitted.
June steps forward. “It’s my turn now to tell you about myself,” she said.
June’s disguise falls apart and reveals her scaly skin with fins and facial frills.
Roy flinched backward after seeing June’s appearance. “Wah! What are you? Some kind of fish?” he asked with a shocked face.
“My name is June and I am a siren from the 20th century. If you need protection, I shall protect you with my life,” June said while holding her sword down with both hands.
Roy shows a confused expression. “20th century?” he wondered.
Alice nods several times. “Remember when I suddenly froze Phil’s dad without using anything? That’s time magic for you. I was following the song of a siren when a hole leading to another dimension opened below us and a hand made of shadow pulled me, Vine, and Marta into another world. Bad luck! The hand pulled us into the sea even though I knew that we are already in another world or should I say “Era”,” she explained.
Roy's eyes opened wide when Alice mentioned "Era" term. “Era? Hold on, that hand pulled the three of you into a different time?” Roy asked with a surprised look on his face.
“Yup,” Alice replied with a nod.
“Unbelievable!” Roy shouted in disbelief.
“A gateway to another time like that... seems like it really does exist but I don’t think that it can be opened on its own. Someone opened it for us in order to trap us in that timeline and turns out that it was another Siren like June but with snake hairs like a witch named Nagi. Ah, speaking of Nagi....I wonder about those two,” Alice wondered.
“Huh?” Roy gave a perplexed face at Alice’s concern. Alice’s concern over her enemies makes Roy think that she is rather strange yet innocent-minded.
“The last time we faced Nagi, she tried to turn us into stone with Stone Beam while Argill tried to send us flying to our death in a whirlpool. Nagi must be still in her statue form,” Martha guessed.
“That’s when we met June the siren there and she has been staying with us since then,” Vine said.
“I see...Whoa, I never knew that the world is more than I thought,” Roy admitted.
“Haha, the world or should I say “universe” is far wider than we thought,” Alice crossed her arms.
“Also, there was an attack at Magi Village last month and everyone ended up wounded or cursed. I get the curse from those wolfmen,” she added.
Roy seems surprised when Alice mentioned “wolfmen”. “Wolfmen? Hold on, the Magi Village was under attack last month? I heard several loud howling that sounded like something is planning a war last month. That was the sound of a wolfman? I thought it was just an ordinary wolf howl,” Roy said.
“They’re not any ordinary wolf, sadly. They planned to attack our village and we had to fend them off from the village. Some managed to break through our barrier and we had to fight them directly. Right now, everyone in our village is still recovering from the war,” Marta explained.
“If they were really just a wolf, such thing wouldn’t happen to our village,” Alice said.
“And you said that they were wolfmen?” Roy asked.
“They called themselves the Silver Moon clan. A clan of humanoid wolf or in mythology, we called them “Werewolf” but I prefer to call them “Lycant”. A monster named Mirage sent them to destroy every one of us. We managed to fend them off and fight Mirage ourselves,” Martha said.
“I do know what a werewolf is,” Roy said.
Vine turns his head toward Alice. “Mirage must be worried that our presence prevents him from turning our world into the Mirage realm,” Vine guessed.
“What’s this “Mirage” realm looked like?” Roy asked.
“I don’t know for sure but the word “Mirage” itself means illusion. The world will be nothing but illusion if he succeeds,” Alice said.
“So you’re saying---“Roy’s conversation stopped when he heard something.
Vine suddenly felt a terrible goosebump that made him jump out of shock. Marta also felt a goosebump on her skin.
“Did you feel that?” Marta asked.
“I heard something like a deep footstep in the snow,” Roy noted.
Everyone looked at Phoenix jumping around in anxiety and keeps banging on the window.
Alice stands up from her seat. “Something’s coming,” she warned.
She looks at the window and sees a tall shadow figure standing in front of Phil’s house.
Her eyes widened in disbelief at what she saw. “It’s Krampus!” Alice shouted.
Everyone quickly takes a look at the window.
“What’s he doing in front of Phil’s house?” Roy wondered.
Marta and Alice remembered something and gasped at the same time.
“The talisman’s drawing!” Both shouted.
Roy turned his head at them. “What??” Roy exclaimed.
“Hurry, we must stop Krampus! It’s going to hurt Phil and his parents for being naughty,” Vine exclaimed in panic.
Everyone immediately went downstairs and get out of the house.
Alice performs a somersault as she shifted into a blue humanoid wolf upon landing after transformation. “He went inside. Quick, get on my back,” she said.
Everyone quickly climbs on her back.
“Hang on and don’t let go! I'm climbing up fast!” she noted to everyone on her back.
Everyone holds onto her tightly as Alice immediately climbs the house with Phoenix following them from behind.
As Alice climbed, she sees Krampus on the second floor approaching Phil and his parents.
“There he is!” Roy shouted.
“Krampus! Stop!!” Alice broke through the window’s glass and jumped into the house.
Everyone immediately jumps down from her while Alice stands in front of Krampus and wrestles with him as a half-wolf.
Alice grits her teeth. “Grrr! I know that the only way to make them realize is to punish them but this isn’t right!” she said with a hoarse voice.
Roy, June, Marta, and Vine stand around Phil and his parents to protect them. Phoenix blocks Krampus’s sight and stands in front of them.
“Phil, apologize for what you did to your parents and both of you apologize to your son too,” Alice said while holding Krampus.
Krampus growls at them and they finally did it out of fear toward Krampus.
“Son, we are sorry for everything. We have treated you too hard, forgive us for what we had done,” Phil’s parents said.
Phil looks at them and Alice could see him crying.
“I...I’m so sorry for everything I had done. Uwah!” Phil cried loudly.
Alice could feel Krampus stopped struggling when Phil cried after apologizing to his parents. Alice releases Krampus and changes back to her human form. Everyone kneels one foot and Roy rubs Phil’s head.
“Be a good boy next time, understand?” Roy said with a smile.
June plays with Phil’s cheeks and kisses his forehead.
“Remember what Roy said, Phil,” June said with a sweet voice.
Phil looks at them with tears running across his face. “Boohoo, I’m sorry for everything!!” he cried.
“Now you understand that Krampus came to tell you to be good next time,” Alice said.
Vine puts his hands midair with shoulder shrugged. “Well, everything went well today,” he said with a smile.
Alice looks at Krampus and assumed Krampus’s growl as smiling.
“Let’s...celebrate together!” Martha cheered.
“Alright!” Alice and Vine shouted.
“Everything is ready for the celebration. Let’s get back to my house,” Roy said and went out.
“Let’s go, Krampus,” Alice dragged Krampus with her much to Krampus’s surprise.
Krampus gives Phil’s house protection to keep his family safe and follows Alice with an astonished look. At night, everyone celebrated Christmas together with Krampus at Roy’s house much to his mom’s shock that she fell on her back to the ground.
“Ahhh!!! W-Who...is this?” Roy’s mom stuttered with a terrified voice.
“This is Krampus, the One who Punish Naughty Children,” Alice explained.
“He will be celebrating with us tonight, mom,” Roy said.
Krampus growls happily much to his mom’s fear.
Roy’s mom stands up with trembling feet. “W-Well....everything is ready. Let me just get myself changed,” she said and run to her room.
“Full cheer!” Martha shouted.
Alice raises her fist upward. “Yay, may the Guardians protect us!” she shouted.
Martha and Alice laughed together.
“Guardians?” Roy perplexed.
“It’s something they always mentioned as part of their tradition,” Vine said.
“Is that why they are used to this job?” Roy whispered.
“Yeah...that’s what I figured out since the day I stayed in the village where they lived, Magi Village,” Vine said while chewing.
“The Magi Village? Was it the village that Alice mentioned earlier? Where is it located?” Roy wondered.
Vine swallows his food so that he can explain everything. “It was actually an isolated village located deep in the forest nearby this town but despite its isolated status, the people there know human technology a lot. The people there called themselves the “Magician”. The people there consist of magic users from every family. Magician, witch, shaman, voodoo, summoner, necromancer, elementalist, transmuter, melody master, illusionist, all of them are welcomed in Magi Village including non-human kin. Also, the Magi villagers thought of the Guardians as their protectors,” he explained slowly.
“What do they look like?” Roy asked.
Vine stops and is in deep thought. “To be honest, I’m not sure what the Guardians look like. I doubt that Alice would know about that too,” he said.
“Then, tell me about your friends here instead. Hmm..,” Roy looked at Alice and her friends.
Roy sees Martha and asks Vine about her,” Tell me about Martha”.
Vine’s eyes turn at him. “Martha? She came from a family with great strength. Unlike others, her family has been known for generations with the strength of a monster. Man or woman, they are all strong like a barbaric monsters. That’s why she mentioned barbaric in her punch because it could knock out anyone unconscious for a long time,” he explained.
“What about Alice? She seems to be the youngest of the villager,” Roy wondered.
“Alice? According to the villagers there, she came from a family known for their mastery in time magic. Her parents disappeared when they left the village and haven’t returned, leaving Alice alone without her parents at 6 years old. They mentioned "toddler" so I thought that she could be 4-6 years old back then. She will be considered an orphan until the day her parents return,” Vine said.
“So that’s why she knows a lot of things for a kid of her age. Must be hard for her to live alone without parents,” Roy said.
“Well, she saw everyone in the village as her family so I don’t see her feeling sad about it,” Vine said.
“Why would I cry over that?” A voice said to them.
Roy and Vine turn their head and see Alice approaching them to sit down on the seat beside them.
“Alice!” The two exclaimed.
“I thought you are focusing on others,” Roy said.
“What? Ya think that I didn’t hear that? Ya know...I will find my parents one day. They must be somewhere out there, I just know it! No matter the universe, no matter the era, I will find them no matter what. There must be a reason for them to disappear. They could be lost in there,” Alice said while chewing on her food.
Alice swallows and continues speaking. “You can come to our village if you want. We accept anyone whom we trust. I know....what if they treated you as an intruder? Don’t worry...even though we often face intruders trying to destroy our home, we can fend them off easily. Don’t underestimate us,” she offered.
After the celebration, everyone falls asleep at midnight. Alice, Vine, and Martha slept on the floor with June curl near them like a snake. Roy and his mother slept on the chair with their back hunched. Krampus looks at them with a pleasant growl from looking at Alice, Vine, and Martha’s face.
“Look at them falling asleep with those smiles...So innocent,” Phoenix said with a smile on his face.
Krampus gives a soft growl and took the talisman paper bearing his sigil from Alice’s hand.
“She extracted your sigil from the sign you branded on Roy’s forehead into this talisman. What are you going to do to it?” Phoenix questioned.
Krampus puts his black long-fingered hand on the sigil and the sigils glowed with his power.
He puts the talisman into Alice’s pocket while she is sleeping. “You may summon me through this talisman now, my child. Call my name and I shall come to your side,” Krampus said for the first time with a heavy deep demonic voice.
“You gave her a gift? I’m surprised for you, Krampus. He who punishes naughty children on Christmas gave one child a gift...Krampus,” Phoenix said.
A man in red with a white beard covering nearly half of his face entered the house.
Krampus turns at the man behind him. “Hrmm....Saint Nicholas. Known as the Santa Claus by children,” Krampus snorted.
“Krampus? Fancy meeting you here...,” Saint Nicholas surprised.
“Saint!” Phoenix called.
Saint Nichol turned his eyes on Phoenix. “A Phoenix? What a surprise to see a Phoenix living with a human...,” Saint Nicholas said.
“I am now under Roy’s care as his companion,” Phoenix admitted.
“Ah yes...I knew him. He was a good boy. Hmm....who are these children?” Saint Nicholas asked.
“They are Alice, Vine, and Martha,” Phoenix said.
“So Roy had more friends now...I brought a gift for these children,” Saint Nicholas said.
He put three presents near sleeping Alice, Vine, and Martha.
“It’s time for my leave. Merry Christmas!” Saint Nicholas shouted before he left.
Krampus turns his head at Alice, Vine, Martha, June, Roy, and his mother. Krampus growls slowly and gives them protection against black magic as his final gift to them. Phoenix sees Krampus growl at him and vanishes into the darkness upon leaving.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
