Lily’s adventure in Marvelia-Into Marvelia

It was quite a peculiar day for Lily. She decided to follow a stray cat. This never happened before, as Lily was just a plain woman with a daily life we could call “vanilla”. No strange and peculiar things. Just ordinary.

Lily was a librarian. When Lily got up that morning and went out from her apartment building, she encountered a cat, a gray cat with black stripes. The cat was sitting on the opposite site of the road and just looking at her apartment building. Lily paid no mind and just walked to her workplace, as if nothing unusual happened. Little did she know that the cat had been sitting there for hours, waiting for her.

When she working and arranging some books on the shelves by the window, she noticed the same cat when she looked outside. The cat was sitting near the park bench just opposite of the library. Again, looking at her direction. 

The same thing happened again during lunchtime, when she came back from buying her lunch. The cat changed its position and now sitting near the steps of the library. This time, Lily started to wonder, what’s with this cat that always seemed to be around her that day. Little was she aware of the cat’s gaze, that was following her from the moment she walked up the steps till the moment she closed the main door.

Now, I did say that Lily’s life was rather plain but it wasn’t without challenges that occasionally gave it a little…spice. Particularly with what happened with her recently. She had gone through a painful breakup with her fiancé, James, about two weeks ago. They had been together for years, but as time passed, drifting apart seemed inevitable. Arguments happened more frequently and being on the same page was something that perhaps became impossible.

After a long, difficult conversation, Lily and James decided to call off their engagement. It destroyed Lily. Broken into piece, feeling lost and as though a part of her would remain empty forever. She tried to throw herself into her work, hoping the routine would help her in some way. But no matter how hard she tried, the emptiness wouldn’t leave. She was alone.

It was afternoon, around 3 pm, when she got out of the library. And there it was. The cat looked up at her, met her gaze and meowed. Lily couldn’t ignore this any longer and decided to approached the cat and bent down to pet it.

The cat was rather docile for a stray one. It rubbed its head on Lily’s hand and gave her a final gaze, before starting to stretch and moving around. The cat didn’t leave and instead, meowed and behaved in a way that made the impression it waited for Lily and wanted her to follow it.

As I told you in the beginning, this was a peculiar day. Because Lily also decided, to follow the cat. When Lily started to walk, the cat walked with her. It maintained a distance of just 3 feet away from Lily, to make sure that Lily kept following it. One road, another, right turn, left turn. The cat brought her to the part of the city that Lily had never been to. It was quite an old area, nothing much there, and not many people either. Yet, the cat was waiting in front of an alley within that neighborhood. Lily didn’t think much before she decided to go with the cat into the alley. The alleyway seemed ordinary at first, but the more they went deeper into it, the more anxious Lily was. She started to question if she was really in her right mind for doing this. She stopped for awhile. As she did so, the cat just meowed to make she kept following. She did.

No more than 10 steps after, they arrived at a dead end. At least, that’s what Lily thought. The cat moved forward to the red brick wall, waited for a moment, and then kept walking. To her astonishment, the cat just went through. 

While Lily was hesitant earlier, this time she was obviously scared. Her heart beat faster, her breath shortened. She was panicking. She wanted to move and run away as fast as she can, but any effort of moving seemed pointless. She froze.

A minute passed and the cat meowed again, from somewhere that sounded like a place within the wall. Lily snapped and pretty much let go all notions of sanity and went after the cat. She closed her eyes and kept moving forward. Nothing bad happened but just a tingle when you passed through. Lily didn’t realize she was there already because she kept her closed still. There were birds chirping, the fresh scent of morning grass and sunlight that was bright and yet was cool on the skin. This sudden change of air made Lily peeked with one eye before opening all her eyes widely. It was the most beautiful garden she has ever seen. Lush and enchanted. Flowers from all kind of colors. The garden felt a little bit like a labyrinth, with a lot shrubs and boxwoods on both sides, but not too high as to obscure the view of the entire garden. The pathway was red cobblestone and in the middle of it all, a huge beautiful granite fountain with two angels statues pouring the water. The entire garden felt as if it was alive and vibrating with energy. Lily was afraid and anxious a moment earlier, now she felt calm and a sense of peace washed over her. 

As Lily walked further into the garden, she saw a woman standing near the fountain. The woman had long, flowing hair the glow in the sunlight and her kind smile was warm and inviting. There on the woman side, sat the gray cat.

“Welcome, Lily” The woman’s voice was sonorous, yet gentle and calm.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry..?” Lily was taken aback and stopped on her track.

“How do you like the garden? I hope it pleases you. It’s been awhile since you last visit a garden like this, hasn’t it? When was it…Ah! You were 7 years old back then. It was a garden near your grandparents’s house. It’s been 20 years.”

“How do you know…who are you…?” Lily’s voice was cracking and she was shaking. She didn’t know who this woman was and wondered how this woman knew all that.

“Don’t be afraid, child. Although this is your first meeting me, I have been watching you for years.

My name is Edenia, I am the Guardian of Gardens.”

“What do you mean you’ve been watching me for years…? Guardian of Gardens?”

Edenia walked around the fountain slowly, waved her hands towards a nearby shrub and flowers just bloomed out of nowhere.

Lily jumped, eyes wide opened. “ HOW DID YOU…?! No , this is too mucb! This is scary!”

Lily turned back and started to run when she heard, “I know you are hurting, child.”

She stopped and turned back, facing Edenia again. “What..?”

“I know the pain you are going through.” Edenia extended her hand and smiled. “ Come, child. James might hurt you but no one here will do such a thing.”

Lily hesitated for a moment and finally gave in. She took Edenia’s hand and both of them started to walk deeper into the garden.

“Come, Oscar.” Edenia shouted, a soft meow followed.

Lily was just silent and just taking all this in. The three of them walked in peace and quiet, enjoying the beauty of the garden. They passed through groves of fruit trees and fields of wildflowers. There were ponds scattered through out. The air is filled with the sweet scent of blooming roses. The sound of water trickling was in harmony with the birds’ singing. 

“I know you are confused with all this, my dear. If you think, none of these make any sense and doesn’t feel “humans”, you are right. You are in the magic realm at the moment.”

“Mag..what?”

“Haha. It exists child. Magic. I do look “human” but I’m a magical being. So does Oscar here, everything in this garden and anything throughout the realm.”

“This is just a lot take in and I’m really, really confused!” Lily’s voice was louder than she intended. “I’m sorry…I was just…”

“It’s alright, dear. Breath. Take your time. You have all the time in the world. Time works differently here.”

Lily pretended she didn’t hear that and didn’t even want to know about what Edenia meant with the time. She took several deep breaths, calmed down and said,”….What do you mean you have been watching me for years?”

Edenia was silent for a moment.” Do you remember when you were 7 and playing in that garden?”

“The garden near my grandparents”

“Yes.”

“Somewhat.”

“There were other kids too there at that time. Adults, too. That garden was….left untreated….abandoned to be dead with time and by human touch. There were patches of flowers…mostly destroyed. You were too young to notice. All this…hurt me, you see. Gardens are part of me, I feel the pain. I hated humans for a time. Until you changed my mind.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. The 7 year old Lily. You were there in the garden, others too and yet you were the only one who took a bucket of water, and sprinkled it on the dead flowers. I still remember you were swaying from carrying the heavy bucket. These hands were so little back then.”

“I didn’t remember that…”

“but I did…we all did. That was when you changed my heart towards the human. From that moment on, I decided to watch over you. I’m sure you also forget about Oscar.”

“Oscar? This cat?”

“Not just a cat, mind you” Oscar replied with a deep growl.

Lily jumped. “ Did…did…the cat…just?”

“Yes, yes, I can speak your language.” Oscar rolled his eyes. “ All magical beings can speak regardless their species. You should tell her this first thing, Edenia.”

“Well, I thought it would be a nice surprise.” Edenia smiled and shrugged.

“So, as the garden lady said, you also forget about me.” Oscar continued.

“Did I meet you before?”

“Meet? No, no. You saved me. When you were 12. Some idiot kids thought it was funny to throw stones to a sleeping cat. I was bleeding and dying. You rushed and knocked those kids. They pushed you before they left. You hurt your knees but you were screaming for help. Not for you. For me. You couldn’t even stand.I was thankful that old lady was nearby. I was saved by the Animal Welfare and your wounds were treated…. I should visit Martha’s grave again. She’s lonely.”

“Martha?”

“Yeah, the old lady. She died a year after that incident.”

“Oh…”

“Anyway, back to you, garden lady.”

Edenia just smiled and continued walking. Lily walked with her, still with her hand holding Edenia’s tightly. After a moment, they came to a clearing in the garden, Edenia turned to face Lily. “ Now, you understand who we are. Just a little a bit at least”

“ We are here for a reason. Magical creatures don’t like being in debt. You saved us both, Oscar and me, from great pain before. That made us indebted to you. We know what you’ve been through this past 2 weeks. We are usually not meant to meddle with human affairs and help them face their life challenges. But, you are an exception, my dear.”

 “And some other people, too. You should not make her feel as if she’s the only one, garden lady.” Oscar added.

“ I see…” Lily answered with a low voice and felt a bit upset towards Oscar because he burst her bubble.

Oscar noticed that and said “But you are special too us. Especially me. Can’t help it, you saved my life.”

“I see.” Lily smiled.

Edenia giggled and continued “We have something for you, my dear. Something that perhaps, will help you ease your pain.”

“What is it….?”

Edenia took both Lily’s hands and start mumbling in a language Lily couldn’t understand. It was enchanment. 

“There you go. Now, you are ready.”

“Ready for what?” Lily looked anxious.

Edenia waved her hand towards the middle of the clearing and a door made of vines was erected.

“For a journey in the land of Marvelia.”

-To be continued-