“Sleep doesn’t matter so much to us, because the quality of the air, the food, and the water here keep us very healthy. The lack of sleep for one or two nights won’t do us any harm.” Kyran’s voice suddenly sounded from another side of the room. I hadn’t noticed him standing there.

“Ah! Good morning, Kyran,” I greeted him as he joined us at the table.

“The Ruler has asked for you meet him today.” Kyran brought up the one thing that had kept me worried all the time.

“Today?” I felt goosebumps appearing on the right side of my head.

“Oh, what happened! Why does my hair stand up like this?” I asked Kyran, a bit alarmed.

“Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with you. This is the way that your soul expresses its joy, to show that it’s very happy,” replied Kyran.

“But why does it only happen on one side? Why not on the left side?” I continued to ask.

“The right side of the brain is directly linked to the soul. To understand advanced philosophy or metaphysics, it requires the aptitude skill of this side of the brain where our imagination is located. This is why we call the process in this part of the brain ‘contemplation’, or the wisdom of the soul,” Kyran explained.

“I see, but why would it be happy?”

“If you have been separated from your loved one for a long time, and you are about to meet her in the next few hours, wouldn’t you be happy?” Kyran answered with a question.

“Of course! But I don’t feel happy at all,” I replied truthfully.

“This is your consciousness which isn’t aware of what is happening. It doesn’t even know who it is, or even that it has been separated from its other loved soul,” said Kyran.

“Is everyone awake already?” Koharu joined us while Kyran was explaining.

“Good morning, everybody,” she greeted us as she walked towards Vince’s drawing stand.

“Wow! This is very beautiful. You’re so talented, Vince. How did you finish this painting in only one night? You’re so talented!” Koharu said admiringly.

“Come and have some tea with us.” Vince invited her.

“Is this the tea from Wen’s house?” she asked as she joined us at the table.

“Yes, that’s right,” Vince confirmed.

“That’s great, I really love Wen’s tea!”

She sat down and Vince poured her some.

“I will meet the Ruler today,” I informed Koharu.

“Really? Finally, you are meeting each other. Congratulations!” she said happily.

“Are you talking to me?” I frowned a bit, as it didn’t sound like she was talking to me directly.

“Ah well, not exactly. I was speaking with your soul too,” she said.

“Vince, you’re a real talent!” Koharu turned to praise him again, abruptly changing the subject.

“Tim, I want to give the painting to you as a souvenir of your visit to my humble home,” said Vince as he turned to me and pointed to his painting.

“Really? Thank you very much,” I said, deeply touched by his kind gesture.

“You’re welcome. I want to thank you too for allowing me to be a part of your life story,” he said. Vince then walked over to a shelf and picked up a wooden tube with a lid on the top and a thin rope attached to carry it. He went to the painting, rolled it up and slid it gently into the tube.

“Here you go,” said Vince, and slipped the rope across my neck and my shoulder to secure the tube on my back.

“Thank you so much, Vince!” I said gratefully. I had considered to leave the painting there and come back for it later, but then decided to take it with me now as it wasn’t heavy at all.

“Let’s go out to have breakfast,” Kyran suggested.

“Good idea! There is so much delicious food on the way to the mountains,” Koharu agreed.

“Sounds good,” said Vince.

“Shall we go now? I’m starting to get hungry,” Koharu said.

It was a beautiful day, but a bit cold, so I pulled my shirt tightly closer to my body to keep warm.

“Are you feeling cold, Tim?” Koharu had noticed my gesture.

“A little bit, but this shirt keeps me quite warm,” I replied.

“It will get warmer later,” said Kyran.

“Which season are we in now?” I asked.

“It’s winter but because our city is close to the equator, it never gets too cold. The mornings are particularly cold, but later in the day the temperature will be nice,” he replied.

“How about summer?” I asked.

“It doesn’t get very hot in summer; the weather is fine and a bit breezy. I like summer because it’s very comfortable,” added Vince.

“Is there a rainy season?” I continued to ask.

“Yes, and I like that, too. The rain here is more like a fine mist. I like to take a walk when it rains; the sky then has nicer colours when rainbows appear,” Koharu added.

“Are there any storms?” I asked.

“There has never been a storm in our history yet,” replied Kyran.

“But why? Why is it different from my world?”

“Try to think about this a bit more, and you should be able to know the answer. It’s a very simple answer,” Kyran said as if to test me.

“Well … I can guess, but I’d like to know the truth. Could you explain it to me, please? And I’ll then tell you if the answer I have in my mind is correct,” I replied.

“I shouldn’t give you the explanation because I want you to think about it first,” he insisted.

“I believe that these rainstorms are caused by the negative charges that people on my planet are releasing, right?” I asked.

“Please continue …” said Kyran.

“Well, the world repels those negative ions, so they accumulate in the atmosphere. And when they are mixed with the condensation of the water droplets in the air, their mass weight becomes heavier.”

“Very good, go on,” Kyran encouraged me.

“I’m not sure if I’m right, but it has occurred to me that this could be attributed to human or animal spirits that have been tortured. They’re filled with bitterness, drifting aimlessly everywhere. They want to intervene and seek revenge,” I replied, attempting to describe my thoughts to him as accurately as possible.

“Excellent! I really have to compliment you; you’re learning much faster than I thought. You should keep on searching for answers by asking questions on anything that you want to know. Allow these questions to arise naturally in your brain,” Kyran concluded.

“But why does the rain here always come down as a drizzle?” I asked, and as I articulated the question, the answer already popped up in my head, so I spoke it out.

“Ah, because people here only release positive frequencies, the so-called love frequency,” I said.

“This is quite funny, Grandpa. Tim asks and answers his questions all by himself,” Koharu told Kyran with a smile.

“Yes, people who have just started to use telepathy to seek new knowledge often act in this way. On his planet, everyone would think he has gone mad,” he replied.

“I have an idea, let’s go to Hotte’s shop and eat some steamed buns. I haven’t had them for a long time,” Koharu suggested.

“Good idea! We are heading in that direction anyhow,” Vince agreed.

So, we all went out and walked down the main road that led to the residence of the highly evolved beings.

“Here we are, this is Hotte’s shop,” Koharu announced.

The shop, which was located on the main road, was quite large, almost three times bigger than the other shops next to it. It was very crowded inside; all the tables and chairs were arranged tightly and occupied every useable space, and even extended to the walkway outside. When I looked around, I noticed that the shop was full of hot steam, which turned into a white haze when it collided with the cold weather outside. Everyone could choose freely from a variety of buns. At some tables, people were eating something that looked like the Chinese steamed buns back in my world. There were round buns with various fillings, but, with their colourful outer layers, they were different from the traditional Chinese ones that I knew. They came in many different colours, in green, red, yellow, light brown, dark brown, light yellow, dark yellow, and even in purplish blue, which didn’t look very natural at all.

“Grandpa, why don’t you and Vince have a seat here, while Tim and I bring us some food,” Koharu told them when we found an unoccupied table

“Let’s go, Tim,” she said and took my hand.

It was quite hot inside because of the steam that billowed from large steamers, about twenty of them spewing at full blast. The cooked buns were then transferred to 30 or more smaller pots to keep them warm.

This style of Chinese breakfast was very similar to the one that I had back home, and I couldn’t guess who had copied whom, the Chinese or the inhabitants of this city. The only difference between them was that the buns here were made without meat, because the main ingredients used here were milk and butter.

“I like this flavour, take three of these!” Koharu said when I opened the lid.

“Which colour do you prefer?” I asked, pointing at the multi-coloured assembly.

“Definitely those purple ones,” she replied.

“Which other ones would you recommend?” I asked.

“Actually, every flavour is delicious, I think you should pick one of each colour so that you can compare their distinct tastes. You can come back to get more of your favourite ones later,” she said.

“Oho! If I try every flavour, my stomach will be fully stuffed.”

“Don’t worry, just pick one of every colour,” she ordered.

“OK then,” I followed her suggestion.

When we reached our table with our trays, everyone had their eyes on our pile of multi-coloured buns.

“Will we be able to finish them all?” I asked.

“Please have some and we’ll see,” Vince said in a tone that suggested that there might not even be enough.

I picked up a turquoise-blue bun, a colour that didn’t look very natural and appetising.

“Where does this blue colour come from?” I studied the bun carefully before biting into it carefully.

“It comes from a rare mineral,” Koharu explained. “When crushed and mixed with water, it will produce this colour.”

When I split the bun in two, I noticed that the filling inside looked like ground legumes mixed with spices. It tasted slightly salty but good and the ground legumes filling added a pleasant mellow sensation.

“Hmm … a bit strange at first but it tastes good,” I admitted while considering another bun of this colour.

“Now, try my favourite purple bun,” Koharu said and handed one to me.

The purple bun had a soft yellow filling, coated in thick white cream. The filling wasn’t as spicy as the previous one. When I bit into it, I felt a salty taste with an aroma of cheese and cream.

“Hmm … this is very delicious, even more delicious than the one before!” I remarked, licking my lips.

“See? I told you. We have the same taste,” Koharu said cheerfully.

“We have to go and get some more of this colour,” I said eagerly.

After having tried one of each colour, I didn’t find a single bun that didn’t taste good, and each one of them had a very unique taste.

“If we could have a cup of tea like this morning to go with the buns, that would be great,” I said, still chewing on the buns.

“We can. Wen’s shop also supplies tea to this place, too,” said Koharu.

“I’ll go get it,” she volunteered.

“Let me do it,” I offered. “Where can I find it? I’ll also get us some more buns.”

“You’ll find tea in the jug in the middle of the shop,” she said and pointed me the way.