I tried to shake off Reade's bizarre behaviour and made my way over to the counter instead, where Mrs Staffe and her daughter, my friend Emilia, were serving customers.
"Oh, good afternoon Nyah darling." Greeted Mrs Staffe as she glanced towards me with a welcoming smile.
"Hi Mrs Staffe, what was Reade doing here?"
"Oh, nothing important dear, just something regarding his family's business." She replied rather nonchalant and dismissively.
Hmmmm ok then. "Hi Emilia, are you working today?" attempting to change the subject, looking towards my friend that is currently stood making drinks with her mother, Mrs Staffe.
"Hi Ny, yeah I am today, those sketches are driving me crazy." Hahaha, I chuckle to myself as I picture her doing just that and so much more.
My quick trip to the café turned into an hour-long counselling session type visit with the customers, they all seem to be drawn to me for an unknown reason, but they are such lovely and friendly people, besides I enjoy helping them with their troubles and being and ear to listen. As the sun starts to leave the sky I finally leave the café, with my favourite tummy warming drink; the darkness of night had started to blanket the town, and the noise of bustling daytime life had quietened to almost nonexistence. The unsettling silence of tonight follows me home rather uneventfully, until I reach the street just next to the building that my apartment resides within. The hair on the back of my neck feels as though to stand on end and my skin starts to raise into goose bumps, as an eerie feeling washes over me. A sensation of not being alone, even watched from afar perhaps. A shadowy figure of a man steps out into my path, before I could make it to the safety of my building, a vertigo kind of effect overcomes me as I look up at the stranger. I cannot pick out any basic features at all, he appears in the form of a living shadow, an airy dark man and nothing more. Each time I try to focus on his face the dizziness and nausea arises in strong waves and I can't remain upright. As I fall to the ground, lay out on the floor on my side and unable to lift my head, the shadow leans over me, close enough that I would feel his breath upon my face if it had any, but feel the sharp prick of a needle enter my neck instead. My eyelids drift closed within moments and refuse to obey my commands, my thoughts disappear entirely, as my consciousness fades away into nothing.
My body and mind become separate entities; I look down at my body, it lays unmoving and unaware on the ground where I fell, and the shadow is stood looking away from me but down into the darkness of an alley. This feels so surreal, much like a dream or hallucination, but something inside of me, perhaps my intuition, is telling me that is not true. My mind leaves my body where is lies and gets pulled into a far-off place that I have never seen before, it does not even appear to be a part of this world. It is full of wonder, magic and life, colours and beauty, love and peace, although I look to be alone here, I am not scared it the slightest nor feel at all lonely.
A soft female voice emerges from the misty blankness of the distance, even though it is strange and out of place, it does not frighten me, for some reason, I believe I can trust it.
"Nyah, my child."
"Who are you? Where am I? What happened? Is this real?"
An elegant chuckle follows in response to my rambling list of questions. "All in good time my dear. But to answer a few of your questions; you have astral projected into another realm, meaning your soul has left your body where it is and travelled here. I called you here to help ease your stress as this unfolds and perhaps even provide you with some information you very much desire. And yes, this is very real little one."
Unknown P.O.V.
Eventually, the time has come. I have been waiting so long, the apprehension had my heart racing. I just hope it was not all for nought. I hope I am correct about her and my patience is rewarded.
300 years later and she has come to be. I can finally walk the earth, although not physically but close enough for now. I summon a couple of my servants to carry her away to a building that is around an hour's drive away, that we use at various times for one of our many bases. There I will uncover if she is who we are looking for, and where she keeps her heritage artefacts and hidden library, since we found nothing to indicate the presence of such in her apartment.