It's dark. I can't see a thing, am I dreaming again?
A flash of light appears in front of me. As it dims with each second while seemingly trying to get away from me, I try to reach it yet it only goes farther and farther away the more I stretch out my hands to the disappearing light.
No! Please don't go! I want to know everything!
I mustered all my strength and attempted to grab the light. Finally, I was able to touch it. The light suddenly grew bigger almost blinding me even when I tried to close my eyes reflexively.
As I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by large buildings and houses that were decorated with roses of various colors and shapes. Each structure whether big or small, shabby or newly-built, all of them were neatly decorated with roses.
There were also people everywhere, the clothes they were wearing which were commonly tunics and cloaks looked somewhat like the people of medieval Europe. No, not only the people but also the buildings and roads. It was like the pictures I've seen in fairytale books when I was young.
I noticed that a middle-aged woman was running towards me with a bright smile. The look on her face tells me that she won the lottery and wanted to brag about it to the whole neighborhood.
She's still running towards me, can she really see me? As she came closer I tried to ask her.
"Excuse me, can you tell me where I-"
Whoosh- she ran past through me like I was a ghost.
I looked back to where she was heading. Ah, she was running towards the people behind me. I might as well continue to observe.
"They're here! The Duchess and the young lady have come to our city themselves to give us our monthly supply of aether!"
The middle-aged woman announced lively to the people playing cards in front of what looked like a café. With the woman's news, the people instantly dropped what they were doing and stood up lively.
Everyone, including the woman earlier, ran towards a place that looked like the center of this city. I followed them with much curiosity.
Since my body didn't apply to the laws of physics anymore, I passed through everyone and came to the front so that I can clearly see what the people were so excited about.
As I looked up, I saw a stage decorated with roses and different kinds of cloths looped harmoniously.
A woman with glowing white hair and blue eyes stood on the stage just a few meters above eye length. Though she had a skinny figure, an aura of authority and power emanated from her. Still, she was wearing a gentle smile on her face. She looks like the older version of Calla. Beside her was a small girl about three years old with just the same features as her.
I noticed that about ten baskets filled with roses was laid in front of them. After greeting the crowd, the woman began to raise her right hand elegantly and hovered it above the baskets of roses. Swaying her hand with grace, glowing golden threads came out from the roses and floated in the air. The once excited and loud crowd became silent in awe, including myself.
"Oh by the goddess Khloris, no matter how many times we watch the Duchess Kaia spin perithia for us Eastern people, we would still be left mesmerized every time."
"Truly, I've seen the other descendants do the extraction but they never compare."
As the perithia hovered freely above the woman's hands, she waved her hands in a circular motion around it. Following her hands, the glowing golden threads united and became one bright light. Aether, the final result of the whole process, grew even more luminous with each passing second.
She lifted her hands into the air and finally contained the aether in a clear round glass that looked like a fish bowl, except that it had no opening. The aether just passed through the clear glass and stayed inside. The glass containing the aether was placed on a pillar that was similar to a Corinthian column at the center of the city.
Once again, the crowd burst into more lively cheers and laughter.
Then suddenly a heavy feeling of gravity fell upon me. The next thing I knew, I was falling into darkness.
*Thud*
I fell into a hard surface, surprisingly, I didn't feel any pain. I opened my eyes to a dark room. To be more precise, it was Calla's room. I saw a small Calla standing beside me looking directly ahead. I turned my head to the direction she was staring at. There, I saw a younger version of the duke who was also staring right at her. Both of them wore an emotion that was hard to read. They were just staring at each other. This staring competition seemed to last for an eternity.
Finally, the duke cleared his throat and spoke.
"Calla, if you know what is best for you then you must never step out of your room ever again."
With that, the duke turned his back and went out of the room. I shifted my gaze to the small girl beside me yet she was wearing the same blank expression.
After that, I had fallen into the darkness once again. I was taken back to the city. No, this time it looked different. The skies were filled with gloom. The roses which decorated every corner of the city have all but wilted. The roads were filled with dead and crumpled rose petals. The people passing through me had nothing but frowns on their faces. The cheerful city that I witnessed earlier looked like it had fallen into devastation.
I woke up from the pain of my right cheek stinging. I held my still-vibrating cheek as I rose up into a sitting position. Looking right beside the bed, the midget was sitting on the chair with his legs crossed and his arms raised behind his head. He had a look that said 'I didn't do anything'.
"Y-you! Did you just slap me?"
I can't help but burst into anger since it hurts like hell.
"What? I did no such thing. Perhaps the young lady is still suffering from the side effects of my veeeery effective healing?"
He gave me a smug smile and swept the strand of hair that was covering the left side of his face.
Feigning ignorance, huh? Where is Anette right when I need her? Who had the bright idea of leaving this midget alone in Calla's bedroom?!
"If your healing was veeery effective as you proclaim then I would not be in this situation right now!"
"Huh? I just gave you back all your memories you know, at the very least, a witch like you should show some gratitude!"
"Gratitude? Why should I thank you? I still don't remember everything at all!"
His eyes grew wide at my statement.
"I-impossible! I, the great wizard in all history of Helianthus, has never failed in high level difficulty spells before!"
While he said that, he stood up and placed his right hand on his chest. I also stood up to face him.
"Well, then Mr. Great Wizard, allow me to introduce you to your very first failure in your ten years of living."
I smirked and then crossed my arms. If someone saw the both of us from afar, they would think that we were just little children bickering over candy.
"I am thirteen years old! Also, I don't believe you so stop lying!"
Oh, so we're of the same age. I was just teasing him when I said that he was a ten-year-old.
"Hey midget! Why can't you just accept it? Actually, I only remember some fragments of my past. So you can shut up now, treat that as a result of your hard work."
"No! I'll repeat the spell again so you-"
*bang!*
We turned our heads at the same time towards the door opening loudly. Why do you people treat the door like that?
"I am sorry to inform the great wizard that he won't be performing any more spells today. The young lady needs to take her rest as she has a fragile body so you may now take your leave."
The doctor came inside the room along with Anette.