I blinked.
Wait, what?
Not metaphorical but literally.
Overwhelmed by the feeling of my eyelids smashing together and the micrological instant of blindness I had to take a step back – this however only was a metaphor because my body still wouldn't move an inch and just stayed hidden behind a certain indoor tree in a certain bar made out of light wood.
But hey: blinking!
Of course I now had to blink as fast as possible for about a minute until I got dizzy from it.
Haa~ this is awesome!
What?
It's just blinking you say?
That's harsh.
It's the first time I could move anything by my own will so be a bit more gentle okay.
I mentally puffed my cheek.
Don't downscale my heroic achievement okay.
Blinking isn't heroic?
Pff, I won't even listen to what a boring nine even has to say, so go count some colours you dumb rational me.
I closed my eyes triumphantly just to show her.
But to be honest; she is kinda right – not that I will ever let her know… but we are the same me so she actually knows already… dammit.
Well, being able to at least do something is really nice and refreshing but it really was just blinking.
I looked to the ceiling and let out a huge mental sigh. It would be nice if I at least could move my eyes too and not just the eyelids.
This way I would be able to peek between the leaves of that tree and observe the humans.
To be honest I am totally bored.
I don't like that the humans always throw stuff at me, spit at me or call me vulgar things but lately no one comes around the corner except the man with the book when he is fit enough to sent me back.
So I have nothing to do being just by myself.
Well the rational me is there but she is normally deep in our thoughts doing some maths-stuff so that hidden things stay hidden.
…
…
WAIT A MINUTE!
Am I dumb or something?!
I looked UP!
So I CAN move my eyes!
Carefully I looked down to inspect the wooden floor.
WHAT THE FIFTEEN?!
Since when am I able to do that?!
Haaa-
Okay calm down.
I took a literal deep breath but my overexcited brain didn't realize this either and so the fresh air left my body after a while unnoticed because over the past two years I had completely forgotten what real breathing is.
Quickly I let my gaze wander all over the place and then started to roll my eyes as fast as I could until I got dizzy again.
Uooo~
No matter what the rational me thinks; this is awesome.
An evil smirk flashed into my mind and quickly I looked at the tree next to me. Or to be more precise I peeped between the leaves and twigs to look at the humans.
Hehe~ Now that I am a spy none of your dirty secrets is safe from my gaze!
…
…
Huh?
The heck is that?
…
Something is wrong.
Or not wrong but not right.
Its the same? Who cares?!
Maybe it's not even wrong but in my personal opinion it just feels like that.
What I'm talking about?
Well… to explain this I have to make a confession…
...you see…
Ughh~ this is hard.
Uff okay;
I have once stolen a book!
Please don't hate me for it…
It was on a whim in my past life when I was still in school.
Our class had one day visited a library.
You know what that is? It was the most awesome place I've ever seen – it had books everywhere and one was allowed to read them. That's neat, right?
But we weren't allowed to stay there forever…
So when we had to leave I just grabbed a random book and hid it under my worn out shirt. The cloth were so baggy that no one noticed and maybe it helped, that people seemed to be afraid of looking directly at me.
…
Yeah that was an unforgivable crime and I would never do it again but it happened, okay.
Don't worry I already got punished for it.
A few weeks after me descending into a life of crime my mother found the book.
She got really angry about it…
After a few minutes of screaming and some really hard slaps in my face she brought the book over to the kitchen sink and then burned it in front of my eyes. It made me really sad… I loved that book.
Of course she had to make sure that I won't be able to ever steal again, so she took a kitchen knife and sliced open my palms and fingers.
After that I was never able to close my hands quickly what might have saved me from a future of crime.
So she took my book and the ability to ever get it again but there was one thing that she couldn't take away.
You see; id had read that book so many times that I would actually be able to rewrite it without missing a single word. Naturally I didn't rewrite it so my mother didn't have to burn the copy too.
The memory was enough for me.
It was the story of a young man who saved someone else from getting run over by a truck but because of this got himself killed.
Because of this wonderful deed a goddess appeared before him, granted him a blessing and then let him be reborn in a fantasy world were he became the hero who saved the lands by killing the demon king.
There was far more behind it but that's the short version.
What does that have with my opinion on things?
Calm down I will be getting there eventually.
After I got summoned into the bar a few times I came to the conclusion that something similar could have happened to me.
Well I assume because I didn't die a hero's death and instead just killed myself and probably even someone else, I would not get rewarded and instead had to suffer in the fantasy world.
I think I deserve that so it's okay.
But now that I can observe the humans in their natural [?] habitat there is something amiss.
I have already witnessed that there was something in this place, that was called magic in the world from that book.
First of all I myself get to be summoned from and sealed into a book all the time.
And then there once was a tired looking old man who drew something into the air with his index finger while mumbling stuff. After he was done a flame appeared on the tip on his finger that didn't seem to hurt him at all.
He lit my hair on fire with it so I can testify that it was real fire. It was hot and did hurt a lot but because my body is completely healed each time I get summoned anew I guess it is okay.
So if there is magic-stuff here and this is a world like the one in my book;
then why does this geezer on the bar has a smartphone?!
It wasn't even like the phones my parents had, that I never dared to touch of course so I am not completely sure how they worked.
But the phone from that old man projected a virtual image in front of him that he could touch and interact with.
The phones in my past world weren't able to do that were they?
Even if there were, I am pretty sure this place has technology that didn't exist in my old place.
Like that woman in the corner who pushed a small button on her earring and in an instant the colour of her clothes changed. I never heard about something like that and I had some knowledge in this field because my mother liked to read some magazines about clothes, which I of course had to secretly read too when no one else was awake in our apartment. None of those ever showed anything like that.
Completely distracted by all the small gimmicks the people used as part of their normal life and that were new to me I didn't notice that the man with the book came back to seal me away again until he stepped around the corner.
My eyes followed his movements out of reflex and he saw that.
I didn't think much about it.
For about a second our gazes are locked with each other equally surprised.
Then he started screaming in terror.
Huh?
I blinked perplexed.
As soon as he saw that the man took a step backwards in panic, stumbled over his own feet and fell on his bottom. He didn't loose time by turning around and instead crawled as far away from me as possible.
The moment he reached the wall he started to point at me and began to talk in a hysteric voice.
Way to fast for me to comprehend.
"I. No. Understand. Slow. Please." I tried to say but of course my mouth didn't move and there was no sound.
Hmm wait.
I think I got the last part; HE is asking ME what's going on.
Dude, you are the hysteric one so I should ask you this question.
Well, I couldn't ask him that.
Not only because I wasn't able to talk but because he opened his book on the familiar page and then threw it at me.
I would complain about his handling of books but that was not possible as I already got sucked in.
------
"Well that is indeed strange." Seven replied to my story after I told the three of them what happened.
I nodded strongly. The man just got crazy for no reason.
"No, I meant it's strange that you could move, even if it was just your eyes."
But… but it was awesome…
"Maybe it was. But humans fear what they can't control. They could have done who knows what to you for this."
Eh?
Does Seven even know in what kind of Situation we are? And why is One sending agreeing information too? There isn't anything worse that they didn't try already.
"Trust me; humans can get far more cruel than what you know."
Hmpf as if.
But I never told them my past so they couldn't know how much I already had seen and I didn't intend to tell them.
So I would forgive them but that didn't stop me from sulking… for about a week.
Of course I still presented some information to them so they knew I was there but I made clear that I don't want to [talk].
That'll show them.
There wasn't a problem with me sulking around because oddly no one got summoned and actually I only stopped acting to be hurt because I felt that [searching], what would drag us into the other world.
The feeling of something searching around was in the same [place] that Seven were so naturally I volunteered by instinct.
The moment I felt the grasp on my nape I got a bad premonition.
But what should happen?
They already did so much and I would always get back into the world of nothingness were I was with the others. Doesn't matter what happens in the few hours until I would be back; I can suppress that.
Well, something definitely was odd.
First of all, I was alone. Okay not alone but there were no Zeros with me.
A few people stood in front of me all fixing their gazes on me.
They seemed concerned for some reason and my bad premonition got worse.
I took me a moment to realize, that those weren't the people who were normally in this place.
These ones seemed like soldiers dressed in black, military looking uniforms.
Some of them had swords on their hips and seemed ready to draw while other ones were armed with rifles made out of some greenish metal.
Please world, just decide for a fantasy or a modern concept and then stay true to it. Don't mix it up like that.
A bit in the back, guarded by two men with rifles stood the man with the book. He stared at me with wide open, very concerned looking eyes and seemed restless.
Get some sleep, you look like you need it.
I half jokingly thought just to suppress my own nervousness.
Didn't really work…
A gorgeous, red haired lady came into my field of view. She walked towards me, ignoring the man who respectfully moved aside to not be in her way and then crouched down in front of me so we could see eye to eye.
"Don't worry it's alright." She said with a sweet, friendly voice. "We are just here 'cuz this one", she pointed at the man with the book, "is afraid of you. But he doesn't need to, right?"
I nodded. Well I wanted to but this body didn't move.
Shit.
How should I tell her that I am friendly?
After a few second of silence the women put her index finger on her lips as if she would ponder about something.
"Hmmm… Ah I got an idea; can you blink for me? If so then blink two times to let me know that you understand."
Nice one, lady! Like this we could talk.
I obediently blinked twice.
For an instant I saw a mixture of fear and surprise in her caramel coloured eyes and then a way too happy smile slowly appeared one her face.
"What a good girl you are."
I am a good girl?
No one ever complimented me, so does it have to feel so awkward?
Doesn't matter. She said I am good so I must be good!
A good girl, huh? Yes that's me; the good one.
Uh~ I like the sound of that.
Completely delirious because of her words I didn't realise that she gently took my hand and stood up.
She guided me too a door behind the bar and already gently pushed me into the room but turned around for a moment before entering herself.
"Give me an hour. You can already start with the others."
She was talking way faster to the men than to me so I either didn't correctly hear what she said or it was some insider information that I just didn't get.
Doesn't matter does it?
After entering herself she locked the door but I wasn't afraid of being alone with her. The feeling of her existence was that of happiness and excitement so she didn't have anything sinister in her mind.
A bit relaxed I looked around.
The room was quite small and a comfortable looking chair was placed in its middle. Opposite the chair was something tall and thin hidden under a blanked and on a wall stood a table with a beautiful black box with golden ornaments on it.
The woman guided me to the chair and made me sit there, paying attention that I won't sit on my tail.
The chair really was comfy.
"You are already a very cute Imp but I think I can make you look even prettier." She said slowly so I could understand.
Not just good but I am pretty too?
Wow I guess I actually am awesome. I like the woman for making that clear.
Hold on a moment!
What was that one part? [Imp]?
Is that what I am?
I somehow remember that word; Imps were lackeys of the demon king in the hero's story from my book.
But why does it have the same word here? Maybe it's just a coincidence or the word is similar but means something else?
She called me cute after all and an Imp is a monster so it can't be cute, right?
While I was thinking the woman removed the blanket from the thing in front of me and what came in sight was a weird creature.
In my two years I had seen some of the Zeros faces and the creature in front of me had some similarities but it wasn't nearly as pretty as them. THIS was what you could call an Imp.
The creature was sitting but I assume it was about my height.
It had chin long, dark purple hair like some of the Zeros but its skin wasn't glossy and had a dark grey colour while the nails on its fingers and toes are black and pointy.
Also the Zeros are nicely proportioned and that "thing" isn't just flat but seemed way to skinny too.
But to be fair it looked looked way more energetic and alive than the Zeros. The heterochromic eyes of that creature caught my interest; one was the same purple colour as it's hair and the other was of a bright ice-blue.
I couldn't refrain from staring at those sad looking eyes but at the same time that creature stared at me too, as if I was as interesting to it as it was to me.
Then something crashed in my mind;
this wasn't a creature – it was a mirror!
That is me, right?!
Wow I look weird.
I stared at myself a bit more, wondering if this appearance was the reason why most people seemed to hate me but my thinking got interrupted as the woman started to chuckle next to me.
While I was busy looking at me she had gone to the box and opened it. From my position I sadly couldn't see what was inside but the lady now hat an object in her hand that reminded me of a corkscrew.
It was completely pink, had some small decorative feathers and the screw-part was glowing blue while giving of a soft electric buzzing. Is that some kind of too modern fantasy hair curler?
I don't think the creature in the mirror – I was still in denial that this should be me – would look better with curly hair.
The woman got closer and softly booped the tip of my nose with her free hand.
"To make you look absolutely gorgeous we should first remove some minor details that are in the way."
She said in her soft, sweet tone but then instantly slammed the corkscrew into my left, blue eye before I could even blink.
I was perplexed for a split second and then the feeling of pain devoured my mind.
I wanted to scream but no sound came from me as I was mentally writhing in pain.
MAKE IT STOP!
As if she heard my plea the woman chuckled again and pushed a button on the handle of that corkscrew. The moment she did this electrical waves flickered trough my whole body. If they were just a bit stronger it would fry my brain or at least let me loose consciousness but this thing seemed to be perfectly adjusted for this situation.
IDONTWANTTHISIDONTWANTTHISIDONTWANTHIS!!
But I had no vote in this matter it seemed.
The moment the electricity started to slowly make me feel numb and dull the pain like this, the women removed the corkscrew as if she knew the perfect moment to do this. Probably she was experienced in this stuff and really knew…
The good part now was, that the pain was gone. The bad part, that my left eye was gone with it too.
And the worst part that made me nauseous from terror; the woman happily strolled over to the box to get something new.
"Please don't get something new…" I begged without even the slightest sound coming from me.