I had been in this foreign land for a month now. This place is called Thyel Empire. Means a land of traveller in their language. From the beginning, I believe I was in one of the film sets that were promoted intensively through Youtube, Social Media etc. I must have trespassed one of the film sets. Again. Even the clothing was not from my era. More or less like the ancient greek with all those simple garments bind together to wrap the body & tied with a curtain-like tassel on the waist to secure the loose garment into place & look fancy to a certain status. How lousy & cliche is that. That was what I thought at first until the first person spoke to me in a foreign language that I never heard before.
I begin to panic. I walk out of the room where I wake up from. It must be some prank from her friends or her colleague. I run around looking/ searching for something familiar to me, but it only makes me more anxious and panicky. Nothing is familiar. Even the toilet was not the modern toilet that shouldn't be fabricated just for a short scene. My heart beating hard as I drop to my knees. My breathing was fast, shallow and deep. People were staring at me as if I losing my mind. Each colour of the garment worn by the people indicates status. The royal family will be purely white. Temple priest will be in light yellow. Food mostly fruits & raw, fresh vegetable. Other food such as protein was a small amount of fish or meat if you are able to negotiate well at the market. I do not quite understand this portion yet, so I just nodded to Kirai's explanation.
Kirai, one of the youngest women priests there, is the only companion I have now. As the newest apprentice women priest of the temple, she was assigned to be my companion or rather my supervisor if you ask me. After the bleeding trees 'tragedy' as per say to the High priest, Romou; ones punishment was to do volunteer services to heal or care for the trees. That includes being the temple's apprentice without my consent.
Surprisingly, not many male priests compare to females. According to Kirai, female priests are more blessed with magic than males. Like the goddess of the Star; Desiree. Exception for Romou, who is the Holy priest. He never stayed at the same place for longer than a month. And yet, this time Romou has overstayed in that city. They wonder what causes him to stay. I snot in disgust. Obviously, to monitor my work. My sigh echoes through the silent forest.
What does that priest even do to get the blessing from God? Such a grumpy & cheapskate priest. I daunt he was that holy or just fake magic. I grudged with him never lessened.
*Yawnn* I am so bored. Since morning, I have been sitting on the rear of the temple's stone bench, watching Kirai talking to the bushes and the trees.
"Trees don't heal by themselves, you know." I don't have to turn to know who that foul mouth belongs to. I ignored him. 'I want to go home.'
"Stop whining about going home if you didn't even try to heal all those trees." I turned to him in surprise. How did he know? I glared at him and crossed my arms. "Well, don't just sit there. Finish todays' work or no food for you tonight."
I stomp my feet in frustration towards the trees. From the moment we met, Romou turned a blind eye to my story. He rather wants his tree to get back to normal. I stare at his back curiously. That day, I had a fuzzy memory of being given a sip of a bitter drink before I fall back into a deep sleep. The next morning, she thought it was strange for me to sprout the same language as the people around.
Many things have happened since that day. I'm not sure why it happens, but I remembered coming to this world naked. That's including my pink hair is now purely black, my black polished nails turned to normal, all the metal skin-piercing marks on my skin were not there as if there has never been piercing ever. My spectacles were missing. Strangely I can see clearly without the use of spectacles at all.
I went to Kirai and squatted closely beside her. "Don't you think this is pointless? That priest wants to punish me with this idiotic works," Kirai is so diligent in working with the stoic trees. "What did you say to the trees?"
"Sshh." Kirai raised her finger to her lip. "Listen."
I barely believe this is happening to me. But I gave in & leaned onto the trees an inch closer. 'That same noises I heard the first time I arrived!' I glance at the other woman in puzzlement. She smiled at me brightly. "What was that?!"
"Well, these trees are special. The Holy priest brought with him when he returned from the 'Origin'." Kirai continued happily. "Now, it acts as the only communication between two worlds."
"Two worlds? Really?" My tone of disbelief upset her that she glared at me with arms crossed.
"Of course, it's real. Although I never went there myself, I am sure; if I am diligent enough, I will be able to join the expedition to the Origin soon." I didn't dare to argue with her any longer and leave. Something about that noises earlier hunted me. I went to the other tree trunk, away from Kirai. The marking I made earlier begins to fade.
"I'm sorry about this, dear tree." I touch the faded marking. "Please forgive me. I was not meant for any real damages. It's just an instinct not to lost my way out." I sat on the ground and leaned back closer to the tree. "Where I come from, trees never bleed blood."
It felt comfortable and cosy, hidden behind the thick bushes that I fell asleep after a while.
I had another dream. A bizarre dream. Once again, I was in that familiar forest alone with several dried, uncoloured sheets of garments hanging without lines. Blown by the soft breeze. I heard someone talking, and I followed the voices through the sheets.
"Hello, there." a calm voice calling out.
"What? Who's there?"
"I'm Willow. You might not know me." I was confused with all the unrealistic dreams. "You're mundane after all."
"Stop calling me mundane. Am I dreaming? If I am dreaming, you are not real."
Giggles echo in the background. "The human, like you from your world, is so naive. Or should I say pitiful?"
"Why did you say that?"
"I get to see a glimpse of your world when you decide to step through those curtains of space." the voice stopped. The tone is different. "But, it cringes me to see my descendants be treated like that in your world." It sounded upset & angry.
"So you're aware of my circumstances." my heart pumps up with excitement & nervousness at her tone. "Do you happen to know how I can go home?" No more sound nor voice from the Willow. I keep calling out his name but no answer.
A shouting above my head awakes me from my dream.
"You scared me. Why did you shouting in your sleep?" Kirai looks worried. "We should get back. I have to run an errand for Priest Yana at the market. Want to join me?" She gets to her feet hurriedly and dusts off the first on her knees from the kneeling. I nodded to her, trying to get to my knees with my head still fuzzy. Another yawn escape as I lazily get up to follow suit. I heard a faint familiar giggle from the background. I frown. Did I mishear? It was like Willow's giggling sound.
We leave the temple through the front gate, where worshippers already queue in line. It is so long that it goes past the temple's main gate. Not far from the temple entrance stood up 20 feet height of the goddess of Star- Desiree. She looks beautiful. I remembered the many statues of many greek's gods and goddesses; they appear nude & unfamiliar. In contrast, this statue appears familiar with the commoner's garment.
"What are those long queues?"