Chapter 13 - CHAPTER 12

It's cold….hot...

"Eli…Eleanor....Eleanor...", someone's calling her.

"Eleano…no….Ammiel", Eleanor's eyes immediately opened due to shock, but she soon closed them again after being blinded by the light. She took her time slowly opening her eyes again, trying to adjust them and when she finally did what she immediately saw are clouds. She's on top of clouds!

"Ahh!", as she starts to panic, she suddenly felt a hand pat her head. She looked up as fast as she can and saw a woman.

She looks so young. Her skin is so white that it looks like it's shimmering a bit. She's wearing white clothes that looks traditional and is holding a white fan. Her jet black hair, similar to Eleanor's is adorned by hair ornaments with white feathers and her glowing golden eyes are now staring at her.

"W-who are you?", the woman chuckled and looked at her with amusement. She then helped her up without even saying anything. Eli was a bit skeptical about her at first, but that vanished into thin air after seeing the whole place. She's not just on top of clouds, in front of her, a magnificent palace stood as water coming from it fell on the clouds like a waterfall.

"Welcome to my realm", the unknown woman spoke behind her as her eyes wandered around the place. She look back at her and asked her again, "So, who are you?", the woman smiled. "Why don't you take a guess?"

Eli tried so hard to think of who the person in front of her is. She's in the clouds….sky? A palace is in front of her…realm….that means, someone with power? Wearing white clothes and have inhumanly features….a deity? A god? A…. "Goddess?"

She immediately faced her again with wide eyes. She only knows one goddess who exists in the world she's currently in. "Goddess Anchora!", the woman…goddess, laughed at the silly face she's been making again.

"Welcome child", she held out her hand as Eli slowly put her hand in it. She gently escorted her inside the magnificent palace. As they both made their way inside, Eleanor had a brief flashback on what happened to her before ending up here.

"Am I dead? What about Ren? Is he safe?", questions coming from her head immediately came out through her mouth. Anchora stopped and faced her. "I'll answer your questions but first, let's go somewhere"

Eli kept quiet as Anchora led her to a garden and where she found a waterfall with glowing water in it. They walked closer to the water and peered down the water. Soon, it started to waver, and an image was shown to them.

It was her, sleeping on her room in the academy, Ren can be seen beside her, holding her hand. "I-is that…me? S-seriously?!", Anchora nodded and waved her hand and the image vanished.

"First of all, you're not dead yet. I just…called your soul here", the two sat down to the rocks as Eli listened to everything Anchora is saying. "I've been trying to call you here so many times but my strength still hasn't recovered that time when you first arrived in this world. So I focused on recovering my strength as soon as I can first, and finally, I was able to call you now", Anchora held Eli's face, she looked at her with eyes that are showing emotions she can't understand.

"May I ask, are you the one who got me into this world?", the goddess stared at her for minutes, she looks troubled by how she's going to answer the question but soon, she sighed.

"Yes, I am the one who got you in here", she answered. "Why? I mean, I'm not mad. Yeah I experienced a lot of things here, I had a hard time adjusting and coping up with things especially after knowing that this world is the world of the novel I read before. I was very thankful to be given a second life and a new start, but, I want to know why did you bring me here?"

Anchora waved her hand and out of nowhere a book came out, and Eli's eyes widen after seeing what it was. "This!"

"Yes, this is the exact book you have. The book of this world, the novel 'The Hidden Saintess' that you've read before", Eli held the book. Upon opening the book, the owner's name….her name, was immediately spotted on the upper part.

'Ammiel Rose Villamonte', the girl caressed the name gently as she slowly smiled, "That's right, this is my name", she said, like it was something she forgot after a long time.

"You know the story of this novel right?", Eli nodded to the goddess' question to her, still busy caressing the book who made her feel nostalgic of the past her. "One of the reasons I called you here is because of the story", Eli stopped and faced Anchora, putting the book on her lap as she looked at her with serious eyes.

"Because of the story? What's wrong with the story?", she questioned.

"To start it, this world was being guarded and administered by me, the goddess of hope and refuge. It's my role given to me as this world was created. I've known that this world was just a world inside a novel right at the moment I was created, it was one of the perks of me being a goddess despite just being one inside a book. But, I still fulfilled my duty and obligation with all my heart, it made me happy and contented to see people smiling and living happily and peacefully despite what happen before"

"The war for territories"

"Yeah. It saddened me but I don't have any control of that because that is the will the creator of this world. Many more years came and passed by, everything became peaceful again but then, that happened…"

"What happened?"

Anchora looked at the book Eli's holding and then looked at her now worried and anxious face. "THAT person came"

"What person? I mean..Who?"

"A person who doesn't belong here…..a person from your world came here", Eli bolted up from her seat. Her eyes widening like they will pop out of their sockets any second. "WHAT!? A person from my world?! Like…you mean EARTH?!", the goddess nodded.

"A person from your world came here. Me being the goddess of this world was immediately informed about it", Anchora led the girl to sit again though she still looked a but shock and is still anxious.

"Then what?"

"That person, something's unusual about them. Yes I know that someone who's from your world, from the world of the creator of this world, arrived here, but the weird thing is, I don't know what her gender is or anything else"

"Huh?"

"I mean, I don't know anything else about them. I don't know if they're a she or he, how old they are, what their identity is, how they entered this world, or what their motives are. I just know that someone from your world entered this world, that's all. Now, I tried being optimistic, thought that it might not hurt if an unknown character shows up, as long as I can prevent them from ruining the story. But then, something unexpected happen"

Eli gulped due to the suspense she's been feeling, she looked at Anchora intently, ready to hear what she would say next.

"Remember what I said? I don't know anything about them, all I know is that they've entered this world, which is weird because I am the goddess and ruler of this world, I am capable of knowing simple things because that's not beyond my reach, but what's weirder is that ever since they got here a lot of scenes and scenarios were messed up on the story. The past of some characters changed causing them to head to a different way other that what was given to them as the characters. The story became messed up, in a bad way. But, I still had no idea how things got into this just because of a single person"

Anchora held her head due to her frustration starting to build up. Eli patted her back, trying to soothe her.

"Months passed and that's when I decided to find help. This person is from your world, a mere character like me, despite being a goddess, won't be able to stop them because I can't think like them, we were from different worlds and so our perspectives are different from each other, and so I tried finding someone who can help that is from your world"

"And then, I saw you. You, a girl who's determined….someone who experienced a lot of things despite your young age. I thought, you can help me so I decided to visit one of your dreams and ask, but then you died a sudden death. I then finally decided to grant you a second life and bring you here, and that's the cause why my strength zapped out immediately. Another reason why I brought you here is because I want you to live a fulfilling life after seeing how you regretted not being able to live your life to the fullest. But now that I'm asking for your help like this Eleanor, I just realize how shameless I am, granting you something and expecting you to return the favor"

Eli kept quiet. Anchora on the other hand can't look at her. Silence filled the whole place. But then, Anchora stood up and with a sigh she faced Eli who's looking down.

"I-I'm sorry. I…I won't force you to do this big favor of mine. Consider me giving you your second life a gift from me who dragged you into this chaotic world. I..I can still find more ways to stop them, so please don't feel too pressured", she kneeled in front of her and carefully held her hand. Squeezing them before speaking again,

"I observed you for years, I saw how you struggled and finally found your safe haven in this world, I won't take that away from you, I promise. So please don't be conflicted, you can do what you want, you can decide for your own life, you have the right to. Now, let's put you back to your body", she then stood up and was about to leave when a hand held her arm, stopping her.

She looked at Eleanor who's now looking at her. "Eleanor?"

"What do you want me to do?"

Anchora's eyes widen as she hurriedly kneeled down and held her hand, worried. "No no no. I told you it's okay. I'm so…"

"I'm asking you. What do I need to do?", the goddess sighed again as she held the girl's face. "Child, it doesn't mean that I gave you a second chance to live means it's your responsibility to obey me. I'm sorry to cause you misunderstanding like this…"

Eli held her hands that were on her face, stopping her as she looked at Anchora with serious eyes. "I didn't misunderstand anything. And no, you're right it is not my responsibility to do what you're telling me to do, but I…", the goddess felt how the girl squeezed her hands tighter like she can't put what she wants to say into words. She put her hand on her back to calm her down.

Eli breathes for bit before continuing, "You said you observed me here for the past years while recovering your strength, and you said you know how I've struggled to find my safe haven. Then, that means you also know how much I hate being involved with the main characters and their spotlights in order to attain a more secured life this time"

"Yes, that's why I changed my mind now and…"

"But, you were not able to observe my whole life as Ammiel before, you were only able to observe a bit. You know my life as Eleanor but you don't really know much about my life as Ammiel", Anchora became silent after hearing what Eleanor...Ammiel just said.

"You said I don't have any responsibilities as Eleanor, I don't have to return the favor. Yes I don't have the responsibility to return the favor as Eleanor, but as Ammiel, who grew up strong throughout everything that happened in her life, who grew up knowing how to appreciate even the smallest things/ favors given to her, who grew up as a person who can't help herself but help others as much as she can….that Ammiel is how I lived my first life. And I am very much thankful to you who granted me this second life. Ammiel is thankful that you grant her the life of Eleanor. I might be the 'scaredy cat' Eleanor, but I'm also the 'too appreciative' Ammiel. Eleanor might not be able to help you, but I think if you ask Ammiel she might"

Anchora looked at the girl, who's smiling like her cheekily, for a long time. She stared at her face but what she saw is not a girl with long straight jet black hair and purple/ lilac eyes, but a girl with wavy long jet black hair and bangs almost covering her black eyes protected by eyeglasses.

She sighed for the nth time and smiled. She held the girl's hands tighter and with a gentle voice, she asked. "Then. Ms. Ammiel Rose Villamonte. I, the goddess Anchora, sincerely ask for your help. Will you please help me?"

Eleanor chuckled. "You are a weird girl. Calling yourself Eleanor one sec then being Ammiel after", Anchora said while shaking her head. A smile still plastered on her face.

"But I never said that Ammiel and Eleanor are different. Because right now, the 'scaredy cat' Eleanor and the 'too appreciative' Ammiel are only one person...me", and with that, Anchora trying to suppress her laugh out of amusement, made Eli stand up.

"Me helping means I'll be included a bit in the spotlight, but the story is already a mess though, so I think it'll be alright, but then again, if the story is a mess then that means being in the spotlight will be more dangerous than before especially for me who is an extra", when Eli started murmuring to herself, Anchora cleared her throat, gaining her attention again.

"Okay….So, what are your plans?", Eli asked.

"The story is already a mess indeed, we won't be able to put the story into its right course anymore, and I already knew that even before sending you here"

Eli's forehead creased, "Then what do you want me to do?", Anchora looked at the book Eli was holding. "That book, that novel…is no more. The characters are already affected by that person's influence, so the story won't proceed to how it did in the book, especially after some of them met you"

"But I didn't change anything, they're still the same. The female lead is still kind and helpful, the male lead is still the loving crown prince to his mother, and Daniel is still gentle and kind. What do you mean 'changed'? What changed? I haven't notice any change to them when I met them", Anchora look at the girl.

"A-are you serious?"
"Well yeah"

She placed her hand on her forehead, and with a sigh, "Nevermind", she said. That made Eleanor more confuse but Anchora already proceeded with another topic.

"And so, I won't ask you to redirect the characters to do their roles. What I ask of you is to find that unknown person, and as much as possible, help me send her back to your world so she won't be able to influence this world in the worst possible way more than she did before. I can't decend down from my realm, that's why I appointed saintesses to do my will even in the past, and so Eli...Ammiel, I trust you for this"

"And how am I supposed to do that? We don't even have any information about her except that she's from my world and she's here in this world"

"Actually, we have. Remember what I said, she influenced this world in the worst possible way even from the start, but, what's affected was only some parts of this world and the main characters. And that means…"

"???"

*Sigh* "That means she knows the story too. Because what she changed was only connected to the story/ novel so far", Eli's eyes widen after finally realizing it.

"So, the clue is that…that person can be found in the places mentioned in the story. Or can be associated with the main characters", Anchora nodded at Eli. "Okay, now I get it!"

"But before that Eleanor, we have to prepare you first. This person might be very powerful and influential right now to be able to influence this world, the story, that much. First, we need to prepare you in case she's someone powerful. So, while you're here and while my strength and your body can still handle it. I want you to remain here for a bit more and to train you here in my realm"

Eleanor looked at her hands. "Another thing before talking about that. I forgot to ask, are you the one who gave me this ability? I mean, I'm neither a wizard, alchemist, or a priest, but I can heal someone, I can also create shields and light. So…"

Anchora nodded. "That's one of the things I gave you as a privilege since I'm the one who sent you here, with my remaining strength I gave you my ability. As a goddess I protect everyone, bless them, heal them, and give them my will. And as someone who was brought by me, I considered you as my second half, and thus granted you things that I can do, though only a little. I granted you the ability to heal external and internal injuries, but you can't bring a person back to life. I also granted you the ability to protect, but only create a barrier not protect them anytime anywhere. And lastly, I granted you the ability to create something, like you created the light. But, you can't create anything else like how I create something, just light. And now, you'll ask why would it be convenient that I granted you the ability to create light?"

Anchora slowly extend her hand and touched Eli's ear. "Its for you to be able to activate this", with that, her hand emanated light and in a second, the earring hanging from Eleanor's ears are now a long staff held in the goddess' hands.

"What the heck?!"