"Am I dead?" was the first thing Lulu thought about.
"No," a man's voice echoed in the darkness.
"Where are you? I can't see anything. Show yourself!" she began to look for an unknown person.
But he did not want to come out of the shadows:
"Why did you come to my kingdom?"
"You see, Mrs. Krivda believes that Sophie is to blame for the problems of the Witch Academy. I want to…"
"Are you sure she had nothing to do with it?" someone interrupted her. "Sophie can hide a lot from you. What do you know about her at all?"
"She's..." Lulu tried to find the right words. "I know that she is kind, caring, and can…"
Suddenly, a tall middle-aged man appeared out of nowhere in front of her, dressed in a strict suit consisting of an elongated jacket with a stand, a white shirt, and trousers with arrows. His short hair, eyes, and suit were black. And from his forehead protruded two curved horns, like a goat's. He showed his dazzling smile full of sharp teeth. Everything pointed to the fact that a real demon in the flesh appeared before her.
"Who are you?" Lulu was scared and tried to move away from him, but her legs didn't move, as if they were glued to an invisible floor.
"One of the Time Lords," the man did not show any aggression. "However, if you divide the world into light and darkness, then I will be in the camp of darkness. And you shouldn't be afraid of me. I do not touch my mistress' property."
"So you're a demon."
"Some people call me that. And I'm sorry, but the servant of this crystal ball is very busy at the moment, so he will not be able to provide you with a prediction service," he paused a little. "That's why I'm at your complete disposal."
"Let me go immediately! I'm not going to deal with demons! You, the creatures of darkness, only want to tempt people and get their bodies to break into our world and kill everyone!" Lulu replied decisively.
"Just like that, a demon means a villain. Lulu, you're hurting my feelings, and I haven't done anything wrong yet. Especially since I'm going to help you find out the truth about your beloved mentor."
"And why did you decide to help me?" she didn't believe him.
"Perhaps I'm interested in how you will react to the truth. You know, I live out of time, so I suffer from boredom. And you, living beings, cling to your worthless lives and try to achieve something in such a short time. But you have a very interesting life."
The demon pointedly snapped his fingers and forced Lulu to move to another place. She found herself in a cramped room filled with carved furniture. Black curtains covered the only window and let in only a small ray of light that illuminated the center of the room. There was a carpet on the floor, painted with geometric figures of gray tones, and a parquet peeked out from under it at the edges.
"Where did you take me?" there was a logical question from Lulu, but there was no answer to it since the Time Lord had disappeared.
Lulu had only to go to the only door and open it. Behind it lay a wide hall, the windows of which were similarly covered with thick curtains. It was only at the end of the room that the light dispelled the gloom and allowed her to see the stool and the piano. Coming closer to them, Lulu could see a little girl in a white dress. She was sitting on a stool and crying quietly.
Lulu couldn't leave the girl in the lurch. Going up to her, she gently stroked her on the head and said softly:
"Oh, look, don't cry. Who offended you?"
But the girl didn't seem to notice Lulu as if she was a disembodied ghost. Soon another character of the temporary performance, which the demon recreated, entered the room. And it was hard not to recognize this face. Elizabeth is a Blood Witch, the one who caused so much trouble and almost opened a portal for demons. Only she looked very young as if she was at most twenty years old.
"What do you want? Go away, you damned creature!" Lulu tried to protect the girl, but the Blood Witch passed her by.
"Sophie, how long are you going to cry?" Elizabeth turned to the girl.
"Sister, I miss Mom and Dad," she replied through tears.
Elizabeth bent down and put her arms around the girl:
"I'm sad too, but they were executed, so we won't see them again."
"But they didn't do anything! Why?"
"I don't know."
"And here you are! How long will you be sitting here?!" unknown people burst into the hall with torches in their hands.
Elizabeth turned to them and said threateningly:
"How dare you enter our house! Get out, or I'll call the guards!"
"The King's order. We must burn down the traitor's house!"
"How can you?! You've already taken our parents away from us," Elizabeth protested.
A mask of fear appeared on her face:
"I have a little sister! She cannot go outside, she is very weak in health."
"We don't care. An order is an order!"
People grabbed them and dragged them out of the house. The sisters resisted, and tried to escape from their hands, but what could they do against a crowd of strong men. Lulu followed them, her heart breaking at the sight of the sufferings of these poor people. Alas, her ghostly state only allowed her to observe what was happening because no one could change what had already happened.
And now Lulu was standing next to Elizabeth and Sophie. They watched as their two-story mansion blazed with bright flames. Fiery tongues devoured the house, destroyed it in front of the sisters, and turned everything that once belonged to them into ashes. Sophie continued to cry, then Elizabeth's face showed hatred. She was seething with terrible feelings that called her to revenge.
"It's a funny situation," laughed the time-controlling demon, who reappeared out of nowhere. "People can do evil much more terrible than the most merciless creatures. At the same time, they firmly believe that this is for the good of humanity."
"Why are you showing me this?" Lulu asked him.
"I don't know," the demon shrugged. "I wanted to and showed it, but that's not all."
The Time Lord snapped his fingers and made this world change its scene again.
"I think I've been here before," Lulu found herself in familiar walls.
"This is the music room where you used to play the violin," the demon told her.
"Used?"
"We are in the period that you call the future."
Everything was the same here. Crimson curtains covered the windows. Candelabra with lighted candles stood on the walls, and a grand piano was located in the center. The warm light coming from the candles created a pleasant feeling of comfort, so Lulu wanted to stay here so much.
Lulu walked around the piano and ran her hand over it to feel the smooth surface of the musical instrument, to feel its inner world. No sooner had she enjoyed it than she saw something that shook her to the core.
"Is something wrong?" — the demon came up to her from behind.
"Sophie, why?" Lulu whispered.
Her mentor was lying on the floor in front of her. Her empty dark eyes did not move and stared at one point, and the sounds of breathing no longer came from her half-open mouth. Sophie closed her hands on the hilt of the dagger that was stuck in her chest. Lulu approached her and tried to pull the dagger out of her teacher's body. But her hands passed through the handle of the weapon, not allowing her to help Sophie, who was dying before her eyes.
"No, it can't be!" Lulu exclaimed.
The Time Lord put his hands on her shoulders:
"Calm down. This option of the future has not yet come."
"How can I save her?! Who killed her?!"
"I cannot answer these questions, as I have no power to change anything at important crossroads of time. As for you, everything is in your hands. People can do truly great things. Well, now it's time to return to the present."
"Who are you?" the last thing Lulu asked him.
The demon didn't answer. He just smiled at her and snapped his fingers. And then darkness, which was replaced by light. The eyes did not see anything at first, but then the blurred outlines of a woman's face appeared.
"You're awake!" Lulu was lying in the arms of Mrs. Krivda."How I was worried about you! How are you, my Moon?"
"It's fine," Lulu was able to answer after a minute or two. "And what happened?"
"Because of my indiscretion, I overlooked the demon. It's so good that he let you go! Are you sure you're feeling okay?
"Mrs. Krivda, I'm fine," Lulu nodded.
"Then tell me, what did you do there? What did the demon want from you?"
Lulu understood that it was impossible, to tell the truth to the Truth, so she omitted the main points of those visions that the Time Lord showed her. She made up a rather true story about how the demon tempted her, forcing her to watch scary and unpleasant scenes from the past, present, and future.
"And then everything was flooded with bright light. He retreated, and I was able to escape from him," Lulu finished her story.
"It's good that my spell worked," the head of the academy said with satisfaction.
"Yes," Lulu agreed, feeling the pain inside her.
Images of Sophie lying lifeless on the cold floor with a dagger in her chest kept appearing before her eyes. But the fact that her mentor was the sister of a Blood Witch spoiled everything.
"Is Sophie in league with Elizabeth, or maybe not? But then who killed her in the future, and why?"
The unknown created fears and false conclusions in people's hearts. But the tea of Krivda with wild berries, which she treated Lulu to, calmed the thoughts bubbling inside a little…