"Hello?" David picked up the call. But unfortunately, he didn't recognize the caller's number on the screen.
The sound of heavy breathing could be heard on the other side. Then the caller said, "Tonight is a total lunar eclipse, David."
He didn't recognize the voice on the phone calling him, not one of his relatives or close friends.
"Who are you, I don't know you." David replied.
"I'm just telling you, get ready, Mr David. What happened 100 years ago will come back. That's when the legions will gather and destroy the world," repeated the voice.
David was stuck. He didn't know what the man on the phone was saying. Furthermore, there was no prior notification in the news that there would be a total lunar eclipse today. So where did the man get the information yet to be published?
"Don't make it up," repeated David.
Not long after the call was cut off, it seemed that the man had deliberately turned it off.
David still needed to understand what the man was saying on the phone. Why was he mentioning the Legion thing? So what does this have to do with a lunar eclipse?
David is just waiting, whether the words of the unknown man who recently contacted him can be proven or not, because ... what the man said just now made David think a little.
A year, a total lunar eclipse occurs every 100 years, where the blood-red lunar eclipse looks beautiful to the naked eye. It's just that every time a total lunar eclipse occurs, there will be an awakening where humans are prepared to face every event that will happen...
Could the person who had just called him be making it up to him?
David pulled open the room's curtains and saw that the sky looked normal. There was no sign of an eclipse or anything. So then, why did the man say that?
It looks like the person who called him earlier was just a prankster, David thought. He wanted to avoid taking what the caller man said thoughtfully. He'd better finish all his pending work.
David sat back in front of the laptop and stared at his monitor screen. One thing that happened and confused him was not the lunar eclipse but a picture that had been just a sketch that had become a complete picture.
"I really don't understand what happened tonight. As I remember, I fell asleep when the drawing I made was not finished, so who finished this drawing?" he said to himself, expecting no answer from anyone.
David got up from his study and headed towards the kitchen to look for something that might make him complete. At this time, he felt starving.
...
Bertha, Central Germany 1807, journey to Hildburghausen. One day before the exile.
The veiled girl had been in the carriage for hours, still a long way to go. For a moment, she poked her head out the window. Thousands of questions in her brain at that time, where will she be taken?
How long did it take her to get out of the palace? And no one knows who is behind the black veil covering the face. Anxiety continued to haunt her. She shouldn't have accepted the crown princess' offer to help her, she felt—something terrible was about to happen to her, but…, what was it?
A Dutch embassy, Leonardus Cornelius van der Valck, went with her. But, ah, this thing makes her clueless. What exactly do they want to do?
This time she regretted it because she overheard a whisper between Leonardus and some of the guards who were resting and conversing with her that they would take her to a 'temple' where she would be exiled, far from civilization.
Crazy, this is crazy. How can she live confined—alienated from civilization—alone? If she had to be exiled, then what about her parents?
They will be confused about finding their only daughter.
The muttering stopped, heavy footsteps approached, and the sound of guns being trimmed. Leonardus threw away the half-smoked cigar.
He returned to the horse-drawn carriage, opened the door, and smiled at the black-veiled girl.
He couldn't catch the fear and anxiety that stabbed in the eyes of the girl in front of him. If she could hear Leonardus' heart, she wanted to know what exactly they were planning. And why would she stupidly accept the crown princess' offer to replace her as a 'victim' of injustice?
Damn it! Yes, now she can only swear.
"Maria, you have to face tough days. And it's all for your good," Leonardus said.
The girl called Maria just nodded. She didn't dare make a sound, afraid that the guards and the burly man before her would suspect her if she dared to make a sound.
"Sir! The sky is so dark! Looks like the prophecy was right!" shouted the coachman who controlled the carriage.
"What do you mean?!"
"A total eclipse, it looks like it will completely cover the entire plains of Europe. Should we stop continuing our journey?"
"No, go on. Because the journey is still very far. Still one day and one night we just arrived."
"But, Master…, the forest is going to be very dark. We will not know what dangers lie ahead, if we do not wait for the light to come. Are you sure you want to continue this journey?"
"Yes, sure!"
'I wish I could disappear, then change places. Then, I will be safe from all this. I can't imagine what will happen to me there—very foolish and self-defeating obedience. If God help me, take me away from this place. They are like black crows ready to pounce at any moment, I'm terrified. Please wish I could get out of this mess. Please…'
Bertha closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her chest. Then, slowly, a light flashed around her body, then it circled her, slowly and slowly like the motion in a video slowed down, starting with the head, then the feet, and….
"Princess! Where are you going? Shit!" Leonardus shouted like a madman in the carriage. "Guards! Princess Maria Theresa is missing!"
...
New York. One minute after the total solar eclipse ends.
David gasped in surprise, and he heard a commotion outside. A moment ago, he was in the bathroom cleaning his body.
There were several people outside screaming, like someone in a trance. David himself did not understand what made them scream in such a way, like people on fire, hoping not to die.
Just as David was stupefied thinking about what was going on outside, he was suddenly startled and nearly knocked out of the chair he was sitting in. There was a girl's scream and the sound of something falling right in front of the door. David jumped out of his chair and hurried deftly to his house's front door.
If he had a heart attack, he would die for his life, and he wanted to scream and curse all kinds of cursing. Disbelief filled his mind.
A girl, trying to stand up, straightened the black dress she was wearing and adjusted the position of the similar veil, which almost faded. Beneath her veil, the girl grimaced, holding back the pain in her buttocks because she had fallen in the wrong place. Her forehead frowned when she saw the young man with curly hair and glasses in front of her. The clothes that the youth before her wore were very different from what she had seen back where she had come from.
"Qui tes-vous?" the girl asked in a muffled voice, between bewilderment and fear. ("Who are you?")
"Speak in English, or I'll kick your ass one more time. It hurts more than when you fell!" snapped David. Irritated.
"Où Suis-Je?" the girl asked again. ("Where am I?")
"Speak in English, or I'll kick your ass!" This time, David said, half shouting. One thick eyebrow dipped upwards, his teeth clenched in annoyance. "So, you can speak English, right?"
"Hmm…, sorry. Who are you? Where am I? What year is it?" asked the girl over and over. David was perplexed. The girl in front of him looked like an opera performer; her dress, hairstyle, and British accent were odd—or perhaps made up, considering she could be playing a play in a theatre and a French noblewoman.
"Excuse me, did you hear what I said?" the girl tilted her head and waved one hand in David's face.
"I think I'm going crazy. You are in New York, and you meet a handsome young man, a comic artist, but not very rich. I guess you ran away from your theater troupe, didn't you?"
"Uh, New York? What year is it?" asked the girl, increasingly confused.
"2014. Did you have amnesia?" asked David with a slight smirk.
"Wow, as I recall…, it was only 1807. How could it go so fast 207 years later? I must be dreaming. Tell me if I'm dreaming," repeated the girl. Her black veil slipped from her face.
This time David was amazed by the natural beauty of a girl who didn't know where she came from, so he didn't have time to blink. Then, afraid he could blink, the girl in front of him disappeared.
"You're not dreaming, Miss. You really are in 2014. Severe amnesia seems to have left your brain not functioning as it should. There are so many weird people in this world, and one of them is you," David said, pointing his chin at the girl in front of him. "Are you crazy?"
"No, I really don't understand what's going on. Earlier…, where there was a total eclipse happening, then I closed my eyes, wishing to disappear from the guards and a Dutch embassy, who would take me into exile. Suddenly I fell in front of the door of this house."
"My door, you mean?"
"Yes, something like that. It must be just a dream, right?"
"No, baby. Unfortunately you haven't fallen asleep yet, how can you dream."
'Oh my God, this must be a disaster. A girl forgets her memory, claims to come from the past, then wears strange clothes. Has she lost her memory because she fell?' David thought.