I woke up, panting.I...was breathing? I thought I had died, that I could see Mother and Jasmine again.I looked at the mirror near the bed and screamed. This body...is the body of the villainess of an otome-story game that I played before once!If I remembered correctly, the villainess's name was-
"Are you alright, Astraea?I heard you scream." someone asked.
I traced the source of the sound to the doorway to my room.My eyes widened.The person who spoke was Eos Verhymn.He was one of the love interests in the game!If I remember correctly, all the endings in the game ended with Astraea's death.
The game is set in a magic school called Avishai.One day, a girl named Emmeline is invited to the school as she had healing magic inherited from her great grandmother.
Emmeline is your average heroine, who is kind, sweet and caring.Her kindness warms all the 4 love interests hearts.Astraea was angry with Emmeline after she scored better than her at her best subject for a test.Emmeline was also getting more attention from the students and teachers.
Before she came, Astraea scored the best for all her tests and was feared by everyone for her magic.If she was not cold, unsympathetic to others and selfish, she would have been as popular as Emmeline.
However, Astraea was just raised that way, being a sorceress from a prominent family that produces powerful sorcerers.Anger became hatred and soon Astraea started bullying Emmeline.I stopped playing after that point as I thought it was another boring otome game with the 'villainess' bullying the 'heroine'.However. I later learnt from my friends(thought they gave me no spoilers) that the story would become much darker and original.
Astraea's magic affinity is light.On paper, that did not sound powerful.However, that light is starlight.Meaning Astraea could make the light so cold that her victim freezes to death or so hot that her victim simply melts.That also meant she would never need to buy candles to see at night.Astraea came from a pretty well-off family.They became rich after inventing then selling star-shaped lights which contained their stored light magic which can be turned on and off.
"Umm...Astraea?"Eos asked again, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Oh, it's nothing.It was just a nightmare."I replied politely.
I did not remember Eos being so fond of Astraea.
"Eos, what's the date today?"I asked.
"Strange of you to ask, Astraea."Eos replied, "It's the 1st of January.Perhaps you had too much wine at yesterday's new year countdown."
So it was January?That meant I had 4 months until Emmeline comes to Avishai, and 6 months till the end of the game.I have to change my reputation and personality before she comes.Astraea must be 18 right now.From the story, I learnt that in the previous year before Emmeline came Astraea just kept to herself.
Eos met Astraea the previous year on the pavilion while she was studying.The two bonded over how both their mothers had died when they were young.Astraea's reputation only started becoming worse this year.She was deemed selfish and a showoff. Well, at least I get an Astraea whose reputation is not that bad yet.Right now, she's just that quiet, cold over achiever who is very adept at light magic.I have a clean slate to work on.
"Thank you, Eos."I replied, smiling slightly.
There was also another big difference.Eos was still Astraea's friend.I have to use him to my full advantage.
"Hmm, that was the first time I've seen you smile."Eos said, "What made you this happy?"
No wonder Eos turned on Astraea.I knew she was cold but I did not know that she was so cold that she would not even smile occasionally.I made a mental note to act more unemotional in front of others.
"I just figured out a new way to use my magic.Oh and your wrong, Eos.I did not drink too much last night, I left the countdown party early to work on developing this.Hence, I slept late."I replied.
It was not exactly a lie, Astraea told Emmeline once about how she learnt to make her magic light freezing cold. Astraea had a theory.If light could emit heat, does that mean that light can lose so much heat to reach freezing temperatures?
Astraea had already made a magic breakthrough the year before.She had already changed how wielders of light magic use light magic.Though cold light was not unheard of, like how the moon's reflected light is colder than sunlight, no light magic wielder had ever managed to produce cold light.Astraea changed that.
"Hah, I should have predicted that.That is so like you."Eos said.
I pulled on some gloves then flexed my fingers.A ball of light appears in my hand.The light emits a bluish hue.Blue light. It does not emit as much heat as yellow or orange light.Slowly, my warm hand becomes colder and a thin layer of ice appears on the glove.The water vapour in the surroundings near the ball of light freezes and becomes snowflakes that fall slowly towards the ground.
"Wow I have quite an outstanding friend.One who has not only made one breakthrough for her magic but two."Eos teased, "I wonder what she's done now."
I chuckled, replying, "You flatter me, how about you find out yourself?"
Eos reaches his hand towards the cold light and pulls it back moments later, shaking it to gain warmth.
"That's as cold as dry ice,"Eos said, "What's the lowest temperature your light can drop to?"
"Only -100 degrees Celsius.It still needs some work to hit absolute zero.Cold light can be very useful for stunning enemies and trapping them in ice."I told Eos, relaxing my finger muscles so the light disappears, "School starts later today at 9a.m, right?"
Eos nodded.I looked out of the window of my dormitory.It was dawn.I walked to the window in Astraea's nightdress and looked out of it.Avishai, the school of magic, was situated in the middle of a mountain range and on the top of waterfalls flowing into a deep lake.I had to admit, it was more beautiful and majestic in person than on screen.
Plus, Eos and the body of Astraea looked so much more attractive than their virtual counterparts.To think that when was still a moving image in a screen, he was still attractive enough for some of my college friends to buy body pillows of him.
If the real game had this quality then it would have been so much more immersive.If I wanted to succeed in this life, I had to play my cards right.Now was only the beginning.This was my life now, Iris is gone.It was a life that I did not ask for, nor did I want at first.
However, after seeing how beautiful everything was in this world, I decided to stay.I pitied Astraea, so wherever her soul is, I'll turn her life around so she can live happily when she returns.