Julia woke up and found herself in a weird place.
A dark place where there's only one candle in front of her. What is this place? She remember drove a car last night and suddenly get sucks into black holes. She didn't know how that was possible, but somehow it happened!
But where's Helina? Helina was with her when the car got sucked into those holes, so she would be here with her, wouldn't she?
"Helina! Helina, are you here? Where are you?" She shouted with a loud voice. "Helina!" She keeps looking around, but she can't see anyone. "What the hell is this place?" She feels confused, but there's no one here.
"Oh, you're awake?" Suddenly, a talking white leopard appeared out of nowhere!
Julia froze at her place because she was surprised by the sudden appearance of the white leopard.
"Huh-? What the hell... You can talk?" Julia steps back a little.
"Of course I can. It's good to know that you've come to your senses now."
He spoke as if he was waiting for Julia to wake up.
"Excuse me, but what are you? Where's this place? Where's Helina? Why am I here?"
She stared at her surroundings with a sharp gaze.
It's a place she's never seen before, but that's not the problem. Helina, come first! She tried to find Helina's figure. Julia and Helina were absorbed into the black hole together, so Helina should be with her.
"Hurm. You're such a curious child. I see. Let me tell you, my name is Isdor, and I will be your guardian starting now. This place is the road to God palace. Your friend Helina is already waiting for you there. And you will know why you're here once you meet your friend."
Julia stared at Isdor.
There are a lot of things she wants to ask him about, but she needs to see Helina first. She needs to make sure Helina is safe.
"Then bring me there. I want to meet Helina."
"Sure."
Suddenly, the black holes that Julia saw last night appeared again.
"Huh...? This-"
"We don't have time. I'll tell you about this later. Please follow me." Isdor said as he walked through the holes.
Julia hesitates for a moment, but then follows Isdor's step.
She needs to meet Helina, so she needs to be brave. After she steps into those black holes, their destination changes. They no longer in that dark place. They're standing in front of the big tree.
"What is thi-"
"Are you kidding me?! You're God? Hey, don't lie to me! It's not funny at all!"
Julia heard Helina's voice, but she couldn't see her anywhere.
"I heard her voice, but why can't I see her anywhere?" Julia turned her head towards Isdor, who was staying by her side.
[You guys have arrived. It's later than I expected. This child really has a way to make me stress.]
A man with long silver hair and jewel-blue eyes suddenly appeared with Helina, who was grabbing his hair.
"Julia! You're also here!" Helina let go of his hair and ran towards Julia.
That man's hair looks like a mess. Helina is really causing trouble right now.
"Yes. I'm here too. And who's that man?"
Julia stared at the man with a confused look.
As she looked him in the eyes, Julia couldn't deny the celestial aura that was surrounding him. He looks like a divine being.
Furthermore, the place where they were standing now looked very different. The aura of this place was very different from the aura they had when they were on earth. Julia was sure they were not on earth.
Is this place, heaven?
Julia felt that they were in the garden of heaven.
It feels so unreal.
"Him? He call himself god! I mean, of course he looks unreal with that beauty, but how can he be God? That doesn't make any sense!" Helina said this while staring at Isdor. "But, what is this animal?"
God.
If Helina said that way then she would believe it right away because this person is clearly not human being like they were. The beautiful aura that circles around him is enough to say how divine he is.
"It's a talking leopard, Isdor."
Julia said, with her eyes still on the man with silver hair. She couldn't help it. She just wants to keep staring at him.
"A talking leopard? Are you kidding me?"
"Do you think I have time to lie about this?"
"Well. It's clear you're not lying. But what is this place?" Helina wrapped her hands around Julia's hands.
Julia stared at the man who was standing in front of them with a curious look in her eyes. It's clear that the man has no intention of hurting them. The white leopard also didn't do anything to them.
[It's a long story to be told, but you guys are here after being the chosen ones.] The man with silver hair said it with a calm face.
"The chosen one?" Julia frowned at his words.
[You have read the novel 'Our Tragic Love Story' in your world, haven't you?] The man asked.
That novel has a very bad reputation.
Everyone is crazy about it because of the tragic ending between the male lead and the female lead. The fact is, the male lead got seven chances to go back in time, but he failed to protect the female lead every single time.
But he's not the one to blame since he didn't have any memory of his past life. That's why he keeps suffering when he loses her.
It's pitiful and tragic because the male lead loves the female lead so much. He tried so hard, but everything didn't go the way he wanted. He lost her in various ways.
In her first life, she was killed because she was too kind.
In her second life, she was kidnapped, raped, and killed.
In her third life, she commits suicide because she can't bear the pain of living.
In her fourth life, she got sick and died.
In her fifth life, she was poisoned to death.
In her sixth life, she ended up being a slave and was beat to death.
In her seventh life, she jumped into a lake, trying to run away from the kidnapper.
In fact, the story hasn't finished yet.
The author of the novel said they would have to suffer for a long time before they got their happy ending. The fact that they didn't get their happy ending yet makes readers go crazy and insult the author out of anger.
Julia and Helina are the only people who still wait for the story to be updated.
"What does that have to do with this situation?" Helina asked with caution.
[I made a deal with God in your world. I want two souls from your world to be transmigrated into another person in this world, and you guys are the chosen one.]
"What the hell are you talking about?" Helina, who didn't understand, began to feel weird.
Julia, who understood, touched her forehead with a complicated expression.
"First, tell us who you are." Julia looks the man in the eyes.
She needs to understand what the hell is happening here.
[I'm Chevelure. I'm the god who's in charge in this world. But like you read in the novel, the couple in this novel always end in the most tragic way.]
Chevelure.
Julia has read about him before. There's a history of God Chevelure. His story is infamous and unknown, so Helina probably didn't know it.
It is said there are various gods with various worlds. Perhaps this is one of them? It's hard to know how this is even possible.
Chevelure, the God of Earth and Horizon. He used to be one of the most powerful gods in the universe before he suddenly fell in love with humans. It's a sin for God to fall in love with humans, so he was locked inside the hell cave to make him repent for more than a thousand years.
But there's no further story about it. It ends there. So Julia didn't know much about him either.
"What does that have to do with us? Isn't the goal of that novel to save the world? The male lead succeeds in protecting the world from the demon." Helina said.
Helina only knows how to talk as if it wasn't hurt. In fact, she cried all the time when the female lead died.
[That was the case in your world. But it didn't end there. The demon has been defeated, but the male lead in that story destroyed the world because he lost his loved one. That's something you've never read. That's why I want you guys to prevent the death of the female lead.]
Prevent the death of the female lead.
It sounds easy, but it's not easy at the same time. One wrong move could lead to a disastrous ending.
"Then why don't you make the male lead remember what happened? If he knows, then he probably can prevent the death of his loved one." Julia spoke calmly.
The book they read always started where they were as kids, with no memory of their past lives, despite the fact that they went back in time.
If they have a glimpse of memory about their past lives, Julia believes the male lead and the female lead themselves can prevent the tragic ending from happening.
[I can't do that. I have turned back time more than 30 times for them, and they're always different from each other. The rule of this world is that no human can remember what happened. The only being that can have a memory is one from another world. That's why you guys were chosen.]
"30 times? But in the novel..."
[It's something that's not written yet. The fact is, they regressed and went back in time more than seven times.]
Helina, who seemed to understand, widened her eyes.
"Wait, so you're saying the story that we read happened in real life?" Helina asked in shock.
[That's right.]
"But how is that possible? How can it be written by ordinary person? If it really happened, doesn't that mean the person who wrote the story is also a god?" Helina asked again.
[No. It's not. The person who wrote the story only dreamed about their tragic life and wrote about it.]
"And how is that even possible?" Julia, who was also curious, asked.
If the author is not a god, then how can she dream about it as if she were receiving something that only she can change? It's like a prophetic dream.
[That's because I need two souls from that world.]
If that was the case, the story was probably written to inform people about their tragic story. And how God wants to find someone who can help change the world's fate after reading some of their stories.
"Then why don't you take the soul who wrote that story? Why did you take our soul?" Julia is very curious.
[Because you guys also live an unfortunate life. That's why you guys were chosen. I need a tough soul so that they can handle the situation well.]
"Then, what about our life in another world? Does that mean we just disappear? What about Anthony, my boyfriend?" Helina asked before she grabbed Chevelure's collar.
[Your existence in that world will be forgotten. No one will remember the two of you. You will be like the person who never existed in that world.]
"That can't be..."
Helina let go of his collar and stepped back with a shocked expression.
[I bring the soul from another world with the hope that you guys will change this world's fate.]
"Why do we have to go through that? I don't want to!" Helina yelled at him.
Change this world's fate?
Why does she have to do that?
She still didn't give up on Anthony, and she was thinking of going to him! It didn't matter that he had a child with another woman! As long as he still loved her, everything else didn't matter to her!
But what's happening right now makes Helina confused. She didn't know what to do any longer.
"Why did you choose us? No matter how many times I think about it, it just doesn't make sense." Julia asks with a calm demeanour.
[Even if I say the reason, you guys won't understand right away.]
"I cannot accept this... I won't accept this! Send me to my real world! I don't want to help you! I don't want to be separated from Anthony!" Helina interrupts with a red face.
It looks like she will cry again. It's totally understandable, considering how much Helina loves him.
[I know this isn't easy for you guys, but once you're here, you can't go back to your world. Your soul will be destroyed if you go back.]
"What did you say?"
[The only way to keep your soul from being destroyed is by being reincarnated into another world.]
"Hah... Ridiculous. So you're saying, I can't see Anthony ever again?" Helina asked with a trembling voice.
Julia sighs at her pitiful appearance.
It didn't matter to Julia where they were since she had no precious people to begin with. The only person who is precious to her is Helina. Since Helina is here, she doesn't have anything to be sad about.
[That's right.]
"Huh... Huhuhu. No. No that can't be. No, Anthony. I want to meet him again. Ughh, why do you do this to me? Why?" Helina cried.
She's not always like this. She never sheds tears this easily, but it's different when it comes to her loved ones.
"Helina."
Julia called her name calmly. Helina looked at her and immediately hugged her. Wanting to be comforted. Julia patted her back.
"It's okay Helina. I'm here."
"I love him, so why...?"
[I'm sorry for making you this way.]
Helina cried nonstop, and iconically, no one stopped her from shedding tears. Not Isdor, not even the god Chevelure.
Based on Julia's limited knowledge, Chevelure knows more about human emotions. He understands them really well. Maybe that's why he didn't say anything and just let Helina cry to her heart's content.
"Are you done crying?" Julia asked while patting her back like she was a baby.
Helina didn't answer and just nodded. It looks like she has already accepted her situation after crying all day.
[Then, can I send you to another world?] Chevelure interferes with a low voice.
Helina didn't look at him but nodded her head.
"It's not like we have any other choice. Please tell us what we have to do before you send us to the other world." Julia said while staring at Chevelure.
They will be wasting their time if they keep denying it since they cannot change the fact that they will be reincarnated in another world.
Julia and Helina are not stupid.
They understand that their souls are no longer allowed to return to their original world.
[I can't say everything to you guys here. Isdor will explain everything on my behalf so please go now.]
The black hole appears again before their eyes after Chevelure snaps his hands. Julia and Helina walked towards the black hole with Isdor. Julia turned her head towards Chevelure once again.
"Will we meet again?"
[We will. I always look for you, so don't worry about anything.]
They both closed their eyes as a bright light greeted them as they passed through the black hole made by Chevelure.
"We've arrived."
Upon hearing Isdor's words, they both opened their eyes and looked around.
"Are you sure? We're in the forest right now."
Julia was flustered, looking at her surroundings. But her eyes stopped at the person standing next to her. She has pink hair and golden eyes. And she looks like a child under 7 years old.
"Helina...?"
She looked at Julia as soon as her name was mentioned. She really is Helina. But she looks like someone else with that hair and eye colour.
"Huh...? Julia? Is that really you?" Helina also looked surprised when she looked at her.
"Yes, it's me."
"Wow! Your hair is red! Your eyes are golden! I've never seen an eye colour with hair like yours!" Helina is excited to see Julia's new appearance.
Julia touched her long hair, and she could see that her hair colour was really red.
"Let me tell you in advance, you also have a unique appearance. Your hair is pink. And I think our eyes are the same colour because your eyes are also golden." Julia replied in a lazy tone.
"Really? That's crazy. I'm so excited for no reason! I mean, we just read how they describe their hair and eye colour! Now I get to see it with my own eyes!" Helina is clearly excited.
She looks like she completely forgot about her ex-boyfriend, Anthony. Well, it's actually good if she doesn't feel sad or think about him again.
Then she returned to focusing on the situation around her before she stared at Isdor, who had been silent since earlier.
"Isdor. Explain. Why can Helina and I be in the forest? How do we get out of here? Where do we have to go?" Julia asked.
"You all need to listen carefully to what I have to say now."
Helina and Julia began to focus on Isdor.
Starting today, the two of them will be twins and the children of Grand Duke Atara. They are characters that do not exist in the actual story.
Julia was the first twin and was named Lilian Cartel Atara, while Helina was the second twin and was named Lizzie Rose Atara. They are both 8 years old.
In the real story, Grand Duke Atara only has one son, Luca Atara. Luca is a side character and the only friend the male lead, Asher Linear Kreios, has. Luca, Asher, and the female lead, Neveah Grace, are childhood sweethearts.
Luca knows Asher has romantic feelings towards Neveah, but Asher, who is known as egoistic, didn't admit his feelings towards her.
In the novel, Asher regrets every single time when Neveah dies because he couldn't tell her how much he loved her. He can't even protect her, despite being one of the most powerful men in the empire.
Luca also regrets the fact that he can't protect his childhood friend. He didn't even know what happened to her, even though they were friends.
The novel is about how Asher keep falling in love with her but failed to protect her. He love her, but deny his feeling and end up losing all of her. Just like a curse, they keep went back in time but nothing change. Neveah always died at the end of the story.
Their mission right now is to prevent the deaths from happening. They need to make sure Neveah gets her happy ending. But they need to get out of this forest first!
How did they end up here?
They are in the middle of the forest because they were kidnapped while walking in the city. They were actually going to be sold as slaves in a neighbouring country, so they ran away. However, they got lost in the middle of the forest.
They had the memory before they ended up in this situation.
Since they were a noble child, their price will be quite high.
People with pink or red hair are very uncommon. The golden eyes actually indicated that they were Grand Duke Atara's daughters, but the kidnapper probably didn't know that. If they know, they won't dare lay hands on the Grand Duke Atara bloodline.
Grand Duke Atara, in the novel, was known as a tyrant. He's a monster who only know how to kill. That's why no one dares to look down on them. The people who have Atara blood are probably monsters too.
"So, I can't call her Julia, and Julia can't call me Helina?" Helina asked as soon as she found out about their new identity.
This name is proof that they are no longer the same person as they used to be. This appearance is proof that they really need to live a new life.
"That's right. From now on, Julia will be Lilian, and Helina will be Lizzie. So you two will have to use new names." Isdor replied in a casual tone.
It was a little difficult for both of them to change the way they called each other since they were used to the names Julia and Helina.
But it will probably be fine since they have a new appearance. Everything about them has changed. They just need to familiarise themselves with a new name, a new tradition, and a new world.
"So, tell us. What should we do now? We don't want to sit in this forest." Julia interrupted with a casual face.
It's not like she hates this beautiful forest, but since they were kidnapped, the kidnapper is probably searching for them right now, so they cannot stay here. They need to get out as soon as possible.
She looked around the forest with a curious look. The forest looks very magical. It doesn't look like a forest in their real world.
"Follow me. I will take you out of this forest." Isdor said calmly.
Julia and Helina exchanged glances before following Isdor from behind without much question. Sometimes they look at each other. They wear dresses like the Victorian era, but the dresses are beautiful and comfortable to wear.
"You look different. I mean, I never knew a dress like that would look good on you. You look much prettier with these clothes on. But Julia, I miss Anthony." Helina whispered to him.
Julia smiled.
Know that it must be difficult for Helina, who really likes Anthony. Julia knows Anthony treats Helina well, but that doesn't change the fact that Anthony is cheating.
"Let's not talk about Anthony. Helina. I know it's not easy to move on since you love him so much. But I want you to focus on this life. Let's do our best to live. Find someone who will love you for who you are and who will love you and only you. Hurm? Can you do that?"
Moving on from someone is the hardest thing to do but they have to accept the reality. Julia hopes that Helina can delete Anthony from her memory and live this life to the fullest.
"I never knew I would love him this much."
"Love is a complicated feeling. But love is also a very beautiful and genuine feeling. Perhaps he's just not meant for you." Julia didn't know how to comfort people.
Even though she has been Helina's friend since they were little children, she doesn't know how to comfort her when she's sad.
"Isdor. Is there no way for me to go back to my original world? Even if it's just for a while, I want to meet Anthony again." Helina asked with a desperate voice.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's no way for that to happen. You cannot meet him ever again." Isdor said, and Helina's expression drooped as she felt extra disappointed.
She expected nothing when she asked Isdor, but she couldn't control her disappointment. She expects nothing, but she still hopes Isdor can reply the way she wants.
"Human emotions is very complicated. I don't know why Chevelure wants to understand humans." Isdor said this without looking at any of them.
"You're right. Sometimes I also failed to understand my own emotions and my way of thinking. It's difficult." Julia interrupts with a calm voice, as if she's agreed with Isdor.
Helina didn't say anything and just kept quiet. She also face the same thing. Sometimes she also fails to understand herself. If she doesn't understand herself, then who's going to understand her?
It's annoying to think that she hopes for someone who can understand her when she doesn't even know or understand herself. It's ridiculous.
"By the way, what do we have to do, Isdor, in this world? Isn't this world the world of magic, full of monsters and demons?" Julia asked.
"You guys have a lot of knowledge about this world, so it won't be difficult for you. But to make it easy for you guys, you two were given different powers. Lilian will be the only magician with an enormous mana and Lizzie will be the only human with super strength. In an easy way, you guys are the most powerful people in the world. I'm here as your guardian until you guys can use your power properly. That power was given so that you could protect the female lead, Neveah." Isdor explained with a casual face.
"Super strength? Does it mean I can break people's hands with one touch?" Helina, who's excited, asked.
"You can. That's why you need to learn how to control it properly because you might accidentally kill people because of your enormous strength."
Helina smiled excitedly.
She look at her own hand and punched the tree next to her out of curiosity. Her eyes widened when the tree fell because of one punch. Julia, who's walking, stops and looks at her in shock.
"What the hell? That's a big tree! How did you do that?" Julia asked.
That's strength, which is not like human strength at all!
"Hey...! You cannot use your power like that." Isdor looks tired already.
"I was trying to check whether you were lying to me or not." Helina said this while smiling awkwardly.
"Chevelure was the one who wanted to give this amount of power to the two of you." He said it as if he had given up on them.
"So we have to protect Neveah with this power, right? So, where is she? According to the novel, Neveah was neglected and hated by her parents so isn't it better if we just put her next to us? We can protect her all the time if she's next to us."
"It's a shame but it can't be. Her family is also a famous aristocrat, so how is it possible to make Neveah stay by your side all the time?"
Julia nodded her head as she understood what he meant. That means Neveah can't be with them all the time because she has parents.
"Right, hey, Isdor. You're our guardian, right? So that means you're going to protect us from danger, isn't it?" Helina asked.
"Yes. That's my duty."
"Then why don't you become Neveah's guardian? Isn't that more easy? You can protect her whenever she's in danger." Helina said as she told him what she thought.
"You're absolutely right. It would be easy if I protected Neveah from the start, but I cannot do that because she belongs in this world. The only being I can protect is the being from another world."
"And that being is us. Is there a person who comes from another world besides us?" Julia interrupts, as she is also curious about a lot of things.
"There is, but it was a thousand years ago. There are two beings like you from another world. We bring them here with the same mission as yours." Isdor explained without any hesitation.
"Can we know their name?" Helina stared at Isdor.
"Hurm. You guys should know them too. They're Daphne and Velma. They reincarnated here as the saintess and the empress."
"Huh...? Daphne the saintess and Velma the empress? So these two legends is also being from another world?" Julia read a lot about those two legends.
Those stories are not related to the novel OTLS (Our Tragic Love Story), but they're written by the same author. Their world setting is also the same. Helina, who also read the story, tapped her forehead with her index finger.
Daphne the Saintess is a story about Daphne, who becomes the first saintess to save the world from deadly diseases that almost destroy the world with her powerful healing power.
Velma the Empress is a story about Velma, who becomes the first empress to rule the empire. Based on empire law, women cannot be rulers, but Velma became the first woman to rule the empire because of her powerful skill in swordsmanship. She defeats a lot of monsters that attack the empire.
These stories didn't have any romance, but they're still a good read.
"More importantly. You're saying those two women were reincarnated in the same world as we are, right?" Helina, who's also shocked, asked.
"Yes. That was the case."
"So, where are they now? In heaven?" Helina asked again.
"No. They're beings that will live in this world forever. The same thing goes for the two of you."
Julia and Helina look at Isdor with a confused look.
"Live forever? What the hell are you talking about?" Helina asked with a serious expression.
"You guys are being from another world. Heaven is a place being from another world cannot enter. In this universe, there were a lot of gods and worlds. This world and your world is one of them. Your world has its own heaven and hell. This world also has its own heaven and hell. Being from another world like you guys cannot enter any of them. Whether it's hell or heaven," Isdor explained calmly.
It sounds like they're nothing but beings that were abandoned from their original world.
"We cannot die? So Velma and Daphne didn't die yet? Then why don't you guys ask for their help? They're from another world and didn't die!" Helina, who heard that she would live forever, was very mad.
Live forever? Isn't that just like a curse?
Life for eternity would be interesting at first glance since they won't die no matter what happens, but as time passes, they will get lonely. Lonely enough to the point where they wish they were dead.
"We did, but those two are not willing to help. They were waiting for their loved one to be born again. They're not in state where they will help us."
"Does that mean we will live for eternity? Like an immortal?" Helina asked with a trembling voice.
"That's right. That's why I don't want to ask for help from another being in another world but Chevelure can't help it. If this continues like this, this world will lose control and be destroyed."
They understand that this world will be destroy by the crazy male lead, Asher. He can't protect Neveah, so he goes crazy and burns the entire world. It must be hard for Chevelure to handle this situation.
But...
"It sounds helplessly lonely." Julia muttered with a small chuckle.
Even though both of them can understand, it still feels lonely. To think they will have to live alone for eternity makes them sad.
"I'm sorry for putting this heavy responsibility on your shoulders. But I swear, I will do my best to assist the two of you."
Who's to blame in this situation?
Their god in the original world, who decided to abandon them to another world? Or the god in this world who wants souls from another world? No matter what, Helina and Julia suffer the most from this decision.