When the seas clash and consume all that it touches- Tell me, where do you stand within it.
The ocean floor is barren yet littered with timeless proof of existence, will you be part of it's collection too?
1 minute passes....
Another tiny trinket left to rust and wither.
Amidst it's cold, deep body is a warmth of familiarity. A sense of home.
Don't get sad, get even.
3 minute passes....
Embrace it, darling.
It will be long while nap.
Close your eyes.
My sweet Caroline.
5....
Watching from afar, one could see a tiny boulder of a rock disturbing the peaceful flow of the flowers on a bush, but one could also see it from close by that the pale little girl curled up on the plants was indeed not a huge rock at all. Her short black hair that curls on her face stood amiss among the bright colors of flowers, and pale skin glowed underneath the sun's rays. She wore quite the unusual outfit compared to the maids and nobles that roamed in the palace. If one could see up close, she looked no older than 14. If she could continue to sleep, she would, had it not been for the sun's persistence. She scruntches her face in displeasure, turning in her sleep and wreaking havoc upon the poor flowers that we're unfortunate enough to be crushed and grinded in her sleep. Force herself back to sleep, she would, but she couldn't, only to find herself glaring straight right into the sun as if it had a fault for existing.
Why are the curtains open so early? She asked herself, rubbing the dryness and sleep from her eyes as she pushed herself up. Maybe she accidentally drew it in her sleep. There were many instances where crazy things happened in her sleep- such as finding herself on the kitchen floor of her one room apartment at 3 am, or accidentally leaving a friend on call after butt dialing it in her sleep. There was also a time she found all her groceries open when she got hungry while half-asleep.
Grey eyes found themselves staring at the sun in the open sky. It's morning already? She should get ready for work before- Wait, open sky? Since when did she get a skylight? It was like a tide of consciousness came crashing down inside her that forced her awake. What was she doing sleeping outside? Did she get kicked out? She thought long and hard before she looked around herself. Sitting in the middle of a now destroyed garden was herself, trowel in hand, wearing a now dirty, black jumpshorts with a white shirt underneath. Only when she was looking at her clothes did she realize something.
What the- did I grow short? After all the milk and exercise?!
She stood up, eyes trailing towards the fountain just a few steps ahead and frantically running to it. She was right, she did indeed grew short compared to how she was before, but the change didn't stop there, her eyes, clothes, and face structure changed too. The only thing that difference left untouched was her hair. How could this be? The one staring right back at her in the water was definitely her, there was no one else around after all.
She stared at her reflection for quite a while.
Then she slapped the reflection in the water.
The fact that the image in the water didn't change told her the water wasn't broken, but her actions made her question if maybe her brain was...? She shook off the thought. She was a genius, so her brain couldn't have been the problem. A smug smile raced to her face. Or maybe it was her brain...? Right now was surely a battle of man vs man, and she wasn't about to let a man win.
Inaya! Focus! She slapped her face, that's right, now was not the time for jokes. Right now, she was in an unfamiliar place as far as her eyes could see. She was herself but was not at the same time. Where was she in her last memory... Where was I...?
Dark sea replaced her vision. A sinking feeling. The sharp, burning in her nose, eyes and lungs. The ocean. 5 minutes...
That's right. How could she forget. The beads of sweat that formed on her face and back trailed down her skin as she broke in cold sweat. She was dead. She was definitely dead.
Inaya, an eighteen-year old girl who lived by herself as soon as she got in college. She lived in a one room apartment after leaving her parents hometown.
Died by drowning.
Yes... That was who she was. Then that means, right now, did she transmigrate? Like in those manhwas and novels she enjoyed reading in her past life. The palace in front of her then, what was this? A duchy? A manor? Truth be told, Inaya didn't know the difference of those titles. Never had she bothered to know those ranks since she only enjoyed reading them, she didn't exactly prepare any hidden talents or skills for surviving in a royal like this. She was screwed. Had she known this would happen, she would have paid more attention in enhancing her skills.
But from the looks of it, she was only no older than 14. A young girl in this world.
What was this body previously doing before I got here? Like a switch of a bulb, she remembered the flowerbed in which she laid alongside the trowel in her hand. It felt so comfortable in her hand that she never dropped it since waking up. Then perhaps this girl was a gardener of a sort, with a special connection with this trowel that even when her conscious was different, her body was familiar with the trowel.
Now there was one problem. Inaya already knew she was in another world, transmigrated into a novel. The problem lies in the question- which novel was she currently in?
"Ahahahaha...." She laughed without a soul, and crossed her fingers. With every fiber of her being, with eyes tightly shut and a heart beating with full faith. She prayed. And for god did she pray and cry.
"God of this world or whoever you are who brought me here, please don't let this be one of those dark novel that I read! Anything but those, I'm begging you!" Knees scraped and dirty with dirt, she kneeled on the ground, head glued to the fountain.
God have mercy upon us, god have mercy upon us, god have mercy upon us!
Lost in her devoted prayer like a fly searching for an already open window, she failed to notice the footsteps that grew closer and closer by each word of her prayer. If the mind is loud, one can never expect the trails of surprises that god left in his trail. If she was choking on her words and prayers, then she was now choking on the collar of her shirt as a hand grabbed the back of her collar shirt. The next thing she knew, the floor disappeared from beneath her as she was hoisted up with little to no effort. As if she weighed nothing more than a couple of grapes.
How dare you interrupt my conversation with god?! She began to glare at the prime suspect of her second near-death experience with tears brimming on her grey eyes, and cheeks so puffed as if it held V*ictoria's secret within them. She was angry- no, she was beyond angry! Just who was this person think he is!? Her mouth began to open, trying to release a string of profanities that would leave even mountains shivering in it's wake but no voice would come out of her lips.
"Ack...!" She choked out. Then she began to choke some more. She turned towards her perpetrator, eyes pitifully begging to be let down as she pathetically flailed in the air like a fish who gave up living. She couldn't see clearly with all the tears in her eyes. Oh no, She thought. I just dies, will I die again?
"Who are you?" A strange voice coming from the strangers asked. If there was anything Inaya could see clearly in this moment, it was that this person wasn't pleased to see a stranger in his wake. Thud. He dropped Inaya with a thud on the ground, and almost immediately, the poor girl coughed up and greedily inhaled air, grey eyes trailing up to only meet blue. This man here... He looked oddly familiar to Inaya. Maybe he was a character in a book she read. His eyes were a sharp blue, a beauty mark sat peacefully under his right eye as he bore his sight right through her soul. Hair as pitch black as night in the city was tied low behind him. An intimidating presence radiated from him that made Inaya want to cower behind a tree and pretend to be a lowly weed begging not to be paid any mind. He wore a fancy suit to top it all off.
Ah, a second wave of realization came dawning down oh her. This man infront of her was none other than one of the main characters 'Hera Eckleis' from the novel 'God's Thread'.
Going back to her past life, Inaya was infatuated with romance novels. Regardless of tags, it didn't matter if it was BL, GL, or Straight- give her a good trope romance novel and she was set for life. She's read countless mass produced romance novels before, and to tell you the truth- She would eat it up everytime, reading 'God's Thread' was no different. However, God's Thread was a novel that was left unfinished by the author for 5 years. Therefore, God's Thread never had an ending. It didn't help that the story was full of plot holes at all.
In a country called Esperia, an Empire once owned every land in it's wake- The Eckleis Empire. The Eckleis family ruled over the entire nation by default, although it prospered in it's time, a horrible tragedy befalled the empire and reduced it's title to nothing more than a fairytale.
"However, it wasn't just a fairytale because the man infront of me right now is a living proof of the existence of that era," Inaya bit her lip, she hadn't expected to be this nervous as to meeting the main character himself almost as soon as she got here.
The reason for the fall of that Empire...
The cause of an end of an era...
And the reason for it's nonexistence to this current time...
Is because Hera Eckleis made sure to erase every trace of that Empire.