After a long conversation with Rosalina, the girls had dinner and continue to talk into the night although the lack of sleep is affecting her.
"Hey,"
Amy turns to see Viola. Even after Rosalina learned how to behave, Viola is still uneasy around her. Her uneasy expression shows it.
"I'm gonna go to school without you but don't worry about me. I promise to send letters everyday."
Amy chuckled lightly, "You don't have to send me letters everyday. I can't promise the same. If anything happens, mother or father will send news." The strange figure is now standing next to Viola. She feels like it is gaslighting her. At least, the hallucination doesn't talk too much.
Amy watched as Viola began to enter the carriage. She feels incredibly tired. Her appetite is affected so her diet is modified slightly so she can eat little but still gain much from it. After waving her down, she saw that Viola is tearing up. It seems that it will take time for them to live life separately. It hurts seeing her sister like this.
"I promise to write." she said softly. She looked to see her parents look solemn, both at Viola until she is out of sight and towards her. She hugged both her parents who return the feeling.
"Do not worry, darling. I promise that you will get better."
I promise to get better. she thought and looked to see that Rosalina was prepared to leave.
"Hope you feel better." she says sarcastically to Amy once her parents went back inside. "This year's gonna be fun. I can't wait to hear news of what happens now. I hope you catch up."
Rosalina didn't even bother letting Amy say her peace as she quickly took off leaving Amy to her thoughts.
*
She was escorted to bed where she took some medicine to help her sleep. Upon closing her eyes, she could see a cave full of Alabaster's old equipment and he is using it on her.
"You'll get better sleep from this method."
Don't you think you're doing this too soon?
"Nonsense, your mental health depends on this. If I timed this badly then you will be terribly affected. I can sense your brain activity and your behavior to know that this is a good time."
Won't you run out of rats?
"Rats aren't the only animals. There are plenty of insects and other wild animals living in these woods who would do nicely." He blew on his flute which brought so many insects to the cave much to her disgust.
"Don't worry. They won't harm me. I have a great deal of experience with taming animals including insects."
Out of nowhere, they all dropped dead after running past the gate.
This seems rather cruel, don't you think? Aren't you afraid of disrupting the ecosystem?
"Don't worry. I chose this place specifically because of its problem with invasive species and parasites from outside the continent that even have an effect on my time."
You have a lot on your plate this year.
"No worries. I got one of your inventions working."
She looked to see a large flock of wooden birds with speakers in their mouths.
"I can just use the birds to increase my range. I'm just here to show the process. I already got the shop up and running and it's selling well so far. Even people from other villages are interested. All of our products are high in demand."
Amy is still unsure. "I don't know. I will be pretty much useless for an entire year, maybe forever. Are you sure that the supply can meet demand until then?"
"I believe so. You made enough to last a few more years. You can create thousands of this stuff quickly as second nature now."
All the products they plan to sell are home appliances and a good start to use. Using magical stones and electricity, the products are meant for convenience like air conditioning, kitchen appliances and a climate controlled greenhouse barrier for farmers which was actually her creation based on her memories. With his confidence in mind, she nodded.
"Even if your mind deteriorates, at this rate, as long as there aren't any triggers then you should be fine. At most, you would probably be either sleeping a lot or have mild illusions."
"Was it like yours?"
He froze, his smile widened with brightness. "Yes, It was extremely vivid and terrifying but I got over it until you revealed yourself to be Aron's mother and that the boy I saw was his father. Everything was made clear now." he then had a slight frown. "I have a question." he was unsure how to handle this. "What was that vision from before? That was a strange firearm that I've never seen before."
She frowned as she thought about it. These nightmares and hallucinations came all at once. She has been getting glimpses of memories of her original life and they keep getting darker by the moment. There is no other explanation for it. Every time, she gets hurt and witnessed the death of a child; A young boy who seems to be barely past the age of ten, has messy dirty blond hair and wearing an unfamiliar stripped green shirt, stained with blood. He collapsed on the ground, dead. The bullet she tried to shield him from went through her then hit him. She recalls that she was traumatized but to what extent she cannot be sure but knows it is the sound of a loud bang. The firearm in question is long, black and the man in question is wearing black all over, covering his head, as well. Then there is all these voices. She cannot grasp a story with the lack of context but it is clear that she tried to protect him and failed. Perhaps all these emotions stem from survival's guilt.
Perhaps it is due to her lack of knowledge but she can't be sure. "They look like that in my original life. As for how I ended up getting shot is a mystery."
As if she doesn't have enough problems already, now her life on the other side is bothering her to the point of interfering in her current one.