Dressed in knee-length garment with fitted waist and flowing skirt, their dress was made of fine silk and lightweight fabric, adorned with embroidery patterns of flowers. Its pale blue color matched their eyes.
With a dashing smile plastered on their faces, they waved simultaneously. Speaking in the same tone and pitch, they announced "its nice to meet you, our name is Mei Huang. You can call us Mei mei"
Gabbie cringed at their strange behavior, they spoke in the very same manner, tone and everything.
"You both have the same… names?" Gabbie asked,
The girl on the right, or rather Mei mei giggled before replying "we are one and the same"
Her response threw inquisitiveness in the air, it not only sounded creepy but confusing as well.
Mei mei understood their perplexed looks and did something uncanny. Gabbie and DoHyun's eyes widened in complete shock.
Wonder and terror surfaced in her eyes as the girl on the right suddenly disappeared into nothingness accompanied by a poof sound.
Mei mei then stood, one hand on her waist and the other pointing to herself. Her demeanor, confident and proud, she spoke "I, Mei mei, I'm a gift of the goddess, with the ability to make a copy of myself. Stare in wonder if you must!"
Their shocked expressions faltered and was replaced by a blank look.
"So you can duplicate yourself?" Asked Gabbie, her tone dry and lacking any interest
Mei mei held her chin and sat on the bed as if thinking "hmm, duplicate, I'm taking it!" She said,
Slightly confused, DoHyun asked "why did you come in as twins before? You were trying to scare us?"
She shook her head, "No, not for you two. I heard four girls are to share a room. I don't fancy it, I prefer my own space to myself but making four of me would've been too suspicious so I tricked the maids by making them think I have a twin sister"
She smiled cheekily.
"Sounds like your plan worked" said Gabbie, her voice laced with sarcasm.
"hehehe it did".
"What are your names?" She asked
"I'm Kora DoHyun"
"Gabbie Kains".
She tilted her head at Gabbie, "your name is weird" she remarked
"Thanks, yours too". So duplication was her ability, what an interesting power.
Mei mei maintained her dashing smile while asking "do you guys have powers like me? Or are you ordinary…"
They remained quiet.
"What now? I told you mine, isn't it fair if you say yours as well?" She urged them.
"We never asked for you to tell us anything" said Gabbie, she had a gut feeling not to trust mei mei so easily.
Mei mei sighed in defeat and pouted. She pointed at DoHyun, "what's that? Are you injured there?" She pointed at her neck which was wrapped up in bandages.
Gabbie quickly answered "yes!" And DoHyun nodded in agreement while reaching out to it subconsciously. Her peach seed was hidden behind the bandages.
She narrowed her eyes on them. "You two are weird" she shrugged and laid on her back.
Gabbie and DoHyun shared one bunk bed while mei mei had the other one all to herself.
"Have you guys ever seen the Emperor?" Mei mei broke the comfortable silence, Gabbie was almost falling asleep before her voice tore through the serenity of the atmosphere.
They ignored her question.
"I've never seen him", she went ahead talking on her own. "Do you guys want to know what my wish will be?" She asked again
But got no reply, they were ignoring her on purpose with hope that she would stop talking.
"I've never seen a monster or a beast before, I wonder what it'll be like fighting against them. Do you guys think I'll be able to make the—"
"SHUT UP!" Gabbie yelled with a groan.
...
Earlier, in the male dorm side, Jason and Eiden were directed to a room.
The place was okay. The imperial family must've been really wealthy to afford this many for thirty people, yet still, there are a lot of poor folks in the town.
They immediately noticed that someone had been there before them. A bunch of equipment was stacked right next to the lower bit of the second bunk bed.
They were fighting gear, a scabbard, shield and loose armor.
Eiden walked over to it, seeing the scabbard reminded him of his sword.
"Step away you thief!" The door opened and a guy walked in. He was just as tall as Eiden with dark blue short hair and a proud demeanor.
His gaze was narrowed at Eiden who was standing close to his stuff.
"I'm not a thief" Eiden corrected, he merely wanted to see.
He scoffed "lying after being caught in the act"
"Hey!" Jason cut in, "he wasn't trying to steal anything"
He turned to Jason and sneered "hmm an accomplice I see. You both must have heard that I'm the second son of the Emperor's royal adviser and now you want to steal my property"
"You're mistaken, I wasn't trying to steal anything," Eiden said again, calmly.
"Yeah right" he sneered before mumbling "I can't believe I have to sleep alongside peasants who aren't even up to my status"
Jason opened his mouth but Eiden stopped him.
The guy went through his stuff, scrutinizing everything to see if they had taken anything from him.
The door opened and another guy walked in. The first guy snorted out loud "great! Another one"
The guy that walked in had a neat smile on his face. "You guys are my roommates" he said.
His blonde short hair and clear blue eyes matched Jason's features, though he was shorter than him and wore rectangular glasses.
"Nice to meet you all, my name is Wang Chen" he announced with a smile, earning a dreadful look from the first guy
"You may not know this but this place is similar to a warrior base, not a place to make friends. This isn't the seasonal children's hunt camp" he sneered
His uncalled for response made everyone frown and stare at him with judgy eyes…