Audrey observed her surroundings, trying to figure out where on Earth she was. As she was looking around and practically surveying the entire horizon as far as her eyes could reach, a feeling of unease was starting to weigh on her chest. It was not that long yet since she woke up from this unfamiliar land but somehow she could not help but feel like something about the whole arrangement just did not sit right. Everything to her just seemed too outlandish at some point.
First off, one thing she noticed right away was how the place did not look anywhere near her neighborhood so she wondered how did she even get there in the first place. Truth be told, the place did not look promising at all. If anything, it resembled a creepy forest which was usually portrayed in the horror movies she used to watch; that particular one where some masked man holding an axe or chainsaw would suddenly show itself out from the wilderness and would then start hacking its weapon against whatever unfortunate creature that ended up in his line of sight. Audrey tried to recall the movie name but her brain refused to cooperate so she just pushed the thought at the back of her mind. Likewise, with overgrown trees covering most parts of the place, it was no surprise that it looked so desolate, if not menacing.
"What is this place?! Where am I???"
Audrey asked out loud as she looked around her.
"I certainly died. Yeah, that must be it. Besides, there is no way I will survive that fall."
She muttered under her breath as though she was talking to herself.
You didn't die... I saved you.
Audrey jumped to her feet when she heard a disembodied voice out of nowhere. She looked around her with wary eyes but there was no one other than her inside the moving wagon. Besides, the wagon was way too small to accommodate two persons at once so she was quite certain that there was no way that the available space that she left on the corner would allow for another person to fit. But if that was the case, she wondered where did the voice could possibly be coming from?
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
She asked trying her best to stop her voice from shaking.
"I am right here!"
The voice answered but Audrey simply could not see anyone other than the animal pulling the wagon----
WAIT! WHO IS DRIVING THIS FREAKING WAGON IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!!
Audrey's heart almost skipped a bit when she saw that no one was attending on the reigns.
"Err.... me??? Obviously."
The voice answered again and it was only at this point that Audrey realized that all this time, she had been hearing the voice speaking to her directly inside her head!
"Son of a dinosaur! What was happening to me? Did that fall turn my brain into nuts?!!!"
Audrey clawed her hair when she tried to make sense of the situation. Meanwhile, the wagon also came to an abrupt halt and the animal that had been pulling the girl's ride started approaching her. To her utter shock, the huge cat started talking to her!
"Don't be silly. It is my voice that you are hearing."
The cat said as softly as his voice could manage as if speaking any louder than how he was already doing would scare Audrey away. However, the appearance of a talking animal, albeit calmly did not help Audrey in any way, at all. If anything it only made her more convinced than ever that she lost her mind for good.
"Wait... wait... wait... JUST WAIT! H- ho- how could you do that?!"
Audrey almost felt like crying when she realized that she was talking to a cat and even asking it a question. First, she miraculously survived a tragic fall that should not be possible to happen to anyone, in the first place; not only that, but she also acquired a foreign memory of some random ancient girl. Then now, a talking cat?! What was next? It only goes without saying that none of it was making sense to her!
The girl shot the massive cat an incredulous gaze all the while trying to pinch her leg as well. But as soon as she did that, tears started to moisten her eyes because the pain that assaulted her was for real.
'No, Drey... This can't be happening.'
Vigorously shaking her head in complete denial, Audrey tried to convince herself that everything was nothing but a figment of her imagination.
"Right! I must be hallucinating or something, right? Yes! That must be it. Come on, there is no way this could be real. Don't be silly self. Maybe even the fall???? Yeah, maybe I don't really die. This must be a dream. Albeit a weird one... it feels so real...hehe"
Audrey talked out loud like a retard. She closed her eyes tight and willed herself to wake up from the 'dream' as soon as possible but all her efforts had only gone to naught.
'That won't work, silly girl.'
Audrey tried her best to ignore the voice and instead closed her eyes desperately.
"You are just hearing things. Okay? This is just a dream. Yes, this must be a dream"
She said to herself repeatedly as though she was reciting a mantra. Meanwhile, the voice still persisted, and continued talking to her despite her obvious attempt to get rid of it.
'It was true that you almost died back there when you accidentally fell----'
The cat deliberately trailed off and stop itself when he realized his mistake.
'Oh wait, it was actually not an accident so let me correct myself.'
It hinted before clearing its throat and with a condescending tone of voice it said,
'If not for me saving you in the nick of time, that girl who pushed you off the building would have killed you already and you would definitely be dead meat by now.'
Audrey, on the other hand, heard all of that but refused to say something. Instead, she focused on praying against the odds that everything was but a weird dream of hers. The cat could see through this and he was aware of the other party's attempt to avoid his presence. He knew she was determined to pretend like he was not there and when the girl made it clear for all eyes to see that she wanted to be cold towards her savior and was even giving him a silent treatment on top of it, the talking tom cat added,
'You were lucky I saved you. I advise, rather than making a fool out of yourself why don't you use your energy to thank me instead? I promise that a word of gratitude will be appreciated.'
It insinuated but to no avail. Meanwhile, after a couple of futile attempts to wake herself up, Audrey slumped on her seat. She looked at the black cat starting back at her and she started bawling her eyes out.
'What in the hell are you crying about, hooman? Are you not happy by the fact that you were saved from the brink of death?' The cat asked back in confusion as he eyed Audrey with a completely bewildered expression. He could not understand what the girl was crying about. "Oh, Catto! You don't have an idea how mess up all these things are for me. I don't know what to do anymore. What is happening to me? All I just want is to graduate and go to college! Meet a hot guy on campus and get a boyfriend. How hard could that be?!" Unable to hold back her pent-up emotions anymore, the little girl started to get honest and spoke her mind. The cat, on the other hand, looked back at the crying girl, unsure of what to do with her. Not long after that, he approached her, and then using his right paw, he tried to wipe away the tears that kept on falling from Audrey's eyes. 'Firstly, don't call me by a weird name. I have a nice name of my own. My name is N
Audrey searched her memory to know exactly where they were at the moment. In her memory, she recalled talking to her cousin, Selene.Selene just like her enjoyed a dandy status in their clan as well. This cousin of hers shared the same preferential treatment from their clan because both two of them came from the young generation with powerful backing.Audrey had her overprotective brother as a general of the kingdom's military force as well as the close peer of the emperor. While Selene was the sole daughter of her parent, who both died as highly decorated soldiers during the war.With that being said, both of her parents were celebrated as the hero of the nation adding more fame and prestige to the Lee clan. It was for that reason why it did not come as a surprise for anyone to know that their grandfather, the clan head doted both of these granddaughters.Selene and Audrey were both candidates for the position of the crown princess as well. As a rule of
When Audrey and her huge cat Nero arrived at the entrance of the Lee clan's courtyard, the sun had already taken a deep dive at the western horizon. The moon which was in the shape of a sickle was now hanging high above the sky and was shining brightly at the dark night. Likewise, countless stars had already littered the vast night sky as though thousand tiny needles had punctured their way through them.Also, the massive cat started to shrink and became as small as a kitten. But given everything that she had witnessed so far ever since she accepted that she transmigrated to another world, Audrey was no longer surprised to see Nero perform a transformation right before her eyes.Audrey was more concerned by the fact that the gate of their residence was tightly closed and there were two muscular men standing guard at its entrance. Left with no choice, she decided to approach one of them."Who are you and what business do you have with the Lee clan? The clan head
As Audrey was left thinking on her own, she also turned silent. Meanwhile, as she was in the midst of deep contemplation, Sabel, on the other hand, observed her young miss and upon paying close attention to the other party, Sabel, saw a completely different Lady Audrey.If there was anyone in the Lee Residence who knew Audrey very well, that would be her handmaiden, Sabel. In fact, it would not be an exagerration if Sabel dare claimed and say that she knew her ladyship more than the head clan ever knew his doted grand daughter. She knew Audrey like the back of her hand because they were no different from bossom buddies. They technically grew up together and if only it was not because of the difference in their status, the two girls would be as good as bestfriends.However, at this point, in Sabel's eyes, it was as though the girl standing before her was not the same Lady Audrey that she used to know and served before.For some reason, she felt like something was off to
"You told me that its the power within your blood that saved me and brought us to this place, how was that possible?""What do you think about this Selene girl?"Out of nowhere, Audrey found hersef inquiring at Nero. She did not intend to start a conversation with a cat, but given the situation that no other than the two of them shared, she was left with no choice but to satiate her curiosity by asking the question to the other party.However, Nero did not give her a reply right away so she no longer expected to get a response from the him. Yet, after a few minutes, perhaps out of boredom she still ended up asking Nero another question. She thought that her question would only fell in deaf ear just like before, but to her surprise, Nero answered her this time."If I were you, I will steer clear of her."Nero deliberately warned the girl."With all this transmigration thing going on, I am prety sure that there was no need f
When the next day came, Sabel was ordered by the head clan to bring Audrey to the main hall so without wasting another second Sabel came to fetch Audrey first thing in the morning. The first ray from the sun had just descended on the land from the eastern horizon when Sabe arrived on the manor. Learning throught experience, she already knew how to effectively wake up the other party so as soon as she got inside, she immediately headed to where the windows were and pulled its blinds. This in return allowed the sunlight to slip through the verticle slits of the blind and as it settled on the floor, specks of morning dust also started dancing along side it."Lady Audrey, your grandfather wished to meet you. He asked me to brought you this instant."Sabel deliberately spoke louder to make herself heard because apparently, Audrey was still buried beneteh the comfort of her mattress despite of her effort of opening all the windows and allowing all the light to get inside the
"My little girl."The old man said ever so softly as though he was afraid that his granddaughter would get scared if he would raise his voice even just for a bit."Grandfather..."Audrey replied then she smiled at him as sweetly as she could.Again, she tried to act as naturally as possible and purposely copied the behavior of the Audrey she has on her memory, who had a tendency to act cute whenever she was with her grandfather."HAHAHA!"When Johnson saw his granddaughter acting cute in front of him, he burst into hearty laughter."This granddaughter of mine never failed to amaze grandpa."The old man muttered under his breath as soon as he was done laughing to his heart's content.Audrey happened to look exactly just like her mother, Calantha, who just like what her name suggested was like a beautiful flower. But even though Audrey got her face to her mother, her character on the other hand was taken after her dad. She
After sharing the joyous air for the bout of a good half a tea's time, Audrey and her grandfather went back to their respective seat.When they had finally rested enough, that was the only time that Johnson had a chance to observe the black cat that her granddaughter brought with her.If his memory was not failing him yet, he believed that it was actually his first time seeing Audrey with a pet."I guess I still have a lot of things that I have to learn about my lovely granddaughter," he said while staring intently at Audrey, to which the other party only replied with a smile."Tell me, dear, where did you go last time? Why did you choose to sneak in the middle of the night, rather than asking our guards to escort you? Be honest with me. What are you up to this time?"The head clan inquired as he tried to sound as authoritative as he could, but the tenderness on his eyes betrayed his purpose.Audrey, on the other hand, felt warm inside when
[Distract them for me.]“Was it not only right for Steffi to get to use to eye whenever she feels like it?? I mean, she is older than the two of you so naturally, she was supposed to have more authority above both of you, no?.”“Ehhh… She’ll be fine. I’m the youngest so they should let me wear it more.” (Meredith)“The kid is right. The eldest should have the eyeball. She is a genius” (Steffi)Steve, on the other hand, seemed to get what Audrey was trying to do, so he said something that would surely add fuel to the fire.“But what about the middle child? I am sure, Ariel wants to have her turn too.&rdqu
“Now, where are we? Right, cooking.”Steffi changed the topic on purpose, before turning to her sisters.“I need the eye to check if it's ready, who has it?”“It’s around here, somewhere,”Meredith replied as she started to rummage through a pile of disorganized drawers. She felt obliged to respond since she was the last one to use the Magus Eye. Unfortunately, she forgot where she left it.“The last time I saw it, you put it in the utensils compartment, Meredith” Steffi insinuated using a lazy tone so the other party rebutted,“Don’t use that tone with my name.”Ariel on the other hand joined in this time to inform them that the eye was nowhere to be seen.“It’s not there this time.”After a while of contemplation, Meredith’s face lit up as she recalled something.“Aha! Steffi always put it in the dish cabinet:”And just like that, she found where her sister was hiding it.Consequently, the group found it interesting to watch how the three sisters could be talkative without having t
“I agree with Ariel. Why don’t we invite them over? This way, we could continue our chat there whilst they take their much-needed rest.” This time, it was Meredith who spoke and she deliberately told her sisters this. Nonetheless, she has spoken the words loud enough to be heard by others. The students, on the other hand, were beyond ecstatic when they overhear the ongoing conversation. But decided that it would be best not to allow their emotion to show on their faces. At this point, Meredith turned to the group and greeted them with a bow. “Let me apologize on my sister’s behalf. The thing is, it has been a while since we had visitors. As such, we are no longer accustomed to receiving guests.” She insinuated before she slowly approached the bunch of bewildered youngsters; careful not to bump her toe as she felt her way through the darkness. Her blindness was made obvious by her action and it made her appear pitiful to any onlooker. Truth be told, the Grae’s current act of displ
“Seriously, when will they stop obsessing over Cercei?”Tsking in annoyance, Steffi stealthily moved her slender fingers next to the Magnus Eye with the full intention of taking it back from her younger sister’s possession.“These people were getting on my nerves!”She purposely added this to appeal to her sisters’ sentiment so that their minds could focus somewhere else and they would not notice it once she started hogging the magic eye all for herself again. Meanwhile, her plan worked, as it always did. Ariel readily agreed to her and with a voice full of despondency, she said,“That’s how the mage community works. They fear what they could not understand and so they are set on destroying anything that they cannot control.”Ariel finished with an exasperated sigh. Meredith, on the other hand, could not help but clenched her fist as she was reminded of their good friend’s plight. Then with her brows knitted together, she roared,“The gal did not deserve all this hatred.”Meanwhile, t
On the flip side, rewinding the clock a tad, just a few minutes before Audrey’s group discovered that they unknowingly fall under a spell, the Graes were already watching them. “The eye! Who has the eye?” Meredith, the youngest, shouted at the top of her lungs. Steffi, on the other hand, stepped away from the giant cauldron before answering. “Over here. I had it with me.” She purposely put a safe distance between her and her two sisters before taking the eye out from her pocket. Afterward, she put the eyeball inside her empty socket. Meanwhile, Ariel, the middle child among the three sisters complained, “You again? You are always snagging our eyes by yourself.” “I know right? Give us a chance as well.” Meredith seconded. But Steffi only rolled her removable eye and mumbled, “Oh, shut up! Stop whining, it's because I have more use of this than the two of you combined.” Ariel no longer argued. But Meredith was different. “Give me that, it is my turn today.” She insinuated and
“But this was done in consideration of what was the lesser evil. News about how the petrifying monster has been terrorizing the Black Forest had already reached the ears of the masses and as a result, was causing mayhem among the people; both non-magic and magic practitioners alike. If it was not for that, the mage community would not make a move.” “Terrorizing, you say.” The Grae mockingly repeated Niccoli’s word that struck her noggin the most. Then with a contemptuous scoff, she added, “What an interesting choice of words considering that it was you, students, who made the first move against her. If you were to ask me, I think it is more accurate to say that it was the other way around. You all are the ones doing the terrorizing. You brought the melee with you and now that she retaliated, you turned her into a villain?” Everyone fell silent afterward but it was not because they were trying to come up with better arguments to refute the other party’s words. Rather, it was due to
Audrey was on her dormitory bed when all that happened, and she was absolutely oblivious to the problem that was headed her way. Meanwhile, the results of the examination were announced on the third day. The students gathered around the square early in the morning and crammed in front of the announcement board to check their results. They also wanted to find out which class they had been allocated to. Niccoli dragged Audrey into the heavily obstructed crowd and finally came before the Herbalist Division’s announcement board. Niccoli immediately found their names, and as expected, both of them had obtained the highest marks for the test. They were also allocated to the Herbalist Division’s violet class for that autumn enrollment. Niccoli was also excited to see the name ‘Andrew’ written on the top of the list. Everyone envied her marks. “Andrew! You are the first! You are the first!” Niccoli was extremely surprised and held onto Audrey’s shoulder. He was very excited, and it was as i
[Alright, I must admit it’s my fault this time. My bad.] “As you should!” Ultimately, Nero acknowledged the part he played in inciting the agitated hut to action. But he also did not forget to let Audrey know that he did not appreciate her tone. [Needless to say, raising your voice is completely unnecessary. Besides, getting mad at me won’t change anything, will it? You’re kind of embarrassing me, just you know.] The cat tried to reason out but with her and her friends’ lives at stake and almost put in danger, Audrey did not back away easily this time. “Oh yeah? Then swear to me that from now on, you will be mindful of your choice of words. We have to be careful with every word we are saying because it was not every time that we got a chance to take it back.” Meanwhile, Nero’s response came shortly. However, it was so brief. Moreover, it did not sound sincere either. [Okay. I promised] So Audrey prompted the cat to state the matter precisely because she did not want him to circ
“What if the Graes already took notice of us as soon as we entered their perimeter and right now, we are under a spell; making our eyes play a trick on us? What if what we are seeing right now is not real?”“Well, if that is the case, then I guess there is only one way to check it.”Audrey insinuated and without wasting another breath, she said the passphrase."Turn your back to the forest, your front to me."Slowly, it dawned on the others as well what was possibly happening and so without waiting to be told what to do, they recited the same thing too."Turn your back to the forest, your front to me."They whispered into the air one after another and almost immediately, the landscape changed into something else, right before their naked eyes.Everyone watched with an awestruck face as the trees turned into fences. At the same time, just a few feet away from where they were standing, they noticed how an empty lot from moments ago started to morph into what seemed to be an inconspicuou