The next morning, Akari woke up early, not nearly as early as yesterday though. She was eating breakfast, thinking about some things. Mana. magic, her status, and most important of all, her goal for this world.

  Every human needs a goal. Living life without one isn’t meaningful after all. Akari however, didn’t know hers. Suddenly, she heard a thought cross her mind, something that sounded like her yet it wasn’t her.

  ‘Outside.’

  Akari jumped at the thought. She hadn’t set foot outside once ever since coming to this world.

  “Are you alright, Akari?”

  Her head slowly turned to her father, who was a bit confused as to why she suddenly jumped.

  “Ah, yes father. This uhm.. These eggs were just so good that I got the shivers..!”

  “I agree father, they’re really good. Did we get a new chef?” Ren asked

  Duke Ignius nodded as he said,

  “Oh, well I believe we did hire a few new chefs.”

  “I see! So that’s why.. Ahaha.” Akari awkwardly

  Akari was sitting with her father and brother inside of a huge dining room. A bit after she woke up, a maid came into the room and informed her that the duke was requesting to have her join him for breakfast

  Akari was a bit confused at first but then she thought about it. Her father had to worry about her, a daughter with a disease that’s seemingly untreatable. So now that she feels better, of course he’d want to spend some time with her.

  Akari eventually agreed to go, leading to this awkward situation.

  She truly didn’t know how to get out of this. On one hand, she wanted to give this body's father some bonding time with, seemingly, his only daughter, but on the other hand, she wanted to follow that thought. The thought of going outside.

  She wanted to explore badly.

  Letting the feeling overtake her, Akari stood up and said,

  “Father, I'm full. I’m going to go outside.. to the garden.”

  Akari sincerely hoped there was a garden.

  “Alright, you’re excused then.”

  Duke Ignius said as he slightly raised one hand.

  With that, Akari quickly got up and ran outside. She was smiling extremely brightly and her bright purple hair shined with extreme vigor. Once outside, she looked around and felt something a bit different from usual. She felt a sticky heat, though she could tell that it wasn’t that hot.

  After rubbing her arms a bit, she walked around the garden, admiring all the flowers. This was til she saw a flower she’d never seen before. It was a sunflower at first gnce, but it was blue. It was also glowing. Curiosity overtook her as she walked to it and reached over to touch it.

  As she reached over to it, her fingers began stretching towards it. It felt strange. Panic overwhelmed her immediately. Her entire hand was stretching into it, almost like the flower was a bck hole, only sucking her inside. Although this was happening, she didn’t make a sound. Akari never was the type to scream from anything.

  She heard a cry in the distance as this was happening.

  “Akari!”

  Before she could see who it was, she bcked out.

  When she came to, she shot off the ground, still confused about what happened to her.

  ‘Did I die again? So soon?!’

  This thought quickly left her mind as she realized that she’s still near the mansion. Yet, something was strange. All the flowers that filled the garden were just the blue sunflowers that caused her to bck out before. There was so much blue filling her eyes that she felt the need to look away.

  Looking towards the sky, which should have been a nice baby blue accompanied by the warm sun, she saw darkness. A red moon was in the direct center of it, a stark contrast to the illuminated blue ground beneath her.

  She had a feeling that nobody would be around, this pce was definitely different from the mansion.

  ‘Magic?’

  Was her first and only thought of what this could be. She began walking towards the mansion, the colors beginning to overwhelm her senses.

  After entering, she couldn’t see anything. An unnatural darkness filled the hallways, making it impossible for anyone to see. It was thick, yet intangible. Darker than the darkest nights.

  Before Akari could try to turn back, green torches began lighting up on the walls.

  ‘This has to be magic… but who is doing this?’

  Akari was beginning to get scared, yet she remained calm for the most part. She felt like her body was starting to influence her mind. Normally, if she were here in her past life, she wouldn’t be scared. Maybe it's the fact that magic actually exists in this world.

  Every door she tried to open was locked, every one until she reached the Library. She slowly opened the door, her arm immediately getting goosebumps.

  ‘Don’t!’

  She heard her own voice scream inside her head, but Akari ignored it. She opened the door and walked inside. Somehow, the darkness in the Library was even thicker than the darkness from the hallways.

  Green torches began illuminating the room, much quicker than before. A bit startled, Akari immediately turned around and tried to leave. The door quickly shut in her face as she heard a deep voice from behind.

  “Leaving already? Come chat with me.”

  Akari turned around quickly, seeing a figure sitting in a throne-like chair at the back of the Library. Having no other choice, Akari approached the stranger. As she did, it’s body changed into herself, but with red hair and purple eyes, an inversion.

  “The fuck?!”

  Akari instinctively said. This was her first time seeing what she assumed to be magic. She couldn’t understand it at all, likely because she hasn’t used or even unlocked her mana veins. The closer she got, the more it changed.

  The duke, Ren, the maid, and other workers in the mansion.

  Once she was face to face with it, it returned to looking like the inversion of Akari.

  “Could.. You stop doing that?”

  “No.”

  At its response, an awkward silence filled the already silent room. Although green fmes illuminated the room, they made no sound. They didn’t even give off heat. They were purely for show.

  Akari opened her mouth again, but before she could speak, the thing said,

  “I am Liebe. I’m sure you have many questions, but I'm no guide. Meaning, I’m not the one to answer them.”

  “But you requested to have a chat… that’s a back and forth thing.”

  For a split second, she saw Liebe’s true face. It was darkness incarnate with a pure white smile and no eyes. Liebe then spoke, with Akari’s voice, again.

  “Ah. You’re right. Please, take this as my apology.”

  It tapped her forehead and Akari immediately felt pain. This was the first time she felt pain in this lifetime. It burned. Her eyes felt like they would explode at any moment. She somehow still didn’t let out a scream, only a slight groan.

  She did, however, fall to the floor, in the fetus position. Pressing her hands on her closed eyelids, trying to relieve some of the pain in any way she could think of.

  Spouting curses nonstop, she lied there, kicking her feet and praying for this pain to leave her.

  Eventually, it did leave. She slowly got up, her eyes feeling watery and sore. In Liebe’s pce, a sunflower sat. This wasn’t the blue one. It was a normal sunflower in every way.

  After rubbing her eyes, she reached for it, a simir thing happening from when she first touched the blue flower.

  When she finally regained consciousness, she didn’t open her eyes right away. She lied there, on a soft surface, a bit afraid to open her eyes. It felt like a bed, but it wasn’t hers. Her bed was much softer.

  She came to this conclusion immediately. She wasn’t home.

  She notices a smell in the air. Salty. She could smell the ocean. The air felt wet on her face.

  She was startled, still not moving, when she heard creaking. Someone or something was approaching her.

  She slowly opened one of her eyes and saw that it was a child with messy brown hair and freckles. She looked a bit unkempt, her clothes worn out and old. Other than the girl, Akari noticed that the air had a blue tent to it, as if she had gsses on with blue lenses.

  The girl noticed Akari’s eye being open. Unknown to Akari, her eye had a dim glow emitting from the already noticeable dark red eye.

  The girl’s face immediately shifted from one devoid of emotion to one of excitement.

  “Guys! She woke up!” The girl cheered.

  Akari slowly sat up and looked around. The air felt a bit thick and murky. Her movements were slow as she rubbed her eye. The girl looked a bit confused as she asked,

  “Don’t you feel that?”

  “Feel what?”

  “Your arm!”

  Akari looked at her arm and was a bit surprised to see blood. Her arm had a bite mark. Blood slowly trickled from the wound but Akari couldn’t feel it at all.

  “...Who are you, and where am I?”

  “I’m serene. This is Sagrene Orphanage. We found you getting dragged by a dog in an alley.”

  ‘That must be how I have this wound..’

  “Thank y-”

  As she spoke, a few more children varying in heights entered.

  “Did she really wake up?”

  A boy, looking a bit younger than both Serene and Akari. If Akari had to guess, she’d be around 9 while Serene was likely 8 or so. The boy who spoke had to be about 5.

  An older woman spoke, likely their caretaker.

  “How do you feel?”

  “I’m fine, thank you for saving me,” Akari curtly said.

  “Yeah, if Serene weren't there, you’d be real fish food.. Or rather dog food.” Another boy, looking just like Serene, said as he ughed.

  Akari didn’t find this funny at all, prompting for her to just stare at him

  “Axel, you suck.”

  “What did I do?!”

  “You can’t make jokes like that to someone you just met!”

  Serene and Axel began to bicker.

  “Well, excuse me for trying to lighten up the mood!”

  “There are much better ways to do something like that!”

  “Like what then?”

  “Erm.. Uhm.”

  “Exactly!”

  “Axel, don’t be rude. Serene is right, making jokes like that to someone you just met isn’t right.”

  Axel’s eyes watered up at the caretaker's words as he ran out the room. Serene stared at the open door and sighed.

  Akari stood up as she said,

  “Thank you for taking care of me, but I should get home.”

  The caretaker looks at Akari, her calm blue eyes studying her.

  “Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  She walked out of the orphanage. The orphanage was small and the exit had a different door from the other doors.

  Once outside, Akari realized that the air was much thicker than before. Her small body struggled to move through the streets. It felt like she was underwater. Everything was so much brighter as well, so much shinier.

  The more she walked, the more she got used to it. Her movements progressively became quicker and body steadily became more energized.

  All of her senses felt heightened. All but touch. The air tasted too salty, everything was too bright. Everything was too loud, it felt deafening.

  ‘What’s going on?’

  She began feeling nauseous.

  Wobbling to an alleyway, she leaned against a wall as she threw up and colpsed.