Glossary

I woke up and stretched out. It seems fighting took a lot out of me. I looked around and saw a face in from of me. The face stretched into a grin, “Seems like I got here faster than I thought” came from the mouth of the face and the face moved backwards letting me see the whole body structure.  

It was a woman. She had while hair, white pupils and was dressed in white wedding dress. The dress was extremely fitting, serving to enhance her already apparent beauty. Her ears were very pointy and ghere was a tiny sky blue diamond in the middle of her forehead.

I furrowed my brow baffled, 'She has four ears??? they look like rabbit ears...'

She smiled seductively at that, “What?” 

“Rene…?” I asked not very sure.  

“Oh? Here I thought I’d have to introduce myself” She grinned.  

Having heard her voice for a little over a year, I could recognize it somehow. I chuckled a bit then glanced at her, “I am guessing Vodka told you where I was?” 

I pondered silently whether to ask about the ears or not.

She nodded briefly. “He should be here in quite a bit” 

“Your eyes?” I finally asked  

“Ah!" She stopped walking and giggled, “I am pretty much blind you know?” 

“Eh?”  

“But I can use other people’s eyes to see. Of course with a heavy mana price” She smiled gently and grabbed me getting me to my feet.  

“Uh-huh” I said not understanding at all.  

Suddenly a sound was heard from the sky and I looked up to see something red falling down towards me. I yelped and jumped back quickly.  

When the dust dissipated I saw a man clad in red robe. He had long furry brown ears that looked like an animal’s and a tail that wagged behind him. Like a dog.  

“If you say I am a dog” The voice came from the cloak, “you won’t get off easy” 

I immediately shoved the unsaid words down my throat. His eyes were deep blue, his hair blood red and his face stern and firm like I imagined. He definitely looked different from the ones I saw in my memory. But the voice was Vodka’s. 

“He’s a pure one” Rene spoke in a tone that said she knew what I was thinking. 

“Huh?” I turned to her.  I doubted her knowledge about my thoughts though...

“Look. No gray streak of hair” she pointed to Vodka. 

“Gray…? ah!” I said now remembering that the people I saw all had gray streaks of hair.  Did I look like I wanted to know that...?

“We should head out” Vodka said stiffly and waved his hand. A bright red sword materialized a few inches away from us.  

“Oh~” I was a bit intirgued at this new finding.  

“Come on” Rene grabbed my hand and before I knew it I was pulled into the white void. 

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“I’ll advise you to go back the way you came! If you still want your measly lives” a creaky old voice rang out by my ear and I opened my eyes to see us in a thicket. 

“What the---” I began. 

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Teleportation” came the brisk answer. 

“Eh? Then why didn’t you teleport to me?” 

“Teleporting to the Tahalmult desert is impossible. Teleporting away from the desert is plausible” Vodka continued. 

I looked at him blankly, “I don’t get it” 

“I see” he replied curtly and said no more.  

'This rude....!'

“Marielle! We have something interesting let us in” Rene screamed.  

There was silence and then the thicket in front of us parted to reveal a cleanly cut meadow. In the midst was a cherry blossom tree that looked extremely beautiful.  

A figure came out from behind the tree revealing an old woman with a walking stick. She looked at us firmly for a few seconds before she disappeared from my sight leaving the stick to fall on the floor. 

"You. You look familiar" I saw a saggy face in front of me suddenly.  

I was shocked and jumped back quickly.

"Hmm?" The croaky voice continued.

Rene moved her feet and the old lady jumped back, "Your smell!" Rene shrieked, "Take a bath at least once every 5 years"

"Oh? It's Rene and Todd",the lady smiled revealing a set of perfect white teeth.

'Todd?' I asked Mordred.

'That would be---' Mordred began

"It has been a while, Aunt Marielle" Vodka said with a small bow.

The lady was quiet for a moment before flopping on the grass and her stick appeared in front of her, "What might you want?"

"The Violet Gladiator" Rene said curtly while holding her nose.

I looked at the lady carefully. I couldn't smell anything bad... Why was Rene acting up?

"How many time do I have to tell you that I don't revive people" Marielle sighed.

"No" She pushed me forward, " She's alive"

The lady looked at me, "To get a look alike for her how many worlds did you search? Actually if you did that, you'd be recovering mana, right now... How did you.... You! How do you have her energy?!" She exclaimed.

"Eh?" I asked baffled.

"Not an immortal body but this energy..." She continued her eyes widening.

"It is Her Majesty" Mordred's voice came through.

Marielle was visible surprised as her eyes widened.

"This...This is..."

"We were quite surprised when we felt her energy too" Vodka interjected.

"Felt..? Don't tell me ..." She began to say.

"No, he didn't notice" Mordred spoke.

"I see... What do you need?" She asked.

I felt Vodka's hand on my shoulder. It felt warm. I would have thought it would be cold, just like he is.

"Her memories. She forgot everything" He stated.

"Oh?" Marielle grinned, "That I can do"

The ground shook and a large table came up from the ground. Below it was black. No grass was under the table.  

Marielle pulled me and I found myself on the table. "Ssshh" she whispered.

I tried to get up but I couldn't.

"Alright, Just some blood", she conjured a bucket and I felt breeze on my hand then pain.

"Ow!" I shrieked.

"Mordred. I need you out" Marielle called, "He won't notice you here anyways"

Mordred materialized and stood beside me.

"What is happening?!" I asked confused.

He smiled a bit and I looked at my bleeding hand. And slowly but surely. I lost consciousness.

Next Chapter

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Well that ends the first arc. I have prom today and grad with moving houses so the next few days are hectic.  I'll be uploading this chapter with my phone so sorry if it ends up weird. I'll try to get chapters out when I can.