"I see."

"Well then Aela, what are you doing out alone?" Eve pinched the chubby, dirty little cheeks of Aela. "Surely, such a cute little girl like you shouldn't be alone out in the streets. Do you know where your mother is?"

Aela looked down and kept her tiny hands off of the older woman. "I don't know where mommy is."

"I think mommy left me because I'm a bad girl." Drops of tears landed on Eve's chest.

'Wait, stop! Ahh, great. The princess wasn't enough, you just have to make a little kid cry too!' Eve panicked at the sight of tears and ran through every possible way to stop the adorable kid from crying.

Eve wiped the innocent little kid's tears and tried to soothe her. "Do-Don't cry! Maybe your mommy's just a little lost right now!"

"Th-that's right! How about this? You can stay with me before your mommy's here. And we'll find her together!" Eve said.

That seemed to stop the rivers of tears as Aela looked up with puppy dog eyes. "Really?"

'Ah! Those eyes~' Eve hid the maternal instinct raging within her body as she smiled gently. "Of course. Cross my heart." Her index and middle finger intertwined, resembling a heart as Eve held the symbol in the air.

Aela tilted her head. "What's that?"

'Eh, she doesn't know what it means?' Eve thought confused. 'Wait a minute How do I even know of this?'

Eve had enough experience to know not to climb down that rabbit hole so she focused on the little girl. "Anyway, please stop crying. After all, beautiful girls don't deserve to cry. Okay?"

"...Okay!" Aela thanked her as she jumped down from Eve's embrace and grabbed her hands before grinning at the older woman. "So where are we going now, miss?"

Eve patted the little girl's dusty mop of red. "You can call me Eve, Aela."

Aela tilted her head to the side when she heard that name. "E-Vu?"

Eve almost gushed at the deadly adorable creature in front of her but, kept her urges before correcting the little girl. "Not E-Vu. E-ve."

"Ev-e. E-ve." Aela tested the name in her tongue before beaming a smile. "Eve!"

"Yup. Eve. Call me that from now on okay, Aela?" Eve told her, reflecting the little girl's smile.

"I understand Eve." She said like an obedient, little girl. "Then, I'll be in your care from now, Eve!"

Eve patted the girl's crimson head and carried her up to her arms. "Of course, Aela. You can depend on me all you want."

The heart-warming scene melted every one of the onlooker's hearts as the men instantly fell in love with the gorgeous woman from the sky.

It didn't matter if they had a girlfriend, a wife or in any form of relationship, as all of them imagined themselves being surrounded by the beautiful children they would have with the mysterious woman.

Blinded by love, they immediately charged at Eve with hearts in their eyes.

"Please my beautiful lady, bear my children!" A tall dark man wearing fancy, colorful clothes bent the knee as he took out a frosted, expensive-looking ring.

Another man but with lighter features carrying a gourmet of roses pleaded with desire. "I beg of you. Since my eyes have laid upon your beautiful figure, I have fallen in love with you. Marry me, my mademoiselle."

"Screw all of you, she's mine!" A man with rough, but handsome features cursed at the suitors that were going after his woman.

" "PLEASE MARRY ME!" " A chorus of proposals rang out as the street was filled with men bending their knees and asking for the hand of Eve.

'Wh-What the hell?' Eve thought, absolutely bewildered at the sight of a hundred men proposing to her. She thought back over to when they looked at her like a pair of love-sick puppies when she descended onto the place. 'Don't tell me they were looking at me because of that?!'

Eve felt like pulling at her hair. 'I can't deal with this right now for god's sake! I-Aela?'

She felt Aela nuzzle deeper into her bosom and could feel the poor girl trembling like she had just seen death. Eve ignored the crowd of Cupid's victims as she asked, "Is there something wrong, Aela?"

Aela shivered one more time and stuttered, "It-It's just, I don't like it when there's a lot of people."

Eve held the little girl tighter. That was all she needed to hear to get out of here. Her crown shone, lighting up the entire dull, street before the embrace of wind that breathed lightning danced around her. She didn't know where she wanted to go but it would be fine as long as it wasn't here.

"Hold on tight, Aela." With but a thought, her winged cape wrapped itself around the little girl like a protective mother and glared at the people that scared its baby girl.

Aela pressed herself against the comfort of Eve's bosom when she felt a warm feeling wash over her body like a summer breeze.

Yet, as she nudged herself in further, she smelt something sweet like the mountain flowers that decorated the gardens of her old home.

Aela looked up into Eve's glowing red eyes. She was surprised at the change of color, wondering about the many other mysteries the older woman held.

"Eve... Eek!" She yelped when a sudden breath of wind blew across her face.

The hundreds of men watched on as the love of their life slipped through their fingertips and escaped back into the heavens. The men, much to their chagrin, felt rejected and frustrated at how close yet so far they were to their dream lives. The women, however, looked ready to kill their unreliable partners.

.............................................................................................

Meanwhile, Aela had grown out of her shell of fear and giggled with the wind. "Do that flip again, do that flip again!" Aela did a superman pose as Eve spun around in circles.

Eve patted the little girl's head as her body was on auto-pilot. She mentally scrolled through the list of abilities her body could perform, trying to see if anyone of them would be useful in reuniting Aela with her mother.

She stopped.

'I hope this works.' Eve stopped flying and focused. The sleeping lotus on Eve's forehead tingled with joy as she showered it with affection.

'Come on.' Eve continued channeling Orix into the lotus as she bit her lower lip in vexation. 'Work.'

On the other hand, Aela gazed at Eve with marvel in her eyes and observed the beautiful lotus bloom with a golden glow on the older woman's forehead. She wanted to try touching it but decided against it in fear of Eve's ire.

"So this is how it feels to enter the realm of emotions." A misty haze flashed past Eve's eyes. "Everything's so... alive."

Eve was used to seeing things with a god-like vision but this time, she saw the world from an entirely new perspective. She now truly understood the value of life.

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'The meaning of life is what we choose to be.' Eve's eyes sparkled with comprehension as she looked at the flash of colors.

Each person had a distinct flame that defined them, be it black, red, purple, pink or white. They flared at their intensity, but no one was better than the other. The colors shared tinges of each other, and it was easy to see that each family had a general color that they branched out from.

"Eve?" Aela placed the backside of her palm against Eve's forehead. "Are you okay?"

Eve's attention switched from the multitude of colors swimming through her vision to the little bundle of joy in her arms. 'Scratch that. This is a huge bundle of joy.'

Eve stared in shock at the roaring flame of crimson red just centimeters apart from her face. 'This girl...It seems she has a pretty extensive background.'

However, even if the flame was exploding at her, she noticed that it was being held back by something. Someone had placed a seal on the girl; a seal that was strong enough to hold back the large spiritual energy.

Eve knew it couldn't be the girl for obvious reasons. 'Maybe, it's her mother? But why would she put a seal on the girl and just leave her in the middle of the streets? And seeing the way Aela's dressed, I'd bet it's, at least a couple of weeks since she's been abandoned.'

Eve focused back to the matter at hand. She tried to find another crimson red flame under her, more specifically, a flustered flame but sighed when her search didn't bear any fruit. 'Wait a minute...'

"Aela. I forgot to ask you this since I was caught in the heat of the moment but," Eve scratched her ear. "Who did you say your mother was again?"

Aela's eyes threatened to spill. "Mom-Mommy?"

'Ah, crap.' The cold snake slithered across Eve's back as she tried to calm the girl down again. "Um, Look-Your favorite trick!"

For some reason, it hurt her heart whenever she saw the little kid cry. She held the kid protectively in her grasp and spun around in loops across the sky.

"Whee~" Aela giggled, dismissing the rivers of tears that sat at her banks. "More-More!"

'I guess asking her isn't a viable option then.' Eve smiled wryly. 'Well, at least I got myself a cute kid for a while.'

As Eve flew through the sea of colors that glittered beneath her, the annoying voice in the back of her mind returned as she flew above something that looked like a central park. So, she stopped flying and unconsciously descended onto the grassy land.

She felt a call for her, for Joan.

When Eve was just a few centimeters away from the ground, Aela jumped off the older woman's embrace and landed on the grassy field.

But before she could run around the field, Eve stopped her. "Hold on a minute, little one. What's the rush?"

"I remember this place!" Aela replied with enthusiasm. "Mommy took me here to play around! There's also a very nice library in there!"

Eve looked at the direction of her extended finger and had to crane her neck up.

'A tower? No,' She saw a huge amount of mana concentrated in the tower and had to squint her eyes when it shone brighter each second. 'Something with this amount of mana gathered in it can't just be some ordinary tower. Wait. Aela said it was a library?'

'I can't see much like this.' Eve channeled Orix into her eyes, the action causing her lotus to sleep again. She stared at the tower in the distance and as her view zoomed in, her mouth gaped.

'What type of library floats on freaking air?!' The library was of a slender, triangular shape with a sharp peak that pierced the sky. The long-legged tower in front of her levitated in mid-air, detached from the ground like some sort of mystical guru. The library wore metal and adorned itself with giant crystals that gleamed every minute. Its thin body rotated horizontally like gears every time she blinked her eyes.

Eve calmed herself down mentally. 'Why do I keep on forgetting the fact that I'm in a magical world? I need to stop getting surprised at every single little thing. It's bad for my heart.'

'Anyway, my body's reacting to it.' She stared at the hanging tower of magic as the nagging sensation came back with revenge. 'Should I follow it?'

Eve lifted her legs before placing them back down. She was hesitating.

Even though she had sworn to regain her memories, she still hesitated.

Why?

'I'm scared.' Eve bit her lip in frustration. 'I'm scared that if I find out all of this body's secrets, I'll lose more of myself in the process.'

'There's so many mysteries, so many secrets surrounding me. I don't even know who I am. What if, by acting more like Eve, I lost the small grasp I had at knowing my true identity?' Eve thought with a frown. 'After all, this is a world of magic and possibilities. I wouldn't put it behind this world for something stupid to happen that will cause my memory to blank out.'

"No, I can't afford to wimp out now. I have already created a path for myself the moment I took Eve's name." She took Aela's hand and walked forward. "It's too late to change my fate now."

Aela, on the other hand, hopped in excitement, happy that she could finally revisit the library that she had always frequented with her mother. She thanked Eve secretly in her heart, wondering how lucky and fateful she was to meet the older woman.

The next few minutes were spent with Eve and Aela playing tag, hide and seek, and all the little fun games that Eve devised in the middle of the walk with young nature. And as they eventually arrived before the tower on a small, grassy cliff, Eve finally realized how big the tower was.

'Is it just me or does this world's crafters have a fetish for anything big?' Eve asked herself sarcastically, seeing that the tower had no end in sight. "This.... library sure is big, huh Aela?"

She was met with deafening silence. "Aela?" She called out again.

"Over here!" Aela dragged out the letter 'e' as Eve spotted her below the cliff. She studied the metallic pedestal that the energetic girl was standing on.

Ancient runes that she had never seen of, slid in circles, coiling around itself before it reached a large crystal that floated in the middle of the runes. As she slowly levitated downwards and entered the area beneath the tower, she realized that the sun's guidance had ended.

Eve almost slipped and fell when she touched the metallic floor. She looked down and noticed that the width of the runes was equivalent to the size of her arm. She brought her attention to the circular flat, slab of metal beneath her feet and tapped it, an empty ring vibrating around continuously underneath the tower.

'These runes. I can feel traces of a pure energy similar to my Orix in it.' She crouched and touched the cold runes, expecting it to glow but frowned when it didn't.

"That's not how you enter the library, silly." Aela giggled, watching in humor at the disappointed look on Eve's face.

"Enter the library?" Eve stared at the little girl. "Well. Do you know how to get in?"

Aela nodded so fast that Eve wondered if her head was gonna break off. "Yup! I know how to get inside! Mommy showed me after all."

"But mommy told me not to let anyone know," Aela muttered, frowning.

"I see," Eve said. "But you know, the only way to find your mother is by going inside."

"I believe your mother will understand if you told me the secret to find her," Eve said. "In fact, I think she'll even be happier that you're such a smart girl."

Aela thought over what her kind caretaker had told her. She looked at the gentle, smiling face of the older woman. 'Eve doesn't look like a bad person. She's been helping me the entire day when no one even wanted to touch me. I also think mommy will understand if I told the secret to help her!'

Justifying her actions, Aela pulled on Eve's starry dress and looked up. "I understand. I'll show you the way then."

"That's wonderful, Aela! You're such a smart girl!" Eve congratulated the little girl.

Aela giggled when she felt the gentle pat on her head before pulling on Eve's hand to follow her. "You see, mommy told me once that only someone of Aela's family could open the door to this library!"

"And that only infl-influence-influential people-Hik!" Aela bit her tongue and crouched in pain.

"Let me see that, little one." Eve touched her forehead with Aela's and chanted. "Pain, pain go away~"

And, To Aela's surprise, her lips glowed for a moment before the pain vanished like it was never there. "Wow! Eve, how did you that?"

Eve tittered and wiped a smudge on Aela's face. "Orix. The purest energy that is the cause of many wonders and phenomenons."

"Peh, Fee-no-mon-mons?" Aela tried to replicate the older woman's words but failed in frustration. "Will I be able to use it too?!"

Her forehead was flicked gently by a delicate finger. "Maybe. But only if you still remember me when you become a big girl."

"I'll remember Eve!" Aela yelled out suddenly, determination swiftly growing in her big, blue eyes. "Eve has treated me with kindness, and care after all! I will definitely remember Eve!"

For a moment, Eve could see a shadow behind the little girl, an adult version of Aela smiling at her and saying, See? I never forgot you.

"All right, all right. Let's not jump too far into the future and focus on getting you back to your mother for now okay?" Eve said.

"Yay!" Aela laughed before running around the metallic pedestal. "We're gonna have lots of fun in this library!"

'Kids.' Eve shook her head and followed the trails of the little girl.

They eventually arrived before the large crystal in the center of the runes, rotating slowly like the world.

"Place your hands like this." Aela crossed Eve's hands before placing them on the glowing crystal.

'It's oddly warm.' Eve noted as the crystal glowered, its light piercing through her hands.

"And then you just wish super hard to enter." She placed her hands, both crossed, over Eve and closed her eyes.

'Wish?' Eve thought, befuddled but still listened to the little girl anyway. She closed her eyes and made her wish. 'I want to enter.' She let the wish drift apart from her mind and imprint itself on the crystal.

After that, she simply waited.

It wasn't long until she felt the crystal vibrate before she felt a small trace of Orix leave her body and entering the crystal. "Don't be scared... Mommy told me there is nothing to be scared of."

Eve pressed her hands further against the crystal. "Sorry. It surprised me."

"Quick. Tell it that you want to enter again." Aela said urgently.

Eve felt the crystal slowly dying in her hands so she prayed again. 'Let me in.'

The crystal seemed to hear their thoughts as it suddenly rotated quickly before slowly ascending towards the butt of the tower. It buzzed and hummed gloomily before displaying a multitude of colors, illuminating the previously dark room.

Soon after the light show ended, Eve and Aela had disappeared from their spots, nowhere to be seen. The crystal stopped rotating and returned to its original position and slept.

Not a trace of the previous grandeur was left.