Aemilia walked around on a white piece of land. Endlessly white with nothing to distract her -- she couldn’t help but feel reluctant to move forward.

“Rose--”

She turned around, her heart erratically beating fast. “What was that?”

“Religion.”

It was that voice again. She struggled to understand whether that voice belonged to a female or male.

“Power. Nine.”

“What do those mean?” The words spoken by this unknown being felt important, so she focused hard on the voice, hoping to remember it by the time she wakes up.

“--Golden apples…”

“Rose, religion, power…” She bit her bottom lip. She couldn’t remember the last few words. If only they could repeat it again, then at least, she could try to memorize them even harder.

“Rose, religion, power, nine, golden apples…”

Her ears perked up when she heard the words again. “Um, power, nine, golden apples. Rose, religion, power… Ugh, I can’t remember it again.” She hated how difficult it was to memorize anything in a dream. That was the excuse she gave herself.

She gritted her teeth in frustration, but soon after, the voice kept repeating itself without end -- much to her relief. But by the time she finally remembered all the words, something caught her eye from a long distance.

What was that? Fire?

Her gaze focused on the flickering light from afar. Despite the voice continuing to repeat the words, she ignored them -- rather, she couldn’t hear them anymore. Her focus led to her ability to block out all unnecessary noises, whether she was dreaming or awake.

Red, yellow, orange, white with sparks of blue -- she couldn’t ignore those flashes of light. Rather than the sparkling nature of fireworks, the light blazed, crackling and burning with all of its strength. Its fiery intensity attracted her as if it pulled her towards it.

She walked casually, wondering to herself about what it could be if it wasn’t fire. Even though people normally ran away from fire that roared like the one she focused on, she couldn’t help but continue to walk without much caution.

But more than that, she craved danger in her dreams, especially when she lucid dreamed like this. It wasn’t that she loved danger in real life, but rather, she knew that her lucid dreams led to low-quality sleep, regardless of the content. So that’s why she wanted to adventure, to have fun in her dreams since they weren’t particularly dangerous. And usually, such wishes were granted as she had fought against evil organizations, saved the world by protecting her older sister -- the so-called Saint, and escaped from dangerous people -- all in her dreams.

But… I can’t believe this one actually compelled me to memorize stuff.

I’d rather have one of those adventure-like, intense dreams instead.

Her lips slowly curled into a mischievous grin.

Since I’m going to wake up with a headache, I might as well have the best, thrilling adventure in my dream! At least… That’s how it always was.

But this is just weird.

Quiet, slow-paced -- such a boring dream she was having tonight. When she reached the end of the ground, she swallowed, her hands shaking. A cliff, she had not been expecting that. And to her disappointment, the light or fire no longer remained.

Seriously, this is such a stupid drea--

A pair of hands pushed hard against her back. Her heart thudded against her ribcage violently. Before she could see who it was, she screamed, her mind processing nothing but cold terror. From below her, a spark of light flickered before blazing into a huge burst of flames.

--I’m going to die.

While she logically understood that she wasn’t actually going to die, her mind, stained with fear, did not allow her to remember such logic.

The flames reached out to touch her -- to embrace, to consume her completely. “NO!” She cried out, covering her face by crossing her arms in front of her. She shut her eyes tightly to brace for the impact and pain, but instead, she found herself landing on something soft and plushy.

Not willing to believe that she was safe, she continued to shut her eyes, but after a few long seconds of no pain, she let out a sigh of relief. “I… I’m safe.”

But the moment she opened her eyes to confirm, a searing pain spread across her body in a millisecond. A scream ripped out from her throat.

Aemilia suddenly sat up from her bed within seconds, breathing heavily. Beads of sweat rolled down her face and she found her clothes a bit soaked. But more than that, she couldn’t get a hold of herself -- she was so shocked by how realistic the burning flames felt against her skin in her dream that she couldn’t scream or move.

Wha-- What the hell was that?

I never had a dream so realistic like that… No, rather, how did it feel so real? Why did it... I actually thought I was going to die when that pain…

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She couldn’t complete her thought. Her body trembled again from remembering how it felt. Her arms wrapped around herself, her breath still laborious.

“...Aemilia?” A soft voice called out to her. She did not move. Only when a small hand grabbed onto her arm did she notice that someone was next to her. “Are you okay?” A familiar, young girl looked up at her with uncertainty.

“...” Aemilia couldn’t remember what the name of the girl was. She knew she could just call her, Ethan’s little sister, but that would sound weird. “Um…” She tried to think of another way to talk to her without having to say her name. “When did you come in?”

The girl’s lips curled into a sweet smile. “Just now!” She jumped onto the bed and embraced her tightly. “I wanted to wake you up so you can play with me!”

“ANNE--” Ethan walked in through the room. “Anne, did you open the door without permission again...?”

“Bleh!” The small girl let out her tongue at him and then ran out of the room in a hurry to avoid getting scolded by him. When she noticed that Ethan wasn’t serious about scolding her, she cautiously walked back in.

He let out a deep sigh instead before glancing at Aemilia. “Sorry about that.”

Aemilia shook her head. “It’s fine.” She noticed the tray of food in his arms.

“Oh, right. Mom wanted you to eat this. She said that you could have caught a cold, so it would be better for you to eat this porridge before you head home.” Anne quietly pulled up the small bed table for her before Ethan placed the tray of food on top. “It’s just rice porridge, but she added in extra herbs and ingredients to make it very nutritious.” He scratched the back of his head.

“...Thank you. I’ll eat it then.” Aemilia picked up the spoon, scooping up the soft grains of rice and speckles of herbs. It glistened under the warm sunlight. Traces of amber-colored oil, and the salted, thick chunks of eggs mixed perfectly with the slivers of fatty meat and the soft, chewy shellfish. Blowing on it lightly, she then put it into her mouth. It seemed heavy at first glance, but strangely, the porridge tasted light with the salty, savory taste lingering in her mouth.

Ethan grabbed a chair and sat next to her bed as he watched her eat. “Is it tasty? Mom’s porridge is the best when you don’t have energy.” He grinned, clearly proud of his mother’s creation. “When it’s too heavy, then try the pickled veggies! It’ll get rid of that greasy taste in seconds.”

She finally noticed a small plate of yellow, sliced vegetables. It looked similar to a typical root vegetable, so she didn’t hesitate and took a bite out of it.

Crunch!

“Sweet and crunchy…” As Ethan said, the pickled veggies blew away the greasiness of the porridge with one bite. “What’s it called?” She no longer tried to act as if she knew everything about the world.

Ethan didn’t seem to budge as he answered her calmly. “Raish.”

“Raish… It tastes good.” She murmured to herself and continued to eat her porridge. Everything complemented each other to the point that she couldn’t stop herself from eating.

“Make sure to drink the sparkling water.” He handed her a cup as she gratefully took it from him and sipped. She let out a small sigh of relief. He fidgeted in his seat, glancing around the room.

“...So what do you plan to do now? Since my parents sold the store for you…” His thumb rubbed against the corners of the wooden chair.

She placed the cup down and stared at the food. “I don’t know.”

“...Then how about working for our inn? Well, maybe until you figure out what you want to do.” Before Aemilia could say anything, he continued to stammer, the tip of his ears reddening. “I… I mean mom and dad already gave the okay and I’m just here to ask you, so--”

“Thank you... Ethan.” She hoped she gave the right name. Seeing that he didn’t react negatively, she knew that she managed to say his name correctly. “For now, I'll think about it.” She took another sip of the water. “And… would it be possible for me to thank your parents for helping me out later today?”

He glanced down at the floor, his face seemingly rigid. “Ah, of course.” He scratched the back of his head. “But they’d like you to focus on recovering first.” His lips pulled into a forced smile. “So don’t worry about it. Your mom helped them out once before, so this is their way of thanking her too.”

“...I see.” Aemilia nodded in acknowledgment.

He finally locked eyes with her. “Um, Aemilia. Would it be okay if I helped you go back to your house later?” His eyes fidgeted as if unsure of his decision. “I… I might be wrong, but… you… lost your memories, haven’t you?”

She stared at her bedsheets. “You’re not wrong. To be honest, I have trouble remembering why I was at the beach and who everyone is.” A small sigh escaped from her. “I apologize for burdening you with such knowledge. I assume that your parents are aware of this fact?”

His cheeks flushed as he nodded. “I felt like that was the case, so I told them last night.”

“And that’s why they would like to support me for a temporary amount of time by hiring me for their inn business?”

“Yes, but they said that it’s your choice and that I shouldn’t try to pressure you into it.” He murmured the last part with a small frown gracing his face.

“I see. Well, for now, I’ll continue to think about that offer before making a decision. And I’ll gladly accept your offer to help me get back to my house.” She smiled thinly to herself. “...since I have no idea where my house is even located.” Her words seemed to brighten his expression.

He let out a happy grin and stood up from the chair. “Alright! Then since you finished eating, I’ll take the tray back. You should get ready to go out now!” He picked up the empty tray. Somehow, in the midst of speaking with him, she had unknowingly eaten the food quickly.

“Going out?” She blinked at him curiously.

“Yeah, we need to get your head injuries healed by the church.” He began walking towards the door. “I’ll come back in 15 minutes, okay?”

“Ah…” Before she could say anything else, he left the room. “Well, I guess I have no say in this matter… But the church, huh…” She didn’t know what to expect, but she didn’t think a church could simply heal a head injury with a small prayer. A deep sigh escaped from her once more.

And so, after she cleaned her face, brushed her teeth, and got ready to go out, fifteen minutes quickly passed by for her. Now, she merely stood by her window quietly, leaning against the wall while looking outside. “I hope he gets here soon…”

“Aemilia!” Ethan knocked on her door. “Are you ready to leave?”

She strode towards the door and opened it. “Yeah, let’s get going before morning ends.”

As they left the inn, she once again took the time to absorb the beauty of the city. If angels lived in a city by the sea, she wondered if this was how it would look -- pearly white with marbling.

Even though it was gorgeous at night, the city itself truly took away people’s breath in the daytime, revealing its true beauty under the sunlight. And when paired with the distant, yet sparkling blue sea, she wondered if a divine being had kissed the land she stood on to bless it before they left.

“Aemilia? Are you listening?” Ethan shook her arm to get her attention.

“Huh?” She snapped out of her appreciative gaze of her surroundings. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said…” He sighed. “So basically, today, we’ll go to the church first; then we’ll have lunch with my sister. And after that, I need to train with Bastian so you’ll need to babysit Anne for me. Then we can get a snack, and if you’re feeling okay, we can head to the beach to see if you remember anything too. And then we can go home. I mean, I’ll walk you home.”

“Oh, right. Yes. I’m fine with that schedule.” Aemilia smiled at him sheepishly.

Such a responsible child.

It reminded her to take her current situation seriously once more, but at the same time...

What a long day... today’s going to be...

She let out a small sigh of exhaustion as she recalled the schedule he planned out for today once more.