Darkness.

That's all I can see for now.

No light. No noise. No smell. But one thing is clear for me, I'm shivering.

Maybe I can't see or hear but currently I can feel. Cold.

'Is this the hell they've talking about?'

I curled myself wondering why is hell so cold. Why hell I say? That's because heaven won't surely be like this. Heaven is a place where everything is so ethereal. Where you can be happy. But everything here doesn't align with my thoughts. Then it'll only be hell.

But everything is so cold, where it is supposed to be covered with fire.

Where you can see a vast ocean of magma, torturing the crying souls.

But in this abyss of darkness, I can't see anything that is in my playful imagination.

Only a vast sheet of darkness, eating my very soul.

Compared to this, the fiery hell is somewhat tempting to be in.

You can scream, feel pain and see the light. Making you aware that you are still conscious.

'Is this what they call purgatory? If it is, I will surely like hell more.'

Not in here, where you even don't know if you still exist. Without my knowing, A very very long time passed by.

'Adam, come' All of a sudden a sweet and gentle voice spoke. It felt like I've been called by my lover. Like she's luring me to hug her and cherish her.

Woken by the sweet temptation, I slowly opened my eyes. A very tiny dot appeared far a way from me.

'Adam, here.'

Entranced by the voice, I crawled my way to the tiny dot of light. Even though I can't feel anything except for the cold, warmth flows inside me with each time I get close. In every step that I made, I caused a ripple to appear beneath me.

The earlier tiny dot became a large ball of light.

'Love please, be happy'

I don't understand anything the voice say. I reach for the ball of light as if the voice came from in it. And made my thoughts directed to the ball not to the voice.

When I finally touched the ball, the light covered me thus making me faint once again.

'Remember! I'll be waiting for you.'

--------

This very day, the clouds were spread far apart revealing the beautiful blue sky. Alone in his castle, the king sun moved leisurely to his throne. Gazing at everyone below him. This time was the season that the cold prince of the north(winter) was about to leave as his sister, the sweet princess of east(spring) keeping his white blanket away. (Melting of snow)

The slightly warm breeze passed by as it made my silver hair swim gracefully with each passing wave. A sweet scent produced by a freshly picked jasmine, find its way to my nose that brought me to a state of calmness. In just a year, so many things happened. That made me confused and a little stressed.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

And later, I need to meet those bird-brained old fossils. Ugh! I really don't understand how come they became respected and known.

"Aissshh!!" I unconsciously tightened my grip causing the already fragile cup to suddenly broke, thus making the golden tea stain my laced gloves.

"Young Miss!" A worried voice sounded beside me as the owner of the voice immediately taken out another pair of laced gloves.

"Young Miss, please take off the gloves. Are there any wounds?" A teary lil girl was about to reach my hand when I waved my hand signalling her not to worry. That girl had a slightly small stature even though she's actually three years older than this body's original age.

"I'm really sorry! Giving you this much worry about me, Royce."

"Young Miss!! This one is really blessed to have you as her master." The lil girl smiled as she politely passed the gloves to me.

"Hahaha... By the way, what happened to what I told you before??" I said gloomily. I tilted the new cup I got from Royce, watching how a petal moves from a corner to another. Everything seemed to be perfect at the first glance, the atmosphere that was light-hearted while me sitting inside the roofless pavilion at the center of the lake. Drinking a cup of jasmine tea, enjoying the scenery. But with a sentence, the mood changed entirely.

"From what we expected, His Grace really had a hand on it. But Young Miss we didn't manage to get a solid evidence against His Grace."

"It's fine. Time is ours but getting caught is a not. I don't want that Old man to know our moves."

"This one will always remember!" She said as she bowed deeply at my side.

"You may retire first. I'll need you later so rest well. And.. You may call Rafielle to attend me for now."

"Then, Please excuse this one." The girl left me at the second my command is released. Giving me a time for myself, to rest and think. To think I'd dream that darkness again.hmmm..

Drinking the newly replaced tea, I let my eyes closed for a while. Continuing my earlier reminisce of the past. The first time I stepped in this world.

-----

A familiar yet not surrounding surprised my eyes the moment I woke up.

"Huh? Where am I?"

I sluggishly moved my body out of the bed.

Thump.

I suddenly lose my strength the moment I stand up. "Huh? Am I not dead?" Not noticing my body's current state, I  tried to stand up again. Walking my way to the door without care of my surroundings, I quietly open the beautiful door.

"This is? Literally, I'm fucked up."

Seeing the long corridor, I cursed while walking. 'Why am I here? Is he playing with me?'

"This thing is surely not a house, its a small castle. I murmured when I peeked on one of many massive windows in the corridor. 'Everything is getting weird.' A small staircase caught my eyesight. I immediately walked to it.

"This place? Why does it feels so familiar to me?" The floor below was almost the same from the upper floor. Except that it is wider and have fewer rooms.

Continuing my adventure, I finally get what I want. Seeing a door that leads to the outside world, I immediately opened it. A cold breeze touched my face the moment I opened the door.

A big ball of light overshadowed the loveliness of the sky. Helping me to see a beautiful scene in front of me, the beautiful yard. I walked for a several minutes when I found myself at a small pond beside a huge rock. There were some koi-like fishes swam inside it. Even though the pond was quite blurry, I can see the moon's reflection clearly. Taking off the gloves that I currently wear, I sat beside it and quickly washed my face with the cold water to help me awaken my senses more than I did before.

Thus giving a shock to my heart.

"What the? Fuck! I'm dreaming, am I?" I fell to my ass when I saw a reflection of a very beautiful woman in the unstable waters. I sat up and crawled back to check if I saw it wrong.

I gasped as I saw again the reflection of a beautiful woman.

Silky silver hair which glitters when a light pass through them. A slim figure that can bewitch anyone with just standing alone. Pointy nose, delicate jawline, crescent eyebrow and a dark pair of bloody orbs were placed perfectly, giving anyone who see a jolt.

But that cold eyes was staring at me, giving me goosebumps. A perfect beauty with a cold graceful and elegant air.

'This? Is it m-me? Okay! Okay! I died and what's next? Did I just re-re-incarnated? Unbelievable!'

Not giving much of a thought in the end, I put the gloves again to my hand and walk into the forest. Not long before I leave the pond, I missed the changes in the pond.

I followed a long trail, maybe it's made by the previous ones who wandered here. I tried to wound myself with a branch that I saw in the way. Seeing the rouge liquid in my shoulders gave me the confirmation that I'm not in dream. I continued  my walk for a short while. When I'm almost at the middle of the forest, I hear a slashing sound in front of me.

A tiny figure of a girl caused me to gasped.