“Ow, ow, ow.”

As Maria groaned from the sharp pain that spread all over her body, the memories of her father's last farewell resurfaced. Enduring the pain, she frantically looked around for her father. What she saw was a lake as clear as crystal, reflecting the light that pierced through the thick layer of trees. No sign of her father. On a normal day, she would spend an entire day admiring such a simple yet beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, today is not that day. With a heavy heart and a body riddled with pain, she crawled toward the lake. As if she were a traveler who was stranded in the desert for too long, she put her head inside the lake and quickly filled her stomach with as much water as her body could hold. The fresh and cold water partially washed away the burning pain in her body but did not lift her dwindling spirit. Looking at the reflection upon the clear lake, she saw an emotionless face. This abnormal calmness on her face is the result of her father's experiment. Thinking back now, she still grumbling over it. In her frustration, she slapped it with her slender hand. What seemed like a harmless action to calm her tantrum, somehow turned into a disaster as the water got split cleanly in half, all the way to the horizon, temporarily revealing all inhabitants inside the lake before crashing back down from the sky.

“Eh?”

A voice of surprise escaped from Maria after the realization of what she had done. She sat back down looking at her skinny pair of hands that just somehow split the lake in half and wondered what just happened. As she was about to give it another try, a voice stopped her dead on track.

“I would advise you against that action”

Surprised to hear another voice, she looks up and down, around and around but there was no one in sight.

“If you want to find me, just close your eyes and you will see me.”

The voice was very familiar and soothing. It softened her doubt and she calmly closed her eyes.

“You can open your eyes now.”

When Maria opened her eyes again, what appeared before her was a glittering white throne sitting in the middle of seemingly nowhere. No, not just the throne, everything is white, the sky, the ground, the line between the two are all white. Sitting on the throne was a girly figure that shined brightly, preventing Maria from seeing the figure's details.

“Surprise?”

The girl figure asked.

“Yes.”

The girly figure tilted her head:

“Your face doesn't look like it”

"If you are using my face to guess how I feel, you will be thoroughly disappointed," Maria grumbled.

“...”

The shiny girl figure turned around and sat on the throne.

“Well, I suppose you are right."

A silent awkwardness falls upon the two.

"Cough, do you have any questions for me?" The shiny girl asked.

"Erm?" Maria was a bit embarrassed. She was still processing the situation. This leaves her a bit dazed. "Why are you glowing?" Maria asked without thinking. The moment it left her mouth, she regret it. It was rude to ask such personal questions without getting to know them first, she thought.

Contrary to Maria's belief, the figure doesn't seem to care.

"I am not glowing. It's your mind that is doing the trick, well, part of it anyway." the figure lifts her finger and points to the sky, the ground, and everything in between "Everything here is white. That much is true." The figure then pointed at herself "I, on the other hand, do not have such a thing." The figure pointed at Maria "My shape, form, color, anything that has to do with my looks come from how you view me."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Maria was stunned at the revelation. 'How can such a thing be possible?' Maria gave it another thought, then squinted her eyes, trying to imagine another version of herself.

The moment she did, another version of herself appears, elegantly sitting on the throne, replacing the white glow that emitted from the figure. Maria was baffled. Every detail was straight from her imagination, only the color still retains pure white.

Seeing Maria's reaction, White Maria smiled and spoke: "Anything else?"

Still baffled, Maria asked: "Who, what are you?"

White Maria squinted her eyes "Me? You can call me the Advisor. As to 'What I am', I have no idea myself. I only know that my sole purpose is to help and protect you".

"Me?" Maria pointed at herself.

"Yes" The Advisor nodded.

"Why?" Maria asked

"No idea." The Advisor innocently spread her hand to the side "Sometimes I question it myself."

"No" Maria cut the Advisor off "I meant the name, why 'The Advisor'? Whose parent would have hated their child enough to call them like that?"

"Oh. Ok. Well...Hmmm " The Advisor's face darkened.

Seeing her reaction, Maria feels that she might have touched a sensitive issue. She immediately tried to change the subject “Well If that’s the case, Miss Advisor, can you tell me what I should do about the current situation? I am lost at the moment.”

The Advisor seems troubled and replied:

“I am sorry, I can’t decide for you. However, I could give you some guidance. Up North, on the opposite of the lake, keep walking and there is a hidden Fairy village. They look friendly. To the west, if you keep walking for around five days, you will be able to reach a lair, there is a lot of commotion over there but mainly just the human being slaughtered by some odd-looking creatures. To the east, you can walk for five days and you will be able to reach the fort of half beast half man. Choose one direction and I will help you navigate toward the location.”

“Wait, Fairy, Beast man? Are we in a fairy tale?” Maria was excited.

“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the possibility.”

“Wait, how did you get this information?” Maria suppresses the excitement and asks.

The Advisor pondered about it for a while and then snapped her finger like she just came up with a brilliant idea:

“Why don't I show you how”

Just as the Advisor finished her sentence, a loud creaking noise comes from behind Maria. She turned around just to see a pure jet-black door that was slowly. The darkness within the open door quickly blocked out her vision. When Maria opened her eyes again, she had returned to the forest. The surreal white space that she visited before felt like a dream, but in the next moment, a familiar voice convinced her that it was all real:

“Please put out your hand and imagine the shape of a creature…”

The voice of the Advisor appeared in Maria's head and instructed her step by step. Her body responds naturally to each instruction as if she wasn't the one controlling it.

    ----Half an hour later----

“…Now, you should be able to hold the energy near the tip of your finger and release it.”

Just as the instruction finished, a ball of glowing light materialized from Maria's finger, rapidly forming into a blackbird, the shape was similar to what Maria chose during the process. Maria can feel an invisible link between the bird and her.

“This is the method, this creature that you just help created will store all information that it collects into a data bank. You can access the bank anytime you want but you will need concentration to do so. Why don't you give it a try?”

Listening to the advisor's instructions, Maria let the bird fly above and concentrate. Just as the Advisor said, Maria saw the memory of the bird from a bird's eyes view around her location. The images were clear and precise as if she is looking at them with her eyes, no, maybe it's more correct to say it's the bird's eyes in real-time.

"This is ,,, Amazing!" Being the daughter of a scientist, Maria had played with plenty of surveillance devices. None of them can do this, a complete five-sense surveillance as if she is there herself.

“So, Fairy huh? Miss Advisor, where is the village that you were talking about?”

“You can’t see it due to some kind of barrier intervention, but if you walk on a specific path that I have drawn out for you, you should be able to enter their village.”

Maria paused as she received the information image streaming into her brain. Through her eyes, she saw the new memories overlap with the scenery creating an imaginary path that urge her to walk on. Mystified by the experience she is feeling, she followed that path to the tees.

Everything was going well until...

"-Snap" A leaf that Maria step on made an unusual noise. Before she knew it, she was upside down hanging by a rope tied to her ankle.

"Is this..." Maria was at loss for words when she thought of the possible scenario for such a random trap to appear in such a random place "a fairy's prank?".