Of Thousand Lives

Chapter 2: Exploration

  I slowly arise from a refreshing nap. It looks like it's the evenings, I guess based on the colour of the sky. I stt and get off the bed, sluggishly dragging myself to the sink. Water flows as soon as I flip the tap up and I wash my hands and my face to lighten things up. I take a fresh gust of wind into my lungs, feeling refreshed as I wipe the water off of my face with a towel that hangs near. After finishing the short preparations, I go outside of my room to be greeted by a hallway, stretching shortly to the two sides that have other rooms. Most of the rooms look unused, only one is occupied. I turn to the stairs, scratching the back of my head, rubbing my eyes, as I let out a sigh. The moment I reopen my eyes, someone is already there, looking at me behind a corner. Their cat ears are sticking out of the hood of their outfit. This world sure has a lot of animal-look-alikes. From the looks of it and the place I am currently in right now, I guess they are wearing a nun outfit. The person runs away when our eyes meet. Weird.. but I don't really want to care much about other people. I have a question for Raven, or well a lot to ask because it might raise more questions than answer them. Looking around the place for someone while avoiding social contact is tiring, I might have to rethink my choices. Oh, he's just writing something on his notepad in a corner. I go to him, "Raven. I have something I want to ask you.". He looks up from his notepad, finally noticing my presence, "What is it?", says him with a friendly smile. "If this is another world. Then how many worlds are there? Am I the first 'Anomaly', or whatever you call us?". He freezes for a little bit, looking at me then hums softly, tapping his pen on the notepad for a few times. "Well, as far as we know, there are at least 10 universes. The reason why there is this conclusion is that you are not the first to come here. Oh, and before you ask, most of them returned home after they came here. Theoretically, you are the second to stay.", he winks at me. What is that supposed to mean? I think someone before me chose to stay in this world in the 10 'Anomalies'. Intrigued by this, I want to know more. "Do you have any theories about the other universes?", I continue with my questions. "Well, I do have some, but let's head out first.. Natalia!", he says out, presumably, a worker's name. Promptly, a feline look-alike with glasses shows up. "Take care of this place when I head out, please. Thank you~~", Raven smiles innocently as he hands her the notepad and gestures to me to follow him before he leaves the place in an instant. Natalia completely freezes in place, staring at him the whole time with eyes of pure confusion. "Sorry, ma'am.", I lightly bow over a few times before joining Raven. I look back at her and she's now shaking a little bit. I think she has trouble communicating with people.. Heh, relatable. I scoff and close the door behind me as I leave the church, now catching up with the elf. "Well, I've thought of your question. I myself have made up a few theories, that there are infinite worlds. Say, think of each snowflake as a world. There would be countless of them, no? Some float around slowly and continue to exist. Some melt away quickly. Not to mention, there might be countless variants of timelines that branch from each of these worlds, but I don't want to get too deep into such questions that boggles the mind.", he speaks as he walks down the sidewalk in a relaxed and confident stance, with his hands in the pockets of his coat. I can feel myself being watched by dozens of eyes walking next to someone of his caliber, unnerving. "Okay, I am content with my answered questions about the worlds beyond right now. Do you do anything in your free time?", I smile subtly, nodding in gratitude as I move on to other questions. "Well, I read books, and spend time with my family. Nothing really interesting about me at all. I know a bunch of things only because of books. They broaden your soul and mind, as well as spiritually fly you into space.", he waves at a few people on his way as he talks, I have a feeling that a lot of people know about him. Just a feeling. Honestly, he's like the generic good-looking and strangely smart elves in the stories. "Why, thank you.", he abruptly says, then follows it up with a "Sorry, I was talking to someone else.". Strangely coincidental, but I guess I need to set my expectations higher especially considering the fact that I am currently in a foreign world. "I know a nice place to relax just ahead of us. Care to join my little freetime?", he looks at me and smiles charmingly. I nod subtly, not really wanting to stay outside for long, but this is a good chance to learn more about this world. Therefore, I accepted. "Wonderful!", Raven chuckles subtly but the smile quickly collapses as he suddenly looks over to an alleyway on the other side of the road. He sees something, which I can't see, the pedestrians are blocking the view of the ever so dark alley. "Hide.", he abruptly teleports me, no, not me only, the entire street worth of people to an empty field, they all look confused, like we all teleported at the same time. Just how fast is this guy, really? Suddenly, the entire street where we supposedly were instantly gets covered in ice. As if in the blink of an eye, a blizzard passed through that street and froze everything in place. I swiftly start running back as fast as I can, maybe I can make it there in 6 minutes, not that far away. After treading past the spikes of ice that formed like the aftermath of an explosion. "Raven?", I call out, getting closer to the blast zone. "Yes?", a lone and distant voice echoes through the streets, pulling me closer to the mysterious elf. "What happened? What's with all of this?", I inquire him promptly, finally setting sight on the cryomancer, who is admiring an ice sculpture of an ugly and horrifying-looking giant about 5 times the size of him. "Well, you see.", he gestures towards the ice statue, with half of his face roughly covered by ice, yet he keeps his subtle little smile of reassurance. I think I understand. "It's fine, this is part of my work. Used to it by now.", the elf adds. Not long after, Vurul and Theobold arrive, "Haii mister Raven!! Haii you!!", the cat boy enthusiastically waves at us, while Vurul investigates the scene through the means of, you guessed it, observing. They seem strangely calm like professionals handling their jobs. I suddenly feel so inspired by all of this. As if it just hit me now and not then, that this is a new and charming world full of mysteries waiting to be uncovered. I was painfully ignorant of my current situation and kept clinging onto my introverted lifestyle from before. And honestly, I didn't like being alone, so maybe I can change myself here for the better.. "Raven, I- I want to.. Learn how to do magic like this.", I ask. Vurul and Raven look at me, as for Theobold, he's busy melting the ice on the ground and the walls of the buildings. The crow then pats Raven's shoulder to get his attention and whispers something to him, as he keeps on staring at me menacingly. I think he's saying something about me. I can't really blame him after all. Trust is a huge problem when it comes to people who you just met, or just landed here from another world. I wonder if the other Anomalies were treated like this. They finally stop talking, then Vurul kneels down and flies up into the sky again. Raven hums softly, looking at me as he taps on his cheek a few times as he thinks of something. "What's up?", I ask the elf. "The sky.", Raven replies instantly and scoffs at his own answer. "Okay, just kidding. Well, to be frank, the Valkyries asked me to be careful with you, but I don't really care, because I'm not an official member of their group. I can do whatever I want really.", he waves the joke away and promptly explains to me what Vurul told him. Valkyries.. Some sort of organization? I scratch my head, not knowing what to say. "Oh, you probably don't know what I'm talking about. Well, let me begin by telling you what the Valkyries are. In short, they're respected warriors whose duties are to protect their city and world peace. The Valkyries are Thannatopia's finest. They have 5 official members, I am only hired to be called at serious times.". I nod frequently as he explains to show that I'm listening. "So, about magic.. First we need to tap into your Mana flow. It's crucial for magic and sorcery.", the elf snaps his fingers when he finishes talking, and we are now at an empty field with a lonely giant oak tree standing in the middle of nowhere. The sun shines confidently on the lush green colour of the grass, an endless expanse. We teleported again. "Who do you think is in the wrong? The sinful?", he abruptly asks, quietly, with an odd smile on his face as his head tilts subtly to the side, "Sorry, that was a weird question to ask. Hehe..", he chuckles and waves it off instantly. "Anyways, Mana, right? Hmm.. Make a fist with one of your hands, either tightly or loosely, it doesn't matter.", Raven then follows up. I form a fist with my right hand, raising it up in front of me for him to see. "This is how you channel Mana. Your desire to perform an action is your strongest means of Mana channeling.", he reaches out to my hand and gently holds it. "Not bad. You have some natural flow in you. Still, maybe because you didn't have the ability to acknowledge it so you couldn't fully master it. Now that you know of its existence, no excuse to not master it.", the elf says, smiling a little at me. I mean, I do know Mana is like some sort of energy used to cast spells and do things but this one is kinda different. "Oh, and about your Mana capacity. You will be able to tell when you are almost out of it. When you feel as if your energy is drained and you start to get tired, that is when you are running out of Mana. Now, with these things in mind.. Take a break.", he adds, then pats on my shoulders with a bright smile before I get teleported back to my room at the church. Raven is nowhere to be seen again. I sigh, feeling relaxed, and turn around. When I open my eyes, the catgirl nun is already there, staring at me as she stands in one corner of the room. "Uhm.. Hi?", I wave at her, trying to socialize without scaring her off. She waves back at me but just subtly, not saying a word as she continues to look at me. Weird girl. I just realized I haven't eaten a single thing since I got here, alerted by the sudden growl of my stomach. "Mister Raven told me to bring you food.", she quickly speaks, pointing at the tray filled with food on the table. Looks inviting. "Thank you very much.", I nod, turning back to her. She's still standing there in the corner for some reason. "I can share some food with you if you want.", I offer. She suddenly cries when I finish saying that. Did I do something wrong? Maybe I've broken a social rule? Did I accidentally insult her??? "W- Wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..", I apologize to her, but she waves it off and wipes her tears away. "No, it's okay. It's just.. Uncommon to hear words of kindness for me.", Natalia adds. Phew.. That's that. But uncommon? Is this another social rule? Maybe it has something to do with her race.. Racism is a thing, I guess, in this place. Not a high chance but never impossible. "Come sit down, I'll split the meal with you.", I pat on the seat at the table with the food tray on it a few times, gesturing to her to come over. She walks towards the seat and sits down slowly on the wooden chair in a very polite fashion. The girl takes glances at me as I split the food into two equal portions. "Well, I heard your name is Natalia, right?", I ask, sitting down on the side of my bed with a plate of food in hand. She nods, and though her eyes show no interest, they're glued to the tray of food. I think I struck gold, a woman, pretty fine-looking as well!