Paradox: Distorted Reality

Special chapter 1 (chapter 4.5):The girl who still remembers

I wake up, reminded of the task Aviral had given me. He needed my help today Just moments ago, I was dreaming about the battle, and sometimes these dreams to distinguish from reality. I need to hurry, I don't want to be late.

I rummaged around for the perfume he'd gifted me. I usually left it in the top drawer, but as I opened it, I was confused. The perfume was gone, and in its place were these misplaced books. I couldn't wrap my head around it; my belongings were all jumbled up, and that my precious gift from Aviral was nowhere to be found. I'm gonna have a panic attack. Panic surged through me, and I let out a scream that echoed throughout the entire castle.

Amid my distress, a concerned servant rushed in, their face a mix of worry and confusion. "Lady Sibyl, are you alright? Why are you screaming?" they asked, their voice filled with genuine concern. Her questions felt irrelevant at that moment. All I cared about was finding my stuff, my things in their right places. My thoughts swirled in a tornado of distress. That perfume, the one Aviral had given me as a gift, it was gone. The thought of disappointing him churned my stomach.

"My belongings have been moved. What am I going to do?" I lament aloud. As I caught sight of the servant's attire, a strange realization hit me. Even her clothes looked different. And as I looked down at myself, my own attire felt foreign. Someone had chosen these clothes for me which would be weird on it's own.

A throbbing headache suddenly struck, as if memories were being forcefully implanted into my brain. The sensation was nauseating, and I could hardly keep my balance. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, I stumbled and fell to the floor with an "Owwww." The sensation was jarring, like a sudden plunge into a sea of disjointed memories that I was sure were never a part of my life.

The servant hovered over me, their concern growing as they tried to make sense of the situation. I knew they probably thought I was losing my mind. My head was spinning, as if someone had tampered with my thoughts. Slowly, the sensation subsided, leaving me feeling somewhat stable. But something was definitely off; it was as if the timeline itself had been tampered with. With the servant present, I knew I couldn't display my true powers. I couldn't risk her witnessing the full extent of what I could do.

"I'm fine now. You can leave," I managed to say, though not without a bit of force as I gently pushed her out of the room and locked the door. Finally alone, I decided to test my abilities. I began to weave my magic, invoking the spell "Power set minimum, Timeflow Perception." What I saw was a fairly consistent timeline up until a few minutes ago, when things seemed to pause abruptly before diverging into an altered timeline. It felt unnatural. I shifted my focus, trying to identify any anomalies that might have triggered this shift.

"Power set high, Timewarp insight." The world around me seemed to shift as I delved deeper. And there it was, an anomaly, a branching point in the timeline that had sprouted after the pause. The regular timeline seemed frozen in that pause, while an alternate path emerged. I squinted at the specifics, my mind racing to discern the cause. Two individuals seemed to be at the center of this anomaly, their identities still hidden.

What could have caused this disruption? The magnitude of the event puzzled me. I knew I had to dig deeper, go all out to unravel this mystery. "Power set maximum, Timewarp insight, Temporal gaze." As I invoked the spell, I could feel the strain on my being. My vision blurred, and I knew that passing out was imminent. But I couldn't afford to wait; time was running out.

My attention focused on the object that had triggered the disturbance. It turned out to be a jewel, which struck me as both anticlimactic and oddly kinda lame. I had expected a deity or some powerful being to be behind this, not an inanimate object. The sheer size of the jewel seemed rather small in all honesty it kinda made me bored and disappointed.

As my consciousness faded, I thought about identifying the anomalies. But then, my mana was fully drained leaving me with a hoard of unanswered questions. I was rather disappointed that I had pushed too hard. Mana potions were my last hope, but even they were inaccessible due to the unfamiliar room I found myself in. I'll have to wait until tomorrow if I'm going to figure anything else out.

Oh, I'm feeling a bit hungry. Let's see what's available to eat. I leave my new bedroom and head to the dining room for breakfast. Despite having literally zero clue of where I'm actually heading. I think I shouldn't have kicked that maid out of my room.