HIRAETH: The Fate of ELYSIAN Valley

Chapter Three: EVANESCENT Part Two...

I was told to sit there until that lady and Lemuence came. I decided to take a tour of my surroundings.

It was like a museum with many old things. A dress very beautiful but full of blood was displayed, as were a cap, a throne, and a crown, but the strange thing was that they were all glowing blue when I reached them. After wandering around for a few minutes, I saw a sword that was clearly glowing in red flames. 

"I see you enjoying it," said the lady standing behind me. 

"Oh, I was just wandering," I said.

"Follow me"

I followed her silently, and while walking down the hallway, everything was glowing blue. I was pretty mesmerised, but that lady said

"They were missing you, and now that you are here, they are happy to see you."

I said nothing and continued to follow her. 

We reached a hall full of books. It was bigger than the biggest library. Some books were talking to each other, like they were animated. Others were floating in mid-air, flipping through their pages as if reading themselves. The lady smiled and said, "Welcome to the magical realm of the living books. Here, stories come alive, and knowledge has a voice." 

She shouted "evanescent," and a blue-coloured book that was having dinner started flowing towards us with a trail of sparkling dust behind it. As it approached, the book gracefully landed on the lady's outstretched hand, its pages still gently flipping as if enchanted. She explained, "In this realm, words have the power to summon and interact with the books themselves. It's a place where imagination and reality intertwine."  It was the most beautiful and most recent book present there, I guess. Its blue cover was covered with light blue pearls that shimmered in the moonlight. The lady's eyes sparkled with excitement as she turned to us and said, "This book holds the key to unlocking countless adventures and stories waiting to be discovered by you."

"Are you ready?"

I had no option, so I took the book from her hands and carefully opened it. As I flipped through the pages, I could feel a sense of anticipation building within me. The words seemed to come alive, transporting me to a world beyond my imagination. 

And in the next moment, all we could see were dark silhouettes dancing across the pages, as if the characters themselves were leaping off the paper. The room was filled with an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of my breaths and the faint rustling of turning pages. It was as if we had entered a world where time stood still and anything was possible. 

"Hey ! Can anyone listen to me? Can you hear me, Lemuence? Where are you?" I shouted.

I shouted three to four times, but it was all in vain. I started walking around without knowing where I was going. And a bright light hit my eyes suddenly, blinding me momentarily. As my vision adjusted, I found myself standing in the middle of a fight between, apparently, me and Johanna. They were not able to see me, and I could hear their voices very clearly, and everything except them was still. 

I couldn't completely understand what was going on, but I could see Johanna trying to stop me.

Suddenly, I went to stab Hygge, who appeared out of nowhere. I clearly remember that he wasn't there when I first looked around. 

I was just an inch away from stabbing him, and Lemuence appeared from thin air in front of him and got stabbed.

I dropped my sword, and Lemuence scattered into feathers.

Suddenly, I felt a hand holding me, and that flashback ended. I was standing still with tears flowing down my cheeks, but I didn't know why.

I slowly turned my head to someone who was holding my hand, Johanna.

"Lady Johanna, i.." I was interrupted in the middle by her.

"I am Lady Ezlyn," she said. "You are Johanna," she added. 

"I apologise for the confusion," Lady Ezlyn continued, her voice filled with concern. "It seems that you were experiencing a vivid and emotional flashback. Can you remember anything else about what happened?" 

" wait! Why am I  Johanna? I asked, raising my eyebrows.

She asked me to sit on the table and grabbed tissues for me as I was crying.

I wiped my eyes. but because I could say something, she said

"I know you have many questions, but let time answer all of your questions; I am unable to say anything to you."

"That's alright, but could you explain what I saw?" I said.

"Well, that's you in your previous life," she said without making eye contact.

"Then why did I stab Lemuence? " I said it very calmly.

She, this time, looked into my eyes with so much love, like a mother, although I never had one, but I could feel the warmth, and she said lightly, merely opening her lips, Please don't be so close to Lemuence if you don't want to repeat the same scene again" .