I stood on a large grassy field, looking out at the distance. I wasn’t sure what I was searching for, just that I was. From the corner of my eyes I could see a blue butterfly. I stretched out my hand, and the butterfly landed on one of my fingers. Somehow, it felt familiar, and my heart felt at ease.
I could hear my mother calling out to me. She didn’t want me to stray too far off. I was just a young girl who had no means of protecting myself against wild beasts.
I looked at the butterfly again, and it seemed to recognise me from somewhere. I wasn’t sure why, but when I looked at it, it reminded me of this woman, someone I never met before.
Eventually the butterfly flew away again. I knew it wouldn’t live for much longer, and it made me a bit sad. Maybe I would one day meet it again, in another form.
In that brief moment we touched the panel, something happened to us, something changed. I don’t even think two people were supposed to touch it at the same time, if at all. It felt like I was being electrocuted or burned alive or whatever, it really hurt.
I didn’t know how long we remained unconscious, but I do know that I got up the moment I sensed Em was getting up.
“Strange,” I thought to myself.
“What is?” Em said.
“What?” I asked.
“You said, ‘Strange’.”
“Wait, did I say that out loud?”
“You did. Right?”
We were both confused.
“No, I just thought it was strange that I somehow felt that you… Never mind.”
“That I got up, is what you were gonna say?”
“Yeah, that. Wait, how did you know?”
“It was just a guess, since I actually felt the same thing.”
We both stared at each other, wondering what just happened.
“Is this… a bad thing?” I asked.
“I mean, does it have to be?” she replied. “We don’t even know if it’s going to be permanent or not.”
“That’s true, but if it is going to be permanent, are you okay with that?”
“I mean, I guess? Are you okay with it?”
“Yeah, of course,” I immediately replied, before realizing what I just said. It didn’t seem she noticed my wording though.
I looked at the sphere. It was floating in place now, still glowing. The lights around us were a bit brighter now, and we could sense that the tree was getting a bit more stable. It seemed that repairing the sphere helped the tree out, but we weren’t sure if it was going to heal it or if it was just going to delay its demise.
The panel seemed to be inactive. When I touched it, nothing happened. Em tried it as well, with the same results. We even tried to touch it together, to see if it would respond to that, but still, nothing.
“I guess it’s a one-time use only,” Em said. “So what now?”
“Honestly, I have no clue, but we’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah, it’s not like we have anything else to do.”
She looked around, as if she was searching for something.
“I don’t think there’s a comfortable place to sleep on,” she said.
I looked around a bit, when I noticed the stairs going up.
“We could look up here,” I said.
“Melika, what are you drawing?” the commander asked, as he looked over my shoulder. “Who is that? Is that your mother?”
“No,” I replied. “It’s just someone I saw in my memory.”
“Where did you meet this person?”
“I don’t know, I saw her once when a butterfly landed on me.”
“Well, perhaps that butterfly used to be someone else in a previous life.”
After my mother died from the disease, I chose to get drafted into the army instead of being brought to the orphanage. The chance of getting into a good family was slim, and often girls my age would end up either being prostituted or as sex slaves. Not that the risk of that was any lower in the army, but at least I was guaranteed food and shelter. Even women who served were paid well enough.
I had to learn many things in order to survive. I had to undergo grueling training, just to be strong enough to protect myself. I had to learn techniques to avoid getting killed, like lowering my heartbeat enough to the point where it would seem to be standing still. And I had to kill. It wasn’t something I liked doing, the first person I had to kill was just like me, a kid who just wanted to survive. But that’s how war is. Not everyone gets to live.
“I do have to ask,” the commander said. “What’s your relation with Nassar?”
I had to think about it. “If I had to say,” I replied, “I’d say we are acquaintances.”
Unlike the rest of the temple, the upstairs room was cold and dark. Not in a creepy way, though I imagine that if it wasn’t for the tree’s protection it would have been. It took us a while before we found the mechanism to turn on the lights, a small panel that would react to touch. After the lights turned on, we could see what was inside the room.
The room was fully furnished, with a dresser, a vanity, a dressing screen, a table with a few chairs, a divan, and a queen sized bed. Aside from that, though, there wasn’t a lot. There was no make-up on the vanity, all the drawers were empty, and aside from the carpet, there wasn’t any decoration.
“So, who’s gonna take the bed?” I asked. “I mean, I could take the couch.”
“The bed’s large enough for the both of us, though,” Em said, without any hesitation.
“Is it really fine if we both share the bed?”
Em thought about it for a bit, before simply answering, “I mean, why not? We’re friends, right? I mean, unless you have a problem with it.”
“I mean, I don’t,” I said, barely keeping myself from blushing, “but I thought you might have.”
“Hmmm, well, the old me might have, but I guess it’s okay now.”
For a moment I wondered what she meant with the old her, but I decided to brush that question aside. There was a lot that was different about her, yet there was no doubt this was Em, the very same Em I met back in my old world.
“Hey, look, there’s a door,” Em said.
She opened the door, and went inside. I could hear her call me.
“Gui, check this out!”
I followed her, not knowing what to expect. I definitely didn’t expect a bath, though, especially not one this fancy. It wasn’t big, and there wasn’t any water. It seemed this area had been dry for a very long time. There were no signs of mold or anything, which meant that the bath was fully drained before being abandoned. There were also no panels that could turn the water on and off, though there was one for the lights.
“There’s a lot missing here,” Em said.
“You mean aside from the water?” I replied.
“Yes, I mean, there’s no toilet.”
“You’ve got a point there, though maybe this world doesn’t have toilets. Like, the furniture does seem a bit antiquated.”
“Maybe. Still, it would be great if we had a toilet.”
“Yeah, but neither of us are plumbers, so I don’t think we can do anything about it.”
“I guess you’re right.”
As Em was leaving the bathroom, I looked around, wondering who built this. It looked like those typical baths you’d find in fantasy manga, and yet, there was something modern about this design. I figured it must have been built by someone like us, someone from another world, either that or the technology of this world was fairly advanced before something happened.
It was really odd, though. There were no traces of human life around here, aside from these two rooms, and even then, every drawer and dresser was completely cleaned out, not a spare piece of cloth was left behind.
There also wasn’t any dust anywhere, as if it was recently cleaned, yet, there was nobody here. Or maybe we’ve been overlooking something.
I looked into his eyes, as his life was about to come to an end. My armor and everything underneath was completely drenched in blood. I was about to lose a friend, a compatriot, one of the few who genuinely cared for me.
“Heh,” Nassar said. “Guess you won’t have to worry about me anymore.”
“Shush,” I said. “It’s okay. You may go now.”
Nassar smiled, tried to laugh, but began to cough blood.
“Are you that eager to get rid of me?” Nassar replied.
I tried to laugh, but tears began rolling from my eyes.
“Melika,” Nassar said. “If I had made it to my retirement, would you have married me?”
I didn’t hesitate and nodded. A smile appeared on his face.
“Either you’ve become better at lying,” he said, “or you really did change your mind.”
I wanted to say something to him, tell him how much he meant to me, yet before I could say anything, his expression went vacant.
As I held him in my arms, I could sense several people surrounding me.