Alira woke up the second time with a breathless gasp.

  Her eyes snapped open, only for the glaring stage lights to force her to narrow them back into a slit. For a moment, she was breathing hard—yet not hard enough, like she just couldn’t inhale enough air into her lungs to supply the oxygen her brain needed. A pair of firm hands clasped down on her shoulders, giving a gentle squeeze.

  She slapped it away, snapping back onto her feet, still breathing fast and rough.

  “No... No,” she mumbled, huffing out the words.

  Professor Daw stood behind her with her brows slightly tightened.

  “Are you alright, Miss Ravon?” The professor’s voice muffled through the drumming loudness inside Alira’s skull. Alira stepped backward, her gaze landing onto Raine, who sat and watched her with a look she couldn’t understand. Then again, she had never really understood him.

  “Careful!”

  Her feet slipped off the edge of the platform, but she managed to catch herself, finding her balance to plant her feet flat down on the level below. She turned to face a curious crowd with hundreds of eyes glued onto her—eerily similar to those she’d seen in her dreams. Through her shaking vision, they even resembled the faces she had seen in the misty town.

  “No,” Alira hissed, shaking her head.

  She twisted to the door, dashing out of the auditorium with Professor Daw yelling after her. She heard Maria shouting at her, but didn’t slow down.

  She ran, not knowing exactly where. She ran past people, bumped into some, tripped on her own legs, and almost fell a couple times before finally arriving at a washroom. She had the space all to herself since almost everyone was in class, thankfully.

  “What the fuck was that? A nightmare? Please...”

  Alira prayed it was one cruel nightmare induced by her own mind.

  “...Just a dream. It’s just a dream.”

  She repeated the phrase over and over again like a mantra until she managed to catch her breath.

  Right. It couldn’t be more than just a dream. She just got a bit freaked out to have that kind of dream right after establishing herself as a prophet.

  [This Acting So— ]

  Alira bit on her tongue as she hurried the chant, her words cracking as she winced at the sharp pain. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.

  [This Acting Soul of Staywes asks for Judgement.]

  ※

  Character Name [Alira Ravon]

  Role

  Unreliable Narrator [Myth] (Unique)

  You are the final wall of Staywes, the Filter of all its tales. Your lies are their Truth.

  Role Aspects

  [???] y????o?u???-?s??h???o???u???l??d?-?n?o?t?-?b?e?-?s?e?e?i??n?g?-?t?h?i?s

  [Narrator’s Influence] You have great influence on them.

  [Narrate] You may Narrate a character in the same Scene as you are twice in a Scene.

  [Curtains down] You may skip the Narrative for one Staywes day. <8/10>

  [Mirror] You may give the Narrator Role to someone in the same Scene and Camp as you are. <8/10>

  [Acting Prophet] Probability for fragmented visions of the future and the past to appear every two hours on every second Monday. {( 18% + 76% + 12%) . 2 Neutral : 35.3%}

  ※

  “What? What!” Alira gasped, her breath unsteady. “...It changed. It fucking changed! It said once every Monday, and I already saw the fucking vision. What do you mean...

  “...What do you fucking mean every two hours?! I didn’t. No.”

  Her long, pointed nails dug into her palm as she clenched her fists, crimson drops dripping down the same way her mind dipped into an abyss of everything that could go wrong. Horribly wrong.

  “No. No. It wasn’t a vision. That’s not the future. It can’t be. Not again.”

  Even if it had been a vision of the future, it could just be about another partial solar eclipse. A normal one. A simple one that only resembled that way, and so it got people panicking. Or it could just be her own fear spiraling out of control. It wasn’t like every solar eclipse would cause a global chain Warp incident.

  Right.

  Alira tried to reason with herself, but the ringing in her ears refused to go away.

  What if...

  What if it was? Then what? She was still stuck in this godforsaken world. It wasn’t like she could make much of a difference even if she was there. She hadn’t even attended her first Hunter class yet...

  Still, she should be there, even as useless as a log. She wanted be there with them.

  “What do I do? What can I do?”

  She brought a finger to her lips, sinking her teeth into them in a subconscious attempt to gather herself.

  “A decade ago...”

  She was six when that happened, and if that event had been ten long years ago, it meant the dream took place two years in the ‘future’.

  “Two years... I need to go back before two years have passed no matter what.”

  But could she still assume that time passed at the same rate on both Staywes and Earth? What if...what awaited her was an empty, broken home.

  The ringing in her ears sharpened into what sounded glaringly like sirens. Even the blunt pain from her teeth sinking into her flesh didn’t do much to quiet her world.

  What should I do?

  What is there for me to do?

  There really wasn’t much that she could do. Should she go back to the duchy and beg the duke to release the bind? Would he do that if she begged? If she told him everything, would he trust her, let alone let her go?

  { ...down. }

  A voice spoke, finally reaching her.

  { Calm down. }

  “Huh?”

  { You’re here. }

  “I’m here?” Alira repeated in confusion.

  { Yeah. You’re here, so calm yourself. }

  Xia. What was he even saying? She couldn’t stay calm because she was here. Though the moment of confusion did help her collect herself. That, along with the reminder that she was here alone, for better or worse.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Fuck.

  Alira really hoped she didn’t slip out things they or Xia shouldn’t know. She didn’t, right? Regardless, feeling too restless to rely on Raine entirely, to leave her fate all up to his ability, she decided to see what she could get out of Xia since he was here anyway.

  { I was gone for a second, sweetie. What exciting thing did I miss? }

  Seriously, though, how was it that the one and only Imperial Mage, the second prince who was supposed to be fighting for the throne, had so much free time to give to a random artifact—to her. To him, apart from the artifact’s Myth ranking, it was pretty useless. Alira didn’t really have anything to offer to him.

  “Why do you call me that?” Alira asked randomly, curiosity winning during the fragile stage of her mind.

  { Call you what? }

  “You know what. The sweetie thing.”

  It was so cringey, talking like some Romantasy male lead with all those icky nicknames. Sweetie sounded nice only when a sweet older woman said it. He wasn’t this icky with Raine.

  Does he think I’m easier to mess with or something?

  Or maybe it was more fun. Raine wouldn’t give much of a reaction, being the unbothered king–or queen–he was.

  { Well, you haven’t exactly told me your name, have you? }

  That only confused Alira even further. Xia had been listening in for days now. He probably knew about her current identity just as much as she did.

  “You know my name.”

  { I didn’t say I don’t, tabby. Only that you haven’t introduced yourself yet. }

  ...This guy sure is something.

  “Alira. Alira Va... Ravon.”

  { Could be better, but hey, it’s a start. You already know, which I still have yet to figure out how, but I’m Xia. No last name, just Xia. }

  Alira gave an obligatory hum. Xia’s intensely mellow voice resounded inside her skull overriding any thoughts she had.

  { Now. What got your fur all puffed up? If you know me enough, you should know many people would die and kill for a word of advice from me. }

  She knew that and more. From Raine’s experiences in the Dual POV, she had learnt all too well that the one word of enlightenment might cost her an arm and a leg. If it was before, Alira would have hesitated, but now, she was willing to dig out her own heart for whoever could send her home.

  “Let’s say. What would you do if you found out there’s a chance that the worst day of your life might repeat itself in the future? And...” Alira said, her words wobbling a bit at the end. She took a pause to stabilize her voice. “...And you might not be able to stop it.”

  { ... }

  Xia was wordless for a moment, not even the sound of his usual steady breathing sounded.

  { The ‘worst day’ is always on repeat, sweetie. You are only oblivious to it on some days, but on others, you simply aren’t lucky enough. The day will end, and it’ll start again. I would care more about where I will stand at the end of the day. }

  Alira didn’t know what she expected to hear, but this wasn’t anywhere close. Though it was bitter, he wasn’t wrong. She couldn’t stop a solar eclipse from happening; no one could. If it did happen again, the only way was to live through it.

  Her mother was a strong woman. Her brother was the strongest she knew. Jian, that girl might not be the strongest, but she was stubborn enough to make up for it. Even if she wasn’t there with them, Alira knew they would make it out alive. She just had to go back to them.

  Even if Earth were ending, they would buy her enough time.

  { Have you heard of tarot cards? }

  “Huh?” Alira instinctively replied, hearing a familiar word from Earth.

  They have tarot cards here?

  { Tarot. It was invented by someone from a little village in the South of the Capital. I’d be surprised if you knew what it was. }

  Wasn’t tarot invented in Italy or something? Xia was somewhere in Asia if she were to relate this world to Earth. The world inside the novel wasn’t stated to be a total resemblance to Earth, but there were inspirations from it.

  { It’s some fun little cards with neat paintings. You can use it to tell your fortune, apparently. I like to have them entertain me whenever I’m feeling restless. }

  “Restless. Even someone like you gets restless, huh?” Alira huffed.

  { Why, yes, I am human, regardless of what those lunatics who like to pray to me think. }

  Alira ignored that he wasn’t joking or exaggerating about it. People did pray to him—an Imperial Mage, to some, he was a Divinity in flesh, a demigod who walked on land. What was it again that they called him? The Shadow of Vermilion Flame? Gods, what a name.

  “Read my fortune for me, then. What does my future say?”

  { Curious? Let me draw some cards for you. }

  The practiced shuffling of cards rubbed her brain the right way, making a satisfyingly pleasant sound. She was curious how similar this tarot was to the one she knew.

  Is Staywes a parallel world to Earth, after all?

  { Page of Swords, upright. The Hanged Man, reversed. Justice, upright. Eight of Cups, reversed—that sounds about right. Oh, would you look at that. The Emperor, upright. }

  Ok.

  Alira had to confess that she didn’t know about tarot as much as she had pretended to in order to woo that one tarot-obsessed girl in seventh grade. She remembered the vague meanings of the Hanged Man, Justice, and maybe the Emperor. As for the other two minor arcana cards, she had sneaked away mid-chat with the girl to look them up online.

  One thing was for sure: this was the same tarot from Earth. Forget about the reading. Who was the inventor? A person from a little village in the South... Maybe there was actually a connection between Earth and Staywes. Maybe she had other ways to leave this place.

  Suddenly, Alira was much more eager to talk to Xia.

  “So?” she prompted. “What do they mean?”

  { Oh, sweetie. I gave you a free reading, and you want a free interpretation as well? }

  “How’s it a reading if you don’t tell me what it means?” Alira accused. Also, why was he back to calling her sweetie again?

  The sound of his rich laughter in response made her knuckles itchy with the urge to shove it up his—Ahem.

  “Fine. A trade, then. What do you want?”

  { You wrong me, tabby. I didn’t say I wasn’t willing, but since you insist. Tell me. How do you know I have the other half of the artifact? A vision. Is that how? }

  A vision. He sure had been eavesdropping. Didn’t he already know about everything she was willing to tell and more by now?

  That was unexpected, though. Alira was sure he would ask how she knew about him. Did he just assume that he was famous enough that a random person on the other side knew who ‘Xia’ was?

  “Fine, but that’s two questions. So, you give me the interpretation of the cards—what was it called again, tarot? And about the person who made them. Deal?”

  { ...Alright. The Page of Swords—you’re curious but alert. You want to ask questions, but something’s holding you back. That, paired with the Hanged Man reversed, points to stalling. You’re stuck between choices because of fear of letting go or sacrificing for the wrong cause. }

  Is tarot usually accurate?

  To Alira, tarot was just a conversation topic with her crush years ago. But she sure hoped not. It would suck if Xia managed to figure her all out by pulling some cards every time.

  { Justice upright sits at the center. It’s pretty much self-explanatory—the just truth you’re seeking, the balance you need. But your Eight of Cups reversed means avoidance. You’re at an unfulfilling point, or walking away from what terrifies you. Leaving but circling back, looping around in place, going nowhere... }

  “Emperor sounds like a good card,” Alira commented. “It means I’m taking the right path and will end up somewhere good, right?”

  { The Emperor represents authority and protection. It sounds to me that you’re seeking them rather than being in possession of such. Oh, and, by the way, in case you didn’t know—or a reminder if you already do—you’re talking to an Imperial Mage and a future Emperor. }

  First off, that was just rude to assume she didn’t have such things. Secondly, was he trying to promote himself? A future Emperor. Yeah, if only he knew he died trying to get that throne. She doubted the authenticity of the entire reading.

  { That’s it. Hope it helps~ Your turn, sweetie. }

  That sounded like he was just reading the generic meaning of the cards, but she didn’t know better to argue. More importantly, she didn’t really care about the reading itself.

  “How do I know it was you on the other side of the artifact? You said it yourself. The vision. I see many things in them.” Alira nodded to herself.

  { Is that it? I’m getting the shorter end, wouldn’t you agree? }

  Alira shrugged. “I answered your question. Everything I know about the artifact and you, I really saw it. What else do you want me to say?”

  She read the novel and forgot about it. Then, the contents of the novel were poured directly into her mind. In all means, she did see them. Alira didn’t really care if Xia was happy about her answer or not. A beat later, she thought she should, in fact, care more about Xia, worrying he might answer half-heartedly about the creator of the tarot.

  This information could be her lifesaving boat.

  “You should ask what I know about the artifact instead because I know better than you do,” Alira offered and continued without waiting for him. “You know about the Mother Cult, right? If I’m not wrong, they’re better known as A’mair in Fenhua. Hollowed Mirror is pretty important to their plan, which is to welcome Mother The Mercy to Staywes.”

  { It’s them, huh. I see. They have been quite active lately. }

  Mother Cult was the largest cult that had been a part of Staywes’s history for as long as the Empire itself. Most of its members and practitioners were in the shadows, but rumors circulated around that the cult could rival a few of the seven Orthodox religions on Staywes. Even the duke of the Empire was involved with them somehow, after all.

  Alira didn’t even want to imagine herself going against them. “Your turn, who came up with those ‘tarot’ cards?”

  { I suppose none of your vision covers them. How do they work? Do you only see matters that involve you? }

  Look at this sneaky little thing trying to get information out of her mouth so casually.

  “I can see things that have an important stance in a certain matter,” Alira said, choosing her words carefully. “The visions show me what they think I should know. They let me know about things I pursue.”

  { I see. I guess the village isn’t all that important to you since you don’t seem to know about it. It is just a small place that has long been lost. And that person who taught me about tarot died with it. }