Day 1

How does one even communicate with a god?

Some kind of obscure ritual? Maybe sacrificing a virgin or two in the process?

Or by simply praying?

The answer was … I didn´t know. So far, my contacts with Aska were always initiated by him, mostly while I wasn’t awake though. And so, I tried sleeping.

I dreamt of a world full of plush, where the ground was made out of clouds and elephants flew around using their overly sized ears … I swear I was clean.

After dreaming about such a bullshit, I couldn’t help but feel slightly frustrated already. It was vital I could contact Aska. Well, I still had quite a few days left so I wasn’t too worried.

Sighing, I stood up, pushed the thin ribbon, holding my dress up to the side and watched how everything fell down onto the ground. Shortly afterwards, I was already tucked into the blanket again, enjoying my momentarily peace to my heart’s content.

Day 2

“An adorable star we can see from afar

But a truth it belies

All who enters her dies

Hear the beating of wings as the pendulum swings

And we can’t believe it’s ever gonna end

 

You know blood is thicker than water

But you just want everyone to get along

 

For the candles in the darkness

Burning up the sorrow

There’s no end to sadness

We didn’t learn

For the broken hearted people

Diamonds now surround us

So out of our mind

Leave the past behind”

 

Yeah, I was already beginning to sing songs, sitting on the soft bed, only covered by my blanket around my shoulders. My head swayed from the left to right rhythmically as the moonlight shone beautifully into the room.

 

And yet, tears were slowly streaming down my cheeks. Aska didn´t answer any of my calls so far and there was absolutely no reason to assume he didn´t notice. But maybe this was just his attempt to make me feel bad for my failures. And so, I closed my eyes once again and embraced the dreamworld like never before.

Day 3

“Clear the mind of any thoughts … gather all your strength … and puuuush!” The mana couldn’t flow perfectly through the room. The bed was in the way, interrupting the shortest route between the window and the door. No wonder I couldn’t reach Aska till this day.

And so, I decided on renovating the room a little, which meant pushing the bed to the side. Too bad I was weaker than Tom during the day, but I didn´t give up yet. The mana must flow!

Inch by inch, centimetre by centimetre, nautical mile by nautical mile, I pushed the frame of the bed as hard as I could, second by second, heartbeat after heartbeat …

It was so boring … but I seriously didn´t know any other way around my predicament.

Day 4

“2089, 2099, 2111, 2113, 2129 … damn, I could have made so many cookies, but here I am in my self-isolation.” I wasn’t getting anywhere. Well, I did find my inner balance, the mana could flow again, and the meditation certainly helped in reducing the headache I got from hammering my forehead against the wall … maybe I shouldn’t have don’t that.

Whatever, at least I had time to wonder about the meaning of life … which was to die.

Day 5

“How do you even know an elven game?” Hannah asked, sitting on the opposite site of the bed, a cup with two dices in front of her.

“The ‘M’ in Lucinda stands for mystical. There are three sixes.” I said, shortly after eyeing under my own cup with five dices. Mary, sitting to my left, wasn’t that surprised by my claim and couldn’t help but frown a little.

“Four sixes.” Mary said.

“Screw it. That’s not true!” Hannah claimed. All of us lifted out cups and revealed our dices. I myself could boast a total of zero sixes, which earned me a rather angry glare from Mary. She herself had two, meaning she was far below the claimed four sixes. A bit dejected, she threw one of her four dices back in the middle, and we began our next round of bluff.

I myself gave up on trying to contract Aska, at least for the most part. It was completely hopeless.

Day 6

It was the final day! I mean, the final day of praying or rather hurling slurs towards Aska. I did so mostly by sitting on the bed, wearing a white dress that seemed to flow from my body onto the dark linen in a circular fashion.

“If you really want to, you can very well play an angel for the rest of your life.” Tom said, leaning against the doorframe behind me. I turned around and smiled brightly towards him, exposing my very sharp canines in the process.

“You think so?” I asked, quite concerned about his vision as I neither wore my glasses nor the contact lenses.

“An angel of death maybe.” He said and entered the room. He closed the door behind him and made sure it was locked until he turned around and faced me once more.

“That’s the only good kind of angel. Do you have what I asked you for?” I asked and looked out of the window into the night sky.

“It is impossible. The king is apparently a very capable mage, and even if we managed to fool him, there would be archmages as well. And they can sense magic from miles away.” I clicked my tongue in annoyance. I already guessed my plan B wouldn’t work, but it still sucked that I had absolutely no chance of containing the damage anymore.

“So it is nearly hopeless. What about plan C?” I asked.

“I prepared a carriage, money and a safe house. Auctioning off all the items we have or wash the money will be harder this way, but not impossible.” He said and showed me a gold coin, apparently earned through the restaurant Mary earned. This operation would stop quite soon as well.

“The murders?” I asked.

“All planned. Here is the list.” He claimed, a stupid grin on his face. Tom walked towards the desk, put a rather long piece of paper on it and saluted like a warrior.

“Great … the only thing left is to go down with a bang … apparently.”

Day 7

It was rather late already as the preparations for the donation gala started. The sun was just beginning to set as maids swarmed around me, plucked on my hair and dress to make it as perfect as humanely possible. While they were quite cheerful, I had lost all hope for a good ending at this point and was planning on using this event for way more sinister means than originally.

There would be a massacre.

It was just a question of how many and who I could take with me until I needed to leave. On the flip side though, that meant battle. So in a sense, I was also quite exited for the event, even though it meant losing everything.

As the last light ray vanished behind the horizon, I sighed loudly and stood up from the stool. What the maids weren’t able to perfect until this point, they wouldn’t be able to if they had all the time of the world.

They bowed respectfully and I gave them a last smile as I exited the room. Hannah was already waiting for me in the hallway, a rather uneasy expression on her face. Together we walked down the hallway, possibly for the very last time.

“You are free Hannah. You should stick to Mary in the future.” I said as we were in the deserted foyer.

“Can you still bring me to my parents?” She asked about the single reason she was still following me. And honestly? I couldn’t even blame her. My standing in this world was about to tank after all.

“… I honestly don’t know.” I said. Hannah remained silent, at least until we arrived at the carriage.

“See you later.” She waved her hand as I jumped into the carriage. Her decision was clear at this point. She would follow me, even though I had a hard time understanding why. The chances of finding her parents were abysmal in the first place, but now, they were even less than that.

I  had the feeling I should tell her something. Something to cheer her up, that everything would be alright, but I didn´t do so. She chose to follow me and so, she needed to accept the harsh reality that was about to befall us.