If she had anything to say about the world that she was in. It was that it was eerily peaceful compared to the worlds she knew. Alice had done her investigations and heard of the names of the people that have saved this world. They were powerful people and that is why she couldn’t go near them, fearing that they may be able to know of her existence.

She crossed a road while watching the automobiles powered by blue crystals they mined. Not one of them seemed to understand that the use of their crystals were draining the air of the power. There was something inside the crystal that turned the energy into electricity. She had thought that magic was so simple once. But her travels around different worlds and meeting figures changed that perception.

To Alice magic was a superimposed coincidence. Strings that are weaved together for the sake of producing an effect.  She believed that most of those who wield these powers could not connect the dots. They do not string these effects together to produce power beyond.

She recalled that when she was in a highly advanced world. Where science ruled the world more than magic. All those devices were made from the minerals and metals that had somehow produced images made of light. When she saw those images she was sure that they were made of magic. Then she read the manuals given to her and it left her baffled how complex they were.

Those modern worlds had changed her perception. She had seen so much and used what she had learnt to create a god out of herself.

Alice sometimes wondered what would have been the conclusion of their many battles if she didn’t have those knowledge? Would Nolan have been able to beat her? Would he have won against her who possessed such knowledge?

No, she knew the reason why Nolan continued living. Why he continued to suffer.

She couldn’t admit it herself. She likes to think that what she did was right. Afterall, what kind of an idiot falls for the person she made to suffer? Not out of sin, not out of spite, but out of belief that there was no way that he could have fallen for her. She used him as a tool and a warmth that she could rely on.

She made a monster, devil, and a villain of him in those timelines.

She had wondered what made her so desperate to turn a good man into something he didn’t want to?

No matter what evil he had to make during those times. She could not be convinced that his heart was into it.

She had a sickening belief that once he broke he would become one of the many that chased after him. That he would show his true colors.

He broke. He stumbled. He was placed in so many despairing situations that she would never do to someone. No, she was jealous. She was sure of it. She was jealous of the Ciara that had been admired by Nolan Salvatore. She was envious to the point that she had concentrated all the evils in her heart to one single person.

It couldn’t be forgiven. She realized that her sickening ways couldn’t be forgiven. But looking back at the way he was broken and then rising back to his feet made her cheeks blushed. What made her act that way? Was it the anger that she had kept on her heart? Or was it the very fact that she could rewind time in those instances that she thought of those times as irrelevant? Had power gotten to her head that she was sure that as long as she turned back time. She could use him as a way to experiment with the workings of those worlds?

Was the excuse that she had done those things for the greater good of the people around her was enough? Or was it because she saw him as an illusion? A person that shouldn’t even be in that world?

No, there is no way that my actions are excusable.  What kind of monster would make a man suffer for millennia just to prove that she was right? To use him as a tool?

“Hah,” she snarled. “Am I being too emotional? Foolish woman. By what right do you have to feel guilty about your sins? The sins that you have done? But even so...why do I cling to the idea thaI can still live a peaceful life? By what right do you have to ask for a peaceful life you fool! Do you think that you can be forgiven? Do you think so?”

She gathered enough power to break a continent. She glanced at the side where Nia entered. She did not sense the power she wielded. She could have broken this continent apart with a single blow from this power.

“Mama?” she said, ignorant of the power that could have murdered this continent.

“Nia, welcome home,” Alice drained the power from her body. She felt the cord connecting to her main body aligned and that surge of power had almost broken out of her body. She had to be careful.

Her hands shook. She turned towards Nia and was about to speak when she felt Nia’s embrace.

“Upset again, Ma?”

“Yes,” she said, without thought. “I am afraid.”

She squeezed her eyes close. The power that flowed within her was amazing. She had been holding back in taking in power. But it seems like even if she does stop taking from the source of power. Her body itself drinks the power and fills her body.

“It’s okay, Ma,” Nia said, her little arms wrapping around in a circle. “You should really take the time to relax.”

Alice nodded. She hurried to the couch and held her head. There was pain and a heart wrenching desire to drink the power. She craved it. She wanted it. But seeing Nia those thoughts vanished. How could she think of breaking this continent when Nia was around?

Alice hated it. Alice despised the way she was going. She’s as ancient as a star and yet she couldn’t control her impulses. The sickening desire to drink in power stayed with her.