"You must have been still in shock after being out for almost a month. Give yourself some time to recover. We'll continue this conversation later."

Those were Rayo's last words after being called out, leaving me alone in the room.

It was baffling. I'd spent almost hours recalling every bit of information about myself and so far, I could perfectly remember where I came from, the things I loved doing, likes and dislikes─almost everything─but strangely, my name wasn't among those. It was as though some deadly virus corrupted that specific information in my mind, wiping it out completely. It was as though I'd been robbed off of something precious, leaving a small hollow space inside me.

I brought my knees closer to my chest and rested my head over them. I cupped the side of my head, softly pulling my hair, as I groaned for the umpteenth time.

Why can't I remember my name?

The gleeful noises I'd been hearing for the last few hours outside gone even louder. This time, the cheers and shouts were accompanied by the rhythmic beating of drums and other more instruments, chipping in some vitality to my grim thoughts.

Were they celebrating something?

They certainly sounded like it.

I sighed.

Good for them.

Letting my body fell down into the soft bedding, I curled up into a fetal position, hoping to fall asleep once again. I was in that form for the next few minutes when a firm voice of a man called outside the room. Though quite adamant, I was on my feet the next second, sliding the screen door to my right.

"Pardon me, my lady, for the intrusion. I'm Shun, Lord Rayo's adviser and right-hand man. The lord has sent me to escort you to your residence."

My shoulder instinctively tensed up at the instant greeting. Without meaning to, I stepped back, clutching my thumping chest.

His narrow, gray eyes squinted down at me as I stared wide eyes back upon him.

"Y-you scared me," I said to the strict-looking man with a red, wooden fan in his right hand. "I d-don't mean to offend you," I added, briefly scanning him from head to toe.

Seems like I found myself in the Edo Period, I thought, pertaining to the man's ankle-length gray kimono, specifically called kinigashi which if I recalled it right, a commoner or warriors clothing back in Japan's Edo period. It was tucked in by black obi over an ivory haori. On top of that, his silky-looking black hair, comb backward, was longer than my chest-length auburn locks.

He must have gotten them that pretty from David's Salon.

My gaze fell to myself who clad in a plain, white long sleeves top with a blood-red obi or sash around my waist, connected to flaring red pants that almost looked like an ankle-length skirt. It almost looked the same as his, but mine appeared more feminine.

I sighed. All's left is a bow and arrow.

"Do you find our style of clothing strange, my lady?" His curious gray eyes scanned my face carefully, almost as if scrutinizing me.

I nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders. "Does it matter?"

He abruptly closed his fan, lips pursing.

Getting into the meat of his visit, I forced a small smile up at him and said, "Don't mind me. Shun, right? So, where to?"

"Follow me, please."

I nodded, setting aside his terse tone.

Shun walked a few steps ahead as I followed him through the empty halls of the household. No one was talking; only the soft thud of our footsteps against the polished wooden floor could be heard along with the loud laughter and upbeat music outside.

My eyes wandered around. Even the house's structure was that of traditional Japanese household architectural design: open hallways at the side of the house, tiled roofs with broadening eaves, polished wooden floor, sliding doors in every room with tatami mats as floor covers, step-up entryways, and those high tall fences I'd seen upon entering this place.

My brow arched a little when we took a left curve instead of right, which I remembered taking earlier. Still, I trailed behind Shun in complete silence, and almost tripped on my feet at the sight unfolded before my eyes as we rounded the next corner.

It was an open-air space inside the household where a stunning, more or less fourteen feet tall, blooming, cherry blossom tree proudly stood in the middle; the four adjoining hallways in this particular area of the household surrounded the bright quadrangle. Its constricted, large and gnarly branches covered the open space around it, filtering the beams of sunlight shining through. And I'd bet, its top was already protruding and maybe even exceeding the house's height. Under its shade laid a small koi fishpond with white stones around the edges.

Mouth agape and eyes as wide as a saucer, my entire attention was solely at it as we went on, craning my head still to marvel at its beauty. That was when my companion finally broke the silence.

"Pardon me for asking, my lady," he paused for a second, "but did you indeed come from the Other Side?"

"Other Side?"

Shun briefly looked over his shoulders, fixing me an indifferent look before looking ahead. "Yes, my lady. The Other Side. Did you come from that place?"

I remained staring at his back, uncertain of what to say. "So, I really am warped to another dimension . . . or whatever you called this is," I thoughtfully mumbled.

I almost collided with Shun when he abruptly stopped on his track and took a sharp sideward turn to look at me.

"You don't know?" he hysterically exclaimed. Deep wrinkles in his forehead got even more pronounced when I simply eyed him as if he'd grown another head. "Forgive me for raising my voice, my lady. It's just─" he groaned, "just follow me, alright?"

I silently followed his lead when a sudden throbbing pain prickled my chest. My steps faltered. I instantly hold out my arm to a nearby beam, fearing the same occurrence before and after I woke up to happen again. My inside panicked as I clutched my palpitating chest. But as quickly as the sensation came, it vanished as if it was but a figment of my wild imagination. I blinked several times, downright baffled by what had just happened to me.

Something isn't right.

"Is everything all right, my lady?"

I lifted my gaze. Shun was already by a huge door ahead, looking worried.

"Uhm . . . Y-yes." Hastily bridging our gap, I offered him a small smile to convince him. "It's nothing, really."

I hope so.

Shun bobbed his head and pushed the huge wooden door. Gentle breeze wheezing inside instantly greeted us. He led the way as always with me trailing behind. We just stepped outside the residence and trudged along the shaded cobblestone pathway. My eyes strayed amongst the thick foliages of trees above us, listening to the low sound of wind whistling through the branches and leaves. As if compelled, my gaze fell down to the ground we were walking at.

It's rumbling softly.

I stared at Shun's back, waiting for any affirmation he'd caught up the same thing. Seconds past . . . nothing. I couldn't help but frown. I roved my gaze around, hackles up.

Something's off about this place.

I wasn't sure what, but my gut feeling told me so.

And it was yet to fail me, so far.

"My lady," he started, "would you like to know about the Other Side?"

I fought not to exhale audibly, scared that I might really offend him this time around. Honestly? I couldn't give a damn whatever he was trying to get me engaged into. All I knew was the crystal clear fact that I wasn't dreaming. Everything, so far, was too vivid and realistic to be a mere dream.

"Before that, could you stop calling me 'my lady'?" I cringed. "It's kinda making me uncomfortable, you see?"

Shun chuckled out of nowhere, surprising me. He chuckled some more upon seeing my sheer astonishment, making me gaped at him. He didn't actually look like a jolly fella after all. He looked stern and strict. That kind of man who always strictly adhering to rules and proper decorum. A straight-laced man.

"That is something I cannot do, my lady."

"Why?"

"Because Lord Rayo told me your case." A hint of sympathy laced his words as well as wariness.

I frowned, remembering how I couldn't recall my name.

Shun must have sensed the sudden shift in my mood. He stopped on his track and faced me sideward. "That's why I'm asking if you came from the Other Side, my lady. That," he firmly enunciated, "and the fact that the lord will have my head in a platter had he knew I addressed you improperly."

I tutted. Stopping before him, I ignored his last remark. "And what if I am?"

"Well, my lady, your case is very rare, but not impossible. Just very, very rare."

"Why is that?" I asked again, brow arching.

Shun thoughtfully examined my face, almost as if he was searching for something. "In the history of our country, Grevus, there were only three recorded event─you'll be the fourth─wherein someone from the Other Side make it through the thick veil of this realm. This thick veil that separates your world, the Other Side, from ours hardly opens up, and when it did on the oddest occasion, strange things happen. And in your case," he paused, taking a deep breath, "the curse of the Hex of Ethel has been lifted; broken even," he said, lips stretching to a wide, triumphant grin.

My mouth hung open.

Did he just say a "curse"?

"Hold up," I said, raising my palm up. "You're aware of another dimension," I quote the word with two hands, "aside from this place?"

Shun nodded in a heartbeat.

"How come?"

He gave me a long face, almost as if silently berating me for asking too many questions. He's not really a fan of mine, is he?

"Because the founders of this nation are believed to originate from your world, my lady. Each clans' culture, from garments down to customs, is unique from one another, tracing back to where each founder sprung from at the Other Side. People like you are called the Astreon─the fallen stars or the guardians," he explained. "I've heard that there are three more of you in the neighboring lands. And in case you still don't know, my lady, you're in a small village called Anwaru far from the capital of Altair Prefecture."

Astreon? The same one Rayo asked me about earlier? And what did he say again? Fallen star? Stars meant hope. I certainly fell from the sky, but by any means, I wasn't that kind of "star".

How about a dormant one?

"Altair . . ." I trailed, face scrunched as I tried to process everything he said. "It's the name of this land?"

Shun smiled widely, eyes seemingly disappearing in the process. But more importantly, his mood swings astounded me.

"It is, my lady. And then, there's Degalla, Sebil, and Kyen'la. These four mainlands comprise the country of Grevus, plus the nation's capital region, Nēmiah, where the Minister, the mediator of the clans reside."

They need you.

I blinked several times at the sudden voice that echoed inside my head. Shun might have struck me as strict and distant at first, but just looking at his unfaltering honest eyes, I couldn't help but sense the sheer truthfulness of his words.

Does he really?

I mentally snorted at myself.

Here you are again, trusting people so easily. When will you learn?

I shook my head. Only then did I notice the colorful decorations strewn across the houses and trees far ahead. The lively music earlier was louder along with the exuberant singing and laughing of people somewhere deep inside the village proper. A handful of children in their simple yukata or kimono ran around as they played the game of tag. Some of them spotted us and waved their hand rather enthusiastically.

I was about to wave back when I caught Shun did it first. I put down my hand, feigning a cough.

"Are you celebrating a festival?" I asked as we went on again, finally noting the festive atmosphere I failed to do so earlier.

On the corner of my eyes, I caught a few villagers following us. They would whisper among themselves, while some would even run to the other more, whispered again, and ended up following our movement with sheer curiosity. I shuffled a bit faster, wanting nothing but to get away from their scrutinizing stares.

Seems like I'm not welcome here. I trained my attention ahead instead.

"Yes, my lady. It'll be a long celebration since the curse has been lifted at last after three decades."

I sharply snapped up my eyes. "Three decades?" I exaggeratedly exclaimed. "Holy sh—thirty years? What curse was it?"

"A poisonous rain," he tersely responded.

I gaped at his back. "P-poisonous rain? Then how were you guys able to survive this long? I mean, rain means water, and you can live without food, but without a water─you're dead!"

"Indeed, my lady. The poisonous rain only affects humans though, so we can still extract fluids from trees and such since they somehow filter the poison. Streams are also contaminated before so we mostly rely on nature's mercy."

Picking up my pace, I walked beside him. "How bad was that curse?"

Shun face became somber. And somehow I could also feel the pain swirling in his gray eyes as well. "It melts human flesh like it's nothing. There were over millions of population in this country prior to the plague, but after the Hex of Ethel cursed the realm, that massive population was approximately reduced to tens of thousands per clan." His lips thinned. "It was a nationwide massacre."

A shiver ran down my spine as I imagined people helplessly screaming their hearts out while the poisonous rain melted their flesh like some random dirt in the face of the earth. I clamped my mouth with a hand, fighting down to keep the bile in my stomach from spilling out as my wild imagination vividly pictured out the incongruous scenario in my head. And to make it worse, it was as though I could hear a series of screams and wails next to my ears. Both were stomach-churning and agitating.

Their sufferings, their struggle to live, and the hopes and wishes that it would end soon─all that for three decades. How were they able to live through that shit?

An invisible hand clenched my heart just imagining it.

Their resilience was next to nothing. Not even mine.

Countless may have died because of the inhuman curse cast upon the land by that Hex of Ethel he said, but their aspirations lived along with their progenies that fought to survive to see through the day it'll be lifted. Their excruciating wait was over. It was their time to celebrate. I may not still a hundred percent certain of my real state here, but I was certain, everyone in this so-called Grevus must have been celebrating along with them.

I'm glad for them.

What did these people do to deserve such a horrendous curse that threatened their existence, anyway?

We both stopped before a tall roofed gate with high wooden fences, adorned with a blooming wisteria tree next to it. Shun pushed the wooden door inside and held it, beckoning me with a hand to proceed inside.

"Why were the people of this country was cursed, anyway?" I asked as soon as I stepped onto the grassy lawn of the residence.

Shun visibly blanched as if my question had completely taken him aback. His expression shifted from that to gloomy and disappointed. And for a fraction of second, sadness, strongly resembling that of guilt, crossed his bearing. This time, he refused to lock eyes with mine.

"It's . . . It's bec─"

But before Shun could answer, the same burning pain earlier hit my chest in crippling surges of wave. I clutched my chest, staggering back and forth, as I screamed at the top of my lungs before an ear-splitting, sharp, static sound pierced through my skull. My wobbling knees gave in, and I fell to the ground, cradling my pulsating head in with the other arm. Another scream tore my lips as I tightly shut my eyes, and fell forward. Wrong move.

Flashes of various images rolled out in my head in an incredibly fast shuffle. Images of instances and events I've had never seen personally before nor even heard of. Stomach-churning images that I didn't know possible to happen. Unable to contain the massive, pounding headache it brought, I cupped both sides of my head as I let out another blood-curdling screech while the incoherent images of barbaric violence incessantly flurried like a cinematic tape before my wet eyes.

Voices. Frantic voices fell next to me. One of those stood out among the rest, but none seemed to matter as the images burned themselves firmly at my mind.

Too much!

S-Someone please make it s-stop!

Amidst my vain plea, an ominous sensation crept upon my body, enwrapping me in a freezing cold embrace of anxiety and crippling uncertainty. It pulled me down, stripping me with nothing but a sense of abandonment and utmost betrayal. The feelings were too raw and profound it almost as though wasn't mine, but someone else's.

The extreme urge to run amok and annihilate everything in sight wasn't certainly mine. The sensation was too deep-seated that it burned me inside like molten lava spewing out from an erupting volcano. This isn't mine. My hate didn't run as deep as this.

This one is a passionate grudge seemingly honed and fermented well to its finest through the years.

And then I saw it . . . The last image of a woman in a green cloak surrounded by mountains of dead bodies being consumed by a blazing and crackling blue fire.

I caught my breath. The images stopped flashing, trapping me in that particular moment where I stood like a spectator in the background, watching the hooded woman slowly turned around as if she'd knew well I was there, spying on her. Her blood-red lips twitched into a malicious smile. She raised her right hand, and rested a forefinger on her lips, seemingly shushing me.

"Not yet, my dear," she drawled melodiously. "Not yet."

The tattoo at the back of her right hand was the last I saw before she charged at me, and lit me up with the same scorching, blue flames.