CHAPTER 262: WHERE AM I?!

[Where am I?] Aristia looked around the place.

The forest she was looking at was different from the one in the eastern Fief.

She turned back to look at the water. It was the same sparkling river from earlier. But the surroundings were different. Now she was standing in front of an unfamiliar forest.

She looked back around her. The trees here were normal. It was just that it wasn’t the same as Aristia remembered them.

[Could I be in the... past or future? Like when I was able to see Kai’s dream memories? Or...] She looked around. [Could the water have taken me to another part of the world like in documentaries about strange phenomenons? Or am I in a different world altogether?]

She turned to Millie before remembering that Millie had changed forms earlier.

Millie was just staring at her, watching her looking around and wondering.

Aristia pushed the matter of their location aside. "You turned into a fish." Her tone was a bit accusatory.

Millie nodded. "Yes. I can change forms into animals other than foxes, cats and birds. I can turn into different animals."

"How come I didn’t know this?" Aristia’s asked dumbfoundedly, then she gasped. "You spoke out loud, Millie!"

Millie smiled. "I’ve always been able to speak out loud. I just didn’t do so because I didn’t want to be disturbed."

It was just as she said. If she spoke out loud, the children close to Aristia would not stop trying to get her to respond to them. They couldn’t force her, but she didn’t want to be pestered.

Aristia couldn’t help but smile at her response.

Millie flicked her tail up. "And I never said I couldn’t turn into any other animals. Everyone just assumed that I couldn’t, and I didn’t see the need to take on more forms." So she just went ahead with it.

Aristia was speechless. It was true. If she remembered correctly, she had never really asked Millie if she could take on other forms. Like everyone else, she had her assumed that Millie was only limited to three forms.

Thinking of that, she asked.

"So what’s your original form then?"

"I... don’t know." Millie responded truthfully.

Aristia sighed. "That’s fine. Now back to the situation." She wrung her wet dress, trying to get the water out as much as she could. The dress still clung to her skin. "Do you have a clue where we are and what just happened?"

Millie shook her head. "Not a clue. But... I don’t think we’re in Orrivale."

[No shit, sherlock.]

Aristia let out a small sigh again and thought deeply.

She wouldn’t go around shouting ’hello, is anyone there?’ when she didn’t know who or what would appear. Wouldn’t that put her in danger?

[Actually I’m already in danger— danger of the unknown.]

She turned to Millie. ",Can you tell if there’s any danger? Is this place dangerous?"

Millie shook her head. "Quite the opposite. It’s... serene. The air here is peaceful."

A large shadow passed above her.

[What a big bird that would be. And what a tiny human I would b—] Slowly, she looked up and her words caught in her throat.

"That’s... a human?" It was a human with wings flying across the forest.

No. It was two humans— a woman and a little girl.

Aristia blurted out something ridiculous.

"Is that... a fairy?" Her eyes bulged and her mouth hung open.

"Where the hell am I?!!" She began running in the direction they were going as quickly and quietly as she could. Not that they would be able to hear her— they were high above the trees— but she didn’t know if they had super hearing or something.

"Come along, Millie." She said.

Millie followed after her.

Not surprisingly, they lost them. It was understandable because those people had wings and she didn’t.

She stopped and rested her hand on her hips, panting.

Rustle. Rustle.

All of a sudden, she heard rustling sounds.

Her head whipped to the side to see a bed of flowers nearby.

"Haha. This is both ridiculous and incredible. It’s ridiculously incredible."

What she was looking at was tiny creatures with wings flying around the colorful flowers. It was obvious what they were.

"These really are fairies. Just where in the world am I?" She asked again.

There were two options. Either she somehow really ended up in a different world, or...

[I’m still in that river and I’m just hallucinating and am about to die. It’s possible. I heard that when the brain is oxygen deprived, weird things begin to happen.]

None of those options were comforting. But she wouldn’t lie and say that she wasn’t curious.

[Oh wait. If I’m hallucinating, Millie shouldn’t be here with me. Unless... we’re sharing the same hallucination because we’re human and daemon.]

A thought entered her mind and she muttered, "Maybe if we go back into the water, we can return to where we came from, but..." She looked in the direction of the river before looking back at Millie. "Let’s look around, shall we?" She nudged Millie.

"As you wish." Millie replied.

The pair of human and daemon began moving in the direction the mother and daughter had flown towards.

It was a really long walk.

"I’m tired,* Aristia mumbled, dragging her feet.

Millie gave her a side glance.

The next thing Aristia knew, Millie was now a horse. She had gray skin that didn’t look pale or sickly on her, with her mane having a mixture of bluish silver, and those beautiful purple eyes.

’I’ll carry you.’ Millie said.

[Wha— You could have done that earlier!]

That was what she wanted to say, but instead, she nodded tiredly.

"Okay. Then please carry me," she said.

Millie lowered her body since there was no saddle.

Aristia wasted no time getting on her back.

Millie walked at a steady pace at first, but after some time, she took off in a gallop, galloping past trees, jumping over fallen logs and avoiding thorn bushes.

Finally— since Aristia didn’t know how long it was— they arrived at the edge of the forest.