Chapter-1 Echo of the past

“Down from my bones, heavens know I tried

Believe in the heart, deep down it cried.

Watch you come and watch you go

A tale as old as time, but I will be fine”

“Who, who’s there?” Who’s speaking?”

She could only feel the noises around her, her hands… She was bleeding, blood
dripping down, her head was dizzy, her eyes were blurry and she could not
remember what happened just now. A sharp pain was digging into her head, as if
something was craving with a knife from the inside. Her eyes glanced around the
environment around her. Before a slim seconds of blacking out, she caught some
moments of the pile of dead bodies, the blood sea and black smokes around her.
Soon enough her eyes shut down slowly and slowly until then she could not force
them open anymore. Exhausted.

“Hmm...” Lila opened her eyes again realizing that she was again in another place,
she was probably carried away from there, was there a war? The walls were cold
and damp, it was quite a dark room with no windows. It was a secret room or
something (probably a prison in a worse scenario). She tried to move her limbs but
realized the chains tied her hands, her knees, and even her torso was tied up. She
suddenly realized she was sleeping while standing.

“What the flick? Who the hell has the audacity to tie me up here? Why am I
here…”

She shook her head and looked around, the room was an absolute humpty dumpty,
there wasn’t even a single chair to sit on, how rude. Suddenly she heard the door
crash open with a loud bang, finally some light reached into the room. A woman
with a white fur coat with her face covered walked in slowly and stood in front of
her. “Close the doors' ' the woman commanded some men outside. The darkness
again returned and the room suddenly felt even colder than ever. The woman took
off the hood of her coat, she couldn’t see the face but she noticed the silver hair in
the dark. The woman took out a dagger and stared at her.

“Oh shit” she yelled in her mind as she tried to wiggle free, it wasn’t really funny
to be tied up with a person holding a knife in front of you. To her surprise the
woman used the dagger to cut off the chains, (instead of stabbing her, that’s what
she thought) they fell off easily and Lila was finally able to wiggle free at last.
“Listen here” the lady says with her forced cold voice, “Do not blame me for doing
this, but you will have to live in this new identity, they are too dangerous for you
and you are too dangerous for them” Lila shook her head in confusion, she tried to
remember what was that and what was the lady talking about. “What place? What
are you talking about?” Without answering her back, she gently touched her
forehead with her finger with a blinding white light bursting out the moment it
touched her head. She heard hundred sharp screams breaking into her head, with
all those sounds her head became too painful and soon enough her consciousness
gave away slowly, drowning with the screams and light.

She woke up, as she blinked seeing the sky again, she was sweating out and
breathing out fast. It was her old dream, that scene had been haunting her for many
years, though she barely could remember it from dreaming it too many times.
Every time it never gets old, it was like some sort of nostalgic memory of her
(maybe?). She always had an uneasy feeling that something had been hidden from
her, a part of her past was a mystery even to herself, yes seriously.

Ever since her memory told her, she never had a trace of her childhood, her past
and everything else except the days she spent moving around place to place,
writing in her free time and sometimes even trying to suicide. A fact that managed
to keep her apart from everyone else around her was, she could not die. Anything
that seemed fatal to others, such as drowning, falling off a high building or even
being chased around by wild animals, she always managed to wake up after being
‘dead’. It has been more than a thousand years at least.

What’s stranger is that people have been ignoring Lila, like an invisible person, or
a ghost. Every time she went to say ‘hi’, she won’t even receive a single smile or
even a glance. It would either be a horrified stare or a sudden line of prayers, as if
they felt a ghost’s presence. (She was not a ghost, okay?) According to the books
she read before, a ghost could walk through walls, and would be stuck in a place.
Last time she tried, she ended up crashing with a loud thud and a potato on her
head and to add up she was pretty much free to go wherever she wished (try me
ha!) But there was always one thing, she never fully remembers who she was or
how she ended up on the streets, except for that one dream in her head. Or was it
even a dream in the first place? Or did she even need to know?

“Ugh, my head…” she got up from her horrible nightmare as she rubbed her head,
trying to blink. And now she should be looking for something to do again. Life has
been worse than a rat from the drain, at least he got family to talk to and stay with.
She sighed for the first time of the day and decided that she should get herself
some job. Kicking the door open with full energy, but regretted it in the next
second. This was the third door in the month that she has broken from dramatically
kicking it open. It was a blazing hot day, the sun shining proudly in the sky with a
wide smile on its face, thank goodness she brought her hoodie or she wouldn’t be
able to take it anymore. The street was busy, people were rushing all out and about
and perhaps one of the busiest days in the town. Passing by a building she heard
something “interesting” after all these years. It was the town’s school and they are
learning history about umm, someone important. She caught some words passing
by, an old teacher with glasses with his crackly old voice was reading out to his
students.

“She was a powerful woman, with all of the dignity and grace, was
dutiful with her responsibilities and earned her name from a young
age... Truly admirable indeed. She managed to build the Abyssal
Palace on her own and suppressed the dark magic for thousands of
years, slaughtered many monsters and… pretty much brought
troubles to the human world as well. However, everyone can see that
no one could ever handle the element of unconsciousness as much
as she did. But great powers come with great consequences. The
wrath of chaos did not spare anyone, even the personification of
itself. No one was ever sure what happened to her or where is she
now but we all still can feel her once powerful presence and influence
on this world—"
She walked past without listening more of some “dumb” histories of people,
though she somehow thought like “damn— that’s fucking OP.” but who could care
less anyways, even if she knew about histories it was useless. She didn’t see the
portrait of the woman being shown as she walked away, slightly missing a few
seconds. The picture rolled down, revealing a woman wearing a dark halo crown
and had black eyes with a dark grand dress. The person and her were nearly
identical. Without noticing this, for her it was just another boring day where she
collected material to fix her own made cottage and stay there, feeling tired after
another day of suffering. She stayed in a small hut made of wood and some leaves
to save the heat, not the best but was enough to keep someone happy at least.
People around said it’s haunted but she thinks that’s bullshit, literal bullshit. She
literally lives there, why would it even be haunted. Funny how things turned out,
never trust gossips especially from old aunties. 80% of them were usually made up
(what a pain). She walked past some shops and stores, and randomly travelled
alone like she did for hundreds of years. It was all well until something stung her
back to her senses.

Splash

Someone splashed her with some ice tea, she managed to get her thoughts to
present which were probably flying around the heavens a moment ago. Her face
twitched from the shock, her lips sealed and her eyebrows raised until she saw the
person already showering her with apologies before she could even complain about
anything. WAIT, SOMEONE ACTUALLY TALKED TO HER?

“Oh my gosh, miss I’m so sorry! I will clean up the mess! I’m so sorry…”

“Woah, chill. It’s alright…” she replied, trying to wipe away the tea from her dress,
half-distressed and half-shocked.

“Wait, so you are just letting me go just like that?”

“Huh, or what am I supposed to do then anyways?”

The person who spilled their drink turns out to be a young girl, around 15 or 16
maybe. She was there with her brown hair neatly braided with her big brown eyes
looking at her in surprise, wearing a graceful lavender dress which flowed down to
her knees. Her arms were filled with books, her cup was on the floor and a
backpack as well, no wonder why she fell out of balance and spilt her drink. Lila
just laughed it off and helped her get up. Slowly she walked away from the
youngster, since there was nothing much to talk or do anything with her anyways,
but she couldn't help but notice some people staring at them. Lila did not like the
way that people were looking at her (it’s always the bad news you know!), so
decided to move further a bit…the eyes were not following her as she went, so
probably they weren’t even looking at her, ah just another day another imagination.
Finally, after a few painful moments, someone broke the silence. “Looks like
someone is talking alone, again! HAHAHA look at that!”

The poor girl was still there, standing alone as people laughed at her for talking
alone and having imaginary friends again. At this rate Lila was pretty much
offended as much as confused to another level, can’t someone live in peace like for
once? It was enough that people treated her as “invisible” and now they have the
guts to call her like some sort of non-existence object or an imaginary object like
what the hell? Did she look like an imaginary friend huh? And what’s up with
bullying a young girl in front of the public? This was getting out of hand! No one
was going to say something about this? Okay, back to the case everyone saw her
talking with Lila, and what did they mean by talking alone? She decided that she
should turn back and join the drama, nothing’s going to get harmed at least? She
accidently pushed someone from the crowd which made them yelp, she was about
to apologize then suddenly something made her change her peaceful mood into
something…

“OMG WHO WAS THAT? WHO WAS IT?”

“Probably your dead grandma from centuries ago, getting back at you because you
stole her favorite socks from her dead bed? Duh, hello there!” she replied casually,
feeling sarcastic.

“What… HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT I STOLE—"

The crowd was supposed to laugh, it was a good joke, okay? But strangely enough
they started to look around to each other “Is there a ghost or something invisible??”
Whispering and mumblings continued, half of them looking for the speaker of the
last sentence, while the other half freaking out. But one thing everyone was sure of
was that they all heard a voice of a woman. There was one voice, where was the
person? Lila was speechless.

Also, she noticed some were rushing to leave the scene as well, maybe because
they thought things were heating up there, which would usually catch the attention
of the group called “The Hunters”, and nobody liked them. (Though she had heard
about this group, personally she herself didn’t want to do anything with them as
well.) Not long after this, very unsurprisingly, a group of men dressed in black
suits, armed, rushed into the crowd. They acted like the police or something, but
totally looked good for nothing. Everyone knew where they came from, or what
usually happens when they get involved. Fucking hell-

“HEY, what’s the ruckus here uh?”, the man with a shiny suit with a shiner head
walked in slowly from his car, thinking he looked totally badass but Lila thought
he at least would have the same height of a 11 years old girl. Somehow hilarious.
Short person with short temper, that actually made quite a lot of sense.

He took out something from his pocket which was making alarming sounds with a
red light glowing brightly, he picked it up, with his face as white as snow (what
was that…) The calm and relaxed expression quickly turned into sudden
excitement as if he had found something which he had been looking for a very long
time. He suddenly made his men surround the crowd, panicking the shit out of
everyone. Children cried, adults were about to cry and Lila didn’t know how to
laugh or cry. She should have left with the smart people a moment ago, but now
she was stuck here with a lot of stupid or curious people, who came to watch. (Yall
actually deserved it, bah!)

Someone was stepping in or doing something about it? No one? What a surprise.

After she was complaining in her mind, someone actually stepped in the situation,
who could that be…? It was indeed someone that none of them had expected in the
first place. The girl was mocked and kicked around like a football from a moment
ago, but she somehow managed to gather up her courage and asked.

“What’s up with all that searching? What happened?”

The bald man snapped “It’s none of your business, the rest CONTINUE!”

But she wasn’t going to give up so easily yet, so she narrowed her eyes and
followed him.

“You know, you should give me some face at least. I’m still an owner of the
Catherine Mansion”

The man ignored her and continued walking around and ordering around his men,
while holding a cigarette in his left hand. In awe, the men started to capture people,
forcing some suspects to their van… it was totally helpless, well the curiosity
killed the cat, should have run when they had the chance just like some people who
ran off. smart. People were struggling to break through the barrier of men and
while some of them were asking what was happening. The group was worth its
infamous reputation. The bald man finally yelled on the top of his lungs.

“AHEM, LISTEN UP. ANYONE VISIBLE OR INVISIBLE! EVELYN CATHERINE,

WE ARE AWARE OF YOUR PRESENCE and *coughs WE WANT TO ESCORT
YOU BACK TO YOUR GRAVE! PLEASE SHOW US A- “

Lila laughed out, and her voice echoed in the air (pretty much like that cause there
was no one laughing or even making a noise, except that cranky voice). “Straight
up logic, isn’t it? Yelling out all that loud was supposed to magically summon the
person you were looking for? Don’t you think this is a bit too stupid? You should
be moving your ass and looking around, what’s up with trapping all of us in here?”

"Yeah, that’s what I am talking about.”, agreed the girl giggling. Everything went
silent once again, it might even sound like some awkward noises until the silence
was broken by a yell of the angry bald, short bird. Mr. angry bird :3

“Who are you even talking to?” he asked in a stern and a rather serious tone while
looking at Stacy while trying to find the second speaker again. Just like the others,
he also failed to find the person roasting him. That didn’t sound like a joke to
anyone anymore, like what the actual hell please tell me it’s a joke alright? She
began to suspect herself for the first time ever... (Am I only visible to certain
people? Why only that girl over there seemed to be able to see her? Or did she
even see me or am I again making assumptions? TT) And then he continued “Miss
Stacy, if you can see HER, you should be aware what did, should you? Please try
to be honest.”.

Everyone blinked in confusion, for a moment they forgot the existence of the
crowd.

Lila suddenly felt like she had to get out of here. Firstly, she needs herself to figure
out the situation again, secondly not even the heavens know what was up in the
sleeves of the men. Anything could have happened, alright? Or maybe the reason
why no one has ever talked to her, or even ignoring her might not be just to make
her pissed, or maybe they really couldn’t see her, who was even herself. She was
not some sort of professional logistic but anyone with a brain should have already
figured it out already, alright?

Thoughts were running round in her head, she should test this out, or should she?
She decided to act, though she knew she wasn’t the ghost they were looking for, at
least this should buy her some time. “Bahahaha, you foolish humans, what makes
you think that I would be easily fooled by such a simple play?”, she yelled with a
deep and ghostly voice (which wasn’t very deep, but this should work). GET OUT
OF MY SIGHT OR I WILL HAVE TO PUNISH YOU FOR BEING SUCH An
UNGRATEFUL BRAT. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE AND WHY
SHOULD I FOLLOW WHATEVER YOU DO?” she crooked with 99.99% of
confidence, then dashed away as fast and quietly as possible. Damn they seriously
did not see her running away, if this really was the case maybe she didn’t even
need to act! SHE! COULD! JUST! STRAIGHT! UP! RAN! AWAY! All these
efforts are for nothing… alright let’s not be pessimistic, she actually got away this
easily. The luck which was always stuck whenever she needed it finally made some
appearance.

No one want to know what happened after a huge prank, umm they might but
definitely not her. The last thing she saw was the bald man staring at air in horror.
She felt “relieved” for the first time forever, after realizing people usually didn’t
respond to her, not because she was weird or anything. They simply couldn’t see
her oh my gosh. She ran straight home without even looking back, learnt her
lesson for today. Stay! Away! From! Public! Attention! It’s more trouble than it's
worth.
She can’t deny the fact the group’s actions were very bold and impulsive, they
must have some sort of authority, who knows? After the huge drama in the city, the
armed men were everywhere in the town, marching around like some sort of
security guards or anything, as if she was going to do any damage to them
anyways. She was also amused by the fact that the bald man actually believed that
she was going to “punish” him, these people may have a thing with spirits and
ghosts… Despite living there for a long time, it was her first time bumping into
serious trouble like a group like that. Serious trouble, serious pain in the butt. Ahh

In the evening, she picked some berries from her small garden outside her cottage
and decided to make some tea while living in her perfect hide-out space. Drinking
tea and relaxing in the house while they were running around the town like some
sort of overworked, underpaid donkeys? She saw it as an absolute win. She picked
up her basket and walked back inside until she heard someone kicking the door and
busting into her DIY house. “Ah the fourth one, RIP.” To her very much surprise, it
was a voice of a girl very similar as if she heard this before, very recently. “Hii, Is
anyone here?” Lila wasn’t very sure if she should respond back or not.

“Hello? You see, I can tell that you are here” the voice continued disappointed for
not receiving a single response.

Lila’s stupid old habit made her reply despite her fear, “WHAT? HOW?”

“Look at the freshly made tea on the table, duh, the steam is even there!”, the
sound again replied, a bit more cheerfully to the fact that they managed to get Lila
to talk.

Oh shit, she’s right, Lila thought to herself as cold sweat appeared on her forehead.
Well, this was indeed much better than dealing with a group of angry birds, ahem-
she meant the hunters.

She slowly walked out to the front room and realized the person was no one but the
person who bumped into her and spilled her drink in the morning.

“You were that so-called invisible lady!!”, the girl exclaimed as she saw Lila.

If I’m invisible, then tell me how the hell can you see me? Lila replied in her mind.
Lila looked as if she had swallowed a whole lemon, but she tried to act nice.
“Umm so yeah, what are you even doing here? And how did you find me?”

“Oh right! I’m not actually looking for anyone. I came into the town this morning;
I was bored so decided to visit random houses! And by the way, nice to meet you
there! You surely made a big scene today.”

“Oh, young sis, you really shouldn’t be knocking around doors, this… this is way
too inappropriate! The way they treat you, you really shouldn’t be you know! Why
don’t you return to your house and enjoy your dinner peacefully instead? Thank
you!”; she lectured the girl in her mind while keeping a smile on her face.

“I know, it was umm awesome? but stupid.”

“So, is it true that you will punish them to death, if they umm... keep chasing you?”

“Of course not, I made it all up.” Lila replied.

Stacy shrugged, “I thought like that too, but you sounded so serious”

“Serious? Ha”

“Yeah, so anyways… Mind introducing ourselves? And I would like to ask

something”

“You know what, I also have a question for you too!”

The girls looked at each other and said together “You go first!”

Lila decided to go first: “So can you see me?”.

The girl chuckled and answered “Of course! Or else why would I be talking to
you?”

“Oh, then do you know why others can’t?” she continued with her question.

A pause.

“You see, I sort of practice the dark arts, I know I’m a mortal but... Not for any bad
intentions but I thought we might be able to use it to fight against other spells or
spirits! Maybe you also have a connection with dark-magic too, don’t look at me
like that! We have the same type of spiritual energy, creating a special bond that
allows me to see you while others can’t?”

It took Lila about 10 seconds before she freaked out at this.

“Umm WHAT? Magic? Spells? Where am I? I thought they did not exist?”

“Please don’t tell me you are a commoner.”

“What no! I’m not a peasant! And what the hell is dark magic?”

“Well, you are definitely acting like a peasant, and wait. Honestly, we all are
peasants, none of us are the royalty actually.”

“So, you are telling me that there’s actually a king and a queen, like in the books?”

Stacy gave a “judging” stare and asked, “Do you seriously live under a rock?”

“Uh rude.”

“Okay, seriously… we do have a royal family ruling us, not a king or like that, how
do I say… Umm they don’t live here. They are from somewhere else, a place
where no mortals can reach. They call it the Three Grand palaces. The Hallway of
memories, The Timeless Palace and the Melody Palace, I think. Each of them has
each owner, like the master of—"

“Oh okay, stop. I heard these stupid lectures somewhere else and this is already
giving me a headache.”

Lila immediately felt embarrassed as her pale face flushed with a faint pink by
blurting it all out, she just spoke her mind alright? Stacy did not make further
comments about this (to her relief) then continued with a smile.

“After everything we went through, we never really introduced ourselves, have

we?”

“Me? Oh, just call me Lila…”

“I see, Stacy’s here and great to meet you, miss Lila.”

“Gosh no, don’t call me that! Just call me by my name, I don't mind.”

“Oh okay, and yeah as I was thinking, invisibility and memory loss maybe an
effect on a curse?”

“What curse?”

Stacy took out an old book and started to flip the old crusty yellow pages which
keep making sounds. Did she plan to stay at her house after busting in there
(breaking her door, “accidently” spilled the warmly made tea and now the book?),
nope no!

“Oh no, gosh no! Seriously a book that huge? Hell nah.” Lila echoed her mind
back.

Stacy closed the book and put it back in her bag which was carrying on her back.
With a serious look she pointed her finger at Lila out of nowhere. “You, do you
want to stay at my mansion?”

Lila blinked blankly for a few seconds, “So you are inviting me to your house?”

“Yeah, duh, a mansion not a house. Come on!” she said (half-boasted) as she
pointed at a black carriage with some horses in front of the house, “Are you
coming in or not?”

Lila on the other hand stood still as a log, reconsidering her life choices. Should
she go? She was not the type of a desperate person but one can’t help but be
curious though.

“I mean, I can feed myself at least, I have a house to live in and I don’t know you
yet.”

“Gosh, do you know why others can’t see you?”

“Of course I do, but—”

“Then there are no buts come” Stacy yelled and grabbed her arm as they got on the
carriage. The coachmen in the front seat stared at Stacy, pushing something as she
got out of the house, was clueless but he did not say anything.
“I don’t know but I feel like you are kidnapping me right now…” Lila snapped
back at Stacy.

“Don’t be silly, you are now my new friend! And you really need a glow up, and
figure out why others can’t see you!”

Stacy sounded assertive, and confident and Lila herself really wanted somewhere
she can live in comfort for the first time forever, so she didn’t say anything and
decided to play along, and most of all she trusts her (even if she did not, she can’t
die anyways so why not).

It was a 20 minute trip, while Stacy poured her heart out about… her problems, her
fake friends and bullies, how people think she is and her shyness. Lila tried to stay
like a good listener, but her mind was somewhere else. Did she do the right thing?
It sounded stupid to follow a random person you met a few minutes ago but what if
they tried to kidnap her? Life will finally spice up at last, at least that’s what she
hoped, it was all so… sudden. Really, like what the heck even happened?

The carriage stopped, soon enough Stacy grabbed her hand and rushed into the
gate. The mansion was grand, pretty much old fashioned, with a small garden with
a fountain at the entrance which leads up to the hallway. The walls are brown with
candles lit up; she noticed dozens of staircases in the hallway… Stacy seemed to
know where she was going though, she confidently walked up to a staircase, which
was rather long (she gulped at the first sight she saw the number of stairs).

“Stacy… You seriously know where we are going? I feel like I’m about to get lost
in here”

“Oh relax, I’m sure you will actually get used to it here, you look smart”, Stacy
replied with a smile.

Oh shit, if I say I don’t get it then it might look like I’m actually dumb, she got
me…ouch Lila thought, while observing around the huge unfamiliar place. Every
room and every corner looked exactly the same, the same wallpaper, same large
impressive paintings which she had no idea about, while walking around they were
both suddenly ambushed with scream attacks.
“STACY, WHERE DID YOU THINK YOU WERE GOING? MESSING
AROUND IN THE TOWN SQUARE AGAIN?”

Stacy suddenly ran behind Lila and hid behind her, forgetting the fact that Lila’s
actually invisible and she was holding on air in everyone’s eyes. A tall woman,
wearing a purple dress with a collar, brown hair which was tied up into a bun and a
frown on her face, walked into the room with a ruler in her hands. Her face was
very stern, giving her an impression of a strict person.

“OHH Umm, MOM!”

Ah, it’s the strict mother and her daughter, what a pair~

“I’M GLAD YOU STILL KNOW THAT I’M YOUR MOTHER, NOW COME
HERE” she yelled wielding that totally safe looking ruler which definitely would
not make you cry after several beatings. The woman walked closer to them with
that horrifying looking ruler, but she ended up bumping into Lila (became a meat
between two breads in a sandwich help me— AHHH), the ruler did not hit her but
she wasn’t fast enough to move out of the way. (I didn’t get paid enough for this!!!)

“OMG WHAT WAS THAT?” the woman yelled in shock.

“So, mom, even you can’t see her?”

“See who?”

Lila rolled her eyes for the 1,546,493,904th time, while Stacy gave her a
should-I-tell-her stare. In response, Lila also just shrugged at her face.

“Umm mom, I sort of brought someone home… and she’s kind of invisible”

‘Umm WHAT? Did you bring a freaking ghost home? Have you lost your—"

Lila suddenly coughed and decided to step in (Stacy wasn’t doing any much so
yeah.)

“And for your question, I am not a ghost and with my most utter respect, please
don’t be stupid. I am not a ghost thank you very much and for some cases I’m
just… invisible. I believe that I was cursed by an unknown resource.” After this,
her voice became soft. “And I believe that I might be able to identify the spell with
the help of Stacy, she looks like a total expert here.”

Meanwhile in Stacy’s head… Oh shit, if I failed to break the curse then I’m not an
expert anymore, ouch she got me...

Stacy’s mother however felt both surprised and both offended at the sentence. Lila
didn’t mean to step in and to cut off her darling daughter’s words but she was being
an idiot, okay? If she let her continue, things were going to be more complicated
than it already was. The woman spoke to her daughter, “Stacy, do you know this,
“not ghost” thing? And what does she mean by you breaking her curse, I thought
you …”

Meanwhile Stacy kept giving Lila that wtf-you-exposed-me glares, she wasn’t
supposed to be able to learn any magic at all, and Lila didn’t know about that, how
was she supposed to know the rules around here? In return she also gave her a
don’t-look-at-me-idk-too stare.

“What do you mean, aren’t you supposed to practice magic? Why is your mother
talking like this” Lila suddenly thought in her head but coincidently with a direct
eye-contact with Stacy, but to her surprise, she heard something back just after she
spoke in her mind. Stacy seemed to hear it.

“No of course not! I’m not allowed, and wait a minute. How am I talking without
using my mouth!”

“That’s what I am saying, maybe this might be telepathy.”

“Damn, telepathy, but how?”

But their sweet conversation was once again cut off by Stacy’s mother who was
looking at her daughter, looking at air again. “You’re sure that you are okay
sweetie? I’m starting to think that you are getting mad?”

Stacy rolled her eyes, and walked away quickly leaving Lila and her mother alone
in the hallway. But not long, the woman followed her daughter nagging more
questions and Lila just sat on the ground. “Ah mothers be like.” She wasn’t sure if
Mrs. Catherine liked her or not, but she sure knew that she had to get out of there,
as quickly as possible. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was kicked out the next
day or what, she really couldn’t blame anyone really.

Later in the evening, Stacy and her mother came back into the room, the woman’s
face expression was now very much relaxed compared to the one she wore when
she first came. Mrs. Catherine spoke first “Stacy, tell me who you really are,
Evelyn. Since you were also a part of the family, I guess this mansion should at
least welcome you.”

Lila didn’t respond, she did not know how to even speak for a whole 30 seconds.
She just pretended to be that ‘Evelyn’ just to pull the prank, okay? When did she
become her, huh? She gave Stacy a quick glare, the latter’s face was pulled into a
nervous smile and she quickly could tell that someone just lied to their mother.

“Monica Catherine here and, it’s great to meet you.”

Lila decided to speak again since it might look rude to stay silent. “Oh my, I see.
Monica? Thank you very much.” Moncia smiled and walked out of the room after
her response leaving her and Stacy back alone.

“Evelyn? Huh… What a name, and what does she mean by family?”

“I had to tell her that you were Evelyn, so that’s the way she will let you stay.
Evelyn Catherine, and this is the Catherine mansion so I hope you already
guessed.”

“Then tell me why did you want me to stay? I mean it’s okay if things are not
alright, I can just leave”

“It’s—” Stacy paused for a while “It’s because I never had a single friend in my
life, nor a sibling to accompany me, and yes, if I looked desperate, because I am!
Please stay!”

Lila lowered her head and looked to the floor and smiled. It was again, the first
time since someone asked her to stay or not leave, it was sort of weird…

“You? Want me to stay?”

“YES! Please”
Lila sighed; her face shaped into a weak smile but only to be surprised by a hug
from Stacy. Stacy ran to her and wrapped her arms around her. Lila was even more
frozen than ever, she had been “hugged” by someone. Stacy sure was a very bold
girl, Lila froze on spot without knowing what to say or do. All her life, she was
rather numb and her emotions were dense, a sudden twist of emotional stuff really
did not shake her much. She was not ready for this though… She pushed her away
slowly.

“You are very cold, you know,” Stacy suddenly said out of nowhere.

“Cold what?”, she quickly responded.

“You. Are you even alive? I couldn’t feel your heartbeat when I hugged you”
Stacy continued to ask.

“Umm WHAT? You shouldn’t be feeling me here and there again, nope! Don’t
touch me” said Lila as she stared in horror, Ayo. Her actions were way too bold and
Lila felt as if she had turned back into 13 years old, sensitive to everything and
anything. Ah shit, here we go again.

“Oh no, never mind! Why are you still staying up so late? Don’t you feel sleepy?”
Stacy asked hurriedly trying to avoid the topic.

“Sleepy? No. I just don’t feel like sleeping right now. What are you doing here
anyways?”

“Nothing really much. So do you like the room?”

Uh, the room? Honestly ever since Lila stepped foot in the mansion, she was lost in
her own thoughts and forgot the look around the room, woah yeah, she actually
forgot. She turned her head quickly and scanned the room. It has the same
wallpaper as the entire building, wooden floors which were well polished, a small
fireplace with a small flame being lit and some furniture. She noticed a huge single
bed, with sheets and pillows prepared and a huge mirror on the wall.

“Quite decent, how considerate” she replied after a few moments with a smile. The
halls were long and empty, despite the huge area, the place was actually pretty
much lonely. The cold wind passed inside the room as winter sneaked in slowly,
the snowflakes dropped in once again, but for her last year’s winter was just like
yesterday, couldn’t believe how time passed so quickly. After her answer Stacy
also gave her a small smile, which suggested her sleepiness and walked out of the
room slowly and slammed it shut. After the door’s closed, Lila stood up and
walked to the mirror, as much as she expected she saw no reflection in the mirror
as if she had the invisibility cloak wrapped around her. She picked up a pillow
from the bed and walked back in front of the mirror, the pillow was floating around
in the mid-air. She finally understood the horror people must have felt when they
saw objects floating around and hearing sounds despite seeing no one.

With a sigh she went into bed as she blew out the candles. She laid down with her
back facing the soft mattress as she sank into it. Pulling the wool blanket over
herself, she closed her eyes, it’s been so long since she ever lived comfortably like
this. There was no nightmare this time.

She was again woken up from the sound next morning but a huge crash came from
the hallway. It made her sit up suddenly as she looked around. She was still there
scratching her head as she slowly got up from bed. She opened the door and saw a
maid slipped her hand and crashed the pile of plates as Monica was standing with
her hands on her waist, there looking utterly-speechless. Lila already saw the
incoming yelling storm which will soon turn this soundless building into a tornado.
As a flash, she jumped back into the bed, closing her ears with the pillow.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE YOU FILTHY MAID, ALL 30 PLATES?

SERIOUSLY? I WAS THINKING TO HAVE A GRACEFUL AND AN
ELEGANT MORNING JUST TO BE AFFECTED BY THIS SUCH DISGRACE”

Then she paused and continuing her shrieking

“Ugh, THERE WAS A NEW GUEST AND I WAS THINKING NOT TO SHOW
MY UN-ELEGANT SIDE BUT YOU MADE ME DO THIS AGAIN! AND NOW
HURRY AND CLEAN IT UP BEFORE SHE WAKES UP”

With all that yelling, I’m already awake duh, and special guest? Hehe, I guess I
am, Lila said in her mind.
Then she walked out of the bed again, opened the door and coughed loud enough
to make sure Monica heard her. Hearing this Monica suddenly turned her back with
a smile as if nothing happened just now.

“Oh hi, you are awake Eve? I know you don’t need to eat but Stacy’s waiting for
you downstairs, and there will be someone special coming to town tonight. Stacy
will explain everything to prepare. And for now, let me finish my little problem
here.”

So, I was not the special guest? Who could that be anyways.

“Mm, I see. But may I know who the special guest is?”

“I think Stacy forgot to tell you, every 4 years, the master of the 4 palaces… I
mean 3 would come to the human realm for a special banquet, and it’s going to be
tonight. The special guest will be present there as well”

“Tonight? Here?”

“Oh no, such a simple building could not hold the responsibility for holding such a
grand case! We all are visiting to the Celestial Capital of course, that’s why
everyone is busy this morning”

Lila nodded her head, as she headed to the stairs but was confused by which to go.

“All staircases lead to different rooms, but they all lead all the way down the main
hall. Choose any you wish” Monica told her swiftly as she walked away from her,
maybe she might have guessed the fact that Lila was still confused with the house.
How did she know, she cannot even see her? Sometimes she herself forgot the fact
that she was invisible.

As she got downstairs, she saw Stacy at the table. She got her beautiful brown hair
on loose this time and she was wearing a sky-blue dress. She really looked good
with pastel colors. Her eyes lit up as soon as she saw Lila and rushed towards her.

“Lilie, morning!”

A pause, as Lila was frozen again.

“What did you call me?”

“Lille, do you like it?”

Ugh, I swear no one gives me nicknames or stuff, this is getting awkward…

“Yeah, no. That kind of sounds freaking umm... I don’t know but it’s definitely not
my type”

Stacy pouted as her head looked down, “Alright, if you don’t want me to call that,
then fine”, she looked a bit sad due to her previous words, Lila couldn’t help but
feel bad.

“But it’s cute. Lille it is!” Lila spoke up again with her facial expression softened a
bit, Stacy’s face became much brighter after this. “Eeek, okay then! Hehe” She
dragged her to a chair as Lila sat down, and opened up her old book again. Lila
tried to escape; she did not want Stacy to make her read the book that thick! As
Stacy turned her book pages and kept saying “I saw this somewhere, really, found
it ha! The Mortal Curse!”

Upon hearing the name, she suddenly felt a familiar chill striking on her back, a
very uneasy feeling. “The Mortal Cruse?” she asked. “Yes, the mortal curse… but
this spell is only used on spirits and personifications, wait a minute.
Personifications… personifications! Only personification ranked spirits entities can
cast it, oh my lord who did you offended that made him or her so angry to this
point?” Lila blinked blankly in the air, could it be that the white lady from her
dreams? Who could it be? Was it because she was a personification that’s why she
would always disappear every time she tried to see her real face. But her attitude
towards her was always soft and rather even a hint of “kindness”. This was not
Stockholm syndrome, but she herself knew that the mysterious figure did not mean
no harm, or else she could have done it a long time ago.

“I’m also suspecting, the reason why you forgot all your memories might be
because of this curse”

“Are you sure that it’s the Mortal Curse?”

“Yes, because there are no other curses as strong as this. You might already live
hundreds, no, maybe even thousands of years like this, am I right? What was the
last thing you can remember?”

The first thing she could remember… It was strange but the first thing she could
remember was THAT DREAM! Should she tell Stacy about this?

“Not only have you lived for thousands of years, you must have been sealed. You
should have some spiritual energy left; they are leaking out! Or else why were they
able to use such advanced skills as telepathy? The person who sealed you must be
someone who stayed close to you every day, thus the spell could last for this long!
Damn what really happened to you?”

Don’t ask me, I don’t know either!

Lila just sighed, and explained her weird dream to her, the dream which kept
hunting her for so long. Stacy was there, left with surprise and an opened mouth
after she finished.

“White hair? White hoodie? Sounds like someone from the Palace of Melody.”

“Palace of Melody?”

“Duh, one of the three grand palaces, or should I say four… never mind. I tried to
tell you about this earlier but your dumbass won’t listen. Now sit, and listen
carefully.”

Lila just froze on the spot in gaze, excuse me, did she just lecture me?

“Once a upon a time—”

“GOSH NO, PLEASE MAKE IT SHORT, MAKE IT SHORT!”

“Girl, just calm the heck down chill. What’s wrong with you? Do not disturb me
when I’m talking.”

What the heck? When did she learnt to talk like that—
“Ahem '' Stacy coughed like an old scholar and continued “The eternal melody
palace, ruled by the personification of stability and peace, her excellency Elena.
We all know that people from that palace are absolutely obsessed with white, pure
stuff despite having the one as her sister. Moving on… they are all coming to that
ball tonight, I guess mom already told you already, right?”

Lila nodded mutely.

“Yeah, Elena herself is coming too. She’s like an absolute queen, so beautiful that I
could cry.”

Lila couldn’t help but ask “It’s not like you have seen her before, why all these
compliments”

“But all this news, the saying is always true you know, and have you seen her
portrait? It’s like drop dead gorgeous with all that white! The next palace is the
Timeless city, unlike the palace of the eternal melody this palace has multiple
masters! I can’t even remember all of them! The last one is the hallway of
memories. It’s usually for holding memories, all of these personation’s true forms
so this is where they store them as a memory.” “Huh?”

It took some moments for Lila to get all the stuffs in her head and until

“Both you and your mother always say “4” then correct it back to"3 ", why is that
so? Is there a mystery person or what? Is there another palace left?”

To her surprise, Stacy began to act weird (bro was a horrible actor, it was obvious),
trying to avoid the topic. “What about we get ourselves some tea?” “No, don’t do
this, since you already told me this much, you should have told me everything. You
are hiding something from me, are you?” Lila tried to push her into speaking,
denying every other topic Stacy tried to bring up. Her facial expressions went dark.

“You would not want to know about her, really.”

“Humm, her? So there really was another one? I knew it”

“Just that, both of you have the same name, was the older sister of Elena. She’s
gone long ago, no one knows much about her anymore.” She replied very bluntly.
“Oh, dead?” Lila paused, somehow feeling bad, decided not to ask any more about
someone who’s gone so she continued. “But do you think the person in my dream
might be Elena?”

“Nice one, but it could be, could be not.”

“Yeah, someone as graceful and popular as her, why would she still bother to give
you some dreams. Lower your expectations, Lila!”, Lila lectured herself in her
mind.

Stacy continued her explanation “Though it might have been Elena, it also could
have been someone from the same palace. Seems like you have a really close tie
with it. Why don’t you come to the ball with us as well? We might be able to get
some clues”

This time Lila immediately accepted Stacy’s offer without any hesitation. How
could I miss such a chance like this? Finally, she was soon going to know who she
really was, or only heavens knew what still awaits her. She only knew one thing,
she was ready, for whatever awaits them.