9 Welcome to Alteria

"It hurts!" Lyrica exclaimed in agony.

Lyrica can feel the pain from her legs seeping through her body. It felt like she's dying.

"K-Kuuh...!!"

"Oh, looks like you had fun playing with the slimes."

"You!"

Lyrica felt like she's dying. But the instant she heard the familiar voice inside her head, Lyrica snapped.

"You lying bastard! Fun? Do I look like I had fun playing tag with those damn things?!" Lyrica panted heavily. She then recollected herself. "Who are you? What kind of world did you send me into? Why is my headphone like this? Why am I seeing things like that in a game?!"

"Hey settle down, settle down. You're quite the lively one, considering you're in a half-dead state." The voice mouthed. "Anyway, I can't answer all of your questions at once, so let's tackle them slowly. First and foremost, let me fix you up!"

Lyrica curled up her eyebrows. "Fix me? Ah–"

Just then, Lyrica started glowing with glittering green light. Afterward, the light lifted Lyrica in an upright posture before it all entered her body.

"What the?"

"The Hymn of Life: Vitality Restore."

Just like that, her exhaustion and the physical strain from her limbs disappeared.

"This feeling... somehow, my legs are no longer in pain and I feel full of energy."

Lyrica who is so exhausted to even lift a finger is now standing on both legs. It looked as though she didn't suffer any crippling pain from her limbs just moments ago.

"I've taken away the physical strain of moving your limbs to the limit, and the same goes with your tiredness. With this, you should be back to normal."

Following what the voice said, Lyrica started moving her legs in different motions, looking to see if her limbs have truly healed.

"Yeah. My legs have fully healed. It almost feels good as new." Lyrica replied with satisfaction.

What the voice did to Lyrica helped her temper subside. But at the same time, it made her ask: "What did you do?"

The voice chuckled. "What I did just now is me using one of many magic abilities I possess." The voice replied.

"Magic?" The young girl tilts her head in wonder.

"I shall give you the answer to that later. For now, let me welcome you to my world, Alteria."

Alteria. The world that exists in a universe different from the one where Lyrica's home, Earth, resided. It has many characteristics that are ever so similar to Earth such as the ocean, the desert, rainforests, volcanoes, and even the land of ice. But in Alteria, all the things that are considered in Lyrica's world as mere fiction and myths exist in Alteria as part of its reality.

"The slimes are one example of many creatures that can only be found and interact within Alteria. Don't they look amazing?"

The voice spoke to the young girl like how the staff in a mall would greet and introduce their products to the people passing by.

"So there are creatures other than slimes that exist here, huh..."

But contrary to the positive attitude the voice was emitting in her words, Lyrica doesn't sound fascinated, at all.

"Hmm... You don't look like you're interested, at all. How unusual."

"Ha?" Lyrica's face transformed into a scowl. "Are you expecting me to react all excitedly because I came face-to-face with a creature that my whole life thought only existed in games and fiction?"

"Yes."

Lyrica's left eye twitched before she let out an exasperated sigh over the voice's answer.

"Anyway, back to your question. Yes, slimes, goblins, ogres, and many other creatures are present in Alteria. Along with some other things, they all give the world of Alteria an atmosphere, much different to that of your world."

Lyrica gave her surroundings a long, good look once more.

The butterflies hopping from one flower to another, the slimes that do nothing but mind their own business, and the beautiful flower field that shone under the dazzling sun.

Now that Lyrica's got a better look at it, the world of Alteria does give off a different feeling, a different atmosphere. However...

"If I were to describe the atmosphere of Alteria in an Earthling's perspective in one word, I'd say it's fantasy... Hm? What are you doing?"

For reasons the voice did not know, Lyrica decided to pinch her cheek. She did it so hard, it immediately turned red as soon as she released her fingers.

After that, Lyrica answered the voice.

"It's nothing. I thought if I'm not hallucinating, maybe all of this is just a dream. " She replied with a blank face, unaffected by the sore pain on her face. "But I guess I'm awake and alive, after all."

"Dream? You don't believe that you're standing in a whole new world? You think that everything you've seen was nothing but a dream?"

While playing with her headphones, Lyrica replied:

"You know, I couldn't care less whether I'm standing in a different world or not. But this world you called Alteria, is not the world I'm looking for."

"Eh?"

From the moment she encountered the slimes, it already came across Lyrica's mind that other creatures or monsters could be lurking in Alteria. Still, Lyrica can't stop thinking that all of this was nothing but a simple dream or hallucination.

Lyrica didn't just run for her life, she was trying to find a way and figure out if everything is real or not. And through the voice who started talking to her once again, she was able to confirm that she wasn't in any dream, nor is she hallucinating any of it. Everything is real, which means that the voice had lied to Lyrica.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten the conversation we had? What you asked me before you dragged me into this world?"

"..."

Lyrica let out a troubled sigh. "Be happy. Because you relieved the pain and exhaustion in my body, I will help you remember everything."

Just like what she said, Lyrica helped the voice remember the conversation they had back on Earth. And as she does, the exact same moment replays in her head.

"If you were to live in another world, what kind of world would you like to live in?"

The voice asked Lyrica about the world she desired. She then answered the voice:

"If I were to live in another world, I want a world where I can live in peace and without trouble."

Lyrica interpreted everything accurately, just like how it all transpired.

Lyrica looked at the sky as if the one she's talking to was floating in mid-air. She asked the voice: "Well, were you able to remember all of it?"

"..."

The voice was dead silent. Perhaps she really had forgotten their conversation back in Lyrica's world, thus she couldn't find the right words to respond.

"Hey, how long are you going to keep that silent treatment?" Lyrica asked as she put the back of her hands on her waist.

"Lyrica..."

Lyrica let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, I thought you already bailed out on me or something."

"Lyrica, it seems that you're the one who had forgotten the conversation we had the last time."

"Ha?" Lyrica gave an incredulous gaze towards no one but the sky. "Are you deaf, or you just got a loose screw in your head? I just told you what your question was and my answer to it literally a minute ago, and now you're saying I've forgotten everything?"

"Yes."

The confidence in the voice's reply made Lyrica frown in displeasure.

"It's true that I asked you what world you desired. And you gave a sincere answer to it. But it seems that you've forgotten the condition I gave you to achieve your desire."

"What do you mean condition? Lyrica frowned in confusion. "I don't remember talking about conditions."

"And that is why I will help you remember everything." The voice replied using the same words Lyrica told her. "Close your eyes."

"This is troublesome. How would you even help me remind something that didn't happen in the first place?"

"If you close your eyes, you'll understand."

Frustrated, Lyrica scratched the back of her head. "How troublesome."

Lyrica figured that trying to argue with the voice any further will just give her a headache. And so, although she was annoyed, Lyrica eventually closed her eyes. When she did, Lyrica found herself watching her past self lying on the road as if she was in a third-person view.

And then she heard the voice asking her past self:

"If you were to live in another world, what kind of world would you like to live in?"

"If I were to live in another world, I want a world where I can live in peace and without trouble."

"Hmph." A triumphant smirk formed on Lyrica's lips. "See, that's exactly how I remember–"

"All right, then. I shall help you get what you desire, but only with one condition."

"What?" Lyrica's triumphant expression transformed in shock. "A condition?"

"I'll take you into a whole new world. But if you want to live a life in peace and without trouble, you have to make it into a world you so desire yourself."

"Ha?!" Lyrica's expression turned sour.

"Okay, I'll do it."

Lyrica's past self answered the voice without any retort. When she saw it happen, the girl's eyes shot open, and everything went back to normal.