1 PROLOGUE: Illegal Cooking?!

The sound of rattling gear trains and metals softly clinking against each other could be heard within the sleeping outskirts in an unknown country setting. A young girl could be seen nervously clenching her fists together in order for it to stop shaking, her heart could be heard beating loudly against her chest as her breath hitches in between her teeth. "I could do this." She whispered to herself as she wore gloves and opened the door.

"Kalimera!" The usual simultaneous greetings within the outskirts resounded throughout the area.

Immediately, the young girl slipped herself into the sidewalk, holding her black sling duffel bag. Small stones crunched underneath the soles of her boots as she used friction to make her stop from slipping, "S3, S12, W3, E4." she muttered as she started running through the desolated roads going south.

"Gracie per il cibo!" As the people standing by the windows thanked for the pail of porridge in front of them, the young girl immediately ran as fast as she could to keep a distance from anyone's vision. Buildings slowly shifted as she ran in different directions in a professional manner.

Seeing the faded S3 that was painted on a certain wall of the building, she grabbed her phone and contacted her friend. She placed her phone beside her ear and cautiously whispered through her phone, "Mika! I can't see you anywhere."

"I'm actually almost near at sector 12 to pickup, Lucas." Mika's voice partially distorted through the speakers of the young girl's phone. "Hey. Akalia, don't be angry with me. Lucas called for help and is currently stuck staying in a canal." she explained apologetically while panting.

"You should have waited for me, you dumbass! I know a shortcut through the drainage systems!" Akalia hissed and end the call as she immediately slid herself underneath the car when she noticed a few people running out of the buildings and ran in different directions.

Noticing a manhole casting on the ground, she slipped a few fingers into the holder and partially open it up with great effort. Making sure she wouldn't make any noise, Akalia slowly made sure she would slither her way through the small opening. Her wrist crammed against the heavy cover, only a slight chink could be heard as Akalia closed the metal castings.

Darkness evaded Akalia's surroundings as she struggled to climb down the ladder; only the sound of her footsteps echoing within the silence could be heard. As she felt that her boot were plunging on a small puddle, she stood still and aimlessly tap against the pockets of her cargo shorts.

When she felt a slight bump on her right pocket, she grabbed it and used her thumb to press a button. Light flashed through the darkness, but it was only aimed in one direction. Akalia ran towards the east with her flashlight as a guide.

The soles of her boots created brushing sounds as she ran. The stench entering her nostrils was something she was accustomed to, but wasn't something she wanted to keep on sniffing in each corner.

Unexpectedly, as Akalia was about feel like she had come closer to where her friend was, she stopped as she heard the familiar sounds of sizzling oil softly echoing throughout the empty passageways. After a few moments, drum-like sounds reverberated with a whistling tune.

Akalia felt chills running down her spine, she tried to move away and keep herself away from the familiar melody flowing within the air; but she just stood still in the dark. She prayed that Mika was coming on her way to scare her, but Akalia knew it will just be a simple wish that cannot be fulfilled. She knew that she will get caught up with some troubles if she stayed there.

Her fingers involuntarily twitched before a sharp stinging sound entered her ear, violently. Akalia immediately covered her ears, bit her lip, and kneeled on the ground.

'STOP! Just please stop.' Akalia mourned in her mind as she pulled a few strands of black hair in between her slender fingers. The sound of laughter faded in and out within the fragments of her memories and faces of people that are vaguely hovering around her visionary hallucinations, 'Ugh! I said stop--!' Akalia lose her consciousness as she banged her head hard against the wall. But the ringing sounds in her head didn't stop from playing as she went into the darkness.

---

"You shouldn't have left Akalia alone, Mika!" A guy, under the name of Lucas, snarled at the young girl in front of him. He snatched the phone away from Mika and unlocked the screen of her phone. Lucas started dialing Akalia's number in Mika's phone as he paced around back-and-forth. "Come on, Akalia. Answer the phone." Lucas' hands trembled as he held the phone.

Mika just stood and silently bit her lips. Tears formed at the edges of her almond-shaped eyes. "I-I'm sorry," she mewled as she held her sweatshirt tightly.

"She's not answering!" Lucas tautly exasperated as he threw the phone back at Mika and slumped on the dirty sidewalk. He frustratingly pulled his hair and rubbed his palms on his face.

Looking at this kind of scene, Mika couldn't hep but try to hesitatingly touch the shoulder of Lucas with one hand. "We should go and get Zio---"

"NO!" Lucas roared, which made Mika's body convulse and jolted away from Lucas in fear. Her heart started palpitating against her rib cage, making it hard to breath. With the heat of the sun adding up, she fell on her knees while shivering. She had never seen Lucas getting this frustrated. "We are not leaving unless she's with us!" He stated firmly as he stood up and look at Mika. "We're going to look for her back in the drainage systems." Lucas grabbed Mika's arm and pulled her without any hint of gentleness. Mika was obviously disappointed about it.

---

Instead of the strange stench of canal water lingering in the air, a powdery sweet smell of pancakes lingered. With Akalia's nostrils welcoming the powdery sweet aroma into her nose, she couldn't help but to feel a bit hungry. Soft clinking sounds of metal hitting against each other was something Akalia heard when she was still a young child.

The only word she could think of, as she reminisced over her mother's facial features. Akalia slowly regained consciousness as she felt a slight poke from her cheek, "Ah, you're already awake!"

Akalia immediately jolted up from where she laid as she felt her head getting heavy, she found herself plopping back. The woman, who woke her up, just chuckled and grabbed the breakfast bed table and placed it in front of Akalia. "Eat up." the woman offered and patted the girl's head.

"Uhm.. where am I?" Akalia muttered while her eyes are still covered by her eyelids. The woman just smiled and walked away.

"After you eat. We'll talk about it." She stated before getting out of the room.

Hearing the door closed, Akalia open her eyelids and started readjusting her blurry vision by rubbing her eyes with her hands. Her elbows slightly hit the table in front of her, so it created a slight clunked sound. Akalia swiftly hold onto the table, in order for it not to fall. She sighed and looked around the room that was simply decorated like her room back at sector 2.

'Why am I here? What happened?' Akalia asked to herself and tried to remember what happened before woke up in this place. When she realized that she fainted, Akalia couldn't help but mentally face-slap herself. "Aye! Stupid head, stupid head!" Akalia said as she hit her head about a few times.

The smell of pancake suddenly entered Akalia's nostrils. Her head whipped back onto the plate in front of her. Her heart suddenly skipped a single beat as she saw the extremingly appeasing sight of fluffy souffle pancakes getting stacked together on one plate.

A white butter cube could be seen slowly melting with the heat exuding out from the warm pancakes with thick caramel-flavored syrup slowly coating the yellow souffle as it drips down at the slightly curved edges of it, creating a small thick puddle on the plate; with the three layers of pancakes stood stiffly like a planted short bamboo on the plate. 'This isn't poisoned... right?' Akalia gulped and halfheartedly doubted, as she picked the small fork beside the plate with great temptation.

Gingerly, she slightly poked the pancake, making it jiggle from the top source to the bottom involuntarily, but the tower didn't break. 'Wait. Isn't this what they call Illegal Cooking and Illegal Eating of Delicacies outside the gourmet city?! Are they actually police officers observing me? Are there CCTV cameras?!' Akalia was quite paranoid about it and started looking around. Fortunately, there was none.

Akalia just sighed and look at the shimmering aura of the pancake, 'It's not bad to try and taste it, right?' she asked herself as the tips of her fork touched the souffle. She gulped once again and lifted her fork, 'There is no turning back once you eat this, Akalia! You will die with no regrets once you eat this!'

She placed the side part of her fork on top of the pancake, and softly pushed it downwards. Unlike any other souffle pancake, the fork just slid down with no effort being placed on the tips of Akalia's fingers. There was that unknown thick white milk getting through the small opening, bit by bit- just like a waterfall. Akalia was amazed and immediately grabbed the small spoon and scooped the jiggling pancake on her spoon.

She breathed in sharply and placed the spoon in her mouth without any hesitation. "Mhm!" Akalia moaned in great pleasure as the taste of the perfectly made souffle melt in her mouth as she chewed. Creamy and the pancake was not too sweet and not too bland, a perfect souffle was being eaten by a young girl who had always eat porridge in the outskirts.

Once again, there was that ringing sound in her head, but it was much more vivid. Cicadas were chirping underneath the humid sun, with children's laughter filling in the silent playground. Akalia remembered. She once belonged to a community where people would still share their recipes and food during certain occasions. The faces that was hovering her vision was the people who was worried when she fainted after they played tag.

As Akalia took another bite, her memories became much more limpid in her mind. Tears trickled down through the edges of her small face. An image of a middle-aged woman rekindled within her memory.

'Mom..'

She helplessly placed her fork back on the plate and thanked for the food that was given to her by the Gods. Akalia wiped her tears away and went out of the bed she laid on and walked towards the door, expecting to see her mother at the kitchen that was just in front of her bedroom.

'Oh... I totally forgot I'm in a stranger's place.'

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