CHAPTER 1

Dark. The place where she's in is just a place full of darkness. She's dead. She's probably...no... she's DEFINITELY dead.

As she roamed her eyes around, thoughts filled up her head. Is this the afterlife? Is she suppose to be waiting for the grim reapers or angels or even devils to get her like in the stories? Or will she be stuck in here for eternity? Is this what they call heaven or hell or is it just an empty space full of nothingness?

"Well, now that I think about it, I'm not really a good nor a bad person before", she murmurs to herself. She thought maybe this is really where she'll stay, maybe this is the afterlife.

Well, that's what she thought. Ammiel tried to relax her body more, thinking how she'll spend the eternity on this empty space, but when she was about to do that she heard noises. Murmurs were heard all over the darkness.

She look everywhere and suddenly found a suspicious light. The light became bigger and bigger and soon enough, it started to swallow the darkness. She closed her eyes as the light surrounded her and then felt someone holding her body after a few more seconds of waiting.

And what she saw made all of the ideas stuck on her head disappear. Pair of forest green eyes met hers and the owner of those eyes smiled knowing that she's finally awake.

"Oh good, you're up!", a boy with hazel brown hair peered down at her while she just looked at him blankly.

"Hey~ You okay? Eleanor?", the boy waved his hand in front of her face trying to make her snap back to reality but Ammiel still can't figure out what the hell is happening.

"I..."

"I?"

"Is this the afterlife?"

The boy paused and look at her weirdly because of the question she asked him. "You sure you're okay? Are you really awake or are you still dreaming? Or wait! Do you feel something?! Does your head hurt?! Your stomach?! DOES ANYTHING HURT?!"

The calm boy earlier soon turned into a mess just because of her question. Ammiel tried her best to calm him down but he keeps on mumbling things and questions that she soon snapped.

"HEY! CAN YOU JUST PLEASE CALM DOWN?!", the boy stopped talking and just stared at her with doe eyes. She sighed in relief and began talking.

"Let me just ask questions okay? Please answer them properly", the boy nodded like a dog to her and listened attentively.

"Is this the afterlife?"

"Umm, no"

"Am I not dead?"

"Umm, you look pretty alive to me"

"Where is this place?"

"Umm… the orphanage located in Ciden, the western territory....region of Sirthyna, the Lheilah Orphanage?"

"How did I end up here?"

"Huh? You've been here since birth right? Why are you still asking that?"

Ammiel look at the boy with perplexed face. She's been here since birth? But this place is unfamiliar to her. Besides, this doesn't look like her home. So why is this boy saying that she's been here since birth?

"Hey! You okay? Eli? Eleanor? ELEANOR!!!", she snapped back when the boy shouted.

"E-Eleanor? What Ele…who's Eleanor?"

"A dog"

"Oh I see. A dog"

"No you silly! It's you! What is wrong with you?! You're asking weird questions, your head is on the clouds, and you can't even remember your name! Did you hit your head that bad when you fell from the roof?! That's why I told you not to listen to those people! You don't need to prove yourself to them!"

Ammiel, after listening to the boy, became silent. The gears on her brain started to work out for her understand the position and scenario she's in, but, she needs to ask one last thing in order to prove what she concluded.

She looked at him and asked, "You said I don't have to prove myself to them and this is an orphanage. Then, may I ask you, who am I?"

The boy's eyebrows raised and he was ready to retort to her but when he saw her serious eyes looking at him waiting for a proper response to the question she just asked him, he sighed and answered, "You're Eleanor. My very first and only best friend for the pass 7 years. The most just and courageous 8 year old I know"

Ammiel was then certain, she's not dead. She's NOT dead, NOT in the afterlife, and definitely NOT in her own body. Using his fast reflexes, the boy then caught Ammiel before her body hits the floor. The girl's legs became weak and gave out due to shock. Her eyes were wide open and lips were parted when her brain finally processed that she woke up in a different body, or rather, as a different person.

'How did I end up in this body and where is its original owner? Where in the world am I if not in the afterlife? What am I suppose to do now?', many thoughts filled up her mind as her face become paler every second that passed.

The boy, concerned about his friend, slowly tried to help her stand up and sit on the bed where she slept due to the incident that he just mentioned earlier, where she banged her head and fell unconscious.

"Hey Eli, are you really okay?", Ammiel looked at the boy after hearing his worried voice, she then sighed and slowly tried to compose herself before looking at him to now try to calm him once again. "I…I'm okay…umm…just a bit…dizzy", the boy then nodded and help her lay down. The girl felt drained. Her sight became a bit blurry and it looks like the boy also noticed her condition.

"Just rest for now. Don't push yourself and try to focus on recovering. I don't know what's happening to you and what you're really thinking of right at this moment but just for now, please rest your mind and body", she smiled at the boy's kind words and tried to speak again.

"Can you….ummm…tell me your name?", the boy, even though confused, answered her, "Daniel. I'm 10, 2 years older than you if you still can't recall it. And we've been best friends for like 7 years now"

"Daniel. Good name", Ammiel chuckled. She then started to feel drowsy, but before Daniel can leave her room to let her rest, she reached out and held his hands which caused him to stop. "Can you umm…stay here with me? I, I....", the girl was cut off when the boy sat by her side and smiled at her surprised face. He patted her head gently and his pat became gentler and gentler by the second as it helped her feel sleepier.

"I'll stay here till you wake up, don't worry. Just rest Eli", and with that she slowly closed her eyes and went to dreamland. Daniel then continued to pat Ammiel's head, but after the girl went to sleep, his expression changed, from a gentle one into a serious one. He looked at her face and just stared at her for minutes. And his fist clenched tightly.

Weeks passed by and Ammiel slowly started to adjust herself to her new surroundings. In the days that passed, she learned what the lifestyle of the girl named Eleanor is. Eleanor, the 8 year old girl and the original owner of her body now, lives in the orphanage with Daniel. She was raised by the staffs in that orphanage.

They're not like the cliché people who work in the orphanage and embezzle money but they're also not the kind of people who cares about them so much. They're just people who do their work properly, feed and take care of them with no love, just obligation and loyalty to the job given to them.

She also found out that she and Daniel first became friends when they were 2 and 4. Daniel is the one who took care of her ever since. He became her protector, her best friend, and her only friend when he met her after losing his mother and entering the orphanage.

"Here, let me help you with that", she then felt hands on both sides of her waist and was lifted in the air after a mere second. She took that chance and removed the ripped part of the cloth that was still unstitched and the cause why it was stuck in a wire where they previously hang it.

She was then brought back to the ground as she looked behind her and found a smiling Daniel. "Thank you", she smiled at him before tucking the cloth in the basket filled with other cloths...clean laundries that she just removed from where they were hanged in order to dry. "I'll help you carry them inside with the other clean laundries", and with that, the basket in her hands were gone and is now in the hands of her friend.

Daniel never asked her anything even after she recovered. He just continued treating her the same way he treated the previous Eleanor, and Ammiel was thankful for that. Throughout the weeks that passed, she also tried to process things and think of her next step. And she decided to first investigate what place she's been living in now, who Eleanor is in this place, and where did the soul of this body that she's been using is. After that, she'll then decide what to do next.

She also decided to start saving money for her to use in the future by finding work. In this way, no matter what she decides on in the future, she'll have money that can help her live independently when she leaves the orphanage. And last week, she started working in a pub called TRIPOLUS. It is a restaurant during the day, and a bar at night, but it is also an information guild. Three in one. So it is a great place for her to work since the people in this town don't act like a scoundrel even though they're drunkards at night, it's safe. And at the same time, it is great for her to get more infos.

But after finding out about her plan to work in that pub, Daniel also applied to work there with her for her safety even though she told him it's safe in there. She works there as a waitress and Daniel works as an assistant to the cook.

Ammiel decided to live as Eleanor for now in order to conceal that she's not a person from this place. It will be safer for her that way. But, she's determined to live a longer life than her previous one where she died at such a young age of 18. This time, she wants to do things she never had the chance to do before and enjoy her life to the fullest. But for that to happen, she still need to grasp everything first and adjust into a lot of things.

"…i…li…Eli….Eli!.....ELI….ELI!!", she blinked and laugh after seeing the pouting face of her friend who's been trying to get her attention for minutes now.

Looks like she spaced out and stopped walking while thinking about her plans. "I'm sorry Dan. Are you saying something?", Daniel then sighed and they started walking again. "I'm asking you if you're comfortable while working as a waitress in the pub"

Ammiel laughed after finding his question cute but then stopped after seeing that he's serious about it. She reached out and tried to pat his head, and since they're the same height, she was successful in her attempt.

"I'm okay Dan. The customers in the pub are not rude and are decent people. And despite being drunk, they just act childishly so it's safe and fun to serve foods and drinks to them. The real question is, are YOU okay? You're not pushing yourself just because of me right?", the two then stopped walking again. Daniel shook his head and placed the basket that he's been holding down to the ground. He then grabbed her hand that was on his head and held it using both of his hands.

"I'm not, no worries. Besides, I also decided to start saving money. Because I also don't want to stay here in the orphanage and wait till I get adopted. I want to be independent and be free someday so in order to achieve that I have to save money. Besides, I enjoy working there too you know"

Daniel smirked and Ammiel can't help but ask. "Why?", the boy then smiled widely and answered her in a cheery voice, "Because I can see you wear cute clothes as a uniform and as a bonus, I can eat a lot of delicious foods!"

The girl's eyes widen and soon she started to laugh at the cuteness of her friend. Daniel laughed as well after hearing her contagious laugh. He then lifted the basket and they started walking again while continuing their talk, not caring about the other kids looking at them weirdly as they laugh and joke around.