A Whole New World

—

She limply walked over to the nearby lake and sat before it, the boy she saved still lying unconscious behind her but at least he was out of death's door steps for now. Probably. 

She was covered in dirt and soot like him, and it felt disgusting. It was as if she just escaped some place where there was a fire. The dress she wore, which seems to be made out of some high quality silk, had burn marks all over, and it didn't help the fact that there's blood on it as wellーnot hers, well, not entirely but the blood of that wounded child earlier.

But time seemed to stop when she looked at the countenance reflected in the water and the curious pair of glowing golden eyes that stared back at her narrowed shrewdly. It was so quiet that she could even hear the sound of the crickets on her back. Cautiously, she tapped her finger lightly on the top of the water to elicit soft ripples.

"...Who the hell are you?" She asked, dumbfounded while staring into the water as if talking to herself. She must've been crazy! This must be a dream! This can't just be happening–!

But she was well aware that this was not her own body. It's not even close to her appearance, and she definitely did not look so…so cute! And very beautiful, truly beautiful like this andー

"...Oh, my god." She murmured as she sat frozen. Realisation slowly dawned on her as she examined the bloodied body of 'hers'. She tightly gripped the wavy raven black hair hung rather elegantly on her back despite her disheveled appearance. "...Holy shit! I've been transmigrated. Just like those isekai web novels and otome games! What the hell–?!"

And, just as she finished her hysterics, a sobbing voice spoke at the back of her mind—child-like and so like the voice she heard to 'herself' now. She freaks out.

'...My name is Licht.'

"...Licht?!" Her mouth hung open in shock. "You mean that Licht Elsworth? You can't mean the one in the otome game I'm playing before, right?! You have to be kidding me!"

'...I don't know what you were talking about, lady. But yes, I'm Licht Tyrese Elsworth. However…' Her tone turned solemn and sad.

The gears in her head started to turn at this unusual, and crazy if she dare say so, discovery. "Um, what am I doing in your body then? Why did you leave a sliver of my consciousness in this mind? I am sure this is not me, so why…"

'I refuse to succumb to my fate! I can't just continue to live and relieve the same fate over and over again! I can't take it anymore…' The sobbing voice was suddenly filled with hatred as it resounded within her mind.

She remained silent, and did not say a single word for quite a while, only listening to the voice weep. The sobs were filled with resentment and hatred and the raw emotions passed from her mind and crept into her heart, making her strongly feel an indignant rage that did not originally belong to her.

"...Quit crying and tell me what happened!" She pressed on nervously. If not for the fact that she wanted to clear her doubts about this spectral presence in her mind and the situation before her, she would have walked out long ago without batting an eye, instead of sitting here to listen to the voice's incessant weeping. Wasting time is not something she was keen on doing after all.

She already saved a dying man earlier. That's probably enough good deed for today…right?

The voice of the child in her head stopped a moment and the weeping was reduced to spasmodic sobs and sniffles. The voice did not share her story in great detail as she was at least smart enough to realise what would serve her best interests at that moment.

Hence, she went to say the most important parts. '...I've died countless times in fact, and my body has now become yours. Lady, I will only wish for two things. First, I want you to find who killed me and let them suffer a living fate worse than death! Killing them quickly with a thrust of the sword will not satisfy the hatred in my heart. And only when they live, suffering endless torment, will my heart rest in peace.'

Licht's voice had thick hatred wrapped around it. At that point, it seemed she already accepted that she wouldn't be able to do anything for herself and hence all she yearned for at that moment was to make the person responsible for putting her into that state to live out their life in endless suffering.

Her brow shot up in the hairline but she did not speak. This Licht who was speaking to her sounds so much like a child, and even her body is that of a child, yet she's already carrying all this burden to her tiny shoulders…

And at that moment, as if knowing what she was thinking in her mind, Licht said solemnly, '...I do not fathom where you came from, and I do not know what kind of status you held before. But I pray at least, you will not be as moronic as I have been."

Her eyes slightly twitched. "...And what is the second one?"

Hearing those words, Licht knew that meant she had agreed and the voice heaved a silent sigh of relief. But at the same time, her voice grew sorrowful and depressed. 'My family, and our people…they are all very kind and hopeful. They treasured me greatly and I offered everything I could for them in return. I hope you can care for them on my behalf and not let them know….know that I am no longer around…"

She softly tapped her fingers on her thigh. Licht had no way of knowing what she was thinking and left with no other choice, she feared hearing rejection coming out from her own mouth. '...I will leave all my memories to you to allow you to know everything that has happened.' She said, 'Lady, you must help me, you must help me….I beg you, please…'

She pursed her lips. "And how would I be able to go back to my…original body? To my original world? If I help you out?"

'...The spell that binds us together will disappear the moment you fulfill my wishes, lady. I would ensure your safe return as payment for the services you did for me.'

"...But why did you choose me in the first place anyway? Is this world even real? If Licht was a true person, does that mean that everyone else in the game is real, too? What about theー"

But before she could finish what she wanted to ask her the most, Licht's voice in her head faded off and she suddenly felt an intense pain in her head, feeling just like someone was forcibly stuffing something into it. 

Her brows furrowed close together, and she stifled a scream by biting her lips,  closing her eyes to endure the sharp pain. It was a while later before she slowly opened her eyes again. 

In her mind, she suddenly found many memories that did not originally belong to her…

Looking back at the different reflection on the water before her, she frowned when she realised what might happened now. It might be due to her memories merging with Licht's, but when the memory of being mercilessly dragged on the back of her collar and then getting thrown in a burning house surfaced in her mind, she could feel the same hatred that Licht felt, almost as if she were the same person who suffered under that fire.

Those men were foolish enough to dump Licht's body in the burning house. Not knowing that she'll be able to crawl out and survive. Well, it was she who survived now because Licht was already dead.

Now…where shall she start?

—

"Young Miss! We've finally found you!"

"Gods above, what happened to our Miss?!"

"Make haste! Send a message to the palace saying we've found the Miss!"

"We should depart quickly. The Young Miss has injuries!"

With Licht's memories guiding her through this unfamiliar world, it was nearing sunrise when she had easily found her way back to what she recognised as the south west part of Windsor City, the capital of Elfenson, one of the continents in Alakitasia—the standing empire in this world.

The moment she was seen by the patrolling guards scattered around the open field, Licht was immediately ushered inside an ornate carriage. According to the guards, the injured boy she saved in the forest the night prior was immediately given quick aid and they will have a separate ride to take him to a professional doctor.

Though Licht was worried for him, the guards assured her that he would be fine and they would ensure his survival. She didn't really pay much attention to what they were saying profusely as long as they healed him because her attention was glued to probably the most expensive and most comfortable seat she had gotten herself into in her whole damn life, or lives. If shoving her inside this high quality ride is an elaborate attempt to kidnap her and kill her once and for all, her murderers were really something.

Oh, gods. Are those quartz and diamonds embedded in the doors?!

As the horses hooved lightly and the carriage yanked gently, Licht decided to push the curtains of the closed windows aside and looked out at the outdoors after pulling the lever of the glass window. The scenery before her made her gape in astonishment.

Truthfully speaking, it was so weird to see the city itself when all she had seen before in the lenses of her phone were the free CG's of this place in the common and Nacht's routes. It felt so surreal seeing the whole place with her own eyes and despite her initial fears, she felt the fascination and excitement she felt when playing the game for the first time. Like the child she saved, the details of the scenery, the trees, the houses, the leaves and even the grass looked as authentic as the ones in the real world. 

They don't look even close to being pixels anymore.

Since Licht looks like she's no more than twelve years old right now, the game was yet to start. She even doubted that Licht had met MC yet. 

Wait.

"I'm Licht now," she halted, eyes widening as reality sinked in more. "Holy crap. Does that mean I'm Nacht's twin sister now?!"

Nacht is one of the love interests in PERSONA. He was the empire's most brilliant prime minister and also the Duke of Elfenson. Although he almost goes berserk when his twin sister was murdered in their own country, which was the whole focus of his route and the basis of the entire game, Nacht was someone who was very reliable and kind despite being portrayed as a cold perfectionist in the eyes of the public, preferring to work in the shadows to help his comrades.

Though since Licht was barely in her teenage years, her twin brother would definitely be the same age as her. She's now growing curious about what the 'wolf in the sheep's clothing' of a man looks like when he was a child. Hmm…

As she was left nervously contemplating what to do at the end of this expensive ride, she didn't notice the carriage halting and the doors opening, an approaching figure sneakily tackled her to the seat, sending the two of them skidding down with her lying beneath them.

"What the–?!" 

When the shock of being plummeted down rescinded slightly, she watched in curious fascination as a giant black cat, around the same size as an adult golden retriever, maybe even bigger, perched itself on her chest and stared directly into her eyes–somehow, its colour unusually the same hue as Licht's. 

The cat's tail momentarily curled around her arm in a brief touch as his ear shot forward. Its pupils began to dilate as thoughts and sensations that aren't hers filled her mind unwittingly. Both curiosity and urgency dropped against her shock as she started to taste a strange surge of unknown power in her tongue.

"You…" Finally understanding who it was, she manages to splutter an incoherent response the moment the cat removes itself away from her, but still standing close to her side. "...Y-You are Licht's familiar…right?"

The giant cat merely hummed but Licht understood its confirmation nonetheless. Its grey eyes suddenly changed into blazing orange as its knowing stare pierce into her skull. Its colour reminds her so much of that raging blaze in the burning house last night.

And the cat familiar–she saw in her memories that Licht called him Holie–definitely knew what happened to his master. Still, he remained silent as he guided her out of the carriage. The armed guards stationed at the foot of the ride stiffened at the sight of her but immediately bowed to the waist and asisted her young self. She didn't know what to do, so she was left awkwardly patting their shoulders in gratitude before making haste to follow Holie, ignoring their surprise expressions.

"Wow…this is…" She trailed in disbelief at the sight that greets her. While she didn't exactly know about Elfenson's full history (that was mostly being brushed aside because the game was about romance, you know), Licht nevertheless knew that Elfenson is the richest continent in the world, being the central of commerce in the empire and where businesses boomed and thrive. 

And standing tall and proud before her was a beautiful structure and the most interesting sight of Elfenson where the noble family of Elsworths resided, the Luftschloss Palace. Made of black and golden stones, the palace was located on top of a small mountain plateau. Also the rising building was constructed in gothic style, it consisted of two wings flanking the main hall and two large towers at each side of the entrance. A large door opening in front of the pathway was located, different statues of birds at their sides. A fountain in front of the entrance was built too and as the finisher, a small tower between the two larger towers at the gates held up the symbol that represented the noble duchy of Elfenson completely cast from gold and black; a raven wing holding a key.

The stone path that led to the front gates was covered with the mixtures of moth, dirt and some kind of flower that looks like it was made out of glass. Licht stared at it long enough to have Holie nudging her calf. There were also trees around the courtyard, although looking quite dead since there's no leaves sprouting from the branches. Added to the eerie atmosphere were the bats and owls hooting in the distance. 

Why does the Luftschloss Palace look like it went to a funeral or some kind of a rundown building? It was beautiful and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes—if one was into an emo-themed place—as much as it was creepy and eerie.

Holie brushed his tail against her calf once more to gain her attention before starting to walk towards the direction of what she remembered was the entrance to the massive palace. So, tearing her eyes away from the scenery of the rising sun from the distance, she followed the black cat familiar with a promise that she would help the people to the best of her modern knowledge–as one of Licht's wishes to her.

In any case, that can wait. The first part of her supposed brilliant plan is to make sure she has a change of clothes, and maybe a hot bath for herself after that stressful evening. After that, she has to leave for an inspection to the territory in order to know the current state of Elfenson.

Though the latter would also probably take a while, too. Given how Licht was barely to her teens…

She has a lot of planning to do.

"Ugh..." Licht suddenly wanted to cry out loud at all possible outcomes and overthink what she's putting herself into.

But she really wished this was all nothing but an outlandish dream.

—