Chapter 04

Taking the "Labyrinth" with her, she glanced at the nearby clock, only to see that it's already 4:52PM. Over five hours had past since she arrived in this place. She's lucky to have managed to gain this much info. She smiled at her good fortune.

She walked into the counter, took out the voucher.

The cashier only smiled, scanned the books. As she confirmed the two, she asked: "Is this all?"

"Yep." The protagonist answered.

"It's a waste if you only take two. There are varied books here. You can look for another one, so that your opportunity to take 3 books cannot be wasted."

Since there are no other customer's yet, the cashier wasn't in hurry.

"I can't find anything to fancy anymore. Also, I'm getting a bit hungry."

"You really won't? There a lot of rare books to be spotted on here. There are even limited editions." The cashier further urged.

She just shaked her head, not showing a bit of interest.

The cashier chuckled, feeling the gal's stubbornness. Her different colored eyes show's rare trace of amusement. She decided to rummage through the books on the nearest horror genre. It gave the protagonist a chance to observe her quite a bit.

Looking at her, she's very beautiful. Not just a bit different from the rest, but her beauty is beyond on those celebrities at the advertisements on the digital billboards. Her lustrous long black hair is on a high ponytail, showing the elegant shape of her face. Her eyes are big, though green and gold, giving her a mystical nymph like aura. Though due to her long lashes, her stares are quite sharp; it gives her the allure of a competent woman. Her cheeks smooth and pinkish, not a pore can be seen. Her lips are red even with just a lipbalm. Yet, there seem to be some black spots on her face, which some are not concealed by the concealer.

She was also fair, with milky white complexion. Just that her body seemed to quite mismatch with her looks. She's quite voluptuous for her age. Especially her waist. Even a lowkey wearing her employee uniform, it didn't hide those obvious curves.

As the cashier return, she already took a book with a black cover. She's left handed, and the ring on her ring finger glisten with the light.

She handed the book on the protagonist. "Here. My very recommendations. I read it a lot of time before. It's really great. I know you'll love it."

The protagonist took it, her hands almost dropped it when she saw the cover.

"Isn't this undead?!" Scared, she thought out loud.

The cashier only laughed. "That's what I thought, too. Before reading it, that is." She pointed the picture of the monster which is blended in the dark, "It's a story about an Enigma which power is to control the dead. It's not that scary. Trust me. The plot is so good. You'll cry at the end."

"Well, if you say so." She finally decided after hearing the brief spoiler.

The cashier seemed to be incredibly happy that her recommended book was acknowledged. She quickly scanned the book, then put it on the plastic bag. She exchanged it with the voucher.

"Thanks for shopping in Libraria! Hope to see you again." The cashier handed her items.

"Thanks." She also smile to the cashier.

As she was about to leave. The cashier pulled her hand. "My name's Mizael, Mizael Von Lazarte. You?"

"Ah, my name?" The protagonist mentally lagged. "I'm---"

Wait...

Who was she again? What was she called again? Why can't she remember? Why is it that she can't remember?

Why is that if she tried her best to remember, her head only hurts? Is it the effect of travelling in Areth accidentally?

"Miss?"

"Oh." She scratched her cheeks. If she couldn't remember her name, then she'll just create a new one. She laughed mentally at her quick thinking.

She sweetly smiled at the cashier which named, Mizael. "Yesha. My names Yesha Alzega. Nice to meet you."

She saw the cashier blushed a bit, seemingly adoring her. "You're so cute when you smile. How I wish my baby will look like you in the future."

"You're pregnant? Congratulations." Her thoughts ealier was proven true. The waist of a pregnant lady expands during pregnancy, which makes them look a bit voluptuous.

Mizael chuckled, seemed to know her thoughts. "Only 4 months. I still got 5 months to go. But I already wanna see her up close."

"That's all mothers feel. I'm sure if your baby goes out, she'll be as beautiful as you. Maybe she'll even get your eyes."

Mizael was even delighted by the praise, completely exposing her narcissistic tendencies. "Don't you think so? That'll be very good. I'm really pretty. My husband also said that he loves my eyes the most."

"..." She didn't even dare to be humble.

And she started chattering about useless things about the beauty products she used, proudly flaunting it. It makes her looks like some model being interviewed by a fashion magazine instead of a cashier at a bookstore.

While listening, Yesha felt a bit of hunger. Her expression showed it. Mizael notice this young gal's expression and covered her mouth, pretending embarrassment. But her eyes gave her away, shamelessly proud.

"My bad. It looks like I'm delaying your meal." She took out something from her pocket. It turned out to be a business card. "If you ever had a time, call me. Or maybe you can visit our house directly. We'll talk lots of lots, cook and even shopping if you want. I'll be waiting for you."

Yesha only waved goodbye and left immediately to stop the over enthusiastic cashier on preventing her from leaving the bookstore.

She glanced at the business card, only to realize that it's a CEO's business card. That chatty cashier is actually a CEO of the well known publishing company Libraria? Then why are is she doing at the Libraria branch bookstore? As for whatever reason, Yesha cannot predict whatever it was. Based on Mizael's personality, it'll take a hundred years before the little protagonist be able to predict her correct thoughts.

Printed in front of the card is the company's address and the CEO's phone number. On the back however, is a cursive handwriting indicating Mizael's personal address and phone number. Yesha didn't know when exactly her newfound friend write it when she's chattering nonstop. Is she multitasking? It seemed that person is totally fond of her.

Well it doesn't matter. She's quite a good person. Despite being a narcissist and a chatterbox.

Never did Yesha know, that chatty cashier is now gazing at the other customers coldly, never caring whoever they are nor whatever they buy. Customers felt that they're walking on a tightrope, stiffly queueing, as if afraid at little mistake their life would end.

Meanwhile, Yesha made her way out of the mall. She tried to gaze around to find a free buffet, but found none. Dejected, she sat on the empty bench, in the park near the shopping district.

"What to eat? Where to eat? What to do?" She massaged her head, feeling the pain of thinking. Her stomach was grumbling.

With her current situation, she can't help but miss her mother's cooking. Even though all she do is laze around and do various things she like, her mother is always supportive of her. Though she get an earful if she spent too much time on her gadgets.

Ah~ Why can't she apply the survival skills when she was studied? No, forget it. The world she was now was too modern. Earth survival skills are useless here. With other entities such as Enigmas, probably some criminals have superpowers, too. Thus, more danger. She can only run if ever she encounter those.

Lamenting about her fate, she sighed.

Disregarding her rumbling stomach, she reached for her side bag. She took out a small notepad and a red inked pen. There is nothing written on the notepad, but the obvious signs of old can be seen on the paper. This old notepad is Yesha's memento of her oath to her bestfriend, that they'll be together forever. (How she miss that gal.) The pen is a gift her mother gave her once, she never got a chance to use it. Most of the time she used black-inked pen.

She remembered the small tree she sketched. That was supposed to be the template cover for her friend's book. Her friend is a writer. So as Yesha, but she's not as dedicated as the other. Her friend just influenced her. But she learned to love it. She decided to publish a story on an online platform. While designing a cover for her friend, she was polishing a story plot on her mind.

Although, Yesha did enjoy writing stories, her useful thoughts often ran away. Without a speck of creativity, inspirations are very hard for her to grasp. Thus, she never finished a good book. That made her envy other writers.

But now that she's suddenly in this kind of situation, what if she would write about her experience? It would be great, right? Not only that she could vent her frustrations, but she can also detail her experience. Maybe it'll became a best selling book, too.

She chuckled on that naive thought.

So, on the notepad she wrote the experience she made. Just some keywords. She can understand it soon if she got a device to write into. Smiling, her mood relieved. Her hunger subsided quite a bit.

Now, her gaze landed at the park. It's a usual park with fountain, trees, pavement and benches. The grasses are neatly trimmed and perfect for picnics. Although, the scenic view is now dark, tainted with the hue of the setting sun.

If the park's silhouette is the additional details, the dusk sky became the emphasis of the masterpiece. With the refracted light of the setting sun, the sky ended up like a canvas painted with colorful shades of gold, orange, red, purple and even hint of indigo. Birds flew, claiming the wonderful colors as their own. Sounding with pride, boasting their freedom.

With eyes sensitive to colors, Yesha additionally saw the green color flashing in sky, very faint and only lasted for a few seconds.

Green flash, she recalled. It's a phenomenon which can be seen clearly if you're looking at the sea.

Speaking of the sea, that dark alleyway connects to the sea. Her forgotten hunger strikes again. If she could go to the sea, maybe she can catch some fish, roast clams or even get a crab for a meal. After all, at dusk, after the lowtide those creatures are bountiful.

She take back what she previously said. Survival skills can still be used in this world!

With hope regained, she happily headed to the the discarded alleys. Running with a plastic bag, with three books, she soon reached the shore. As she expected, low tide had ended. Not only that there are no other people. But the sea even left her a handful of bounties! Goodness gracious!

Gathering things that could be eaten, with survival instincts acting up, she quickly gathered a lot of clams and crabs. She took enough to fill her for both lunch and dinner. She made a little furnace, then put her gathered materials atop of those. Though she almost gave up when starting a fire. Fortunately she manage to start a little one.

After the food was cooked, Yesha praised the god. Even though the taste was not top notch, but for a hungry person, even stale bread tasted like newly baked ones.

Thus, Yesha ate her fill and got stuffed. Only then did she notice that the sky is already dark.

The sea was very cold at night, more so since she's wearing a thin dress. However, she got nowhere to go to. Even though she found a newfound friend at the bookstore earlier, she cannot go to Mizael's house. She didn't know other streets aside from the shopping district and the empty alleyway. She also don't have any gadgets to use to make a call.

The evening gale kissed her coldness, she involuntary shivered. The wind from the sea is like the icy wind of north pole. She is already hugging herself to shake off the coldness, but it's no use. As much as she wants to go back at the alleys to ask help for people there, there scary atmosphere is preventing her from doing so.

Slowly, she began to feel her eyelids becoming heavy. The sleepiness spread to her limbs down to her feet. She felt that her body is incredibly heavy. There's even the illusion that she's sleeping on a cloud.

Yesha didn't clearly see it, but before she was taken over by the darkness, she saw a strange thing again. Now that she had experienced leaping worlds and read the book about Enigmas, she's not that surprised. Her adaptability is very high, allowing her to improvise means to protect herself.

It's like a vision in a fog, hazy, dark and fading. The sea was seemed to be frozen into thick ice. Waves stopped midair to form into frozen statues. Wind howled like whispering death. The fog gradually thicken. Yet amid this, she saw a figure. Not sure if its a man or a woman. But that person was walking on the sea, every step is turning the liquid water into ice. There's a sinister aura surrounded that person, it's intention yet unclear.

Just after that vision, she lost consciousness.