Chapter 14: Galadra Shows Up Suddenly

Is this a dream? Just now I was lying in bed, and suddenly I'm in this strange place.

What's weird is the room looks very modern compared to normal houses in this other world. No, maybe "magical" is a better word!

First thing, there are no windows at all!

The walls are yellowish-brown and give off a soft light. You can't see any doors leading outside. The room is quite big, but feels cramped because there's so much stuff inside.

All the furniture glows with the same yellowish-brown light as the walls, so no lamps are needed. In the middle is a curved sofa set with a glass table in front. It looks just like the inside of buildings in Central City from 10,000 years ago.

But the most eye-catching thing is the floating virtual screen in the air. I've seen this sci-fi tech before, so I'm not too surprised. 

Unlike the "Eye of Galadra" that shows many views at once, this screen only shows one scene - a strange city. The view is like a hidden camera, showing the everyday life of a normal family, like a documentary.

But there's nothing interesting happening, no voice-over, just boring day-to-day stuff.

Is this another monitoring screen? I can see magic sometimes, so it must be happening on the Eldoria Continent. I watch the "TV" for a bit, but get bored quickly. Finally I ask out loud:

"Where am I anyway?"

This feels too real to be a normal dream. It reminds me of when I was possessed by a nightmare in Edenmere. But nightmares can only show things from your memories, and I've never seen this room or the stuff on the "TV" before!

"You're in my house, of course!"

Surprisingly, someone answers! A section of wall behind the sofa disappears, revealing a rectangular door. A girl with yellowish-brown hair walks in, her voice very familiar.

"Cyra?" 

I'm shocked when I see who it is. "What's going on? Did you do all this?"

I just saw Cyra before going to sleep, so how can she be here? But she is here, just like how she appeared in the nightmare's dream. Now I'm doubting what I know again.

Maybe I did get caught by a nightmare, and this is an upgraded dream? A plus version?

I quickly look down at my body, worried I might be wearing a wedding dress again. But surprisingly, I find I have no body at all - the space where my lower half should be is empty. But when I look down, my body slowly appears, like coming out of invisibility.

"Was I invisible just now? But I could see my arms the whole time since I got here. Otherwise I would have noticed earlier..."

I'm totally confused and can't help asking questions. At least I'm not wearing a wedding dress, but my clothes are strange - it's the men's outfit I used to wear on Earth, a T-shirt and long pants! But my body is still in female angel form, so it doesn't fit at all. It feels really weird suddenly.

Basically, am I a woman dressed as a man? What a bizarre situation!

"Actually, you're in spirit form now, with no physical body. The body you see is created by your own observation... simply put, it's an illusion from your subconscious," "Cyra" quickly explains. She walks to the sofa and sits down with me. "It's been a long time since we sisters met, right? You probably don't recognize me, but I had no choice back then! I came to find you suddenly because something urgent and tricky happened, and we need your help..."

"So who are you really? If you say I'm in spirit form, but you can see me, does that mean you're a spirit too?"

I can't help doubting her. From what she said and her yellowish-brown hair, so different from Cyra's, I'm sure this isn't really Cyra.

I've been in spirit form before, when the God of Light controlled me in the trial space. My consciousness was separated from my body then. But because spirits keep memories from life, I saw lots of people and things I remembered. If Adrian's spirit hadn't risked coming to help me, the God of Light might have controlled my spirit too.

So from experience, I suspect this "Cyra" is like the God of Light, using Cyra's image from my memory. Maybe her true self can't be seen!

"Of course I'm a spirit too, just a bit different from you right now!"

I didn't expect her to admit it, but what she said next surprised me. "Actually, everything you see here is temporarily created from elemental energy by me. While my spirit is nearby, it can stay like this. But if I go far away, everything in the room, including the room itself, will turn back into energy and disappear. As for my own body, I gave it up when I entered the cycle of rebirth!"

"Cycle of rebirth?"

I've heard about the cycle of rebirth before, and suddenly thought of a familiar name. I point at her in disbelief: "Are you Galadra?"

"Yes, that's right! I'm Galadra!"

She seems to find my shocked reaction very funny and giggles behind her hand. "Surprised? Isn't it strange?"

Why is this funny? I don't get the joke at all. But since she says she's Galadra, I'll assume she is for now.

I always thought Galadra, the angel ancestor as famous as Liana, had joined the monsters long ago. So I never expected her to appear to me like this, seemingly without much hostility.

"So you know I'm... Gisphrael? Do you know about my injured spirit too?"

I can't help asking to test her. The four Elemental Angels appeared together, and even Sigrid could only guess about the spirit damage diagnosis. If I could check directly with someone who was there back then, that would be best.

"Of course I know! So I'm very happy to see your spirit 'alive and full of energy' in front of me again!" Galadra answers happily, then asks teasingly:

"So should I call you Gisphrael or Feliciana now?"

"Feliciana, of course!"

Do you even need to ask? I quickly make my position clear. But she's not happy with that, and teases me in a sarcastic tone:

"Hehe, that won't do! You know, I always used to call you little Gigi. It feels weird to suddenly change!"

"Uh..."

Little Gigi? What kind of nickname is that?! I almost want to bang my head against the wall. I quickly change the subject:

"Why don't we talk about something else?"

A drop of sweat appears on my forehead. As expected of an old monster who died thousands of years ago - this weird sense of humor is hard to deal with! So that's why she was laughing strangely earlier?

I already know why Gisphrael's spirit was injured. But there are still many mysteries unsolved, like how did Nicola's and my spirits end up on Earth? I don't really care about these topics now, as they don't seem very important.

The main reason is that after learning I'm half of Gisphrael's reincarnation, I don't want to live in the shadow of the former Water Angel. Also, Galadra suddenly came to see me in this special way, so she must have some purpose. I decide to find out first:

"What did you want to see me about?"

"It's urgent, of course! Don't blame me for guiding your spirit out of your body. I don't have a physical form anymore, so this is the only way I could meet you!" 

She doesn't beat around the bush. After apologizing, she immediately pours out all her troubles, like someone complaining about their hardships.