Stay Alist (1)

Alist wriggled grumpily from snuggling in Andrina's arms who was in deep slumber.

Seeing that she was back in the family bedroom, she could already tell that it was almost midnight.

It seems that she still couldn't get over the terrible feeling of dying, and it all happened in the middle of the night.

How the truck's impact smashed towards her body, how everything around her seemed to have stopped moving just to see her writhing in pain, how the yellow moon looked down her with pity, how the escaping blood lay like a crimson carpet underneath her, how the cracked smart phone kept ringing notifications of new Webnovel releases, how the sensations were felt all at once fogging her mind.

That feeling is what woke up Alist.

It has been awhile since she felt the need to stay up late at this time of the night.

It wasn't that she had schoolwork to finish or episodes from a daydream she had to return into.

Rather, she needed to mentally map out ideas for the 'grand' Glassheart Safety & Protection Plan.

Alist may think of it as something 'grand' but it was better described as 'intensive' instead.

'Intensive' care was what can be described of the events that happened in the morning when she suddenly blacked-out in front of her parents.

Kyan and Andrina Glassheart checked their child's condition with their healing abilities and the results show that their daughter was fine.

Not convinced of the outcome, they brought their daughter to the clinics throughout the whole town area, thinking that Alist may have developed narcolepsy.

It can be said that they've simply squandered their money for worrying about nothing and making a fool of themselves in front of the townspeople; but for the ridiculously lovable couple, they gained a precious memory from that experience.

The child they thought who would never smile at them since the incident was laughing throughout the whole-day slapstick comedy.

Alist lost her serious composure and regretted another thing she should have brought with her before transmigrating into the town of Darya: cheese-flavored popcorn.

From that turn of events, the little toddler giggled until all her parents could hear was her soft snores accompanied with little goo-goo's and gaah-gaah's.

The next thing Alist knew, she was in bed with her mother without her father and not knowing where he was.

Having just woken up from a nightmare, she recounted the number of times she fell asleep.

'I guess planning and thinking too much or even laughing so hard will just put me to sleep. It was not bad though.'

Getting this tranquil rest was something she wasn't used to as she sentimentally recalled her previous life.

Juggling schedules between part-time jobs and school works left her exhausted and stressed that she slept for about 1-3 hours each day.

The only time that she got a bit of shut-eye was when she rented her first apartment room, collapsing directly unto the bed.

When she was twelve years old and a half in her former world, she had already escaped from the abusive orphanage.

That same girl opened her eyes to numerous work opportunities including harsh child labor.

She got herself an illegal job at a demolished subdivision where the young worker should create his own concrete hollow blocks and carry these personally to the working area.

In getting employed, she made use of her undeveloped female physique to disguise herself as a scrawny and dirty boy because only males are required.

The payment was the most unfair part of the deal.

The first one to finish in making the ideal number of blocks receives the highest minimum wage while the rest get half of that amount (oftentimes even lower than the halved wage).

She did everything to be first in the contest-like livelihood, including performing some carpentry work just to appease her superiors.

Only when she had gathered enough money did she swiftly disappeared from the sight of her employers and co-sufferers before anyone could find out that they hired a girl to their work site.

'That moment's slumber was the turning point of abandoning the rat's life. I coped with my damaged mental health through rediscovering the reading hobby I picked up from the hellhole's school. From then on, my life became better since the day I purchased a smartphone to read web novels and webcomics anytime and anywhere.'

Pausing the moment's reminiscence, Alist directed her attention to the future of the Glasshearts.

She tried not to overthink on the calamities that can potentially wipe out her family during the plot's occurrence.

The Four Cataclysmic Omens with their oncoming disasters will eventually appear during her irrefutable attendance in the academy.

These disasters will appear one by one: Sidero will sink like Earth's mythical continent Atlantis, Meralte will be plagued with necrophiliac gorgon adders, Talineah will weaken from the attacks of the shadow-travelled monster horde, and Eudaria will be overshadowed by the shade army.

Deo's residents will suffer immeasurable losses that force cowardly monarchs to abandon their subjects and flee either to the uncharted waters or into the open arms of the Khaos Emperor, the actual instigator of their misery.

Bernael Ashe Khaos.

The great villain behind the downfall of the whole Sideron mainland and the self-proclaimed "Tyrant of a Thousand Continents".

He is the strongest among the shade magic users which make up most of the 5th continent's population.

Shade speciality is one of the exceptional magic types that involve shadow manipulation and is uncommon in the vast spaces of Kaiden but predominant in Khaos.

After hearing of Deo's existence from the tortured expeditionists, Bernael purposely allowed one captive to depart to Sidero under his watch.

Having decisively planted enough soldiers into the returnee's shadow, the enactment of the emperor's villainous master plan came into action.

On their master's orders, his shadow retainers conducted the Darken Pawn Selection of all residents from each of the continents who will represent the Four Cataclysmic Omens or birds' superstitions stamped as harbingers of bad luck.

These four people will become designated traitors of their homelands and will be given code names as puppets of the covert act; Raven for the Sideron, Merula for the Talinean, Magpie for the Meralten, and Rook for the Eudarian.

The beginning of their actions will be witnessed by public eye through the sudden appearances of their represented birds covering the entire mainland areas.

'Unfortunately, the novel never mentioned the real identities of the Darken Pawns. They could be anyone from the commoners to the kings to the academy students.'

Alist sighed as she thought about their novel data.

'When the hero met the Pawns, their appearances indeed stayed true to their respective roles as they were fully covered in black cloaks with ill-omened bird masks hiding their faces. He tried interrogating the suspects only to witness them slitting their throats in front of him. The suicides showed signs of a Shade Marionettist's manipulation, and no other information was gathered from them. Thus, the Pawns were forgotten and the protagonists resumed searching for clues to save Deo's Four Continents.'

The night was calm and quiet as it was patient. It waited for a certain spark of idea coming from the little girl in white who was thinking harder than a normal toddler.

'Uncovering their true identities and getting rid of the four as early as possible is definitely the first issue to tackle towards saving my family from Khaos' invasion; but shade magic, the speciality used to monitor the Pawns, is an invincible cheat skill capable of manipulating shadows like an invisible CCTV camera with remote-controlled wings. Sneaky bastards!'

With frustration and helplessness filling in her, Alist steeled her nerves as to prevent herself from falling asleep.

She racked her small brain for a more simplified plan of action.

From her part, it would be impossible for her stop the survivor from entering Sidero like a rat carrying the plague called 'Bernael's Shadow Retainers'.

His shade army is indeed tricky to deal with as they can quickly retreat into the dimmest places light cannot follow.

Adding to that, Alist will only be seen as a twelve years old commoner girl with no evidence to prove of Khaos' covert invasive conquest from under everyone's noses.

Hence, she has only herself to plan this out personally.

'Alright! I have identified three goals to accomplish by the time I turn twelve: gather information on the Darken Pawns' identities, travel to the Celesta Kingdom to find relatives as well as friends of our family, and kill Raven.'

According to the novel, Heroes of the United Continent revealed most clues pertaining to Raven of the Sideron mainland than the three traitors so Raven will be an easier target to get rid off.

She will also be able to gauge the whereabouts of Black Larus, the fifth Darken Pawn whom Bernael allowed to return as the sole survivor of the United Explorers' Guild.

But from the three of Alist's goals, killing Raven is her most difficult and most urgent task yet.

'I have to kill Raven by the time I am twelve years of age in which the year is the commencement of the invasion announcement. As a young girl, my mana will definitely be weaker than the shade users and traitors I will face. Plus, they are sneaky and tracking them will be impossible too. Killing Raven will also alert the shade army hiding in his shadow. But there is one important question I have to ask myself: Should I kill one person to save many others and kill another suspect to prevent loose ends?'

At present, the crown prince had just been inaugurated as the official ruling emperor of the empire and was waiting for news from his shadow retainers on recent mainland sightings while Alist remained indecisive towards her plan.

'If I start following my plans, I will suddenly change the lives of many characters that even the hero and heroine's lives will deviate from the original plot to the various unpredictable scenarios. Aargh! I should just start with strengthening my abilities first. Strong magical specialities are everything in Kaiden.'