บท 6: Sleepless Night
Veronica's sleep wasn't the restful and invigorating one she hoped for. Instead it was filled with dreams, and they were very confusing.
She woke up on the ground in the nothingness of space. She stood up and instantly lost her sense of direction, somehow she was lying on the ground, but standing up seemed to confuse all her senses.
Looking around there was nothing just darkness, but not the darkness she had gotten used to. Not the darkness of the night or some cave, those times there was still light, it was only obscured. This was different, deeper, more ancient, eternal. This was the darkness of space. The space between galaxies or universes, when the stars are so far away that their light won't arrive to this place ever.
Somehow the feeling it gave her wasn't the scary one it should've been. It was more peaceful, like sleep or dying in your dreams. No suffering, just tranquility. What did cause a bit of confusion in her was that it seemed familiar.
There was nothing here so that didn't cause the feeling of recognition, but the peacefulness... She had felt it before. She felt it a long time ago and yesterday, she just couldn't remember, there was something blocking the memory, her own brain.
The knowledge might have been dangerous in some way for her mental wellbeing, so her mind took preventative measures and blocked it out. Realizing this she stopped trying to remember and instead just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
After an unknown amount of time something changed, a ripple went through reality itself. Something was coming in her direction, whatever it was it gave off an even stronger feeling of familiarity, but before she could glimpse at it the world shattered.
...
Veronica stood on a street and before her was a building. Something was special about the building. She soon found the source of the problem... It wasn't real.
At least in the usual sense of reality, it felt more like an imagined building. Everything was just a little bit off. It's roof was a bit sloping to one side, the door was just a bit off centered, one of the double door was just a little bit wider than the other. There was no sign on it or anything, but she knew what it was...
A Theater.
When she decided to approach it, reality shattered again.
...
This time she woke up in the same alley, but she wasn't the one stabbed. Instead she was holding a knife, the blood of the woman she stabbed was staining her hand. She felt happy, like she had done something that was in the making for hundreds of years. She released the knife and backed away from the corpse. Only now did she realize that the corpse looked different from her.
She was still a woman, but with a fuller figure. The dress was the same also, but unlike on Veronica, it looked perfect on her, like it was made for the woman on the ground. Her features were a bit blurry, but she could make out the black hair that was way longer than Veronica's and the eyes that were golden. Her facial features were also a lot different, but she couldn't make it out. Only now did she notice that the blurriness just kept increasing.
The corpse kept becoming more ethereal until there was nothing left of her only a foggy mess of colors. Those colors moved, they intertwined and changed. The movement kept increasing in speed, it felt like the colors were dancing to some soundless music. They moved faster and faster until they blended together and became pure white. Then it became pink with a hint of orange and rainbow.
The colors slowly dissipated, until the woman's corpse could be seen again. The only problem was that the corpse changed and Veronica was lying in her stead.
Seeing herself caused even bigger sense of accomplishment to ignite in her body. She began to laugh hysterically, but also soundlessly. There was only one thought in her mind.
'It finally begins!'
The world fell apart once more.
...
This time she woke up closer to the Theater's door, but when she tried to approach it nothing happened. She was walking, running, sprinting toward the weird double doors, but it never came any closer to her.
Seemed like the Theater didn't want to be approached, but it kept teasing her with its presence. Like a beautiful dancer, you can only watch it from the audience, but you won't be able to actually get near.
'What a weird metaphor, why would I think about something like that? Wait... why can I think again?'
Throughout the surreal dreams her inner monologue stopped, which she didn't notice. Now on the other hand since it returned she realized it wasn't there before.
'Creepy, just like this whole experience. I hope this is just a strange fever dream caused by exhaustion and some mental remnant of the transmigration. I really don't want more of these.'
Veronica looked around the street on which the Theater stood, but there wasn't anything anywhere. It was like this part of the street and the Theater was everything here.
When she turned around the Theater was there. No matter how fast she moved it was always in front of her. Inviting her to run towards it, but not letting her reach it.
"You are very annoying I hope you know that!"
In the end she just tried to wake herself up. She pulled on her arm's skin, which didn't do much other than hurt a lot. Then she slapped herself hard as well and cursed her stupidity with teary eyes. After thinking a bit longer some weird feeling appeared in her and she knew how to wake up.
She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Weirdly enough this universe was based on different principles. You don't have to let your mind go, instead you take control of it and bring order to the chaos of your sense of self.
It took only moments until this world broke apart again.
...
Through her small window rays of sunshine were illuminating her whole tiny room.
Suddenly there was knocking on her door, she got out of bed and with a very sleepy face approached the door. The key turned in the lock and behind it a very concerned looking Suze was standing.
She was already fully dressed and ready for the day. On the other hand Veronica looked like she could pass out any minute. She looked her up and down a couple of times, then said, "Good Morning. There is water in the bath for you to clean yourself in, breakfast is at seven so be ready until then."
There was a very miniscule amount of pity in her voice, but she just turned and left. Veronica closed the door and sat down on the bed trying to gather her thoughts. Somewhere far away a bell sounded six times before falling silent.
'It is six in the morning, but the nearby Church of Time is always a couple minutes late so I should probably hurry. Did they give me a toothbrush and paste? If not I will ask Suze for one, thankfully the Free Cities have actual dental care and hygiene unlike the Outlands or some Islands.'
With these thoughts she was about to pick out a dress for the day, but soon she noticed something. Her knowledge relating to this world seemed bigger than yesterday. Like overnight she learned more... Or remembered. Suddenly she grew really excited and with this discovery she began to carefully look through her memories for any new information.
Soon other things resurfaced in her mind, like the language she was speaking. All this time she believed it was English, but as it turns out it was Dracish all along, the main tongue of the Dracon Empire.
Soon after the Dracon Empire's establishment, they turned into a world power and the best trading partner of the Free Cities. In the 5th Era year 981, the Free Cities adopted the Dracish language for better communication during trades.
She also remembered the current year which is 1304 of the 5th Era and today is september 2nd wednesday. She also remembered some amount of historical knowledge and a bit of linguistics, but they still seemed foggy.
'Okay I don't remember much, but this is progress. Maybe I will start actually remembering who this woman was before I took her body.'
But Veronica had a suspicion that it is not the case. In her dreams something way more mysterious and strange thing happened. She wasn't even technically in the woman's body, she was in her own.
With a big sigh she stood up and looked through the wardrobe. She had 4 dresses five if she counted the one from yesterday. From her memories she gained some material knowledge, for example she could judge the cost of these dresses and a lot of other prices.
She also realized something else, her salary was way too high. For a normal barmaid the amount paid was below 1 gelt with accommodations, or around 15 eura without a place to live. Hers was double that and with accommodation, even for the finest inns that was way too much.
'Something is not right here, if I had to guess it has to do with the basement... Anyway, I don't care, the pay is great and I got a roof over my head. That is good enough for me!'
With that she brought out a brown dress, it was plain with no embroidery or anything luxurious, but the colors were still amazing on it. Light brown with dark undertones on the waist and chest area. She also took an undergarment, then put on a robe and left the room.
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