"I found my parents, lying beside an altar."
Linda paused for a moment, her eyes pulling away from the book and settling on the black cat.
The feline remained stationary, as if its waiting for her response.
"...."
Linda wished she could ask questions eluding her to it, but its just an animal, unable to express itself through verbal communication.
Returning her gaze towards the entry. A sense of unease stirred within her—an apprehension for the future that awaited her as the successor of Selina's body
Nevertheless, she resumed:
"Along with the other townspeople that I knew. Their bodies mutilated, they surround the altar in a circle hidden beneath the manor.
All of them laid there, lifeless. Yet I saw them occupying each pew, including my parents.
They're all smiling, celebrating for my union..
I was unsettled, afraid, unable to continue the wedding, I ran from the gazes of the people, the replicas, inside of the church."
Linda felt her hair stand on end. Not only did "they" replace each and every one of people Selina knew and cared, they also used them as offering..
Determined to understand more of her situation, Linda turned the page onto the next.
This time, similar to the teared entry, it shows obvious markings of water with occasional smudges over the texts.
"March 15, 1349
It was difficult, I feel myself losing towards something I couldn't even be certain of. They're there, alive, yet I saw them lifeless beneath a bloody altar.
It took awhile before I recovered..
I saw both of my mother, and my father, leisurely resting inside the living room downstairs.
They're talking as if they're real...
If this is a nightmare, I want to wake up.. I want to wake up, I want to wake up, I want to wake up.
I want to see that is just a dream, that they're alive.. The 'true' them, the ones I'm familiar with."
Without realizing this, Linda's face began to form a cascade of tears. Flowing down from her delicate cheek and falling down from her soft chin.
Selina's emotions: doubt, confusion, fear, lost, and loneliness. They're flooding her like an upheaval waves of storm.
But Linda didn't falter, with her palm pressed against the dresser, she steadied herself, wiping the tears from her face. Quelling the strange and foreign emotions that are resurfacing within her, recognizing them as Selina, wanting to return, to go back where everything is what it used to be. Similarly to her.
"March 20, 1349
It seems I opened my heart to someone I couldn't even be able to look at. He's dirty, he's malicious, he hurts them! my family!
Why did I easily accept their marriage proposal? Was it because of its natural feeling? My parent's personal offering? Or was it... something else?
I ran from the manor, I thought there would be 'real' townspeople left of Milo, the ones I'm familiar with. So I yelled, I cried for help, yet they saw me as lunatic, a person drifting to insanity.
In the end, they ignored me..."
"April 3, 1349
I somehow forgotten the reason I suspected my engagement with Mr. Deimsfel.
But after reading my diary, I remembered it. I remembered how I saw the mutilated bodies of my parents and others. I don't want to forgive them! I can't forgive them!
Yet I didn't noticed that I somehow felt ease! Why!? I should depise them! I despised them with all my being!
I suspect this is the work of their abilities that seems to be related to psychologies, so for precautions, I will display the Selina they desire.. But deep inside, it will be the opposite. "
Psychology? Linda remembered the previous two individuals that displayed abilities capable of replicating appearances and the tattered clothing the girl hold that she used to make themselves disappear.
Was this another mystical artifact? she wondered, taking a mental note of the description before turning the page over.
"April 10, 1349
At a time I'm writing this, it is eight in the morning.
Yesterday was eight of April, yet for an inexplicable reason, I couldn't remember anything after.
All I could discern is a hazy dream-like memory, where I found myself lying on my back in an altar.
I was encircled by multiple people, all dressed in a brown robe. They were reciting a prayer, inaudible for myself to comprehend.
The next moment, I lose conscious, before meeting a woman dressed in a white robe amidst the dark. Her face is concealed but her mouth is revealed.
She is beautiful, she exudes the same presence of my mother. It felt like she was her, but not entirely. She pulled me into her arms, embracing me like a true mother. It felt like my eyes was forming a river of tear.
But it didn't last long, the world around us crumbled after. As we part, she let out a beautiful voice, saying, "My child... "
After that, I woke up and now I'm writing this... I don't know what it meant, but I wish to know.."
Linda traced the ends of the entry. With a heavy heart, she muttered internally, Selina.. you've gone through so much pain. In the end, you couldn't avenge them—I'm sorry.
A woman wearing white robe... I'll see what I can do, she silently added. Clenching her fingers tightly around the diary, before turning it over for its last two entry.
"May 1, 1349
I met a fateful encounter with a hooded man, he disclosed to me the existences of beyonders.
Capable of displaying incredible powers beyond human can compare. He informed me of them and how can I become like them. Maybe with this, my chances of escaping can truly be in reach!
I want to leave this place, I'm not strong enough, I want to escape, escape to Tingen, where I'm supposed to be after my parents promised me to go.
The hooded man bestowed to me a single formula, a hope!
I've got no where left to rely on... I will gather ingredients, just like what the note said. Wish me luck"
"June 27, 1349
I finally gathered the main ingredient and the supplementaries. It was somehow strange that those people, 'apart of them', didn't even bat an eye towards me, are they being careless? Well that's beneficial! I can finally leave this place!
Here is the potion formula before I concoct it:
Potion: Apothecary (Sequence 9)
Main Ingredient:
- A Horn of an adult Flying Unicorn
- 3 grams of a Royal Jellyfish's Venom Crystal
Supplementary Ingredients:
- 100 ml of pure water (distilled water)
- 14 ml of Runevega essential oil
- a few petals of a lavender flower
- 20 ml of a sundew drop
My memories are sharp, but mistakes can happen. The hooded man also informed me that unconsumed potions can fuse with the container so I will concoct it and immediately drink it.
He also warned me that If I'm not 'stable' I might 'lose control' I don't know what he means but I'll keep it in mind.
I-I'm a bit scared, but my hatred, my loneliness, fear, everything will change once I become a beyonder!.. Anyway wish me luck! I will make a new entry after I transitioned."
The last entry closed in a heavy felt.
The diary records the former Selina's experiences. Hatred, loneliness, lost, and despair. She was consumed by desperation, resulting in her blind attempt for fate.
"Is that why she mutated? She lost control upon drinking the potion?" Linda's head turned towards the black cat, remained rooted on top of the dresser.
Seems like it... Her thoughts responded to her own questions in behalf of the feline companion.
The cat remained silent, a statue observing a passerby. It then leaped out of the dresser, landing with a faint thud before striding off towards the open veiled windows.
Linda didn't stop it, she watched as the black feline rose onto the window's railings, before disappearing.