Indeed one night while I had been sleeping the words had begun rolling off my tongue they felt so natural. I knew that it was from a book that I had read many times. It didn’t really bother me, I was just so curious. Afterall I had more important things to do. I needed to deal with the purple-eyed lady before I could do much more. She was staying on a raft somewhere and she had agreed to visiting me. I doubted that she would ever come back but here she is right now standing in my favorite room. The library. I read somewhere in here about stuff that helped you go to sleep.
“To have this many books, I’m not much of a reader myself yet if I had a place like this I would be in it all the time.” Mauj, that was her name, no one ever mentioned it yet it sort of just popped out. They felt so natural with such a flow I assumed that I was correct, until she confirmed. She sat down in my favorite chair unaware of just how much I valued it. I wanted to sit there while explaining my library.
“It’s a very fascinating place. It seems that any book that I want to read is always here. I have some books here that can definitely help you. In fact you should have a variety of methods to choose from to cure your insomnia, by the way I actually read that out of a book which is why I know what it is, pretty cool, right. I learned everything I know from books, if you aren’t a reader then you should really read more often. You’d be really surprised by all the cool things you can learn from them.” To think a kid would be the one giving her lecture, well I would give her a lot of those from now on. It’s not that I’m good at lectures, I just always have more stuff to say, always more stuff to say. Too many words.
“About that, do you think there’s some kind of magical component? I'm not superstitious but Mistress Reflection sent me here for a reason, not just because something in a book could help, now I see that there is probably something that she wanted to let me know.” Mauj sprung out of her chair which meant that it was my chance to reclaim my throne. I read it in a book once and I think it applies to this situation. So I slid under her and sat down comfortably in my chair.
“Mauj, patience I’ll tell you everything when time comes, all you need to know for now is- wait a minute did you mention the Mistress.” That part completely flew over my head. I was so focused on reclaiming my throne I didn’t actually notice that Mauj had mentioned her, that is until my psychic subconscious told me that she had told me.
“Yes she was the one who sent me here, I thought that she would have told you.” Mauj looked back to find that I had taken her seat, for the fact that I was a child she didn’t argue with me and simply scooched over to another seat. I don’t know why I have so many chairs. I really don’t need them. Well I supposed I always hoped that I would have a guest some day, and here they are right before me. I never thought this day would actually come so soon, that is.
"Nope we don't talk like that anymore. If that were the case she probably wanted me to tell you about the war. She's sworn to secrecy about it, however she is a world renowned history author. She knows it as though she was there. Where was that book that she gave me, or maybe she wants to test you to make sure that you’re worthy, I don’t know what she says but I’ve known you for like five days, that’s a while, right? “ It became hard to tell how much time had passed, I barely kept track, I didn’t think that there was a need to. Apparently there was a need to keep track of time, now at least.
“I suppose though- nevermind actually. So what do you mean about this war, I’ve never heard of it, well in the South we’ve had many small battles. Afterall we can be a bit of a warring nation, but it’s never actually deemed a war, sorry for too much information." Once we both settled down I prepared tea and cookies for her enjoyment. Though she was dumbfounded as to how I served them to her without moving a finger. She didn't speak on it, she just quietly murmured thank you.
"You're welcome, it's the one that you said you liked last time, it's jasmine with a hint of longan, it's good right, right?" I leaned over the arm of my chair and I felt like boasting about my great work, "I mixed them by myself you can't do too much otherwise it tastes like vomit, I learned that through various testing processes." I took a sip out of the tea. It was satisfying to know that it turned out perfectly. Then I devoured my cookies in only a moment's notice. Desert before dinner? I learned to be a self-disciplined child.
"Ah, it is quite the acquired taste but I enjoy it very much, it's better than preserved fish, the taste of fresh fruit is something new. That's what life on a raft does to you, I guess." She shrugged, I eat fresh food all the time. I couldn't imagine living on a raft out on the ocean, maybe out there on that tiny raft she was just as lonely as myself. I'm sure that she had someone out there, maybe I will soon.
"The war, let's take ourselves back roughly nine hundred years ago." I opened the book, I loved this story so much. " A powerful entity raged war on the creators of three dimensions to claim the uninhabitable fourth realm. Apparently they made an agreement to put it all to an end and then well, oh it appears that the book got messed up, but I just, I’m sorry, it looks like I’ll have to quote from memory.” I looked down at my beloved book, how could this happen? This was unexpected.
“ Oh wait, so there are more realms out there, this sounds like it’s beyond me, does anyone know about this, also why would the Mistress be sworn to secrecy on anything, and by whom? Actually now that I think about it, hmm, actually that makes a lot of sense. There was a war so they made an agreement that kept the entity away. So the souls lost in the war are rebelling causing all of my nightmares.” I would never know how she put one and two together but that’s just how the legend goes. I’m sure that she wouldn’t believe as not many people would but this realm is strange. “So if I learn how to possibly put them to rest then it’ll go away? Sounds far-fetched, but I’ll take it." So was that about what she wanted out of me. Her thoughts did seem to run off from place to place dragging speech along with them. Much like mine.
“Not exactly but that’s a start, it’s really complicated without the book it’s kind of hard to remember everything, especially since I didn’t think that it was all that important so I didn’t devote my memory. They used to be friends with this monster and all of the guardians, guardians are in the stars, I use my observatory to communicate with them. Sometimes they make the earth shake and if I don’t keep them company. Off-topic I’m sorry. Anyways the monster turned against the guardians to riot with some evil souls, in order to keep them at bay the powerful entity demanded help to banish the monster. So the creators of the realm made their deal. However when they didn’t keep their side of the deal, the powerful entity raged the war. It ended with the agreement as I said.” This was getting kind of boring just explaining it from memory, if I were to have it in front of me and read it that would be more interesting.
“So why does that change anything? All that means is that we were in the wrong for breaking the deal and now we are paying for it. Or more specifically I am. Well sorry to be so morbid it’s just that I haven’t slept in a week and all of this as I said before is beyond me. Why would the Mistress want me to know all of this, it’s meaningless to me?” I’m sure that she had come far and this wasn’t the answer that she had expected. It appeared that she didn’t understand.
“We didn’t keep our side of the deal because we were betrayed. The creator of the fourth universe went missing after that, nowhere to be seen. To this very day we are affected by her disappearance. Along with that they were unable to save those souls from the monster and they are tortured to this day. In addition to that all the terms were left secret so really we have no exact way of actually being able to fix anything. Everyone who does know is sworn to verbal secrecy and something tells me that this “The Author” person is going to be very hard to find, if they are even alive anymore” I closed the book, I’m sure that Mauj didn’t want to stay here for much longer but there wasn’t really much else that I could do. With a sigh I got up to put the book back where it belongs.
“To get another book or to find this Author, what do you think it would entail? If that really is the reason that I am having these nightmares, anything is worth a shot. Also it just occurred to me that it makes no sense that common history as such is so unknown.” Mauj scratched her chin, of course it didn’t make any sense. I thought that more people would know about it by now. Who else is sworn to secrecy, why are they sworn to secrecy, things were getting more interesting than I expected.
“You don’t want to try some home remedies that I can give first, they can be quite useful.” Not sure if she would trust me to that extent. Though she seemed very fast to trust me in my story, without even having a book to corroborate, I learned that word from a book. Going off of no information would be an insane gander, to start there, “that should be more of a last resort for sure.”
“You said you can talk to the guardians, in fact you have to otherwise ,they cause earthquakes. So why don’t you just ask them, surely these guardian star thingies will know the answer.” Mauj stood up from her seat, though I had no intent of stealing that other chair so…. she could keep it. I was rather scared to ask the guardians, they got angered easily to ask them such a provocative question would be stupid. Still she seemed so insistent, maybe I should ask them.
“I mean I could but, don’t you think that if they make the ground shake, they could do anything they want." I began to visit around with my fingers, I wasn't scared of them necessarily, it could just be noted that I held a great respect for my powerful acquaintances. It wasn’t that bad of an idea to be wary of those who are stronger than you especially when you have no one stronger than them on your side. “ Besides, what if they get angry that I told you something like that in the first place?”
“Told me what? A vague account of what you think you know, you said it’s in your, uhh, observatory, right? Just teach me how to communicate with them and I’ll do it for you. It’s all or nothing at this point right, I'm not leaving things half-finished.” Mauj’s suggestion wasn’t a terrible one and one that I wouldn’t mind following through with if it weren’t for the fact that it wouldn’t work. However Mauj seemed to have already coerced her deeper conscience into this long before.
“You need to go to Lily Pavilion first, they only expect people who have been to Lily Pavilion. Only then are they sure that they can actually trust you. I can take you there tomorrow, but technically I’m not allowed to bring anyone there. Oh I know, how about you ask for permission from the Mistress? Or we could try some of these simple remedies that might be able to help you, at least until they respond, that may take months depending on how much they like you. Usually I get answers pretty quick, that is if I didn’t annoy them somehow.” I, in a way, regretted ever telling her about all this stuff, it was nothing but more work for me, still I didn’t want to chase her away. I was accepting of her ideas but I had to be honest.
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“I’ll try your first broken remedy that will most likely prove to be useless. Sorry that sounded really cruel didn’t it, I’m so tired and very irritable.” Irritable that’s a word that I barely knew the meaning of but based on her current random outbursts of anger I’m guessing it’s a negative side effect of insomnia and sleep deprivation, especially since she used it next to irritable.
“It’s okay, it’s not the worst I’ve seen, plus I know that you have a reason. Let’s try this one alchemy is not my forte but if I start now it should be done, let’s see. A couple of hours, then you can go home and try it.” I began flipping through more books, scrolling through them until I finally found the one that I had in mind. It was true I was never talented in alchemy no matter how much I was taught from these books. Perhaps that skill is not one that is easily acquired. I wondered who would be able to teach me more about it if I wasn’t able to reach out to anyone.
“Thank you, some people are so judgemental." She shuddered as though recalling an awful experience or person. "This might seem a little off topic but when I was on my raft last night I was thinking to myself since I couldn't go to sleep, I was kind of thinking about how strange this place is to me. Well whatever you have prepared I'm sure you don't have to worry it'll work." If only she knew how often they didn't work. She picked a book out of my library, I couldn't explain why that one caught her eye. "Even if it doesn't work then we still have plenty of other things that you can try." She wasn't wrong. I had shelves of books on insomnia. Mauj waited patiently; she didn't seem to be interested in watching me. Though she did enjoy snooping around my library, looking behind books rather than looking through them. I was already observing a good amount of her behavior and it seemed as though she had already done likewise for me. Our conversations felt too natural not weirded out by each other's strange situations rather we were fascinated to uncover the unknown. An urge to expand our knowledge, that was the manner in which we conversed.
Inevitably she would return tomorrow after an earthquake had occurred and within the process we would come to the conclusion that it would be best to talk to the guardians. Soon enough she would be weirded out by all of my strange antics; it was all inevitable. It was also inevitable that I would never find the one who spoke those words to me. Why they rolled off my tongue with such familiarity with that person, without a doubt I could almost see their face.
Mauj returned to her small raft just on the lake outside of town late at night. The remedy that I had given her was clamped between her fingers. When she left a strange sense of something rushed over me. Never once had this treehouse seemed so empty. Mauj, the strange purple-eyed lady from the south.
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