"Hey, wake up. Don't sleep anymore."
A clear voice of a little girl urged, making her eyes open slightly.
The blue sky and tall weeds, sitting up and looking around, there was nothing but the sky and endless grass.
Where is this place anyway?
That was the question that popped up in her mind at this moment.
So her feet started walking aimlessly, although she didn't know where she was going, she only knew that it was better to walk than to stand here.
After walking for a long time, until she saw something in front of her, it was a large tree, the leaves were not the usual green color but were transparent leaves that sparkled under the light shining on them.
It was strange, such a large place with only one tree and not a single person, As I approached, I felt a chill
My hand unconsciously raised as if I wanted to touch it, but a snake appeared from nowhere and wrapped around my arm, then a few more snakes emerged from the water and wrapped around my whole body, pulling me down.
I struggled to escape from that bondage but couldn't.
A figure appeared before my eyes but didn't help, just stared at the other person being pulled down into the water.
"You're not enough to reach there yet"
_______
Alexis jerked awake from her sleep, she looked around and saw herself lying on the bed, her head was a bit hazy, she seemed to have dreamed something. It felt very real but what did she dream about in the end.
"Are you awake?"
The man with the owl's head walked into the room with a tea tray in his hand.
"How...?"- Alexis
"You're back here?"- Ved
Nodding, the owl-headed man placed the tea tray on the table beside him and poured tea into a cup, offering it to Alexis.
"Have a cup of tea to calm down, you're sweating too much."
Taking the cup of tea from him, Alexis drank it all in one gulp.
"Now tell me, do you remember anything?"- Ved
Taking the empty cup of tea from Alexis and pouring another cup of tea.
"I don't remember very well...when I was surrounded by that monster, I drew the card..."- Alexis
"And then what happened?"- Ved
"After that..."- Alexis
Suddenly, memories flashed through her mind. Alexis trembled slightly, she didn't know why, she couldn't remember anything.
The memories were mixed together in a jumble, unclear, then that figure looked at her with no expression but emptiness.
*Crack*
The sound of the teacup cracking woke Alexis up, she looked down and saw that the handle of the teacup had been broken, making her confused and not understand what had just happened.
"It seems that the mission just now was too much for you, we should have given you a small level like CATR (Certified Apprentice Tarot Reader). We sincerely apologize for our mistake" - Ved
The owl man replaced the teacup with a new one and gently adjusted the blanket for the girl.
"Now you should rest well" - Ved
Before the man left, Alexis immediately said a sentence that made the man stop.
"Sorry for not doing my job"- Alexis felt aggrieved
Ved's eyes turned to the girl lying on the bed and spoke in a stiff voice with a hint of comfort
"It's okay, everyone fails the first time"- Ved
After saying that, the owl man picked up the broken teacup and walked out of the dining room, used a towel to put the broken teacup in the towel, wrapped it up and threw it in the trash.
"What a strange brat, I never thought she would use such a fake trick"- Vex
The owl-headed man turned around and saw Vex sitting on the chair, a rather large wound on his body from his shoulder to his stomach was bandaged, Ved didn't say anything but helped the other man bandage the wound.
"She's not pretending, she really doesn't know"- Ved
"What do you mean? Is there something inside that's using her body to do things?"- Vex
The owl man calmly poured tea and gently placed it on the table for Vex
"There are some people who, due to their psychology, create another personality to protect themselves, that is the scientific way, some people have a soul inside them, that is the spiritual way"- Ved
"I have met both types a lot"- Vex
The owl man glanced at the glass bottle containing wine, inside of which was a giant snake soaked
"But in the case of Ouroboros, it is...different. The soul will never die, but will last for a long time... a very long time"- Ved
_______
After resting, Alexis was allowed to return home, now her parents must be worried because she disappeared without saying anything. But Ved said that they had solved that problem so she did not need to worry.
While waiting for the car, suddenly a strong force hit her shoulder.
"Hey, Alexis"
The person who called her was none other than Lyra, the girl had bandaged wounds on her body.
"Lyra, what are those wounds?"- Alexis
"Oh, these? They're just injuries from the mission. How about you? Are you injured anywhere?"- Lyra
Lyra's concerned question made Alexis shake her head slightly.
"I'm fine, just a little injured"- Alexis
"It's good that you're fine. Honestly, you've only just been assigned your first mission and you're already injured like that, don't you think they're too much?"- Lyra pouted
It's true that Alexis's first mission was a bit too much for her, scary and unexpected, but it made her feel strangely excited.
"Hey, I heard you went on a mission, how do you feel? Are you scared?"- Lyra
"A little, I don't know...."- Alexis hesitated
"Everyone is like that, they all make mistakes when working with others. Like me, I still remember when I worked with someone other than Brother Ryu, she was a half-fairy and extremely unpleasant. Relying on the fact that she was Brother Ryu's girlfriend, she always made others do this and that"- Lyra
'Brother Ryu's girlfriend....is it Fita? Do these two have personal problems?'- Alexis thought
"That's right, Brother Ryu told me to bring you here. Just in time, the car to take us here"- Lyra
Lyra said then grabbed Alexis's hand and pulled her into the car, before Alexis could say anything, the girl changed the direction. Instead of going home, the place she went to was quite close to the train tracks, opposite the tracks was a park with a very large lake, stopping in front of a large alley, the two got off the car after Alexis paid the driver and saw Lyra had gone ahead.
She hurriedly followed, the path into the alley became narrower and darker. In a corner of the alley was a wooden door with beautiful antique motifs, on the sign was a black crow's head holding a black ring on the crow was a sign that said "Open".
"What is this place?"- Alexis
"Brother Ryu said that you should also have a weapon for self-defense so he asked me to lead you here. This place has the things we need. Let's go inside quickly"- Lyra
The girl didn't knock on the door but turned the doorknob to rush in but strangely the door wouldn't open, she tried turning it again but it still wouldn't open.
"What's going on, is this how they treats guests?"- Lyra muttered
"Maybe we should come later, otherwise people will think we're breaking in"- Alexis
"Those two people in there never leave this place. Unless they don't like receiving guests"- Lyra
Slamming the door, Lyra called out in annoyance.
"Hey! I know you two are in there, I need your help!"- Lyra
Knocking and banging made the door ring loudly but there seemed to be no response from inside. Lyra immediately took out the deck of cards to force the door open but Alexis stopped her.
"Maybe we should be more polite?"- Alexis
Alexis reached out to grab the ring on the crow's mouth and knocked lightly on the door twice.
Still silent, the two girls looked at each other when suddenly the door slowly opened, making a creaking sound