PHASE 54 - A CHURCH TO BRING DOWN MY SANITY

It’s already nine, and we are still walking in the dark sidewalks of the street. Dradecim seemed like a ghost town already, and there are only a handful of people passing by. I haven’t even seen any cars on the highways yet for the past twenty minutes that we’ve been walking.

I don’t know why, but the more I venture forward, the creepier it gets. It also makes me a lot hungrier since I haven’t had my meals or snacks yet. Jeannette seems so eager to bring me to a place that only she knows. She’s been holding my hand for a long time now, and I can’t just let go. It seems so important.

“Here we are. Finally.”

Jeannette muttered as she released me from her grasps. I followed her eyesight and saw a rusty gate that leads to an uphill forest. At the arc of the gate is signage that reads Cathedral Exa.

Jeannette slowly opened the gate, which made the creaking sound. Then she continued to walk further and nodded at me, signaling that I should follow her. Creeped out, I shyly bowed and bumped my index fingers over and over, trying to provide all the excuses I can give.

“Uh, Necchan… I mean, Miss Jeannette Senpai… I don’t think they hold masses at this hour. And I’m not Catholic. I’m also a witch, so they might hang me to the gallows...”

“Stop being a scared pup, Tiara.” Jeannette made her disappointed face. “We should get going. Time is running out.”

“Auuuu…” I cried silently as I took a brand new step forward. I just hope there’s no ghosts or witchers around or I’ll be dead.

The uphill forest is not that vast. It just took us another ten minutes of walking until we finally reached our destination. There is a wide opening in the forest that gives out a group of small buildings and a church. The first thing that greeted us in this opening in the woods is a wide oval that has a fountain in its center.

The fountain is peculiar in shape, as it has a monument of a girl knight riding a dragon. It’s quite cool to see it even though there’s nothing but the moon illuminating it.

There are left and right rectangular two-story buildings that look like classrooms or dormitories of some sort. Right as of this moment, there’s no light on any of those buildings that looked so abandoned.

However, those things are not our destination. Our main destination is the small church that looks like it has been cleaned regularly. It is made of bricks and stones that made it look like a well-preserved medieval sanctuary. There are also lights coming from its windows, indicating that there is someone inside.

Jeannette pushed the giant wooden doors of the church, and surprisingly, it opened without much effort.

My eyes were filled with amazement when I saw the church. I don’t know if I have ever visited churches in the past timelines, but I know that this is my first time seeing it in this timeline. The lights are brightened by the creamy white paint of the inside. There is a golden altar at the center and a red carpet as a pathway to it. On both sides, there are rows and columns of long wooden chairs. There are also angel statues at the side of the walls.

“We’re here.” Jeannette wearingly said. “I’m sorry that I texted you this late.”

At the nearest set of pews, there are people sitting separately. They are girls that have some weird prana signatures.

The first girl who approached us is a short one, maybe one or two years younger than mine. She has this ash-grey color on her hair that is tied in a side fringe, and she’s wearing an outfit similar to a witch. She even has a black witch’s hat that made her look like a student from Hogwarts.

“Oh, so she really is here!” The witch girl said as she examined my very appearance. “She looks like someone I know though. Not just physically, but also spiritually.”

“Uh…” I kept my hands close on my chest. I’m quite shy in dealing with new people.

Good thing the witch girl noticed it, and then she jumped back. She offered her hand with an innocent smile.

“Oh, I’m sorry about my manners!” The witch girl said jollily. “My name is Zheastinaleoj De Meister! Nice to meet you!”

I confusingly cocked my head. “Zheaswsewsow Burger?”

“Ahahaha! I’m sorry if my name is hard to pronounce.” The witch knocked her head. “You can just call me Z. That’s what most people call me anyways.”

The second girl in the church finally approached me. Unlike the witch girl, there is something sassy aura on her. She is wearing a sparkling short white princess’s dress and thigh-high boots that twinkled with the light. She has long golden-brown hair that is wavy and set on a princess’s braid. She has pure blue eyes. She’s so pretty and attractive that I kind of doubt my femininity. Aside from that, she is holding a beautiful wand that has an orb in it.

“Ohoho, don’t make our guest nervous, Z.” She talked in a manner similar to a duchess. When she turned to me, her eyes gave off a royal presence. She genuflected shortly as she introduced herself. “My name is Guinevere Arcaliburn.”

“Ah!” I panicked and then bowed. “I-I’m Tiara Hikari, your royal highness Guinevere Arcaliburger!”

I saw the princess’s eyebrows twitch. Did I say something weird?

Meanwhile, Jeannette is just standing there in pure disappointment. She should have known that I’m too hungry to meet and memorize new people’s names. She just waved it off with a short facepalm and then started the main topic.

“You already know why I summoned you two here,” Jeannette said. “Z, Guinevere, this is the time of our uprising. Tiara has recovered some of her memories, which brings us to another phase of our plan.”

The witch Z and the princess Guinevere nodded in unison. Meanwhile, I am left in the dark with an “Eh?” expression.

“Now that the demigoddess has recovered her memories, we will not have to worry about the space-time continuum and intervention laws of this universe,” Z said.

“We’re not even sure if we can intervene or not. We outsiders might be erased out of existence if we do things carelessly. Good thing you have found your way to make her remember her memories.” Guinevere said.

“I did not do anything to recover her memories. She just needed a fateful encounter with a man.” Jeannette wearingly said.

I was completely lost. I had my eyes opened wide and my jaws hanging, which is a signal that my brain might explode at any moment. The princess Guinevere must have noticed it, so she talked to me in order to fill me up.

“Tiara Hikari, have you ever seen some weird flashbacks that never happened in the first place?”

“E-Eh?” I shrieked. “W-Well, maybe… I had some weird memory flashes earlier when I saved Rikkun… I mean, Mister Alaric.”

“That settles it.” Guinevere had this smile on her face. Suddenly she reached out her right hand and a white sword materialized. Her right hand glowed with blue cybernetic circuits that crawled until it reached the tip of her sword. Then she muttered with a sadistic smile: “Archonlight Set.”

“Kya!”

In an instant, the princess shoved the white glowing sword straight to my heart. A quick sensation of pain echoed on all my nerves! Blue circuits invaded my body until it tried to electrify my brain!

<>

A white flash blinded my eyes.

It just happened for a split second, but that time is more than enough for me to remember everything from the past timeline.

Images of my friends rotated inside my brain. All the moments that I have gone through came back.

However, there are some specific memories that made me remember the most. The first time Rikkun gave me my kiss; the time where we defeated Aeternos; the time where I confessed my love to Rikkun; the time when I was sealed to become the Frozen Soul; and the exact moment when the Necross Ascension happened.

I can remember it all now.

The memories of the previous timeline have now been recovered. It is true that the world got destroyed and Rikkun died.

It is also true that I used the to repeat and jumble the events of the previous timeline.

I can remember it all clearly as if it was yesterday, and all the events are just written at the back of my hand.

A white flash came back again to drive me to the real world.

<>

When I opened my eyes, I saw the three girls smiling at me. I first looked at my chest which appeared to be uninjured. I thought I just got stabbed but maybe that sword from the princess is just some sort of injection to recover my memories.

“You remember everything now?” Jeannette asked. She had her arms crossed.

“Y-Yes.” I nodded.

Suddenly, a thought made me gasp for panic. I looked at the witch girl named Z, and the princess named Guinevere. My eyes went round and wide as I realized one taboo thing that I have done. These two girls…

Guinevere Arcaliburn and Z are not supposed to be here in this book!

DID I MESS UP THE TIMELINE SO BAD!?