Boreas Zephyrine had been beautiful. That is, if the word ‘beautiful’ can be used to describe men. He had sweet and feminine features, despite his aquiline nose. His yellow eyes resembled Tsisana’s, but were much softer. Just by looking at his painting, one would think that Boreas had never suffered a day in his life. His face was the perfect depiction of “peaceful”.

I held his picture in my hands, and could not help but think Yue took after his father. Tsisana, on the other hand, always had this expressionless look on her face, as if she was not really living in the physical world. She seemed detached from reality. Besides her yellow eyes, she did not look very much like Boreas.

As I contemplated Boreas Zephyrine’s beauty, I nearly forgot what had happened just a moment ago. It was as if the painting had enchanted me, and I completely ceased to think of the conflicting emotions I was feeling. The mysterious voice, however, called me to my senses as they spoke:

“Hello! Sena, are you there?”

For a moment, I was shocked to hear my real name being pronounced, and was half sure I was going insane. Nonetheless, I shyly whispered a “hello” back. Even if I was talking to the voices in my head, I thought I ought to be polite.

At that moment, what I thought was a person materialised in front of me. They certainly looked human, and seemed to have all of their organs in the right places. They had a masculine look and were handsome. Their hair was short and green, but of a darker tone, like olives. The eyes were of the same colour, and they wore strange yet beautiful blue clothes. 

I looked at them in awe. What was most surprising to me was how familiar they felt. I was certain I had never met such an individual before, neither as Sena nor Tsisana. I thought that if I had met someone so beautiful, I would surely remember. However, that was not the case. Strangely enough, as much as their appearance confused me, I was also certain they would not harm me in any way. 

“Can you see me?”, they asked.

“Yes, I can”.

A few moments passed without either of us saying anything. I believe they were trying to take the situation in, as much as I was. I felt their eyes on me and blushed. This was not my body, but for the first time since I had possessed it I felt I was part of it. 

They smiled upon seeing me blush.

“Do you like how I look?”, they questioned playfully. “Of course you do, how could you not?”

What was that person? Why did they speak so casually to me? Upon closer inspection, I could not help but notice how tall and strong they were. I let out a sigh, because they were right in thinking I liked how they looked.

“Well, first things first. Let’s put that painting back on the wall, shall we?”

I silently agreed by moving my head up and down. They waved their left hand and I felt a sudden rush of wind around the frame. The painting was up in the air without anyone holding onto it, and was quickly returned to its rightful place.

They sat down on a nearby armchair and crossed their legs. At that point, I was beginning to feel annoyed at how familiar they seemed to be with everything. It was as if they owned the place! They made a gesture that indicated I should sit down on the sofa in front of them, so I did.

“You don’t remember me, right?”, they inquired with a somewhat sad look.

“No, I don’t. I am sorry, but I have no idea who you are”.

“That’s okay, I’m just happy you can see me at all”. I noticed that, although they smiled, it seemed a bit forced.

“What is your name? And what are you?”

“My name is Ari. I am the Spirit King of Wind”.

“The… what now?”

They cleared their throat and slowly repeated themselves, as if I was having a hard time understanding them.

“The Spirit King of Wind. A-R-I”.

For a moment, I felt as if I was having a conversation with one of my cats. If they could speak the language of humans, I was sure they would treat me as if I was utterly stupid. Just like this Ari spirit.

The concept of what a Spirit King was seemed foreign to me, but only for a moment. I recalled that, in the novel, Tsisana had the blessing of the Spirit King of Wind, which made her magic much more powerful than most people’s. However, they had never been described in the book. In fact, you could not even call the Spirit King of Wind a side character, as they are only mentioned once in passing.

Why would the author fail to describe someone so handsome?

Ari cut my trail of useless thoughts, and confused me further:

“That is what I would like to say, but that’s only a half-truth”.

“Oh?”

“I am like you”.

“Like me? You mean you are a sword obsessed noble girl who has to take care of her little brother?”

They looked unimpressed, and ignored my comment.

“A dimensional traveller. A transmigrator, if you will. I crossed dimensions at the same time you did”.

“So… is this really another dimension? I mean… this is a completely different world and no one here seems to know of Earth’s existence…”

“Right… there was no way you could have confirmed what kind of place this is”.

“I could only conclude this is the world of a novel. But even this is still a bit difficult to get my head around”.

“Well, that’s only natural. But when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, must be the truth. Who said that again?”.

“Holmes. Sherlock Holmes. Anyway… Care to explain yourself? How did you transmigrate? How do you even know this is a different dimension? And… were you also hit by that truck?”

“Nah… I didn’t die like you did, if that’s what you are worried about. When your soul left your body it was immediately transported to this place. Don’t ask me how or why, I wouldn’t know. I just tagged along because I was always around you back on Earth”.

“And why don’t I remember you?”

“Because you were unable to see me. I have been around though, since before you were even born”.

“That’s….”

“Creepy?”, they interrupted me.

“Yes, creepy… but you do look familiar. Were you some kind of ghost who haunted me?”

They burst out laughing.

“A ghost is… close enough I’d say. Remember when you were a kid and your grandma used to tell you to pray to your guardian angel? Well, that’s me”.

“Guardian angels actually exist? And you are mine?”

I was flabbergasted. As Sena, I received a Catholic education, but never thought much of it. Spiritual matters did not mean much to me, because it was not something I could ever find the right answer to. Unless I died. But even after my death, such questions were not answered. I just figured that, if I could not find the right answer for it, the problem was not worth my time. But now the Spirit King of Wind was in front of me, claiming to be my guardian angel. The situation made no sense whatsoever, so I decided to take Holmes’s words to heart.

“However… things don’t work like you probably think they do. I’d be around you most of the time and tried to protect you, but you can never help someone who does not wish to be helped. If that was the case, people wouldn’t suffer”.

“I see… Well, I can agree with that much. Can’t help the helpless, can you?”

It was sudden, but our conversation was interrupted by a soft knock on the door, followed by a simple question:

“My Lady, is everything alright?”