“My poor child!” The warmhearted woman caressed Aira’s cheeks, her hands trembling, afraid she would make the girl’s pain worse. “Just wait a little bit more! I will ask your father to let us move to another mansion again. It might take a while, but please endure,” she begged, her face wet from crying. Given that her eyes were swollen she must have cried for a long time.

The pain on the woman’s face moved Aira’s heart to the point that she could not help but wipe her tears, although she did not know who she was. When the warm tears washed her fingers, seeping pain through her skin, nothing seemed like a dream anymore.

“I’m sorry, but… can you tell me who you are and who I am? What is this place? What happened to me?” Aira asked one question after the other, removing her hand once there were no tears left to wipe.

“So, you don’t remember anything at all,” she said, pushing back her will to cry again.

“...” Aira confirmed by remaining silent.

The woman and her son exchanged sad and worried looks.

“Here! Sit down!” Adriel said, gently taking Aira and his mother to sit on the bed, carefully holding their hands as if not to break them, while he chose the old broken chair by the window, pulling it closer to the bed.

Aira kept looking at them without uttering a word, expecting only answers.

“I am Hestia, the second wife of Baron Windbloom and this is my first son and your older brother, although not by blood. You were adopted by the baron after your father, his younger brother…” she paused. “after he had passed away. The woman and the young boy you saw earlier are his first wife and the first son of the Windbloom family.”

“First son? How so?” Aira asked, looking at Adriel, perplexed. The young man looked obviously older.

“Because I am only the second wife, Adriel is the second son by status. Noah is the first son even if he is younger because he is born of the first wife.”

“This does not make sense at all. What stupid rule is this?” Aira thought.

“You fell from the balcony three days ago and hit your head. When you woke up, your memories were all gone. I asked your father to bring a better healer,” Hestia continued. “I’m sure you’ll get them back. You will need to be a little more patient.”

“Fell from the balcony? Did this girl from another dimension and I synchronize? We also have the same first name. Could this be a parallel world, I wonder?” Aira continued to talk in her head.

 “I’m sorry I’m late,” Adriel said once he noticed Aira was lost in thought.

“What…! What is this?” she asked, pulling herself back, startled by the sudden strange green light coming from his hand like thin threads floating in the air.

“Don’t be scared. You may not remember me, but I promise I will never harm you. Let me heal you. You are completely covered in bruises,” Adriel tried to reassure her.

“Is… Is this… magic?” she asked, then took his hand, inspecting it like a curious child, in awe for having seen magic with her own eyes. She never believed she would see it again, although the first time it was only in her dreams when she was still a child.

“Yes! I was blessed with healing magic by the great beings of Asteria,” Adriel replied, gently removing his hand from hers to recommence the healing. The playful green light threads enwrapped Aira’s body and soon her pain started to fade.

“Adriel is the first and only wielder of healing magic from his generation of the Windbloom family line,” Hestia spoke proudly, but with a slightly sad tone.

“Is that so?” Aira said, impressed. “Wait! What did you just say?”, she asked as soon as her brain finally processed everything they said.

“...?” Adrial looked at her with confusion drawn on his face.

“Did you say ‘Asteria’?” she asked.

“I did,” he answered.

“Then, … is this world called Oria?”

“Indeed. Do you remember?” Hope started to sparkle like stars in his eyes, thinking that recovering her memories might happen sooner than he anticipated.

“I… The names suddenly popped up in my mind.”

“That’s great! It means that you are recovering.”

“I guess so,” Aira replied, her mouth twitching in an awkward smile.

“So, I was right. This is the infamous transmigration I had read about. I must have ended up in one of my favorite novels. Is this the first book or ‘The Flower’s Tears’? Or maybe the third book? I don’t remember any characters by the last name of Windbloom. So, I either transmigrated as an extra, or a character in the latest work that I did not have a chance to read yet,” she contemplated.

“You need rest,” Hestia said, thinking that Aira might be tired from all that happened. “You’ve been through a lot these days. You should sleep. We will wake you up when it’s time for lunch.”

“Wait! I still have questions”, Aira begged, holding Hestia’s hand, unwilling to let go until she had obtained every information she needed to know.

“First, sleep, then we will answer all questions you have left in mind. Your recovery is more important now.”

Hestia kissed the girl on the forehead while Adriel covered her with a blanket, having finished healing her, and then they both left the room, leaving Aira behind, disappointed.

“How can I sleep now?” Aira screamed inside. She felt like a child, lured with candy, just to find out later that she would not receive it.

 “I guess I have no choice. Paper. I need some paper,” she said, jumping up, and looking through the drawer near her bed. “Found it!” she exclaimed, happy that she also found a pen.

She then proceeded to note down all she remembered from her favorite author’s works.

“Let’s see! Oria is the name of this world and Asteria is the Divine Realm. Adriel is a mage, but he is not mentioned in any of the two works I read, nor is the name Windbloom. Argh! If only I checked the last book one time. I need more information to figure out where I am and at what point in time I was sent here?”

Author notes:

QUIZ:

What would you do if you ever met a mage?

A. Ask them to teach you how to make annoying people disappear.

B. Make them use their powers to reheat your food after it gets cold.

C. Use them as a shield in case you are attacked.