Alex looked around his surroundings.
He was standing at the main plaza of Frieden Academy. This place couldn’t be any more familiar, and yet, sothing felt amiss.
It was a very subtle feeling that made his senses tell him that sothing was definitely wrong.
He continued to look around him, looking for what made him feel that way.
It was then when it hit him.
There were no students around him.
It was too quiet for an academy with over a thousand students living inside it.
Feeling a sense of unease, he ran toward his dormitory to look for people. However, when he entered the common room, he found no one.
The buildings he passed along the way were also empty. Alex imdiately thought he was in a dream.
That was the only logical explanation he could think of.
If this wasn’t in a dream, then where was everyone?
The young man took a deep breath before pinching his arm. He pinched himself so hard that the pain he suddenly felt took him by surprise.
"I-It’s not a dream?!" Alex looked at his reddened arm in disbelief.
"This is a dream."
A voice spoke behind him, making the young man imdiately back away as he turned to look in the direction where a young lady smiled faintly at him.
This lady was soone whom Alex had spent his ti with. However, this was the first ti he was seeing her in a dream that felt so real.
"E-Efa?" Alex asked. He wanted to confirm if the lady he knew was really the one standing in front of him.
Efa didn’t reply. She only smiled faintly before walking toward Alex.
The young man didn’t feel any hostility coming from her, but he could feel a different kind of pressure.
A pressure from soone stronger than him. His expression turned solemn as soon as he felt it.
Efa stopped a ter away in front of Alex, looking at him with a calm gaze. It had been a while since they had seen each other, but she looked exactly like the young lady he parted with back then.
"Alex, don’t go to Hy-Brasil," Efa said. "You’re not ready to face the Hermit’s second challenge."
"What do you an?" Alex asked. "Hy-Brasil only appears once every seven years. If I don’t go there this year, then I will have to wait for another seven years. I can’t wait that long."
"I knew you would say that," Efa replied, her eyes narrowing a bit. "I will wait for you there, then."
"You will wait for there?"
"Mmm."
Alex frowned. He didn’t mind reuniting with Efa there. Yet, for so reason, the young lady in front of him and the person he knew... seed sohow different.
Her face, her voice, even the way she looked at him was just like Efa. But she felt different.
"Who are you?" Alex asked.
"I am Efa," Efa replied. "Just Efa."
The petite young lady with long blonde hair and green eyes smiled faintly at Alex. She was older than him by three to four years.
She reached out to him with her slender hand, touching the side of his face.
Her hand was soft and warm, which helped him calm down a bit.
"However, the two of us alone will not be able to overco the challenge," Efa stated. "At most, you will only have a small chance of survival. But if you bring the lady blessed by luck, that small chance of survival will increase."
"Efa, tell . What is this challenge about?" Alex asked while doing his best to calm his wildly beating heart. "What is waiting for in Hy-Brasil?"
The details of the Second Trial of the Hermit was actually a tightly guarded secret in ELO.
Alex only knew bits and pieces of information, as well as hidden clues about when and where the mysterious island would appear.
However, the trial in itself was still a complete mystery to him.
"I need to bring Astrea with ?" Alex asked.
"If you want to escape Hy-Brasil, then yes," Efa replied. "If you want to stay there forever, then you don’t have to bring her. I’ll keep you company for seven years."
The young lady made her words sound like a joke, but Alex could feel that she wasn’t joking.
"Efa, tell . Just who are you?" Alex asked.
The question that he really wanted to ask was, "What are you?" But he changed his question because he felt that he would regret asking that question for life.
"Efa," Efa replied. "Just Efa."
She then smiled sweetly before turning around to walk away. "I’ll see you in Hy-Brasil. Don’t forget to bring Astrea with you."
A mont later, the young lady transford into countless white feathers that were blown away by the wind, disappearing from Alex’s sight.
He then stood there, looking in a daze at the spot where Efa had vanished.
Just as he thought it was ti for him to finally wake up, he felt another presence behind him.
Alex slowly turned around and saw Latifa.
But it wasn’t the Latifa that he knew.
She looked exactly like her. Only a little older, perhaps in her early twenties.
The other thing that Alex noticed was the number of tails behind her back.
It was eight...
It was then when Alex’s gaze landed on one of Latifa’s tails.
There was a necklace tied on it, making it stand out from the rest of the eight tails.
A very familiar necklace.
It was a pendant that had a silver string, as well as a heart-shaped jewel at its center made of purple athyst.
A purple athyst ant spiritual protection, inner peace, and clarity of mind in the language of jewels.
It was the gift that Alex gave Lala before they bade goodbye to each other.
"You..." Alex didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt his anger surge from the very depths of his heart. "What did you do to Lala?!"
"She simply returned to her rightful place," Latifa answered calmly. "Did you forget? Lala is a part of ."
Alex knew that Latifa was telling the truth. All of her Alters were indeed a part of her, which was irrefutable.
However, this was different.
He didn’t know why it was different, but the sudden rage that took over his body made him summon his warhamr, charging at Latifa with a roar of rage.
As he did so, he rembered the last conversation he had with the little girl, who had called him Papa many tis.
————
"Papa... please live a happy life," Lala said softly as she hugged Alex one last ti. "That way, wherever I may be, I can be happy for you."
————
Latifa didn’t move away.
She simply stood there and waited for Alex to arrive.
She waited for the hamr that was blazing with flas and his fury to crash down on her without batting an eye.
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