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"If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." —Romans 14:8
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THE SUN was starting to hide from the sky, the breeze of the air was cooling, the leaves hanging on the branches of the trees planted around to produce shades were dancing with the wind, and there was her servant, Emily, trying to scare her with her story and her way of speaking—which failed. She was not someone who gets easily scared at things like myths, especially with spirits since she lived a life like a human grim reaper in the past. How could she be scared if she was the one who took tainted souls in the past?
"Enough with the exaggerated tone, Emily. You're making it look like a funny story to me instead of something horrifying."
Her servant awkwardly glanced at her before she faked a cough and started telling the story in her normal voice.
"Well, there was a scary myth I heard from the other servants, my lady. They said that recently, an unusually tall lady with extremely pale skin and long white hair reaching the floor is always seen in the middle of the forest, waving her thin hands weakly as if she was welcoming the people," Emily said as she focused her eyes in front.
Lantana listened carefully, hoping Emily's story would soothe her boredom.
"Usually, people would see her with her hair covering her face, that's why they would immediately stop what they are doing and immediately dash off in terror upon discovering that the myth wasn't just a myth but some said, a few groups of people were able to see her and they said that she was very pretty! Just that… After they tried to hold her hands, their touch passed through her body." Emily acted extremely spooked after speaking as her expression crumpled and complexion changed while shaking her head.
"Is she prettier than me?" Lantana said while laughing.
"No! Definitely not, my lady, although I haven't seen her myself! There is no one in the world who can rival your beauty, my lady!"
Lantana chuckled upon hearing her servant's defensive reply to her but smiled a little in the end because of her flattery and interesting words. Of course there would absolutely be no one who could rival the face that she had right now. She didn't think anyone could still compete with her perfect face, as if favored by the god of her current world.
Nevertheless, she didn't really find the story spooky. She was more intrigued with it but she was not scared at all. Instead, she was curious as to why people who go there would see someone inside that forest, specifically, a lone girl, who cannot be touched.
The Blue Mountain Forest was a property of the Montgomery duchy. It was behind the duke's mansion and it was under Penelope's name, something that she got when she was twelve. It had shortcut routes that could make travelling outside the estates happen faster. That was the reason why the other servants used it since it was because of its convenience as it was not entirely closed to people, just restricted to people that were not to the duke's people. But, how could the servants find someone there who is not from the duchy? Staying there even. There were not many resources in it so how could that woman that Emily was talking about live and be seen by people from different ages?
From Penelope's memories, that place had nothing but a beautiful waterfall that was connected to a very dark cave. Food? Nah. There was nothing that could be eaten there. That was why when the original still had a better mentality and was able to have a picnic there with her father, they had to bring food every time in a large basket.
"Well, that's a really interesting story. Should we try to go there sometimes?" Lantana said as she looked down to meet Emily's sight.
"No! Definitely not, my lady! Although we are not certain about the woman appearing in the forest, it's still too risky for us to go there, especially since it's a place filled with dangerous beasts."
Lantana laughed out loud at Emily's sudden turn because of her playful words. From being like a scared cat to acting like a tiger was truly funny to her.
Hah. Who knew she'd end up entering that forest one day?
IT WAS supposed to be another peaceful day in the Montgomery Dukedom. Not until Lantana's boredom took a different turn which resulted in her having a small argument with the duke. The reason for it was because she suddenly wanted to practice using a sword.
However, the cause of the duke's anger at her was not because of it, it was because she suddenly went to the place where Siegrain and the other knights were training, and took the sword of the resting Arthur which caused a ruckus to the whole place that almost shook the whole mansion.
How did the duke find out if he was not there? From that moment, Lantana knew that the duke sent people to follow her everywhere. As a result, Lantana also became mad and even exceeded her father's anger.
Due to her annoyance at his father's over reaction and the fact that there was someone tailing her without her knowledge, she went to the infamous Blue Mountain Forest without anyone's knowledge and roamed there with no point of destination until she didn't realize that she already reached the waterfall that she had seen in Penelope's memory.
Her jaw immediately dropped as her eyes protruded in both shock and awe the moment she had seen it real close. Words were not enough to describe the place. Her being there felt like she was suddenly in a different place. As if she was in a sacred place that no mortal was supposed to enter. As if she was in the Garden of Eden that her grandmother used to vividly describe to her where the word beauty was an underestimation to describe everything that her eyes were seeing.
"Man… I can live here forever…" she uttered with her eyes sparkling brightly.
"Hey! Hey! Did you hear that? That person said she could live here forever," a high toned voice said in a gossiping way as the owner of it poked the other being beside her.
"Definitely! If only she knew how boring it is to stay here. Hah! I miss our home…" the other being said exasperatedly as he looked at Lantana with his small hands under his chin.
"Hey, Abel. Is it just me or is this girl really not moving?" the girlish voice said as she playfully walked behind Lantana.
"Nah. You're not wrong, Cane. She's really standing there like a statue. I wonder why?" the boyish voice replied as he tilted his head in wonder.
Lantana, who was busy admiring her newly discovered scenery, was taken aback upon hearing the two small voices of kids behind her.
Were there other people with her earlier?
Of course not! The place was a secret and inside the duke's place, and no one was allowed to enter the falls aside from the duke's blood so, who the heck did the voice belong to? Was what Emily told her real? Was there really a ghost in their manor? But she told her that it was a tall lady with white hair! How come the voices she heard were kid-like? Were there also kids spirits within their place that no one talked about yet? Why did they not tell her!?
With her body frozen in terror, protruding eyes, jaws dropped on the ground, and face as white as snow, she slowly turned her head back as if a rusty mechanical doll, only to jump in shock after seeing two kids staring intently at her.
"Hey, Cane. That person looked at us, right?" the boy said with his eyes rounded in surprise.
"Yes! Yes! She definitely looked at us!" the girl said with a loud, thrilled voice.
After that, she turned her head back with widened eyes and heart beating so loudly as if any moment it could go out of her body. Not knowing what to do next, she inhaled a big amount of air in her lungs as she quickly looked back again. But her eyes found no one, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. However, when she turned her head back, the ones she wished to disappear from her eyes were already in front of her, floating!
"Ahhh!"
"Ahhh!"
As a loud shriek came out of her mouth, the kids also squealed in shock.
In a few milliseconds, Lantana felt her life flash in her mind. How she lived on earth from when she was an orphan up to the day she died pathetically because of her previous, literal partner in crime, and up to the latest moments she had when she lived as someone else in a world she barely knew.
'Maybe ghosts were real after all.' She should have listened to Emily.
'Am I dying again?' Lantana thought before she felt her world spinned and turned black as her body dropped on the ground.
"Abel! She fainted! She fainted! What should we do!? What should we do!?" Cane said in a loud voice with her hands placed both on her head.
"Don't panic, Cane! Don't panic!" Abel exclaimed with a shaky voice and watery eyes that revealed he was also panicking.
"But what should we do!? We can't directly touch her!" Cane screamed out in a tone as if she was about to cry.
"What if we ambush anyone from the place and ask for help?" Abel said, still nervous.
"But most people can't see us! They aren't spirits like us! How could they possibly help if they don't even know we need help!? Is there someone so special here that could touch us without a contract?" Cane cried out.
"Then I don't know what to do anymore!" Abel, flustered, joined his sister, crying so loudly in the earlier peaceful paradise that Lantana just discovered.