Chapter 2

Merry-Go-Round
a neverending story

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Her breaths came out heavy, her heart aching with sudden surprise. As a gland of sweat rolled down the temples of her cheeks, she glanced around, panicking. The mysterious male's footprints were still imprinted onto the muddy ground before her, tiny droplets of rain slowly collecting from the corners, creating puddles. With panting breaths, she chased after him, her feet stomping onto each of his footprints that were slowly fading away.

Soon enough, those footprints came to an end in front of a wooden house. In between the tiny cracks of woods, the reeking smell of harsh chemicals drifted out. She couldn't help but squinch her eyebrows together and pinch her nose to minimize the harsh odor that stinged the tip of her nostrils. She walked up to the front door, which was also created with wood. Grass and bushes have overtaken the corners and cracks, the house somewhat resembling a mythical house in an abandoned forest. She carefully knocked three times, the sound of tapping echoing loudly. From the inside, the sound of objects falling down to the ground was heard, as if someone was rushing to reach the front door. Surprised, Aisha took a step back. Then all of a sudden, the door busted open, revealing the same mysterious man with the same silver hair. His dull eyes quickly transitioned into a revealing purple one as it widened, from seeing the sight of Aisha.

"Ai― Aisha?" he stammered in surprise, yet it only left Aisha to be further confused.

"...Yes," she hesitated, puzzled.

"You― you're alive?" he asked once again, his voice shaking.

She nodded, hesitating once again, feeling even more puzzled. She did not question his question, in fact, she would've acted in a similar way. The man saw the tombstone and even left flowers on top. To anyone's eyes, even with her own eyes, she would be considered dead. It's shocking to see her, breathing again, moving again, and talking again.

"Are you a… ghost…?" he asked in disbelief. How shocked he must be, to even ask such a question.

"No… I don't think so," she replied. Even though she couldn't exactly define her current being, she knew for sure, that she was not a ghost.

The male peaked his out the front door, droplets dropping on top of his hair. He glanced around, making sure no one was near the house.

"Let's talk inside," he said as he watched her dampened hair and her clothings soaked with rain. Aisha followed the man inside, the feeling of warmth and coziness drifting toward and surrounding her. The house was somewhat small, filled with various objects. There was multiple beakers filled with colorful chemicals, which was the source of the reeking smell. There was also multiple papers, ripped out from journal books with written words and magic circles that couldn't be comprehended. The entire wall and flooring was made with wood, as if the man himself built the house. Every corner, there was an object. It may seem as if it was messy, yet it was rather welcoming. The male turned the corner of the hallway, which led to the main living room of the house. Aisha followed, until her eyes were automatically fixed onto one of the object. A picture, tiny picture, framed and placed on top of a table.

On the left was the silver haired male, smiling ever so brightly that it didn't even resemble his current self.

On the right was a violet haired female― which resembled Aisha, herself.

"...Is this me?" she asked as she grabbed the corner of the frame.

The male turned around, somewhat regretting the fact that he didn't hide the picture.

"Yeah," he replied hesitantly with a raspy voice almost like a whisper. "It's you, Aisha," he spoke softly, voice filled with despair.

She glanced up, puzzled at his saddened voice. Yet, he has already turned his back away from her vision. Trying to cheer the male up, Aisha gaped her lips and asked carefully,

"Would you mind telling me… about me and… you?" she stammered as she was hesitant. Their relationship seemed somewhat of a careful topic, yet she had to know who she was, and who he was— and he's the only person that can tell her that.

"You… were a magician," he started talking, his husky voice coming out raspier than usual.

"And I wa— am a scientist," he continued, fixing his words mid sentence.

"As you can see from the tombstone earlier… you died," his words drifted away, as if he was whispering.

"So… that's why I'm so confused as why you're… alive?" Aisha could see his pupils shaking as if he too, was confused about her being.

"I don't have any memories, I don't even remember how I died… I only know about myself," she whispered, saddened that she couldn't find the answer she wanted from the male. She glanced up, only to see a hint of devastation within the male's amethyst eyes.

His expression seemed to hold onto so many emotions that she could read, yet she could not read his thoughts— his thoughts of wanting to say that they were once lovers.

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Embracing her shivering body with a towel, she gladly accepted a cup of a hot tea the male handed over to her. The soothing scent of herbs gave off a refreshing yet cozy feeling as her cupped hands were immediately warmed. She took a quiet sip, slightly feeling a burning sensation on the tip of her tongue. The male slumped down on the other side of the table, on a worn-down sofa that shed couple of its leather-like material.

"So… what were we doing here? As a scientist and as a magician?" Aisha carefully spoke, wondering about herself and the scientist.

"We investigated about this town," he started, somewhat hesitant. "This town isn't necessarily a normal town as it seems. We spent about a year figuring out how this town works, but we only concluded that time and space is in distortion," he finished off, his words slowly drifting away.

"So I died in the process of investigating the town…," Aisha whispered, gaining hints that could possibly finish the puzzle.

"Yeah… there was a miscalculation from a magic you were wielding…," he said as he suddenly stood up from his seat. Aisha glanced up, her eyes following his movement. He walked over to one of the wooden bookshelves, shifting his finger from paper to paper, finding a worn-out brown book that read 'journal'. He strolled over to Aisha and handed her the unknown book.

"It's your journal," he said sternly. "You wrote all of your findings in there, even right before the moment you died,"

Aisha carefully opened the cover, the scent of old paper drifting up to her nose. She flipped a page, leading to the first day of her investigation. The paper felt rough in texture, it was surprising the journal was still in shape, preciously holding onto each of her past days.

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— Day 1 —

We arrived in the mysterious, unnamed town. Every villagers are welcoming and kind, yet there is something off. Couldn't figure out the secret of this town and why there are no travelers here. Was fortunate enough to buy a wooden house for a cheap price, a little worn-down, probably will start cleaning tomorrow.

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Aisha read in silence, focusing on her handwritten words, interpreting its meaning. Before she realized, she heard a clicking sound of the door closing, and the male has already left her to be by herself in middle of the living room. She took another sip of the tea, which have gotten lukewarm, yet she did not mind. Her mind was fully focused on the journal in front of her.

She flipped the page.

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— Day 2 —

The house is almost finished, which was built using my magic along with Add's engineering skills. It seems my magic works regularly and Add's chemicals are stable and unreactive with the environment, fortunately. Need to buy household items tomorrow, especially a clock— highly needed in this town that is apparently lost in time and space… haven't experienced any strange thing yet.

She flipped another.

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— Day 3 —

The house is completely finished. Not the best material but wood is sturdy enough. Went to a nearby store and they had only one clock in stock. Luckily, we were able to buy it… but the owner gave off a strange look… I will go back to the store tomorrow and ask him. Bad news is… we don't know what time it is to even change the time in our clock. Thank god the day is sunny, we were somewhat able to estimate the time based on the location of the sun and the shadows.

Another page.

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— Day 4 —

Today is weird… It was sunny yesterday, blazingly sunny. The cicadas were crying all throughout the day yet… it's snowing today. There's about an inch of snow piled upon the ground. It's chilly. I also "tried" to go to the store today. Another weird thing is that I forgot that my destination was the store while going there. It suddenly felt like my memory about the store was erased. Luckily, I bought this journal with me so I read the previous day and I was able to find out where I was going and why I was going. But when I arrived, there was nothing but grass, as if no building was placed there in the first place. Strange, perhaps this is a hint about the town. Weather and missing buildings. I wonder what's next?

It seemed as if the pen drifted off, the ink smearing at the edge. Then as Aisha moved onto the next word, the ink suddenly darkened. It seemed as if the "past" Aisha closed the journal after wondering about what the future could tell, but quickly reopened the book and wrote down once again, not caring about the pen that is holding onto too much ink.

The clock handles are gone.

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author's note:

hi everyoneeee! so sorry for the late update :c i've been so busy with school
and i probably won't get back to my "update-once-every-month" kind of schedule soon, or until the semester is over D:

i also deleted and rewrote many parts of this chapter which took me forever to actually finish the chapter.

but hope you guys enjoyed! please look forward to chapter three that will probably be updated next year...! sorry!