He seemed tall and had white hair and I could tell he haf some good physique too. He was not dressed appropriately for this timeline. He was wearing a 21st century white colored Suit. If anyone saw him like this they'd think he's weird. Did he not have enough time to arrange clothing according to this timeline? Wait that's not the issue here.
I overcame the shock pretty quickly and my nerves calmed soon enough. I didn't want to waste any time so I got straight to the point. "It was you that night, wasn't it?" He gave an expression like I was asking something obvious after hearing that question. Well obvious or not I needed to confirm whether it was him or not. "Yes" He said in a calm tone. "And?" I edged him to talk to more and give me any further explaination regarding that incident like how does he know me and how can he also travel between timelines wait- my eyes turned wide in realization.
"How did you manage to travel between timelines with the same body?" I asked in a bewildered manner but I couldn't care less about how I sounded or seemed at that point. He raised an eyebrow at that "right, you don't know yet" he said and sighed. I gave him a look of "go-on"
"I can also travel between timelines as you might have guessed" He said looking at me and searching for any sign of agreement. I just nodded my head. "And as far as I know you change bodies everytime you shift between timelines and can not control it?" I nodded again at that. "Are you telling me you can control it?" I asked with a suspicious look on my face. "Yes" My eyes went wide when he said that despite all effort of trying not to be shocked.
"Wait how is that-" I was in middle of finishing the statement until I saw someone arrive at my window.... Again. "You do know we dont have all night for this don't you?" It was a woman's voice sounding like she was in her 20s. First this guy now some woman? I turned around to look at the woman. She had long blonde hair and her facial features were very sharp giving an overall feirce look to her appearance. She was wearing an armour which is weird considering this guy here was wearing a 21st century suit.
"Oh this one is a pretty little thing isn't she?" She walked towards me scanning me from head to toe. What I was not expecting was her lifting my chin and taking a good look at my face. I'm not used to such things so I moved her hand away with disinterest. I turned around to look at him "is she with you?" I asked him but he seemed rather annoyed by her interference. "Yes, she's one of my companions" He said in an irritated tone. "One of your companions? Does that mean there are more?" I asked again. He opened his mouth to respond but the woman cheerfully wrapped her hand around my shoulder and said "oh yeah we're a bunch and you're gonna fit right in with us" while winking at me. Okay she seems friendly and nice. Whereas this guy....
"Fit right in? Where and for what?" Gosh I have so many questions but will these people answer honestly? She handed me a paper and climbed on the window again as if to leave. "Sorry sweetheart, we don't have much time today to explain anything in detail but if you wanna know more you can always visit us there" She pointed towards the paper in my hand and winked at me before leaving.
She is rather....peculiar.
I turned towards the guy expecting some more explanation but of course he was ready to leave too. "Hey are you really gonna leave without answering any of my questions?" I asked now in an irritated tone because who are these people to just barge into my room, make me think I'm going to get my answers and leave without telling me anything? "Well you heard her" He looked at me in a rather disinterested manner actually he has been treating this whole thing like it's a bother since the beginning now that I think about it. I'm not sure I like this guy.
He didn't say anything after that and just left. Wait did these people just jump off 4th floor of the castle? I ran towards the window to find any sign of them but there was none. So they just vanished into thin air? Of course I'm not even surprised. Sometimes I think my life is a sci-fi or magical fantasy Novel but then the universe shows me it's more of a tragedy. I sighed and lied on my bed thinking about the events today. The shopping, the thugs, the lecture from the prince, then this, it really has been a long day. I rolled to the other side of bed and slept while hugging the pillow.
The next day was calmer than expected, I did the morning routine peacefully and there was no one nagging me around which is strange because I was expecting Elias to take some actions against me after how much of a disappointment he showed towards me yesterday but I assume he has some duties as the crown prince and can't just be bothered with me all the time.
I remembered the events of last night and looked over the paper that woman gave me before leaving. It was an address to a bar, now that's an issue. I already caused some trouble yesterday so I can't be seen in a bar immediately after causing some trouble. I have to lay low for a few days but I neither do I have patience and nor time to lay low. I have to visit them today at all costs but how? I'm sure Elias wouldn't allow me a carriage for a few days since he clearly said I'm grounded for a month. And I can not afford to wait that long. It's clear as a day then. I need to sneak out tonight without anyone noticing, consequences be damned.
Soon enough it was the night time. I had dinner with Ursula and she talked about some book that she was reading. if I'm being honest having her around is nice. She provides a lot of comfort in this strange place.
For some reason Brigitte had a cloak hidden in her closet. I guess the little princess was also rather sneaky. "Thank you Brigitte" I whispered while looking at the cloak. It was a little dirty but beggars can't be choosers now can they? I put the cloak on and also used a scarf to cover half of my face just in case. Now from Brigitte's memories I can tell she did use to sneak out time to time but the parts of how and from where are a little blurry in the memory so I can't really tell. I just wish I had that body of a Ninja which I possessed in one of the timelines but being realistic I don't have the body right now so I'll have to get past the guards more cleverly.
It took an hour to finally make it out of the castle. Although I had to knock out a guard because he got suspicious and almost caught me. I feel bad about that but some things are necessary to be done. I roamed around the streets trying to grab as less attention as I can. It was late so there were very few people, only some drunkards here and there which can't be good but I did bring my knife and Brigitte's body is trained enough so it should be fine. I was about to turn towards the alley where the bar was located untile someone grabbed my cloak from behind. "Hey where do you think you're going" It was a drunkard and I'm not even surprised I expected something like this to happen but man it's such a bother at this point. Can I just have one uneventful day? Of course not. Luck is never on my side is it? I turned to look at the drunkard, it was some man in his 40s drunk out of his mind. Good lord. I reached my pocket to grab the knife and was just about to attack until someone hit him on his neck and knocked him out. It was the guy from yesterday. "Thank god, I didn't want it to get messy" I mumbled and looked at the knocked out guy on floor with disinterest.
"You can knock out people like you knocked that guard out. Why do you resort to the knife everytime something like this happens outside the castle?" He asked getting straight to the point.
"Well I- HOLD ON you saw me knocking out the guard and sneaking out? Not to mention the knife? Did you also see me yesterday dealing with the thugs?" Come to think of it the kid yesterday did mention that he saw a man with white hair.
"Yes I did" He said plainly. "And you couldn't help me out? " I said in an irritated tone because I was angry. "I just had to make sure you're alive that's all. I did not have to interefere as long as you were fine and handling stuff well" He said in his matter-of-fact tone. This guy just keeps getting insufferable but then again he doesn't owe me anything so I can't really be mad on any solid grounds but I still am.
"Where is the place?" I said keeping my irritation aiside. Like that woman said yesterday we don't have all night for this. I have to get back to the castle before morning or before any of the people notice my absence. "Follow me" He said taking the lead and I did follow him. We arrived at the place within few minutes. It wasn't far from that alley turn afterall.
As soon as I entered the place everything came to a halt and they all started looking at me like I'm some alien or something. There was a guy who seemed around 28 and had dark hair, there was also a teenage girl who had light brown hair and her brown eyes shone with excitement. Another kid who seemed around 12 or 13 looked disinterested. A man in his late 30s seemed to have stopped his drinking and was also looking at me like others.
"Come on guys you all are creeping her out" I turned to my left to the woman I met yesterday. The one with long blonde hair, blue eyes and had firece look to her facial features. She wasn't wearing the armour today. She was wearing a normal shirt and Pant with cowboy boots and her hair was in ponytail. She told everyone to not creep me out and tried create a cheerful environment there and it seemed to work.
She wrapped her one hand around my shoulder and said enthusiastically "let's introduce you to everyone here". She walked towards the bar and made me sit on one of the chairs. Everyone gathered around forming a half circle and looking at me with interest. Well at least some of them were. This felt kind of uncomfortable since I'm not used to social gatherings or meeting people or having any social interactions much. I needed a drink for this.
"Can I have a drink first please?" I asked in a normal tone not wanting to sound too nervous. I didn't expect so many people to be here and definitely didn't expect them to encircle me like this. This is getting too much for me. It would've been better if they made me fight someone or something. But socialising with so many people at same time is not my thing.
"No" The guy who brought me here said firmly denying my request. I got irritated at him again but I don't have energy to argue right now so I looked at the blonde woman hoping she'd take my side since she seemed rather friendly. "Sorry sweetheart but he's right. You're gonna have to be sober for all the information we're about to tell you" She said in an apologetic tone and of course I couldn't say anything to that. I sighed in defeat and said "fine"
"I have some questions as you might know from our yesterday meeting, I didn't get to ask them and didn't get a proper response to anything so I'd like it if we could clarify some things" I said in a monotone voice. "About that.... We'll get to that too of course but first we need to talk about something else and introduce you to everyone" The blonde woman said in her normal friendly tone.
"Introduction can wait, we need to explain the important things to her first, just like us she also doesn't have all night for this and judging from how she was struggling to sneak out today, I don't assume she can do it again tomorrow" The white hair guy said cutting the blonde woman off. I was NOT struggling to sneak out, I handled it pretty well but I don't want to argue so I let it slide. As much as I'm irritated by this guy, he was right we should get straight to the point. The blonde woman seemed like she was about to argue on that part so before she could say anything I opened my mouth and said "he's right, I don't have much time so I'd be grateful if we could get to the main topic. We can always get introduced later too, I assume we're all going to be in this timeline for a while aren't we?"
The blonde woman sighed in defeat and agreed to talk about the important topic here which is...
Just what exactly is going on with this timeline shifting thing