~ White Mist, Red Strings and Shallow Water - III ~

Turns out, I was in a world which looked like some fantasy setting, with the local region being mostly a copy of Chinese terrain.

The towering mountain pillars, each hundreds of feet tall, covered in a lush green foliage, were surrounding the small cottage that sat at the foot of the tallest pillar. This small cottage logically shouldn't be build right under a steep mountain, but the senior told me it was safe to stay here and I had been staying here since I entered the sect which was years ago.

Some part of me was jealous of how lucky the 'other Raven' had been to have a land in the middle of such abundant green landscape, yet it also must have been difficult living here everyday with ancient chores and techniques. Like even the water had to be fetched from a well.

They called this area, Zor En. Weird name but since this wasn't earth... I could understand the concept somewhat.

Currently, I sat pouting opposite the senior, who called himself Rai Xo. The man was very energetic and dragged me out as soon as I told him I was from Earth and not from his world.

He said that I must have lost my memory, so he would make me familiar again.

He forced me to take a tour with him, introducing me to the cottage planning, which was a composition of two guestrooms, one kitchen, one bathing house, one bedroom and one greeting space.

It appeared to be fully furnished with woods, and looked very similar to the Eastern housing arrangement I had often seen on travel logs.

He even made a reluctant me take a sip from the clay cup, poring in hot tea.

I shivered, not knowing how to tell the man that I wasn't his junior he knew. Most probably his junior died and I came in his body instead. Transmigration was a subject that I often read in novels, but never found it interesting. I mean the person left his body and entered into another, which was plain creepy if you think about it.

I even felt wrong in touching my own skin, in fear that I might just be harassing my host.

Distress and fear were constantly in my heart, as I thought of ways to go back to my own world. Would it be too odd to jump off from some tall pillar peak? Wouldn't that way I would go back into my own previous body?

I was certain that this wasn't a dream, the visuals felt too real to ignore, yet my heart didn't want to accept the facts yet. I hadn't tried every cure there was for this transmigration stuff so I-

Wait... wait wait wait.

I abruptly looked up at my senior and made a good sharp eye contact with him.

"Do you have a mirror with you senior?"

Rai Xo nodded, simply giving me a small pocket mirror from his robes, the black dress strangely looking very much like a Japanese Haori that males wore during festivities.

How coincidental that such customs of my world would be so ingrained in this world.

It was shocking.

And I think I was in too much shock to really panic with all of the development around me. So I reluctantly went with the flow.

"What do you see?" Rai Xo mocked, as I watched my face in the mirror, and my eyes widened slightly when a reflection of my previous self reflected back at me.

I felt I could cry, but in relief or fright, that had to be ascertained.

My face was still the same face I had been born with and even my name was still the same if I recalled how the senior had called me earlier.

Did that mean I was in some parallel world where my own parallel, Raven, was some sort of Junior who had suicidal instincts?

"A doppelganger," I mused to myself, didn't they say that such fantasy could be real, even if the science wasn't developed enough to prove it.

I sighed, taking the clay cup in front of me, and sipping the warm tea. The flavor was nice, although my taste buds were clogged with a sense of internal panic.

I was in great pickle, what if I couldn't go back.

I had wanted to see my face so that I could see if my body was still intact and not dying, because I read in some story, that once a body was housed with another soul, it would start to rot, and if that happened, the soul would be released to where it came from. But now that I knew this might be some parallel world, I felt oddly anxious.

No!

I shook my head fiercely, trying to stay hopeful, my sister, mom and dad, Adam, and the others, they were still waiting for me back home. They would be heart broken if something happened to me, at least my family would be, even if Adam wasn't as attached to me.

"You will spill the tea, stay still," barked Rai Xo, his eyes commanding me still with a glare.

I wondered what I had done to infuriate him so, but considering his old style dress up, I assumed he may be one of those sticklers for etiquette and mannerism.

His eyes were a keen pink, which I noticed now after looking at him for a while, even the perfection in his crisp sitting posture, and perfect hair was reciprocating a serious bearing.

I frowned, Ria Xo didn't seem to believe me when I told him I was from Earth, so what if I could meet other people who would help me with it?

So nodding at my thoughts, I gulped down half the content of the clay cup and slammed it on the wooden table, which was a low Japanese style, highly polished wood furniture.

"What is wrong with you, you really hit your head?" He grumbled, scowling down at me with those furious eyes, and I enjoyed the reaction. Maybe now he would believe that I wasn't 'his' Raven.

"If I could prove I wasn't of this world, would you believe me?" I asked him, putting up a serious front, as my left leg propped up in an open intimidating positioning, going against every manner one would generally follow at a tea table.

I could see the bulging veins on Rai Xo's forehead as if he was in a dilemma of whether to scold me or hit me.

But after a while his tensed shoulders relaxed and his fists loosened, as his eyes schooled over his inner monologues, "I would believe you, but only in my dreams."

My frown deepened, "Then what if I can do something the previous me couldn't do, wouldn't that say I am not him?"

This seemed to amuse him, as he propped his chin over his hand on the table, "Alright, but can you really do what the previous you couldn't? I am doubtful."

"I will. Just show me a way."

He looked reluctant, but in the end gave in, "Follow me then," he said sullenly, "I will teach you how to chant. That is the most basic of the basics, but the Raven I knew was unable to put powers in the chants he spoke, thus his ability was the weakest in our sect."

The mannerism of speaking revealed a hint of mockery, but maybe I was too focused on him so I felt it was directed at me?

I shook my head, countering the thoughts with physical movements, and got up from the cushioned seat to follow the senior.

~~

It took a while for us to reach the small pool of water, which was located in the midst of wilderness and broken boulders protecting it's entrance.

My feet hurt after all the walking, since we were barefoot, but thankfully the Raven of this world had a hard heel so the damage was mostly psychological.

A set of two distinguished Tori gates marked the second entry to the natural pool area, but I wondered why the gates weren't the traditional red, but instead a sad black.

If I didn't knew any better, I would have thought the senior had taken me to some haunted murder site. It wouldn't be surprising to believe so. Who knew what kind of a person this 'other Raven' was but he was surely a weakling.

I felt pity for the other me, but my thoughts were interrupted when Rai Xo stopped to take a look at the center of the pool, where a giant round boulder sat, circles of rings carved into it.

"Go ahead, step in there and show me you can read those words."

??

My confusion was clarified when I was pushed down in the pool by the senior, the shallow water reaching till my knee, as I stumbled right in front of the stone boulder.

The shock on my face must be apparent, since the senior behind me chuckled, waiting for me to come to terms with what I was seeing.

The rings that were carved into the boulder, weren't actually just simple lines, but on great scrutiny, one could see that there were lettering done in the depression of the lines, all inked with black.

"W-What is this?"

"They are the letters used during chants, they are powerful ancient letters, and speaking them isn't a kid's play."

I wanted to ask him, 'Then why am I here?' but he explained further on his own. Telling me how these words were used to ward against evil spirits and to purify an area of miasma.

"...you just have to put in effort, and call forth your core energy, see if you can speak those and utilize them into you chants."

"B-But didn't you say you would teach me? I don't understand any word," I almost cried helplessly. I didn't want to fail, or else how would I prove myself to him.

Rai Xo wasn't moved by my whining, instead he simply sat down below a nearby tree and folded his arms as if waiting for me to fail.

Giving him the stink eye, I got back to studying the boulder, and my heart fluttered, I had always wanted to do something out of the box, and being a fan of fantasy and artistic entertainment, I was always overjoyed when I saw something exciting.

This was exciting if one would think about it.