In the vast emptiness of white, I lifted my face from the ground and saw… a woman's figure standing in front of me.
She had short blonde hair and wore a simple white robe. She was smiling at me. Somehow, I felt the smile was warm and different from any other smile I had ever received. I looked closer at her face. Her eyes were two different colors. Her right eye was blue; when I gazed into it, I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean, hearing the crashing waves and feeling the salt wind. Her left eye was green; looking into it, I felt transported to the middle of a deep forest, surrounded by the sounds of nature.
I took a step back from her. Immediately, she took a step toward me.
I stepped back again. She stepped forward. This dance continued until I finally asked her:
"Who are you?"
"Who am I? How about you guess it?" she replied playfully.
"Are you Delios?"
Suddenly, she vanished from in front of me and reappeared instantly at my right side, leaning her face close to my ear.
"For what reason would I impersonate her?" she whispered.
I turned my head sharply to the right. "So who are you?"
She started circling me slowly. "So, who am I? You said I was Delios... but there is no merit in me impersonating her."
"Before, I was in the temple of Delios, so I thought you were Delios."
Suddenly, she stopped in front of me and turned to face me fully.
"You really don't know me, huh? ...Let me show you something."
I watched as she placed her two hands over her chest. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, brilliant golden light began emitting from her, especially from her back.
The light flared, blindingly bright, then slowly faded. When my vision cleared, she had transformed.
She was different from before. Her hair had become longer, curly, and a brighter, more vibrant gold. The plain white robe was gone, replaced by an exquisite white dress adorned with intricate golden ornaments. She wore a gold leaf-patterned circlet set with blue and green emeralds on her brow. Her feet were clad in winged sandals, her arms adorned with many golden bracelets, and golden and silver necklaces draped around her neck.
Most importantly, the golden light at her back had solidified into a giant wing—twice as tall as she was. It was a clean, pure white wing, full of soft feathers. But there was only one wing on her back, not a pair.
From that wing, I realized who she was.
She came closer to me. "Human, with this, surely you will know who I am."
"Yes… I.. am.." Suddenly, I felt incredibly nervous.
"Great. But to ensure it and for formality, let me introduce myself."
She took a step back and flapped her single massive wing once.
"I am Gennaia. As you already know, I am one of the Goddesses."
I bowed down low to her. "This lowly name is Aurelia Aurelius. It is a high honor to meet the Goddess Gennaia."
She snapped her fingers in the air.
Snap!
Suddenly, a round stone table with two chairs appeared out of nowhere in front of us.
"How about we take a seat?" she suggested.
We sat down.
"Do you want a drink? Or perhaps a snack?" she offered.
"It is alright for me. I don't want to bother the Goddess."
"Bother me?? Huh, nonsense."
Again, she snapped her fingers.
Snap!
A tea set and a platter full of treats and snacks appeared out of the blue on the table.
"I am a Goddess. Of course, this small thing is not bothering me. You can take a sip, and the snacks too."
I took a sip of the tea because she asked me to.
"How about you taste the snacks too?" she urged.
I took a bite of a cookie.
"How is the taste?"
"Well… It is tasty."
"Glad I heard that. Now….."
While I was munching on the snack, I heard her voice shift.
"Who are you?"
"I am Aurelia Aurelius, like I have introduced myself."
"NO!" Her voice boomed slightly. "Let me ask you again. Who are you??"
"I don't quite follow your question," I stammered, confused.
"It seems you aren't aware of it…" she mused.
"I am Aurelia Aurelius from the Aurelius Family."
"Sure, it is who you are, but how about..."
She stood up and walked toward my right side. She snapped her fingers again.
Snap!
A woman appeared beside her.
"How about her? You recall her?"
I looked closely at the woman. She had short black hair and wore something weird—clothes I had never seen before. There seemed to be three layers of clothing on her upper body, and her pants seemed thicker than any fabric I knew. Her shoes were strange, colored black and white. All the garments she wore were foreign to me.
"I don't recall anything about her," I said honestly.
"You sure about that?"
"I am really sure."
"Alright then."
She snapped her fingers again, and the woman disappeared. Gennaia walked toward me.
"Excuse me." She extended her index finger toward my forehead. "This may hurt a little."
"What!!" I gasped, surprised.
Before I could move, she touched my forehead. I saw a blinding light emit from her finger directly into my skull.
After the light faded, she pulled her finger back.
A few moments later—
"Coughcough!"
I spat out blood from my mouth. I felt warm liquid trickling from my nose—a nosebleed.
"What.... cough hav..e.. yo cough ..u.. do..ne.. to.. me?" I wheezed, struggling against the metallic taste of blood in my mouth.
"I gave you something that belongs to you."
"Cough be..long..s.. to.. me?"
She snapped her fingers again. The strange woman appeared beside her once more.
"Now, can you see the woman figure one more time?"
"Like.. I.. had.. sai..d.. I.. don't," I turned my head toward the woman, squinting through the pain. "Re.. call.. he– cough!"
Suddenly, more blood gushed out of my mouth.
"Take a deep breath… It's going to be alright," Gennaia said calmly.
"Sigh... what are you trying to do to me?" I groaned, wiping my mouth.
"Like I have said, I gave back something that belongs to you."
"What is this thing that belongs to me?"
"Memory."
"Memory?"
"I can't give you all of it because it could kill you," she explained, pacing around me. "So I placed a 'dianoia' on you."
"What is that?"
She started circling me again. "It makes you remember your memory, but it takes time for the memory to appear in your head. Your brain still can't take all of the memory you had at once, so it takes time for this memory to be implemented. If I planted all your memory right now, your brain could not handle it and would shut down."
"And why am I spitting blood?" I demanded.
"That is the side effect of it. The dianoia knows when is the right time to plant your memory into your brain. As your brain becomes more developed and the 'space' for memory expands each day, the dianoia will implement the memories. Because of the sudden memory being implemented just now, your brain became aware of it and reacted by flowing blood from your body to your mouth and nose. It is a small malfunction of the brain."
"THAT'S NONSENSE!" I shouted.
She stopped circling and suddenly appeared at my right side again.
"My existence itself should be nonsense if you think that is nonsense."
Suddenly, the white area around us began to slowly fade away.
She seemed angry now, looking away. "Cihhh. They forced you to wake up… but it is okay. I have given you the dianoia. And for you—don't ever tell anyone about our meeting."
At the last second, before the area faded completely, she leaned in.
"Be careful from NONA," she warned urgently. "She started to make a move from your action. And I will keep to stay beside yo–"
The world crumbled into deep darkness.
… .. .
I slowly opened my eyes.
My mother's face hovered right in front of mine, twisted with worry. It looked like she was trying to hold back tears. Seeing my eyes open, she immediately lifted me slightly and hugged me tight.
I looked around. Father, Lady Octavi, Adel, and four people from the temple were there. I was still lying on the stone platform in front of the Delios statue.
I looked down at my dress. There was a large stain of blood on the front, and I could taste copper in my mouth and feel wetness under my nose. It seemed I had vomited blood in my sleep, just as I had in that white space.
"Are you alright, Aurelia?" Mother finally managed to ask, her voice trembling.
"Yes, I am alright, Mother… But before that, Mother… I want to ask you something."
Mother released her hug and looked at me. "What is it, Aurelia?"
"Why did Mother and Father try to poison me?"
Their faces dropped in shock.
"We were not trying to poison you, darling!" Mother gasped.
"But… that drink," I pointed a shaky finger at the four temple attendants. "They gave it to me. It made me sleep without my consent. Does that count as poisoning?"
Father stepped forward. "Aurelia, they didn't try to harm you…"
"But what they did counts as poisoning, right?" I insisted.
I saw Father and Mother look at each other guiltily.
"Aurelia, it seems it was our fault," Mother admitted softly.
"Yes, Aurelia.. it was our fault," Father agreed. "The four people from the temple were innocent. We were the ones who ordered them to give you the drink."
"WHY? Mother and Father tried to poison me?"
Mother rubbed my head gently. "Listen, Aurelia. We didn't have any intention to harm you or poison you. We just wanted to find something from you."
"Find something from me?"
"Do you remember? When you said you have heard some voices that said something about 'mortal'?"
"Ah! I remember that."
"At that time, Sofia advised us to come here and seek advice from the temple."
"And that advice was poisoning me?"
"No, my darling," Mother sighed. "We told them about everything that had happened to you—from the nightmare you had, the voices you heard, and the sudden loss of control you experienced."
"And?"
"They advised us to make a bridge of communication between you and the goddess, so we came here."
"Is that absurd, Mother?"
Suddenly, one of the four people from the temple stepped forward. It was a woman.
"We deeply apologize, My Lady," she said, bowing low. "But based on what you experienced from the Madam's story, we believed that My Lady received some divine revelations."
"Divine revelations… you are not joking, right?"
"No, My Lady. Your physician, Sofia, had visited here and asked about divine revelations. So His Grace and Madam visited here after Sofia's visit. From their story and Sofia's story, we assumed it was divine revelations."
"Because of these divine revelations, you made me sleep and tried to make contact with the goddess?"
"Yes, My Lady."
Mother leaned in closer. "Does it work, Aurelia?"
I remembered Gennaia's warning: Don't ever tell anyone about our meeting.
"I think it did not, Mother," I lied smoothly. "It was just pitch black."
Their faces fell in shock—especially Mother's. She immediately turned a fierce glare toward Father.
"Are you sure about that, Aurelia?" Father asked nervously.
"Yes, I.. cough am." The coughing fit was still lingering.
Mother's face turned furious. She stared daggers at Father. "I think that is it, dear."
She immediately stood up and waved her hand for Lady Octavi to approach. When she arrived, Mother commanded, "Can you lift Aurelia to the carriage?"
Lady Octavi nodded. She moved to lift me, but—
"Hold up, dear," Father interrupted, holding up a hand. "I think there is something that we need to ensure before we bring Aurelia back."
Lady Octavi froze, looking confused between Father's words and Mother's orders.
"Ensure!!" Mother snapped. "You said, what do you want to ensure, dear? I feel I have done something horrible to her by offering her that drink."
"But, dear… They said it was safe for her to drink it. It just made her sleepy."
"SAFE!! SLEEPY!!" Mother walked closer to Father, poking a finger at his chest. "You saw it with your own eyes, right, dear? Your daughter, Aurelia, spat a lot of blood in her sleep! And you were just standing there without doing anything before I ordered them to wake her up."
I saw Lady Octavi beside me, utterly unsure of what to do. She hovered, ready to lift me, but Father's resistance made her hesitate.
"That must mean something, dear…" Father tried to reason.
"ENOUGH!!" Mother raised her voice, stunning everyone into silence.
She gave a sharp signal to Lady Octavi to lift me. Immediately, Lady Octavi scooped me up before Father could speak another word.
"Dear, I think we need to talk about this matter at home, privately," Mother said coldly to Father. She turned to Lady Octavi and Adel. "You two may go and escort Aurelia first to the carriage. My husband and I need to do something here. And can you try to hide this thing from the little two? I don't want them to worry so much."
"Yes, Madam," they answered in unison.
Lady Octavi, Adel, and I left the inner sanctum first. As we walked away, I could hear Mother angrily arguing with Father and the four temple priests, her voice echoing off the stone walls.