The next morning, the sky was silver-grey and soft with mist.
Mizu arrived at college early—not for the lectures, of course, but to sit alone by the old banyan tree near the boundary wall. It was quiet there. The kind of quiet where thoughts could stretch out without being interrupted. She kept her sketchbook on her lap, flipping back to the glowing drawing from last night.
It wasn't glowing anymore.
The cat looked normal on the page now, but the moment still felt real. She touched the paper gently.
Mimi.
She didn't know where the name came from. It just… fit.
Mizu smiled faintly. Her fingers curled around her pencil, but before she could start a new drawing, the bell rang in the distance.
Lecture time.
She sighed and stood up. Her college bag hung loosely on one shoulder. It felt heavier than usual—maybe because of the book. Find Peace in the World was still in it.
By the second lecture, she was already zoning out.
The class was about OCM—something about business terms and ethics. Mizu sat at the last bench, half-listening while doodling tiny plants in the corners of her notebook.
Then her hand stopped.
Her fingers drifted into her bag and brushed against the old novel. Without thinking, she slid it out and placed it on her lap, hidden just beneath the desk.
The cover was even stranger in daylight. The faded blue had specks of gold, like stars hidden under layers of dust.
She opened it again.
"Elyzia is not a place for the noisy heart."
Her breath caught. The name wasn't there last night. She flipped back to the page she'd read before. Still nothing. But now, on this page, clear as ink:
"Elyzia is not a place for the noisy heart. It is a sanctuary for the unspoken."
Mizu blinked, her fingers trembling slightly.
The word Elyzia buzzed in her chest like a whisper she had always known but never heard aloud.
She underlined it gently with her pencil.
She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she turned the page.
That evening, she didn't go straight home.
Instead, she returned to the alley near her college—the one with peeling walls, broken tiles, and that strange sense of time moving slower. She had passed it many times but never looked too closely.
Now she noticed something: a sign with no words.
Just a symbol.
A feather, faded into the wood.
Her heart thumped faster. She stepped inside.
It was darker than it should've been. Dust floated through sunlight like tiny stars, and the air smelled of old paper and forgotten memories.
The library was there, hidden between two crumbling buildings like it had been waiting.
The bell above the door tinkled as she entered.
Books were stacked from floor to ceiling. There was no system, no categories—just stories spilling into each other. Worlds colliding on shelves.
And there she was again.
The old grandmama, sitting behind the counter, a steaming cup of tea in her hands and a black cat sleeping beside her.
She looked up, her eyebrows raising. "Back already, little artist?"
Mizu nodded slowly. "I just… wanted to ask something about the book."
The grandmama leaned forward, her wrinkled eyes narrowing. "Most people return it. Say it's too strange."
"I don't want to return it."
"Hmm." The old woman sipped her tea. "Then what's your question?"
Mizu hesitated, holding the book to her chest. "What is Elyzia?"
The room stilled.
Even the cat beside the counter opened its eyes.
The grandmama put her cup down carefully. "That word is in there?"
Mizu nodded.
The woman didn't answer right away. She walked over to the door and flipped the sign to CLOSED.
Then she came back and said softly, "No one has asked me that in thirty years."
She sat down, her hands folded like she was holding invisible threads. "The book was written by a girl. No one knows her name. She used to come here and sit in that corner." The grandmama pointed toward a dusty beanbag chair in the far corner of the library.
"She never spoke much. But she wrote. Always writing. She gave me this book when she left. Said it wasn't finished yet."
Mizu's eyes widened. "You mean… she wrote this?"
The grandmama nodded. "She said it would only reveal itself to people who needed it." Her voice softened. "She was very quiet, like you. Always carried a sketchbook. That cat," she added, gesturing to the black feline beside her, "liked her a lot."
Mizu opened her mouth, but there was nothing to say.
Because now… she wasn't reading a random story. She was following someone's real footsteps.
As she left the library, the pendant around her neck shimmered faintly — the one she had found hidden inside the back cover of the book.
The chain was delicate, the gem small and silvery, like a drop of moonlight. And yet, it pulsed softly, like it was alive.
Elyzia.
It wasn't just a fantasy.
It was waiting.
And something told Mizu…
She was already a part of it.
[End of Chapter 2]