Chapter 3: Calmness

"That's a cute outfit you chose."

Chelise looks at Haru and smiles for the first time since she woke up from her coma. I know she's only being nice but it feels good to be complimented.

"How does it feel, can you walk?"

"I think I can manage if we walk slowly."

"Let me know if you want a helping hand."

"Yes, thank you."

"Don't worry, I'll walk beside you. So keep the pace you feel comfortable with. The dining hall is further down this corridor." she points to the right.

"Is it far? It looks far."

"It won't take too long, you'll get to see a small part of our headquarters on the way there."

She walks along the wall in case she needs to support herself. In the distance she can see an opening. Such a basic thing as walking... I'm already out of breath. Chelise stops to get some rest while panting. It does feel like she hasn't used her legs in a long time.

"Want to rest for a bit?"

"Yes, just for a little while."

"We're not in a rush so take your time."

Letting out a sigh while catching her breath she looks back to see how much distance they've covered. We only got that far!?

"You're quite popular Chel."

Chelise turns her head to Haru with a slightly surprised look. What?

"Why would I be popular?"

Is she teasing me?

"Of course you wouldn't know. But you're a celebrity to everyone who's heard about you."

"Celebrity? What does that mean?"

"It means a famous person. Since you are the only recorded Ancient there are people who look up to you. Although that's not all there is to it."

There's more?

"You'll understand soon enough. For the time being we just want you to be accustumed to the life here. You've got alot to learn and it might take a long time before your memory returns. If it ever will."

"It might never return?"

"We just don't know at the moment. But your body is as healthy as ever except for some muscle loss."

"That's good news I guess..."

Is it really true? Did fourhundred years really go by? If only my memory was intact I'd know for sure if things have changed.

After a short rest they continue to walk down the corridor for what feels like an eternity of struggling they reach the opening to a large room.

"This large room is connected to all facilities in this building. Our employees are busy with todays training sessions, that's why we won't meet a lot of people at the moment. I'll give you a tour tomorrow so you can get some more rest. After you've eaten I'll take you to the shower room."

Chelise hardly listens since she's lost in thought while Haru speaks. If this is true, everyone I knew, even my family are long gone...

They turn left reaching this room and Chelise notices that there are eight corridors connected to it, the one they came out of included. They walk past a staircase in the middle of the room where people move up and down without doing anything. Looks like they're floating. Is it because they're magicians? Following where the staircase reaches the floor there's a wall made of glass, a few metres between that wall and the staircase there are desks placed in a row where both women and men sit on chairs staring at a picture.

There's also a few coloured lines across the floor and each one leads into a different corridor.

They walk through a big open door which leads to another large room where there are lots of long tables with chairs around all of them. It could easily fit a few hundred people, right now it's not anywhere near that many.

In the corner of her eye she notices that all the people stop their chatter and instead they're all looking at her, pointing and whispering among themselves. I wonder what they're thinking...

Haru leads them to a huge table in the middle where there's food placed on big oval plates covering the whole table.

"Use this plate and pick whatever you'd like. It's free of charge for residents and employees." Haru says and hands her a white plate that feels heavy. It looks well made, but it looks like it'll break if I drop it. Chelise holds the plate with both hands to be sure.

"I'll bring a glass and cutlery to the table for you. What would you like to drink?"

"Water please."

Chelise stops for a while. Is all of this breakfast?

She looks around the table trying to decide what to eat. Having a hard time to choose she decides to take a little of everything. Bread, some kind of hard things that looks like compressed bread, rice, fish, eggs, something that looks like dried meat, milk, water, yellow and orange liquid, thicker milk and all sorts of vegetables and fruits.

Haru has long finished choosing her breakfast before Chelise is ready. They walk over to a free table and sits down. Finally some rest. Chelise is hungry, really hungry. She ends up finishing the whole plate even though some of the things didn't suit her tastes. Looking up she notices that Haru's looking at her intently with a smile. Did I eat funny?

"It's really been fourhundred years?"

"It's true. There's been alot of discoveries during the time you've been gone. You will learn about it during your education."

"Education?"

"That's right, we're putting together a course for you so you can catch up with everything that's happened in the world. You will also learn the Japanese language since we're in Japan."

Japan... I don't even know where I'm from, much less what Japan is. Even if I knew I guess everything would be outdated by now...

"Do you want seconds?"

"Seconds?"

"Another plate of food."

"Oh. Not really, my stomach hurts. I think I ate too much."

Haru chuckles at her answer.

"How are your legs? Want to sit here for a while?"

"If it's fine with you I'd like to rest a little more."

It's a weird feeling. My stomach hurts but I can feel my body needed this. Her heart starts beating faster and faster while her body is getting warmer. The tiredness and clumsiness fades away. Voices are distant in her ears and everything feels calm, like she's lying on a bed of grass looking up in a distant sky covered in clouds on a warm summer day.

"Chelise!"

Her name being called out made her wake up. Haru is standing next to her holding her hand on Chelise's back. What?

"Are you alright?" she looks like she's in panic.

"I.. I think so."

"You had me worried there. You were about to fall down."

What happened? My body feels different...Chelise stands up and looks around. Everyone in the dining hall has their eyes on her.

"Can we leave?" Chelise looks down.

"Are you sure you don't want to lie down for a while?"

"I'm fine."

"If you say so..."

They walk back along the way they came from in a much faster pace. Her body feels light and strong. Wait... Where am I supposed to go now? I'm sure Haru mentioned something before... She stops and looks at Haru who's surprised at her sudden recovery.

"You're looking much more energetic now Chel."

"I feel great actually."

"It shows. I'm shocked, never seen anything like it."

"After that dream everything felt different."

"Dream?"

"It was a quiet and lovely dream. The sky felt calm and soothing."

Haru studies Chelise for a few seconds and nods.

"You do look much healthier. Your skin has a better colour."

"Where are we going now?"

"Well, if you're sure you have spare energy we'll head towards the shower room."

That dream... My heart beating... I could feel it. It felt familiar. But I can't remember why. Shower room... That's right, that's what she said before.

They walk through the large room with the weird staircase once again with Haru leading the way back through the corridor where the room Chelise was sleeping in. There are twenty doors scattered along the way, ten on each side. At the end of it they are met with a small version of a castle door.

"Here it is, take your time. I'll bring you a change of clothes."

"Thank you Haru. By the way, what am I supposed to do?"

"Oh... Do you know what a shower is?"

"Hmm.. I don't think I know the word."

"Well, water is sprayed on you from above to get yourself clean."

"Wait, it's like a waterfall?"

"You could say that. But it's indoors and you can set the heat to whatever feels comfortable."

"Are you serious?"

A shower? That sounds amazing. Chelise can hardly wait to see how it works. Haru looks amused at her reaction.

They enter the door which leads them into a room with only two doors in it. Looking at the doors Chelise notices that there's a human figure on each door, one wearing a dress. Haru explains that one door is for the men and the other one for the women. Naturally they enter the womens shower room which is the one with the dress. Inside Chelise sees a herself in a square glass on the wall so she stops and looks at it. The person in the mirror has long blonde hair and green eyes.

"Is that me? Is that how I look?"

"Yes, that's you. Beautiful right?" She has a calm smile on her face.

"I'm not sure, first time I see myself in fourhundred years it seems."

Haru laughs at Chelise when she says that. Chelise doesn't mind and takes a good look at herself in the mirror. I look different than I imagined. She makes some weird faces before she's satisfied.

"Ready for the shower?"

Chelise nods with a slight excitement.

Author's Note

This chapter will need editing! There are alot of sentences I'm not satisfied with and I could use some help with that. If there is anything you see that sounds weird please point it out! :)

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[❀Subaru_Nyaa!
..]

"Here it is, take your time. I'll bring you a change of clothes." = I think it's better to say "Here we are" or We're here"

they enter the womens ＝　they enter the women's

I didn't spot much to be mentioned here since I'ts 4:30 am in my country when I am writing this. I know that I told you that I rarely touch a sci fi genre but I do have a novel with the genre of Sci-fi. I just wanted to clear an Irony there.