‘Your own magic will destroy you.’

Luna couldn’t budge. She was staring at a vast derelict land where the sun was high up. It seemed that she was sitting on the ground, back against a large tree and was staring into nothing. Her body was aching all over and the coolness of the zephyr nipped at her numb and cold feet and fingers.

She tried to move but the body wasn’t hers to control. Was this a memory? Or a dream?

‘Constantly striving with no goal, are you fine living like that?’

The same voice continued. She wanted to search around for the source of the voice but her vision suddenly went blurry. She blinked and tried to focus but it was in vain. It looked like she was losing consciousness.

‘The emperor would dispose of you the moment you become useless anyway. So it’s only right for––’

‘...!’

Her eyes sprang open as if somebody had splashed cold water to her face. She wouldn’t exactly call it a nightmare but she was sweating like it was one. After a few attempts to calm herself down, she began breathing normally and rubbed her face.

Hmm?

Luna’s gaze caught the light bluish grey canopy above her head. She was lying down on a soft mattress, body covered with a blanket.

Wasn’t she sleeping in the tea house?

As if on cue, the door opened and Helena entered. Luna sat up.

‘Miss Luna!’ she beamed. ‘Good morning!’

She smiled. ‘Good morning Helena.’

‘You must’ve been tired,’ Helena said and grabbed her arm to help her down the bed. Luna was confused at this gesture because she was a grown, healthy woman, capable of walking by herself but she guessed it was a this-world thing. ‘I’ve prepared a bath for you!’

‘I don’t remember coming back here,’ said Luna.

‘Oh, of course,’ she replied then giggled, ‘Mavis brought you back. You were sleeping like a log.’

Luna stopped walking. Mavis?

Helena tilted her head. ‘Miss Luna?’

At once, Luna began to imagine the cold scale brushing against her skin as it wrapped its coil around her body, slithering into the night to her manor and into her room. The repeated patterns on its… body… 

Luna felt a lump in her throat and her mind went blank. Her legs lost all their energy and she dropped to the floor like a melted pudding.

‘Miss Luna!!’

***

‘Do you need anything? Books?’ Helena asked for the second time as she was about to leave Luna’s room with the food tray that she ate on.

‘Sure, books,’ said Luna, cringing at the thought of reading thick books. She liked reading fiction, but non-fictions bore her to death. However, books were probably the easiest way she could gouge information about Sirius without troubling anyone.

Helena nodded, instantly grasping the fact that Luna had forgotten almost everything. ‘I’ll be right back, Miss Luna,’ she beamed and left the room.

Soon, Luna was glued to her bed, surrounded by thick books and several parchment papers. Her supposedly resting place had become a huge mess. There were ink stains on the bed as she carelessly dipped the quill in and wrote notes; the first few times she tried to write, the sharp tip of the quill drilled a hole onto the paper.

She had also requested books relating to magicians. As she read, she came to know that magicians were divided into two types: Primaeval and Faux. Only four families were associated with Primaeval Magicians: Levius, Estelle, Crowley, and Seraphinus. It was recorded that the first discovery of magic was made by a Seraphinus, which made the family the founder of magic.

Faux Magicians, on the other hand, were ordinary humans that learned magic. Through strict training and cultivation, they would be able to regulate their magic mana, though the amount of it was significantly lesser compared to that of a Primaeval. 

Healers had a different mana altogether: the healing mana. A rare breed, and once appeared, they would usually be worshipped and exploited. Such were acts of greed. 

The remaining pages were still thick, but Luna was getting drowsy. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she continued to tread through the information in the books, searching for any clues as to why she was transmigrated.

***

His boots clacked noisily against the marble floor tile and the sound resonated throughout the main hall of the magician’s manor, Ophiuchus. There weren’t many maids or butlers in the residence since Luna naturally did everything using her magic. Luna didn’t get many visitors as well because she didn’t have many friends or companies that necessarily needed to enter her manor.

‘Sir Elias?’ a voice called out.

Elias halted and turned his head to Helena, who stood behind him in wonder. ‘Helena,’ he greeted. ‘I told you to drop that “Sir” off my name.’

She shook her head. ‘It doesn’t feel right to call someone of a higher status just by the name,’ she said.

‘I’m not of a higher status than anyone, we’re all the same.’

‘You say that but you know it’s true.’

He sighed, ‘Fine. Then, call me Elias when we’re alone.’

Helena frowned a bit. ‘That sounds very suggestive.’

Elias crossed his arms and tilted his head.

She laughed. ‘It was a joke,’ she said. ‘If you’re looking for Miss Luna, she’s in her room, reading.’

‘Thanks,’ he nodded, then strode off.

Helena stared at his back while he walked to Luna’s chamber. If one looked hard enough, they would notice the glint of longing in her pitch-black eyes.

***

Elias knocked on the door thrice but there was no answer. He waited a little bit more and when Luna still did not respond, he entered carefully.

‘Oh.’

He unknowingly whispered when he saw the magician––now a Healer, sitting crossed legs on the bed and her body was bent in a way her forehead rested on the open book in front of her. Her left hand was tucked under her abdomen while her ink-tainted right hand was lifelessly holding a quill.

He chuckled and approached the girl.

Elias intended to pull her body up and down on the bed properly but when he pulled, she groaned and rolled on her back against the books spread on the bed. The ink that was recklessly placed on the unstable mattress tumbled and spilled all over the papers and blanket.

Wordlessly, he picked it back up and touched the paper, allowing his magic to clean the ink. He was about to clean the one on the blanket when he unintentionally read the writings on the paper.

Elias - unmentioned, true identity? Purpose?

Luna - lost her magic, died, re

He frowned. It seemed that she had fallen asleep before she got to write the rest. Elias examined other papers that she had written on. He deduced that she was researching and taking notes about Sirius and magicians.

Did she lose that many memories? Elias thought to himself.

‘True identity?’ he couldn’t help but to blurt it out. ‘You really forgot about me as well, Luna?’

As if she heard what he was saying, she stretched and exhaled sharply and went still. Mindlessly, Elias looked at his hand.

‘I’m not doing very well, either, so you need to get a hold of yourself,’ he said.