I: “In the Garden of Purple Irises, where our eyes met for the first time.”

     Boredom got the young lady staring blankly at a sculpture of a Roman guy sitting on a throne. It seems like time stands still and people come and go in this museum as her boredom is sweeping her away. All she hears are muffled noises from the students and different tour guides as they try to explain each piece of art and old stuff to their audiences. She kept thinking about how the hell her life turned into this. Ever since her mother died, her life has turned upside down. She never saw the world as colorful as it was. She thinks that her world was meant to be unlucky and no one was there for her. Ironically, her name was named after a flower that her mother loved the most, Iris. Her mother believed that 'Iris' was a lucky flower but she thinks the opposite.

She continued to stare at the sculpture and thought what could his life be? Is it better than her? Is life from the past much better than her timeline? Is life as a supreme leader of a country much easier than her life? Is he a decent person that contributes to the history of the world? She couldn't answer those questions because she never listened to her history lectures.“Emperor Nero” she read the label that was engraved below his sculpture. Her head turned to the side as she examined the statue again. 

“He looks kind of decent,” she whispered to herself, as she put some candies in her mouth.

“Decent?” she was suddenly interrupted by her Professor who happened to be just beside her. Crossed arms, he scoffed at her comment about Emperor Nero.

“You aren’t listening to my lectures about him, Iris,” he added. The girl just avoided his gaze and laughed dryly. She tried to escape from his Professor by going to another painting. The Professor followed him and tried to examine her as if he were grading her visit to the museum.

“Professor, I am not a history-savvy or something so I would like it if you stop following me and look for other students to grade,” she said. It may look like she’s being rude but she and the Professor are kind of close because they are related. She’s just irritated sometimes because her Uncle loves teasing her as always.

“I’m just spending time with my favorite niece, who’s one failed quiz away from failing my subject,” he said sarcastically. She just shrugged her shoulders and tried to brush it off, but her Uncle was still trying to make his point. He fixed his thick-lense glasses and wrote something in his journal.

“What are you writing, Professor? Is that my passing grade- -” he cut her off in an instant,

“No, it’s your next topic for an essay, ‘coz clearly, you aren’t listening to my lectures and saying stuff to an Emperor who was not even decent in one bit,” he said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

“Another essay? Can’t you just give me another project aside from that?” she grabbed her small can of candies in her pocket and took some more. Her Uncle pointed to a painting, which was right in front of them. She looked at the painting and tried to decipher what her Uncle was planning.

“This painting, I want you to write an essay about it and tell me what you feel, see, and learn. I don’t care how you put it into words just give me something that shows you’re serious about this.” he looked again at his niece and sighed. “I know ever since your mom died, you never looked at things the way they were. I remember how you cried when I shared the story about a Greek myth about the ‘Echo’, you were an empathetic child. I am searching for that kind of Iris." he placed his hand on her left shoulder.

Iris looked at him and then at his hands, "That girl you're searching for is gone. All of my hope and things that I believed in died as my mom died because she's the only one I have, and yet the world is cruel enough to take her from me." she said as she slowly removed his hand.

Her Uncle sighed again and said, "I'm not forcing you to heal in a short time, I'm just hoping that you'll be okay soon." then her Uncle left her to think.

"Heal? It's easier to be said than done." she scoffed. She sat down in front of the painting that was the topic of her essay, she grabbed her notebook and a pen to scribble words. She stares blankly at the painting and tries to describe it. "Painting descriptions: A Roman Garden, a field of flowers, specifically purple Iris. What a coincidence, giving me a topic like this." she rolled her eyes as she thought of her Uncle purposely giving her a topic that would relate to her.

She knows writing an essay about a garden of Iris won't even help her or her grades because her life is already messed up. She's already hopeless and depressed, no one could understand her. She looked up and stared at the ceiling, forcing herself not to cry again. Tears seemed to evaporate in her eyes but her feelings didn't. She stared again at the painting and suddenly felt dizzy. 'Did the pills work? Did I successfully overdose myself to death?' she thought as her vision started to blur. While she was looking at the artwork, she was chewing something in her mouth again. The small can of candies was a facade, the contents inside weren't candies they were sleeping pills.

She started to lose consciousness so her body slowly lay down on the floor and waited for herself to die. Despite her consciousness slipping away, she noticed the people around her were passing her by and didn't even spare her a look as if she were invisible. No one dares to help her and because of that, she laughed at her situation. She thought it was too funny for her to die on the floor without anyone even noticing her. She was slapped with the reality that she was insignificant in this world. She thought it was funny but her eyes betrayed her, and tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. "Ah, such pain. Why does the world love tormenting me?" she said as she was laughing and crying. Before she could let out another rant, she saw her worried Uncle rushing towards her and yelling her name. Her Uncle scooped her up and tried to wake her up, but her body seemed to not listen. Her grip on her can of sleeping pills loosens and her vision slowly fades. As she took her last breath, she was able to hear his Uncle's last words to her, "Quocunque fit, domum redi, Iris."

"Do you think she's dead?"

"I think she's still breathing. I think she's just unconscious or maybe sleeping."

Iris Hermosa at the age of 15 years old overdosed herself to death at a museum trip, that was supposed to happen. But when she started to gain consciousness, she realized she was hearing unfamiliar voices. She wasn't supposed to gain consciousness, she wasn't supposed to feel the presence of other people and most importantly, she wasn't supposed to use her five senses if she was already dead.

"Is she alive?" a woman's voice said on her right side. She slowly opened her eyes and immediately squinted them as she was directly looking at the scorching sun. She moved her head to the right side to avoid the sunlight and then saw flowers, purple Iris flowers to be exact. She was lying on the field of purple Iris and she was surrounded by five unfamiliar people dressed in dirty tunics. She was thinking that maybe she was dragged by her Uncle to the cosplaying area of the museum to breathe air. Maybe these actresses are just looking out for her, but deep inside she worries that perhaps this is the afterlife.

"Are you alright, young miss?" a woman said as she tried to check her health.

"I'm quite fine, thank you. Are you guys cosplayers?" Iris asked.

The women looked at each other with puzzled looks and shook their heads.

"We're afraid that we don't know what 'cosplayer' is. Is that some kind of job?" the oldest woman of the group asked Iris. Iris looked at them seriously and was waiting for their response that it was all just a joke, but unfortunately, they were serious too. She looked around and saw the whole place was not the museum nor an area for cosplayers, it was a Roman garden filled with purple Irises. Then it hit her, the place was unfamiliar physically but Iris was sure it was a striking resemblance to the painting that her Uncle was trying to make her an essay of. She laughed at the thought that she teleported into a painting. The group of women looked at her worriedly and started to think she was going crazy.

"Are you alright, Miss?" the woman tried to look out for her but Iris shoved her hand away and distanced herself from them.

"I am not alright! I think I'm going crazy, this isn't the museum. Please tell me- -"

"What is going on here?" Iris wasn't able to finish her sentence as she was interrupted by someone at her back. Iris turned around and saw the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen in her entire life. She wasn't able to answer back at her because she was staring at her in awe.

"It's her, the Empress." One of the women whispered the five women in tunics bowed down to the beautiful woman. The eldest of them grabbed Iris her wrist and gestured at her to follow them. Iris understood the situation and she bowed down to the beautiful woman. She glanced up again and stared at the beautiful woman. Iris examined her and distinguished her looks as if she was a work of art. Her long, wavy, silky, black hair was tied up in a simple bun and was pinned with a golden large pin that was embedded with pearls. Her eyes were the color of sea green ocean and their color was popping because of her light soft skin. She was wearing a silk veil and was constantly covering something on her neck. Iris was staring too long at her which made her uncomfortable.

"Which Patrician do you belong to, slave? And what kind of clothes are you wearing?" the Empress asked with a tone of authoritativeness. The women around Iris looked afraid and worried as the Empress slowly approached them.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my garden?" the Empress asked again.

"I- - I have no idea how I got here and what's up with your get up?" this time, Iris is trying to convince herself that this is just a prank. She thinks that this could all be a prank by some TV show.

"What's up? I am sorry, but what are you trying to say, young lady?" the Empress looks puzzled at her words.

"I mean, am I in some kind of a Roman TV show? Is this a prank?" she let out a small laugh, still trying to deny the possibility that all of this could be real.

"Roman TV Show? Is that some new empire we don't know of?" the Empress asked one of her attendees. The maid just shook her head at her.

"I am so sorry to disturb your- - whatever you were doing, but I think it's time for me to go," Iris said as she was running towards an exit.

"Wait, young lady. You are not allowed to enter the palace you might- -"

"What is this commotion?" Iris stopped as she saw a man with a scary face glaring at her. The Empress suddenly bow down as well as her maids. She looked at them in confusion and suddenly she felt a hand drag her down to bow down in front of the man. It was the Empress who grabbed her hand. "Bow down, if you want to live." The Empress whispered to Iris.

"Emperor Nero, this is a new attendee. She's from a foreign land that was sold as a slave." She lied, and Iris was also in confusion.

The man looked at Iris and scooped his hand to see her face. Iris just knows that this man is bad news. She looked away from his gaze and suddenly she felt a force from her left cheek. She was slapped by the big man. The Empress held her as staggered from his painful slap. Her ears rang and her vision became blurry for a short time. And the muffled voices suddenly became clear, the big man was shouting at the Empress. "- - teach that slave some manners before I make her head a torch at the gates."

The said Emperor stormed off and the Empress looked at Iris with a horrid yet worried look. She checked her swollen left cheek and looked at her again in the eyes.

"Oh my, your cheeks are too swollen. You do not want to get on his bad side, young lady. You must never avoid his gaze when he's looking at you. That man can kill you with just a few orders."

"Where am I? And who are you, Miss?"

"I am often addressed as Poppaea Sabina, or some call me the Empress. You are in Great Rome, to be precise, in the garden of the Great Palace in Rome, where Emperor Nero resides."

"Are you serious right now? GREAT ROME? EMPEROR NERO? AS IN ANCIENT ROME?!" Iris yelled in disbelief.

Everyone looked at her as if she was a crazy woman. But the Empress replied with a calm voice. "ANCIENT ROME? My dear, our place isn't that Ancient."

However, Iris was walking in circles and trying to process how on earth she time travel. And that slap earlier brought her senses back. She still looked around the garden to find a hidden camera or a production crew, but to her dismay, all she ever found were irises and exotic plants.

She ran to look for a balcony and saw a view that she had only seen on historical shows. Ancient Rome, but this time it wasn't in ruins, it was crowded with people in tunics and the buildings were intact. Iris's eyes started to flood with tears, tears of joy, or tears of shock. She isn't sure anymore, all of this is hard to process in her mind. She's starting to believe that she might be losing her mind.

"THIS CAN'T BE. I MUST BE DREAMING."