The Moving Hands of Time

As the thought of being pulled across the space without an end crossed Mia's mind, she suddenly sensed the strange human-like reaction from the unknown space once again — it was waving her goodbye, with a big impish smile on its 'face'. She might as well have imagined this also, but she heard it whispered, 'Good luck!'.

Since her eyes had once again remained shut due to the high-speed drifting, Mia didn't even realize it when she had materialized on top of the golden circle which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the ground — the same one that had forced her into the unknown space in the first place.

After it finished its work in transporting its unwilling passenger (or rather victim), the golden circle vanished once again without leaving a single trace of its existence — except for the dark-haired young woman who had yet to realize what had happened to her.

When Mia felt droplets of water pouring down on her, both of her eyes immediately fluttered open and she noticed that the scenery all around her had changed.

Mia once again found herself kneeling on a solid ground, with rain pouring down heavily from the sky.

However, instead of the hard tarred road of the crosswalk, the ground was muddy.

"Where am I?" thought Mia.

Looking up at the sky, it was still night time, just as she had remembered it. However, the sky seemed different. Even if Mia were to ignore the fact that the view to the dark sky was now partly hidden behind a dense canopy of leaves and branches, the sky here still doesn't seem anything like the sky in City B — especially with the presence of the strange white circular halo in the dark sky.

As far as Mia was concerned, halos were the optical phenomenon that occurred when moonlight or sunlight was refracted as it passed through thin clouds of ice crystals high in the atmosphere — they would usually appear as a ring or arcs centering around a sun or moon. Right now was night time, so there was no sun, and definitely no sunlight. Furthermore, with this heavy rain, the moon was currently hidden behind the thick clouds, and so no moonlight either. Nonetheless, the most important thing was the fact it wasn't a winter season. So, how was it that the halo in the dark sky managed to appear?

Despite still being puzzled by the strange phenomenon, Mia couldn't continue to remain under this cold and wet weather. She needed to quickly find a shelter or at least a small covering for her to stay under — or else, she might find herself in a really bad condition very soon.

Having to face the rain, her skin had started to crawl with discomfort once again, but Mia held onto her willpower and began to scan all around her.

There was nothing but trees and more trees as far as the eyes can see — and with this heavy rain, there was not much that she could see.

Based on the presence of all these trees, Mia assumed she was probably in a forest. Still, how did she got here?

Mia thought back to the mysterious unknown space that she was stuck in previously but then shook her head. "I need to stay focus. Shelter first."

Slowly, she stood up from the muddy ground.

With her limited eyesight, Mia chose to walk towards a certain direction — for no particular reason other than the fact that it looked the most similar to a pathway.

Mia had been walking for what felt like an hour already, but other than more trees, along the way, she didn't find any shelter nor saw anyone to ask help from — and as if that wasn't bad enough, the rain hadn't let up for even a bit. The rain was still as heavy as it was since the beginning.

After all that walk in this bad weather, feelings of exhaustion and combined that with her trembling cold body, Mia's condition started to take a turn for the worse.

Her previously steady steps had begun to become weak and she would constantly stumble or slip all together onto the muddy ground. After yet another slipped — where her previously wet yet pristine-looking clothing has now become a muddy rag — for the umpteenth time, Mia decided she really could no longer go on in her current condition.

Mia decided to just simply find the largest tree around to shelter her from the rain, at least until the weather got better or someone came down the pathway.

Now, seated under the biggest tree, with her back against its trunk and the canopy of leaves above acting as much as it could as a cover from the rain, Mia could only hope that something good will happen to her soon.

Her current condition was really pitiful. Mia was shivering so much that her teeth have begun to chatter involuntarily. She had drawn up her knees and hugged it close to her chest to bring herself some warmth but to no avail. She really needed to get out of the rain very soon or she would truly not last even through the night.

Soon afterward, the cold and fatigue began to affect Mia mentally as well.

Mia began to mumble all by herself.

"Where exactly am I? How did I get here?"

"This must be a dream, right?"

"I must have fallen unconscious on the crosswalk just now because of that headache."

At this moment, her body has begun to move instinctively, trying to do whatever it could to protect itself. In a half-conscious state, her body began to rock back and forth trying to remain awake — for if she did fell asleep in this situation, she might never wake up ever again.

"This has to be a dream. Please, let it be a dream. Please..." Mia sobbed even as she buried her head between her knees.

Just as despair started to take root in Mia's heart, a faint sound could be heard coming from far away.

There was nothing that could be seen at first, but then suddenly, a black horse appeared, galloping down the pathway.

Currently, in a half-conscious and distressed state, Mia didn't as much as lifted up her head, even as she had definitely heard the black horse turning around halfway down the pathway towards her direction. She really believed that she had simply imagined the sound.

Back then, when the black horse came galloping down the muddy pathway, its rider had noticed Mia crouching miserably under the tree. The rider couldn't as well just leave her alone when it was obvious that she needed help, so he quickly turned around his horse.

Stopping a few steps away in front Mia, the rider came down from the horse and walked towards her.

By then, Mia had sensed someone was in front of her. Even as she was still half-believing that it was all her hallucinations — conjured up through her feelings of desperation — she weakly raised her head up to look.

The rider's presence in this dark night and pouring weather coupled that with the fact that Mia couldn't even see a glimpse of his face which was currently covered by a hood, had looked rather sinister.

However, just as the rider opened his mouth to inquire, Mia could feel the warmth and gentleness coming from that voice.

"Are you alright, Miss?" asked the rider.

Mia wanted to answer him, but she was just too tired to do so. Her mouth could no longer move even to utter a single word.

Despite not getting any response from her, when the rider realized that Mia was shivering non-stop, he quickly went back to his horse and took out a blanket from his saddle bag. He tightly wrapped it around her.

"Come on. You should come with me, Miss." said the rider worriedly.

Without waiting for Mia's permission, the rider put his arms around her body and under her knees and gently carried her to his horse.

Mia didn't resist the rider's actions and simply let him mount her onto the black horse. Even if she wanted to resist, her body wouldn't listen to her anymore.

Mounted on the black horse himself, the rider pulled on the rein and the horse once again continued with its steady gallop through the heavy rain to wherever it was supposed to go. All the while, the rider held Mia tightly in one arm, and the rein in another.

As they sprinted through the dense forest and heavy rain, the cold and fatigue finally took over her — Mia quickly drifted off to a deep and dreamless sleep.

******

In a distant [World].

[Lumière World]

In this [World], there was a unique shop called the Dream Star Shop. This shop was the only shop in all the [Worlds] that would and could grant any wishes — with a condition of course. One must give something of equal value to the wish that one wanted to be granted — a simple condition, and yet so cruel. For one might end up having to pay with something one truly cherished. However, a being can truly be terrifying when it came to their wants — greed breeds corruption, after all. Most of the patrons of the shop didn't as much as bat their eyes even when they had to give everything they own in return for their wish.

Currently, in one of the rooms inside the shop, a woman in a red kimono printed with beautiful lilies was lounging beside a huge open window looking out at the heavy rain outside. She has black long hair which fell down to her waist. Her white smooth jade-like legs were casually exposed underneath the kimono's hem which she had purposely pulled up to her thighs. Her every move suggested a seduction, even as she was simply glancing at you for a second.

After a moment of simply gazing out the window, the woman in red kimono reached out her right hand through the open window.

A gentle smile had bloomed on her face as she enjoyed the cold feeling the droplets of rainwater gave her as they dropped onto her opened palm — for a moment she looked very similar to those children who were enjoying themselves playing in the rain.

Her attention was still focused on the droplets of rain falling down on her palm, when suddenly, as if she noticed something very amusing, a corner of her lips tilted up. "It seems like the hands of time has begun to move once again."