54 Night Ends And Begins Something New

Arnacia entered the bath from the backside of the house. The lamp in her hand lit up the walls in a shade of brownish orange. It would've felt creepy at other times, but she wasn't in a mood to complain right now.

Luckily, she found an empty floating wooden shelf and put the lamp on it. Next, she locked the brown wooden door from which she entered and then the other door, which was connected to the house. After doing so, she stood still to eavesdrop, but couldn't hear any voices on the other side.

She slowly unbuttoned her shirt while looking around. The bathtub's color was the same as the walls, but she wasn't sure what the material used inside it to hold the water. She pulled the shirt over her shoulder and hung it on one of many hooks in the nearby wall.

Next, she undid the hook of the wide elastic strap pressing on her chest. Her size doubled instantly, and she massaged herself a little. The skin looked redder, but she didn't feel much noticeable stiffness or pain.

Now then, let's find a mirror. She thought, but couldn't find it even after double checking every nook and cranny. Instead, she noticed that there was no soap and the bath sponge was a mesh of soft green grass. She also found a long cuboid with rounded corners and a rope tied at its top to make a handle. The piece was thinner than her arms and a little longer than the depth of the bathtub.

The Garnet colored cuboid looked like a piece of dull stone. Arnacia hovered her hand very close to it and didn't feel any warmth. Next, she touched it with a finger for a while, but the stone didn't heat up. Thus, she picked it up by the rope handle and dipped it into the bathtub and waited.

After a few minutes she put a finger inside the water and felt it was a little warmer than before. The cuboid was a perfect piece of stone with no cracks at any corners. There were no fireworks, no flashy effects. This was magic at its deepest essence.

There might be some types of electrons or protons jumping inside the simple looking stone. Or there might only be energy inside. She was not sure about the details, but believed that this world was just as flawless as the one from her previous life. A world where everything would make sense while being senseless at the same time.

She took out the heating cuboid when steam began to rise from the water and kept it in a corner. Now that the water was heated, she kept a small stool, a wooden box and a wooden mug in front of the tub. The wooden box had bluish sand inside.

She smelled it and confirmed it was soap, or soap powder, or scrub, or whatever they called it in this world. It felt a long and tiring day since it began in a lodging far up North. She reflected on the events that had happened today while removing her remaining clothes.

The sand like soap formed decent foam on her body. There wasn't a thing call shampoo in the bath, so she used the soap on her hair too. She poured water on herself from the wooden mug and finally entered the bathtub to relax.

The tub was only a little longer than half her height. She bent her knees and dipped inside the warmness that washed all fatigue from her body. It even eased her mental worries for a while. She left the bath when the candle inside the lamp was almost burnt out.

***

Arnacia was curled up in her bed. The orange and green bed sheet was wrapped around her arms when she slept last night. In the morning, the random noises inside the house broke her sleep. She decided to listen quietly with closed eyes.

It appeared someone opened and closed a door and walked around the house before stopping near her room. She lost all her sleepiness on realizing this. But soon she heard retreating. She sighed and pulled the blanket to cover her head.

She got up from the bed after twenty minutes or so and entered the dining room. A plate covered with another was on the table. She looked around and approached the table with very quiet footsteps. Her stomach growled on seeing the sandwich bread. It was filled with stripes of green leaves, red tomato and a weird paste of finely chopped mixed veggies or something.

"Archie," she called out. "Are you in the house?"

"Yes," Archie said from the other room. "There's breakfast for you on the table."

"Thanks… I will be back before evening." Arnacia said and picked up the sandwich. She went to her room, changed into deep orange and black, and headed out with a paper bag.

The forest in which the doctor supposedly lived was called Vanvan forest. It was towards the South of the village. Naomi' house was in the South East, so Arancia decided to head there first to return the clothes. She followed the path to the market in the center of the village and then took the left path.

She wanted to thank Naomi and return the clothes from yesterday. Additionally, a pair of her clothes was at Naomi's house so she figured this whole affair would be weird. She knocked on the door of Eeich household with the help of a black brass knocker shaped like a teardrop.

"Good morning, Arnacia." Elda was the one who opened the door. She looked behind Arnacia and added, "By any chance, did you see Naomi on your way here?"

"No. I am here to return this." Arnacia handed over the paper bag. She smiled and turned away.

"You might meet Naomi on your way back." Elda's pointy eyebrows added extra surety in her manner of speech.

Arnacia smiled back, but she knew that would not happen. She had no idea on how to face Naomi or what to say. All this time, she had preemptively lied and deceived the girl who believed her every word.

While thinking about it, she reached the end. There were no more houses. Only the desolate road that eventually went into the horde of trees. No directions, no maps. She picked the only trail beside the main road which went deep into the forest.