The cathedral of Notre Damme was surely a sight to behold. I wasn’t sure if my attachment to the old gothic piece of architecture was so strong because of its actual value, or because of the fact that it had burned down in my original world. Even from where I was entering the island the cathedral was located on, via ‘Pont du Change’, I could make out its impressive towers, and orbs of yellow light floating above each of them.

These orbs of light had also been described in the novel, as they were present above most churches and cathedrals, and were meant to represent watchful angels. In the pre-war days, they also held some defence and attack skills, to protect the place of worship they ‘gazed upon’. However, then the art of making these orbs had been lost somewhere amongst the centuries, and they had become more of a decoration item since no one could figure out how to replenish their magic.

As I entered the plaza before the cathedral, I immediately spotted Etienne. Thanks to the cold, and the awkward early-afternoon time, there weren’t many people here; that wasn’t to say that he did not stand out in his black and burgundy leather outfit. Had I not known better, I would have thought he was a biker.

“Hey.” He greeted, before kissing me on the cheek. “What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story.” I briefly looked away, gathering my thoughts.

On my way here, I had decided that I would omit the transmigration/reincarnation situation and that I would justify what I was about to say as some sort of skill that allowed me to see the future. I had done the same with Alan before, although he’d seen right through me.

“Were you on some cleaning job?” I asked instead, having just realised how much Etienne smelled like bleach and cleaning products.

Now really wasn’t the time for that, but this new information kind off offset my ongoing theory of him working in outdoors hospitality.

He opened his mouth, but I shook my head, indicating that it was a rhetorical question. I started walking in the direction of the waterfront, nudging him to follow.

“There were two clients who showed up at the café today.” I began. “Well, the snowball of bad news began before that, when my sister called out of the blue, but the reason I ran away from work today was because of those clients.”

Etienne’s face was painted with worry, but he let me continue.

“I didn’t realise it at first, but I did eventually remember them from a vision I had. And this ties back to my sister and – yeah, and me, where they tried to kill us.”

We stood at the edge of the water in silence for almost two minutes. Etienne looked like he was deep in thought, and I wanted to give him a chance to process all of this before continuing my explanation. Meanwhile, I was trying to decide if I was going to explain the rest of my situation, namely what had happened a few months prior with those people trying to kill me and Cain. I was ready to share it with Etienne, but I needed to see his reaction first. I fully understood that he did not sign up for any of my family issues when we had decided to go out and that we weren’t even officially dating, so he really didn’t owe me anything.

“How often do your ‘visions’ end up realising themselves?” Etienne finally asked.

The tone he used for the word ‘visions’ sounded like he was trying very hard not to subconsciously accuse me of lying again. A mix of emotions flashed through me. Anger. Disappointment; the feeling of being let down. Thankfully, none of them dwelled inside my mind for too long, and after another minute or so of silence, I was left with nothing but silent acceptance of the fact that Etienne was not my go-to person for this issue, and never should have been.

In that moment, I also realised that I needed to form more connections in this world. I had been right in not going to Etienne back then, even if it had meant interfering with book characters. And perhaps that was the way to go forward as well. But for now, I needed to answer Etienne.

“It’s more of a suggestion of a potential reality,” I tried to explain it away, “one that’s based on the true nature of people. I do presume that there’s a way to change things, or interfere, but that they will all ultimately follow their set course.” I paused, thinking back, once again to my own interference with the course of this story. “But I haven’t had the chance to test it out.” I quietly added.

“Well maybe now is the chance to test it out?” Etienne asked. “I can help you with that. If you’re certain that you’re in danger, then I can-”

He cut himself off, his eyes fixed on something in the distance. I examined his face carefully, looking for any clues as to what he might have been thinking. His tone and his words were in such opposition that it was hard for me to understand which one of those was sincere.

“You can what?” I asked, not wanting to sound too hopeful.

This wasn’t about the twins at the coffee store anymore; not quite. It was about our relationship as a whole.

Etienne turned towards me. He took my hands into his, and our eyes locked.

“Laura, I-” He paused, collecting his thoughts.

As I stared into his dreamy brown eyes, all the negative thoughts I had about him began slowly fading away. A voice at the back of my head kept shouting at me that I should stop letting these kinds of issues go and that I couldn’t overlook things just because I found him attractive. This voice was currently fighting very hard for control over my actions, as I wanted nothing more than to pull Etienne in for a kiss.

“Gabubagua!” A voice exclaimed right by our side.

Both of us snapped our heads towards the noise. An almost human creature had climbed out of the water and was pulling itself up onto the railing that surrounded the island. It was skeletal, with a pale skin that had come off in many places to leave exposed the muscles and bone below it. Its eye-less sockets looked at Etienne and me eagerly, almost expectedly.

“Gabubagua?” The creature repeated, clearly expecting an answer.

Etienne put his arm out in front of me, preparing to block a potential attack. I, on the other hand, being as un-fond of monsters as one could get, kicked the thing in the chest, making it lose its grip and fall back down where it had come from.

Etienne and I exchanged a look. His was confused, mine was concerned. Just as I was about to tell him that we should continue our conversation elsewhere, another gargled sound came from the water. It was soon followed by another. And another.

We took a few steps back, as pale, decomposing, hands, began grabbing at the railing, and pulling their equally pale and decomposing bodies behind.

“Everyone get back!” Etienne shouted as he turned around, gesturing for the people to get away from the railing.

“And call the military!” I yelled in turn. “My phone is dead.” I quietly added.

MP - 2

My trustworthy blade materialised inside my palm once more. I looked around, assessing the situation.

Etienne was still trying to get people to get to safety, or rather further away from the danger, while a few people had begun taking the matters into their own hands.

Someone had materialised a wide spear, in the same manner that had summoned my sword, and began hacking at those creatures that had already crossed the barrier.

Whisper of Protection

Incoming damage reduced by 30%

I glanced around, trying to figure out if someone had cast this skill on me since I did not recall having anything of the sort. Sure enough, some helpful soul in a rainbow beanie gave me, and that spearman, a thumbs up.

Thing was, the noises, much like the monsters producing them, did not stop, or even slow down. Although they seemed to be extremely clumsy on land, falling over every few steps and resolving to crawling rather than walking in most cases, I could already count over two dozen of them on the island, with more underway.

Etienne zapped a few with his lightning, I stabbed one that had come too close to me. One other person had suspended a few of them in mid-air, before throwing them at another group.

Suddenly, the ground below me illuminated with red light, as a grid of 1.5 by 1.5 meters appeared over it.

“Spear, sword, move to the squares that lit up green! Lighting, telekinesis, onto orange squares.” A voice behind us ordered.

As I turned around, I was faced with a blue screen.

Rwen Samine

He/Him

37

B

Rear-guard

Battlefield control

Not Displayed

Not Displayed

Rwen, an older, military-looking man with a dark moustache, had several screens floating before him, each roughly directed towards every person left by the waterfront.

“Stun will be over in 5 seconds. Move!” Rwen yelled.

This had, once again, escalated unnaturally quickly, and the thought that I should no longer go outside did briefly cross my mind. Then, I nodded to myself, thinking back to the fact that I was not built for this, and dashed into mele-range, alongside the spearman, just as the creatures who had briefly been immobilised in their tracks, began to move once again.