Chapter 1 – The inconvenience of being a little girl
"I'm hungry…" – Alice was tired, annoyed and hungry. It was several long hours after she left that building but there were only the same sky-reaching boxes made of stone with black rectangular window holes. The scorching sun made her weak body nauseated from heat and dehydration forcing the magician to look for fresh water.
She tried to use "abandon food" and "abandon temper" magecraft to change her species back to youkai magician. It was useless. It seems that the Grimoire was keeping her from becoming a magician, probably to keep her safe. At least it never tried to stop her when she absorbed enough energy to grow up in the past. "I'm really hungry… And thirsty…" – the young girl was troubled because of the current situation. She could not change her species to youkai nor find any food or water. Eating grass was out of question while fishing was impossible for her due to lack of fishing rod and no river in sight. The long forgotten feelings of being human were not very nice.
Slowly, her tolerance to heat reached its limit and she get inside a nearby building, the most sturdy looking. It was relatively cool in the big room full of rubble. Alice found big enough flat stone and, after some dusting, she sat on it. Her legs were killing her but she stubbornly walked for hours without trying to fly. Of course, there were simple reasons for it – the outsiders could not fly according to Sanae and whatever destroyed the outside world could still be lurking somewhere close.
The magician tried to look at her situation from the different perspective. It was not very pleasant one. After all, she was weak ten-twelve years girl without any type of food and water source nor shelter to sleep. She knew that she had to sleep eventually or else her body would break. It was quite ironic: when she was the seven-colored puppeteer she could eat and drink what she want and sleep whenever she want. Even though she could live without eating, drinking or sleeping. Now, she did not have anything but at the same time, it was necessary for her survival.
"Water goes first," – sighing, Alice cupped her hands in front of her and chanted short spell to produce some water. It was warm and tasteless but water nonetheless. She created several more portions to satisfy her thirst and one last to wash out the dirt from her face. The magically created water was bad for one's health; still it was better than nothing.
Refreshed, the little girl stood up from her improvised stool and looked outside. The shadows did not moved from the time she left the previous building and entered this one which meant that the day was likely perpetual. The only one who was capable to do such tricks were those Lunarians from Eientei, likely Patchouli with some preparation and health care and certainly the Grimoire. The head maid from the Scarlet Devil Mansion had control over time as well but too pull such a stunt…
A yawn escaped her. All her movements was a little stiff and lacked coordination now. The drowsiness wave hit her and forced the girl to concentrate all efforts to herself awake.
"I need a shelter…" – it was a logical conclusion. Alice knew spells that could remove fatigue from the body but human body was susceptible to damage. She could risk it one, maybe two times, but she would be forced to rest.
The careful examination of the first floor let her discover several important things. Firstly, the second floor was unreachable unless one can fly or had a very good climbing skill since the staircase was collapsed like in the first building. Secondly, there was some rags here and there that she gathered into one pile to purify and clean with magic. And, most importantly, she found some kind of food. It was sealed metal box with white powder inside that tasted like milk, a little spoiled milk. Nevertheless, it was a food! Not very healthy, but still an edible food.
"I'm full…" – Alice mumbled to herself after gobbling the entire box of the white powder. It was so unrefined that Marisa would likely choke if she saw it. She had to create water from time to time to moister her mouth, she coughed several time after inhaling some powder. Still, she was happy to eat something.
After the meal, the magician lazed for half an hour before she decided to look around the second floor. She found a good small room with one window, the hole in the ceiling and two exits – it was an easy place to defend and she had several option to escape.
Getting down and moving pile of rags with several white powder metal containers took some time. Puffing from exhaustion Alice was sitting on the self-made bed in the corner of the room. She leaned on the wall and looked at the part of the sky through window. She felt very drowsy but forced herself to stay awake.
Such menial labor was usually done by Yumeko and Yumeko alone. Her mother was the most worrywart around her that even the inner palace maids couldn't attend to her. Only the fierce and strict Yumeko was fussing around. After she left and started to live in the Forest of Magic she relied on her dolls for such menial work. Even though she had to control her puppets, she did not use even an ounce of her physical strength. It was never so exhausting. Additionally she had a tons of elixirs and potions at her disposal.
Alice regained some strength after the prolonged rest and moved to tidy her small shelter. Temporary or not, she was not like well-known black-and-white witch who could live in the trash can called witch house hers. The girl put some magical traps as well: on the window, on the two exits and hole in the ceiling. Several optical spells was put to good use, the one she learnt in Makai but never practiced outside her personal classroom. Whoever tried to sneak in would be welcomed by nasty surprises.
"Good…" – the little magician praised herself after looking at her work. She was tired and sleepy; still she flew up to the third and fourth floors to ensure that she did not miss anything dangerous.
"Hm?" – There was strange looking box in a room on the fourth floor, smaller than her Grimoire. It had tubular hands with ball joints, one protruding joint-like thing on one side and two smaller tubular had on other. "A doll torso?" – Alice examined the strange item in her hand and knocked all over it – "Sounds hollow inside." The girl knew about mechanical dolls even though she never made one. Those dolls gad to be hollow inside or else they could not store mechanicals parts. But the design of this doll torso was so sloppy, it did not look like a human torso at all. And those hands… There were only three fingers! Still, the joints were masterfully made so puppeteer thought that it was likely some kind of prototype.
"Oh, I will examine you tomorrow…" – the magician yawned and get down to her shelter. She put the doll torso nearby the bed and pull over the biggest rag as an improvised blanket. The bright light was annoying but she was too tired to bother…