A new life…?

Glast Heim, a few hours after chapter 2

Alice lay on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. She could feel the Sage Worms patting her back, but she just wanted to be alone. She didn't want anymore friends…

She didn't want to lose any more friends.

She got out of bed, ignoring the startled Sage Worms. She undressed her sleeping wear and got into her uniform. She was still sad that she lost Little Tails, but she didn't want the Owl Baron to hurt her again either. She got her broom and back to the Owl Barons' room to clean up the mess.

She wiped her tears out of her eyes out of her eyes and entered the room. The Owl Baron was seated in a tall marble chair, eyeing Alice carefully. There was clearly indication that he been in the bloody battle. A ring of skin around the Owl Baron remained where feathers should have been. His Staff was split into two and his clothes had patches and stitches all over it.

The room was an even worse mess. The Barons' desk was smashed into sorry little bits on the floor. The door only had small planks of wood attached to its hinges, what was left of it lay in a heap on the floor. The floor mat was torn and stained with blood and the ornaments were all toppled or shattered, priceless valuables made worthless in an instant.

The Owl Baron caught Alice's attention again, "I am in no mood to lecture you on what I had in mind earlier on. Clean up this mess and get out of my sight. Well, didn't you hear me? CLEAN THIS MESS UP!"

Alice was frightened into action and hurriedly swept the broken objects out of the room. She summoned some of her sage worms to take away the floor mat and Alice went to get a new one from the storage.

She climbed the stairs to level two of the castle, still carrying her broom in hand. A few Rideworms flew past her, and she greeted them as cheerfully as possible. Alice didn't want the other members of the castle to know how she was feeling. She wanted them to believe everything was alright and so they would all leave her alone. She didn't like people to nag about how she was feeling.

She didn't want them to make her remember Little Tails.

Alice rounded a corner before she would let herself cry again. She slumped down into the floor and cried again, thinking about Little Tails, thinking how she just gave him away to people who would kill people for fun, to people who could care less how she felt, and to people whom Alice has never met or could ever trust.

Yet, she gave her friend to them, believing they would take care of Little Tails, only to be killed by them in the name of greed. She hated herself for doing it. She hated herself for believing them.

She hated herself for losing a friend.

She dug herself into her apron, crying her heart out. She wanted Little Tails back. She wanted him to be in her arms, comforting her. She wanted him to come down the hallway and mock Alice as if it was all another joke, and she fell for it.

But Little Tails never came. Not a mew or a footstep to show he was back. Ever.

Alice forced herself to think about something else. She couldn't live like this. She's already lost everything a thousand years ago. This was nothing compared to what she has faced, but why was she still crying? She shouldn't be crying, damn it, she shouldn't.

Just as she was about to get up, a purple blur zoomed past her. A priest ran past Alice, blood and arrows covering her back. A Raydric Archer took aim as it prepared to add another arrow into the priest. The priest began chanting furiously, opening a portal in the ground, but it was too late. The Raydric Archer shot the final blow into the priests' head, going straight through her skull and out an eye socket. She slumped down, lifeless, bleeding a sea of red into the ground.

The Raydric Archer ignored Alice completely, marching off in the opposite direction. But the portal still remained, glowing a soft blue and revealing the landscape of a city on the other side.

Alice's heart raced. This was a chance of a lifetime. She could sneak out of Glast Heim unnoticed if she went through the portal. She could be rid of this place and return to her old, human life again. She didn't have to sweep up a dusty castle ever again if she wanted to.

She could look for Little Tails.

With that thought in mind, Alice raced into the portal before it could close. She could feel the change of temperature as the cold of Glast Heim was banished by the warmth of the sun. The view in front of her was no longer dark and gloomy, but rather, bright and sunny. Everything was white and brown. The road was made of white marble, the houses towering over her, blocking her view of the rest of this place. And behind her was a shop with three doors. On the doors were the word "Open" and a small but remarkable emblem beneath it.

Alice has seen the emblem once in the Glast Heim library. It was the flag of the capital of Midgard.

Alice was in Prontera.