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Chapter 2 - Lost (In Time)

Lilith's head began to spin as she took in the current situation that she was in. She began to think that maybe she was drugged, that had to be the next best explanation. The layout of Avarice Manor was completely different and when she headed outside to look for her car, her heart almost stopped.

Where the car park was supposed to be, was replaced by grass, the main road, fountain, and hedges were still there but there was no car park. Better yet, there were no cars. All in front of the manor were carriages, dropping people off and picking them up. Footmen and servants accompanied by their masters stood outside and they all looked like everything was normal. Lilith hoped that she maybe was not the only person who was essentially tripping, but she seemed to be.

Lilith almost fell down the stairs, tripping as she made her way to the first few steps. She was trying her best to calm herself down but nothing was working. All of the people outside looked at her, with expressions of shock and surprise, but that was the least of her worries. There were carriages lined up in front of the manor and she went between two, looking for anything that could be familiar and that told her that she was still where she needed to be.

As Lilith frantically looked around, she looked up at the sky, with a sneaking suspicion, and saw the silver moon. It was big and bright, and just how she saw it last. That was the only thing, other than the fact that Avarice Manor was there, that was normal. The reality of the situation slowly began to creep into her mind and when it hit her, it almost made her go mad. She had been denying it but she knew that it was the only explanation. If she was drugged then someone would have stopped her from walking so dangerously on a path where active cars were.

Lilith backed away, looking at everyone around her, they all looked at her as if she were some lost child. She could feel her eyes begin to water because she actually was a lost child. While backing up, she was not looking back and ended up backing into someone. Lilith jumped in surprise and when she turned around, she saw that she bumped into a man. And for a few seconds, she was distracted by his looks. He had a cold but handsome face, very defined and full eyebrows. His hair was sexily slicked back and when he made eye contact with Lilith, he only slightly raised his eyebrow.

There were a couple of seconds of silence before Lilith raised her shaking hands and gripped onto his clothes. Never in her life had she ever been so terrified to ask such a simple question, but she needed to. The man didn't move in all of her seconds of gathering herself and Lilith appreciated that he had not pushed her off yet.

"What year... what year is it?" she forced out.

Raymond looked down at the strange woman who was holding onto him. Usually, he would have pushed anyone off by now and definitely not let them grip him, but he didn't. He was not sure if it was because of her clothes and that he assumed she was some sort of royalty, or the fact that for a moment, he was distracted by her looks and since he didn't react immediately, decided not to react at all.

But he was rather shocked to hear the question come out of her mouth. She looked so lost and desperate that Raymond decided that there was no harm in answering her question.

"Eighteen Fifteen."

Her grip loosened and she stumbled back a bit. Two hundred years. She traveled two hundred years in the past. Raymond took in her reaction, wondering what was going on. He figured that she could have some sort of mental problem.

Lilith stumbled away from Raymond and in a daze, walked down the road leading away from the Manor. Some time passed, and Lilith was not sure how many people she talked to or how many times she had almost fallen flat on her face in the middle of the dirt roads, but when she came too she was surely lost, exhausted, and starving. Lilith found herself next to a house that had piles of hay stacked against it. She was not sure what time it was, and if it was any later than nine o'clock, but after figuring out that she could have traveled to the past, all of her energy had been spent preventing her from having a meltdown.

The roads were not relatively busy and she could see people packing up their produce stalls for the day and turning in. If it really was 1815, then it meant that Kathalé was near the years of a major economic crisis. And because of the patriarch, he did not do a single thing when it came to helping his people. Because of him, Kathalé suffered a lot. It was not in Lilith's best interest to have to deal with that if she really was stuck here, so she needed to move to another part of Creona.

Creona was divided into three states, Kathalé, the state of royalty, nobility, and all fancy things, Naulis, the technologically advanced state, where all the geniuses of Creona were, working together to make the country a better place, and Boreon, the so-called 'old-timey' state. This is where most of the agriculture is. The people who live there prefer the simpler ways of life and so they live simple basic countryside lives. Even in modern days, there's a fully functional steam train.

Although the royal family is technically in charge of the entire country. There was an agreement signed that kept each state divided and unique. It was like entering an entirely new world when traveling to another state. People wanted different things and the three states were established. Lilith knew that it would be best if she moved Naulis because she could try to find information as to why she traveled through time.

The thing about Creona is that it's hidden away from the rest of the world. We know they exist and can go out into it when we are ready, but they do not know we exist. That is how it had and should always be. If there is one thing that all Crenese people agree on, it is that they do not want the country to be discovered by the rest of the world. Naulis is about one hundred years ahead in technology than the rest of the world and knowing the history of how things happen outside, people will try to take advantage of it for illegal reasons.

Eridian is known to the rest of the world as the 'ice wall'. It is the barrier that separates Creona from the rest of the world. There was always some variation of the tale, but it is widely known that at the end of the world there is an ice wall and on the other side of the ice wall, could be nothing at all, another civilization, or the key to life. Those were all speculations that were created by travelers that happened to see Eridian, but could not get close enough to it to pass.

Eridian protects Creona from the outside world, and that is how it has always been. People from Creona are able to pass through it, but that's all, no one else can, and so that is how we have been hidden. No one knows why things were like this, why it happened to turn out this way, but that was how it was since the beginning.

Lilith knew that she would not be able to leave Creona because she did not have any sort of identification on her. But that would only be the case if things were to get tough for her. And although her plan was to move to Naulis, she needed money to do that. She would need a place to live, and would have to find some sort of way to get there.

She sighed deeply and slumped down on the stack of hay. The night was cold and all she had on her was a dress, that was not even fluffy enough to provide her with proper warmth.

Sleeping somewhere like this terrified her, but there was nothing she could do about her situation until the morning. Her body trembled, either from the cold or because of fear as she lay down on the pile, keeping her eyes on the road. The hay was tucked in the shadows of the house and so no one was able to see her, which was something she was grateful for.

As she was falling asleep, she kept chanting prayers in her head. Wanting to make it just to the morning without anything bad happening to her, and then she would be able to move from there. She would sell the dress and shoes, which would give her a lot of money, and then get some clothes that helped her blend in, maybe somewhere to stay, and definitely something to eat. And from there, she would have to figure it out.

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