15 By My Hands

Mr Thomas was one of Carole's suppliers of clothing pieces. His designs and materials proved to be popular among travellers and the locals. He wore a simple brown wool hat and buttoned-down shirt and dress pants.

"You're most welcome, Miss Carole. You are one of my favourite customers after all! It is always a pleasure to do business with you," Mr Thomas replied with a smile. When he caught sight of Vy, he wondered who was the young woman helping Carole with her stall.

Carole could see the look in his eyes, a young woman like Vy was a rare sight in the town. "Vyrena, come over here. Let me introduce you to Mr Thomas," Carole called out.

Vy arranged the new garments that had just been delivered and came over as Carole asked. She shook hands with Mr Thomas with a smile, "It is my pleasure to meet you, Mr Thomas. I must say, the quality of your garments is one of the best we have in stock."

Mr Thomas was taken by surprise by Vyrena's kind words of praise. He did not know how to react to it. Carole, who had never seen the old man lost for words, burst out laughing.

"Vyrena, look at what you have done to the poor man. He's lost of words! That sort of praise must have gone to his head!"

All three of them had a good laugh together. The day went by quickly and soon enough, they closed up shop and ended their day of work. Vy had a quick meal with Carole before she headed off to look for Coco. When she reached her stall, Coco had just finished her meal as well.

"I thought you would never come back," Coco said with a chuckle.

"You thought I might run away and disappear," Vy joked as she took a seat at the table.

"Well, I assumed your curiosity would bring you back and here you are. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I am."

Coco nodded and she explained the information she had managed to recall, "As far as I can remember, during my travels to distant lands I have met people like you, who carried with them items that do not belong to this world. Usually, it was just a passer-by whom I sensed something strange on them. However, there were two occasions, other than my encounter with you, where I had the opportunity to analyse the item they carried."

Coco explained that while those items were not of this world, they did not seem to have come from the same place as Vy's items either. Based on that information, it was safe to say that there were multiple worlds out there, beyond the two that Vy presently knew of; the world she was in at the moment and the world she came from.

"But did any of them retained any memories from their previous world? At Least for the people you were able to speak to?"

Coco nodded, "One of them was nice enough to share details, but that person did not mention if they had retained the memories from the moment they arrived or if he had recovered the memories after he was here."

After chatting with Coco, Vy made her way back to the inn and laid down on her bed in the room. While the information she received from Coco was not what she had expected, it had opened her eyes to more possibilities. It was nice to know that she was not the only person to have experienced such an incident. She took out a leather-bound book that Coco had given her as well.

Coco had asked for her to record down anything she might recall so that it could be used for future reference.

"You never know, maybe the notes you write down could be useful for people in the future who are in the same situation as you," Coco said.

-System, do you happen to know if there are any other people that are like me?-

\u003cI am sorry Vy, but that information is confidential and you do not have clearance for it.\u003e

Vy guessed that would be the case.

-But are there things that you can tell me? Like how I died?-

\u003cThat is information I can share, would you like to relive it?\u003e

-No. Could you just tell me how it happened?-

\u003cYes Vy, retrieving file.\u003e

\u003cRetrieval complete.\u003e

\u003cName: Vyrena \u003e

\u003cSurname: ???\u003e

\u003cAge at death: 49\u003e

\u003cCause of death: Poison\u003e

Hearing it was enough to wash her over with a wave of sadness. She recalled the vague memory she had, of someone holding her hand as she died. Death by poison. Did she take it willingly or was she poisoned by an enemy?

-Did I take the poison willingly? Or was that the handiwork of one of my enemies?-

\u003c...\u003e

-I want to know, System. Tell me the truth.-

\u003cIt was suicide.\u003e