Hotel Selten

A Great Progress

“Peony, can you stop suddenly popping around?”

The three of the girls were all wet, even Peony is not an exception. Ophelia was wet from top to the bottom, while Thilda got most of the water since she’s nearer the pool. Peony was wet except for her back. The black-haired girl tries not to roll her eyes at her. “I am sorry! I didn’t know you were practicing!” Peony pouts and her playful double ponytail is a bit ‘withered’.

“Just stop okay?” Thilda sighs and shakes off some of the water on her sleeves. Ophelia feels a little chilly since she’s covered with water. “Do you need to change?” Ophelia nods, “But I don’t have anything to change with.” “Maybe you can borrow some of our clothes!” The brunette girl looks at Peony who was beside her and checks her physique.

“I think your waist and chest are bigger than mine.” Peony looks at her body, she has a D cup breasts and has 32-inch waist compare to Ophelia who only has B cup breasts and a 27-inch waist. “Well, I’ll take your advice, maybe Thilda?” They turn at her and scans her. Her physique is almost similar to Ophelia's, except for her arm size since Ophelia’s arm seems weak and the opposite of Thilda's. She grunts as she realizes that they almost have the same body. “Fine. This time only, tell Miss Eve you need some clothes so someone can buy you some.” Ophelia nods, “I promise, I just hope I won’t be wet again.”

They went to Thilda’s room which is in the third building, which had three floors, unlike the other one. They went up to the 2nd floor where the black-haired warrior is staying. They stopped at the third room as Thilda reached her keys. “Room 308…” Ophelia reads the engraved words in the door. She opens the door, and a messy room of Thilda welcomed them.

“Now, let us find some clothes for you. What do you want?” She turned to Ophelia, “I am okay with some tees and leggings.” Thilda slightly snorted, “Alright, you have a boring fashion sense.”

Minutes later after finding something to wear in a pile of clothes, the three girls exit the room. Ophelia is wearing a white round-neck shirt paired with a jacket. Thilda was in her usual outfit, black long sleeve sweaters to hide her right arm. “The outfit suits you, Ophelia!” She smiles at Peony and then turns to Thilda. “Thanks.” Thilda snickers, “Yeah, sure. Let’s continue with your practice.”

They went back to the public bath, water was everywhere. Peony yelps as she grips on a wall, she almost slipped. “Be careful.” She nods at Thilda, the latter turns to Ophelia, “Since you can control water, can you put them back to the pool?” The brunette girl holds her chin as she examines her surroundings. ‘If I can just control the amount of water I can control… Or even a single place would do…’

Ophelia looks at a big puddle just beside her. She extends her left arm and focuses on that water. The other two watches. Some droplets of it start to rise. Ophelia looks around and some droplets of water that she didn’t intend to float is floating in the air, she draws her hand as all of them fall.

“Why you stopped?” Thilda asked, “That was honestly beautiful.” Ophelia blushed a bit in the compliment, “I was trying not to control a certain water in the place, that wasn’t intended.” Thilda smiles, it was an improvement for Ophelia. “Okay then, go ahead.” She crossed her arms and sets herself aside from the scene.

Ophelia turns to the puddle she was doing business with earlier, she extends both of her arms this time. She focuses again to lift this certain puddle. Slowly, it rises through the air. She’s trying not to get shocked or she will cut her focus and fail. She keeps rising the water and moves her hand towards the pool. The water went there as she intended and there were some splashes. She heard some claps and noticed it was her two companions when she turned around. “That’s some progress.” Thilda was smiling, it’s a positive sign.

She turns back to the pool, “Time to finish it up.” Ophelia, even it’s a bit tiring, one place and another, controls the water back to the pool. Peony was watching in awe while Thilda is just happy for what she achieved. Minutes later, the public bath was now dry and clean. Ophelia was panting a bit as Thilda approached her and pats her upper back, “That was good! You just need to do it in a larger quantity, so could avoid tiring yourself too much, anyway, that was great practice!” Ophelia smiles, “Yeah! That was so good! The water is getting more graceful as you try and try, maybe you can do more of your magic by that!” Peony exclaimed, she is more excited than Ophelia herself. She just smiled at the antics of the girl

“I encountered some water types, the key with water is being graceful yet offensive or defensive. That is the beauty of your magic.” Thilda explained, experiences can really teach someone. “Try and try to make some stuff out of your magic by yourself, maybe you can discover more about yourself. Anyway, it’s already lunch, you can go now and stuff your stomach.” Peony and Ophelia both nod as the three of them goes out of the public bath and head to their business—by that, it’s lunch.

After lunch, Ophelia went back to the public bath, Thilda didn’t say that she will have training this afternoon, but since the lady is sleeping and she is bored, she will train herself. She opened the door and was glad no one is there, she approached the edge of the pool and sits there. Her legs were crossed and look at herself on the water, her brunette hair was kind of messy, but she didn’t mind it. She leans back to her original position. It was quiet, so she will have a good time practicing.

‘Let me try controlling water without putting much effort.’

She looks at the water in front of her and she takes a breath. She motioned her hands upward, she tried it several times. In the end, she got the water rising at her will. She smiles. She swirls her hand and as well as the water.

She suddenly froze in a sudden realization, she felt a familiar feeling. The water splashes on her face but she didn’t care. It was not a Deja Vu, it’s just familiar. She felt like she is doing this before, her head aches as she tries to remember it. She’s been feeling like this since earlier, she ignores it anyway because of her excitement.

She doesn’t remember that she knew this, her teenage years are just all studying and a little bit socializing. She only knew two talents of her, it was playing guitar and analyzing puzzles. The only friend she had was JP. The only person she knew was her grandmother and her parents, who died by a plane crash, according to her grandma.

‘Plane crash… Plane crash…’

Her eyes widen as she remembered a fragment of her memory, she remembered being in a plane, with a woman and a man. Probably her parents that her grandma is telling to her. Everyone was panicking, in her memory, it was vague, yet she understands it all. And all of a sudden, the memory blacks out.

‘Is it why I woke up in a hospital?’

That memory of her, she was surrounded with white walls and a white ceiling. Her grandma with her curly black hair and blue sweater approached her. It was the start of everything to her before. She wonders why she didn’t remember everything until now. She didn’t even care about visiting her past. Now she does.

She is trying to remember anything before the plane crash, but she failed. The crash has severed her memory, she needs something to make her remember something about her. All of that, she still wonders how she didn’t remember anything through all the years. Well, she had, but almost all of her memory before she went to Germany just doesn’t exist in her mind. She could have, five years is enough to at least solve half of the puzzle which is herself.

Her thoughts trailed off as she heard the door of the public bath creaks. She turned and she saw a familiar female figure in front of her. Her red lips smile as her eyes—well, eye, since her other was covered with her hair, is looking at her. “Am I disturbing you, Ophelia?” She sweetly asked. Ophelia stands, “Not really, I am already done.” She smiles back at the lady.

“I am just checking on you, seems you are determined to unleash your full potential.” Ophelia nods, “Yeah… And actually, make use in this hotel.” The lady giggled, “I like your determination, reminds me of someone.” The brunette teenager looks at her, confused. “Don’t mind it, just a little reminiscence. Anyway, it’s almost 6 in the evening, you might want to come with me for dinner.”

“Huh, time flies so fast.” The lady giggled again, “It is, sooner or later, you’ll just know you are great at something.” The lady turns around and turned her head to her, “Let’s go.” They both exited the public bath. 

While walking, the lady turned her head to Ophelia. “Would you mind if you tell me about yourself?” The teenage girl looks back, “Uhm… Well… Sure! What do you want to know, Miss Eve?” “Anything particular about you, you know, I am like the mother here, especially to those who are young, since you are new, you might wanna introduce yourself.” Ophelia nods as she thinks, “Well, I am already 18 years old, I have been living in Germany for 5 years. I am with my grandma, Dolores.” The lady froze as she looks at her, “What’s her surname?” She suddenly asks, “Becker, Dolores Becker.”

“You are the daughter of Dred?” Ophelia was shocked, “How did you know the name of my father, miss?” The lady sighs, “Dolores was one of the senior warriors when I was younger, since she can manipulate minds, like Hugo, she was the ace in the battle. When I turned 18 and a breach happened, she just left the hotel with her son. The other said that she did it to protect her son. Till then, it became hard to battle sneakily with the attackers.”

A sudden realization went up in her mind, “Well, she actually told me some bedtime stories. It was a story about a hotel, wherein magic exists. I never thought she foreshadowed the hotel she protected before.” The lady’s face lightens up, “Really?” Ophelia nods. “Where is she now?” The teenager’s face saddens, the lady realized that she made a mistake, “I am sorry.” “It’s okay Miss Eve, she died a month ago. It was my mistake. I shouldn’t let her take a bath by herself.”

The lady comforts her, “There, there. Maybe you can continue the bedtime story you are telling me? It’s quite interesting, I wonder what she told you more about the hotel.” Miss Eve smiles to make her a bit better. Ophelia gulps and trying to hold her tears. “Well, in the story, there lives a girl who was great at manipulating things, I was even fooled even she named the girl Dolores, the same as her name. The hotel was so happy to live in, it was a euphoric place. The girl met someone that she will be with together, his name was Ophion.”

The lady froze for the second time again, “The Ophion name is familiar…” “Really Miss Eve? That means, it’s a real person, it might be my grandfather.” The lady thinks, they were stopped in their tracks. “Well, it wasn’t Ophion, I think it was Ophiuchus.”

“Who is speaking my stupid father’s name?”