Prologue

'The world is full of wonderful myths. You just have to know where to look.'

That was the earnest truth that the young Amelia Watson held deep in her heart. As the blond girl sank in the warm, steamy waters of her bath, she closed her sky blue eyes and let her mind wander.

She heard the water sloshing in her tub and then let that sound whisk her away from the mundane world of reality that she lived in. The darkness behind her eyelids transformed into a magnificent seascape that surrounded her. That scene was adorned with the myriad of sea creatures, corals and underwater plants that she had read about in books. Black-and-white illustrations that she had seen on the pages before transcended ink and parchment and now bloomed with color and moved with lives of their own.

Before long, Amelia herself donned the armored suit of a deep sea diver with a caged fishbowl helmet, bringing a smile to the young girl's lips. She was surrounded by fish of all kinds and colors that swam around her like the constellations of stars in the night sky. Every time that Amelia dove into the ocean of her mind, the plants and the creatures and the underwater landscapes were different to some degree.

However, there was always a specific figure that appeared without fail: a friendly, great blue shark - about half the size of a sloop of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's navy.

Sometimes, the shark showed Amelia something that she had never seen before. Other times, Amelia raced the shark through the dark blue depths. Then, from time to time, they went into some shipwrecks where they watched silent motion pictures from the Americas on projectors that somehow worked underwater. Every single time, though, the shark was Amelia's trusty companion and never once left her side.

That evening, after a brief race around an old shipwreck, the shark turned Amelia's way and seemed to say her name.

"Amelia. Amelia!"

'The shark can speak?' Amelia thought with a twinkle of amazement in her eyes, 'Even though it's so cute and dumb-looking!'

The shark then opened its mouth and repeated with more urgency,

"Amelia! AMELIA!"

That last call finally pulled Amelia out from the eye of her mind and returned her to reality. The majestic seascape that she had been swimming in reverted back into the confines of her bathtub. The deep sea diving suit likewise fizzled away, leaving Amelia naked in the water.

The voice that called her out also turned out to be the voice of her mother - not the trusty blue shark that accompanied her in her dreams. The door of her large bathroom swung open and Amelia's mother, Mrs. Watson, thundered inside with a scowl on her face.

"Amelia Watson! How many times do I have to call you before you answer me!?" Mrs. Watson started as she tapped the tiled bathroom floor with her feet, "And how long do you plan to stay in the bathtub? Your skin is going to get wrinkly!"

Amelia pouted at her mother and lowered her head halfway into the water as she muttered,

"But I was just enjoying myself…"

The young girl's words were distorted as they rose up from her submerged mouth to the surface in bubbles. Mrs. Watson folded her arms and considered scolding her strange daughter again, but she eventually decided against it.

Instead, Mrs. Watson folded her arms and ordered,

"When you're done turning yourself into a prune, Amelia, go fetch the mail while I finish preparing supper. I believe the postman came by a little while ago. Also - make sure your luggage is packed for tomorrow! Understood?"

"Yes mom…" Amelia answered obediently, albeit halfheartedly.

Mrs. Watson sighed and left her daughter alone, closing the bathroom door.

Now alone once more, Amelia carefully got out of the bathtub but stole one last longing glance at the water. She imagined the face of that friendly shark who always accompanied her in her baths and bid it farewell.

"Bye bye, sharkie." Amelia whispered as she pulled the plug to drain the water.

With that, Amelia finished up in the bathroom, donned her in her pyjamas and slippers, lit a candle lantern and then hurried outside the Watson household to fetch the mail. She opened up the bright red postbox by the road and retrieved two letters from within.

Amelia looked at the letters under the light of her candle lamp and then tilted her head. The both of them were addressed to her!

She took both letters straight into her room and then sat down at her desk with growing excitement. The first letter was from her uncle, the esteemed Dr. Watson who was returning home from a long trip overseas. The second letter, however, was a mysterious envelope sealed with blue ink in the shape of a triangle.

Beneath that blue triangle, Amelia read the words.

"An opportunity of a lifetime awaits. HoloMyth?"

Amelia mulled over the letter under the candlelight for a good minute or so, thinking hard about what the odd message meant. She had spent all her life hoping to find those myths that lived just beyond the eye of her mind.

Little did she know that by breaking that triangle-shaped seal, she was starting her journey to become a myth herself.


AlterMyth

A Chance Encounter


First Scene - Threepence Detour

It was an unusually sunny day when Amelia Watson set off from her countryside home to London. Amelia, clad in a warm, tan overcoat over her white shirt, tie and plaid brown skirt, donned her ribbon-tipped hat and then picked up her large luggage trunk with both hands. She brought her trunk outside the Watson household and let a smartly-dressed chauffeur help her load it onto the back of an enclosed, horse-drawn carriage that was bound for the British capital.

The Watson family, consisting of her mother, father and older brother, gathered at the front yard of their home soon afterward to see Amelia off.

"Don't forget to visit your uncle John in his office today." Mrs. Watson added as she adjusted her daughter's collar and straightened her red tie one last time, "And please be in your best behaviour!"

"Yes mom…" Amelia answered reflexively, albeit filtering her mother's nagging to some degree. After all, she had already arranged to visit her renowned relative, Dr. John H. Watson, in London months ago.

Amelia was a sophomore student in a certain college in London where Dr. Watson was a primary sponsor as well as one of the key lecturers. Her brief, albeit relaxing Spring Break had just come to an end, so she reluctantly had to move back to her dormitory closer to the school.

At least, that was the official plan.

Once the Watson family had said their goodbyes, Amelia hopped into the carriage, closed the door and sank into the cushioned seat. Then, as the carriage started to move, Amelia knocked on the chauffeur's window and asked him to drop her off somewhere else instead.

She wanted to go to a small, hole-in-the-wall coffeehouse that the blue-triangle sealed envelope had mentioned: the 'English Maiden Café'. Thankfully, it wasn't too far from her dormitory and from Dr. Watson's office, so the chauffeur agreed to the change in plans - in exchange for a couple of bronze threepences.

With her new destination set, Amelia leaned back into her cushioned seat and looked out the screen window of the carriage to take in the sights. The British countryside in the early spring was lush green and shimmered with the morning new under the unusually bright sun. That scene spurred Amelia's wild imagination again as she held the letter with the broken blue seal in hand.

"HoloMyth… HoloMyth…" Amelia repeated as she looked out the window.

Just saying those words made her normal routine journey all the more wonderful. When she saw a cute puppy sitting obediently outside the door of a village bakery, she brewed up a myth for the scene. She imagined that the puppy worked there at the bakery part time for a bone or a croissant. Then, when the village cat sauntered over, the watchful puppy rolled over on its back and wagged its fluffy tail.

The two of them must be good friends, Amelia quietly thought with a smile on her lips. She had to stop herself from telling the chauffeur to stop so that she could pet them. Instead, she just bid the friendly cat and dog farewell through the window of the carriage.

Past the town, the road cut through rolling hills and meadows where a herd of white bunny rabbits hopped together through the grass like bouncing snowballs while a white fox and a black wolf stalked them from a distance. The bleating of sheep caught Amelia's attention next, followed by the frantic quacking of ducks swimming in a nearby pond and the unmistakable smell of onions and garlic starting to sprout in the nearby field.

On the canvas of that peaceful meadow, Amelia couldn't help but imagine a female knight and her half-elf companion strolling through the scene. The happy couple stopped to chat with a friendly lion that acted more like a domestic housecat than a ferocious beast. Then, they were guided by a pretty, winged angel around a majestic sleeping dragon - so as not to disturb its slumber.

There had to be a world like that somewhere, Amelia mused, where the people and creatures she saw in her daydreams existed. She held that blue-sealed letter close to her heart and hoped that it was all true.

Then, all of the sudden, the meadow was claimed by the busy, bustling cobblestone streets of the outskirts of London. The vast fields and hills were replaced by the new suburban towns connected to London by the burgeoning railroad system. The buildings gradually grew taller and were built much more closely together as well. Then, the carriage rattled briefly as it went off the dirt road and onto the cobblestone, bringing Amelia back into reality - much to her disappointment.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before the horse carriage finally came to a halt. Amelia had arrived at her destination that morning.

The English Maiden Café.


Second Scene - Of Tea And Tomes

Amelia paid the chauffeur his due, retrieved her truck from the back of the carriage and then walked into the English Maiden Café with high expectations. She took a seat by the window, sipped on a hot cup of tea and nibbled on some cookies as she waited patiently for the person who sent the blue-sealed letter.

She was supposedly waiting for a black-haired lady with a single cowlick standing out. The lady would have had red eyes and she would have worn black-rimmed glasses, black pantaloons with a matching black coat and a lapel pin of a blue triangle - just like the seal on the mysterious letter.

Aside from the physical details of this oddly-dressed person, however, Amelia didn't know what to expect. After all, if Dr. Watson was second fiddle to the great detective Sherlock Holmes, young Amelia Watson felt like she wasn't even in the orchestra.

Minutes of waiting turned to hours, however, as Amelia's anxiety to meet this person turned into frustration. She had already read through all of the newspapers that the English Maiden had to offer - even the tabloids - and soon had her sky blue eyes fixed on the hands of her golden pocket watch.

Her cup of tea, which she had been nursing slowly for her chance encounter, was growing cold and the plate of snacks that she had ordered for sharing was now almost depleted. The quaint charm of the English Maiden that had captivated her when she first stepped in started to fade too.

So, when the clock struck twelve - and the bells of Big Ben chimed in the distance - Amelia got up from her seat, paid for her tea and snacks and headed out of the café. She left with her luggage in tow and a cloud hanging over her head on that supposedly cloudless day.

A shadow hung over Amelia's eyes as she lowered her ribbon-topped hat and walked through the streets of London with her luggage. She dragged her feet through the cobblestone roads and very nearly stepped on a pile of horse dung that the street-sweepers had yet to clean up. Her mind was, once again, elsewhere after all.

She was wondering why the letter writer didn't show up.

Perhaps it was written by a swindler who got caught by Scotland Yard, Amelia told herself. That illusion, however, didn't cheer up the young girl much though. She would have enjoyed herself much more if she had been the one to catch the swindler in the act. That feat would have been worthy of praise from Dr. Watson or Mr. Holmes - or it would have made for a good story she could have told to her family in her next letter home.

Instead, in that lonesome daze, Amelia eventually found her way to the front door of Dr. Watson's office. She opened the door and stepped into the foyer where an older secretary or attendant from the medical practice would have been waiting.

This time, however, there was a young girl that was about Amelia's age seated behind the reception counter. The young girl had long black hair that was characteristic of people from the Far East and the Orient, but she didn't have a cowlick like the blue-sealed letter described. The rest of her features were hidden behind a book titled 'Centuries of Death and Rebirth: A Treatise on the Gallus Herodotus Phoenix'.

The girl behind the counter was so engrossed in her book that she didn't even seem to notice that Amelia had entered the foyer and was watching her. Moreover, the girl regularly mused to no one in particular as she turned the pages of the imposingly niche tome.

" Humu, humu … I see..."

Amelia dared to take a step forward to call the young girl's attention, but her footstep - weighted with her heavy luggage - made the floorboards of the foyer creak. That noise made the reading girl gasp and brush her tome away from the counter in a hurry as she panicked.

"W-ah!?" The flustered girl's dark purple eyes met with Amelia's sky blue. She struggled to remember her role and hastily stammered, "W-welcome to the of-ffice of D-Dr. John H. Watson. H-how may I help you?"

Amelia laughed uncomfortably and then answered, "Ah, I'm Amelia Watson - Dr. Watson's niece. I'm here to see my uncle. Sorry for startling you!"

The girl, however, shook her head and apologized, "I'm the one w-who should apologize. I, uh... w-wasn't paying attention."

"That's fine. I get lost in my imagination quite a bit myself~!" Amelia answered with a warm smile, "Are you new here?"

"Ah, yes!" The girl replied with a little bit more enthusiasm, "My name is Ninomae Ina'nis… I mean, Ina'nis Ninomae! N-Ninomae is my family name, you see. I'm transferring into the nearby college and Dr. Watson hired me to help me pay my tuition."

"I see~! That means we're going to be schoolmates, huh?" Amelia beamed at Ina'nis, before she stopped to hum thoughtfully, "But Miss Ina'nis… hmm… do you mind if I call you 'Ina'?"

Ina'nis lowered her head and blushed from cheek to cheek. Coming from the Far East, she wasn't used to being called by her first name - let alone a nickname. However, the bright smile of the blond-haired girl gave that nickname a nice ring.

"Ina… is fine." Ina finally answered with a smile, "Please call me 'Ina' if you wish. It's nice to meet you."

With that, Amelia set down her luggage and extended her hand towards Ina. The two of them shook hands and the clouds that had hung over Amelia's eyes faded away.

To Be Continued


Author's Notes: This is a crosspost of the same work posted in AO3! Please check out that version too if you wish~!