To Live Again, For the First Time!

The shoes that Emilin wore were exactly the ones that she had previously mentioned while texting her big brother Theo, the ones that he had gifted her before he went off to college and she to her travels.

The thin needle that she held had a special magnetism. 

In order to activate the special mechanisms in the shoes, the needle had to be both close enough to the corresponding hole in her shoes as well as long enough to reach the bottom of the high heel soles. A click sound could be heard when the mechanism was successfully activated.

It was able to change the signal that was being sent to her big brother Theo's computer, which her big brother Nathan would also be able to access in the case of an emergency. 

The shoes were built-in with a GPS that worked even with poor signal or no signal at all. 

This is why Emilin was able to safely reassure her parents that she was fine, telling them that if something happened, they should first look for her big brother Theo who was most familiar with this technology, as he had made it himself with minimal help from Emilin, after all, it was supposed to be a parting gift of sorts.

Of course, Emilin didn't know that she had contributed to the making of the shoes, she was just happy to have received the gift.

By poking into the holes of her shoes, Emilin effectively informed her Big Brothers that though there were currently no troubles, they might need to pay some more attention to the signals they were receiving.

Each one of the four holes represented a different level of danger, the first two being possible dangers with the second one being higher than the first, while the third and fourth in that alignment were for the cases where imminent danger was already apparent.

There was no need to wait to start taking immediate precautions. 

If the third hole was used, then it was best for them to wait and see, as for the fourth, there was no more time for waiting.

They had to start taking action immediately. If it had to be defined, then it was a hidden SOS signal.

When making the shoes, Theo also took into consideration that there was a high chance Emilin wouldn't have a chance to activate the mechanisms in those last two pin-sized holes if her life were truly in danger. 

Other precautions were already taken.

That being said, if it was just a false alarm, the opposing end of the same long, thin, needle could be used to remove the signal, telling her brothers that the prospects of danger were no more.

All in all, it could be said that Emilin was extremely prepared when she decided to set off to travel the world, after all, if she were not, chances were, she wouldn't even be able to take a step out of the country, much less alone like this.

There was probably just no sane parent that would let their only 15-year-old daughter do such a thing, no matter how mature she was.

Of course, Emilin didn't want her brothers to worry, but there was a difference between not wanting them to worry and putting herself in danger and Emilin knew clearly when to draw the line between the two.

They would be more worried if something actually did happen, so she didn't want to bank everything on hopes that nothing would occur, that would just be naïve.

After finishing her business with her shoes, she continued along the mountain trail at a slower pace, so that she could sightsee while walking.

On multiple occasions, she took out her newly bought camera to take a shot, but just like in the morning walk, she basked in the glory of her terrible photo-taking skills.

It was just really bad.

'I'm clearly doing something wrong. But what is it?'

The photos she took became increasingly unsightly with each passing second. The more she looked at them, the more… well you get the point.

The scenes looked so stunning in real life, but how come when it was captured, it looked so terribly, terrible?

She was at a loss for words to describe how bad it was. Even though her hands weren't shaky or anything, the photos were always blurry, and they seemed to be angled wrong after she looked at them for a while.

'I guess that will be the next thing on my checklist.'

Emilin was planning to contact Mason, the man who had helped out when she first bought this camera, after getting out of here.

Otherwise known as Nosa, well at least from his name card. 

He seemed like someone who would be able to help her in her predicament and Emilin usually had a good sense for people, especially after seeing how familiar he was with the cameras in that shop. He also sounded quite professional and passionate about the arts.

To be fair, just about anyone who had even minimally dabbled on camera-work would probably be of help to Emilin, but that was beside the point.

While walking another path uphill, Emilin stops to squat down in the middle of the trail, pointing her camera at the small, dainty, yellow flower that was growing between the pebbles on the ground.

Though she didn't really know what she was doing, when it looked right, she just pushed the magical button.

*Click*

Even so, when she used the camera function to look at the photo she had just taken, the flower was all blurry.

'Maybe I should have asked for professional help before coming out here, or even done a quick internet search. In hindsight, any of those things would have been a great help.'

She couldn't help but sigh a little, but it was a barely noticeable sigh. Not one of frustration or annoyance, but rather endearing helplessness.

Despite her terrible skills, Emilin only became more determined to learn how to use the camera with every blurry shot.

When she looked at the world through these thin lenses, something just, clicked.

You know?

It just felt right.

Emilin wanted to see this world through all the lenses she could get her hands on. To get that perfect angle, and to know how to make everything less blurry again.

To know how to capture an image that was meant to be remembered for a long, long time. Something she could look back on, to prove that she had been here on this planet and lived a life, and met these people, and seen these places.

To remember how she felt when she was there through these photos. Be it mirth, thrill, novelty, sorrow, or even anger, she didn't want to forget any of it.

She wanted something she could cling to.

Just in case.

Along the way, Emilin continuously took photos of everything that had interested her, but none of them looked quite right.

She tried multiple angles, sides, and heights, just about anything she could think of, but the product still looked bad, to put it mildly.

'Well, I guess you really can't just be good at everything. Why didn't I learn camera work in my past life?' Emilin chuckled at her own thought.

'Or maybe I like using the camera so much precisely because I hadn't worked with it in the past.' 

Now that was an interesting thought.

Even with no experience whatsoever, Emilin could tell that she was really bad at this.

It was around 5 PM when Emilin decided to settle down for a rest. She was truly quite tired after hiking all day.

Of course, she had taken multiple breaks along the way to take some photos, but she had still been on the move since 5 in the morning, having woken up even earlier.

The trail had faded off a while back.

The path she was taking now was no longer set for her. There wasn't any paved way and so Emilin just chose a direction according to her whims.

She had set up a tent but had yet to start a fire, seeing as the sun had yet to set.

Emilin closed her eyes to bask in what little warmth there was coming from the sun, and after doing some breathing exercises, she just stared off to what was beyond the cliff that she sat on.

Down below, she could see a forest of birch trees, clustered together as if fearing the cold despite the fine weather.

Emilin stared into the distance, observing the view diligently. 

'Have I ever seen anything like this in my past life?'

The answer was a clear-cut no.

Never had she even seen something even remotely similar to this scenery. The trees and the lake seemed both close yet oh so very far away. Everything beyond when she stood and towards where she looked was part of nature.

None of it had been tainted by humans, it was as if it wanted to draw a clear line between the polluted society and its natural beauty.

As Emilin lost herself in her own thoughts, an aged voice came from behind her.

"We meet again, young lady." 

***

10 hours ago

Emilin: What's wrong with the camera?

Emilin: Did I get cheated?

Emilin: Why isn't this working right?

Emilin: *Curses those who cheated her money from her to the 7 hells silently*

Emilin: *turns the camera around ready to smack it a bit to make it start working*

Emilin: Oh. I guess you would have to take the lens cap off...

Emilin: Yup, I can see perfect now. Great.

Mason and Logan who had been unfairly cursed to the 7 hells: ｡ﾟ･（>﹏<）･ﾟ｡