The boy opened his eyes and thought to himself 'Where am I…'.
He was standing on a field of grass. The ground was green and the sky was blue with near perfect weather and wind for a quick nap. It felt like he was in some fariy tale story.
He held his head confused 'It feels like I am forgetting something' for no reason at all.
He felt calm and relaxed there. Almost too calm for his liking.
In a distance stood a single willow tree and there he noticed someone sleeping under it.
It was a girl curled up on her side, sleeping with no care in the world.
She had medium white hair that reached below her shoulder and was all over her face as she was sleeping on a field of flowers under the weeping tree. She had an asphodel flower on her hair and the sun rays reflected on her face from the shade of the tree.
She looked to be around or even younger than the kid.
'What is this place…' the kid thought, astonished.
Just as the kid thought of it, she yawned and woke up munching onto air as she stretched around.
Finally the kid and her eye met, revealing clear pale pink eyes almost like candy and her pupil seemed like they were moving like a bunch of scribbled lines.
Her face lightened up as she said 'You Found— huh…' her voice stopped with words stuck in her throat. Her warm smile disappeared as shock took over.
Her eyes twitched and she blinked twice as both of them stared at one another confused.
'Who are you…' she asked
After a moment of staring at one another, she started smiling once more followed by expressions of confusion as her shock turned into realization.
Her teary eyes from waking up were still visible from afar which she secretly wiped them under the excuse of fixing her messy hair and she waved at the kid smiling.
A small and gentle but a bit childish sound filled with excitement coming from the island, almost like a gentle wind whispering in his ear.
'Hello… Ca- --u hiar m-. Hello?' a distorted sound echoed in his head.
The boy looked at the ground which felt oddly weird to stand on. He was wearing no shoes, all white and his body felt unreal.
'HELLLO!!!!' she yelled checking if she can still be heard. That startled him as the voice rang in his ear.
He replied 'Stop it, Unless you want me to go deaf for real'
He mumbled to himself 'It's kind of creepy how soothing it is.'
'I will take that as a compliment, but how come you ended up here so soon…' said the girl as she scratched her head shyly.
'I rested my eyes on the road. You tell me'
She laughed with a bitter smile 'Haha I see… You have always been like that.'
She chucked as she smiled warmly 'You did not kept Aeel waiting for long this time'
The kid stared at her face for a moment while narrowing his eyes.
She smirked, taunting the boy 'Oh did you fall for i?'
'No… just wondering how bad of a luck I have for me to get stuck here with a lost child'
'Hey! I am older than you.' she responded in a prideful manner.
'Sure thing, the elder one' the kid taunted back with a cheeky childish manner. Very mature of him…
He was trying to annoy her while showing no interest so that she would leave him alone but weirdly enough, she just smiled back.
She puffed her cheek on the comment.
The boy seemed confused for how she knew his age but it can all be him overthinking it. But more importantly, he just wanted to get out of here.
'I guess she wouldn`t leave me alone' as he sighs.
She laughed 'That`s so like you' instead of getting mad at him.
The kid paused and looked at her
'Wait, can you read my mind? What is this place?'
The boy used his brain and deliberately thought that but used "you" as bait to see how she would respond as he moved his mouth a little which would look like he was talking from some distance.
She laughed nervously 'Haha I have no idea what you are talking about…' and said with excitement 'but Welcome back to Aeel Fun land'.
The bait worked. She could indeed read his mind. But it was far from over as now he had to figure out what exactly was going on without thinking anything.
She responded 'This is where i live. A place that does not exist' responded as she came closer.
The ground shook apart and the boy's legs wobblered as the distance between them closed up like reality itself was shifting between them.
When he looked up, she was already close to his face which made him take a step back.
The kid responded 'A place that does not exist? So I did die.' he joked while looked around 'this is what hell looks like?'
The boy glanced to find he was already near the tree without taking a step.
'How rude of you to call this hell— but rest assured, you are not dead. You will wake up soon… I think so?' then she stated like she was questioning it herself 'I guess this was too early for you?'
'And I think you got the wrong guy, can I leave please… I have important things to do?' says the kid
'Important? Like what?'
'Sleep' as he starts taking a step backwards not wanting to get into whatever this mess was.
'You know I am more important than that— hey are you even listening to i?'
The kid tried to take another step backward only to notice a barrier made of strange symbols faded into existence right behind him. They appeared when he extended his hand outwards and faded out of existence when not near them.
He extended his hand to inspect it and was dealt with an electrical shock that went throughout his body as he instinctively push himself backwards near the girl.
'You can not pass though those, be it getting inside or outside without permission of i or her. They exist to protect i'
The boy sarcastically said 'Thanks alot– You could had told me just a littlee~ bit earlier before it shocked me…'
She smiled 'Think of it as a punishment for ignoring… and lying to Aeel…'
She raised her hands like paws? 'You are trapped here with i' trying to scare the boy with a devious smile.
…
She looked at the kid and the boy stared at her.
The boy thought 'It is kind of cute. Are those supposed to be claws?... oh wait, I feel kind of bad… Maybe I should act like I am scared'
The kid screamed 'Ahhh?' in the driest way possible.
She coughed embarrassed. 'Anyways, you will soon return back'.
She looked at her nails which were in claws pose and thought 'Liar— You forgot…'
Meanwhile the boy tried to change the topic for her 'I see… If I am stuck here anyways then at least tell me, what did you meant by welcome back? And why am I here?—' but as he was questioning her, the world started to shake suddenly and the sky turned red slowly.
She looked up and spoke in a prideful manner wiggling her finger 'Tsk tsk tsk' and crossed her arms 'you must not be ready for it. Haha let i enlighten you. You must have forced your way into here because of Ffffff—' but as she was speaking. The sky turned red and everything else froze. The only thing who could move was the kid.
The world itself froze at its tracks as if some different power was interfering with the world itself.
The kid looked confused and dumbfounded as he stood there as he waved in front of her face and looked around.
Nothing happened so he tried to poke her face just as his finger came near her left cheek.
Zap
Something from the body sent an black and white line like an electrical signal between her face and the boy's finger causing her left half side of face to crack.
The kid retracted his arm back the moment and was visibly confused as he panicked but nothing happened.
The cracked side crumbled like a stone revealing another face below it.
One side was smiling and the crumbled side was sleeping.
The kid was confused and as he stared closely with narrowed eyes.
He stepped towards her, trying to figure out what exactly happened and just then the sleeping side eyes wide opened revealing a vivid pink glow behind it like a rose quartz.
The kid jumped backward startled but the eye just stared at him for some time and cried a single tear. Her other face was expressionless and yet it still cried.
Her other half side that was still frozen in place still had a prideful face.
The tear flowed down the face and started falling towards the ground. When it was about to touch the ground, a sound of blob as it landed on the ground.
The whole terrain changed where the drop landed into an red sea that partly submerged his legs within them and reflected the sky clearly back at it but was mostly covered within the foggy plain that covered till far horizon.
It was an odd looking place. The girl had disappeared as he found himself in an entirely different place.
The sky was red with dark spots and large chains wrapped around the sky itself like they were chained around the world itself.
In the sky were floating orbs which were pulsing and as they moved slowly around.
In the middle of it all was a single woman restrained by chains that were disappearing into darkness.
She had pale white skin and wore a tatted old dress and a scarf placed on her awkwardly. Her face was tilted to the side as her long pure white hair covered her face not knowing if she was even alive or not. It was like it was an illusion he was seeing.
On her head was a crown-like ring made of black material which floated around her head but one side of the ring was damaged and broken off as it floated vertically to the other.
There was still dust like weird glowing particles that floated near the women. She was faintly breathing as that dust moved around as she even breathed it in and out.
Within the orbs the kid could feel a high surge of energy in them. Strong enough to be sensed by the kid who had no magic or even knew how to sense it in the first place.
It felt like the air was weighing down on him. Opposite of how it felt before in a grassy field.
But regardless at that moment only two thoughts occurred in his mind.
'How beautiful it is' as he looked at the surge of energy all around him.
…
'And how mismatching the scarf is' … as he looked at the tattered scarf?
He was in a dream-like state so it was not weird for him to act like that.
His eyes were not scared or frightened. He was simply just "mesmerized" by this mysterious energy like a curious child who just saw something new.
The kid stared at it in wonder but felt drowsy just by looking as he started to lose control over his body.
He said to himself 'Not again…' and just before he blanked out.
The kid once again opened his eyes to find himself lying on a wet and cold floor. He just blinked once only to wake up on the floor.
The kid was in some plain covered completely in darkness and mist that surrounded him from all directions.
In the sky, there seemed to be a large eclipse whose edges shone bright white as the center was covered by pure darkness but hardly visible from the mist.
The floor was cold and a bit slippery as he puffed out cold air as the cold creeped into his legs making them go numb. His mind was still foggy in a dream-like state so he himself was not able to think straight anymore.
The kid sat up confused. 'Just what is going on?' as he grabbed onto his head.
His whole body felt weakened and tired as if he could fall asleep any second now and every thought of his echoed throughout the land.
He looked at the floor to notice dried up thorn veins laid all around him and as he reached towards one to inspect it, they crumbled from just a simple touch. He seemed puzzled and confused.
He mumbled 'Welcome back huh? Have I met her before?'
The question he could not ask her as something interrupted them.
'Well no need to overthink it, I need to get out of here first before—' but suddenly the cold increased as he was talking. The space filled up with cold mist and became extremely cold making him shiver.
'Dam it, I knew it. At least give me something to warm myself' as he was talking while shivering in the cold, he noticed a flickering fire, a campfire in some distance whose warmth was alluring.
'Timing is too perfect, I don`t trust it.'
But when the cold air blew on him from all directions, he changed his mind instantly 'Maybe just a little wouldn`t hurt' as he sat down near it, rubbing his hands to warm himself.
The sound of water droplet were appearing from his surrounding but he paid it no attention and even joked 'Maybe it's coming from hell this time'
'You know it would be really nice if I had hot chocolate with me…' joked the boy but deep inside he was secretly hoping 'Oh mysterious power that gave me a campfire would be so kind as to grant another wish for mine…'
…
'Yea I guess I am pushing my luck.' as he sighs in defeat.