"You are absolutely insane!" Puppet screamed into her ears like it usually did. "Did you really think you could withstand such pressure and still stay alive?"
"What nonsense? Am I not still alive?" Aefia opened her eyes and instantly replied. "Oh right! Then you must have fallen asleep right after the stage boss was defeated. Were you that tired?" Puppet spoke back.
"Fell asleep?" Aefia looked up confused. She was in a completely different room and she was on the ground with no signs of life around other then herself. The trees were dead, the glass was dried and the soil looked like it was decomposing itself.
The long path of dark stones went toward the big, scary castle on the hill. On both sides of the walkway, the dead yellow grass moved with the cold wind. It made a rough, rubbing sound that felt like a beast was following them, but that was just Aefia's instincts acting up.
The sky above was very dark and full of heavy clouds that looked like they would rain soon. The air felt heavy and chilly, as if the sky itself was tired of being old while a few dry leaves moved across the hard stones with a little scratching noise. This was the only sound in the very quiet place and it felt like everything was waiting for something to happen out of the contrary.
Past the dry grass, the dead trees stood tall with their many twisted branches. They looked like hands reaching up and ending above the gray sky, but they were frozen and still. Their barks were rough and very dark, which made the shadows underneath them look even deeper and more black.
No green leaves grew on these trees anymore, leaving only the bare wood to snap against the air. When the wind blew through the empty branches, it made a long, scary whistling sounds. This sound made Aefia's ears prick and look towards each of those trees because it felt like someone behind the trees were talking. They stood like old guards who never went to sleep.
The ground was very hard and cold under the stone path as it felt like the dirt had not seen the sun or felt any warmth for a long time. Sharp rocks came out of the soil like small, grey teeth while the air blew a dry gust of wind consisting of dust and ozone. It was a place where it was very hard for anything to grow or live.
Far away, the big mountains looked like sharp points against the clouds, they were dark and tall, making the whole area feel very lonely and far away from the rest of the world. Everything felt very still and empty that she started missing being around humans.
In front of the path, a giant castle stood against the dark sky. Its many tall towers looked like sharp blades pointing upward into the clouds. The stone used to build it was so dark and rotten, that it looked like a big shadow.
High up in the middle, a small window had a strange light coming out of it. This light was a pale green color and its brightness stayed consistent for how ever long Aefia looked at it for. The whole castle looked very strong and powerful, like it had been there for a thousand years. Aefia recalled a story and felt like a giant beast that was sleeping but could wake up at any moment if someone got too close.
Walking closer made the small parts of the castle easier to see in the dim light. There were old stone pictures on the walls that showed battles and strange animals from long ago. Stone monsters called gargoyles sat on the edges of the roof with angry faces and their eyes were made of rock but they seemed to watch everything that moved on the ground below.
The front door was made of heavy black metal and it was open just a little bit. Inside that crack was nothing but deep, black shadow. The area was so quiet that she could hear her own breathing and it was so cold, every breath left in the form of fog.
The feeling near the castle was so heavy, that it probably had the ability to make just anyone feel afraid. It felt like a cold power was coming out of the stones and moving through the air. In this place, it seemed like time did not move at all and everything was stuck in the past.
The air became much colder near the walls, a chill that went deep inside the body. The shadows on the ground became longer and darker as the light faded away completely. The dark halls were waiting in silence for someone to walk through the heavy door, but it wasn't going to be Aefia. Knowing that in fantasy worlds like this, anything was possible.
"Hold on! Don't get hypnotized. I created this place, and that was all thanks to you that I was able to do so. I mean...isn't it fascinating? I can't believe that I could do such a thing!" Puppet flew in front of Aefia's face and said with hands on its chin. Suddenly noticing Puppet's fingers, she abruptly brought her own ones up to check something. I swear I had seen it! So where is it gone?!
"Oh don't worry! If you want I can explain it for you but you won't understand much." It waved its hand at her face. "But to summarize it all, the amount of magic energy you had absorbed, went all haywire and looks like your 'side-effect' took place. Those vines and tiny flowers that you had received, that appears when someone is suffering from their own elemental disadvantages. Yours were vines and flowers to represent mental fortitude, explains why your powers were instincts and not some common ones. I should say, you weren't really lucky like the rest of the participants."
"Wait, can you slow down? My head is banging and I don't have the strength to go through your words as you had just said. And what do you mean by I am not lucky unlike the rest of the competition's participants? I have one of the most strongest element, a mental and physical attack one, so how would it be weak?" Aefia scratched her head.
Her wounds seemed to have healed and it had come to her realization that she could move more freely compared to the last time before she supposedly fell 'asleep' like Puppet had just said.
The tiny floating wolf smacked its palm on its forehead and paced around a small area before looking at Aefia with a serious face, but was wearing a funny costume. Wait, is it trying to act as a professor? I mean...that wig, beard, and walking stick...definitely a university professor. Aefia smiled while biting down on her tongue to stop from laughing.
"So...to start, all those magic energy you absorbed caused you to lose your consciousness and just before you did so, I used a skill of yours to freeze the time for you. Do you understand this part?" Puppet spoke while pointing the walking stick at Aefia's face as she nodded in response. "And if you ask me to count how many days you had been like that, its been a month."
"A MONTH!" She panicked. "What sort of magic corruption takes a month to recover!"
"Too much magic energy? Anyway...so then when you were still not responding, I took a huge step to feed on all of your absorbed magic energy and the next thing I knew, I successfully managed to wake you. But the process for absorbing all of it from you, it took me a while and within that time, I needed to dump the extras somewhere, so I used them to craft this." It said while pointing at the surroundings which looked like a painted picture that came alive.
"And there is absolutely no one or nothing residing in here? You didn't accidentally craft a forbidden creature or a living thing have you?" Aefia asked, "Like it could be possible to do so if you had used corrupted magic that had the ability to keep me unconscious for a month or so?"
"I don't know what is making you think that, but if absorbing those magic from you healed your wounds, than it is possible that somethings are still unexplained. Of course since this is my first time doing something this absurd and unimaginable, I doubt it is stable enough to last. So, we might want to complete our discussions fast and leave this place before collapsing."
Aefia nodded, but feared that the castle was going to fall on top of her any minute now. Its impressive you can do that actually, but next time make it more lively and not creepy. I have seen enough creepy things for a months timing and who knows how long else I will have to suffer it.
"Anyways, so right after I absorbed some of your magic, I created these landscape and you woke up and...oh wait, do I need to explain it anymore? Let's just get going. We need to leave this world, the rest you will learn on your way."
"Learn what on my way? You can at least just give me a topic to look into and you just finished explaining like that? That professor's wig and mustache doesn't match your role, remove it. It makes you even more dumb and stupid."
"Oh yeah! Of course it will seem dumb and stupid to you because who else does 'dumb and stupid' things expect me!"
"What do you want me to do?! I am new to magic and I have only read a certain amount about it, so of course I don't know how to handle it and it makes me seem 'dumb and stupid' to you too. And you look dumb and stupid because you are just willing to leave me dead the next time this happens again. I had to absorb those mirror's powers because I needed to weaken the beast in order to kill it."
"Alright! I have heard enough!"
"And you aren't my blood related family members to judge me around like that because I expected you to be a much smarter animal than those greasy faced monkeys who scoffs with my failure. When they are the dumb ones and doesn't bother to teach me that so they can 'brag' about it to the others."
"..." Puppet stayed silent for a short time and spoke much faster the next time it spoke. "Alright, let's get done with this already and move to your current time."
"...you are not going to comment on what I just said?" Aefia asked with a confused expression radiating in her face. "For a split second I thought you were going to run away or just dissappear in thin air. But I am impressed by your hesitation."
"Yes, alright. I heard you...now let's get going. Do you want to know anything else?" Puppet asked with deep frustration. I am not happy to have such a awkward owner.
"Speaking of the time how you turned into a baby after you told me your tale about your world and how it had been destroyed by the humans or the Torture Cell, I don't completely remember...but you did say about how you were killed as a child. Then all of a sudden, you are acting all grown up with your childish voice and features."
"Yeah...I don't remember that too..." Puppet scratched its head with its tiny paws. "Anyways, I feel like this place is about to collapse on top of our heads...let's get going. The ride back may get you unconscious because you aren't really a dead being."
"Wait...so this place is something like the underworld?" Aefia asked with curiousity.
"It may or may not represent one. But the underworld would mean hell if you say it like that. Do you not know these few things and there differences? Next are you going to ask what planets are?"
"No! That's not what I was trying to say! And of course I know what planets are...the underworld is more like the land of the dead but the residents work for the King of the Underworld who is supposedly called Hades." Aefia explained.
"I know who Hades is, and come to think of it, there is a place called the Underworld. Hades is one of the three sons of Cronos, the King of titans, am I right? His brothers are Poseidon and Zeus."
"Well, I have only gone through the surface but yes that is true." Aefia replied. "So is it going to be something like that?"
"No, not completely, but the portal will be somewhere near the underworld if that's what you are asking." Puppet spoke as it snapped its fingers. "Anyways, no time to lose, unless you want to suffer more pain."
As soon as it finished speaking, Aefia felt her soul leave her body as she got dragged out of the created picture and floated in mid-space. It was completely something no one could imagine and it obviously felt unreal and like it was only her imaginations. She followed Puppet as she walked on invisible ground and noticed how her body had returned.
"The thing you had just gone through, wasn't actually you leaving your body, but you just felt like it because you weren't moving but rather something was moving you."
"I understand." She replied as she walked towards the entrance of another wooden door which had glowing light coming from the inside. While twisting the knob, she realized Puppet had already gone through and she was left all alone. As soon as she felt shivers, she ran into the door.
"How are you here but the others aren't." Someone spoke as Aefia opened her eyes. She looked up at the familiar face, the demoness and the sleeping Chimera Dragon in one corner of the room. "What are you doing here?" Aefia asked with confusion.
"I had been here for sometime now, but I thought you knew where you were?" The demoness asked back.
"No clue of how I was suddenly summoned here." Aefia shrugged. Puppet didn't tell me about being pulled into the final boss room.