[Establishing Connection...]
[Shaping Mana...]
[Preparing Team...]
[Forging Area...]
[Done! Welcome to the Samsaran Hellpot]!
"Oh my aching-AHHHH"!
RJ's perception came back into focus as the announcements in his head finished...only to see himself surrounded by fog and plunging face first into a strange, bubbling, glowing red liquid that just radiated heat. He was pretty sure it was lava or something equally painful.
What he didn't notice was a ball of brownish light and reddish light shooting out of his chest and hitting an off-white platform to the left of his position. Plunging towards certain doom has the effect of causing one to hyper fixate on things.
Before he made splashdown with the boiling liquid, he suddenly stopped mid-fall as a strong yet gentle force grabbed him by his ankle.RJ assumed it was Tatterhood who had come to his rescue...again.
"Phew...thanks Tatterho-huh"?
"Woof".
"Meow".
RJ was expecting Tatterhood to be unceremoniously holding him like a caught rabbit, he was not expecting the familiar...face of the Wolf-Headed Ogress to be holding him by her finger tips and the Zouyu cub sitting on the ogress' shoulder.
"Uhh...hi"?
"Woof", the ogress replied while still holding him by his ankle.
"..."
"..."
"Can you put me down"?
"Woof".
The ogress proceeded to pull RJ away from the red liquid onto the strange white colored platform she was standing on, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.
"Gya...thank you".
"Woof".
"Mew".
A few moments later, Tatterhood, riding her goat Bellerophon, gingerly landed right next to them.
"Glad to see you landed in one piece", she said as she dismounted Bellerophon, "and you already figured out the summoning ability"?
"Uh...no?", RJ said as he corrected himself into a seated position, "they just sorta...manifested"?
Turning his head, he stared at the Wolf-Headed Ogress and Zouyu to see their responses. The ogress in question just sorta stood there with her tongue panting like a normal dog, while the Zouyu sat there...like a cat.
"Not much for words is she?", Tatterhood teased as she learned on her giant spoon.
"Yeah...but on a more important note, where are we? It feels like a sauna in here and why does everything smell savory?", RJ commented as he stood himself up.
Now that he had time to catch his breath, RJ took the opportunity to take in his surroundings...and what he saw shocked him.
What he thought was fog turned out to be steam coming from the liquid...which upon closer inspection looked and smelled more like soup and not lava. Additionally, he noticed the platform he was standing on was rather spongy and looked like a giant piece of firm tofu.
As he looked around, he noticed that there were other platforms that looked like giant mushrooms, cabbage leafs and large chunks of fish fillets.
It soon dawned on him that they were either in a giant hotpot or a very very weird swamp.
"Tatterhood".
"Yes"?
"Are we in a giant hotpot"?
"Yup".
"Is it safe to assume you won't explain to me why and that this is something I should just read up on"?
"Bingo. In fact, I'm going to go scout around for the target now", Tatterhood said as she remounted her goat.
"Wait, what? What am I supposed to-"
"Make sure not to wander off while I'm gone~", Tatterhood teased as Bellerophon leaped off into the steam, jumping from giant ingredient to giant ingredient.
As Tatterhood figure disappeared into the steam, RJ helplessly sat down on the giant tofu block as he watched her go. Thankfully, the ogress and Zouyu didn't go off into the steam with her, they just sorta plopped on the tofu next to him.
"You two didn't want to go?", RJ asked the duo.
The Wolf-Headed Ogress turned her head towards RJ and just stared at a him while panting. Meanwhile, the Zouyu had leaped off of her shoulders and into RJ's lap. It then proceeded to nuzzle against him for cuddles, to which RJ responded in kind.
"So..."
"Hot", the ogress suddenly replied in a gravelly voice. She then turned her attention towards the steam and promptly stared into nothingness
"Oh...you do talk", RJ couldn't help but say aloud.
"Can you talk?", he asked the Zouyu whilst petting it.
"Meow".
"So that's a no".
Picking up the fact that he probably wasn't going to get any meaningful conversation from his current companions, RJ decided to whip out his phone and read up on what exactly "The World Between the Lines" was.