The Samsaran Hellpot.
A massive hotpot several kilometers wide and several fathoms deep.
The pot itself looked ornate, made of a strange blackish gold metal and several depictions of demons and tortures native to the Buddhist hell carved into it's exterior.
As for the soup itself, it was a delectably spicy broth made from nine different spiritual herbs, the bones of several giant sea monsters and enhanced with Samsaran Chilli Peppers, hence the name.
Within the depths of this giant hotpot, a strange rat-like creature was leaping from ingredient to ingredient, scorch marks being left in it's wake.
Anger.
Annoyance.
Hunger.
"WHHHhhhhHhHHere's MyyyYY FffoooOOD?"!, the creature thought to itself as it kept leaping about.
The rat monster was surrounded by food, but it's desires wouldn't let it eat it. It wanted something...more.
After landing atop a giant shiitake mushroom, the rat monster stopped and began sniffing the air. Despite the spices floating around, it could sense the prey it was looking for.
"FoooOoodddD".
The creature began to leap towards the scent, burning drool leaking from it's maw.
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[The Mist. The Duat. The Veil. Tir Na Nog. The Dreaming. The Sea of Unconciouness.
It goes by/went by/is many names, but they all connect to the World Between the Lines.
The World is/was/will be the thing born from fantasy/reality/physics/belief/conspiracy/facts. All dreams are real, all realities are dreams.
By infusing a part of this place with these things, new/old/well-known/forgotten places, items, creatures, people and everything in-between take form.
This is the World Between the Lines].
"That's... esoterically straightforward" RJ thought as he read up on what the World was.
While RJ waited for Tatterhood return, he decided to be a bit more proactive and see if there was anything in the [Grimmemoria] app to help him figure out what was going on.
When he did, he was greeted with a menu screen presenting him the options for: [Status], [Map], [Items], [Spells], [Lore] and [Help].
While he was normally of the habit of just checking the options one by one,as with his other games, he thought it prudent to skip to [Lore] for the time being.
"Okay so...'The World' is some kinda magic other world like Wonderland or something. No wait...wouldn't Wonderland be part of this place?", RJ mumbled to himself, "Eh, whatever. Might as well look through the rest of this stuff".
As RJ kept reading, he failed to notice that an unexpected guest had landed a little bit away from his position. He was surprisingly taken in on the explanation of what Tatterhood, the Ogress and the Zouyu were.
[Demons, angels, eidolons, folks, spirits and all manner of beings make their home/made from/terrorize the World Between the Lines. Collectively, they can be referred to as "Story Denizens", or "storried" for short. As to why such a name? Because every myth, legend, folktale, historical figure, religious text and verbal tradition can be considered a "story" to another].
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"fOoooDdd?", the rat beast thought as it soon spotted the creature it hungered for...
Once upon a time, it had feared these creatures.
They were giants to it.
They were monsters to it.
Bringers of food, choking gas and snapping things.
But something had changed.
What was once a mighty beast to it now looked soft and frail and oh so delicious....
Unbeknownst to it,the space around it's stomach began to warp and a strange shard of dark energy had condensed. A moment later, the shard had infused itself into its gut.
A fire was burning in it's stomach. A fire that wanted bones for kindling, blood and fat as oil and flesh and guts as fuel.
This fire soon grew from the rat's stomach and enveloped it's whole being. It felt it's skin burning and it's throat dry but it didn't care.
It was ready.
It was angry.
It...was..."HUNGRY"!
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"Huh? OH SHIT!".
He didn't know when or how it happened, but the monster that Tatterhood went to go hunt had somehow appeared behind him, standing on a giant fishball.
The monster that stood before him looked like a horrifying mixture of a rat and a man with bright red fur and covered in strange markings. Completing the look of this "rat outta hell", the rat man was covered head to toe in a disgustingly orange flame.
As RJ stared on in a panic, a flood information flooded his brain directly from the game's system.
[Target identified: Huoshu(Gula Infusion)]!
{Name: Huoshu-Gula Variant}
{Classification: Elemental Demon Beast}
{Attribute: Fire(Demonic)}
{Rarity: Common--> Rare}
{Description: Huoshu, Hinezumi, or Fire Rat, is a type of low-class awakened elemental beast with the fire attribute. Depending on the region in which it was born, the name and some of its abilities change.
Corrupted addendum: This Huoshu has been infused with the essence of Gula, the sin of gluttony}.
[Initial encounter has been corrupted, raising difficulty from F to D class]!
"Well that's not good".