…
A figure of demon walks with a horrific grin beneath the rising sun above them. Its bat wings covered their body from being exposed to the sun, albeit the sum of trees around them already blocked the sunrays from touching them. While walking, they chuckles gradually, as if they has accomplished an amazing feat.
"That was very fun…! Eeeheeeheheee…"
The demon expects much more chaos, but it thinks that the turmoil in the palace has already done more than enough. The demon decides to teleport back to its palace, hidden in the dark zone.
The dark zone is a region originating from the world of Tellus. An intense amount of dark magical energy circulates in it, empowering monsters, lesser demons, and mutated humans. The dark zone is where the five demon generals gather, where they reside in a menacing and pointy castle. No humans have ever beaten the demon generals inside the dark zone. Most of them either escaped or died consumed by the demons.
"We as the holder of the dark magic shall rule this merged world…" said the demon glumly. A creepy grin rose from the demon's face.
"Those Dragonians… those humans… are nothing but trouble. They wanted to stop our plan, but ended up failing horribly. Tee-hee-hee." The demon giggled. "Whoever blew that tower is a true genius. A hero for us demons, ehehehe…"
"That tower in Alidia… as soon as it blew off, the dragons ran for their lives like rats seeking for shelter. Many unexpected things happen… but it led us to a successful end… I nearly thought that the plan had gone haywire the moment that tower exploded."
Back when the trouble occurred in Alidia, three Dragonians were spotted just north of Alidia. Each of them represents wind, ice, and fire.
"Those Dragonians are no doubt helpless against us. By making us their mortal enemies… is the worst possible choice they ever made.
Soon, the war shall erupt upon this world. We shall cleanse this world off them.
Mothrui's efforts on trying to create a new colony for his insect demons and monsters are nevertheless is entertaining. Seeing humans chopped off from their heads, blood splattering the soil, limbs flying all over place, and bodies exploding like balloons sure are a treat to my eyes.
But too bad, Mothrui, your efforts to nest in Napre must come to a fail. You were unlucky to meet the 'Imperial' forces and a Dragonian that led them. We shall avenge you, don't you worry. Fufufu~"
The demon soon steps into the front yard of their castle. The castle lies atop of a cliff, surrounded by multiple barriers that only affect humans, but nowadays, they've been modified to affect Dragonians, too.
The demon is greeted by their guardians.
"Welcome back, Lord Dantalion."
Dantalion creepily smiles and replies to his underlings, "…Yes. I have returned."
The demon leisurely walks into their palace followed by their five guardians. One of their underlings discloses a grand plan that has gone underway.
"Your plan has been done as ordered, milord. Your fragrance of darkness will shortly spread across the continent." said one of the demon guardians wearing a full armor with spiky pauldrons. "We await your orders, Lord Dantalion. From then we shall instill chaos upon them who opposed you," said the other demon guardians.
"…Good. Then, let us begin the sequence. Now." in the end of his sentence, Lord Dantalion with his five guardians fade into the unknown void of darkness.
…
..
.
Four hours later…
Marco feels incredibly dizzy. It is as if he slammed the ground from the sky and landed head first. He then sees a poor imagery of his father and mother smiling at him. Shortly, he opens his eyes and met the wooden ceiling above him.
He looks at it, and overthinks, "Hmm, if I recall correctly, I remember I was in Alidia before… 'Where is this?' That would be everyone's first question when seeing a new place unknown to their eyes and memories. This place reeks of timber heavily. There's no way we're in Alidia, obviously. The architecture is completely different. From concrete brick into wood, that alone is all I need to know that I am not in Alidia. One question remains mysterious, however.
Where. The hell. Am I?"
It turns out, that he ended up saying the usual words of wondrousness naturally.
Marco gets up and looks around him. It's not an inn room, he thought. It's too wide and not well furnished. The windows are not that clean and the frames are cracked. There are spider webs on the wall corner. Marco looks back and checks the bed. The bed is absolutely not the inn standard. He checks the mirror on the desk. The frame is well made, but in his knowledge, the frame looks like a cheap one from one of the kingdoms he had visited when he was younger.
Marco sits back on the bed and concludes, "Alright… the room's not so clean. The window frames are cracked. There are spider webs on the corners. The bed isn't that comfy, but still acceptable by me. A cheap looking mirror…"
"…Hm!" Marco nodded. "I really, REALLY don't know where the hell is this!" he declared.
To learn about his whereabouts, he looks outside the window.
"Oh, shucks…" he said anxiously. "This… this place is not even a desert," he learned that the place around him is no longer Alidia or the desert that surrounds it.
He exits the room and quickly, someone greets him.
"Mwister Mwarco~!"
Marco blinks three times. The person in front of him is no other than Pio, of course. She called him while waving her hands joyfully. There's a wooden spoon stuck in her mouth.
"Pio…" he responded confusingly. Watching her sucking the spoon in her mouth, he asks, "What are you eating?"
"Hng?" she stops sucking the spoon. Her eyes stare the ceilings while simultaneously having her index finger beneath her chin. "Hm… what I eat… what I eat…?"
"Hm! I know, I know!" she said smilingly, eager to answer. "Boshh!" she said cutely.
"Bosh?" Marco misunderstood. "Yeah, borrshhhh!" she responded adorably.
"Oh." Marco said in realization. "It's 'borscht'. You got me there for a sec, Pio."
"Hm?" now Pio is the one didn't get what the explorer said. "Is that how it supposed to be called? Then I'm going to call it boshy-boshy, tee-hee."
"Yeah, sure, whatever you want to call it… hmf… how nostalgic, though." Marco said after he exhaled. He remembered when he was so little, he named the cookies 'munchies' given by his mother.
"By the way, Pio, do you know where everyone is?" Marco asked.
"Hm?" Pio responded. She takes out the spoon off her mouth. "Aily, Miss Nina, and mister tall man were outside. I stayed here to eat delicious food, hm, hm…" she answered sweetly.
"I see. Oh, do you know where we are?" Marco asked again. "I dunno… but miss old woman is kind to let us stay in her house."
"Miss old woman…?" Marco got curious.
"Yes! She has wrinkles all over her face! So Pio call her Miss old woman! Tee-hee…"
"…h-huh… is that so, huh? Where is she now?" Marco asked.
"Pio is unsure…"
After thinking shortly, he decides to look for the rest of his friends, "I see… Well, then, I'm going to see what's brewing outside. Don't be a bad girl while I'm away."
"Okay~!"
Just when Marco about to step away, he halts himself and realizes that he forgot something. "Ooh, right, I nearly let myself being an arse. Pio, when the old woman gets back, please say 'thank you' to her with your best smile. Got it?"
"Got it! Pio can do!"
"Nh, good girl,"
Marco goes outside. From there he finds himself in a humble village. He takes a walk into a random direction while greeting anyone he finds on his way. After sometime, he realizes something was kind of odd.
"Is my attire look that weird…?" Marco asked himself. "Everyone's looking at me like I'm a special guy or something like that… being watched like this… it's creeping me out, yeesh!"
Marco also learns one thing about the inhabitants in there. All of them appear gloomy and in great despair, although they hid it well behind their curtain of emotions. "What's with these guys…" said Marco to himself as he walked.
Finally, Marco finds himself in front of a widespread garden. On the left side, there is a wide orange garden, while the right side there is an apple garden that is not as wide as the orange ones.
Indeed, those are gardens of good fruits and tasty ones. Except for one thing, they're shriveled badly. "Those plants aren't that alive, right…?"
"Hold up a second, what the—" he expressed surprise. He saw people picking the fruits from the plants, twisting the fruits off the seemingly dead plants while appearing to be insanely depressed.
"Hey, hey, what in the world happened here?"
Shortly, a young boy appears from behind him, "It's sad, right, mister?" said the boy in an anguish look. "Everyone's been working hard on the crops… but none bear good fruit."
"What do you mean?" Marco asked.
"Those scary and evil demons… they attacked us." The boy conveyed while clenching his fists tightly. "Our crops were cursed by their magic. Now we cannot make a good harvest."
"Demons…?" said Marco reassuring. "Yeah… they came to our village not so long ago. They're so scary. They have scary weapons, scary looks, and scary aura around them."
Marco's eyes look at the boy. Meanwhile, his mind is thinking of something, "Demons, huh? What are they, that demon Mothrui remains? If so… they should've been using those big bugs and monsters to attack. But in this case, the village still stands, though the people around here look murky as hell. So the demons only hunted down these gardens."
Again, Marco thinks about it hardly. Somehow, he finds a rather confusing ends, "Curious. What's the merit of plaguing the crops for them?"
Full of wonders, Marco questions the boy near him, "Hey, boy, I want to ask something. Were the demons commanded an army of bug-like creatures?"
The boy replies, "Hmm… I don't think so, mister. They did bring an army of strange monsters, but none of them look like bugs. Well, actually, there's one demon that look like a spider."
"Ain't that the greatest? Spiders, huh…" Marco retorted shortly. "Umm… what about a moth? Was there any moth demon in their army?" he asked once more.
"No, mister,"
"…I see."
Marco concludes that, "It's not Mothrui's remains, huh? How dumb of me to think that insect master can be alive or having any remains after being incinerated by that Dragonian."
Out of the blue, the boy asks a question, "Mister, you came from the skies, right?"
"Huh? No, of course not," Marco casually replied. "Does my look seem like a sky inhabitant or some sort?" Marco asked back in a joking tone. He crosses his arm shortly thereafter.
"No, it's just that… it's impossible that you suddenly appear in our village outskirts."
Marco retorts almost instantly, "Huh? Really?"
"Yeah… everyone in the village thought like that as well. Although the rest of you denied what we thought."
"Huh, 'rest of you'? you mean my buddies? Where are they now, boy?"
"Sorry, mister, I don't know for sure."
"I see. Thank you, boy, you're very kind to tell me so much." Marco complimented. "Hm, no problem," the boy nodded. "It's just that… I feel like I should tell you everything that happened. Well, even if I don't, the village chief will surely tell you instead. Hm-hm."
Few seconds later, an adult man calls, "Hey, Toma, get over here! We've got to cut those stinking grass."
"I'll be there shortly, uncle." The boy answered. "Ooh… I want to tell you more, mister, but I must go now."
"It's okay, go ahead. You're Toma, right? A nice name."
The boy smiles and waves his hand while running to the adult man, joining him working.
Marco feels puzzled, not because of the village's trouble, but because of how he and his friends ended up in the village that he hasn't found out the name yet. The people there are nice, but they're grieving. The farm and gardens are probably their only choice of living.
Marco walks in an opposite direction. He needs to see his friends, now. He looks above him, "Ah, the sun is right above me. Geez, how long have I gone dark?"
He walks forwardly, seeing every villager walking by in a gloomy look. Even so, they still smile and greet him kindly.
"Alidia's king was murdered by a demon and now a new problem rose because of the demons, too. What is the becoming of this merged world?"
…
..
.
Shortly, Marco realizes…
…that he forgot to ask where he is right now.