Chapter four
"What is all this?" Poppy said as he began to walk forward. The images continued to flicker at an incomprehensible pace, paying his entry no mind.
"I don't feel like I'm dying or being drained... "
He took in a deep breath and sat down seiza on the non-existent ground. He needed to assess the situation and he was not going to be able to do that while being high strung. Poppy closed his eyes and rested his hands in his lap, setting the magic casting glove there as well.
"Alright. I found a strange Vortex sitting calmly in a forgotten grove in the Ancient forest. The Ancient forest was a known place of high frequency in causality disturbances. Maybe… Maybe a naturally occurring vortex had intertwined with a causality anomaly and created This unknown variation. Unlike other types, this one did not drain me of my life force. Instead, it brought me into a pocket dimension. The only thing I can think of is that the spirit itself, which seems to be the blue flame before me, was not actually big enough to manifest in a vortex by itself."
He still felt something was strange though. Poppy reached into the travel bag that was now entirely soaked and pulled out a book. Its spine was held together by glowing mana-infused threads so it did not completely ruin the book's integrity, but the pages themselves were nearly fused together as a result of saturation.
"I need to remove this water."
He looked down at the glove and snapped his fingers in frustration. Even though it was in fact a magic catalyst, it was tailor-made for his companion, which meant that it'd reject other users' attempted casting methods if there was even the slightest deviation in the mold since these molds used her mental processes. A pain but no setback. Even without it, he figured he was more than confident in his ability to free cast a spell as simple as moisture extraction.
He set the book open in his lap with his left hand raised over it with an open palm. He was preparing to attempt to manipulate the water himself without a catalyst mold for the spell. With great focus, Poppy imagined the ebb and flow of the ocean he manifested at as a young sprite.
"Ebb…"
Slowly the saturated pages began to form droplets on the surfaces. Poppy raises his hand and with that action dozens upon dozens of droplets rose out from the pages, forming into a small orb of water just below the palm of his hand. He stopped just above his head and watched as the steady stream of water came to a finish, leaving an orb about seven inches tall hovering in his hand. He extended his hand out to his side and imagined the free-flowing nature of water. The water orb in his hand then gave way to gravity. He was expecting a splash but chuckled in awe and confusion as it just descended into the abyss of the domain. He then stretched out his arms and screamed.
"YAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
He could feel the strain in his hand as if it had cramped up. This was natural. Casting or manipulating with magic and no mold was a grueling process.
"I'm glad that worked out without ripping the pages! Though I think I feel a headache coming along. Now."
He picked up the book with both hands and began to flip through the pages, seemingly looking for something.
"No. Not that. Not that Either. Ah…. Here!."
He stopped on page one hundred and ninety-five.
"What to do if you're stuck in a pocket dimension, written by the illustrious Oberon! Your master!"
Poppy cringed internally as he read that. His master was a bit… eccentric, but that's precisely why he chose him! Both he and his master are notorious trouble makers with a propensity for rule-breaking.
"Alright master, let's see what you've got for me!"
…
...
Dead in the center of the page were two words.
Don't know.
"What?"
"Don't know? That's it?"
In disbelief, Poppy flipped to the next page in the chapter.
The next few lines were just as disappointing.
"If you're in this scenario then You're way out of your league at this point my student. Just pray that something random happens in your favor! Master out! ♥"
Poppy stared at the page with a blank face for a moment before flinging it as far as he could with his not-cramped hand. The book clanked against an invisible wall and fell to the ground, landing on an invisible floor.
"Stupid master." With a great sigh of annoyance, Poppy stood up and looked back in the direction from which he entered the vortex.
"I really hope that Isaea is okay. I can't be sure but I saw her clutch her pendant before she disappeared so maybe she is fine? It was also from her master after all."
He leaned down and picked up the glove, putting it in his travel bag.
"All that's left for me to do is either wait or see what's going on with that strange flame."
Poppy weighed his options. If he waited, something could happen given the location he found the vortex, but there was also no guarantee that anything could happen. He had no way of confirming that the vortex was still even in the forest, so if anything did happen it'd be a miracle beyond miracles.
"Scrap that. Guess all that's left for me to do is to mess with the flame."
Poppy inhaled sharply and beat his chest three times with both hands, steeling his resolve.
The flame seemingly responded to his determination by growing its Blume.
"Heh. That isn't at all concerning."
Poppy took a single step forward and felt the intensity of the flames' warmth against his skin. He beat his chest again and felt as his skin grew crystalline, revealing his true form. From head to toe, Poppy was a silver-ish hue walking gemstone. His clothing and traveling gear shifted and shrunk into his form. All that remained was his Brutish figure.
Poppy took another step, this time an audible thump arose from the non-existent ground as it creaked underneath his weight. The fire wildly flared, now only a meter away from him.
Another step.
The flame bellowed as its length shot forward, consuming Poppy whole.
The scenery around him completely changed. He now found himself inside some wooden sanctuary decorated with statues of Grand Warriors with large horns coming out of their heads on all sides.
"A barrier within a vortex? This isn't natural."
Poppy remained perfectly still, anticipating that something would happen.
Time went on for a few minutes like that. In that time Poppy mentally took note of the statues in the room.
There were Nine. The first and the largest was in the "front" of the room at the far end. A gigantic horned woman wielding a large curved sword sat on a throne with a gourd in her free hand. Next to that statue, were two on both sides. The one on the left was also a horned woman, but this one was smaller in stature than the first. They wielded a warbow the size of their body and were also clad in floating armor. The one on the right was A simply gargantuan horned male that wielded a studded staff and some wrist-mounted blade. It too had the same armor as the others. The rest of the statues all seemingly followed a similar pattern as he looked around.
"Memorials…?" Poppy thought aloud.
An unknown voice boomed throughout the hall, reverberating off the walls and visibly causing everything to shake
"YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO KN"
Poppy would have shrieked in fright was he in his visage, but in his current state, his emotions were severely reduced. All he felt was curiosity.
"Who are you?" He asked. He figured that this was okay as if the voice wanted to, it could have attacked him already, indicating to him that it was not looking to fight.
"YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO KN"
Poppy began to walk forward, furthering himself down the grand hall
"Where is this?"
"YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO KN"
Poppy was probing. It seemed like an automated system of some sort, but there had to be something he could work with.
Suddenly Microphone feedback screeched throughout the hall before a woman's voice came through.
"Ah hello? Is this thing on? It works! Hello down there, Lustrous one."
"Who are you?" Poppy asked again.
"Oh don't you worry your little head about that. I gotta commend you on your ability to get in here. Most creatures would have melted before even making it close to the flame."
Poppy chuckled. The flame he encountered was nothing but a candle to him in this state.
"I am not most creatures."
"I can see that. Anyways, thanks for showing up! The delivered one is almost there and we didn't have anyone to pick them up."
"What are you talking about?" He asked. Now he was confused. The delivered one? What is that?
"I'm talking about the next #&(*^@#^% of Lady &*#^%@&*?"
Poppy was completely dumbfounded. He could not understand those words. He knew every single language in the abyss libraries, but he could not understand those words. The implications made his body quake.
"Anyway since you're just standing there, be sure to move to the right in like, five seconds."
"What-"
Suddenly a deluge of alcohol fell from a small portal above him, soaking him in its droplets. This continued for about a whole minute before he heard the screaming of another entity from above. He went to look up and as he did, he was hit in the face with a body.
The entity squeaked in pain as it fell off his head and behind him. Poppy simply stood there in shock so intense that it bled through his reduced sense of emotion.
The entity behind him began to cry loudly
Regaining his senses, Poppy turned around and saw a small horned girl, no older than one or two years old, laying on the ground completely naked, bawling her eyes out.
Poppy immediately reached within his chest and pulled out a sparkling white blanket, tossing it over the small child's frame.
"I did tell you to stand aside. Welp, guess it can't be helped! Thanks a lot for finding this place! Be well, our little Goddess!"
Poppy leaned down and picked up the small girl in his arms, wrapping her up in the blanket.
He wanted to transform back into his visage, but he simply did not know if something else would happen and did not want to chance it. He cleared a space for the girl's face to be seen. Her skin was olive and from the moments when she opened her eyes, Poppy could tell that they were a deep onyx.
He opened his mouth to speak but stopped as he realized the room was disappearing into nothingness at an alarming rate behind him.
Poppy immediately began to run, but the phenomenon was too fast
"Hold tight little one!" He said as they began to freefall over the ancient forest.
Poppy held the girl tightly against his chest as they crashed through the canopy.
Due to his enhanced weight, they crashed through meters thick branches with little resistance. All the while the little girl was screaming in terror as this all happened.
Eventually, Poppy impacted one of the main branches of a Colossus tree, causing the entire thing to shudder, but it held them.
There was a moment of silence. The Impact created a crater that devastated everything around it.
Poppy looked down at his chest to see how the small one was doing.
She looked up at him with tears streaming down her face, clearly terrified of what just happened.
"It's okay. Everything is okay. I've got you."
He reached down and wiped the tears from her cheek as he attempted to console her.
"Now I need you to be a good girl, okay? This area is very dangerous. Can you do that for me?"
The horned girl just stared at him.
"I guess you don't understand me, huh." He said as he sat up and set her on the ground.
Poppy got up and reached inside himself, twisting something inside him. He began to revert to his visage slowly. A white blouse and trousers pushed themselves out of his body, setting on him along with travel boots and his traveling bag. His golden hair also began to grow out to shoulder length as his crystalline features finished receding. With great big green eyes, he saw an expanse of pure fantasy.
Beyond the crater was an area as vast and endless as the ocean. Colossus trees dotted the land while gardens of Eden grew on their branches. Crystals of pure nature energy as ancient as the universe embedded themselves inside the ground, providing ample energy for the world around them to grow.
"The expanse, huh. We're a long way from home, little one." He said as he scanned the area for a way down.
The little girl simply stood and stared out into the region with awe.
Poppy reached into his bag and pulled out a small cylindrical object. It was a distress marker. He placed his left hand on the top of the cylindrical object and transferred energy into it.
The Rod emitted a distress pulse in all directions.
"Well now People'll know we are here." he said as he tossed it on the ground.
The little one was still staring at the expanse, paying no mind to Poppy as he began to make the beginnings of a campsite.