"What the hell..? mmh.."
Waking up and slowly coming to my senses, it wasn't long until I had realized that this wasn't the room I was accustomed to. I was sat on an uncomfortable wooden chair, alone, in a quiet grey room. My drowsiness had washed away by the thoughts of potentially having gotten involved with something dangerous, and without a real grasp on what was going on, in a state of panic, I rushed to get out of this place. I was frantically searching for an exit, but there was only the dull rough stone wall of the room to be seen, and nothing resembling an exit.
It wasn't just the entrances and exits missing however, the room was without any openings. There was nothing but a table, two wooden chairs and a dimly lit black lamp hanging from the ceiling.
"Hello?! Hello!!"
Without an answer to my calls for help, leading me to realize that I might have to spend more time in this place, I couldn't just sit still.
"Ouch.."
After pinching my cheek to check that whether I was dreaming or not, I had taken some time to calm myself and decide that it was best to search the room for some sort of clue.
[Hours Later…]
Nothing, not a single hint of anything. This felt too confusing and I was too tired, so after hours of mind numbingly exhausting examination I needed some rest. I wasn't too sure whether sleeping here would be a good idea considering the circumstances, however, though, I couldn't tell whether this was something supernatural or the work of a crazy person, but whoever or whatever was at work was beyond me. After a bit of thought I surrendered the thought of aimlessly staying awake I decided to lay down on the cold craggy stone, with my head down on my black sweater.
......
...
..
"Mmm.."
I woke up with a soft pillow under my head and a fuzzy blanket covering my body.
After about a minute of drowsily rolling around in a state of comfortable bliss momentarily ignorant to the happenings of before I had slept, I recalled what had transpired and checked to make sure that it was nothing but a weird fantasy I had experienced in a dream.
Looking up, once again, didn't know where I was.
"Good Mor—"
Hearing the voice of the person I was oblivious to, sat on a brown sofa next to where I had laid, shocked me, making me clumsily roll off the bed and rest against the blazing marble wall of the room.
"..ning."
"Wh-who are you?" I said breathing heavily.
"I am your advisor. My name is Cinnia."
Her gestures were incredibly unnatural, they seemed very mechanical and dysfunctional. They either too quick or too slow and very disorganized. Her voice and manner of speech, unlike her creepily awkward behavior was crystal clear and oddly calming.
I couldn't see her face due to the veil hanging over her head. She was wearing a navy blue dress adorned with a bright yellow pattern spread throughout. Her black hair was tied into two small buns. The gems embedded in her excessive amounts of golden jewelry were gleaming in a pure white.
The marble of the room was embedded with shades of red, orange, yellow and blue spread throughout. There was a small hyper realistic sun colored in the same shades as the room, contained in a transparent orb, floating in the middle of the room, lighting it.
"Hello..?"
"You are qualified to enter the second "Deviation". We wish for you to prove yourself in the new environment you will be sent to."
"The second deviation? What..? Where am I? What the hell is going on..!?"
"Since we are behind schedule I am unfortunately unable to explain any further.
My apologies, I hope our gift shall be enough to quell your dissatisfaction."
"Schedule? What schedule? What are you talking about?! Who a—"
Just as I was about to continue on with my tantrum, my vision had started to blur.
She had taken a step back and had begun to focus and chant strings of words I couldn't quite make out, followed by movements that seemed to be mimicking those of another person's. After a deep breath and with a determined glare, she had begun to cast some sort of spell.
"O Helios, whose might pierces the dark of night, I honor you, I praise your name. Bles—"
Even though I was about to lose consciousness, I could still make out some of her prayer.
...
…..
….
I woke up to the sounds of the forest life around me, my moving slightly making the leaves that I was laying on rustle. Looking above me, there were the massive tree tops of gigantic trees spread throughout the forest covering the sunlight that would otherwise brighten this space.
I prompted to get up, stopped by the discomforting feeling welling up deep inside me. With shivers down my spine, intense nausea accompanied by pain had overcome me and I proceeded to vomit for what felt like an eternity.
"Where the hell am I now..?"
I started trudging through the forest, seeing odd looking bugs I hadn't seen before, to find some hideout or shelter. It wasn't before long that I became too exhausted to walk, so I thought that it was in my best interest to rest, leaning against one of the many colossal trees inhabiting the forest.
Just as I was about to start overlooking my absurd circumstances, I had spotted an odd looking small mark on my forearm. It was slightly glowing yellow, with streaks of squiggly lines, in equal length meeting each other in their center. Each of them had a small ball attached at their tips. It was the same emblem the woman had on her dress.
In the end I still couldn't come up with any answers, what had she meant? What exactly is the "Second Deviation"? Prove myself? It didn't mean anything to me.
What I needed now was to live. Food, water, shelter.
With that thought, I had stood up.
[Ugh.. I feel horrible..]
Scouting the plain, flat open landscape I had seen an unordinary patch of sunlight in this shadow covered dark green forest, shining on some sort of globe, which had given me hope for survival. After all, I didn't know even basic survival skills, meaning I had to depend on someone for the time being. Quickly and clumsily I had started walking towards the light. As I was getting closer and closer, eventually stepping into the circle of sun light unusually shining only upon this large area, I was close enough to be able to touch the blurry barrier in front of me.
Staring at it for about a minute, I thought it a good idea to prod it with a stick before attempting anything else.
It was hard, so hard in fact, that when I attempted to break through, it broke my stick.
There was no way to get through and although blurry, the faint silhouette of a building could be made out which is why I had thought that this might be my best chance at survival. Thinking on it a little longer, it had made sense to me to wait here for at least a little. Who knows, maybe the person who owns whatever this might be, would potentially help me.
All of this was too much. How did I end up here? What in gods name had happened?
My exhaustion had worn down my ability to think rationally and I had closed my eyes for a bit of rest.
About an hour or two later, I had heard something. Footsteps, hopefully coming my way. My anxiety was increasing with each of his steps. He was coming closer by the second. Traditional Japanese sandals, a black kimono, long salt and pepper hair. His face was full of small scars and there was a massive scar, twirling around his neck downward. Although he had spotted me, he had maintained his composure and didn't change his pace at all.
I was frozen. This was life or death for me.
He was right in front of me.
The old man crouched and grabbed my hand looking at and thoroughly examining the symbol whilst talking to me.
"Kid. Where'd you get this?"
"I don't know."
"What're you doing here?"
"I got.. lost.."
"Y' got lost."
"Yes.."
"Well, alright. I'll be going now."
He stood up, and walked inside the barrier before I even had a chance to respond.
Had I said something wrong? I wasn't sure. But this old geezer wasn't interest in me, so I had to make some sort of plea before I rotted in this place. Well, it was just a matter of time before he had to come out and eventually, as the sun was setting he had come out presumably to go back toward the forest, in the same outfit he had initially.
"Hey..! Could you please help me out? I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Help you out? And why would I do such a thing?"
"I can work.. or, do whatever else as long as you give me a place to stay."
"Hmm.. I don't have any need for labor, but y'know.. I've been looking for a disciple and I have a good eye for talent. I'll help you out and in return I teach you some swordsmanship. Interested?"
"Yes. Please."
"Alright, before that though.. I'm going to have you sign a contract. Youngins like you ought to be unreliable so this small procedure is very important to me.
"Appear."
With that, a piece of rusty paper had appeared within one of his hands which he proceeded to hand to me.
After reading its contents, I was ready to sign.
"Could you give me a pen, please?"
"A.. pen? Ahh, right sorry kiddo. I'll go get one, don't run away now alright?"
With a hearty laugh and then a slightly disconcerted look, he headed inside and came back with a pen in hand.
"Here you go, sign here."
The words being written by the pen were trailed by a faint blue hue.
I had written my signature, and I was startled by the fact that the paper had dematerialized from my grasp.
[This is crazy..]
"Y'alright? Better come inside if you don't want to die."
I had stood up and walked by the swordsman, passing the barrier.