The man stopped after stepping out of the forest, his eyes glinting with suspicion as they ran all over her. A sharp and heavy sense of oppression grew in the surrounding, trying to weigh down upon her.
Rihanna could sense it.....but surprisingly, this oppression seemed to have no effect on her mind and body. Despite her internal conflicts, her body and mind continued being curious as she stepped down from the boulder, staring at the man unabashedly.
Hmmm...he was surely a male, though she couldn't tell what species he possibly belonged to. She had never seen anyone like him before!
He was very tall, around seven feet, and had a muscular yet lithe body, reminding her of a panther. Most importantly, his entire body was blue. A very dark blue, which almost looked black in the dim light.
He was fully clothed, in thick robes and boots like a normal human, but the ears sticking out gave him the look of a blue elf...a very dangerous and mighty blue elf.
Long black hair was tied up with a deep gold ribbon at the back, and thick eyebrows curved upwards, making his long phoenix eyes look startlingly sharp and arrogant as they tilted up at the edges.
Eyes, nose, mouth....every feature was very prominent, seemingly chiseled out of stone, but Rihanna could sense a deep bloodthirsty arrogance swirling just below the cold appearance of this man.
Even though a hood covered part of his face, she could make out the sharp lines of the face, and the tattoo marking half of his face. Just like her own tattoo, this too seemed to be a part of his skin, with no colored ink separating the pattern engraved on his very body.
At this distance, Rihanna could even see each separate muscle and vein standing out beneath his skin, making her sense the great power and strength which lay hidden beneath the layers.
But what struck her most was the golden eyes. Unlike cat's eyes, these pupils were purely gold-colored, shining brilliantly as the light hit them from the side. She could even see tiny amber like flecks floating in those golden pupils...like little planets orbiting within a solar system. His eyes looked like galaxies!!
Rihanna sighed, her brazen stare still stuck on those golden orbs. She was not sure what species he belonged to, and he was definitely not a human. Unlike the general trend of handsome men on earth, he looked way more wild and dangerous mixed with an unearthly elegance and arrogance.....but he was definitely becoming her epitome of handsomeness! If he was going to be an idol of handsomeness....she was willing to become one of those mindless fans!!
The man, towering above Rihanna by almost two feet, stared at the girl, the sharp glint slowly being replaced by a frown of confusion. Not only was the way the girl continued staring at him so brazenly surprising, but the continuous and ever-changing array of emotions reflecting in her eyes and face baffled him. And the way her eyes shone as she continued to assess him like an item on auction was creepy.....and also....strange?!
Finally the bewilderment shining in the man's eyes got through to Rihanna, and she straightened her body, turning her face so she no longer looked at him. This was so embarrassing! Should she ignore and act like nothing happened....or try to make the situation light?.....Ah....wait! If he was not a human....how was she supposed to talk to him? She couldn't possibly wave her hands and keep enacting out every word!
Rihanna turned to face the man with confusion and depression written all over her face, making the man frown deeper in confusion. Till now, after moving out of the forest, he had stood in a single place, barely making any movement or even expression. Comparatively, Rihanna felt like she was a bubbling brook....all her emotions and expressions were on full display....and she couldn't control them even if she found it extremely embarrassing.
She had long discovered that within this dream, she was only a bystander. She could observe and analyze, think and comprehend...but she could neither control her body nor could she decide the path of this dream. She was simply a bystander inside her own dream!
Her body moved again, and Rihanna found herself walking towards the tree where the large arrow was still buried. Before she could understand what her body was thinking....she found herself raising her hands and.....trying to pry out the deeply embedded arrow!
'Oh sweet angel from heaven....are you crazy! What in the world are you thinking?! That arrow went through two thick trees before settling inside this one. Do you think you have the strength to pull out this giant arrow! And it is powered with lightening. You'll be barbecued to well-done steak before you even manage to really hold on to that arrow! Ah....why are you so stupid?!'
Rihanna was screaming within her head even as she helplessly watched her body striding towards the arrow and reaching out to pull it out of the tree.
But before she could even touch the tail of the arrow, a rushing sound drowned out the surrounding noises, and a deep shadow engulfed her vision. When she came to her senses, the arrow was already gone.
Rihanna blinked in surprise, then turned about awkwardly, trying to figure out what happened. Finally her eyes rested on the lowered hands of the blue man, as a long arrow hung from his loosely clenched fingers. Moving his hands upwards in an elegant arc, he flicked his fingers holding the arrow towards the sky, and the arrow disappeared. Rihanna stared at him unblinking.
'Okay....so he is a cultivator?!'
The golden orbs turned and settled on her face from the corners of his long, narrow eyes. Though they seemed as cold and sharp as before, the feeling of being locked and oppressed by a dangerous predator had vanished.
After glancing over her, the man turned and vanished from his spot.
Rihanna turned around in surprise. He simply disappeared! Not like walked away and disappeared....but just vanished from his spot! Just what level was he?! And what in the world was he?
As Rihanna looked around, a thought had already formed inside her mind.
Was this an 'Aratyuusa' which Little Purple had told her before? That meant, that this man was a half-human and half-ancient beast? But weren't they living in hiding? What was this one doing here, so openly moving around in the forest in his real form?!
Rihanna was still wondering if the man would be returning or if her body would be following behind him when a strong and sharp streak of pain turned her mind to the previous state of blankness.
She didn't know for how long she had remained in that same state of nothingness before she started feeling something once more. Or rather she could see. What she felt was not the sensation of touch, but rather an essence of her surroundings. Or rather the lack of a surrounding.
When she finally managed to open her eyes, she stared at the vast stretch of nothingness all around her. The darkness prevailed over all her senses, and not a single speck of light could be seen in any direction.
Looking down, she couldn't even see herself. There was only the shroud of pitch black darkness all around.
Not knowing where she was and what she was supposed to do, Rihanna stood in the same place for a long while, waiting to see if anything would happen. Finally growing tired of the waiting, she decided to start walking in one direction. Perhaps...she might be able to understand where she was....maybe even find a way out?
And so she kept walking.
She knew that wherever 'this' was, it was definitely not a real place. Probably another dream....or maybe a creation of her mind. Anyway, since she was in her mind space, no matter how long she walked, there was no sense of tiredness coming from her body.
And with this lack of any kind of sensations, unable to contact with any of her contracted partners, and no light, she lost track of how much time had passed. Was it a few minutes? A few hours? It could even be a few months?....Maybe not years. That would probably be a bit too much, right?!
She was walking in an endless black space. After walking for so long, she had even lost her perceptions of right, left, back, front, up and down. She might as well be in space.....she couldn't even make out if she walking forward or walking backward! Just as she was starting to lose her inspiration of continuing with this endless walking, she felt something just ahead of her.
Gritting her teeth, Rihanna pushed herself onwards, moving towards whatever it was that was giving her a strange feeling.
Gradually the darkness ahead parted, and quite abruptly Rihanna found herself falling through the curtain of darkness, and suddenly the surrounding was lit up in a dull light.
After the long walk in utter darkness, even this dull light felt too bright, and Rihanna blinked hard, trying to get used to the illumination. Squinting to look around, she noticed she was in some sort of strange space.
Large clouds of dense energies of various colors were filling up the space. Yet the different energies was seemingly being contained in separate parts of the space, and none of them affected or merged with the other.
Some of these energy clouds were larger, some were extremely tiny, some more dense.
And the entire space where these energy clouds were being contained felt like some form of a giant organ. All the energy clouds were rolling, continuously moving about, and the swirling, circling motion gave Rihanna the essence of a giant organ slowly breathing in and out!
And she was walking within that giant organ, completely surrounded by these large and small rolling energy clouds!
Rihanna walked about, feeling thoroughly confused.....where in the world was she?! Was this again anther creation of her mind?
As she walked around, she felt a connection with one of the slowly moving cloud of energy. Walking closer, she stared at the gently moving cloud, feeling a sense of attachment with it. Looking closer, she could make out that it was a deep purple colored energy cloud.
Deep purple....energy cloud?...Deep purple....wasn't that the energy color of Little Purple?
Rihanna looked around once more, trying to observe the other clouds of energies clearly, before shifting her eyes back to this purple energy.
Compared to the others, it was barely moving at all. Only the slight tremors occasionally flowing through this purple cloud made it feel as if it was breathing in and out, making it look like the giant cloud was breathing.
It looked like.....it was asleep...which was also the current state of Little Purple....wasn't it? Then what the hell was this?!
As she looked around in confusion, a suspicion was already growing inside her mind.
It seemed like this space might not be something created by her mind. If she was not wrong.....then this was most probably the space within her soul, where all the contracts with her various beasts, humans and spirits were being stored.
But the question was.....how the hell did she enter this space within her soul? And if she was inside her soul....then what in the world was she right now?!