Alya walked inside, closed the door behind her, and followed the old man.
As she trailed, she took in her surroundings and gazed in awe. What seemed like a normal interior at a glance, a different scenario slowly comes into view as one goes deeper. Flights of stairs and rows of hallways, as many as she could count, came into view at every sector of the house. The walls seemed to get higher and wider as they delved deeper while they turned and crossed corners every few steps. The house felt like a maze, adorned with many pathways that led to many doors. The hallways they walked through became longer, compared to what the exterior covered. An illusion of some sort, inside a small house contained a strange labyrinth.
If she hadn't stuck close to the old man, she would have never found a way out and been stuck forever. If possibly this was their plan to abduct her, then she was done. Her eyes grew dizzy the more she stared, so she fixed her gaze on the old man's back.
They had walked for almost ten minutes, crossing corners and climbing stairways. Alya wondered if they were still in the master's home or an alternate space.
Suddenly Nyx's whereabouts crossed her mind. Would she be able to find her way around this labyrinth? Though she was better off than her, this could be a trap set by the two of them, but what could she do? She decided to speak her thoughts.
"Umm....."
"What is it?" The old man grumbled, his back still facing Alya.
"Where's Nyx?" Alya inquired.
The old man didn't reply and suddenly stopped at a door and pushed it open with his cane. The opened door revealed a vast empty hall, with walls and floors of stone, adorned with moss and tiny shrubs. The stone ceiling of this hall rose higher than the exterior roof of the house. The hall had no lamps or torches, but rays of sunlight illuminated the room from a large window. The hall looked abandoned and slowly being taken back by nature, a tranquil feeling, Alya could almost imagine the sound of the gentle flow of a river. She peered through the window and was shocked to see dense, lush green forest trees, they were in the middle of the forest, but how could they be?
The old man walked towards the wall on the left.
Alya wondered how and why they were there, the place had no objects or furnishings, it was just an empty hall nature was slowly taking back. She took a glance at the old man, who had stopped at the moss-covered wall.
"That's a dead end...."
The old man ignored her and instead, raised his cane and pressed its end on the wall.
Unexpectedly, the mossy wall slowly turned pitch black, just like the cupboard Nyx had in her kitchen. Alya stood there speechless as she stared at it in disbelief.
The old man walked through without hesitation, leaving the dumbstruck Alya.
"Are you coming or not?" He yelled from the other side. Alya was brought back from her daze and quickly followed.
'Hope this is not my doom....'
.....
The moment Alya went through, green clouded her vision.
There she stood in the middle of a forest filled with tall trees and vines. The air was humid, and its scent was calm and earthly. She couldn't feel the wind but the leaves still rustled as it flowed by. And with her fox ears, she could hear the sound of a flowing river a mile away.
Though they were surrounded by trees, a huge clearing was made at the center, and Alya was standing in the middle of it.
She stared down at the old man, who had already sat on the ground, and beside him was Nyx, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a small kettle and two ceramic cups in her hands.
Nyx placed the cups on the ground and lightly tipped the kettle, which spewed out a hot green liquid from the spout and into the cup.
"Tea?" Nyx queried with a smile.
The old man silently raised the cup to his lips and drank.
Alya just stood there, seemingly out of place.
'So...this isn't a kidnapping then?'
Alya silently sighed in relief.
The old man slowly drank his tea until the last drop and gave the empty cup back to Nyx, gesturing for more. With closed eyes, he spoke,
"Go down to the river and get three fish."
His tone was directed at Alya.
Alya's brows knitted.
"Huh?"
"Master said you should go get us some fish," Nyx repeated.
Alya was stunned and confused. She glared at the old man, who was gulping down his second cup of tea, and Nyx just sat there, doing the same thing. She glanced at Nyx with a vulnerable look, but she was ignored, Nyx was more focused on her cup of tea.
Alya silently groaned.
"How?"
The man looked at Alya. A hint of annoyance glared in his pupils.
"What are your hands for?" Nyx muttered as she sipped her tea.
"My hands?!"
"You're loud." His voice was low and abrasive, hinting at his annoyance.
"Dile it down would you?" Nyx picked at her ear.
Alya's body shuttered as her fists clenched with rage, but she didn't say anything else and left the two in a fit, muttering cursive words as she walked away.
'So I'm a servant now?'
Alya followed the sound of flowing water for about five minutes until she reached the river.
The fast-flowing river was shockingly deafening, Alya had followed the sound for ten minutes. She could barely hear herself when she reached the place. The swift flow caused loud clashes against the large rocks in the river.
Alya took a moment to calm herself down, on the way there, she had been hitting trees and cursing all through, she needed a moment.
She took in a deep breath, the scent of wet earth in the air, calmed her down. She looked down at the river, a soft mist from the water mixed with the humid air.
Alya admired the scenery before her for a while, until a tinge of worry slowly crept in.
"It's not like it's my first time fishing with my hands....."
"Yeah!"
Her gaze lingered on the large rocks, deeply etched in the middle of, what seemed to be the deepest river she had seen, the same rocks she needed to climb to get those fish.
"Yeah....."
She felt a huge lump in her throat while she stared at its shiny surface.
There was no way she would do this, right?
She groaned deeply, then hesitantly placed her foot on the first rock.
"...."
'I don't know what's coming for me if I don't....'
She slowly pushed herself up the rock but suddenly lost her balance, and her foot suddenly slipped. Fortunately, she caught herself before she could fall into the water.
As she nervously stared at the river, which was way deeper than she had estimated it would be. The mist was almost blinding, but she could see the depth and strength of the river's current, any stronger, and the rocks would be shattered.
Fortunately for Alya, the rocks extended over the river by more than a foot.
Alya's heart pounded wildly as she stared at the rocks. The river didn't seem so violent when she was near its bank, she was already having second thoughts.
She hesitantly but very carefully reached for the second rock.
'Too scared to go back now...'
Behind those rocks, a series of distinct steps fish needed to jump over to swim upstream. It was for certain, the perfect place to catch some.
Along the river bed, Alya noticed some weird-looking gliding birds and ducklings with scales.
'Strange world....'
For a while, Alya waited. Minutes later she spotted something beneath the surface of the raging river.
Moments after, out of the blue, a gigantic green carp coming from the opposite direction jumped out of the water. The sun's bright light reflected on its glass-like scales, seeming to be transparent.
The scene seemed to be in slow motion, Alya was mesmerized by the display of light and colors from the carp's glimmer. It was indeed a sight to behold. Alya had barely enough time to react before the carp gracefully fell back into the water, causing a huge splash.
Alya was in shock. Her eyes instinctively blinked. The fish was the size of a full-grown man.
"...."
There was no way she could catch something that big. It was best to wait for a smaller kind of fish to come her way, so she waited.
.....Thirty minutes later....
"...."
Thirty minutes later, Alya glared at the rough river below, her slender fingers tapped fiercely on the rock she sat on while her elbow nonchalantly rested on her left thigh. Her feet had grown tired of standing and waiting so she slumped on the rock.
Unlucky for her, it was only the same big carp that had swam by for the past thirty minutes. She had started to think those carp were the only kind of fish that lived there.
'Are these goliaths the only fish here?'
Just as she thought so, another big carp jumped out of the water. Alya's eyes nonchalantly closed shut as it jumped over. She didn't bother to look at it, she had grown too tired to stare.
As it fell back into the water with a huge splash, she gave a deep sigh.
She was getting nowhere just sitting and waiting. She contemplated going back to Nyx and the old man empty-handed or trying to escape. A bead of sweat dripped from her forehead at the thought.
'I could be killed both ways.....'
Alya opened her eyes and checked her surroundings, scanning for something useful she could use to catch one. Unfortunately, there was none.
Bare hands it is...
Just as she got up, another giant carp rushed in her direction and was about to jump.
Alya was ready for it, and shockingly it was ready for her as well. As soon as it jumped, Alya was going for the catch, but before her fingers could even glaze it,
"Eh?"
Right before her eyes, the huge carp before her suddenly disappeared. Before she could understand what was going on, The fish swiftly changed directions mid-air before diving into the water and swimming away.
'Huh?'
It was only then Alya could see the fish swim away. She stood there speechless.
"Disappearing fish?"
Before she could process, another carp was swimming towards her.
"The heck is this place?!"