As Kole gazed upon the blurry palace properly, he was overwhelmed by the pink glow.
All over the magnificent palace, a tint of pink crept up like plague.
However, a smile appeared on his face as he saw two blurry figures in the distance — one was covered in white, while the other was in a navy-blue uniform.
"Inspector Ryan, Detective Eleanor!" Kole shouted while feigning a look of surprise with a tint of fear.
After all, in their eyes, he wasn't even an Ascendant yet, and it would be too suspicious if he acted like an experienced Ascendant!
But what he expected didn't happen.
They ignored him and moved toward the inner areas of the palace while looking around cautiously.
Are they not able to hear me or ignoring me on purpose?... Kole frowned, but soon a look of understanding appeared on his face as he pressed his temples in deep thought.
Riiighhhttt… This isn't the real world, and science doesn't work here. So how could they hear me?... He had no idea how to communicate in this space. He didn't know how the laws of SubconciousGulf worked, and he also didn't have time to keep probing!
As such, Kole moved behind them and patted their shoulders, revealing appropriate apprehension on his impeccable face.
Both of them immediately lurched up and turned swiftly.
They were about to attack Kole when they saw his face — That damn handsome face that couldn't be forgotten no matter how hard one tries.
It was a mystery as to how the blindfolded Eleanor could still 'see' things even in the SubconciousGulf, but this detail didn't pass through Kole's eyes, and he noted it.
Surprise, astonishment, and panic were clearly evident on their faces.
They gestured for him to calm down, but unfortunately for them, they didn't know that Kole had enough practice with Subspace and can leave at will.
Kole mouthed something along the lines of, 'What is this place' and some more gibberish to make his act more believable.
Eleanor made a 'Shh!' gesture and asked him to follow them with her fingers.
Kole nodded and did as he was told — following behind the two with cautious steps.
He glanced around, but except for the blurry pink palace walls, he couldn't find anything out-of-ordinary.
Soon they arrived in an infinitely long hallway. Multiple wooden doors on both sides were aligned against the pink walls.
Kole gulped seeing this.
He had not dared to explore his own Mind Palace, fearing he wasn't ready, and the scene in front of him; hardened his convictions. He really was far from being able to unravel the secrets of this world! He had to try harder to achieve his goals!
Ryan stepped up and moved to the first door on the right.
Gently turning the knob, he pushed the door open. During this entire action, no noise could be heard.
Can the sounds I make only be heard by myself?... Kole wondered briefly because he could hear himself walking, speaking, and breathing.
But he had been observing for some time now and noticed whatever the other two did couldn't be heard by him at all.
If the fact that he could see them were taken out of the picture, it would be hard for him to believe two people were walking this close to him.
Focusing back on Ryan, who was slowly opening the door inwardly, Kole shook his head to derail the out-of-control train of thoughts.
Glancing inwards, the trio reached the same conclusion — it was an empty room with similar pink walls and not a single piece of furniture or object except paintings!
Multiple paintings of a cute baby girl with emerald eyes and short fluffy blonde hair were spread all over the room. In some images, the baby was holding a blurry golden circular object with a cute smile.
In others, the eyes of the baby were glowing with an enigmatic light.
Is this Alice?... Seeing the familiar appearance and considering the relationship between Alice and Viscount Turner, whose Mind Palace Kole suspected this to be — it was highly probable for Alice's baby images to appear in his Mind Palace.
Kole frowned, feeling a bit skeptical regarding the blurry golden circular object… However, he quickly chalked it off as nothing but an ordinary toy.
Not finding anything of value, Ryan approached the other door on the left, opposite the previous one. All the while, Eleanor and Kole followed behind him quietly.
Click!
They heard a sound from behind and turned around to see the door, which was opened a moment ago, closed on their own.
Instead of being surprised or horrified, Eleanor and Ryan walked toward the door on the opposite side, calmly. Kole maintained his fearful expression and followed behind them.
When Ryan opened the door, they saw paintings of a young man in a three-piece lime-green suit. He had blonde hair and emerald eyes, just like the previous child they had seen.
None of them were stupid enough to not be able to make the connections!
The previous baby was definitely Alice, while this one was Morris Turner in his youth!
Examining the entire room for anything else, the trio scrutinized the chambers briefly, but except for paintings, nothing extraordinary could be found.
Shaking his head, Ryan approached another door on the right. And as soon as they all left the room, it closed with a click sound!
However, this room was also filled with paintings of Alice again!
Then they approached the one on the left, and more paintings of Morris could be seen.
They kept moving forward, in sync, but all they saw were rooms filled with paintings of Alice on the right and Morris on the left simultaneously.
Suddenly, Kole frowned.
For how long have they been doing this?... Kole habitually took the pocket watch from the inner compartments of his coat, to take a glance.
Suddenly, Kole's eyes bulged in sheer terror!
Mysteriously, it was still working.
But that was not what surprised Kole.
What made goosebumps crawl over his body was that over six hours had passed in an instant!
Just how many rooms did they go through, and why did none of them feel anything weird?
If this keeps going, they'll be trapped here eternally!
Perhaps that is how corruption spreads in SubconciousGulf, by making individuals lose themselves into repetitively doing the same actions until they forget they even had a purpose!... Kole wondered as chills crept up his spine.
Immediately, holding the two by their shoulders, Kole gestured for them to look at the pocket watch.
Instead of being surprised, they nodded calmly.
Kole's lips twitched.
They knew already! F*ckers! Could've told me before!... Cursing them inwardly, Kole followed them.
Suddenly Ryan and Eleanor paused.
Watching the infinitely long corridor, Ryan turned around, and instead of opening the next room on right (Having Alice's paintings), which he was supposed to do after opening the one on left (Having Morris' paintings), he turned around and went back to open the previous room on left that he had already opened once.
Kole and Eleanor followed suit.
This time when Ryan tried to turn the doorknob, it didn't budge, in the least.
However, he didn't forcefully open the door.
It was best to proceed with caution instead of acting recklessly.
As an experienced Ascendant, Ryan might've many shortcomings, but he was no idiot! Perhaps the door was hiding something better to not be let outside!
Deducing from all the hints available to them, the trio made the same guess — either the room has something very dangerous, or a secret is hidden in the chambers that the owner of the Mind Palace doesn't want others to gleam into!
Eleanor silently stepped forth and tried to open it by turning the doorknob, but it didn't budge again!
She stepped back and 'looked' at Kole with her blindfolded eyes.
Kole nodded and strode forwards. Stretching his hand toward the doorknob he held it tightly.
With some anticipation and anxiety crawling through his stomach, he gently turned it.
Click!
Ryan's eyes opened wide while Eleanor tilted her neck in curiosity since this piqued her interest.
Gulping a mouthful of saliva, Kole gently pushed the door open.
!!!
What came into their view, made them so alarmed that Kole almost closed the door on instinct!
The chamber was huge as chilly winds swept out.
In the middle of the chamber was a magnificent mural etched upon the pink walls.
On one side of the painting, an abstract dark existence with contorted lines drawn all over it lay.
On the other side, different smaller figures glowed in the darkness, however, all of them were extremely blurry. And it seemed like stars were shining in the night sky and rapidly approaching abstract existence!
As the trio looked at the mural, the mural "looked" back at him. The feeling of being "gazed at" by multiple unknown existences wasn't exciting but hair-raisingly horrifying!
Kole felt goosebumps crawl all over his body when he suddenly remembered he had seen this mural somewhere before!
It was in his mother's secret underground chambers![1]
Just what have I stumbled upon?!... Kole felt his mouth going dry.
Before they could make any reason for the mural, all three of them saw a shadow in the corner of the room.
It was shaped like a human figure and was humping against the wall making scratching noises.
Chiii! Chiiiii!
Kole's heart skipped a beat.
Suddenly, the shadow stopped what it was doing and turned over to look at the three intruders.
Kreee!!
A loud shrieking noise came from the shadow, as the air of hostility around it rose exponentially.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Along with the growing hostility of the shadow, the sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor they were standing at.
They simultaneously turned their heads to look at a pink blurry figure appearing in the distance!
Gulping a mouthful of saliva, Kole's sense of alarm rose to new heights.
His heart raced with a harrowing feeling roaring into his mind.
Without hesitation, he was about to disconnect his connection with this Mind Palace and retract his Conscious Projection, when all three of them were pushed by a gust of wind into the room with the shadow!
Click!
The doors closed behind them.
Kreeeee!!!
...
[1]: Chapter 9: MURAL