Malik had blinked once and suddenly found himself in a trippy ass situation.
No longer within the strange terrain, he was in the middle of some oasis, the waters glittered and there were little flying lights shaped like tiny women and men.
A large and glowing tree stood in the middle of the odd place, the humanoid lights either dancing by the waters that were surrounded by flowers and flying up to the expansive tree whose branches looked to spread across wherever the fuck he was.
He blinked up at the tree's vividly green leaves, a wind he couldn't feel shaking the branches littered with vines and flowers he had never heard of.
He slowly reached into his back pocket to pick out his almost empty pack of cigarettes, wondering if the one he'd just smoked had been laced with something.
Malik quickly put it back in his pocket when he'd heard whining from his thigh pouch, hurriedly moving to bring out Nala.
"I'm here, I'm here," he whispered softly, cradling the terrified pup in his arms and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
Your claws digging into my skin are too physical for this to be a dream, he thought to himself as he slowly walked around the fantastical place, still not sure what was going on and forcefully making his erratically beating heart calm down.
A mind attack? No, no. My blessing would've healed that on instinct. He kept walking towards the tree, the only tree in the odd little location. It was strange though. Each step he'd taken forward, it felt like he wasn't getting any closer.
Were the four different areas hallucinations? Maybe some of that purple gas discovered in a different raid last year.
It was starting to frustrate him. It was like he was walking in place and the high pitched giggles of the passing light people did not help.
When one had snickered right in front of his eyes, Malik stared at it silently with his head tilted. It copied his actions, its small face looking confused.
Malik continued to try stepping forward, noticing that the creature did not move from his path, and then he stopped moving altogether. Something was keeping him in place.
The light person that had tried annoying Malik seemed irritated that he'd stopped, its tiny finger pointing to the top of the tree as it spoke in a language Malik could not have understood.
"Tired," he said before plopping down on the bright green grass of the oasis, crossing his legs and placing the still shaking Nala on his lap.
He dug through his bag and brought out the food he'd packed for his little girl, a big sack of her favorite boar meat.
She seemed to have perked up at the sight of the big blue bowl, jumping up and drooling a little.
"Food is the way to your heart," Malik muttered as he opened up the bowl and put it far on the grass in front of him. He watched as she hopped off his lap and began devouring the bowl of roasted meat.
Malik sighed and placed his hands behind him, looking up at the tree as the light people began to hover over him, all of them clearly confused.
Nala walked forward for her bowl, he mused to himself as his fingers played with the top soft grass. So it's just me that can't. So very strange.
One of those little freaks got a little too bold however. Malik watched it try to fly at Nala, probably to get his reaction, but that had been a mistake.
The hunter grabbed it mid-flight before it got away from his unmovable spot , even though it had practically moved so fast he had barely seen it.
Bringing the struggling creature closer to his face, Malik inspected it, moving its body left to right, up and down. It was then he realized they had wings, and they were naked, and the one he'd grabbed was male.
"Gross," he muttered as he moved to hold on to its wings instead, wishing he could've washed his hand in the clear waters. "Not the dog."
It wasn't a request, going by how he'd began squeezing the wings and watched as the little light person began to writhe in pain.
It's friends began to try to get Malik to free it, pulling at Malik's hair, biting him, scratching and one even tried pulling the hand hurting the light spirit.
He didn't react to any of it, his attention mostly on Nala as he waited for her to finish eating.
"What are you?" he asked with a sigh to the light person still in his grip, dangling it in front of his face. "Did you bring me hair?"
It shook its head rapidly, something that looked like fiery tears falling from its eyes.
"What did?"
It pointed at the tree, just like the others had been doing.
"Huh," the young hunter responded dryly. "Why?"
The light being seemed to be getting more frustrated, glaring at Malik who only responded with squeezing its wings even tighter, feeling something small like a toothpick snap.
He watched as the light being writhed and twisted in pain, its friends looking at Malik with horror and a bit of fear. They didn't seem so playful anymore.
It wasn't like he had anything against them, the hunter never really having opinions on the odd creatures that he'd seen during his missions. In any other situation, he would've likely ignored them or even thought they were cute.
This wasn't a good situation for that. He had been transported to some unknown space, unable to move, missing his party and Nala was with him.
As calm as he might have appeared, Malik was freaking out. He didn't know what to do, or if he was even going to be able to get Nala back home. Hell, he didn't even know if he was going to die there or not, so forgive him for feeling a little annoyed that the little shit was trying to be funny and attack his little girl.
"You're hurting him."
He stood up and dropped the light person, immediately reaching for the old celestial gun at his side and whistling at Nala to come closer.
He looked around the oasis, panting a little as he scanned the tropical bushes that surrounded the open space.
Nothing. There was nothing around except for the light people that had scrambled to hide after taking their injured friend.
Malik put a hand to his forehead and stared down at his feet, genuinely starting to think his cigarette had been laced with some strong shit.
"Hollow."
"Who the fuck are you?" he said in an uncharacteristic show of frustration, not enjoying the way that feminine and heavy voice echoed in his head.
"No. Not hollow. Just no spark."
What the fuck is she talking about? He was starting to panic bit by bit, the voice alone adding more and more pressure to his heart. He suddenly forgot how to breathe, his vision blurring.
Am I dying?
"No, you are not dying. They went through too much trouble to bring you here for you to die."
He fell on one knee, gasping for breath as the whining Nala joined in his panic, trying to figure out what was wrong with her papa.
Why did they bring me here? Where is here? He had no fucking idea what was going on and he needed this weird ass trip to end.
He closed his eyes tight for a moment and pressed his lips, sweat dripping down his chin. It was her voice. He didn't know how, but her very voice was making him feel like he was going to lose consciousness. His legs felt shaky and his heart beat erratically. His head felt like he'd been hit repeatedly by the back of a gun and his empty stomach churned with acid. His body was shutting down.
It was similar to what top ranked hunters described when meeting their patron deities but this was so much worse. They had described slight headaches and nausea, so whoever she was, whatever she was, she was something even greater than the fucking top gods.
His second knee fell, his shaky hands dropping to the grass as well. His gun fell to the side and Malik had to use every cell in his brain to focus on just breathing.
"Why were you brought here…" It sounded closer, her voice. Almost like she were in front of him.
He slowly raised his head, his blurry vision making it hard to see but he knew someone was there.
Someone surrounded by brown lines that could've been vines. Someone with greenish-brown skin and unnaturally long green hair. Someone incredibly tall, almost a giant at over seven foot and shaped like a woman.
She was squatting in front of him, a pair of glowing green eyes pinned on his unseeing brown ones.
"Why were you brought here…" she repeated, the echoes even louder. He wheezed as he saw her blurry hand moved, unable to even attempt to dodge it as she pressed what felt like the tip of two fingers tap the middle of his forehead. "…The only answer that makes sense would be that you were just unlucky."
He lost the fight. His arms fell and his cheek landed on the flowing grass, Nala's barks fading as his consciousness faded with it.
"…Well aren't you the cutest. Let us both hope your master is the right choice. We do not really get a second chance, little one." That had been the last muffled thing he'd heard before he'd fully passed out.