"Hey, Nur, wake up! Nur, wake up!"
A female voice, almost childlike and soft, said as Dipull's eyes slowly opened. He couldn't see a thing; his vision was blurred, and his head felt like it had been hit by hard steel. As Dipull tried to raise his hand to touch his temple where he had been hit, he found he couldn't move his hand. It felt like it was being pulled down. Shaking his head, his vision only got a little bit better. The cold air was filled with a strange, rotten scent. The walls were old and wearing out, with rusty steel bars keeping them inside. He looked down and realized he was upside down.
"Where am I… wait, I completely forgot about Bob!"
"Dipull, I'm here."
"Huh?"
Dipull looked to his side, seeing Bob chained to the wall. Bob was also in a bowl-like thing, looking like a penguin with an iron diaper. Dipull tried to hold back a laugh but couldn't.
"Ha-ha-ha," Dipull burst out laughing.
"Ha…ha..funny to you but not for me," Bob said unamused as his eyes rolled. The laughter from Dipull was still going, and he laughed so hard he was teary-eyed. Dipull thought, Okay, that was really funny, but where are we anyway?
"Hmm…so where are we, and why does it smell so strange here?"
Bob glared back at Dipull with a stern expression. "I don't know... but it looks like we are in a prison."
"What's a prison?"
"It's a place where you keep people for their wrongdoings."
Dipull quickly responded, "But we didn't do anything wrong!"
Dipull's face slowly formed into a frown as a sudden sound was made. *Crack!* It was loud but also felt very strange, as if something else was there with them.
"Hmmm… anyway, how do we get out of here?"
"I have no idea how, Dipull…"
"What!?"
Dipull turned, a bit frustrated, thinking, Then how are we going to get out of here if we have nothing and I can move only a little bit but that's not helping.
"Dammit!"
Dipull said. Bob had already been thinking for some hours, but there was nothing they could do. Dipull looked at his left hand and saw a symbol with an emblem featuring interlocking lines, a combination of straight and curved lines intersecting in a somewhat abstract manner in a geometric form.
"What is this?"
The symbol started to move and formed a new one. Dipull's body went through the chains holding him upside down. As Dipull fell, he landed on his head and let out a pained groan.
"What is this thing?"
"Where did you even get that, Dipull?"
"From touching a strange stone."
As the symbol returned to its original form, Dipull slowly stood up, gazed at Bob, and opened his mouth.
"But now we have a way to escape!"
Dipull said, his lips curling into a smile as he had another thought: I don't know how this thing works, but it will help me a lot in this place. Dipull moved towards Bob, gripping the metal to rip it off, but it was harder than he thought.
"Hmmm…"
He put his left hand out and said, "Go!"
But the symbol didn't do anything, and Dipull got annoyed.
"Why is it not working!"
Dipull said. The symbol moved again, now a new one. Bob's body slowly turned into gray fog, which went towards Dipull's left hand and somehow went into his hand.
"Wait!"
Dipull shook his hand, and some of the gray fog came out, forming Bob back to normal. Bob looked up, his face showing actual impressed curiosity. The symbol didn't return to its original state.
"Well, that thing is actually pretty versatile."
"Yeah, I think the same actually... wait... I think we forgot about Vlad!"
"Don't worry. I put him somewhere else where they wouldn't be able to find him."
As Bob said that, Dipull let out a sigh.
"That's good. Now we need to get out of here."
The symbol moved like it did the first time, stepping through the iron bars. Then the symbol went back to its original state. Dipull only thought one thing: I should really name these forms. Okay, so the original... I don't know what it does, but the second one... I think Transit? Now, the third one... Hmm... absorb.
"Okay now," Dipull said, but then his left hand raised itself and *Crack!* the bars opened. Bob was now confused, thinking, What kind of abilities does this symbol hand thing have? Bob stepped out and saw old bones on the ground. That strange, almost rotten scent filled the air again.
"Dipull, we should get out of here as fast as possible."
Dipull nodded because it did smell very bad. He looked up and saw ladders going up. The strange thing was that no one was guarding anything. Dipull put his hands on the ladder. It was rusty and didn't grip much, but he went up anyway, with Bob following behind. Dipull saw an object covering the top, preventing anyone from leaving. Dipull's left hand started to feel weird as the symbol was in its original state. The gray fog surrounded his hand, and he instinctively threw his hand up. It hit the thing preventing them from getting out, and it flew far into the sky!
"Wow!"
Dipull then climbed up, and they were back at the surface. Bob also came out.
"Finally!"
As Dipull said that, the inhabitants saw and heard them both. They started to walk towards Dipull and Bob.
"Okay... so are we running?" Dipull asked.
"Yes," Bob said and sprinted away.
"Hey, wait for me!"
As Dipull ran after Bob, the inhabitants also started to chase them. Bob stopped at a dead end.
"..."
Bob was dumbfounded, but as the inhabitants got closer, Bob and Dipull had nothing more to do. But then—
"Mr. Dipull, Mr. Bob, it's nice to see you two gentlemen again."
Mr. Fool came out of nowhere, saving them.
"Come then."
Mr. Fool's coat wrapped around Dipull and Bob. In an instant, the coat opened again, and they were in the winter forest again. Mr. Fool turned around and said,
"I hope I was a helping hand. Now then."
As Mr. Fool spoke, the air changed, becoming thicker. Mr. Fool slashed an attack towards Dipull! Dipull's face turned to shock and surprise. *Grab* Bob pulled Dipull just in time, saving him.
"What are you doing!"
Bob yelled, his hands tightly clenched, furious at how Mr. Fool dared to try to harm his family. Mr. Fool only gazed sharply with a neutral face. On both of his hands, a symbol appeared—a pentagram with an eye in the center, the pupil a pillar of flame moving. From Mr. Fool's body, a shadowy figure appeared. Now there were Mr. Fool and this shadowy figure, like a clone?
"It appears that Mr. Dipull has stolen the gift my lord would have received. I shall now cut off that hand and take what is rightfully my lord's."