"The worst of all deception, is self deception." - Plato
With labored effort, Lilo clawed his way out of the rubble. Many fingers were broken in the process but the pain receptors had somewhat subsided, allowing Lilo to once again be numb to it.
He did not abuse or push the boundaries of his tolerance though. Having fallen from such a height had forced his body to have to rebuild itself from damn near scratch; and it was excruciatingly painful to say the least.
Soda appeared before Lilo and studied his own body. It was once his, and now a strange (from what he could tell) older soul was inhabiting it.
Many things were still uncertain for Soda. For example, his current relationship to Lilo. Being a ghost was confusing in itself, but having to guide a new soul within his own body was certainly an odd experience.
Lilo caught his breath and studied the ruined building he was currently in. There were no creatures nearby, but the noise he had made from crashing into the ceiling would be sure to lure the prowling creatures below.
This building was a bit different than the rest. It was circular and smooth. It was almost... well kept. Aside from the colorful vines that littered the floors and walls, it seemed to be in much better condition than the other overgrown buildings.
The marbled tiles were polished, gleaming in the moons lights. There were statues of what seemed like warriors. Men and women wearing tight fitting armor that accentuated their muscles and an extravagant weapon in their hands.
The details and craftsmanship of these statues were too well kept, almost untouched by any of the destructive creatures that roamed the forest.
'Am I the only one that finds this place strange?'
"What hasn't been strange since you showed up..." Soda muttered.
'Yeah you're one to talk... this is your world, imagine how confused I am.'
Soda ignored this comment and floated around to study more of the building.
'Hey, wait. Are you able to travel far in that form? Maybe you can scout out danger for me.'
"What do you think I'm doing?"
There were numerous hallways full of more statues and strangely painted murals. The paintings were all framed and seemed to be telling a story when looked at in succession. Although they were framed in a professional setting it seemed to be painted in a rushed scrappy way, almost like graffiti.
The story portrayed in these paintings seemed to elude to some type of war. The backgrounds included much of the familiar scenery of the foresty town outside, but the buildings were not overgrown.
Instead they were all intact and well kept; inhabited by strange creatures. They held resemblances to gluttons but something was off about how they were painted. They all seemed civilized and sophisticated.
'Hey, you going to tell me anything? I'm getting a bad feeling about more gluttons crawling in here to eat me.'
"Oh... I doubt you'll have to worry about gluttons Mr. Lilo." Soda said in a somber tone.
'Oh, really?' Lilo eased a little.
"Yeah... I think there is a much greater threat that lives here."
Lilo shivered.
'More dangerous that those enormous monsters out there?'
Soda nodded and pointed at the paintings, Lilo had just caught up with Soda and been barely able to analyze his surroundings but the one painting that Soda was pointed to had a striking image within it that caused Lilo's blood to freeze in his veins.
A giant humanoid creature, with traits of a glutton, but with majestic elegance and an eerie poise; was standing atop a spire, holding his arms out at an army of gluttons. On its head was a crown made of the colorful vines, laced with shimmering obsidian diamonds and wrapped candy.
It as a magnificent painting, gorgeous if not for the numerous creepy gluttons that all worshiped the eerie humanoid creature. Unlike the other gluttonous creatures, it's skin was intact, flawless.
It radiated several shades of a million colors, like a prism reflecting a rainbow when sunlight refracts off of it. The eerie portion was its face. Where two eyes were meant to be, was a hollow crater, and their nose seemed to be shaved off; leaving just two nostril holes.
It had no hair and no clothing, along with no private parts that needed covering; and yet it strangely resembled a human. With equivalent proportions of body parts and feminine curvy features.
'I'd do it.'
Soda gave Lilo a long disappointed side eye.
'What?'
Suddenly the ground began to shake. It was rumbling as if a stampede of a thousand gluttonous creatures were heading down the enormous hallway of the marble manor.
Lilo quickly stumbled his way behind the cape of a statue to hide himself, and Soda remained vigilantly floating; awaiting the arrival of whatever the inhabitants of this mysterious place was.
The sounds of footsteps could be heard echoing in the hallway... but strangely it was only a pair of a single creature. All the violent shakes was caused by one lone figure that was elegantly walking down the hall as if on a peaceful stroll.
Lilo peaked his head around the corner, trying to satiate his curiosity but Soda shooed him back to remain hidden.
"I'll let you know what I see, they can't see or hear me, use that to your advantage and remain hidden."
Lilo reluctantly nodded. It was an adjustment to take orders from a child, but he had made the pact with Soda and currently this kid was doing his best to deliver on his promise to help him out of this nightmarish place.
The rumbling continued and the graceful figure revealed itself in the moon lights that seeped through the caved in ceiling.
Soda gasped.
It was the creature shown in the painting.
It's skin was iridescent and glistening. It turned its head to survey the area with its hollow eyes and paused on the statue Lilo was hiding behind.
Soda's heart froze. When looking at this mystical creature, an immense sense of fear and reverence washed over him. He wanted to kneel. To offer his life.
It was a frightening feeling to be compelled to worship it by simply being its presence.
The figure slowly levitated from the ground and started to approach Lilo's position. As soon as its feet left the ground, the rumbling stopped, and the air was silent as the ominous creature floated in the large open space of the marble manor.
Soda wanted to warn Lilo but his words remained stuck in his mouth; like it was being restrained by an invisible force.
'Is everything okay out there?' Lilo used his mind to communicate (as he always had been when communicating to Soda) and conceal his noise.
Soda was unable to move. Stunned by utter shock and fear. The creature approached them in a constant steady pace, not in any rush.
It remained silent and eerie for awhile. Soda held his breath and Lilo remained still, awaiting what would happen next.
The humanoid glutton stopped just before the statue and turned its head to face Soda. If a ghost could pee, Soda would have stained his pants right there.
His heart jumped into his mouth. A million thoughts of concern ran through his mind. The creature abandoned its pursuit of Lilo and instead began approaching Soda with rapid speed.
Soda didn't know what to do besides pray to every god he knew, hoping his end was not soon to be met by this curvy, beautiful, yet eerie creature.
Soda closed his eyes and held his breath. Lilo still remained oblivious, being wise to not ask questions or reveal his position.
Seconds passed. Minutes. Perhaps even hours. Lilo did not have a lot of patience for many things... but when survival was at risk, he was capable of locking into his combat experience and channel focus like no other person.
Soda was too afraid to even open his eyes, but after an adequate time passed, he opened them. The rubble was cleaned up. The ceiling was patched. The creature was gone. Soda was alive and Lilo remained where he was hiding.
"It's... gone." Soda said in a low voice, even though he knew no one but Lilo could hear his voice.
'What's gone? What was it?'
"The humanoid creature... it was here."
'Damn... I wish I got glimpse of that a-'
"Trust me, you would have soiled your pants if you saw how creepy she was."
'Oh, I'm sure I would've.' Lilo crawled out from behind the statue with a mischievous smirk.
"No dumbass, not that kind of... nevermind..."
To their surprise, the sky outside the large hanging windows was bright; with the two suns rising and lighting up the once harrowing sky.
'It's safe to leave this place now.. yeah?'
"Yes. Let's get the hell out of here."
Soda acted as a scout and slowly, with Lilo hiding from statue to statue, they made it out of the enormous marble manor.
There were numerous hallways with more paintings and odd sculptures; but both Lilo and Soda were adamant on survival. They did not let anything distract them from getting as far away from this being's home as possible.
The exit of the manor was gated and eerily peaceful. No creatures or mysterious artistic things were in their way; only a large stretch of neatly kept grass.
Lilo ran with all his might across the meadow of grass and hauled his ass over the gate. As soon as he landed on the other side, he saw a familiar vehicle.
Van man was on the other side with his back towards them, pants loosely unbuckled, standing with a wide stance, and a stream of urin running between his legs.
Facing them, was passenger princess herself, with her projectile weapon twirling on her finger. As soon as Lilo's eyes met with hers her jaw dropped to the floor along with her weapon.
"No... way...." Her beautiful emerald eyes widened.
"What?" Van man zipped up his pants, finishing his pee break, and turned around to see what passenger princess was reacting to.