Above each of the bodies, a sphere of light hovered. It was a perfect sphere, that shone and brightened the area.
'It is all okay. I will see it later… for now…' I kept all the information at the back of my mind and only focused on one thing.
[DRIP]
[DROP]
The dripping sound of the dragon's blood reminded me of liquid… that is water.
And you KNOW I haven't drunk WATER in god knows how many days.
I don't know what my facial expression was when I looked at the blood. But the sight of it felt horrifying and oddly compelling. As if my animalistic urges had awakened I found myself drawn to it.
Driven by my thirst, I moved closer to the dragon's body, my focus narrowing to the blood dripping from its neck. I leaned in, my face nearing the blood… no it was water.
Yes, water.
Water was dripping from the dragon's neck.
Just as my tongue was about to touch the water.
A voice rang out, "If I were you, I wouldn't do that."
Startled by the voice I jumped back and fell on my butt.
The sphere above the dragon's body had spoken. As I watched in shock, the sphere of light began to change. It transformed slowly, taking on the shape and features of the dragon that lay dead beside me.
Shaken by this sudden turn of events, I took a step back, my eyes darting between the three spheres. The other two orbs began to tremble, their light intensifying. They too transformed, the spheres turning into the forms of the pale man and the elf. Each figure retained its original appearance, but their bodies were now faintly transparent.
"…"
"…"
'What the f*ck is happening!? I don't know! I was going to drink water… okay blood! But what are they, souls? Or a magic sh*t, that I don't know about. I mean gods, demons, vampires, dragons, and elves are real. So magic must also be real.'
"…"
The silence was broken by a mocking remark made by the elf, "Would you look at that, he isn't even a vampire and wants to drink blood. He'd make a great vampire, don't you think, Vampire King?"
The vampire replied in a deep voice, "Indeed. I understand his thirst. I was like that in my younger days."
The elf then looked at me and asked me cheerfully, "Okay, so, are you thirsty?"
I nodded.
"Then why don't you use magic to create water?" he asked.
"I… can't"
"Sorry, can you repeat that?" he asked again.
"I don't know how to…"
"Weird… are you sure you are in the correct place?" he said.
"Well anyway…" he continued. "Okay, I will teach you! If you want to drink some water, you have to summon water using a spell, otherwise, good luck finding water in this place. Anyway to use a spell, you have to feel your mana. Feel the mana, it is in your core that is located in your abdomen. Feel it… Feel the flow from there to your hands. Then say the words 'Aquam profer.' Easy right!"
I was not in my right mind when he gave me the explanation and thought it was easy. Otherwise, at any other time, l would have said some very sweet and pleasant words to him.
So, I tried to do what the elf said. I brought forth my hands as he had shown me and said, "Aquam profer."
"…"
Nothing happened.
I looked at the elf as if asking for an explanation.
The elf, from behind, said "You… at least put some mana into it, otherwise how can you channel the spell? It will be like breathing without air right? Now channel some mana and then say 'Aquam profer.'"
"How?" I asked.
"What, 'How'?" -elf
"How can I channel my mana?" -me
"I told you already from your core to your palms." He answered.
"I… I mean how am I able to feel mana?" -me
"What!? You can't do it. I can do it. Everybody can do it too!" -elf
"No…" -me
"Hey! Valmos, he isn't able to feel mana! Is he a human variant who cannot use mana? Is he a muscle freak then? Or rather have some other sort of ability!? But I can't feel anything from him though. Hey! human can I do some experiment on you, I promise I will be gentle and will offer you lots of water…" said the elf, almost having stars in his eyes
[CHOP]
Before he could say anything more, the vampire karate-chopped the elf's head.
"Shut up! You were a genius among geniuses and you studied with genius. AND YOU ARE SCARING HIM!" the vampire said as his eyes shone.
"I am sorry!!!" the elf shrieked while apologizing.
"Sigh… give him the wand." Said the vampire.
"That trash?" the elf asked.
"Yes…" the vampire answered.
"…"
He pointed at me and instructed, "Go, see my body down there. There is a pouch beside it. Yes, there."
I went to his body, searched for the pouch, and found a brown-colored one. I held it. He then said, "Now close your eyes." I closed my eyes.
He continued, "Open the pouch." I opened it.
"Put your hand inside it and search for a stick, a wand."
I put my hand inside. There were many things—coins, statues, papers, and many other things.—but I looked for the stick.
I was confused. 'How much can this pouch store? What kind of sorcery is this? How can this small pouch contain so many things?' But my priority was water, and my thirst won over my curiosity. I searched and found a stick. I picked it up and closed the pouch. I opened my eyes and waited for his instructions.
He then instructed, "Now try to channel your mana."
"I can't feel it," I said.
"I know," This time the vampire replied. "It will automatically take your mana from your core. You just need to say the spell. Children use these kinds of things; you should be able to do it."
"Huuu…" Taking a deep breath, my grip on the wand tightened.
"Aquam profer"
As soon as I said that I started feeling a flow of energy from my abdomen to my arms.
I could see water forming in front of me. Hovering in the air just right ahead of the wand.
And I started feeling drowsy…
"Don't sleep, you doofus. Drink it." Scolded the elf.
His voice woke me up from my stupor.
I drank. It was as if my parched throat was soothed with honey—sweet, delicious honey. I didn't know how many days I had been thirsty, and parched. But I continued to drink until my heart was content. I drank as if there was no tomorrow. Finally, I was calm and asked.
"Who are you? Where are we? What do you know about this place? How can we exit this place?"
The dragon looked at me and chuckled. "Whoa, little one, slow down. Too many questions at once."
The elf nodded agreeing with the dragon.
Then both looked at the Vampire, who snorted. "Fine, I'll do it. You both are lazy f*cks anyway," he said, flipping them off.
"I am Vampire King Valmos. He is the Dragon King Emyr, and this elf is the Magic King Arthur."
"Okay… And what are you?"
"We are souls," Valmos continued. "As you can see our body lay dead here and we are just hovering over because we cannot escape from here."
"What do you mean you can't escape?" I asked, bewildered.
"Well," Emyr, the Dragon King, interjected, "didn't the Goddess send you here?"
I sighed, thinking back. "It's a long story…"
"Little one, we have all the time in the world. Just tell us." Emyr said.
"After our mother passed away, my brother and I decided we needed a break from everything, so we set out on a journey. In the middle of the road, we were blinded by a bright light and found ourselves transported to a hall where the goddess resides. At that moment I couldn't speak, so my brother did all the talking. The goddess spoke of saving the world from a demon king. My brother initially wanted to refuse, but she guilt-tripped him into accepting.
After my brother was gone, the goddess revealed her true, unpleasant nature. I suspect the teleportation spell was meant for Chris alone, and I was brought along by accident. When the goddess noticed me, she refused to answer my questions and eventually sent me here. Can you help me understand my situation?"
The three kings looked at me with pity. "This…" Emyr began, "Is the Abyss Hole. It was made to capture beings like us who went against the Goddess. Think of it as a prison that no one can escape."
"Yeah," Arthur added, "it was always present but never used. We thought it was just for show. I wish I could have done some more research…"