The path was long and blurry, Arya couldn't see anything just like a foggy day in the winter.
"Don't feel cold." Arya kept walking through the path with the fog blocking his vision, the walk was long and uncomfortable. "Why didn't she take me with herself if she knew about this road?"
"Ha??!!"
Then, in a second, the pressure on Arya's chest vanished, his breath became lighter, and the feeling of loneliness faded, which scared Arya." Hello? Anyone there?" He should have been alone, but he wasn't there.
He looked left and right, but nothing was fog, his feet stopped. Moving there was malice in this fog, he had felt it before, but he didn't know where.
"Ana? Where are you?" Arya called out to Ana in the fog, but there was no response. He began walking forward once again, hoping she heard his voice.
"…" There was a hint of a voice, a laughter, or a call from somewhere in the fog.
"Ana? River? I know you are making fun of me… I'll forgive you if you let me go now!" Arya coughed up words hoping it was a prank and he would give the couple no forgiveness once I met them.
He waited for a voice, laughter, or person but none were there. But one else was there he could feel it inside his head, realising that it was right behind him. The presence was closer than it was to the two of them.
"Power: Shie-" Arya's warlord gear appeared on his body as he turned around.
Meow~Meow~
Arya stopped mid-sentence when he heard the same chunky orange we had seen in the house three weeks ago. Walking and meowing in his feet, "What are you doing here? Do you live here? Did Ana send you?"
Meow
Arya's nerves calmed when he heard that meow, the orange cat was sent by them to fetch him in case he lost.
He picked the cat up in his arms. "Never thought a fat orange cat would guide me out of a maze. Where to sir or madam?" Arya asked the cat, the cat pointed his paw to the left and then left they went.
"Time is the greatest illusion. Break it." Words popped up inside him out of nowhere, like a sudden breeze that entered Arya's mind. It was Sera's voice, she called to him, but when Arya looked around with his panicking face no one was there.
Meow.Meow~ the voice of the cat called the attention back towards it.
"Is this some effective defence mechanism? If yes then it's very effective. Drive the person mad before he even reaches the other side." Arya regained his composure and began walking, leaving his warlord gear in the air.
" It is getting better." Arya walked forward and soon the fog around began to disappear, the path became more transparent by the second. Soon, the darkness around him began ending and there was a door of light ahead of him.
"Arya?! Are you there? Can you hear me?" Ana's voice called out to him from the other side.
"I can hear you, I am coming out," Arya said walking out of the light gate.
"...." He was blinded for a second, but the vision became crystal clear. Ana looked worried sick in her blue cloak, coming towards Arya.
"Are you okay?"
"I am, thankfully, to his one orange monster." Arya patted the cat in great delight, and it purred back in response.
"Stupid, Did you say Mithias only once while entering the cave? You were supposed to say that through the entire fog path. The gate would have automatically opened for you."
"You were supposed to tell me that, you only said that I make sure to say Mithias while entering the cave. You were walking too fast, I couldn't even follow you into the cave."
"Well, walking along wouldn't make a difference. The protection spell dispels every person entering into a different plane of thinking. The walk is about 10 steps, but it messes with your head, so it feels longer." Ana explained.
"Amazing, defence if you ask me. It messed up with me. I was worried about what was happening. With all those whispers and darkness, they managed to push my mental capacity."
"Whispers..?" Ana spoke under her breath, "What did the whispers tell you? It's fun to ask that the spells whisper to its victims, comfortable to tell me or maybe you've forgotten?" Ana asked, caressing the cat on its back.
"I do remember the words, "Time is the biggest illusion, break it". They were in Reva's voice, too. That spooked me the most, it felt like she directly took over my mind while telling me that." Arya explained the situation in awe of what had happened.
"Good. Have you seen the playground yet?" Ana turned Arya's focus to the view behind her, "How does it look?"
"Look's unreal, you call this the playground?" Arya finally expanded his look at the lay on the other side of the playground.
The surroundings were covered in solid black stone similar to the outside one, large green land, filled with cows, goats and sheared sheep, all chewing grass in the ground expanse. The lighting came from the top far above his head, Arya was a little confused looking at that.
"Does the light come from the hole from the sun, or is this a magic prism?"
"Do you think green grass grows in magic prism light? We place another seal on the top, this one purely illusionary, if someone steps on the mountain, they'll fall right in." Ana did a demonstration with her hands.
"So, rain, dust storm, everything falls right in? How would you deal if a vampire or a bone bear came here?"
"They don't, that's what River's potions, candle that were burning outside do. I don't understand that much, but it keeps them far away. Can't come even if it's their greatest desire." Ana explained proudly.
"And that mansion? That looks like a really big place for two people working." The centre of the entire playground was a wooden expanse spread horizontally, with two stories stacked on top of each other.
"Like it? The white-red colour paint was my choice, I also did the engraving on emeralds at the top. The windows are the purest glass there is. River got them from his buddy in the desert, we need to pay for those windows."
The architecture was immaculate, a glistening dragon engraved on the windows, the front doors and two visible pillars made of white marble.
"I can't lie, I am excited to see what's inside. How did you get this place? Your wording implies some like Mercy didn't make this for you. Who did?" Arya asked.
"Well, if you want to know. I was 16 years old when I ran away from my grandmother's house stealing 10 emeralds and her book of magic. I knew she would fight skin and bone to get me back to her. I needed to find the safest place possible, it just happens to be that-"
"Forest of Forsaken was the only safe place you knew where nobody would come." Arya stole the words from her mouth.
"You are telling me that using standard magic like wind storm, water sling or maybe whatever your affinity is you carved an entire mountain? That would take more than 600 years! not even considering the dangers of any fortune."
Ana smiled at the words, "That's a lie if I ever heard one. If you fight something isn't human, if you keep fighting and improving. With sheer ambition 600 years will become 20 years soon enough."
At the moment Arya didn't know who much respect he had for the sheer insanity that Ana had achieved.
Can I take a look inside that house? I need a lot of questions answered, and appreciate the beauty of your house at the same time, Mam."
"You don't have to call me Mam. That makes him feel old."
"And not calling you that, makes him feel shameful. I don't realise that what the people around me have achieved, this is not something I can take back." Arya bowed to Ana.
If life was different and both were at the right place, Anastasia Emerald would be bowing to the king of Uro, both time is the greatest force of nature and human nature is the control of time.
"Still, drop the Mam part, I demand it. River and I prohibit you from entering if you continue this folly." Ana's smile face got too annoyed for a second,
"Perhaps a consequence of old age?" Arya thought to himself.
"Someone's coming..." Ana summoned out her spectre from her cloak pocket and readied her hands with a serious look in her eyes.
"What?!" Arya turned to the fog stone, opening like a gate of light, as he had seen. He readied himself from any impending danger.
"Is everything alright?" From the gate, Reva emerged with a question on her mouth and a smile on her face.
"What are you doing here? What are you holding?" Arya's eyes went down to Reva's hand, holding a bottle of energy potion.
"Oh, this? Well, Mercy gave me the way to become stronger." Reva's smile was still strong just like Ana and Arya's surprise.
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