For something that felt like an eternity, the soothing voice of his master graced Trick's hearing, causing his eyes to shimmer with a radiant gleam of joy.
The nightmare he once combated was broken, as Trick was now free from the shackles of the horrific nightmare and the dispiriting fright it placed within his heart.
There was a momentary pause as Trick stared at his master without uttering a single word, his near tearful eyes conveying all that he had to say.
"Come here kid." Astravan gave Trick a warm smile, spreading his arms to the child who quickly lunged into his mollifying embrace.
"I thought I was gonna die!" Trick voiced aloud holding firmly onto his master, who flinched at the child's tight squeeze.
Raising his arms a little, Astravan gave Trick a conciliatory pat atop his head, ruffling his hair underneath his palms as he let out a laudable chuckle.
"Hahahaha!"
"That'll be over my dead body kid!" Astravan continued with words of reassurance, as Trick held tightly against his heartwarming embrace.
"I hope you weren't too scared?" Astravan took a look at Trick who jolted at the sound of his question.
"Of…Of course not." Trick quickly withdrew his head from the arms of his master and proceeded to wipe the tears that welled up in his teary eyes.
"That's my boy!" With a yell into the air, Astravan began another mirthful chuckle, his eyes closed in excitement once more.
Amidst his master's audible laughs Trick then took a look around him, changing his position from laying against a strange stone wall, to standing on his two feet.
Trick then took in a large breath as he eyed everything in sight. Stone walls, torches upon the walls, and banners lined with a mysterious crest that hailed an unknown lord.
Trick still took bewildered gazes, as he tried to process everything that stood around him and his master, before getting the stunning realization that…
He and his master were now in something of a medieval castle.
"Where the hell are we?! Did I get transmigrated?!" Trick let out a concerned yell, cutting his master's chuckles short as he shook him frantically in question.
"Trick, language." Astravan pointed a finger towards Trick in a disciplinary tone, the child quickly covering his mouth by pushing his two palms against them.
"Sorry master." The muffled sounds of Trick's apology managed to leave the tight covering of his hands which did their best to dampen his words.
Astravan then let out a sigh, a slight smile spreading across his face.
"You weren't transmigrated Trick, geez kids these days it's like they're constantly begging for that." Astravan then started to walk across the pathway within the castle, causing Trick to quickly follow suite.
"Let me try to explain." Astravan shut his eyes, as though trying to recall exactly what became of the former theatre hall they once stood within.
"Just before you tried to warn me about the void beast in the theatre, a wave of ominous aura spread through the halls." Astravan's eyes flickered open, his face adopting a slightly sterner look as he spoke.
"Huh?!" Trick yelled in sheer shock.
"You knew Master?!" Trick stood in bewilderment as he questioned his already smirking master.
"Hmph, they don't call me the Machiavellian Trickster for nothing kid." Astravan boisterously proclaimed, holding onto his hat for a pose.
"Why do you think I stayed after the show?"
"Amazing!" Trick continued to glaze his very much satisfied master who went through a myriad of strange poses, or to both he and Trick—
Cool stances.
"Anyways." Astravan continued with a cough, clearing his throat.
"After that gust of sinister aura, you suddenly cut your sentence off, before standing still with your eyes changing into a completely white colour."
Trick immediately flinched back in terror at his master's eerie experience.
"Really? that sounds creepy." Trick's face twisted in horror as he held onto his eyes.
"I know right? it freaked me out too." His master added as they both nodded their heads in affirmance. In truth it was like they shared the same brain cell. Like master like child anyways.
Astravan gave a cough once more, clearing his throat to continue.
"It only took a few seconds of looking across the hall to know that everyone was like you."
"With their eyes white and everything?!" Trick asked once more, his face etched with a sour look.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm." His master added in agreement, nodding his head with every word.
"And if that wasn't creepy enough, each of you suddenly started to shake uncontrollably, before…" Astravan paused, giving Trick a momentary stare to let his curiosity bubble violently.
And when Trick's curiousity had overturned to an unbearable level. His master decided to continue, much to Trick's delight.
"The ground opened up, swallowing everyone in the entire halls." Astravan's eyes then took a stern look, as he stared seriously at Trick.
"Including me?" Trick jolted at his master's otherworldly experience.
"Well, you would have, but I managed to swoop you up while evading the floor that opened up to ingest us both." His master itched the sides of his face, watching Trick stare in amazement.
"And after moving through the theatre, I realized our predicament was much worse than I thought."
"Not only was everyone in the hall thrown into a kind of dream like state like you, but…"
"Everyone in the entire theatre building was!" Astravan threw a shocking realization at Trick who quickly understood the gravity of their situation. Thousands of people were currently being made to undergo a nightmare like he formerly did.
Astravan then gave a weary sigh, gently placing his hands onto the stone walls of the mysterious castle before continuing.
"Then suddenly, the ground started to tremble, like an…" Astravan shut his eyes once more, snapping his fingers as he pondered the identity of a certain word he needed.
"An earthquake?" Trick rose his arm up high, giving his answer as though he were in a classroom.
"That's right kiddo!" Astravan snapped his fingers in affirmance, his fingers making a loud snap as he crashed them against another in remembrance.
"The ground shook like an earthquake before the entire nature of the theatre suddenly morphed, forming the castle we're currently in."
"And after finding a safe spot to place you, I was able to wake you up by sending a gust of energy flowing into you."
Astravan shut his eyes, heaving a breath of relief.
"I'm glad it worked though." He finally finished, turning his attention back towards Trick who seemed to be in deep thought.
"Tch!" Trick punched against his palm in rage.
'All those people experiencing a nightmare like mine. That's gotta be an unbearable level of pain.' Trick wondered in thought, before turning to his master in search of a solution.
"So—So how are we gonna find that guy master?"
Astravan cut their leisurely trek short, turning back to give Trick a long gaze.
"Well, I'm looking at our ticket to finding him right now."
"Cause if there's anyone best at finding our void beast culprit—" A bright smirk then stretched across Astravan's face, shimmering from one end to the other as he stared at Trick, before uttering a reassuring statement.
"IT'LL BE YOU, LITTLE TRICKSTER!"