Swoosh
A cool wind blew through the bushes. Cicada's were chirping as the sound of water rippled all around him. Dall opened his eyes, in front of him sat a beautiful woman, she had long brown hair, with scarlet eyes. She wore a yellow flower patterned dress, and had a large sunhat on. A large red jewel was shimmering in the sunlight, hanging from her neck by a green stained metal necklace.
They were seated on an island. It was only large enough to fit a large white gazebo on it; and on both sides were water as far as the eye could see. So clear that it reflected the sky almost like a moving mirror. Inside the gazebo, there was a round white table, with two chairs which Dall and the woman were sitting on. He looked down and saw a tea set, filled with freshly-brewed tea; and something that looked of lemon cake sitting on a silver platter.
Dall looked up at the woman, she elegantly sipped tea and gazed at him all the while. Her gaze felt awkward to Dall, probably because he wasn't used to beautiful women staring at him. "W-where are we?" He stuttered out nervously, wanting to break the silence. She sat down her cup and smiled, "Where were you before this? Sleeping right? This is something of your subconscious. It's called your purity scepter." she grabbed a slice of the cake and took a bite before speaking again, "I drew the short straw so I'm on watch tonight, we couldn't have you frequenting any attacks again now." She said with a laugh.
We... Watch Tonight... he let those words float around in his head until a lightbulb struck on. "You're a constellation!" he blurted out. It came out weak and awkward causing him to blush out of embarrassment. She laughed, "It's so nice to see the younger you. Yes, we are what you called the constellations; though we're deeper than just some stars, haha."
"Then, what are you?", he asked curiously. "It's a secret, you'll find out with time. We can't alter fate any more than we are doing now." She began sipping her tea, watching a crane-like bird fly above the water. "This is a mixture of your purity scepter and my domain, once you gain a high enough level of spiritual purity control, you'll gain access to a domain as well. It just comes with time."
To Dall, she was speaking Chinese. Not a single word she said made any sense, 'purity scepter' and 'domain', none if it was cohesive. This is about the tenth time he's heard of purity, it was driving him insane. "What's Purity?" he blurted out in curiosity. The woman stopped sipping her tea and gazed at him, almost like she was observing what he'd do next; all he could do was nervously looked away.
"Right, right. You wouldn't know." She chuckled, "Purity is the essence of divinity--the mark of all creation. You've at least heard the creation story right?"
Dall fidgeted, "No.." she sighed "David, David, David. This is important stuff. You should really brush up on your knowledge when you get out of this grotesque place that Anaba cursed."
He nearly shot up, "Anaba cursed? Is that the name of the person who cursed the forest?", She laughed again, this time harder. "Haha, geez I get why they call you the fallen petal of knowledge now too, haha." she collected herself, "Sure, if that's what you want to call her little temper tantrum. Anaba is the elf-queen, they call themselves elves but they're really just snow-dwellers with big ears. She is their god, however her apotheosis ritual went wrong and everything, and then she got mad at the creator. It was a whole thing! All that matters is she got angry and cast an eternal snowing on this forest, it caused all the good resources to die out."
"What about the madness?" Dall spoke up. "Madness? Oh! you must be talking about that old legend that started two centuries ago, right I remember that. Stupid old wizard starting rumors and everything. No, people go mad from the temples trials. Without our guidance you probably would've too..." She trailed off and zoned out for a moment, "Honestly, watching you now makes me realize that you probably would have done fine without us."
She sat in silence for a moment. "Alright, that's it for today. Uhg, you let your tea get cold. Anyways, it's time to wake up David. Open you eyes, the next step of the journey is the hardest!" as she spoke, the water around them because to rupture, a dark void seeped in and the water drained rapidly. Before he knew it, all that was left was the gazebo and chairs; and with a snap of the constellations fingers, he went flying out of his chair into the void. Then it all went black.
-------
Dall opened his eyes. The constellations were dancing around him joyfully. The rabbit seemed fairly exhausted however. Was she the one to keep watch over him? Dall wondered. It seems like these strange constellations were actual beings that had corporal bodies, and not just magic created illusions. What this form was however, was unknown to him. He was just glad to have learned as much as he did from that conversation.
The first, and biggest point was he learned what this worlds sense of Purity was. It was the 'essence of divinity' or a mark of this worlds creation. In earths terms, it would maybe be like aura in the animistic religions, or something like mana from fantasy shows. It must've been the source of all power in this world as it seemed extremely important from how she had explained it. Purity Scepters seemed to be a point in our consciousness that holds our divine essence, what he could do with that, he didn't know. Finally, the name of the person who created this whole labyrinth and cursed this forest was the queen of elves, Anaba. She must've been the figure they were bowing down to in the jar's mural. It all made sense. What confused Dall the most was of her names nature, how come he couldn't hear nor understand her name unless it was spoken in a 'domain'.
That whole domain thing astounded him as well. It seemed like the constellation had a world she could will and bend to her own, it was amazing. The more amazing fact is that he could also gain one. One thing that was off however is when the monster in his 'dream' ended up saying he would be a good sacrifice for their 'king', seeing as how Anaba had been known as the 'queen of elves' it couldn't have been her. Did that mean there is a coinciding 'king of elves' who was more temperamental and evil? This was harrowing, Dall didn't want to think of it anymore.
He stood up and made his way to the rocks to bound his cloak and daggers to himself. He took in the sight again, it was truly a beautiful sanctuary, too bad he had to push onwards. Though it seemed like this was the final trial, time was running thin; at least he knew now that he wouldn't go insane for just being here. It would take a lot more than that to drive him nuts, he had to deal with his neighbors in Manhattan, there's nothing rowdier than that.
He wandered over to the tree and grabbed a few of the pear-like fruits off it, and then went to fill up his canteen. He gazed up at the flower floating around his head, "I wonder what you look like" he said. The flower began to dance nervously. If it's lips could move, it would be whistling and walking in the other direction right now. Dall laughed and grasped his canteen. He threw the rucksack over his shoulder and took one final look at the 'birds' in the sky as they flew over.
Today he would 'face his past' in the next trial. Whatever that meant was beyond him, however it was certain that either way he would be doing something unpleasing. Plus, in the words of Ms. Constellation, today would be the most difficult. He sighed and walked to the gate peering inside. This time, he didn't see a changed stone or anything of the sorts. Instead it was just dark, pitch black in all directions. It looked like the void from his dream, however it seemed less threatening. Especially now that he had the all powerful constellations with him.
If he encountered the monster, he thinks he'd be ready. No assurance, but its better to believe than to falter--that much is certain. Today would be difficult, he'd face the past as both Dall and David, this trial could serve to be the most important, and the most difficult. Either way he wasn't giving up yet. He stepped forwards and grasped the handle, swinging open the gate and stepping into the void of unknown.