“Follow me and you will get your answers.”

  Well, I can’t say that I was expecting this but, it’s not like I can complain or if I have any other choice to be honest. Anyway, we actually get moving right after this amazing interaction between us, walking up to the biggest door in here, the one that is in the middle of the kitchen area and the area where the sofa is. I’m not already liking this to be honest. First of all, where will this colossal door lead me to? The outside of course! Does that mean that I will be staying outside, just like a dog does? If that is the case, that’s beyond disrespectful and I will not tolerate it.

  I mean it.

  Colossal door noises!

  Quite gently, she opens up the colossal door, one that barely makes any noise at all and from how easy it seemed for her to open it, I will say that, this place is rather new and the materials used for said door are for the light side. But once the doors are fully open, I’m met with a rather pleasant but unexpected sight so much so that my surprise is unable to be contained as I left out a few words that escape from my mind.

  “This looks really nice…”

  This does not make justice to the sight in front of me and I do mean it. But, having me saying this won’t be nowhere near enough so, time for another amazing and well thought out description of what I’m seeing. First of all, a few good meters right in front of me, there is a corridor but until said corridor, the place is open. The entrance for this corridor is magnificent and for the huge side. While the wideness of the corridor itself is for the normal side, close to two meters, the height however, it’s on a whole different level, being way more than 3 meters, touching the 5 meters I would estimate. But what makes the entrance of the corridor magnificent is not the sheer side but how it was built and the decorations on it.

  It’s coloured in a snow-white colour, one that shines just a little bit as the light from this Bubble Universe hits it. It has an arch like ceiling, one that only seems to happen in the inside as from the outside, it’s straight and without said arch although, this happens because there is a small rectangle right at the top of the ceiling, supported by what seems to be by pillars, ones that also end up supporting the arch ceiling as they begin at ground level, going all the way up, passing the arch ceiling and ending only once they hit said “rectangle”. This rectangle is as wide as the corridor but with only a couple of centimetres of height and it seems to extend for as long as the corridor itself. I cannot actually see the end of the corridor as there are walls on both sides that do not allow me to see the end of it. These walls are also for the tall side, I would say 3 meters tall however, they follow the same design philosophy as all the walls that I’ve seen until now.

  From the colossal door until the corridor there is a path laid out, one that begins a few meters in front of me as I do have to descend a rather short set of stairs to reach said path. This path is paved with tiles, ones that are quite fitting for this space not only that, at around 1/3rd of the path there is another path that goes to a different direction, in this case, to the left and from what it seems, it goes for a few meters, taking a sharp turn and ending up going backwards if we see it from my current position.

  The rest of the ground is covered by grass, one that has a strong green colour to it and one that, it has been neatly taken care of as not only it has been cut down to a low height, thanks to the strong colour it has, it’s more than enough to say that, said grass is quite healthy. The walls that I’ve mentioned before, ones that make this area a rectangular shape as they stretch to both my sides for a few meters and going backwards towards the lobby. Right next to said walls there are bushes on both sides that stretch through the entirety of the wall, ending once they reach the entrance of the corridor and of course, the building I’m in. These bushes are just like the grass but in their case, throughout it, there are a few patches with flowers, ones that are beautiful and unlike the ones from inside, there are quite the variety to them. Then to my right, around in the middle of that area, there is a single tree there, one that I have no clue what type it is but one that also follows the same care as the grass and the bushes.

  “This was designed by the one that roams in the sky.”

  Now that is a rather interesting “bomb” she just dropped. If the Crystal Whale designed this, it can mean two things. The first one and the most obvious one is that, this entire area was created by it and I even dare to say the area I first “explored”. The second one is that the Crystal Whale would have created the Bubble Universe itself… actually, I don’t think that is the case. Yeah, it’s much more likely that the Bubble Universe created the Crystal Whale rather than the opposite, maybe The Void Queen used a rule from the Bubble Universe and said Whale was the result of it? Argh, the more I think about it, the more questions I have. I could ask Miranda but, I more than doubt that she will answer anything.

  Moving on.

  Without saying anything at all, she signals me to get moving or in this case, to follow her. We descend the set of stairs, walk for a little bit until we take said left turn, walking forward until we hit another left turn. From here though, I can already see the place where I will be staying. It seems to be a rather normal looking small house, I won’t say cabin as it’s made of the same materials as the ones from the main building, the lobby. Anyway, we keep on moving and once we got close enough, Miranda gently opens the door and once again, I’m surprised to what I’m seeing and of course, for the good side.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “This is the place you will be staying.”

  It’s more than I could ask, and I mean it. It looks tidy and organized, small but more than comfortable enough to walk around. Alright, one last time then, I promise it will be the last one for some time. The room seems to be close to 8 meters in length while the width varies a little bit. The entrance is the widest place then, walk maybe three meters forward and to the left wall there is a door that I will guess is the bathroom. Past those 3 meters the room gets smaller in terms of width as there is a wall to my left that stretches to my right for a little too much but still allowing enough space for a single size bed, one that is right next to the right wall and maybe two meters of empty space to the left. However, the wall that I’ve mentioned seems to be a closet combined into said wall, one that will probably have nothing inside of it as otherwise it will be creepy…

  I mean, they have no clue what sizes I have on my Heroic body. If they end up having clothes that fit me perfectly, it is kind of weird, don’t you think?

  “This is rather cosy… However, it means that I will be staying here for a while, won’t I?”

  “Yes.”

  I don’t have a clue on how I should feel about this. There is a Shadow Calamity in the real world, one that has devastated a whole city, taken several innocent lives and yet, here I am in this place for reasons that I’m still questioning them. Don’t get me wrong, I will save Kiana however, is there any way that we can speed this process up? Even though I’m thinking about this, it seems I’m expressing these thoughts into my face as Miranda gets somewhat close to me. Somewhat that is, she’s right by my side but the moment she notices my face, she walks forward, getting in front of me.

  “Something in your mind?”

  Her voice, although extremely cold, it’s soft and contradictory, quite warm. She has both of her hands behind her back as she asks this, as she leans just a little bit forward towards me and of course, to make her even more cute, she tilts her head slightly. Seriously, I cannot for the love of me read this woman and her intentions and the same can be said about The Void Queen. Do they hate me? That does not seem likely at all as otherwise, I would feel their hostility and most probably their bloodlust. However, I cannot say that they are fond of me thanks to their cold tone of voice, their somewhat indifference to me and so on… Ah man, just tell her what you are thinking and whatever happens comes out of her mouth, it will tell you if you can truly trust them or not. This is confusing, why are they doing this is something that is beyond bothering me, and having Kiana in the middle of all of it is not helping at all.

  I mean, is she even real in the first place?

  She must be as otherwise…

  Their actions, motives and reasons do not make any sense at all.

  “I’m thinking about the real world. I said to her that I will save Kiana, however, I cannot forget the reason I was here. It’s my duty to defeat the Shadow Calamity.”

  There I said it and I'm already feeling much better. Having someone where you can tell them your problems sure is something akin to therapy but, this is not the reason for me to be feeling much better. Not only Miranda actually listened to everything that I said with I believe an attentive look, a mellow smile formed on her face as I told her my worries about the real world. She’s not making fun of me, not happy for my troubles or anything like that, it’s a genuine reaction and although she looks like the way she does, it’s one that warms my heart and calms my entire soul with it.

  “Don’t worry about it. My Empress truly is doing her best to take care of the Shadow Calamity.”

  Her tone of voice is no longer cold but quite warm instead. Imagine this, it’s a spring day and you just had lunch, the temperature is around 22 degrees, not hot but also not cold either, the wind is gentle and soft, just enough to caress your face for example. You find a tree, a rather nice looking one, one that is giving out quite the shadow thanks to its majestic size. You walk up to said tree, laying down on the grass next to it and closing your eyes right after that. The sheer calmness you will feel by doing so it’s something that her tone of voice is doing to my soul and my heart. Because of this and as expected, what she said and how she said so, it’s something that forces my mouth to smile back at her and express my gratitude to her. Ah, I can only guess the look I’m having right now.

  “Thank you.”

  I unconsciously say this to her however, her reaction is actually hurting me. I mean, she first goes from that beautiful smile to slightly open her mouth almost as if I said something unbelievable. Then, she returns to a normal position as she was leaning forward, right after that, she turns around rather quickly. And then! She walked a few steps forward, leaving me with a perplexed look on my face. Was I that creepy? Man, really? My heart is shattered…

  “(Ah! Why do I feel so hot? My cheeks are burning…)”

  Her heart, although beating at the same rate as always, as her ears are able to hear the soft voice from the Hero, it skipped a beat, forcing her to stay in place unable to do anything. But as her mind is getting confused and as her whole-body temperature is slightly increasing, much more so on her face and even more on her cheeks as they gain a slightly shade of red to them, her instincts tell her to avoid eye contact with him while at the same time telling her straight out to avoid any contact at all with him. It does not make sense at all to her but, she has no choice unless listening to them and that’s why she turns around and walks exactly three steps forward, almost getting too close to the closet in front of them.

  Bump! Dump! Bump! Dump!

  Her heart was supposed to be beating at the same rate as always and yet, it’s unexpectable and inexplicable rapid. She raises her right hand towards her confused and hot heart as she’s unable to comprehend and fathom the overwhelming feeling that consumed her entire mind for a slip second, even stopping her heart from beating, skipping it for a single beat.

  And yet, these two are ignorant to what’s happening to each other and just how effective their genuine reactions were to each other, as the Hero’s genuine reaction was towards Miranda's emotional state and vice versa. However, while these two are in completely different states of mind from one and another, this is only the beginning of a new relationship between them.

  One that we all hope it can flourish into something beautiful.

  ……..

  ……

  …