“Uh, do you know where we are right now?”
Ah, I’m so smooth at changing topics that I probably should apply to be a damn clown!
“No, I’ve never been here before.”
Tch! I sure did not want to hear that but, I’m not going to blame her or even be mad at her to be honest. We will figure this out together then. Anyway, since we have some time, I will describe where we currently are. Maybe I can find something while I do so. After all, I will be carefully inspecting my surroundings and that can lead to unpredictable discoveries. Ahem! I’m right at the entrance of the corridor or is it the exit? Well, having in consideration that I came from within the corridor then, it’s the entrance… Anyway, I’ve mentioned before that this “room” is roughly 150 square meters, that still hasn’t changed at all but looking at this place better I can say that, this is not a simple square room per say. The exit for the outside is wide open, there are no doors on both “exits” and the same can be said about windows. This room has a triangular shape to it, somewhat that is. The wall where the corridor is connected, said wall is straight but, the walls that extend forward they have a slight inwards angle to them and once it reaches the half point of the room, the walls go towards the middle in a 90-degree angle for like a meter or two, having another 90-degree angle but this time, towards the front, extending itself yet again for another meter or so but this time forward. As you can see, this has a rather odd design to it but, that’s the only thing that is interesting here. Let’s get out of here and get some fresh air per say.
“So, this is how her universe looks like...”
“I also was shocked the first time I saw this. It simply is mesmerizing to the beholder, beautiful even. Almost as if a painter itself not only hand painted all of this, but had no restrictions whatsoever.”
“I can see what you are saying, especially the sky and its colours.”
Since I was a little too occupied with dealing with the Shadows and their boring shenanigans, I didn’t have the time to stop, look around and appreciate my surroundings. At first sight, they are extremely captivating, quickly grabbing your attention but, the more you look around, the more attention you pay, the more beauty you see. The fountain for example, it’s right in the middle of this area, making it the centre of the attentions but not only is its size larger than normal, it also has a circle shape to it, however, it somehow directs the path around here, giving you instructions to where you can go. From the room that we were just in, there is a path directed to the fountain, this path of course, it’s paved with stone tiles, ones that are neatly well placed around, even creating a pattern as the tiles have just a slight difference of shade between them. Around the fountain there are the same stone tiles and as I said before, in a good radius around it, “creating” a rather large area that has a square shape to it. Then to my right there is another path but this one goes to a rather tall building. From the outside, this building seems something akin to a castle as there are two “towers” that seem to touch the sky itself from how unnecessary tall they are. To the left there is also another path although this one seems to lead to a garden of some sorts but one that easily grabs your focus for brief moments as the vibrant colours gently call said focus. For last, while looking forward you will see another path laid out but this one leads towards a rather large door, one that is sealed by magic. I say this because with Magic Sense I was able to notice that. Then with Magical Eyes I’m able to see a magic circle right in the middle of the door, one that creates said seal. I could brute force through it but something tells me that I shouldn’t do that and instead do it in the proper way.
“This place is rather large by itself and if we add that building over there it becomes even bigger. The door in front of us is blocked by a seal so we can’t go through there yet. However, on our left side, I’m not finding anything interesting at all.”
“You were able to notice all of that quickly? Uhm, but… This layout is similar to a school, don’t you think?”
Now that is an odd comparison to make however, she might actually be true. Also, no need to be that surprised, I didn’t do anything that special, not only that, what tells you that I haven’t had a look around? Anyway, this is a “closed” area where we are surrounded by four walls. Yes, while the one to our right is because of that building, the one behind us is for the corridor entrance and most probable the one in front of us is also for another corridor or at least for the next area. The one on my left is just a simple wall, one that is taller than me by maybe a meter or so while the others have different sizes because of what they are attached to. Either way, past those walls or more so the outside of this area, well, there is nothing out there and I mean it. It’s just the emptiness of this Bubble Universe and nothing else. Moving on from this, I can see her point of view and if that is the case then, the building that I compared to a castle might in fact be a school instead. But why is that the case? What’s the point of it? I doubt it’s just for show as I can actually sense a damn portal right at the doors. Indeed, the moment we open said doors we are going to get teleported to god knows where and it will be done without our consent. I probably could report that magic circle to the police of these areas but, I doubt they will do much.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Now that you said that, I can somewhat see that connection. However, what’s the point of all of this?”
“Uhm, didn’t she tell you anything?”
Now you got me there, Miss Pink Orb. She really didn’t tell me anything concrete about this place and to be honest, very little on what I should be doing around here. She basically told me to figure it out as I go and since Miranda is nowhere to be seen or even sensed, I more than believe she wants me to struggle as hard as I can as I try to guess what I’m supposed to be doing here. This is beyond inefficient however, what am I supposed to do? Though, from her confused tone of voice, at least that’s what seems to me, she might actually know a thing or two about all of this. Let’s see what I can do to get more info…
“She just told me that, a massive Crystal monster or the Crystal Whale as I call it, that thing is the owner and creator of this Bubble Universe. She said that it's connected to Kiana and that the Shadows are trying to consume it? I actually don’t know what the Shadows are trying to accomplish but that seems to be the case.”
I really don’t know much, do I? I don’t think I could’ve summarized this any better as I was able to express the very little information The Void Queen told me. I just know that I have to stop the Shadows from consuming this universe but, how the hell are they supposed to do that? I think anyone can guess that, just consuming a universe even if it’s a small one, is not an easy feat to accomplish at all. I mean, even I, as the Hero can’t do it and I’m talking about someone whose strength goes well past the SSS rank. How the hell are mere C+ rank Shadows supposed to do it? Sigh, the more I think about it, the more I understand that, I’m far too ignorant about all of this...
“I-I don’t know much else from that but, I think you are supposed to conquer each area? This is one of them, isn’t it?”
She sounds unsure of what she’s saying but, what she said did make my right eyebrow go up a centimetre or so as I heard the word “conquer”. Conquer this area she says… Does that mean defeating all the Shadows and that’s it? Or there’s more to it? Hmm, if that was the case, the seal on the door should have been broken the moment I defeated the last one and yet, still there. This can mean two things: one is that conquering this area is much more than defeating the Shadows, ones that might or not have a role in all of this. The other one is that I still have to hunt a few Shadows that are hidden to us, ones that might be inside of the “school” building for example.
“From my limited understanding of all of this, this indeed seems to be an area. I was tasked to defeat the shadows in each area so that I can prevent them from doing harm to the Bubble Universe although those areas will be unlocked as time goes by. I cannot simply move around as I please.”
I don’t know why I’m hiding the fact that, the more I progress on Kiana’s story the more areas will be unlocked for me, in fact, I actually did it without even realizing I was doing it. Do I not trust her? Is that it? It was almost as if something or someone in that moment that twisted my way of thinking into not spelling out the complete truth to Miss Pink Orb. But, why? I really have no clue…
“Uhm, I don’t think that you only have to defeat the Shadows. From what I know this Bubble Universe is chaotic, mere moments from collapsing.”
Now that is something that I was not expecting to hear let alone wanting it to hear, especially from someone whose voice I could fall asleep to. So much so that my blue eyes were wide open and of course, my mouth followed the same principle. Seriously? Mere moments from collapsing? If that’s the truth then, I’m on a damn timer! And here I am wasting it like I have all the time on the world! Argh! Why didn’t they tell me!? Wait a second… They didn’t tell me, right? I don’t think I would miss something that drastic this easily which can mean that, I don’t have to worry about it? I’m missing something…
Think, Hero! Think!
If that truly was the case, I doubt that both The Void Queen and even Miranda would leave me all alone wasting this much precious time. No, while they are extremely secretive, I do believe they care about Kiana, especially The Void Queen. For some reason I’m not seeing her putting Kiana in danger, especially in this matter. The fact that I have to progress with Kiana’s story also ends up disproving what Miss Pink Orb just said as if that was the case then, I wouldn’t need to see Kiana’s story as by simply waiting around, everything would get worse with the passing of time. However, that’s not the case as The Void Queen specifically told me that, the further that I progress with Kiana’s story, the worse she will be and I will guess that the Bubble Universe will also suffer the same cruel fate.
Indeed, this makes much more sense now, just calm down your rapid heart…
