Chapter 65: New Frames of Mind

He pauses, taking everything around him in. The place he is in is completely in chaos and wreckage, having a little frame of reference from his time on the island, he is conflicted whether this place is supposed to be like this or not.

There isn't a single soul in sight around except for a woman's body on the ground. He notices she has armor on.

Was my imagination of how it looked wrong? Why did I ever think that such a place would look otherwise while falling? What is going on?

On the island, everything matched what I always thought it would look like . . . trees, animals, and buildings.

But this . . .

He stands up with his sniper strapped to his back, and steps outside of the building. Looking around, he sees some places on fire, games broken, and rubble of collapsed construction.

A few flying jellyfish give light from above while many lay dead on the ground, and a lot of the lamps on the ground are broken.

The ceiling of the floor far above still has some star light.

Is this . . . a wasteland? But it doesn't match what Zahtan described! Is this really the Castle?

He looks back at the woman and passes his tongue through his lips, letting out a breath right after. He deems something weird as he observes it, the air in front of him from his breath looks like . . . smoke?

No more than a second after he notices this, shivers run down his spine and his body goes stiff. The cold pierces through his flesh, a sense of dread filling him.

He can tell something approaches, he looks at his arms and the chains come to view, still attached to himself, yet they wrinkle no longer as they are frozen.

He gulps, his mouth shifting between a smile and terror. It is as if the whole experience is bringing him extreme pleasure from the dread . . .

He laughs, his hand trembling as he reaches inside a pocket in the bag he is holding.

He takes something out, looks at it, turns himself in a direction and starts walking away from the cold at an above normal pace with his sniper strapped to his back, his backpack on his shoulder and shotgun in the holster around his waist.

. . .

. . . the dark thing Charlotte had attached comes out, scanning the area . . .

Threat left . . . no engagement . . . begin!

It splits into two, one half follows the man secretly, and the other dives towards the woman, starting to heal her body faster, concentrating for the exhaustion.

This information traveling through space in the form of words, reaches their origin.

. . .

Good. Make sure you keep her safe, and update me on his every word and mov–

Before she can finish, her existence along with the dark pet she has in the Castle, start to glitch and spaz out.

She gasps, taking a deep breath. She feels heavy in the dark . . . as if she's about to vomit her heart out, along with everything . . . whatever that is.

In there . . . hold . . . swallow . . . contain . . . are the words that come to mind to describe her current state. And so, she does . . . she swallows over and over . . .

"Hah, hah," she pants, finally calming down.

A clawed hand gently rests on her shoulder, "Are you alright?" asks Neo.

"I–" she takes in a long breath, "I am fine,"

". . . Is this thing harming yo–"

"I said I am fine . . . you are the last person I want to hear this from." she says firmly, shrugging his hand off.

"Alright then . . ." Neo nods, his voice cracking.

He looks around, finding himself in an environment he is all too familiar with. Aside from his glowing, flaming sword acting as a source of light . . . there is nothing else . . . no lamps that illuminate brightly, or flying jellyfish lighting the hard ground he is standing on.

He is surrounded by complete darkness.

The wind howls and his skin feels the cold breeze passing by.

"Where are we?" questions Neo.

"Habil, the sword seems to be able to control the flames, and you control it. Maybe have it shine brighter and I'll use my tails to spread the light around more," suggests Xzina.

"Alright," he raises his sword up high. It burns brighter and brighter while keeping the heat low and the tails crystalize, making the place more luminous.

The light spreads far, shining around the area. The environment is empty, with nothing but a perfectly smooth floor littered with some rocks and dirt . . . the place looks as if it was constructed by someone.

They turn and face a wall with a drawing engraved onto it, but one cannot tell what the entire drawing entails because there is a large crack running through it, it is an incomplete symbol that they cannot make much out of.

Xzina shifts her eyes around, noticing the rubble and large chunks on the ground in front of it.

"Something came out of that crack . . ." she muses.

Rustle, rustle.

Habil's sword begins to shake gently as he faces the crack, as if trying to express something.

"This must be the place, where it was sealed . . ."

"Do you think it still is in there?" asks Neo.

". . . It should be. I worded the wish carefully to send us to its current location," says Xzina.

"Also, there is something in your pocket," she adds.

"What?" he lowers his sword momentarily and reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a compass.

. . .

He puts it aside and reaches again, this time finding a glowing gem in his pocket.

"What . . . what's this?" asks Neo.

"No idea,"

. . .

"Hey Charlotte, can yo–"

"Charlotte?"

He walks up to her again, leaving the sword.

She is standing still, looking up in complete silence.

"Is something up?" he asks.

". . . I am here, Neo . . . I made it . . ." she murmurs.

"Made it? Do you know where we are? How?"

She doesn't move an inch, the only muscles moving are those of her mouth to make a sound.

"We . . . we are on the Rope . . . more precisely, at the very top . . ."

"Top?"

"Yes," she points her finger up, towards the area she is looking at.

"The ceiling . . . there is a ceiling above."