Chương 6: [BL] 6. New World [6]

"The bright stars are the phenomenon where souls from another world will be pulled—""Is that why I'm slapped?"

"from other—""Josha, is that why she slapped me?" Willow asked again.

"I'm getting to it!" Josha threw his arm up; his voice rumbled through the dark cave. They finally saw a shaft of light, though it was not ordinary sunlight but a nebula-colored light that spread across the gloomy cave floor, adding color.

"If you want to know why you just got slapped, please let me finish. I swear I will simplify it." Willow threw a glare back at Shera, who followed. Their eyes met, and the other girl quickly glanced down. For her own sake, Willow hoped Shera averted her gaze because of guilt. After risking her life to save her and her friend from being stabbed to death in a sacrifice ritual, what does she get? A slap on the face?

"When the Apocalypse looms, the sky will hold its darkest self, a tail of lights will shine through—""Is that—""Yes! You're getting slapped because you're a soul who wishes for grand adventure! Normally, you will be teleported to this world with your own body, but because of us, you ended up taking over Mera's body."

"Oh!" She sneered, not believing such a foolish superstition.

"I'm here because I'm bored with life." Josha opened his mouth, clearly having so many things to say to that, then he closed it again. The young man leaned in with curiosity.

"Have you ever wished for it? An adventure?"

"Like what? I prayed for it?" He nodded. Willow was about to deny that, but no word came out. Did I?

"So you do," a small voice mumbled behind. Having had enough, Willow turned and faced the other girl, who flinched to a stop.

"Even if. If. That's true; that doesn't mean you can slap me," she bit each word. Her lips pursed, and she clenched her fist in stubbornness.

"But, Mera. She—" Willow's mouth twitched. Suddenly, her finger also twitched, as a great itch had overcome them. The only thing she could do to overcome this itch was to touch her sword. So she did before a hand caught her wrist.

"Hold on, here. Let's not be stupid—" She glared at Josha. Josha raised a hand in surrender while the other one was still clasped around her wrist. He looked at Shera, who met his gaze. Her eyes widened in horror.

"No!" She barked.

"Do it," Josha growled.

"I won't—""If he is asking for you to apologise, then you better—""Shera! Please?" Shera gritted her teeth, and her eyes scowled at Willow, who met her gaze.

"I'm sorry." The apology came full of bitterness, but Willow was too tired to fight it. Josha, on the other hand, pleaded with his eyes, and Willow sighed and nodded her head. When Josha was about to mutter a thank-you, she wrested her arm away and whirled, leaving them alone.

"Wait, hold on." She did not listen. Behind her, Josha talked to Shera, reprimanding her, receiving only silence in return. The edge of the cave entrance gleams with violet. Wind blew into the cave from an expansive violet portal bigger than the cave itself, which was pretty damn big to the point it loomed upward into shadow. Rippling violet writhed like someone plunging rocks into a never-ending throw on a poor lake. This felt like standing inside a giant's mouth that was still breathing.

She stepped backward, wondering if she should just cross this thing.

"That's a rift," Josha said, making his way beside her.

"Normally, a rift of this size was almost impossible to appear when—" he stopped and scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry, you're not interested, are you?"

"I am, but later," Willow said.

"For now, let's get somewhere safe." He gave her a grateful smile.

"And somewhere where I won't be slapped," she added to Josha's small laugh. Willow wanted to tell him that she was not joking, but whatever.

"Well, we will get you settled in the village. You will love Sheran; it's beautiful," he said. Without hesitation, Josha stepped forward into the rift. The purple aurora-like energy responded to his body, undulating for a brief moment until Josha's body disappeared. Naturally, this brought Willow to a pause.

"Outside will be safer," Shera said, passing by Willow and stepping into the rift as well. She followed her. Compared to fighting an evil monster that offers human life for ritual, this was nothing. That's right, this is nothing. Willow drew a sharp breath and ran forward, closing her eyes. Crisp air entered her throat as she tasted the new world she found herself in. When she opened her eyes, a horizon of serene orange-red stretched through the sky. Willow found herself staring up.

The sky looked fake, but not in a bad way. It was as if a painter could not decide which paint to use, so he kept experimenting, even brushing against the fluffy clouds that glide, finding themselves in a mix of redness. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Underneath, wind swivelled downward, tossing Willow's golden hair.

When it settled, an expansive glade of blue grasses stretched across her vision as the wind carried over, waving through, stirring the cobalt grasses. Woah. A hand tugged her down. Willow was forced to kneel beside Josha and Shera. The grass was tall enough to cover her hip and her head.

"It's too open here; we're crawling for the trees," Josha explained. Willow gave a nod, and they went into a crawl with Josha leading. Both he and Shera had their swords in one hand as they crawled, still sheathed. Willow copied them, and it was easier to move. The ground underneath was a normal color. It looked rich, even gleaming. As they reached toward the trees, Willow once again found herself gawking. The tree, like the grass, held sapphire-coloured leaves through its busy branches.

Underneath them was a small pool, giving each tree its own little island where sap grew and silken blue vines twirled around the trees' bases. A strand of sap caught Willow's hand. Carefully, she untangled her wrist. The pool mirrored the reddish-orange sky. When blue leaves fell on the pool, they slowly sank beneath the surface and disappeared as blue sap mixed in, lending a small twinge of cobalt to the mix of red.

"You okay there?" Shera surprisingly asked her.

"Yes, I'm fine," Willow said. As fine as being suddenly dumped into a different world. Josha helped her up, and they leaned against a tree trunk, skipping over the pool. Neither of them spared the forest a single glance and went straight for business.

"So? Straight to the village?" Shera asked.

"I don't see any reason why not," Josha said.

"This time, no funny business."

"Yes," Shera said, her eyes serious.

"Straight to the village."

"Why aren't the grasses green?" Willow asked.

"And the tree's leaves too." The question startled both of them, as they stared at Willow for a couple of seconds.

"They are always blue. Well, I guess I heard of lands where they are green," Josha said.

"Are they green where you came from?" Willow nodded. She reached down, plucking a leaf that grew from a jutting sapling.

"They are."

"Willow, right? We're going straight for the village, so—""Josha!" Shera tugged Josha's arm and pointed at something. A human, wearing a guard uniform similar to Willow's, was pinned to a tree bark not twenty meters away from them. A spear held the man's body up—a wooden spear whose bark split into two at its butt end. For a brief moment, nobody spoke. Both of them froze until Willow shook their shoulders, snapping them.

"Is that?" The end of the spear moved. Two wooden barks spun like a tentacle, forming a sharp point. Josha pulled Willow and Shera both behind the tree and scanned their new position, which was almost open to the glade they had just crossed. Willow peeked her head out in time to see a creature of wood standing with two legs. It had a crowned vine atop its head. A large jade-like eye was embedded in its bark face.

The creature's body was built slim and lithe as it craned its body, and the spear responded, connecting to the creature's body and becoming its arm. [Treant Forest King—Level 35] When the Treant withdrew its bloodied arm, the human collapsed to the ground, face-first. In a sickening rip, the Treant gouges out the guard's chest for a small, gleaming shard that the Treant absorbs. The monster tipped its head up and opened its arms wide. Vines sprouted from its body, and they wrapped around its limbs.

It turned and walked in the opposite direction from the human and deeper into the forest. Willow made sure to wait until she could no longer see the creature's back before she let out a deep breath and slumped against the tree's trunk. A Treant? A walking tree? Well, that was—"Who is it!" Shera hissed at Joshua, who tried to look closer, but ultimately he didn't commit beyond the pool.

"I'm going—""No!" His hand shot up, and she pulled Shera's back, who shrugged his arms and glared at him.

"We can't. Do you see that thing? A new rift opened, Shera! We have to get back to Sheran as fast as we can so an assault team can be formed! We're supposed to clean all rifts before the Cycle starts! Or we will have no imperial help. There's also the lich rift, too." Shera's eyes, which held stubbornness, faltered.

"We need to go; you're right." She threw a look at the dead man again before nodding at Josha. Josha led them again, and they walked around the glade, skipping from tree to tree, making sure the time they spent traveling between each tree was less than two seconds. Despite the situation, Willow found herself moving quickly, keeping up with Josha and Shera, who both definitely had military training. In fact, Josha was the one slowing them down. The young man had to take a break in between runs.

"He did not have a class. Those enhancements we have? They made our bodies stronger," Shera explained as they waited for him.

"You're talking about the attribute?"

"Yes. Someone with Class, even just level one, was almost always two times stronger, at least, than a fit muscular guard in the prime of his age," Shera said, and her lips went into a small, wry smile.

"Although most guards worth their salt will already have been granted class stones." They kept going deeper into the forest until the sunset fell and the sky darkened. The sky was as clear as the crisp air that tasted like mint. Countless stars shone across the night sky, each fluttering with its pale light. The forest went alight. Every blade of grass and leaf shone with a dim azure glow. Willow could not help but sweep her hand when an orb of small sapphire floated up like a swaying smoke.

The orbs passed by her hand, shining through her tree's sigil and toward her hair and up to the sky. Josha led them through a downturn, carefully and ever so slowly, until they heard a small chorus of quiet murmurs. It was peaceful, like a weak wind gloss. Past tall foliage of grasses, a pool basked in the night sky, taking in the twinkling stars above and cobalt leaves that left spots of azure light through.

"Runic pool," Josha said to Willow as if that explained everything. Beyond the pool was a sheer cliff from which Willow expected a waterfall to fall.

"Runic pool?"

"We can recover our runes faster in it," Shera explained. Bright light took Shera's figure, and her [Witch] outfit disappeared into a tunic which she pulled off, only stopping midway before she plopped the shirt back down, and she blushed, staring at Josha.

"I'm not the one who suddenly took off my clothes," he said.

"Just go!" He grumbled and crawled away to a tree trunk, leaning on it with his sword propped by his hip. Oh, right, he doesn't have a class.

"Come on, we need you at full runes too," Shera said, tossing her clothes off. Willow hesitated, but decided to dismiss her [Guard] Class outfit. Actually, did she need to? Her [Guard] class did not have a rune currently. Willow thought about it before shrugging off her clothes, deciding to think later. For now, the pool looked so inviting. Willow touched her toe to the starlight pool. It was cold, yet she didn't mind it. She stepped forward, sinking to her knees.

Shera primly sat by a rock, closing her eyes and staring blankly at the sky above. Meanwhile, Willow pinched her nose.

"What are you doing?" She submerged and plopped back up, tossing her hair around. With the water clinging to her face, the next gust of wind was extremely cold, and she shuddered as the freezing chill splashed over her. Laughing at nothing and everything, Willow let a wide smile spread across her face before sinking further so Shera didn't think she was crazy or something.

"I'm in a different world," she said to herself with an unknowing smile.