A blinding white light flooded his vision. Morchel was but dazed at the turn of events. He took in his surroundings without any thoughts or queries on the place.

The white light seemed to be burrowing away at his vision.

The longer his eyes were open, the more blurred his vision became. He squinted, he burst his eyes wide open, but nothing seemed to help.

His feet were planted against a soft, mushy ground, devoid of moisture, but it reminded Morchel of walking on a moss-covered terrain. He whipped his arm occasionally to probe for anything in front of him.

With his eyesight mostly taken away, he circularly swept his feet and carefully inched towards a vague blue ball that swirled and lashed at its own pace without regard for its surroundings.

However, it flailed all over the place, failing to harm anything.

Unable to distinguish anything apart from the bright blue ball, he kept marching towards it at a steady pace.

As he moved closer and closer, the ball grew larger and larger. It enveloped the whole extent of his vision. The beaming light filtered into his eyes, like through a pane of translucent glass,

"It's so mystical, just like with the mushroom. Everything's all blurry. But this blue ball of something is just as enchanting as that mushroom."

Although it appeared that Morchel was commenting on his situation out loud, the truth was that he hadn't spoken anything since he appeared in this space.

His thoughts spontaneously poured out into the chamber and created an illusion of him speaking.

Yet, at the moment, Morchel was enthralled by the gigantic orb of blue radiance. He was unaware of this fact and continued to approach the sphere.

As Morchel approached the orb, keen eyes watched him carefully, but Morchel remained oblivious.

A while later, deciding to break the silence, a curious but commanding voice echoed throughout the chamber, "Fascinating! A human child!"

The orb of blue brilliance rose and fell to the tone of his dialogue.

Morchel didn't know who the man was but had a creeping notion that it was indeed the sphere of cerulean luminance itself. This only made him more motivated to go closer to the orb.

Nevertheless, he didn't approach it blindly in a trance. It was a calculated risk to evaluate his current situation.

'I have to figure out where I am and what is this place and that strange ball.' He was more than determined to leave the place.

Pulling in from previous experiences, he was acutely aware that the predicament at the moment wouldn't just disappear if he let himself be tugged by the gravity of the blue orb.

'What can I do? Who is the man who spoke just now? I have to do something.'

Of course, being aware and being able to react to this situation were two different things altogether. And so, Morchel was still quite helpless to the whole scenario.

"Slow down, child. I didn't mean to frighten you."

Yet, his voice possessed a quality that made Morchel submissive. Before Morchel could reply, however, the man spoke further.

"Human child, I do not know how you appeared here, but however you managed to, you need to head back."

He replied to the voice echoing all over the hall, "I don't know how I got here either."

The glowing blue ball seemed to dim a bit, "Oh! Makes sense. Well, you are the only weakling to have gotten here. So, congratulations! You have achieved something that countless beings only dare dream of."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Morchel froze for a second and replied with caution, "U-uhh, thanks b-but, who are you?"

A nonchalant reply rang throughout the chamber, "Me? Oh, I'm just a dead person. Someone who has ceased to exist ages ago, at least for you... It's complicated."

He called Morchel to approach him more. "Come closer, a few more steps."

Morchel complied.

This time, however, it was a bit different.

At first, it was warm, but eventually it got hot. The shining blue ball wasn't just light scattering to every corner of the room, but a smoldering ball of inferno, except the temperature wasn't nearly high enough for the distance between Morchel and it.

So something was off, and Morchel knew it too. And as he was about to pose a question, the man answered to cut off wrong assumptions.

"Yeah, it is supposed to be much hotter. But apologies, you would cease to exist if I allowed that. Furthermore, you are the first person who has graced these halls in millennia. Now, who might you be?"

Having realized this, Morchel immediately replied with a hint of confusion, "Ahh! I-I'm Morchel. Nice to meet you?"

He continued without a pause. "W-will I be able to go back? I d-don't know how I got here in the f-first place anyway."

His fascination with the blue orb quite evidently began to wear off. The beads of sweat raced down his face added to his weary expression expressing his genuine earning to leave.

The man laughed. "Ha! Don't worry, child. You will not be harmed, nor will you stay here forever."

The orb flashed without warning, and the man spoke again.

"Having looked at you closely, I still have no clue how you got here, but I can send you back.. to the very place you come from, without issues. I always appreciate a visitor, given they come in goodwill, but someone managed to sneak you here... without my knowledge!"

The orb erupted, the light shone brighter, and the temperature rose a bit. The man was evidently not impressed with the being that sent Morchel here.

'The heat's still bearable, but I guess something about me being here bothers him... a lot.'

"Obviously it does!" the man spoke harshly, frightening Morchel. "H-how did you k-know, w-what I was t-thinking?"

"Ah! I'm sorry, child. I didn't know that you weren't aware of this. We have been conversing even through your thoughts. You see, this place voices out one's thoughts, out loud. In fact, I am unable to speak, hence the contraption. Pay no heed to it."

Morchel sighed. "So all this time, I haven't been speaking, instead voicing out loud my thoughts?"

"Exactly!" the man agreed.

Morchel nodded. 'That's alright, but when will I get to go back?'

The sparkle of the orb faded away, and the man replied. "Now-now, why are you in such a hurry, child. As I have already expressed, I haven't spoken with anyone in ages. Won't you entertain me for-"

Morchel interrupted with a solemn tone. "No, I'm afraid I have nothing to offer as entertainment. It would be greatly appreciated if you could return me back to where I come from."

The blue orb let out copious amounts of steam as the man sighed. "Child, I just mean to have a chat with you. Although in the beginning, I was weary of you, I have grown to find you fascinating."

Morchel continued to speak formally while being argumentative with the man. "I am honored, but I must return."

Morchel wasn't used to adopting such a manner of speech, but it felt apt given the situation.

'Being flustered and confused would only make the situation worse. I have to learn to adapt to any situation.'

"That's right~" The commanding yet gleefully cheerful man agreed.

'Ah! My thoughts aren't just mine right now, I suppose. It still doesn't make it easy to get used to it.'

The man replied to even Morchel's own thoughts. "It's alright! I won't be offended with anything you could think of."

Morchel promptly shot down the thought of thinking something offensive, even if he was free to.

'Seems like given enough control and will, not everything leaks into the chamber.'

This time, however, it didn't leak into the hall and echo all over the place. Elated by his discovery he shouted out.

"Great!"

The orb grew paler almost as if it blushed and the man spoke out in a meek tone. "Me? Oh, child. You don't have to shower me with praises. I do know that I'm great, excellent even. Seems like you're too eager to please me."

Although the man seemed to want to boast more, he cut out his speech abruptly. The orb flashed brightly for a mere fraction of a second, almost as if it was perked by something, and the man spoke with a sense of urgency.

"Child, It seems our conversation must be cut short, as I seem to have urgent matters to tend to."

Morchel was relieved to have heard that, but he had no clue as to the pressing situation that pushed the mysterious man to be willing to send him home, but he was thankful for whatever it was.

As he was lost in his reverie of leaving the place, the bright orb flashed blue and white while the man's voice reverberated throughout the chamber.

"Now, child, I hope you are prepared."

Morchel dismissed his thoughts and looked at the orb to pose a query. "Wait, what do you mean by prepa-"

Before he even got the opportunity to finish his question, a deep black enveloped his eyesight, shutting off everything.

His feet began sinking into something akin to quicksand. Almost right away, goosebumps swept his back and neck.

He was in contact with something unnerving.

Countless tendrils crept across his legs. Its needle-like hair left lacerations all over the path it took. His injury began healing just as it would, and a mild burning sensation followed the path of the tendrils, but the tendrils themselves were cold, eerily so, lifeless yet moving.

His eyes remained shuttered, ignoring the pitch-black darkness that was already present, in fear of gazing at something he shouldn't.

Once he was cocooned in it, his consciousness faded away.