This journey begins in the 3rd person as the chapter that took its place was filled with nonsensical nonsense that made no sense sensically. Perhaps I’ll make a new drawing in its steed! Anyway, carry on. - Frankie
Twisting wide corridors were lit up by flickering warm lights. Lian, if only for just a moment, became forgot past his past, stunned by the sheer size of the corridors.
“Who exactly are these halls for?” Thought Lian, his head tilted upwards, wondering why the halls are tall and wide enough to elephants.
It became increasingly difficult for Lian not to focus on the weird combination of wood and metal that the entirety of the building appeared to be made of. Each step through the gargantuan hallways presented unique etchings of sprawling forests with fantastical creatures unknown to Lian himself, deep blue oceans so expertly designed it appeared as water itself, detailed landscapes from each end of his worlds and some he wishes to be true, but to Lian, best of all were the pictures of whales flying effortlessly through the night sky. Even the home's lighting was a mystery. Lights within the corridor's consisted of small blue, red, yellow, and sometimes green particles floating amongst a decorative wall hinge. When Lian would approach for a closer look, the glowing particles would appear to grow little black eyes and scurry inside a hole within the hinge with a chorus of odd squeaking. The hinges appeared similar snow globes, only instead of snow, they were filled with a rainbow of fireflies that melded colors smoothly amongst each other. Decor such as mini statues of weird frogs and other animals lined the halls since Lian began exploring them. It didn’t take long for Lian to begin hearing the faint sound of a crowd roaring below, something useful as it provided Lian a clue towards the whereabouts of an exit.
As Lian traversed deeper into the halls of the mysterious building he began to notice many hollow copper-like pipes stretching like vines through the twisted halls, some were wrapped by weird greenery and others were pumping luminous pulses of light, but all of them exhibited a faint humming. What was inside? Lian couldn’t afford to stand around and guess.
Turn after endless turn, Lian followed many different sounds from the roaring crowd below desperately the crowds may lead him to anything resembling an exit.
Lian became increasingly frustrated with the seemingly endless hallways and turned towards the pipes one last time for guidance, nodding his head in annoyance.
“There has to be…an exit…” Thought Lian aloud as he leaned his ear towards the piping above him.
It was at this moment that Lian heard a faint whooshing of wind slushing about behind him. As he turned to see what it was, he noticed one of the hinges across from him was especially a brighter green. Walking closer, he noticed the particles merging together to form a silhouette, something he found eerily familiar.
“A baby? What…” Thought Lian as he inched ever closer to the light, squinting his eyes in disbelief.
The silhouette of the baby was made of flames, it even appeared as though it was turning around from lazily sitting. As the flames began to concentrate ever more, the picture of the burning baby was ever true. It turned it’s head towards Lian and possed two blank spots on his, presumably where the eyes would have been. After a short stare down with Lian, it shot up on what appeared to be its feet -stubs as they may appear to be- and began dancing on the hinge. Lian was in disbelief as the silhouette began to dance something like a can-can from back home. Its eyes were it’s only form of expression but it was enough for Lian to notice it was having a great time. After a couple more dance routines, Lian begged the green flame to find him a way out, and to his surprise it did. The green flame jumped from its hinge on the wall above and splashed violently on the floor, rendering the flames in a puddle-like position.
“What the…” Thought Lian, extending his finger for a chance to touch the seemingly cold flame.
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“Harmless.” He continued while sifting his hand through the green flame as bits of it poured through his fingers like chunks of sand.
At a moment’s notice, the flame grew little black eyes everywhere and hastily scurried a couple of feet away with some panting pieces of flame lagging behind.
“They're like little firebug people.” Thought Lian.
After gently pushing a larger -albeit exhausted- one towards the rest of the pack, they began to shapeshift once more, only this time they took the shape of an adult fox. The burning fox itself was now a cool blue, and to Lian's fortune seemed friendly. The fox quickly jumped on Lian’s shoulder and began peeking over it at the sleeping baby and the snug baby fox below. After seeing what was on Lian’s back it appeared to look back at Lian with what could only be described as joy and wonder, as it’s flaming eyes wiggled about. In another instant the fox jumped before Lian’s eyes and morphed into back into the baby instantaneously. While in the air the little flame baby grabbed its two little stubs for legs with two stubbing appendages and rolled backwards, deep into halls.
“Are you helping me little guy!?” Whispered Lian loudly as the baby continued to roll away.
Lian chased the rolling baby through the halls like a guiding light while as the hallways behind him became progressively darker. The baby appeared to be gathering the more particles of flame as it rolled through the halls. After a couple of more twist and turns, the baby grew big enough to considered the size of a small boulder.
“Wait up! I can’t move that fast with these guys on my shoulders!” Lian tried shouting.
Finally, after running through oddly familiar hallways, the baby reached an odd opening at the end of a corridor and turned to look at Lian. After a short stare, the now giant baby dissipated into a multitude of glowing particles. Slowly it floated away, filling the decorated hinges as it progressed and dimmed through the halls.
“Thank you.” Thought Lian aloud.
The pathway was rifled with protruding pipes. A large wooden sign above the opening displayed a swirling white arrow pointing up and a swirling black arrow pointing down.
“Funny I could've sworn I went past here before. Maybe not everything in this world is as scary Taylum or Nessiah told me it’d be.” Thought Lian.
Naturally, Lian did not waste any precious time in entering the dimly lit room, he was convinced that this would be some-sort of elevator or stair leading to the bottom as the room appeared to be hollow with only a single light atop a pole at the center of a platform.
Lian's suspicion of the room was immediately proven to be correct. Within only a few steps onto the platform, Lian encountered a peculiar sign engraved into the tall black pole that read "Whistle, Clap, Or Even Sing For Service."
"Hello? Why is it so dark in here?" Asked Lian, hoping that someone would listen.
To Lian's surprise, someone or something was indeed listening. As Lian leaned over the rating, he could hear a couple of steps. Unfortunately, it was much too dark to see. The hollowness of the room could only further confuse him as echoes of his steps and some shuffling somewhere below bounced in all directions.
"HIiiiiiiii!" Screamed a raspy voice from behind Lian.
"Huh? What? Said Lian confused, as he turns to the absent bodied voice.
"Down here! Ya fool!" Yelled the voice.
Lian began frantically looking for the source of the voice, but it was much too dark to really see anything in the room.
"Is this the enigma making a cruel joke?" Lian thought to himself.
Calling again and again, the disembodied voice appeared to be agitated. Catching a hint of agitation, Lian quickly and clumsily backpedaled towards the entrance and in the hast fell over something oddly moist.
“Umph*” Said the voice in the dark.
Feeling a gaze over him, Lian sat-up from the ground. He Squinted into the darkness and spotted what appeared to be two yellow orbs floating towards him. The orb's approached close with a faint squishing sound and an odd burning odor.
In what felt like an instant, a strange but heavy weight landed pushed into Lian's stomach and forcefully sat him upwards. It was at this moment he was face to face with the mysterious yellow orbs.