Suta POV

Ever since his transmigration into a new world, Suta couldn't help imagining what those other worlds could look like. If but for a fleeting moment. A gentle pause amidst the chaos of affairs surrounding him, he did at times wonder, what if? and what could exist out there in this endless unknown of worlds.

Besides, it wasn't completely uncharacteristic for him, considering he was an avid consumer of all things fantasy-related. But alas, with all the plethora of indulged mangas, anime, and web novels, none of those could ever prepare him for the sight befalling his very eyes right now.

As if the presence of the violet sky wasn't enough, his disbelieving gaze cast over a vast blanket of brightly blue grassland covering the entire land as far as he could see. The foliage was also startling to him. On more than one occasion, he noticed these strange, tiny flowers twitching amongst the tall grass below.

The harrowing thing about these sentient plants was the ugly human faces they made while the carriage wheeled past them. Once he beheld them Suta couldn't remove his gaze away, almost disgusted by their grimacing faces howling strange noises at their moving carriage.

"What the hell are-" Suta's voice carried over to the lion seated in a gentlemanly manner adjacent to him. The lion perked up before briefly peering out of the side window, catching sight of the many little flowers swaying with the wind with faces of sorrow.

"Oh? Can you hear their wretched songs? Terrible noise they make if you ask me. But if you listen closely, you might hear their laments for the new king, the runaway Groom some call him! This land still mourns in wait for his return.

Tis a shame what happened all those years ago. Tis a shame indeed," said the lion apathetically.

Suta wore a concerned glare as he tried his best to hide his true thoughts towards the talking lion dressed in a polka-dot onesie.

'Whichever way you look at it, there's something not right about all of this, ' Suta thought depressingly to himself.

"By the way, Mr. Kitty, who lives in that huge castle over there?" Demoria asked the lion, her eyes continuing to busy all around her.

"Oh? Don't you remember? I suppose it has been an awful long time. The royal castle has been somewhat vacant for a while now, other than us loyal subjects, of course. We haven't seen anyone with royal blood in over...well, I'd say 100 years,"

'100 years? That...can't be right?'

"Hey, do you remember the last royals who lived in that castle? Who were they?" Suta asked the lion intrigued by the subtle lore revealed to him.

"Oh? Hmm, let me think...hmm. Oh, right! The great Queen, of course-our benevolent mother of the perfect moon!"

"She was left in such terrible sorrow after the groom suddenly disappeared and locked herself in the castle for so many years. But no fear, now that her descendants have finally returned, all must be well." The lion sang the final verse with a soft hum bouncing away out if its leonine maw.

Suta naturally didn't miss a single thing the lion said.

'So this place is ruled by a Queen, or it was at one point anyway. But the most troubling thing is why he believes we have royal ties to this so-called sovereign. Unless it's because we're...human?'

He had a feeling his conclusion wasn't too far off. The only other truth could be that

'We did have royal blood?'

Although that seemed less likely to Suta, it wasn't something he could completely ignore.

Suta gently massaged the side of his temples, understanding it was important he didn't panic and rather thoroughly processed everything.

' We both fell asleep and then woke up in this strange new world. If it was only me, then I'd suspect it was that fishbowl head's doing, but why bring Demoria? From what I could gather, secrecy felt like an imperative with that figure. Which means...'

Suta really didn't want to consider the worst-case scenario. But the more logical outcomes he tried to pull from this situation, the closer he was edging toward that depressing thought.

A deep sigh exhaled through his partially opened mouth.

'... this was Demoria's doing or...my own?'

He slowly opened his eyes again, casting a rather dark look out toward this colorful and bizarre-looking landscape. Unlike Demoria, who looked blissfully and rather ignorantly unbothered about this strange place, her mood even seemed to brighten beneath the whimsical and slightly nightmarish oddities they continued to encounter around them.

Suta, on the other hand, only discovered his worries growing with every passing minute.

"We're here! Finally, we've arrived!"

The lion shuffled excitedly towards the door before gently using his cane to push the flimsy small door aside. Seeing the lion finally leaving, Suta thought he had a rare moment to converse with Demoria about some things, but much to his dismay, the moment he opened his mouth, Demoria had already swiftly dashed out of the carriage, tailing closely behind the lion.

Another one of many deep exhales escaped through his mouth again in frustration.

'Am I the last normal person here?' Suta mockingly wondered to himself, how

"Oh my word! Suta! Quickly! Come out and take a look at this." He heard Demorias spirited calls from the outdoor.

***

Reluctantly, Suta eventually did leave the carriage. He climbed out of the opened door and landed securely against the strange blue grass beneath his soles. His constant scowl of distrust eventually lifted towards Demoria and the lion standing not too far away.

While Demoria was busy trying to pull the lion's fuzzy brown mane. The lion, on the other hand, was too busy observing something elsewhere.

Suta followed its peculiar stellar gaze. The sight of what stood towering in front of him had made him forget all about the doubts and lingering fears in his thoughts for a brief moment.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Towering obnoxiously high stood a castle as monstrous as anything Suta had ever seen in his entire life. He vaguely recalled images of these stoned behemoths. Only standing so close to one painted a more surreal feeling.

"Wh-whoa...that's big...too big," he exclaimed in marvel. Of course, Suta had never seen any real-life castles before, but he was familiar with the stereotypical outlay of these ancient buildings where Kings and Queens supposedly lived. There was a large squared drawbridge halfway lowered, with the visible underside covered in decay and seaweed. He noticed the sizeable gap between the land he was standing on and the adjacent hill the castle itself was built on.

This gap looked to circle the entire castle from what he could tell.

'I think they called this...a moat?'

The lion waltzed towards the edge of the land and held up his long cane adorned with that peculiar emerald crystal on its top. A soft glow began to emanate from the crystal, followed by the sounds of rusted iron being pulled by an unknown force.

Suta lifted his gaze again towards the drawbridge, casting an inquisitive glare towards the two rusted iron chains gently slackening. He watched the drawbridge lowering soon enough, leaving him with several questions and potential theories.

'That emerald is definitely an artifact. Which means the lion can potentially cast a certain type of magic. He summoned a carriage and pulled the drawbridge down. But, he couldn't just teleport us here and there?'

Suta's mind was like a series of whirring cogs. Thanks to the countless notes of Granny Baba's thoughts he was fortunate to have read, he understood that Arcane magic purposefully had flaws. As Granny once said, Arcane wasn't a tool that one could pick up and dump as they felt.

'There's a flaw or a trick to it. I guess that the emerald either allows him to summon and pull, or...control a specific element.'

Suta thumbed his smooth chin in deep thought for a short while, after which his eyes suddenly flashed open as he discovered the missing piece to his theory.

'Wood! The carriage and the drawbridge? Perhaps the green emerald gives him control over wood element.'

Suta thought it would make sense, so he kept that truth noted down just in case he needed to use some sort of countermeasure against the lion in the future.

"Hey Suta, look! It's a real-life castle, just like the talking kitty said. You think there's a Queen and knights and oh-oh-butlers and fancy dresses too?" Demoria swooned with wanderlust dancing across those brightly sparking amber eyes of hers.

There was a part of Suta that earnestly enjoyed seeing her smile and somewhat behaving like a kid. But there was another part of him, the more rational side, that couldn't help but feel annoyed at how casual she was taking all of this.

"I... sigh , Demoria, listen, we need to be careful here. We have no idea where we are, how we got here, or how to even get back. We need to remember this place could be really dangerous, and I don't know about you, but I, for one, hold about zero confidence in myself if an unknown disaster arrives before us."

Suta meant every word he said, making sure he didn't mince his words at this moment. He was weak right now, there was no hiding it.

Demoria's glee looked to sour upon hearing that. Rather than the hopeful, deep thought he expected, she looked rather annoyed.

"Suta, don't be silly. You're overthinking too much and being a little boring if I'm being honest." Demoria raised her chin when she said this.

'Boring? Did she just call me boring?'

"Look, it's a talking lion, a huge dreamlike castle, and singing flowers? What harm could these things possibly do to us? Hahaha." She proudly laughed with her two hands folded against her hip.

Suta's brows narrowed; hearing her childlike heckles only fueled his worry. 'Almost every time someone says that a problem appears,'

"And don't you worry about any threats I've gotten quite good at controlling my mana recently, so I'll protect us both, ok? You don't have to worry, Suta."

Staring at the proud stance of Demoria in silence for a little while. He did wish he could hold the same optimism as his friend. But history had taught Suta that these strange occurrences were never so simple. After all, he had spent a time of relative peace on Granny's farm, recollecting that fishbowl head's warnings.

And the way his days had gone so far, he was almost expecting trouble to arrive on his doorstep eventually.

'I can't let my guard down regardless of what Demoria thinks. One of us needs to be prepared.'

Just when he thought his mood couldn't darken anymore, he heard the lion's voice again.

"Let me formally welcome you both to the Castle of Never-ending Dreams and of course, to the capital of our wonderful land, Candy, a glorious haven built for the sake of our most gracious Queen."

As he tended to do, he finished with a gentle hum before proudly waltzing across the drawbridge alone. Demoria giggled softly before she too trotted off after him, leaving Suta standing alone on the illustrious blue grass, nursing an approaching headache. He watched the backs of the two, Demoria's, in particular, filled with an extra bit of glee and playfulness in her step.

And for a short moment, Suta began to ponder on whether he was overthinking things. Was all of this one strange and rather peaceful dream? Perhaps the mana storm disaster had left a scar on his way of reasoning, where even the small belief in peace felt alien to him.

'Maybe I am the problem?' he considered for a moment to himself and took this time to truly observe what was in truth. Suta felt a small sense of release from his earlier qualms stripping away his misgivings. In the soft lulls appearing against the blanket of emptiness in his thoughts, he tenderly beheld this strange deeply world for the first time.

Amidst his expressionless gaze, he just so happened to trail the blue-bladed grass pooled beneath him.

His eyes slightly trembled, catching the sight of one of those slender, talking sunflowers with ugly faces again.

The flower constantly swayed as though it were drunk, just before its half-opened eyelids fell towards him. Its quite horrific-looking, misshapen mouth began to open, followed by a high-pitched squeal of words irritating his ears.

"All hail Abbra!

"The King has returned!

"All hail Abbra, the misbegotten prince is here!

"All hail Abbra, the king of Candyyyy!"

Suta grimaced at the sight of the nightmarish thing, and suddenly, that small sense of peace had dutifully been erased altogether, leaving him more disgusted and annoyed than before.

He raised his boot and trampled on the flower, squishing it down into the mud until its scratchy voice had ceased.

'No! What was I thinking? This place is wrong, so wrong...and I need to get us out of here fast.'

Renewed with his earlier beliefs, Suta straightened his posture while placing a hand against his beating heart.

He exhaled a warm breath to calm himself down before cautiously making his way along the lowered drawbridge.

If the means required it, he would burn this entire place down...sooner.