Suta POV

That night, Suta found himself stirring beneath the restless embrace of his turbulent thoughts. It was a somewhat usual endeavor for him since his transmigration, but nonetheless, each time felt as draining as the last.

Thankfully, this world had its own cycle of day and night.

The outdoor skies of purple had darkened into a reddish-brown tint.

Heralding the skies ominously were two large moons. Suta lay against the soft, quilted fabrics of a very wide and grandiose queen-sized bed. The walls were covered in polished stone, with enough space to perhaps fit two more equally large beds.

Strangely enough, he felt he much preferred the hardened short bed at Granny's farm compared to this prestigious and quite elaborate showy one.

'Maybe I'm just missing Toto, Snowy, and Granny,' he rationalized within himself, his empty gaze lingering on the distant ceiling whilst those faces materialized into cloudy images before dispersing away.

Suta's mind was a tranquil storm, somehow feeling both at peace and at war. He raised one of his arms, reaching forth towards empty air. He envisioned within the palm of his hands, he could grab the entire world and break it apart.

"Mom, where are you?" The question bore no intention of finding an answer. He merely spoke the secrets nestled in his heart.

Suta continued to drift beneath the silent air until he heard the soft creak of a door being opened. His body awoke from its docile stillness, spurring him quickly upright into a seated position.

"Who-who goes there?" He breathed slightly anxiously, then he frowned once he heard himself speak, 'Who the hell says that 'Who goes there?'

He massaged the bridge between his nose out of frustration but quickly reaffirmed his energy towards this place, he very much refused to allow himself to be fully at peace within this strange world, between the creepy furries and talking flowers, Suta already had seen more than enough to understand this place was trouble. The door opened and he first saw a graceful shadow being cast against the ground, then a delicate fall of combed blue hair caught his gaze. Her lithe body was clothed in a thin nightgown. Demoria quickly entered his room, closing the door gently behind her.

Suta felt his nerves calming. He gracefully patted his chest down before allowing his body to sink back into the soft pillows.

The pitter-patter of bare feet moved across the slow creaking floorboards, he felt the soft mattress slightly deform from one side as Demoria climbed on top. Suta didn't remove his gaze from the ceiling. He could feel her body shuffling across until she lay beside him, placing her head beside his feet whilst her delicately bony white legs rested across Suta's torso.

He didn't mind it; she tended to do this back on the farm when it was just the two of them alone.

For the first few minutes, nothing was said between them. Suta could faintly hear her delicate breaths softly moving in a refreshing cadence. Just when he felt the rare blanket of sleep falling, Demoria's soft voice freckled into the cooling silence.

"Suta, a-are you asleep?" she asked in a frail whisper.

A soft moan escaped through his lips as he slowly opened his half-closed eyelids again. "No, but I was getting there. What's on your mind, Demoria?" His voice felt a little hoarse; he knew he was physically exhausted more than anything.

"A lot of things. Some good things, and others... well, I'm... I think I'm scared, Suta. I'm scared we might not make it back home."

Suta didn't react too much to that revelation. Deep down, he somewhat guessed she would eventually express her truest self at some point. She was always like that.

"Me too. I'm scared too," he admitted honestly.

Suta was very aware that at any given moment, something terrible could befall either one of them. Only with the various things he had been through thus far, an instinct swiftly took over him, forcing his mind to think of a solution rather than wallowing in the problems at hand.

'Perhaps I was always expecting something like this to happen eventually,' he thought to himself. Those peaceful days spent on the farm felt almost like a lifetime ago. Suta was under no illusions that this was perhaps the start of a very complex story.

He sat upright, scratching the side of his itchy helm. His fingers dug in-between the braids of dreadlocks tangled against his head. An expressionless gaze moved towards Demoria, who beheld him from where she lay.

"We somehow ended up here, so there surely must be a way for us to make it back," He tried reassuring her, holding onto the last piece of hope he had since learning of this place's existence.

"Don't be scared. I believe... I believe with the both of us, we can find a way home!" He spoke this with conviction in his slightly hushed tone, hope was the only thing Suta had going for him at this moment. Hope of survival. He noticed the stiffened mask against Demoria's face soften slightly. Beneath the faint light falling through the open drapes against his window, Demoria's enchanting gaze brightened like two topaz stones.

"Y-you're right... we can... no. We will make it out of here... together... Th-thank you... Suta."

Seeing her confident smile brought a brief feeling of warmth running through his body. Suta exhaled a deep breath in return, placing his gaze towards the beautiful scenery of the outdoor world beyond his view.

The strange blue grass shone a majestic maroon tint beneath the plume red skies. The harrowing sight to Suta was, of course, the large twin moons.

'How the hell was I supposed to sleep with those things staring at me?' He wondered, the question made him slightly frown before turning away in a bid to forget about the scowling moons.

By the time he shifted his stare towards Demoria, the blue-haired girl was gently snoring with a jovial look of glee set against her face.

Suta shook his head while wearing a slight smile.

'At least one of us can sleep peacefully tonight.'

He made himself comfortable, gently resting his two palms beneath his head.

Sleep had eluded him for now, so instead, he decided to conjure those imaginary clouds again. There was a thrill of excitement as he watched the magenta crackle of thunder stir between the foggy clouds gathering against the ceiling, soon the all-too-familiar rows of strange symbols formed, consisting of the particles and arcane theories he had read during his time on Granny's farm.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

***

As the morning arrived, Suta was grateful to see the grimacing twin moons sinking away, replaced by a scorching sun that reignited the warm and cloudless expanse of violet.

Suta and Demoria had washed themselves and gotten dressed in well-fitted clothes. The former couldn't decide whether these strange clean garments were purposefully made for them or if they belonged to someone else.

Trying his hardest not to get his mind wrapped up in any of the lurking mysteries regarding this place, he chose to ignore the obvious problem about all of this.

But the style of clothes did remind him of an old style of gentry-wearing folk, they were Victorians. Suta was half dreaming about a casual morning when he heard that jovial Lion making its grand entry, still dressed absurdly in that polka dot one piece. His greetings were short towards the talking Lion, and soon enough the trio finally made their way along another one of the nearly identical spacious halls.

Observing the elegant atmosphere a little more, Suta's gaze trailed towards the ground, noticing a crimson rug with gold feting and noticeable embroidery stitched along the edges. He found himself observing more of the castle's inner surroundings this morning, particularly the tall oil paintings aligned against the walls that passed by.

He couldn't shake away the strange feeling every time he observed the obscure contents of the paintings.

They depicted either strange furry animals dressed in human attire or a golden-haired youth with long, angelic curls flowing down past his waist. The youth was either pictured in front of an outdoor backdrop, where a series of blended colors created a dreamlike space behind him, or in a very elegant chamber, seated behind a table with a quill and an open book before him.

The strangest thing about the paintings was the deliberate distortion of the fellow's actual face. His eyes, nose, and mouth were simply blends of cool tones not a single feature was painted across the round face. Seeing this made Suta frown.

'Why is he purposely hiding his face?' he wondered. There was more to it, but he quite frankly didn't feel the need to tug at one of the many loose strings of mysteries right now.

He quickly placed these matters elsewhere as the trio arrived at the end of the lengthy hall, where a descending stairwell, also covered in the same crimson rug, spiraled towards the lower floor. Suta could hear voices from the bottom of the stairwell before he laid eyes on the disturbance awaiting them below.

Once they scaled down, both he and Demoria stood noticeably shocked by who they found engaging in quite a spirited discussion.

Suta slightly tilted his helm to one side. He couldn't decide which one between the pair was more startling. First, there was a floating purple-furred cat, dressed in a large pointed dark wizard hat and wearing a dark cape that covered its entire body.

Its eyes were a startling spiral of different colors. As he took a careful look at the cosplaying feline, he realized it was sitting cross-legged against a very thick, sealed book with coarse leather covering.

As for the second strange animal, the short figure was adorned in silver-plated armor, wearing a closed visor shaped like a bird, with a red and grey feather curving away from the tip of its iron helm.

Judging by its white furry stump of legs, the only bits of its miniature body not covered in armor, Suta guessed there was a white rabbit hidden beneath that half-iron armor. But then a lingering question played on his mind.

'How did it manage to get its ears inside?'

He deeply wondered about this to the point he moved a little closer to get a better look at the short thing. In the process, he was completely oblivious to the strange looks everyone else was giving him.

'Hmm, maybe they're folded down its back? Or perhaps they're very short ears? Would it be rude if I asked...'

A strange glint appeared in his eyes as he unconsciously moved his hand towards the short rabbit, the tiny thing was completely oblivious to his advances.

Just as he was poised against its shadow, the tiny, armored animal noticeably shivered and slowly started to turn around to meet the assailant bearing down on him.

Before Suta had a chance to withdraw, a ball of black smoke conjugated right before his face, forcing him to take a step back and shield his mouth. He watched in horror after tasting a mouthful of smog, the swirl of thick smoke slowly shifting into a silhouette before completely forming into that same floating feline.

With a dazzling and slightly crazed smile, the cat greeted him abruptly.

"Pleasure to meet you, saintly prince, born from the lineage of dawn."

'Saintly prince?' Suta respoke inwardly, feeling a somewhat cold unsettling feeling behind those large feline eyes.

"Don't look so troubled, Fufufuh- you can call me Sanza. Some fellows call me the one who knows all, whilst the very few say I am the wisest enchantress of Candy and others... fufufu, let's just say others have no more voice to say anything against me anymore. Muahaha- pardon me, that was a little joke you see."

Suta stood there blinking with a blank expression. He was on the tether of expressing the feelings of horror festering in his heart, the feline suddenly vanished into a wisp of smoke.

"Oh my- who do we have here!"

He heard the voice alarmingly from his rear, so he twisted on his heels in haste, finding the violet-furred cat had appeared right in front of an equally surprised Demoria this time. Suta could barely keep up with the feline's strange movement, which drew a deep frown against his questioning gaze.

'Can she... use m-magic? ' He wondered with a slight notion of fright towards that possible truth.

While Demoria was trying her best to maintain an air of politeness and less of shock, the floating cat continued buzzing around her, inspecting her entire being from head to toe. Suta felt less worried, noticing the cat had an air of esteem and a playful look of admiration towards Demoria.

"You are quite the beautiful girl, aren't you? Yes-yes! This is good. You are strong, I can sense it, proud and filled with the graceful blessing of youth. How wonderful-how wonderful indeed." While the cat continued singing nothing but praises, a slightly discerned look appeared on Suta's face.

'Hey, where was all of this for me?'

He was completely forgotten about with little to no effort at all, and to make matters worse, he was forced to endure that weird lion joining in heaping Demoria with more praises. The girl of focus couldn't hide her embarrassment.

She lowered her head slightly, but her beet-red cheeks were hard to mask beneath her tussle of flowing blue hair.

Suta sighed to himself, creasing a wry smile as he thought

"Well, as long as she's happy, I guess... it's alright then."

"Ahem! Excuse me there, sire... I forgot to introdu-"

Suta heard a strange voice arriving from his rear. Turning around, he saw a tiny being wearing a closed visor standing right against his shadow. Suta jumped in fright, not expecting the little fellow to be so close. His sudden movement seemed to have startled the short-footed guy. Its noisy iron clattered as it bounced a few spaces away from Suta.

"F-f-f-f-forgive me, sire. I didn't mean to scare you," it stammered awkwardly in a slightly muffled voice, trying to find its footing on its long, stubby feet.

Suta became aware of the little fellow again, once more reminded of that conundrum clawing at his mind about the placement of its ears.

"And what's your name then?" he asked the tiny-sized knight with intrigue after calming down.

"Hm? Oh, my name? I am the first knight called Ector, sire. And it's quite the honor to be in the presence of a descendant from the lineage of dawn."