In the quiet of night, I lay in my bed. My room was as bright as ever, with both the runes on its ceiling, and the unmoving sun outside lighting it up, the only difference from the day was the numbers on the clock beside me being [21:28].

It was a bit earlier than my usual sleeping time, but tomorrow was a big day…

I once heard from my brother, Mel, that outside of the palace, people try to keep their rooms dark when they sleep. I wonder if I will be able to try it tomorrow…

Full of excitement and worry, it was hard to stay in bed, but I knew I had to sleep well tonight. So I forced myself to calm down, using my essence to move the air around me for a bit, as I grew sleepier and sleepier, before.. I eventually…

*****

It was dark.

Under a pitch black sky filled with lights of all shapes and sizes, I looked on in wonder.

I'm here again.

Remembering my conversation with that demon yesterday, I tore my eyes away from the dark, and yet also bright sky.

Finding myself atop a small hill, the ground beneath me was uneven, filled with tiny, pure white spikes sticking out of it. I could not see anything but those spikes, not bugs, nor the tiniest bit of soil.

This place seems to stretch on forever… I don't see anything other than this weird looking ground here. Even if that demon really knows how to get to this place, it would take ages for me to find any trace of him here. But, well.. I guess I'll have to try it at the very least.

Making my decision, I walked down the hill, and started walking forward.

While on such a long walk, I'm sure looking at the sky would be enjoyable, but I couldn't lower my focus, as I would probably miss something the moment I let my guard down.

Walking for what felt like an eternity, stray sounds started to spin all around me, shrieks, crys, and idle chatter came from everywhere.

But my eyes never left the horizons, and my legs never stopped moving.

Eventually, my paranoia seemed to have paid off, as I started seeing something different on the horizon.

There were long, black spikes coming out of the ground, each one the size of a person. There were a lot of them, but unlike the small spikes I walked on, they had a lot of space between them.

The sounds I kept hearing seemed to have come from them, even though they were still quite far from me.

Walking closer to those spikes, I could finally see them clearly.

On each of these human sized spikes, were human shaped, blackened figures.

Some of those figures were calmly talking amongst themselves, not caring about the spikes inside of them.

Other figures had the spikes inside of them grow and shrink, each time opening a different hole inside of them, as the other holes slowly healed.

Those figures could not ignore the spikes inside of them, and the only sounds I heard from them were agony filled screams.

I thought merely looking at their grotesque, hole riddled figures would make me throw up, but reality was different. My mind was as clear as ever, and my thoughts, unchanging.

Is it because of some effect this place has on me? Either way, this is good, since it means I can continue exploring no matter what I see here.

The more I walked forward, the more of them there were, but no matter how many of them were around me, not a single one of them seemed to notice me.

Is this some kind of hell? why are some tortured while others aren't?

I can't quite see what they are too.. but I don't think humans can heal holes in their heads in seconds… Maybe they have a lot of accumulated essence?

Creatures with enough essence to heal like that- …wouldn't be captured in the first place. I don't think there are even enough people with this much essence to fill a room.

Maybe the spikes inside them are healing them?

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

But for your torture tool to heal you-

"##### ####?"

Hm? One of the calmer ones noticed me, speaking in a weird guttural language.

So they can notice me? I started thinking they were in a dream-like state. I should probably try talking with… whatever that thing is. It talked in a language that sounds like the beastmen's language. Mel once taught me a few words in Rastal which shares similarities with it I think?

"Um, bulra marka? Notosio xaar?"

Looking utterly confused, the figure in front of me did not say a word.

"Was it that bad? I thought it would at least get through somewhat…"

"Ahaha! You are pretty funny, kid!"

Hearing someone talking in Emperian, my kingdom's language, I turned my head to the side, seeing another figure on a spike, laughing and clapping its hands.

"You from Draxus right, kid? You have the native stupidity at least, Haha."

"Kid…? I'm 23…"

"Haha, is that what you are stuck on, kid? 23 is a kid, give up on it, kid."

Okay.. maybe I shouldn't have started with my age…

"...Are you from Draxus as well? Umm…"

"The name's Tellar, kid. I'm not from Draxus, but I would recognize any of you pushovers with a single look."

Does he dislike me? No.. he probably just doesn't like Draxus that much. He seems to genuinely think of me as a kid?

"Do you know someone called Par?"

"Hmm..? Sorry kid, the name doesn't ring a bell, but, you know.. I can't really meet any new people like this."

Pointing at the spike inside of him, he seemed to take it all quite easily.

"What even is this place? If you don't mind me asking."

"Well, from the answers I've gotten over the years, some probably see it as hell, while most newcomers, like the one you tried talking to, see it as a prison."

Newcomer? Looking back at the figure that talked to me before, he was looking at our conversation quietly.

"And.. how do you see it?"

As I asked that, a soft smile formed on his face.

"This is a paradise, of course! The lord has blessed us to stay here with him for eternity, giving us a beautiful purpose! There is no way this can be anything other than paradise!"

Someone did bring them here, then. I wonder if this 'lord' of his is a god? I do not remember much from the sun scriptures, but there should be some scheming 'gods' written about in there…

"Who is the lord…?"

With a look of utter reverence, he exclaimed-

"The lord of all that will be, and has never been! The one who watches all, even after death!"

Quite a loaded description but, 'the one who watches all'.. I might've heard of that god once, specifically that his religion isn't allowed in Draxus. And the way he talks.. but he doesn't seem to have horns anywhere. Might as well ask? It's not like he can do anything to me.

"Tellar, are you a demon?"

The moment I finished speaking, I felt as if time stood still. Minus the occuational screams from those still being tortured, everyone else stopped talking amongst themselves, moving their gazes to look at me. Tellar had a strange expression himself, but he still had the same soft smile on his face.

I quietly waited for an explanation from Tellar, but before he managed to respond, I heard someone else's voice.

"####! #### ### #####!!!"

It was the "newcomer" from before, speaking in the same guttural language.

"#### DEMON! #### ### ######## AA AAAAAA AAAAAAAA!!!!!"

Shouting at me something in his language, he didn't manage to finish his sentence before the spike within him started to grow longer. Before long, he was reduced to one of the many tortured figures all around me.

"You can guess the general situation now, right?"

Tellar said, unphased by the sudden situation.

"He doesn't really like us saying the D word all that much."

"'He'? Do you mean your lord-?"

Before I could finish speaking, I noticed that the figures around me, including Tellar, all had their spikes grow slightly longer.

"Oh, is he afraid?? Is the great lord near? He is… HE IS HERE!!! THE GREAT LORD IS HERE TO SHOW US OUR PURPOSE ONCE AGAIN!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-"

All around me, laughter and screams joined together, as light and colors, invaded all that I could see.

As my mind started to become sluggish, and my head felt as if it would soon crack, I tried looking around. The black figures were no longer black.

They now had all manners of colors and shapes, and their expressions, although completely different, had the same pattern, they were all stretched to the extreme.

Minds and bodies switched, it looked as if their essence, their very existence was laid bare for all to see.

And these strange existences all looked in the same direction, up.

As I felt my body slowly collapsing, unable to hold itself under the sluggishness of my mind, my head naturally moved to look at the sky.

And in my last moments in a dream wrought with things I could not understand, I finally caught a glimpse of what I wanted to see in the first place.

Within a dark sky filled with colors, were countless moving lights of all shapes.

Those lights swam endlessly into the deep darkness in the horizon, but wherever they went, they left a trail of light painting picture after picture, stretching into infinity.

A wandering ant, a revered peacock, a hopeless turtle, and a depraved snake.

As countless pictures entered and left my vision, and my eyes were slowly forced to close, only one thought occupied my head-

"How.. disgusting…"

Surrounded by mad creatures, forced to watch broken, unfinished stories somehow being paraded as beautiful, much like all that was around me, my expression was stretched to the extreme.

With a wide, ecstatic smile, I stirred awake.