The clattering sound of her bones against the firm stone floor was like music in her ears… Or they would if she actually had ears!

She had to suppress a giggle. No matter how much time had passed, she never grew tired of those jokes, even if she was the only one telling the jokes towards herself. But when you have such a great sense of humor, you gotta let the jokes fly even if the audience is only yourself.

With a happy pirouette followed by a gleeful little skip, she made her way to one of her ritual chambers and with a screeching groan due to infrequent use, opened the door.

A thin layer of dust being kicked up from the new air flow which kind of confused her. She didn’t have skin to make dust. Was it just from her arts and crafts projects over the years? She should probably get one of her spare golems to start cleaning the place at some point. But then again, the dust kinda added to the aesthetic and that was very important. Not like she actually had a nose to worry about.

She was getting distracted though, but how could she not be. This was her first time out of her humble little hovel in a few hundred (thousand?) years, give or take.

Honestly she never really bothered to keep track of something as meaningless as time. Other sentient beings loved to do this but she never really bothered. Time was different depending on what material plane you were in and it doesn’t really matter when you live forever anyways.

She moved her eyes (or rather the eye sockets of the skull she wore) over the chamber. She had actually made this ritual chamber shortly after the creation of her little pocket dimension.

The one thing she had learned from the first Material plane she lived in was that mistakes can happen. Now that she was about to go out into this new material plane she had attached her pocket dimension too, It was time to use the chamber.

She placed a small dark orb in the center of the chamber with massive carvings all around and poured a ton of mana into it causing all the runes surrounding the orb to light up brilliantly before slowly easing until it was but a soft glow.

Success! She hadn’t actually used this spell before but knew it worked in principle. Despite her finding the concept of time rather meaningless, she was quite proficient in time magic. The Irony wasn’t really lost on her.

A brief nod of her head for a job well done, she turned and skipped out of the room, flicking her wrist causing the doors to slam shut behind her as she went. Hopefully she wouldn’t need it since it was a one use kind of deal and making a new one was a pain in her boney behind due to how tedious the whole process was.

It wasn’t even fun to make like her arts and crafts projects. Just boring which was what made it so tedious. Plus since the orb required an extremely sharp focus to detail she couldn’t even read one of her beloved books in the process.

But why was she doing all of this? Why was she about to head out of her pocket dimension after staying so isolated all of these years?

Well it all started 30 some years ago (this current plane's understanding of a year anyways) when she was rereading one of her favorite adventure novels. It was a classic, from the original material plane she had stayed in. As she reminisced on the beauty of the book and the story it told she had wished she could actually watch and experience such a classic adventure.

Then a bolt of inspiration struck her! Why wish?? She was never someone to just casually let things she wanted to get away from her. And if she wanted to do something she always charged ahead, consequences for others be damned!

So she wasn’t going to settle for wishing, or fantasizing. She was going to go out there and start the events that will allow her to watch a real life story of heroes, monsters, villains and true love!

If she had lips she would be smiling uncontrollably. But since she currently had a human skull as part of her vessel you could say she was always smiling uncontrollably! Hahaha!

The silence towards the joke she thought of annoyed her and she made a mental note during her outing to find some people who would be able to appreciate her sense of humor too. And if that didn’t work she would just start an arts and crafts project to make some creatures who were genetically altered to laugh at her jokes when she got back home.

Of course after her amazing bout of inspiration she had to work out some kinks. A good old fashion brainstorming session occurred but she didn’t write anything down as that would get in the way of her thinking/fantasizing.

One such issue was how was she going to be able to watch things? Sure she could follow one individual around but she would have probably end up missing a ton of other fun stuff if she just stuck to one perspective.

Her solution to that was she would enchant a bunch of scrying orbs to stealthily follow people around and she could just watch it all from a far, only really acting if she needed to adjust the story in a direction she wanted it to go.

But she quickly realized another potential problem that arose. She loved going back and rereading her books. Especially if it was a book she really loved. What would happen when the story outside was finished and she wanted to rewatch it again?

This got her thinking and after a few failed experiments and ideas she had finally gotten something in place!

She opened the door to another ritual chamber, this one being very recently built and thus no dust was kicked up (mental note, add dust here for aesthetic). A solid obelisk with runes covering every cranny of the thing stood.

She was very proud of this. So instead of all her scrying orbs sending what they saw to her. They would instead send everything to this obelisk where it would capture and hold everything that had been shown. Then when she got back after the story was finished. She could just use this obelisk to watch the whole story unfold!

After a final check up to make sure everything was in order with her scrying capturing obelisk (She would need to workshop that name) she turned around and skipped out of that room as well and headed towards the stairs

Her little pocket dimension was sort of like an upside down tower, or maybe an upside down multi layered cake? The first floor was basically just her entrance and was also the smallest, the second floor had a bunch of ritual rooms and various labs and was significantly larger than the first but smaller than the other floors, her third floor was her dungeon (Technically it was her storage room but dungeon was cooler) and once again larger then the second. The fourth floor was used mostly for her arts and crafts and testing what her new creations could do and was the second largest of her floors. The final floor was by far the largest and she used that to let her more peaceful creatures, or at least the ones who weren’t hostile to her, roam free and enjoy her artificial landscape.

She had initially made the fifth floor as a reading floor where she could read in whatever setting she felt like. By a waterfall, a sandy beach, peaceful forest, frozen tundra, scorching desert? All there and all places she would read.

She later decided to use that floor for the other creatures cause it helped add to the scenery and she felt it was big enough all things considered. It was actually massive since she kinda went and took parts of various landscapes from the material plane she had initially stayed in to make it.

Anyways, she happily marched down the stairs to the ground floor which was really just a large circular room with one side that had stairs to the second floor and the other side had a simple door.

As she made her way towards the door, a couple of her Tymbots were flapping around, and a simple hand bag with a cute flower print that she absolutely adored sat on the floor.

Her Tymbots were actually a very early arts and crafts project of hers. Even before she had created her pocket dimension. She had gotten the idea when she wanted to create her own cherubs after seeing some cute art in a cover of an old book she read. But she wanted to improve on the design, make them a little cooler and cuter you know? The whole thing was a resounding success.

After that she started to actually use her little Tymbots to fetch her more books from across the world and occasionally bring some material she needed here or there and she couldn’t get/make herself on the fifth floor.

She had to modify them a bit to give them some invisibility and some defensive capabilities since people kept rudely killing them for whatever reason.

After she arrived on this material plane she had basically been using her Tymbots for roughly the same thing. She kept sending them out to grab various books or material she needed that she couldn’t get or grow from here.

Though due to their somewhat playful nature they will occasionally bring her back something she hadn’t requested or wanted. Anywhere between a mundane rock to some living humans on occasion. But she was always resourceful and still made use of it all even if it wasn’t ideal.

She headed over to the Tymbots and gave a scratch underneath one of her Tymbots chins before turning her attention to her bag on the floor.

She opened up her bag to have one final check of everything she had in there was everything she would need. Then she realized how silly her doing such a thing was as when she looked inside it was just filled with her time prisons.

Another little invention of hers. They were small blue glowing cubes that held a lot of stuff in their small little space. But she had a lot of cubes in this bag. A LOT of cubes. And the cubes had some books, both ones she wanted to reread and ones she had plans to read, some magic artifacts and some stuff integral for her “watch a real story” like extra observation orbs and the such.

The time prisons were capable of holding a crap ton of stuff in their little cubes and not only that, they froze time to everything inside also. She could put a burning match inside a time prison, leave it alone for a year then take it out again the match would still be burning.

And the thing was she didn’t want to go through every single cube to make sure she got everything.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It would be very time consuming. Or rather it would be very boring and she was just using the excuse of time consuming cause it sounded better… Sorta.

Besides, what was the point of double checking anyways when she was more than smart enough to remember everything the first time anyways.

Sooooo, yep! She has everything, and if she didn’t. Then it probably wasn’t important enough if she had forgotten it so why worry.

With a twinkle in her eye (Which was hilarious since she didn’t actually have eyes) she passed her bag to a Tymbot and shoved the doors open revealing a purple swirling portal. The doors weren’t actually necessary, she had just put them there for again, aesthetic.

With high spirits, she marched through the doors and into the portal that led to the Material plane. This would be her very first time stepping out into this Material plane since she had gotten here. Wonder where the portal would spit her out to anyways? In retrospect she probably should have checked before walking through.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Naro stood unmoving from his spot as the guardian of the entrance to the evil entity that had enslaved him all that time ago. How long ago it was he did not know and was almost scared of the answer. What was certain, anyone he had ever known was long since dead. The creaking of his armor that was his body stood untiring from his position.

The place he stood was a rocky island with no real vegetation and you could probably walk across the whole thing in an hour or two before you’d hit the ocean. If there was one thing he was thankful of was the location of the monster's lair was very secluded and thus hardly anyone ever came across the area.

The helmet that was his head creaked as he looked over at abandoned bird nests that were all over. It was that time of year where the birds that normally nest on this island were all gone and no matter where you looked or stood it was ocean all around. It was hard to not let his mind start to wander back to his stupidity and the mistakes that lead to his cursed existence.

The memory still haunted him, He had been lying in his bed ill and dying. Having lived a life of crime working as a bodyguard for a crime family, he had climbed his way up to a respectable position. But upon his death bed he worried that upon his death his soul would be sent to hell for punishment and not up to the heavens. So when he saw a creature he mistook for a demon he pleaded and begged for mercy.

The demon heard his plea and took him to its master, its mistress, the vile entity that lived behind the invisible gate he now guarded.

When his eyes gazed upon evil incarnate. He once again pleaded for mercy, and the creature seemed all too happy to indulge his plea in its sick twisted mind.

The memory was hazy after that but he did remember the feeling. The feeling of his soul getting ripped out of his dying body and being trapped and fused to the body of armor that he now stood in.

He could not sleep, he could not eat, he couldn’t feel anything. He had long since forgotten what these feelings were to the point he wasn’t even sure if he missed them or not.

After the violation she reaped upon his soul, the damnable thing threw him back out to the real world and gave him the order to “have fun”. It was very clear she was mocking him since he was only on a small island surrounded by ocean.

He had nowhere to go and thus he remained standing here. He was too scared to leave the island as he had no idea where to go and the last thing he wanted was to be stuck and lost at the bottom of the ocean forever.

Now that he was here, standing upon the island did he appreciate the irony in a very morbid way. He had started as a bodyguard and a bouncer for a crime family. Now he basically stayed here as a bodyguard or bouncer on the deserted island.

But he played the role of bodyguard and bouncer out of mercy for the few times an individual found themselves unlucky to wash upon this island. Over the course of his time staying upon this island, which if he were to guess would be over a hundred years, there had been a few who would wash ashore whether because of a shipwreck or they were lost at sea, or some other cruel fate that eventually brought them to these cursed shores.

Upon witnessing him, if they had the strength they often screamed or tried to fight back or even run but he always caught them and killed them as quickly and as humanly as possible. Those that didn’t have the strength usually looked at him with horror and even cried with a prayer on their lips.

He knew death would be far preferable than anything she would deliver to them. Even if their destination was hell. But he always prayed that they would head to the heavens and under the protection of the gods.

One of the most thankful things was that she had never left her domain. But she never seemed like she needed too. Whenever the portal opened up, it was to send her minions out to likely wreck havoc against the world. It was almost always her little demons, the same ones that had delivered him to his fate.

He remembered that one time a large number of those fiends had brought a group of humans into her realm with him unable to do anything. Then after a while the creatures left with the group of humans but they seemed deformed and changed. He had no idea what she did to them but he said a prayer for them regardless and hoped they were not being sent out to cause whatever twisted machinations she had planned.

He shuddered to think what evil she and her minions had committed and it was in those brief moments he hoped that any potential descendents he had were long dead.

The hazy memory he had of her haunted halls filled with sights and things of unspeakable horrors still made his very essence shudder and wish he could forget such sights that haunted his mind.

Suddenly he felt a surge of energy pulse behind him and he quickly stepped to the side, most likely the damned entity was throwing out one of her vile creations to wreak havoc against all those in this realm or sending out one of her fiends to fetch her something for a new creation or idea she had.

As the purple portal appeared out of nowhere, he felt his soul twist and crawl in his armor. It was due to the sense of wrongness, something that exists but shouldn't. He felt the strange, otherworldly pressure seemingly slip past the armor to dig and burrow into his soul making him shudder.

That's when he saw her, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say it. A skeleton wreathed in flame as black as ink. Twisting across its bones like snakes, snapping and hissing at the very air itself. It’s empty eye sockets, void of all light, like staring into an abyss. It almost seemed like the space around the monster seemed to bend away from it. As if reality was scared of the creature's existence.

Next to it were two of the fiends that brought it whatever they desired. A creature with twisted wrinkling skin that still seemed to stretch too much across its thin frame. With a face that seemed to be stuck in a silent scream of agony. Despite the thin body, it had a belly sticking out of its frame with leathery bat-like wings flapping frantically to keep its body afloat.

One of the two friends held a bag with a pattern that seemed to constantly shift around on itself. Twisted vines and flowers with teeth that grew out of corpses. Which seemed to perfectly encapsulate the creature that stood before him.

Naro took a step back, the shock and terror of seeing the creature stepping out of her dimension overwhelming him before he quickly dropped to the ground pressing his head to ground. Hoping against all hope that the monster before him would forgive the discretion of his hesitation. For he had no hesitation in believing she would deliver an even worse torture for his existence should he offend her in anyways.

It had been who knows how long since he last saw the monster after the creature threw him outside after stitching his soul to the armor. He had thought he remembered perfectly how terrifying the monster was but it was clear time had lessened his fear. This was his reminder and it might just cost him his life.

He kept his head down for several minutes, he knew it was still there, standing there doing something. Despite the terror that gripped his very being he dared to look upon the monster's visage.

They were standing there slowly turning around inspecting the environment like a predator does with its prey. Likely gloating in the fact that soon, even this simple island will burn in its never ending hate and malice.

But soon the monster… His torturer turned its attention towards him. Looking down at him for a solid minute that felt like an eternity before it spoke. A voice came out of what could best be described as feminine elegance were it not for how each word seemed to feel like sickly oil slithering over his mind.

“What are you doing?”

His mind froze. What kind of question was that? Was it a test? No, a creature like this would have no reason to test him. He would either do his task or suffer oblivion. So then why would it ask the question? Was there something wrong with his bow?? Was he supposed to do something different should she exit her domain??

He tried to double his effort in thinking frantically over what his master could have meant by such a question. Did it tell him something before the monster threw him out onto the island? Did he miss an implied instruction? Too caught up in his own self pity and loathing??

Lying would be pointless, the monster would easily see through any lie or any attempt at subterfuge. They could probably read his thoughts right now and were undoubtedly taking some kind of sadistic glee in his mental anguish. It would be best that he just told the truth and both hope and pray that the answer was satisfactory enough.

“I’ve been faithfully guarding your home as you commanded all those years ago My ladyship” He was thankful that he no longer had a throat or tongue as his voice would undoubtedly be shaking right now had it were.

The monster, his master, continued to stare at him for a good long while before turning away. “Carry on then” and then stepped away from the portal as it slowly closed behind it and vanished from view.

Relief instantly washed over him. It would seem that she had decided to spare him this time.

“I will be gone for a few years. Continue doing as you’ve been doing I guess” She walked past him with a tone of indifference, her little fiends flying just behind her.

He felt his soul shiver at the casual delivery of the statement. “O-of course my ladyship! I am happy to serve!”

He knew he shouldn’t continue this conversation but he felt like he needed to know. “If I may ask. Why is the ladyship going to be gone for the next decade or two?”

She stopped and turned back towards him. He swore the skull seemed to grin larger as he felt the unyielding pressure of her attention on him and the following words out of her mouth made him despair “Entertainment”

With that she simply waved her hand in a dismissive gesture signifying the conversation was done before she took a few more steps away from Naru and with a small pop. She and her fiends blinked out of existence in what he could only assume was some kind of teleportation spell.

Only then did Naru feel all the tension he had been holding leave him and he promptly fell flat to the ground unable to suppress his shaking, his armor clanging against each other as he did.

He felt like if she had stayed there for but a moment longer he would have fully cracked. Had she seen through his partial truth and just decided to let him live. After all, he had been protecting the gate to her domain. He was just protecting others from her than her from others though he doubted she would actually need that. It was the least he could do, even if he was damned he would do his best to make sure others did not suffer the same fate.

But that really wasn’t the worst of that interaction. She was heading out into the world to find more souls to torment all for entertainment. The sadistic monster likely was growing unsatisfied from the occasional tribute her fiends brought to her and now was looking to cause wide scale suffering.

Would the few years even be enough to satisfy her bloodlust? He wasn’t so sure. Likely she would get a taste of playing with people's lives on a wide scale and then crave more.

What kind of horrific plan she had masterminded was terrifying to think about. He knew it probably didn’t involve world domination or destruction. A being as powerful as her wouldn’t need a decade or two to take over or destroy every single country.

He didn’t know and he was scared to learn. Instead, as he found his strength to move again he got up and prayed to whatever god or gods that could hear him. He prayed that any creature, sentient or otherwise would be spared her wrath and destruction.

Who knew what horrible twisted thoughts were going through her head right now as we spoke.