"Ahem." I cleared my throat. "You can call me Mr. Past."
The room went silent for a tad bit, everyone looked at me incredulously for a few seconds, even the lady herself, before the veins on Baldor's temples bulged.
"How dare you mock our lady?!"
Even the young man in shining armor, Ivan frowned.
"You would do well to know your place."
But Ms. Present smiled and walked closer to me.
"Pretty bold, little brother. But don't you think that name's a little ridiculous?" She looked up at me.
Now that she was standing before me, I realized I wasn't that much taller than her. By my estimates, I was about 6'0, and she was probably around 5'7½.
Even though, she was still intimidating, cause I could certainly tell she was stronger than me. She was at the very least an Eta+ranked aetherial. But still, I looked her in the eye.
"Says the one who calls herself Ms present." I retorted.
'What? You can call yourself Ms present, but I can't call myself Mr past?'
Her smile deepened.
"You're quite bold. But no matter, I'm not calling you that stupid name. You're still little brother." She winked.
My lips twitched. The bitch was clearly enjoying this. I had half the mind to tell her to shove the name up her ass. But I still needed their help getting off this island.
"Whatever, if you're going to stay here, just don't disturb me." I said walking back to my tent.
When I reached behind the pillar, my tensed body finally relaxed. I wasn't exactly as calm as I was outwardly projecting.
I was ready to swap with my reflection the moment anyone of them made a suspicious move.
Entering my tent, I wanted to dispel my reflection, but then decided against it.
There were a group of armored strangers not far away from me. So I'd rather have eyes while I sleep. My real body could rest, while I watched out for any danger through my reflection.
As I lay down on the roughly made bedding, I soon dozed off. But courtesy to my reflection, my thoughts found their way back to the group of four–especially the so called Ms present.
They weren't just some regular group or party. Who did they think they were fooling? Or do they really think I didn't notice the dynamic between them?
The dark haired woman was clearly the leader, maybe a young lady of some noble house. They weren't exactly subtle with it. Especially with the way they were calling her 'my lady.'
But there was also something that didn't add up. For a party that's most likely from a noble family, they didn't seem that strong.
The bald guy was seemingly the strongest one among them. Even though, I wouldn't put him past the Theta rank.
Even if they were from some lesser noble house, the guards of a supposed 'my lady' would at the very least be at the Gamma rank.
Though, I wasn't particularly concerned about that them being 'weak'. Infact I was quite glad. If anything, I should be able to escape from those four, unless of course one of them has some bizarre ability.
With nothing much to think of, I sat in silence while my main body slept.
Meanwhile, with the group of four, after Damon went back to his tent.
Captain Baldor turned to face the dark haired woman.
"My lady, I propose we execute that insolent brat for daring to mock you."
Ms present however, shook her head "Forget it. You know me better than that. I won't have someone's head just for some little words. Besides, he's quite amusing." She smiled.
"Though," her smile vanished, "The moment he does anything suspicious, eliminate him."
She didn't particularly care if Damon had any nefarious plans, after all, he was just an Eta- ranked aetherial. But still, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.
"Baldor, Mira, you two will go scout outside first thing tomorrow morning. For now though, set camp."
The three nodded, and began bringing out supplies from their storage.
******
The hours bled by, and soon it was morning –at least according to my watch. My main body woke up, and dispelled the reflection.
It feels weird. I slept, and at the same time didn't. My mind and body feel well rested though.
After I freshened up, I ate two loaves of freshly baked bread, more than I normally eat. Usually I wouldn't eat this much, but I was excited.
Today is hopefully, my last day on this island. If my tickets out of here are planning to leave today that is.
Just then, "My lady, you have to see this!" A voice I recognized as that of the bald captain exclaimed.
'Huh? see what?' I thought.
I didn't want to go out, but curiosity got the better of me.
Barring the tent itself, I got all my stuff into my storage ring, before going outside.
Upon stepping out from the tent, I noticed the group of four talking.
All four instantly turned their heads towards me.
"Oh you're awake." The dark haired woman spoke with her ever present smile. "A pity, we were hoping to leave without disturbing you."
'What?' My eyes widened. These bastards were planning to leave me here!
Suddenly, Baldor's image became glorified in my eyes. If not for him shouting, I would come out later, only to see them gone.
"Don't worry though," she continued. "Since you're here, we might as well ask you to tag along. You don't mind that, do you little brother?"
"You- " I started but stopped myself.
'Calm down Damon, calm down. You can give her a piece of your mind once you're out of this hell. But for now, persevere.'
I gave my best impression of a sincere smile.
"Of course I don't mind."
"Good then, let set out." She turned to her group.
"My lady, I propose we take caution. It's as the captain said. The outside is completely different from how it was when we came in here." The petite woman who I hadn't seen speak cautioned.
My ears perked. 'Different? how different?' I thought intrigued. God knows, this world is abnormal.
The dark haired woman however, shook her head. "Even still, we can't delay any longer, we have to get back in a week."
With that, we exited the ancient hall. I felt the same sense of blackening out, before a chilling wind awoke me from my stupor.
Upon opening my eyes, I completely froze.
"What in the seven hells..."
I could barely see up to seven meters, and everywhere was shrouded in fog. Gone was the black landmass, instead everything was eerily grey.
Be it the old looking architectures that were ancient even for this world, or the land, they were all grey. The kind of grey that feels unsettling.
Also, I was getting some sort of deja Vu about this environment. 'Almost like I've heard about it before.' I thought as we walked further.
"So this was what you two said was different." Ms present muttered. "Weird, it kind of feels like I've heard about this place before."
"You too?" I turned to her.
She turned to me, her brows furrowed. "Looks like I'm not the only one. But, grey lands, and ashy fog, where have I heard of it?" she contemplated.
Her words on the other hand, jolted my memory. My tutor's voice replayed in my mind.
"It's landmass is that of a sprawling ancient city with almost indistinguishable structures. The ground is pale grey, sprinkled with sparse vegitation. And It has some kind of eerie ashy fog that obscures vision."
My body froze as my heart hammered against my ribcage.
"The Ashen Deadlands." I muttered in grim realization.
Just a phrase, it was just a phrase. But her body tensed, and so did the other three as realization dawned on them.
We knew the implication of being in a Deadland. It was basically a death sentence.
The Deadlands were eerie places with unexplained phenomena. You could basically think of them as the Bermuda triangles of Nahaar. Only several times more dangerous.
No one knew of how they had come to exist, they were just there. Some said the Deadlands were living masses of land, while some said they were places where some ancient vile rituals were conducted in ancient times.
But one thing was known about Deadlands. Almost everyone who journeyed into the Deadlands, was never seen again.
Now, I won't even begin to wonder how the hell we got here. It'll probably be some sort of mystical bullshit.
All I know, is that 'We're fuckin' cooked.'
"This doesn't make any sense. We were on the island of Black sands, how did we suddenly appear in a deadland?" Mira, the petite woman frowned.
"It probably has to do with that hall. Maybe some sort of spatial sorcery linking it to this place." Ms present regained her composure.
She had a good reign on her emotions, I'll give her that. But my attention was on something else.
"Is it just me, or is the fog getting thicker?" I inquired.
"SCRRRK...!" They hadn't even had the chance to reply before we heard an eerie dragging sound coming from the fog.
Everyone of us tensed. My eyes darted to where the sound came from.
A humanoid figure slowly emerged from the dense fog, walking with dragging feet. The fog cleared around the figure, revealing an otherwise beautiful girl, barring her metallic grey skin and the fact that she was missing a few chunks of meat from her body.
'What type of feeling is this?'
My mind chose that exact moment, and once again replayed the words from my tutor.
"The Ashen Deadland in particular, is known for three things. First is it's ancient architecture . Due to these near identical structures, one could go round and round in the same place, without even realizing it.
Second is the eerie fog that works in tandem with the maze. It obscures vision, and messes with one's sense of direction.
And last but not least, the undead puppets roaming the deadland.
If you do find yourself there, make sure you don't die with an intact corpse. If you're lucky, the undead puppets might help you with that by making sure you don't die in one piece."
At that time I had asked, "Why wouldn't anyone want to die a painless death, and in one piece?"
He replied with, " it's because Your highness, I'm afraid there are many things worse than death in this world. If you die in one piece in the Ashen Deadlands, your body will join the ranks of the soulless abominations roaming the deadland for all eternity."
'Shit, I need to get out of here.' I wasn't exactly fond of such a fate. I recoiled just thinking about it.
Since sighting the figure of the girl, none out of us five had moved a muscle. Not until I stealthily took a step back, and from the corner of my eyes, saw the eerie girl's eyes following me.
'The hell you're staring at me for zombie?' I inwardly grumbled.
As if hearing my thoughts, the girl opened her mouth, but instead of words, her beautiful visage twisted into some sort of eldritch horror in a cacophony of
Sounds.
"SKREEEEE–CHHHHHHHHHhhhhh!" It let out a piercing shriek.
The creature threw a somersault, then broke into a crazy sprint and charged straight at us.
"Boom!"
A thunderous wave of air cleared some of the fog in the surrounding area as Captain Baldor met the creature mid charge.
'I think it's about time for me to leave this place.' Just from the first clash, I could tell this fight was out of my league.
"My lady, we have to get you back in that hall." Mira said, her tone poised with unease.
Ms present frowned.
"Are you implying that I should leave you all here?"
"She's right, my lady. The captain is able to keep up with that vile creature. And with my help, we should be able to deal with it while you and Mira get to safety." The knight in shining armor said as he drew his sword.
'Able to keep up? Dude is barely fighting on equal grounds. One wrong move and he'd be cooked.' The captain was already being pushed back.
'Sigh, I wonder why I'm even still standing here.' I thought.
Ms present meanwhile wasn't having any of it.
"Have you two forgotten what I'm capable of?"
"No my lady, it's just that..." Ivan hesitated. "Through my ability, I could sense that creature isn't the only one around."
'The hell?' my eyes widened. 'That ugly creature isn't the only one?!' I inwardly exclaimed. One alone was spanking the ass of the supposed strongest in the group, let alone if there were more.
But Ms present wasn't listening, "Even though, I can't just leave...."
"SCRRRK...!" The same dragging sound from earlier echoed, and this time, from our right.
That sound was all that was needed to push my survival buttons.
Sending a burst of Aether into my lower limbs through the use of Aether reinforcement, I utilized mirage steps to boost my speed. My senses heightened to a new level of clarity.
"Fwhoosh!" I sharply turned and took off back to where the stone door was. But just as I took three steps,
"Whoosh!" Something, or rather, two figures streaked past me and into the fog.
'Eh? What's wrong with this women?' Weren't they supposed to drag out the drama about not wanting to leave the rest behind and whatnot?
Three seconds later, I saw the two figures. Surprisingly, they were stationary.
'Weird. Why aren't they escaping into the hall?' I thought.
A chilling realization soon hit me as I got near them.
'W-w-where the hell is the stone door?'
"It's gone!" Ms present let out a humorless chuckle.
My eyes widened as the gravity of the situation settled on me.
"I'll be damned!"
***********
A/N: Well, here we go. If you like my story, support it with power stones, and leave a review. I'm open to suggestions.