Aiden slowly opened his eyes, but a fierce light from above wanted him to shut them again. He did, and instead he forced his aching muscles to sit up. There was this odd ringing in his ears.
"Agh… Wha, what the hell?" He groaned, and put a hand on his head. Again, he attempted to open his eyes. This time, they coped.
He was lying on a small patch of yellow flowers and orange pumpkins. The intense glare shining from above reflected off the petals and rough pumpkin edges, blinding him. Everything else around him was dark, darker, yet darker. He could see nothing else but the patch of plants below his feet. The ringing was begining to subside, though.
"Oh, man… Where am I?" He moaned.
"Greetings!"
Aiden jumped up suddenly—too suddenly—and recieved a sudden headrush, causing him to fall back down to the ground. Whilst the flowers cushioned the fall, it still hurt.
"Owie!" He cried out.
"Greetings!" The voice repeated.
He stood up, much more slowly this time, and looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the voice. It was a high-pitched femine voice, sounding somewhat pleasant.
"Boy, you're not a fast learner, aren'cha?"
Behind him. He turned around. And he spotted a white pot-sized pumpkin on a small green stalk. The pumpkin had a face like a jack-o-lantern, but looked rather friendly.
Suddenly, Aiden wondered if he hit his head harder than he thought.
The pumpkin smiled widely. "Greetings! I'm Pumpkie! Pumpkie the Pumpkin!" It, she, waved one of its leaves as if it were an arm. Pumpkie noticed Aiden's stunned expression. "Hhmm… You're new to the Dimension, aren't you? Golly, you must be so confused! Someone must teach you how things work around here! I guess little me will have to do! Ready? Here we go!"
"Wait, hang on-" Aiden began, but was cut off as the lights flickered around him, and a single red heart appeared in front of his chest. "What the?"
Not waiting for him to digest everything happening around him, the pumpkin said, "This is your KEY, the very culmination of your being! Sure, it doesn't LOOK like a key, but that is just how things work around here! Go on! Move around! Your Key will follow you!"
Aiden, feeling nervous, obeyed the pumpkin, shuffling around. He watched in awe as the heart, the Key, followed him.
"Your KEY starts off weak, but as long as the Key is visible, it can get stronger and gain a lot of LV!"
"What does that stand for?" Aiden asked, curious. "Levels?"
"Why, adventurer, it stands for LOVE, of course! You want some love, don't you?"
"Um, it depends…"
"Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"
Before Aiden could react, Pumpkie winked, and five small pellets floated behind her. Aiden stared at them, unsure on what to think.
"Down here, LOVE is shared through…" She thought about that for a bit. "Little white, friendliness seeds! You ready? Go get them!"
The 'seeds' flew towards him. Aiden stared at them, frozen as the first two seeds flew towards him, and made contact with his shoulder, filling him with a sense of-
Being shot by an arrow.
"Agh!" He screamed, and before he could react, three more hit him square in the chest. He was knocked to the ground, hitting his head for the third time that moment.
He glanced at Pumpkie. She no longer looked friendly. Her gentle smile became a maniac grin. When it spoke, the pitch of her voice dropped by many, many octaves, and sounded more raspy than cake-sweet.
"You IDIOT!" She scowled, as Aiden gasped in fear of this plant. "In this world, it's KILL or BE KILLED!"
"W-who are you calling an idiot?" He dared to speak, but that cost him.
WIthout warning, he was surrounded by an intimidating ring of bullets, and Pumpkie screamed in a bone-chilling voice, "DIE."
She laughed, an evil laugh that made the whole situation a lot worse, which couldn't have gotten worse. The bullets were slowly coming towards him, and in a moment they'd be upon him, the stinging 'seeds' that would definitely would kill him.
He couldn't bear it. He started begging for mercy. "Wait! I surrender! Please! I-I'll do anything! Just don't hurt me!"
Pumpkie only seemed to savour his screams, instead cackling even harder. Aiden braced for the sure agony to come, grimacing.
Pop!
The laughing stopped. Aiden dared to open his eyes. The bullets, all of them, had vanished out of sight. Pumpkie looked confused.
"W-what?" She said. "What h-"
Suddenly, an egg-shaped object flew from out of nowhere, smacking into Pumpkie's head, uprooting her. She was fired into the darkness, her wails following her as the egg propelled her away.
A fair woman with black hair stepped out of the darkness, the direction from where the egg came from. Aiden stared at her in surprise as the sunlight from above reflected off her golden and black robe, or was it a gown? He couldn't tell. The woman approached him, and took one last look at where the pumpkin had vanished off to.
"What a miserable, terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent child like you," She reached out a hand towards Aiden, who was still lying on the ground. He, now not trusting anyone after nearly dying to a plant, slowly tried to inch away from the woman. She simply smiled. "Do not worry, child. I understand, this must be very hard for you. As such, I understand."
Aiden looked into the eyes of this woman. He considered grabbing the stick he found when he fell down, hitting her, and running. Then again, where could he run?
"I will not harm you. You're safe now. The pumpkin is gone."
"H-how can I trust you?" He asked.
The woman laughed, a soft and gentle laugh, unlike the psychopathic pumpkin's. "My child, I just threw an egg at a plant for you," She said, in a joking matter. "I am Isa, Founder of the Mansion Ruins. I pass through here every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You're the first antagonist to fall down here in a very long time. Come now, I will guide you through the catacombs. Do not be afraid. But first, let me heal you. Take my hand."
He looked at Isa, still very scared. She looked friendly, yes, but the plant did as well.
Hesitantly, he took her hand, expecting to feel a burn. Instead, he felt heat in a different way, a nice sensation of drinking a regeneration potion, and a second later he felt better than ever. Isa helped him to his feet.
"This way, child."
Aiden, the feeling of doubt vanishing, followed Isa into the Mansion.
