BREAKING THE FANTASY
Written by Gwendolyn Frost.
Earlier during the afternoon of that same day, a group of friends have reunited to help one of them with their shelter situation. That group was comprised of people that Luz have met in town before.
First of all were the two Daycare Center workers that evaluated Amity for their boss a few days ago. The blonde one is Jolene, who's better known by everyone as Leni. Usually, she displays a tomboyish appearance, but today she has chosen to wear something more feminine. A green dress with long sleeves and a short skirt, a laced black choker with butterfly patterns, brown boots and round-shaped glasses like the ones Willow wears.
Next to her was the other worker, Aisha, a dark skinned shorter girl than Leni who often contrasts with Leni's appearance by wearing more feminine outfits than her. This time around was not the exception even when she wore pants. She was known to be influenced by the fashion and music industries, which her outfit comprised of a red top with black pants highlighted her passion for both. Her hair was curly, large and white tied up in a bun above her head.
Then there was the Green House Foundation Shelter worker known as Wendy, who's hair is long and purple covered with a black beanie with the Ace Pride Flag on it that neatly covered her ears as well. Just like before, she wore an outfit that exudes a punk/rock lifestyle comprised of a purple shirt with a black tee underneath, washed up jeans with her knees exposed and white sneakers.
Last but not least was Flor, who's known by Luz as the only surviving victim of the Shapeless. The pink-haired human wore a white dress with shoes to match. But what stood above her outfit was the floral crown over her head comprised of different types of flowers such as roses, tulips, sunflowers, etc.
They were gathered around the park, the three younger girls were offering Flor some help due to the fact that the shelter was still closed down.
"Here." Wendy said as she held her hand with a bunch dollar bills which she was offering to her co-worker Flor.
"What?! Why are you handing me this much money?" Flor asked in confusion as the purple-haired gal sighed in frustration without removing her hand.
"Because I know you're thinking of going back into the forest again. It's not safe. I don't believe in the bear non-sense but there is something wrong out there. This is for you to pay for a hotel room, I added enough for you to buy food as well that will last for a week or so."
"Wendy, I cannot accept this money…" Flor said with a hint of blushing on her face. "It's your hard-earned money!"
"What? No, this is my allowance money." Wendy said with a bigger blush than Flor's, feeling ashamed of having to admit it.
"I can only imagine what I would do with an allowance like that." Aisha said with a sigh which made Wendy a lot more flustered.
"There is enough green there to buy me a brand new Hinobi Swap Console." Leni said which made Wendy snap.
"Ok, ok! I get it! My father is rich, you guys hang out at my place all the time! I choose to give away my allowance because I did not earned this! I have principles! So here! Take it!" Wendy exclaimed as she handed the money to Flor once more.
"I still don't feel comfortable with this." The tall pink-haired girl said as Wendy rubbed the back of her head as she replied with a soft sigh.
"I've offered you multiple times that you can stay at my place but you won't take it. This isn't charity so you shouldn't feel like I'm doing this with that intention. You are my friend and I'm worried about you going into the woods on your own. Please, take it…" Wendy said as she tried a third time before the taller woman finally reached to grab the money with a hint of blushing still present on her face.
"Thanks." Flor said with a smile drawing itself on her face.
"Please, please, please, please… do not go into the forest until things have calmed down, ok?" Wendy pleaded the taller woman with worry in her eyes as Flor sighed in defeat.
"Ok, ok."
"Hey!" Leni's voice brought the two to look back at her as the blonde one walked up to Flor holding a bag of groceries. "This might not be much, I'm not rich like allowance girl over here…"
"What?!" Wendy exclaimed puffing her cheeks at Jolene while she crossed her arms in disapproval. "Don't make it a thing of calling me that!"
"Well, you brought this upon yourself, y'know? I didn't got the memo we were supposed to bring money." Leni said with a teasing grin on her face as Aisha laughed out loud behind them.
"You got to admit, she got you there."
As Flor looked into the contents of the bag that Leni handed to her, she examined the food inside as if she had never seen such a thing in her entire life. "What's this?"
"You've never had sushi?" Leni asked as she tilted her head at the tall girl who she was closest to in height of all three of the teens.
"Oh? Never." Flor said with a smile. "Sure I was curious about it but it was expensive when I asked for it at the time."
"I see, well I hope you enjoy it." The blonde one said as she pushed her large round glasses up her nose with a grin as Aisha asked her in a whisper.
"Isn't your mom going to be furious you're taking food again?"
"Meh." Leni replied almost instantly as Aisha laughed out loud once more.
"I love the way you just accept your fate."
"Well, when lightning strikes where I'm standing, what can I do? I guess I'll die." Leni said while shrugging it off.
"Well, anyway, my turn!" Aisha said as she handed some key card with the logo of a hotel. "Here, I talked to my folks about your situation and they agreed to let you stay at their hotel for a full week. I know this makes allowance girl's noble gesture look less than noble and more like lazy…"
"Heeey!" Wendy exclaimed. "Stoooop you guys!"
"But I'm sure you'll find some use for that money in the end, money is still money." Aisha said with a grin as both she and Leni pat Wendy on the shoulders.
For a short moment, Flor stared into the grocery bag that Leni had gifted her where she had just put the money and the key card above the plastic boxes filled with sushi. The emotions she felt were burning her face a little, watering her eyes somewhat, making her heart pound faster against her chest. There was a bit of guilt making her fingers holding the bag to twitch ever so slightly until she forced herself to smile to those teens before her.
"Th-thanks. I really… cannot come up with the right words to how I feel about this. I have spent so much time all alone with a carefree lifestyle to realize I had good friends like you…"
"Don't mention it." Wendy said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around the shoulders of the blonde and white haired friends standing next to her.
"Yeah!" Aisha said with a grin. "I know we probably bothered you so much when we were little and now that we're older we want to make it up to you. Because…" There was a sadness in Aisha's voice when she said the following: "You made the forest a lot less scary when we hung out with you."
Both Wendy and Jolene shared a look as they alone understood the meaning behind those words before they smiled sweetly at their friend and gently rubbed their hands on her back tenderly.
"To be honest, I'm not sure if we're making you uncomfortable…" Leni broke the silence as she rubbed the back of her head. "But we're all grateful for you showing us the way back home when we first met. We could have easily gotten lost in the forest if were not for you."
"Least to say…" Wendy continued. "You were the only one that took us seriously when you heard what we saw in the woods. Today, our memories are a little foggy and we may or not be sure if we saw that huge whispering lady of the woods, but the way you comforted us when we told you our story is something we'll always remember."
"I still have nightmares from time to time, tho." Leni said with a grin as they all chuckled softly.
Flor giggled softly as she replied to them with a smile. "Oh girls, that lady isn't as scary as you think she is. Truthfully, she's actually a good listener."
There was a short minute of silence before Leni broke the silence with a nervous tone in her voice.
"Ok, kinda spooky – but if you say she's cool I'll believe you."
The other two bursted into laughter before Leni join them too. "Ok, how about we lighten the mood just a tiny bit by going for some ice cream? My treat!" Wendy said as Leni grinned at her.
"Is there more allowance left in those pockets of yours?"
"Oh, hush you. Or else I'll buy you nothing. By the way, why are you so dolled up today?" Wendy said as the four of them started to walk away from the park as they head towards a store nearby.
"Definitely not because of you…" Leni whispered as Wendy raised a eyebrow at her.
"What?"
With a huge blush on her face, Leni exclaimed before explaining. "Eh, nothing! It's because some relatives from Japan are coming to visit Gravesfield after what happened in the restaurant, so one of them is hoping to talk some sense into Koume's parents so that they file a missing person report to the police."
"Oh, right. I'm sorry that this all happened." Wendy said before she gently pushed Leni to the side with her elbow. "But… if you don't mind me saying this… it suits you. The outfit, I mean. You look nice."
Even when the blonde's face was completely red, she locked eyes with Wendy in disbelief as the purple-haired one grew a blushing of her own.
"Uh… you can dress the way you want, all I'm saying is that you look pretty and junk! You know what I'm trying to say, right?!"
"Thanks." Jolene whispered with a huge smile as her eyes looked away with the huge blushing still present on her face. "Glad you like it."
The two of them remained silent for a short minute as Aisha and Flor shared a look with a grin on their faces.
"Well, I'm glad that you're hanging with us today. It's tiresome to be the third-wheel on this 'will they, won't they' case all the time." Aisha said as Flor laughed softly.
"Yeah, I'm glad to know that you enjoy my company. It's always a good thing to experience new things with friends." Flor said as Aisha nodded with a smile.
THE LOOKING GLASS
Chapter 24: The Voice from the Forest.
While the trio of girls had good intentions, Flor still went out of her way to set camp in the forest. Fully aware that Aisha might find out, she took every precaution so that she believes she did checked into the hotel by getting a room there before sneaking out through the window. When the coast was clear, she moved towards the forest and hiked for a couple of miles before she found the perfect spot. There, she gathered some wood before nightfall, then… she set the fire not the way a human would do, but with a spell.
What Flor did was clapped her hands together once, then rubbed them together before she opened both palms and blew on them which instantly lit a blue fire on the wood she just gathered.
As her eyes stared into fire warming her entire body, guilt began spreading across her mind, the voices of those girls who offered her help continuously played in her head. The stress was causing her to nibble on her lower lip nervously as she tried to justified her actions.
'They wouldn't understand…' She thought, her eyes fixed on that fire as her mind wandered some more.
A full hour would passed by, until she brought the grocery bag she was gifted by Leni to eat some of that sushi inside. She ate in silence as the fire kept burning, the smoke became bigger going higher and higher into the starry sky.
She tossed more wood into the fire when she stopped eating before she was startled by something behind. Her eyes looked into the darkness between the line of trees where her eyes showed… nothing. But even when she saw nothing, she smiled and greeted the nothing in those woods.
"Here I thought you wouldn't show up tonight."
Flor kept staring into that unnerving darkness where she thought she heard something before she looked back at the fire.
"Hm, I'll be honest. Of all the people I've met, you're one of those few whose emotions I can't seem to read. But whenever I light a fire like this… I sense something. Are you bothered? I'm sorry if this bothers you… yet, I've noticed you never leave regardless of the fire I lit."
The pink-haired woman looked back into the dark forest to hear a response, but if there was truly someone hiding in those deep woods she heard nothing.
"Oh! Perhaps… you're curious about it? I could tell you the story of how I learned this spell. If you don't mind me doing all the talking like I always do?"
When Flor turned back to look at the forest she heard no complain, which lead her to tell her story.
"Ok, so… I've told you that my home is Tellus, right? There I knew a man that my grandfather used to work for. I called him Mister Philbert, but he never liked being called a Mister. Whenever my grandpa would call him as such, he became really upset."
Flor laughed.
"The name's Phil!" Flor tried to make an impression of the man whose name was clearly Phil. "No Mister, no sir… just call me Phil."
There was more laughter coming from her before she continued.
"I was probably the only one that got away with addressing him as such." Flor said as sadness began to coat her eyes. "When I look back into the reason that might be why I was allowed to do so is perhaps due to that one day… when he saw me trying to do something I wasn't supposed to."
Flor took a short break when she was unable to stop the flow of tears.
"I'm sorry about that, you see… I've never felt normal. My mind is an endless sea of thoughts and voices that make me feel… worthless. That day, I was going to end it all. But Mister Phil found me before I could do so." Flor sighed before a smile appeared on her face. "He said… there are things worth living for. Then offered me a pink rose, like my hair. I… cried, I cried so hard on his expensive suit while he embraced me tightly. I'm sorry, I said. But he shook his head and told me: the suit is worthless, you are not."
Flor cleaned her face, the smile still present as she continued her story.
"When I was able to cry no more, I confessed to him what I felt. To this day, other than you just now, he was the only one that knew of my condition. Not even my grandpa was aware of this. He died having no clue. Do you know what Mister Phil said next?"
She stared into the dark void of the forest as if she knew exactly who she was talking to as she followed up with the exact quote.
"He said: I won't like to you. People are probably going to tell you that you need to talk things to someone, to medicate yourself, to be happy. Worthless solutions to a problem bigger than themselves. The truth is… you'll live with these thoughts your entire life. You must be stronger than them. Never let them have control over you, don't give them a chance. For all it's worth, you have a friend in me…"
There was a brief pause as Flor stared into the starry sky for just a short minute.
"From that day forward, I became grateful to Mister Phil. For showing me I can be strong. Every day he would offer me a flower, I would stash them to make a crown like the one I'm wearing right now. It made him so happy to see me wearing them. Strangely enough, the man with the power to burn entire forests with the snap of his fingers chose not to. He loved nature. He didn't even hire a gardener, he did the work just by himself."
Moving her gaze down on the blue fire, she explained while observing the palms of her hands which she rubbed together earlier that now displayed a small spot of burnt flesh. "This blue fire is his. The spell is called Destelo. It's the source of his curse. It means Burning Light. In order to cast this spell you must… burn. It burns you to light a spark that can set things on fire. Y'know, after a while… it no longer hurts. Besides, I don't use the spell that often. But, I can't imagine the amount of pain that Mister Phil endures due to his curse. Magic in Tellus must be used responsibly, magic itself demands respect. If you wish to wield as your own, you must be ready to pay the price. Therefore, all the spells we know of derive from a curse. Every curse is tied to a person, so every curse is different, tied to the person's emotions and insecurities. For Mister Phil in particular, before he was able to burn literally… he burned everything he touched in a figurative way. He hurt a lot of people doing his job which he refused to resign to. He said… if I don't do it, someone worse might take my place."
Flor's eyes watered slightly while she kept a sad smile on her face, by now… she didn't cared if that someone she believed was hiding in the woods was still listening to her story, she needed to talk… even if it landed on deaf ears.
"My common sense keeps telling me I should hate him for all the horrible things he has done, for all the lives he has ruined. But he didn't ruined mine… how can I hate the man that saved my life and made me feel I was worth something… however… I do admit I think sometimes if those intentions of his were genuine or if I was just… his one good deed?"
Suddenly, Flor heard the rustling of bushes behind her which made her look back into that direction before yet another noise caused her to raise her eyes up into the sky where she saw people levitating while riding what she identified as staffs. Those people… were Amity, Willow and Gus, all looking down at her in disbelief.
"You are a witch?" Amity asked before Flor gasped in surprise as she stumbled back on the floor.
"W-what?! No!" Flor replied as she shook her head nervously. "I have no interest in magical practices."
"She might be telling the truth, her ears look round." Gus pointed out as the witches were still suspended in mid-air.
"Then how did you light a fire like this?" Amity asked, still suspicious of the floral themed woman.
For a brief moment Flor was distracted when Gus brought up her ears are round which made her notice that these three's ears are pointy, but soon thereafter she snapped out of her trance to reply to Amity's question. "Oh, this is the one spell I know. Hey… how long have you been there? D-did you heard the story I was telling… about this spell?" Flor asked while her cheeks burned like the fire she lit.
"No, we weren't really paying attention but…" Amity looked around nervously. "Who were you talking to?"
"Oh! That was the voice from the forest!" Flor said as her blushing faded slowly.
"Huh?!" The witches all exclaimed in confusion as they looked down on the human with the flowers on her head.
"Oh, y'know… the whispering lady of the forest, eight feet tall, glowing eyes, sharp smile, pale blue skin, she's always holding a large book on her left hand…"
Amity dropped down from her staff and glared at the other pink-haired woman. "Are you trying to scare us?"
"W-what? No, I swear. I thought you saw her. Well… technically I didn't saw her either but I'm sure it was her." Flor said as she looked back into the dark forest before she heard Amity sigh.
"Look…" The pink-haired witch said as she brought her hands down on Flor's shoulders with a serious look on her face. "We don't have time for this whimsical nonsense so hear me out. I'm a witch. I was offered a vision where Luz got lost in the forest. That someone played my voice saying I should look for her where there is smoke and the only smoke in the woods lead us to you. So please, Flor… if you have any idea where Luz might be please tell us."
When Flor noticed Amity's saddened eyes watering, she nodded and proceeded to ask a question. "Well… of course, I'll help you but… please tell me. What are you all doing in the woods?"
"Don't you remember?" Amity asked in frustration. "Luz wants to fight that Shapeless monster, you just talked about it yesterday!"
"Look." Willow said as she dropped down Gus' staff to talk to the stranger too. "Not only is Luz lost, but also two other friends. You must know something…"
"Hm…" Flor was sweatdropping by now trying to come up with a suggestion before she asked something else. "What was the last thing you guys were doing before you got split up?"
"We were in the Fire Lookout Tower in the forest." Willow explained. "Before it collapsed, didn't… you heard a big loud noise earlier tonight?"
Flor blinked innocently and tilted her head. "The Tower collapsed?"
"Can we please focus?!" Amity exclaimed in frustration. "The Tower collapsed because the Shapeless brought it down with it's disgusting flesh magic. The reason we were there was because Luz was looking for the shack…" Amity stopped as she realized how insensitive she has been when she remembered that the shack was the exact same place in which… "Where you were attacked by that thing…" She whispered the last part.
There was a short moment of silence before Flor herself cut the tension with her soft voice. "I can take you there… if that's what you'd like."
The three witches look at each other before Willow was the one who replied to the pink-haired woman. "We know this might be too much to ask, but we'll appreciate if you do take us there."
Flor raised her eyes towards them with a gentle smile, but they did took notice of how her arms shake ever so slightly. "I do not wish for you to wander the woods on your own, besides… you made the effort to come here. I just hope that I'll be able to help you all find your light."
"Thank you…" Amity said as she hopped back onto her staff before offering a seat for Flor who blinked at her in confusion. "Hop on."
"We… are riding this?" Flor asked as Amity sighed softly.
"Don't worry about it, I'm a good driver. Now, hop on. We have no time to waste." She said as she offered her hand to the woman before they flew up over the woods to find the shack in which Luz was already there with Masha and Vee.
In the shack itself, Vee was being tied some rope that Luz found inside that cabin conveniently placed somewhere near a old chimney.
While Vee kept her arms extended as Luz worked the rope around her, she heard the conversation both were having.
"Wouldn't you believe that the one place where the Tower landed was directly in the direction of this cabin where we now found one of those open windows the Shapeless talked about and now… there's some rope we can use for Vee not to get lost in the In-Between…" Luz said with a worried tone in her voice. "If I wasn't this desperate to help Hunter I… I'd say that all of this has being… convenient."
"Maybe we've just had a good case of RNG." Masha said which made Luz crack a smile.
"That's so silly… I wish I could laugh right now." Luz whispered as Masha nodded at her.
"I get what you're saying. I mean, the Shapeless had plenty of opportunities to get to you yet… it hasn't. Why? Unless…" Masha gulped. "It… had taken you already? Y-you… you're not going to split your face apart once Vee leaves me alone with you, will ya?"
"What?! No, I'm the real Luz!" She exclaimed as she stopped tying the rope to Vee for one moment before Vee interrupted them when she looked at Masha with a serious look on her face that exudes sincerity in her voice.
"She is Luz, trust me."
Masha stared into Vee's sincere eyes as a hint of blushing spread evenly across her cheeks before nodding. "Ok, I'll trust you."
Luz looked at both of them with a grin on her face as she finished tying the rope on Vee. "Ok, I think that I feel much better now thanks to you both."
The two blinked at Luz in confusion as they both blurted out the same word in unison. "What?"
"Nothing." Luz said innocently before clapping her hands together. "It is done, you're ready to go into the In-Between. But, Vee… I have no idea how much rope there is. So if you run out of rope… please… just come back… we'll figure something else out. Do not put yourself in danger." Luz said as she embraced her Basilisk little sister tightly, showing how much she cared for her.
"I'll bring Hunter back… I promise you." Vee said with a determined tone in her voice before parting ways with Luz as she took a few steps back away from the mirror. The Basilisk in human form took a mere moment to stare into the portal before she sprinted towards it and jumped to cross into the In-Between. When she did so, her human form was peeled from her by the spell on the mirror which turned her back into her Basilisk form when she landed on the ground on the other side.
Inside the In-Between, the visibility was much better than in the dark shack. Thanks to the dim light coming from the cubes floating around. Vee stared into the endless space that she now found herself in before the voice of Masha forced her to turn back to face them.
"Hey, Vee! You got this!"
The blue-haired scaly Vee looked back at her friend with a wide smile as she gave them the thumbs up before she moved forward deep into the In-Between looking for their missing friend: Hunter.
The blonde happened to be not far away from where that window was. Still in touch with the witches, Hunter looked at his surroundings every so often, becoming distracted whenever he would hear more and more dripping wet sounds coming from the ceiling.
Just as soon as he heard one more drop on the wet floor making his ears ring, he looked towards the direction where he heard the sound to inspect the place before he was startled by Willow's voice.
"Hunter, are you there?"
"Y-yeah! I'm here." Hunter said as he held his hand against his chest.
"We're heading towards the shack that Luz was looking for. Just hold on a little longer… we believe that there's a way to get you out of there. So, as soon as we're reunited with the others we'll try and get you out. Ok?"
"Yeah. Ok, I'll keep you posted about those mirrors I've told you about…" Before Hunter was able to say another word, the wet dripping sound rang on his ears once more, this time with a voice following it.
'Fu, fu, fu, fu…'
Once Hunter looked back into those cubes that displayed the windows into the mirrors that seemed to be attached to the waitress' name, he saw her…
The woman with the long-blue hair tied in a ponytail that resembled Kikimura in a taller human form was standing in front of those mirrors where she was staring directly at the shack in which Luz was left alone with Masha.
"Guys… I see something. I'll be right back…" Hunter said in a whisper to Willow as she looked at him in confusion.
"What?" She got to ask before Hunter closed communication between them before going to spy the waitress' in silence who had her back against those mirrors Hunter was looking into.
For a minute, there was nothing but silence as the blonde became somewhat impatient until she finally spoke…
"I know you're there."
Hunter gulped as he felt his cover was blown before remembering his training and kept it cool. He opened his mouth to cook a comeback for the waitress before she spoke once more. This time it was clear that it wasn't talking to him.
"You were right about that girl. She has a lot of potential. But something is holding her back. Whatever it is, she's scared of it. Which is what brought Phobos so euphoric… almost ruined everything for me. You know that unresolved issues make the flesh to degrade quicker. She's of no use for me until something else makes that to change. So, tell me… what are you planning?"
Both Koume -the waitress- and Hunter awaited for an answer from that unseen third party but nothing came of it. Which made the Shapeless to emerge from that voice coming out from the waitress.
"Look, I know you're playing both sides. Don't take me for a fool! You've been helping those kids this whole time. I don't mind that. But don't treat me like any of your pawns, those woodsmen you have dancing on the palm of your hand. Either you tell me right now what do you want from me, exactly. Or else I'll have to make a choice of my own."
Hunter couldn't see who it was talking to. But there was an eerie feeling on the back of his neck, almost as if someone was breathing behind him which caused him to look back only to see… nothing.
"Ok, fu-fine!" The Shapeless exclaimed. "How about we taint Luz's lifeforce with some rage? Killing one of her friends should do the trick. Maybe that blonde one? How about we get rid of Caleb Wittebane's last remaining lifeforce once and for all? Would that make you happy?"
Hunter knew perfectly well that it was talking about him. But it seemed that it wasn't aware of his presence yet. But all that changed once Hunter heard a cold eerie whisper behind him which made the hairs on the back of his neck to stand before gasping in surprise…
Do it.
When Hunter turned around to look behind him he saw… nothing. No one. But as soon as he turned back to face the Shapeless, it was looking directly at him with Koume's intense purple eyes.
"It's rude to be listening into someone else's conversation, y'know?"
"Huh?! W-who were you talking to?" Hunter asked as the scare was making him stutter.
The Shapeless looked at him in disbelief. "She whispered to you, didn't she?"
"She? Who's she?"
"Oh, trust me, twerp. You don't want to meet her." The Shapeless using Koume's voice said with a soft wicked giggle.
Hunter's scare was washed up from his system when hearing the word 'twerp' which made him smirk back at the monster that wore the waitress' looks.
"Heh…" Hunter chuckled softly.
"What's so funny?" The Shapeless asked with Koume's eyebrow raised up.
"You just reminded me of a little twerp I know of back home." He said as he referred to to Kikimura in his thoughts.
"Ok. Whatever. So… what did she whispered to you, hm?" The Shapeless said as there seem to be a smirk on the waitress' face.
There was no response coming from Hunter as he couldn't figure out what those two words he heard meant but the Shapeless seemed to have an idea when it asked.
"Did she gave me the green light to my suggestion? She has such a twisted sense of humor, whispering to you of all people when I was talking about you."
"Uhuh…" Hunter said, his training making him keep his cool. "So, killing me? Are you sure you're up to the task?"
"Such a talker… just like your Master." The Monster said with a grin on Koume's face.
Hearing the word 'Master' brought memories of Bellos to Hunter's mind, which caused him to exclaim furiously at the Shapeless monster on the other side of the mirror. "He's not my Master!"
"Ooo… look at you all fired up." Koume laughed as Hunter jumped back and yelled at it.
"Shut up, stop wasting time and fight me! If you think that you'll kill me without me putting a fight you're gravely mistaken!" Hunter said pointing at the waitress. "Now, c'mon! Why don't you cross that glass and let's fight!"
The waitress looked away innocently as it pretended to be thinking about it before it replied. "Hm… hard pass."
"Huh? You're scared?" Hunter said as he took a defensive stance on the other side of the glass.
"I'm not crossing the mirror. I don't need to." Koume said as she looked back at Hunter with a grin on her face. "Because I'm already in there with you."
As Hunter processed the information, a drop fell down on his cheek and when he cleaned it up with the back of his hand he saw… blood. When raising his eyes up into the ceiling of the In-Between he saw a monstruous mass hiding in the darkness that was staring down on him with numerous eyes in a spiral. There was no shape in that mass… it was all flesh… raining drops of blood down on the ground.
"Hey, Hunter…" Koume brought the blonde to look back at him as she finished her sentence. "You better start running…"
End of the chapter.
Note: Flor del Bosque, The Shapeless Other and Director Phil with his concept curse Destelo are creations of mine and my intellectual property.