His Ramblings:Broken Reflections

"Oh, goody! You have finally found it. Yes, my dear friend, that is the gateway back!" A loud, cheerful voice spoke. The voice came from all directions, startling the pair, who immediately went on guard. However, with the pressure from the hanged being there, was not much they could do.

"Oh, sorry for startling you. It's just that it has been a very, very long time since I had guests." The voice added, but it did not help calm the tension the pair was feeling. After a moment of silence, Josh spoke.

"Well, perhaps it would be better if these guests could see their host. You know?" There was silence in the cavern for a short moment, as if the owner of the voice was contemplating Josh's words. Josh panicked, thinking he might have aggravated the owner of the voice, but then a response came.

"True, but unfortunately, I cannot reveal myself to you... For your own safety, of course. You see, beings like me are not meant to be seen by mortals." The answer was not what Josh expected at all. Was the owner of the voice also the owner of the hanged body? Thinking about it, it made perfect sense to him. From the soul-searching gaze before their entrance to the pressure being exuded by the colossal body in front of them.

Just when Josh thought he hit the nail on the coffin, the voice shattered his newfound belief. "And no, I am not the hanged man. Think of me as his prison warden." Josh almost rolled his eyes at the voice's wording when referring to the colossal being in front of his eyes. "Man." What is manly about it, besides appearance? The aura it exuded was not something a human could ever achieve.

But then Eve asked a question that Josh had neglected to think of. "Excuse me, but what do you mean by prison warden? Is it not dead?" The voice chuckled lightly and then it answered. "Well, technically speaking, he is... for now. Anyways, I have been watching you ever since you arrived, and I must say you two make quite the odd pair. The lady is an inheritor of ancient sorcery, whilst the man is a practitioner of the bizarre." Josh's eyes widened at the voice's words. It had quickly unraveled his secret. He could feel Eve's gaze on him. Now he had some explaining to do.

"You said you are its warden, am I right? What crime did it commit to have a being of your might guard its supposed tomb?" Eve asked, leaving Josh alone for now. A breath of relief escaped his lips.

This time, heavy silence devoured the cavern, and for a moment, they could not see a thing. Only the pressure from the hanged body let them know they were still in the cavern.

"Okay, what was your question again? Oh, right. Well, where we come from, disobedience is a very serious crime, especially disobedience against the Father." The voice's words were vague and left them no room to try to piece the puzzles. It also offered no explanation for what had just happened.

"Outside, the void was seeping from the cracks. I think this prison of yours is dying, and we need to return home. But before we leave, I need to know why you did not make contact with us during our stay here?" Josh asked a question that had been nagging him since the voice introduced itself to them. What motives did their invisible acquaintance have for them?

This time, Josh's expression mirrored that of a middle-aged man as they waited for an answer from the voice. "The answer to that is simple, really. I cannot. I am instructed to guard this tomb and do nothing else until I am summoned back. Additionally, we cannot intervene with mortal affairs... unless instructed to."

"By who? Who has to instruct you?" Josh asked, frustrated at the voice's lack of explanations.

"Okay, listen. Those feathers inside the pool have gate-jumping properties. All you two have to do is get in the pool and imagine where you want to go. Easy, right? No, you cannot jump to a place you have never seen, and even if you have seen it, you need to know the jump coordinates. Now, go on. I have to fix the damage you caused to the dimension." The voice avoided Josh's question and instead answered an unspoken one. Their eyes moved to the pool of feathers. That was their way home, but how were the mirrored able to enter this realm, and what had been the cause of the illusion? Was it the voice? Or was it a passive ability of the hanging tree?

"Can you please explain to us a few things before we leave? Firstly, what, or maybe I should say who, had placed us under the illusion? Secondly, how were the mirrored able to arrive here? Did they, too, emerge from the pool? Thirdly, what happened to the gateway we used to get here? We spent weeks trying to find it, but we found nothing." Eve asked in a relatively calm tone. The three questions had been weighing on her mind for quite some time now.

"Questions, questions, questions. Am I right? But sadly, I cannot answer you. Remember, we do not intervene in mortal affairs." Josh resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and then he grinned.

"But you did tell us how to use the pool of feathers. Was that not interference?" A brief silence followed before the voice answered.

"Did I? Why can I not remember that? Huh? I must be getting old." The voice spoke with a sigh, as if feeling the burden of the words it had just spoken. Dumbfounded, Josh decided to keep quiet. His body was now facing the crushing pressure of the two acts he had performed earlier.

"You, why do you continue practicing the bizarre arts? If you value your life, you should stop pursuing that power. It is not for mortals. Anyways, I will shield you from his subtle body, and this is not intervening. It is me helping out my two friends. Would you not agree?" The voice's tone became colder before gradually easing into its normal tone at the end of its words. Josh heard a few things from what the voice said before feeling the pressure from the hanged body die down. Eve rushed to support him, and they walked to the pool.

Before entering the pool, Eve bowed and thanked the voice. "Thank you so much. We are in your debt." The voice chuckled before adding, "I shall remember that." Eve nodded, and they stepped into the pool. But then the voice spoke in a grim tone.

"Until you are certain you can contend with those creatures, do not go looking for them in their own territory. Grow strong first, learn the truth first, and then you can go after them. For now, you should forget about looking for the scattered gateways in your world. Otherwise, you will meet your demise sooner than anticipated. Be gone." At the voice's words, a dense pressure filled the cavern. Both of them closed their eyes, forcing themselves to ignore the pressure and visualize their destination.

The feathers in the pool lit up with a golden glow and slowly moved to cover the two from head to toe, sticking to their bodies. The strange symbols on them lit up brightly, and the whole cavern was bathed in a golden light. If they were not blinded by the bright light, they would have noticed the changes on the hanged man.

"I shall observe your progress from a distance. Farewell until our paths cross again." Sadly, they could not hear the voice's words. The space around them warped, and suddenly they appeared to be far away from the cavern, yet so close. The space in front of them stretched, appearing as if the distance between the cavern and Angel's Canyon had shortened, but how? It was said to be separated by a void, so how was this kind of instantaneous movement possible?

And before he could blink, they were surrounded by trees. The sounds of birds and the soft, gentle breeze that had the scent of wood assaulted their senses. Josh's eyes squinted, adjusting to the bright environment. From a distance, he could hear the cries of animals, and looking up, he saw the sun hanging high up in the sky. Sighing with a smile, he knew they had returned home to their own world. In front of him, Eve had the same expression as his. She looked at him and then frowned right before asking Josh in a slightly worried tone.

"You still look old. Do not tell me the effects of what you did were permanent?" Covering her mouth in shock, Josh shook his head, chuckling. His appearance currently resembled that of a middle-aged man, appearing as if he had aged by two decades.

"No, it is not permanent, but it will take time to wear off. It's a forbidden form of sorcery lost to the world." He answered with a sigh, knowing he now had to explain everything to Eve.