Several weeks after the mischief of Jack Frost, winter changed back to spring. Alice was sleeping soundly on her small bed with a mumble when a shadow appear near her. It extends its claws to strangle her but Alice grabbed its neck first before it could touch her out of reflex. Alice immediately opens her eyes and sees the form of the shadow much to her confused look.
“Did I just...? You...! I have seen you before! Where....?” Alice said while trying to remember.
An image of the boy in Night realm came to her memory.
“You are that boy from the Night realm. But how? What happened to you?” she asked the figure.
The boy smirks and laughs while charging at her with his claws aimed on her face. Alice dodges the boy’s sharp claw and casts Time Slow on him which slowed his movement.
“You don’t seem to be immune against time magic. Hyah!” Alice kicks the boy away from her.
The boy flinches from her kick and snickers.
“Hmhmhm....I came back to the world of living...Amy Symilton!” The boy shouted and disappears from her grasp much to Alice’s surprise.
She takes out her Badik while looking for him and point the knife on him when he appear again.
“Amy Symilton? What have I got to do with her?” she asked him.
The boy points his finger on her. “She came from the future indeed. But you...you have the same face as her. Your ability to control the spirits bear resemblance to her. Aside of the Time magic and clairvoyance or psychic ability, you are the Symilton of this world. Now...I came to test you!”
The boy reveals his aura covered in darkness and the aura forms into black vines.
“Try and dodge this, Vines of Corruption!” The boy sent the vines on her.
Alice’s eyes widened upon witnessing the aura’s ability to change shape. “Yikes!!!” Alice run while avoiding the vines.
She cuts the vines with her knife before they can grab her and the vines return to him. The boy gives a grin of excitement and the aura changes into a pair of wings much to Alice’s shock and amazement.
“Feel the painful sting of darkness. Nightmare Shot!” the boy shoots several feathers from the wings.
Alice casts a barrier but the barrier shattered after several hits from the feathers. One of the feathers hit her right shoulder.
“Gah!” she pulled it out from her shoulder and sees Shaner swoop down
Alice rolls to the side before he could hit her.
“An aura that could change shape based on the person’s mind. He’s powerful,” she thought with sweats on her face.
Both Alice and the boy fight to the death until Alice ended up knocked down as the boy points his sharp claw in front of her eyes.
“Ou….I’m finished,” she thought and the boy swing his claws to her eyes.
A string made of magic grabbed the boy’s wrist before his claw could touch her and it pulled him far from her much to her surprise.
“Poema!” she noticed Poema holding the string and run to him.
Martha prevented the boy from moving with her binding magic while June put her sword on his throat.
“Who are you? How did you enter this place??” Martha asked him with an intimidating voice.
“No one managed to enter this place silently before,” Poema pointed out.
Shaner deliberately stays silent, and Alice notices a large shadow with wide laughing grin looming behind him.
“I sensed a fearsome demon from him. Tell me, Shaner…last time I saw you, you were still a ghost. How did you come back to the world and I mean…come back alive?” she said.
“Come back? You know him?” Poema asked with a confused look on his face.
“Oh yeah…when Alice and I went hiding from the mobs in my realm, she was talking to herself, and she said that there is a ghost in front of her. Hold on…don’t tell me…!” Vine tried to explain and was hit by realization.
The boy gives a wide smile and laughs aloud.
“Yes…it’s me, Shaner. I…came back from Hell with the help of the Forbidden Force!” he finally admits to Alice much to her shock.
“Forbidden Force???” Martha exclaimed.
“What is that?” Vine asked.
“It is a power or a force in Hell that is feared by the demons and sealed in a place where no one could find it. So…he managed to find the Forbidden Force, bear it and maintain slight control of himself,” a boy with blindfold said.
Alice sees the blindfolded boy gives serious expression.
“When Matyas gives serious face, it means that what he said is true,” Frieda said.
“That doesn’t fully answer the reason why he came to our village though,” Martha said.
“Free me and I will explain everything,” Shaner said with a mild voice.
Alice immediately recognizes the sudden change of behavior from his voice and tells everyone to release him. Shaner stands up and everyone gathers around him.
“Sorry for the sudden aggressiveness, ever since I got the Forbidden Force, it’s a bit hard to control myself lately as the Force itself is what you can call a demonic formless power. It has no physical form or shape, it looks like a black fog or mist,” Shaner explained.
“You mentioned something about coming back from Hell. You mean…you got sent to Hell? Why? What sin did you commit that caused your soul to be sent to Hell??” Vine asked him.
“Tell us about yourself first before you explained everything,” Alice said.
“My name is Milo Shaner and I came from Earth. Well…different time perhaps since I mentioned Amy Symilton, right? I met her before I met you. I followed her in her quest in defeating a guardian dragon of darkness. Then…in the middle of our journey, a storm happened. We had to take shelter in an empty house until the storm calmed down. I was sleeping in the same room as her and her friend when I heard a sound. Curious, I looked around the house, searching for where the sound came from, and it led me to a mirror. There….I saw something,” Shaner said.
“What do you see?” Martha asked.
“I saw…my sister in the mirror calling for me and when I approached the mirror. Something dragged me into the inside of the mirror,” Shaner continued.
Alice put her fingers under her chin while thinking about what Shaner said.
“Could it be…?” Alice wondered.
“What is it, Alice?” Vine asked her.
“Keep going, Shaner,” Alice told Shaner to continue his story.
“I was so confused and panicked there because I was in a place that I had never been there before. Everywhere around me filled with reflective surface, it’s like everything around me is mirror. Then…I felt something on both of my shoulders and a very painful pain on my left neck. It hurts….it hurts so much but at the same time…I feel like something is bursting inside me. My eyesight changed to red, and I feel dry, so dry…I can’t even explain what but the next thing I know…I fell on the ground and never woke up with the last thing I see was a pair of foot belonged to a very tall woman with long hair and wearing ragged grey dress looking at me with an evil sharp toothed smirk. I think I died shortly,” Shaner said.
“As I suspected…,” Alice said.
Everyone turned their eyes at her.
“The Realm of Mirror or also known as Madubi in a grimoire belonged to my parents. Keep going!” she said.
“How did you end up in Hell then if that’s the case?” she asked Shaner.
“I don’t know, I never commit a sin that is so horrible but somehow…I ended up there. It was horrible, I was endlessly tortured. Those demons tortured us, and I was innocent but seems like I’m very unlucky. If I’m lucky, I wouldn’t end up there and end up in Heaven instead. It was painful and even after I died, that strange feeling of dryness still there. “What is wrong with me?” I keep thinking that but there’s no time for that. I had to escape! Eventually I found a chance and ran away as fast as I could until I left the torture chamber and ended up in a strange area. It looks like a garden but the plants there are trees instead of flowers or anything else,” Shaner continued.
“A garden?” Vine asked and Shaner nods.
“That place seems abandoned as no one was there and I noticed a big hole covered in planks in the middle of that big garden, those planks had some kind of talismans or glowing symbols painted on it. Suddenly I heard someone shouted from behind, telling me to stop but I didn’t. Without thinking twice, I broke the planks covering the hole and jumped down. It was a long fall but being a spirit, I landed just fine. “Where is this?” I thought and there, I heard a demonic laugh,” Shaner continued.
“The Forbidden Force of Hell?” Matyas asked.
“Probably, because this thing is big. A lion head on the body of a wolf monster, it circled around me curiously and asked me,” What brings you here, lost spirit?”. I told him my name and how I wish to escape from Hell and it gives another demonic laugh but louder this time. He then told me that I piqued his interest and if I can beat him in a battle, he will give me his strength,” Shaner continued.
“So that’s how it is,” Vine said.“Yes. I beat him and as promised, he gave me his power, but I didn’t think that he would enter me and affect me so much. It hurt! For some reason, he as a spirit inside me affected my current condition. Red…I see worse red sights and that dryness….I felt it worse than before and then…I feel like something controlled me partially. I feel like I want to laugh but I don’t know what I’m laughing about. I feel like I’m half smirking outside before unleashing a laugh so evil that I admit, I’m scared. All I know is that…I’m back to Earth but I feel like I’m no longer who I used to be,” Shaner said.
