Chapter 519: How deep the rabbit hole goes?

'[This is going to be a problem…]' She suddenly exclaimed with a dismaying tone.

…

'What do you mean? Do you know where we are?' Aiden asked, picking up the strange undertone in Enya's sigh.

'[Well, this here is what is called a Mind Construct. Aiden, you are facing someone incredibly powerful…]' Enya sighed as she returned in front of the boy. Seeing the confusion in his face, she explained further. 

'[Think of it like some sort of trap, a jail cell created to catch and hold consciousnesses of others.]' 

Noticing the still bedazzled look on the boy's face, Enya could only sigh in frustration once again, and try explaining again.

'[Look… Stop fidgeting around, and focus on yourself. You can still feel the faint connection with the outside world right? Can you feel your body?]' She asked, with a slightly agitated tone. 

Taking a moment, Aiden followed his guide's instructions, stopping the so-far fruitless attempt at researching the limits of this space, and rather focus on the vague feeling of the slight warmth inside him. 

A moment later, he exclaimed with a wondrous surprise in his tone. 

'Y-yes! I can feel it… Can I leave this place and return to my body then? Why is this happening anyway?' Feeling the outside world, sprung his excitement instantly. The sourness of his mood vanished almost instantly as the faint light of hope resurfaced.

'[Hmmm… That's good then.]' Instead of answering, Enya hummed thoughtfully. In the next instant, her ball of light sprung into action once again, flying around the boy's soul whilst also reaching out and checking the surroundings every now and then.

Aiden could only look with a puzzled, confused look on his face, unable to comprehend what was happening at all. From the moment he decided to take in the strange mutated heart, to his soul being yeeted out of his body and thrown into a strange metaphysical realm, Aiden was completely lost at what was going on anymore.

Was he in a trap, did he make a mistake or not? If he retained some sort of connection if he could feel the path towards the back, didn't that mean that he was free to leave, by following it back and eventually reaching his body once again?

Yet, there was a feeling inside him… A sort of rising interest, an attraction, a curiosity to unveil the secrets of this place. To hopefully uncover the identity of this artificial plane's creator and the reasoning behind his actions. 

Also, another thought came to his mind, that he just couldn't push down. What if, that all six of those monsters were still somewhat conscious? What if the second presence, the strange undecipherable, enigmatic entities that each six had inside them was actually their original consciousnesses? What if they were trapped in this place as well, unable to escape and could only watch helplessly as a demonic entity was toying with their bodies?

Sensing his thoughts, the little ball of light suddenly stopped in front of Aiden. Her giggles reverberated their surroundings as he erupted into a charming chuckle in the next moment.

After a while, she slowly calmed herself and began to speak.

'[Yes, Aiden… Your insight is incredibly sharp. You are right on point. The existence of this Construct is what you think.]' She spoke, whooshing around excitedly once more before she halted in front of Aiden and resumed.

'[What happened to you, was probably wasn't a deliberate trap. From what I can make out, this place was created to trap in those other six individuals and it was never meant to contain something as powerful and unique as yours… Just the fact that you can still feel the connection with your body further proves supports this conjecture.]'

She floated closer, halting just in front of Aiden's face as she continued with a cheerful tone.

'[If you so wish so, just as you thought, focusing on this connection you can freely go back and leave this place.]'

She then flew behind Aiden, as if looking at the route he was forced to take just a short while ago. She hummed with a thoughtful tone before continuing.

'[However, if you leave now, you would miss out on some interesting secrets… For example… This!]'

Her little ball suddenly erupted with even more light, causing sparkles to fly off from her surface and fall to the dark ground that so far they did not even notice. As soon as the light particles connected with the ground, the ground beneath them lit up, illuminating six distinct slithering small pathways. Each glowed with a different color and went to a distinct, unique direction, separate from the other.

At the same time, an archway also lit up towards the direction behind Aiden, further confirming and solidifying the idea that he could freely return whenever he wanted. 

Still, he didn't move at all, his attention was instead on the six colorful dotted lines, the routes that each led seemingly towards the darkness.

From the number and the words of his guide, he could easily connect two and two together and make the obvious assumptions.

'So… These paths… They lead to…?' 

'[Yes, each path will take you to one of the trapped souls inside this place. If you wish to learn what happened to them, and possibly uncover the mystery behind this predicament, you should follow each of them one by one.]'

Enya then flew towards the first route, the one donning a light-toned, vibrant neon green color. It was to his direct right leading straight to the distance until it eventually merged with the overlapping domain of the void.

'[This is the path that is connected to the organ you merged with yourself. IF you wish to find out more, if you want to explore, you should start with this one.]'

Following her, Aiden flew towards the beginning of the neon green path. He looked ahead, following the direction it lead him towards. He wasn't sure what to think anymore, everything that was happening was just way too outlandish, way too weird. 

A place created by someone so powerful that it could hold the souls of others and force them to stay? 

Still, if this were the case, his worries about the Mysterious Master knowing more about him was eased significantly. Though it was still obvious that this unknown person, this master had some beef with him and was aiming to capture him, at least he didn't hold information that should normally not be available to him. 

The words of his father lingered in his mind. He was from a race that should not be known by the residents of this era. Yet, he should keep the truth about his origins hidden, lest the gods that conspired back then would notice and then bring unthinkable problems, disaster upon him.

Aiden shook his head once again as he regained his clarity. He turned his attention towards the neon-green-lit path ahead, and without wasting any more time, he began to follow it.

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