Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🌹The Red Rose Tyrant🌹 Chapter 28

"Wake up, little one"

Angel's eyes start twitching, a sign that shows that she is slowly waking up. She cracks her eyes open, blinking to try to wake herself and succeeds. She leans up from her position, sitting down, looking around her and noticing that everywhere she looked was white, completely different than the void she was in with Riddle. Am I dead...? She thinks while she continues to look around. It made her eyes hurt, not really expecting to be woken up in a bright place as she only tries to block the light, only for it to prove to be useless. She looks down and see that she was wearing a white dress, but this time, she saw black cracks all over her arms and legs, making her gasp at her appearance and try to look for a mirror to see if anything else is wrong, only to fail as she sees nothing around her, just white nothingness. She noticed that her hair was pooled around her, little black marks appearing on strands as she observes them, picking up a part of her hair and looking at it, eventually seeing little movements of black spreading among the strands and towards her scalp. She gasps.

"Follow my voice, little one"

Angel looks up, hearing the same voice from before. She puts her hair down and stands up, looking for the source of the voice as she looks around her. She sees that no one was there, but the voice is still there.

"Yes, walk towards my voice."

Angel hesitates but complies with the voice, walking ahead, following the voice.

"Yes, that's it. Follow my voice."

Angel slowly walks, the voice guiding her as she walks closer and closer to the voice, but Angel had a feeling that the voice wasn't getting louder as she followed it, only starting to doubt it when what felt like a few minutes passed and Angel still couldn't find the source of the voice. Minutes felt like hours as she continued the walked, and the voice only encouraged her to walk further, almost making her annoyed that she spent all this time walking and there was no one there. Eventually, she sees a what looked like a little oasis in the white void, a small pond surrounded by rocks with a few trees and bushes around the edges of the pond. She hurriedly runs over to the pond, happy at the fact that something other than the voice existed in this space. When she arrived, she kneeled, about to take a sip of water, but before she put her hand in the water, she looks at her reflection. She sees that her eyes that had white behind her purple irises turned black and the black cracks that appeared on her arms and legs reached up to her neck and face, causing her to look...broken of sorts. She only stare in horror at her reflection, wondering how and why she looked like this. She held her hand out, trying to touch the water to see if her reflection was real, but was stopped when the voice she heard came from behind her.

"Little one, that wouldn't be wise. You are not ready for that yet."

Angel stops and turns around, seeing a figure in white robes and a mask she never seen before, staring at her. Because of the robe, she couldn't tell if it was a man or woman, and the mask didn't help. The mask had an auspicious design on it, with gold lines vertically across the eye holes on the mask, and even if Angel tries to look at the eyes, she felt that it was pointless, since she felt like the person's eyes didn't even exist. She stands up in surprise, seeing that the figure was way taller than her, making her strain her neck to look at the figure properly. The figure only stares at her and Angel felt nervous and shamed at her appearance, making her look down.

"Little one, why are you looking down?"

Angel only glances at the figure in front of her, trying to find the words to say. "I...don't know. It just...feel like I should..." She trails off. The figure only observes her.

"You shouldn't need to be ashamed, little one," the figure says as Angel looks at them. "Everyone gets like this when they purify someone."

"Purify...?" Angel asks the figure, and the figure only nods at her.

"Yes. That is what we Purifiers do. We purify people from overblot."

"Over...blot...?" Angel asks. The figure only still stares at her.

"You will know soon enough, little one," the figure says, holding their hand out to Angel. "Right now, I think it's best for you to purify yourself before you corrupt. Hold my hand."

Angel looks at the hand the figure offered, doubt rising in her mind. The figure seems to notice the girl's mind and only reassures her. "I won't hurt you, little one. I will only guide you at what you need to do." Angel hesitates and then reaches her hand out to the figure's hand, carefully placing it in their hand. She felt that the hand felt cool and calming, and she relishes the feeling, happy to counteract the feeling of the cracks on her body.

"Now, little one, focus on what I say," the figure says, making Angel's attention shift from the hand to the figure. "Empty your mind and try to focus on the feeling of my hand." Angel only closes her eyes, emptying her mind as the cooling feeling spread throughout her body. The cool and calming feeling felt wonderful to Angel, and as she focuses on the feeling, letting her become more relaxed as time goes by. Eventually, the feeling stops, and Angel could only open her eyes, looking at the figure to figure out what was wrong. The figure only stares at her.

"Now, look at your reflection again, little one," the figure says as Angel looks at them in confusion. She obliges and look at the pond, only to see that her body has returned to normal. The cracks that covered her body were gone and her eyes returned to normal, even her hair was back to being pure white as the black specs were gone. She only looked at the figure with her eyes wide, amazed at the fact that she was back to normal. "The power of us purifiers is to absorb overblot and purify others," the figure says, observing Angel. "Since you don't have magic, it becomes harder to purify, making you go through a medium to purify yourself from blot taking over you, corrupting you."

"Corrupted...?" Angel asks.

The figure continues to observe her. "You will know later, little one," the figure says, avoiding the question. Angel only blinks at the nameless figure in front of her. Dozens of questions rise in her mind about the situation that just happened. "It seems that I've kept you here too long," the figure says as it looks up, staring at the horizon, which consisted of nothing but continuous light. "It's a shame that you won't be able to remember this when you wake up, but maybe it is for the best. You shouldn't belong here for too long."

Angel tilts her head at the figure's words, wondering what they meant, until the pond starts to disappear, with the figure in front of her following suit, a feeling rising in her mind. Angel knew this feeling. It was the feeling of waking up. She didn't want to wake up. She had questions that needed answers! The figure notices the questions rise in her mind.

"Don't worry, little one. Your questions will be answered the next time we meet," The figure says as they become transparent. "We will meet again soon after all," The figure says as they start to vanish.

"W-wait!" Angel says to the vanishing figure. "When we meet again, what can I call you?"

The figure only looks at her and vanishes. Angel could only stare at the spot where the figure was as the light starts to turn into darkness, her mind starting to wake up from this dream she was having. Before she officially wakes up, the voice replies to her question.

"Just call me Mentor."