Skyler's arm sank deeper into the mirror. She tried to pull her right arm back with her left, but it was too late.
"Please, help, help me!" Skyler shouted, looking at the black-haired man.
She prayed that he'd save her from the critical situation. But no matter how much she screamed, yelled and begged, the man continued to remain crouched in the corner of the room, staring at her like none of this was his problem—no, from his smile it seemed as though he already knew in advance what was going to happen to her.
Skyler was left helpless, her upper body was being pulled against the glass. Tears streamed down her face as she surrendered to the unstoppable force of the mirror.
For a moment, everything was still. Skyler blinked, her eyes adjusting to the dim light—The cold vanished, replaced by a warmth that touched her legs like the soft petals of a flower—moonflowers.
Thousands of them surrounded her, their faint glow illuminating the strange world she'd been dragged into.
Skyler was mesmerized as she looked around in amazement. The ornate mirror, her bed, and her entire room were no longer there. In their place, there was only an infinite field of moonflowers that stretched before her along with a silent darkness.
"What kind of place is this? It looks like one of those realms forsaken by a deity..." She thought.
From the books she often read, it was quite common for the protagonist of a fairy tale to have a gift received by a God in order to become strong. This always foreshadowed in most cases that the protagonist was always blessed.
However, this reasoning was beyond any logic.
"All this doesn't even make sense. Well, I guess I'm running too fast with my imagination as usual." Skyler laughed lightly and checked at her surroundings.
As she raised her head, she'd see how everything above her was completely in black. Words weren't enough to describe how astonished truly was, especially since this ethereal and dark place had two of her most favourite colours—red and black.
Walking among the mesmerizing flowers that tickled her heels, Skyler laughed.
"Well, since I ended up here, why doesn't this place have some sort of palace with a throne?" She wondered to herself.
Given her current situation, she couldn't help but fantasize. After all, an ancient palace with a throne would be ideal, also because it'd make her feel like some sort of queen—such a thought sent goosebumps down her outstretched arms.
Nevertheless, as soon as those words came out of her mouth, the place suddenly began to shake, causing Skyler's body to stiffen as she tried to keep her balance. In an instant, in front of her, towering white stone pillars began to emerge from the moonflowers. Above the pillars, there was a white triangular-shaped canopy wrapped with twigs and moonflowers that fell elegantly to the pillars like a curtain.
"Uh? There's no way that it really happened…" Skyler let out a stunned gasp.
While she kept staring at what looked like a palace, at the top of her field of vision, crimson-red stars began to shine eerily in the dark sky. The entire edifice looked majestic, grand and lofty, just like a palace for a queen.
With her head disoriented by everything, Skyler began to walk towards the palace, a shiver starting to caress her heart as though it were fingers.
"As soon as I said those words, that palace appeared out of nowhere like witchcraft. Honestly, I don't know whether to be happy or scared." She thought, her brows furrowed.
It felt exactly as if the place itself was adapting to her needs. But she couldn't be completely convinced, also because there was another thing she absolutely had to have confirmation of, that is, whether there had been a throne or not. With this in mind, Skyler continued walking hesitantly whilst looking around with a strong sense of unease silently accompanying her. Then, she reached the palace, and extending her right arm, she lifted the flowering twigs that were obstructing her view.
And what she saw beyond the twigs froze her on the spot. If the palace itself had only left her amazed, what her eyes were staring at made her mind blanked out. Because before her, there was a stone throne in the center. It was pale white, and had carvings of hands on both armrests and a half-moon on the splat that made it look very ancient.
"I… cannot believe that something like this really happened," Skyer muttered. "And… I took it foolishly as a jest."
What was ahead of her left her with nothing else to say. But what amazed even more than the throne, was that aligned with the pillars, statues twice her height came fully into her view. Normally, this wouldn't have shocked her, if it weren't for the mere fact that the statues depicted someone very familiar to her—herself.
The statues depicted her wearing a layered robe and a cross necklace with her hands firmly clasped like she was praying.
"Um, I don't know why but this really makes me feel like I'm the chosen one." Skyler laughed self-deprecatingly at her own words.
On the other hand, this could only happen in fairy tales and legends she usually read, and surely not in reality. How could something like that even cross her mind?
"Welcome. Please, take your seat on the Throne of Honor."
And then, a melancholy voice overcame her train of thoughts, echoing ethereally throughout the palace.
"Did I really have to sit there? Seriously?" Skyler gulped, gazing at the starlit throne.
Albeit skepticism and hesitation were manifesting within her, she tightly clenched her fists like she was trying to gather all her courage. If she wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, she might as well make the attempt.
Hence, she walked along the white stone floor with the crimson glow descending magnificently upon her.
"I wonder whose voice that was… It felt really familiar." Skyler muttered under her breath.
That aside, a sense of excitement grew in her chest. She knew nothing about this mysterious place, but she was starting to believe that it was unusual. Above all, the fact that the necklace her father gave her when she was little had led her here was a bit too coincidental.
With tension tightening in her throat, she finally reached the stone throne, but just as she sat down awkwardly on it, a red glow shone beneath her sight. Lowering her head, her mouth dropped open in disbelief. Floating. Her necklace was floating in mid-air.
"Welcome back to your domain, Princess of the Unknown. This domain, buried in time's abyss, is the root of the Unknown, and therefore, all that transpires here shall remain veiled to those not strong enough to perceive the truth. Even the Gods themselves shall struggle to detect its shadowed depths."
The same melancholy voice that came through in a strong female voice, resonated in Skyler's eardrums. After which, while her eyes were squeezed shut due to the voice, a mossy gray stone wall and a dark corridor flashed across her vision like an afterimage.
She opened her eyes again, her blurry vision began to clear. Shaking her head, she quickly scanned the statues aligned and the stone floor beneath her, trying to wrap her mind around everything that had just happened.
"Princess of the Unknown… a rather peculiar name to be frank. And then, it can also hide anything from Gods. What an absurd thing…" Skyler thought.
That description sounded pretty simple, but trying to recall herself by looking at her surroundings once again, Skyler could tell that this place had to be located in a high-dimension that separated it from the real world.
In fact, the domain was so vast and powerful that her mind was failing to even comprehend the scale of it.
"If I'm not mistaken, she said this place is the root of the Unknown… So, I guess it must've belonged to some ancient deity or something." Skyler straightened her back.
Feeling a freezing cold all over her bottom, she focused solely on the word 'Unknown'. It'd be that there was a world or realm with that name somewhere in the world, but as she thought about it, she laughed faintly.
Well, realistically speaking, it was unlikely that there were any worlds other than the physical world. However, since her necklace had brought her this far and suited her needs, she had to consider the existence of the Ancient Sovereigns.
After all, among them, there could be the one who created the necklace in the first place, and who resided in the fabled Unknown.
"Well, if all that's true, then I guess I'm ready to write a story called Princess of the Unknown… And who knows? Maybe I'd even end up being a famous writer someday." Skyler lampooned, rising from the throne.
The fact that she was connected to the Unknown by a mere necklace was amusing in itself. Nevertheless, she couldn't underestimate what just happened to her. Though the sovereigns hadn't appeared since the beginning of the Genesis Testament Century, except for a few oracles, their presence in the New Testament Century and Old Testament Century had totally influenced the entire world.
It was enough to simply think about what happened between the Dragon God of Miracle and Concealment, the Giant Beast King and the King of Daemons during the war.
With numb feet, she walked around the palace, the glittering stars bathing the statues in pure crimson as her mind was lost in thought.
"Who knows where dad found that necklace? Mm, since he was an Explorer for the Marauder Association, I think there's a high chance he found it in some ancient ruin or temple." Skyler twitched her lips.
If such a necklace was capable of being on par with deities such as the Sovereign Mother of Heaven and Earth, the Dragon God of Miracle and Concealment, the Lady of Nature, and other sovereigns, then it has many risks. As her father said, great powers come with great responsibility, and she dared not even imagine what the consequences would be if she misused her domain.
Skyler literally felt her heart freeze whilst scratching the skin on her arms vigorously. She could feel her skin peeling off at any moment while the burning pain reverberated throughout her body. If she'd joked about it before, now anxiety and uncertainty were getting the better of her.
"I really need to find a way to get home now." She thought quickly.
But as soon as that thought entered her mind, her surroundings suddenly turned floating whilst her blue eyes met darkness before changing into dazzling moonlit. Blinking repeatedly, the first thing she could notice was her image.
Of course she could see her image, because it was reflected in a mirror in front of her.
Skyler's body stiffened as she glanced around her surroundings in confusion. Around her, there was a rectangular mirror hanging on the wall. A closet next to the mirror. A mottled desk, an open window, and a white bed. It appeared to be a bedroom.
She was in her bedroom, the moon's glare shone through the window curtains.
"I returned… to my room…" Skyler whispered, her voice strained. "It was like a dream… what the hell was that place… who's the mastermind behind this?..."
Breathing a dry sigh, she immediately sat down at her desk and glanced at the pocket watch that was next to the white bag.
"Huh, it's half past eight, so that means time is still passing the same way…" Skyler thought to herself.
Her mind was overflowing with questions—Was it real, or was it a dream? What is that place? What is the Unknown?
She couldn't ignore the feeling that something fundamental was missing, but she didn't know what. Her body trembled with her fingers gripping the edge of the desk, bathed by the moon. She pulled a bronze candle holder out of the drawer and lit some candles with a match.
And then.
"Alas, oh well, I didn't think my master was so emotionally naive." A deep, hoarse voice denied the ethereal silence present in the room.
Skyler turned in the direction she heard the voice, holding the candle holder in her hand, and froze. Her heart was pounding in disbelief at what she was seeing.
"No… It's impossible." Her body froze.
As she casted her eyes on a dark corner of her room, a standing silhouette was illuminated by the moonlight like a jagged shadow. The man. The black-haired man with dull gray eyes that seemed to deny her existence, spoke with a twisted smile which gave her goosebumps.