It was purple. The ominous light was filling the giant room and lighting the device that was filling a third of the room. Thousands of cables and pipes were connected to the different pieces, holding the contraption together. And in the middle of it, there was a giant glowing orb. Various shades of purple were dancing and forming chaotic shapes inside of it while it floated in the middle of the giant device.
Under the dimly lit room, a figure was standing. His two small, although strong-looking horns were poking out of his head. The orb was lighting his sturdy light purple skin and giving his red pupils an ominous spark. But those eyes were filled with pride towards his creation.
His posture was strong. His high-quality tunic was partially covering his muscular chest. His skin had a different shaded pattern on it, almost like tattoos. That pattern was the proof of his power and superiority.
So much time had passed in this god-forbidden wasteland, but it was finally bearing its fruits. And that giant orb was the sweetest of them all. The waves of energy were colliding and exploding, dancing inside the orb. It was ever-changing. Changing under the will and intention of its future master.
"Just a little more time. The calculations are almost done. Everything is progressing as planned. Then I, Morpheal, will stand at the top and show those bastards who is the superior one. I will not be looked down on ever again." With a slight wave of his hand, the main lights lit the rows of books and research equipment inside the big stone room he was in. He walked toward the double doors that led deep inside his castle. A servant was waiting for him outside.
The servants in his castle were from a lesser race that he had been using as his slaves for quite a while. They only reached up to his legs at most. Their skin was dark purple, but they were ordered to wear hooded robes to hide their disgusting features.
The servant tensely presented him with a report about his growing army. He took it without even looking at the servant. Some of the test subjects were causing trouble and needed his direct attention to progress further. He was expecting something like that this time around because his next creations were made to be extra dangerous. He was already heading there to check the preparations, so the report didn't bother him that much. The servant relaxed visibly and left his sight as quickly as possible without turning his back on him.
He continued towards the underground, to the creation facility of his soldiers, but stopped for a moment in front of a window to admire the view outside.
The whole sky was covered with dark clouds, frequently lit by the wild Energy explosions and lightnings of different colors. The surroundings of the castle were flattened by him before he even built the castle there, and it was full of his different creations. Every single one of them had developed some unique physical attributes and characteristics.
They had different types of skin and limbs. Some had horns, some had bone spikes poking out of their body. Some had wings like giant bats or feathers like griffons. Claws like lions and pincers like giant crabs; feet like humans or hooves like oxen. All were made only for one purpose: war and destruction.
***
"Ah, sorry about that, something just caught my eye." The Traveler turned to the suffering Elise. She was desperately trying to breathe and resist the wild environment.
With a quick hand gesture of the Traveler, the feeling that captured her faded away, and she could breathe once again. That gave her a chance to stand up unsteadily and look around thoroughly for the first time.
"What is this place, and what just happened to me?" She said while trying to catch her breath.
"We are in a different Realm. So, the air, gravity, and Energy density of this place are different from what you are used to. And just for your luck, it is quite harsher. I put up a filter for you for now." He was looking around while talking. "You can train your body to adjust for gravity and Energy, but the air is a different thing. It is not easy to transmute your own breathable air or remove the requirement of oxygen from your body."
Different Realm?! Even the thought of something like that was enough to excite Elise. She has traveled for some time since she left home and experienced a decent number of things, but they were nowhere near this. It was a rocky wasteland as far as the eyes could see, and the sky itself was a completely different story. "Are all the places you travel look like this?" She asked.
"No. This seems like an incomplete or abandoned Realm. Energy is floating around freely, wildly even." He seemed to have no problem with the current situation. "Yeah, I think this place will do."
"What do you mean, incomplete?"
"I'll explain it later. Come, let's start." He started to walk towards the closest rocky hill in the distance.
"Start to what?" There were too many questions that she thought her head was about to explode.
"Your test, of course!"
"Are you really going to test me here? I can't even properly breathe!"
"Don't cry from the start. We'll start from the easy one." As he finished his sentence, Elise felt the crushing pressure again. But this time, the feeling that turned her insides out did not come with it. She fell on one knee once again. "I'll release the gravity first, keep your armor on, and try to keep up to me."
He kept on walking and left Elise there. She felt like her armor was betraying her and trying to crush her under its weight. Even standing straight was hard, but she had to walk all the way there, too. Every step was a challenge, but giving up was not an option. If she wanted to continue traveling with him and reach her dreams, she had to go beyond herself. So, she walked and left the unusually smooth obelisk behind.
She had thought sword training with armor on was hard when she first started. Back then, the armor made her movements much slower, and by the end of the day, every muscle in her body screamed in pain. But this time, the muscle pain was far worse. Her legs tried to give up countless times on the way, but she forced herself to walk straight until the end. She was about to collapse when they finally stopped walking in front of a big pile of rocks at the foot of a sharp hill.
"Well done! I thought you were going to collapse way back there. Get some rest, then we can start here." He started to inspect the pile of rocks while she dropped herself to the ground.
"Wait! Start? Didn't we start already?"
"We just came here; how can we already have started?"
"You are joking, right?" She was lying on the ground and trying to catch her breath.
The Traveler didn't answer her, and she was in no shape to chase an answer anyway. She lay there quietly and watched the magical explosions in the dark clouds. She listened to the constant roaring of the sky, and she noticed the ground was also roaring alike. Those rumbling sounds combined with her exhaustion were enough to force her eyes to close. She fell asleep without even realizing it.