Alex grunted from the sheer ache in his head and the ringing of his ears, his consciousness was slowly giving out too.
But… It felt strange as well.
He raised his hand, putting it directly on top of his head. 'Ugh…'
At a medium pace, the pain started disappearing, completely vanishing after only a few seconds.
Alex still felt like he was falling mid-air. The wind howled at him, darkness only was able to be seen.
His eyes closed, he was getting ready for impact with the ground, assuming there was one.
But, he kept falling. However, the aching pain was long gone. He just had to see where he was.
He opened his eyes, then, instantly, they were widened.
Alex quickly put a hand over his face, as the wind was biting at him. He was falling, and under him was a pitch black screen.
In fact, the whole strange room was painted in a strange pitch black! Alex's heartbeat exploded as he was falling, he couldn't do anything.
Trying his best to keep his composure, he tried scanning the room once more.
Ultimately, there was nothing. If he stayed this way for any longer, then he was going to be knocked unconscious because of the blood flow before he'd even realized.
On the surface below him, Alex finally was able to see something in the black place.
Catching it just barely with his eyes as the wind was making him unable to see, there was a.. Large purple bed?
Like a bed made for a Princess, Alex was stunned. In this whole place, that was the only thing able to be seen.
The bed got closer to Alex, who was still falling.
It kept getting closer, before Alex finally realized he was about to directly hit the floor, just in front of the bed.
He furrowed his brows as he was holding himself from falling unconscious. He prepared with whatever he could to strike the floor.
At that moment, he tried using one of his abilities. To lessen the impact, he was ready to use his hands to try and propel himself using a wind spell.
Nothing came out.
He tried once more, but nothing worked.
"Shit, shit, shit!" He shouted loudly.
As he was panicking, he put one arm over the other in an X shape. The ground was already right in front of his eyes.
He came crashing down on the ground, but to his surprise, there was no pain at all. He didn't crash into it at all.
The moment he hit the pitch black floor, this time, it sounded like diving in a pool.
His arms which were protecting his head didn't impact with the floor. That's when Alex realized he went through the floor once more.
As he went into the floor, he heard the sound of droplets of water, almost like he was thrown into the ocean.
His world didn't flash. He had no feelings of pain either. However, Alex didn't disappear into a different place.
He fell upwards. Unknowingly, He was already standing, in the same spot he came crashing down into. It was as if the world was just reversed.
He took a meaningful look around as he was catching his breath, until he noticed a figure standing in front of him.
Standing in front of him was a lady with ash brown hair and eyes that were already locked onto Alex, as if she was already anticipating all of this.
She was wearing a black and purple dress, fitting with the black room and the purple bed.
Behind her was the bed that looked like it was made for a Princess.
Alex was inhaling and exhaling, unable to get a word out.
The strange lady smiled, before finally talking. "This is nothing but a Sanctuary."
Alex froze. A Sanctuary… That word made no sense to him.
He wanted to say something, but he was unable to do so. He fell on his knees, a bitter taste rushed up his throat and into his mouth.
Alex coughed up a pool of blood out of his mouth, making him look helpless.
He grunted, looking up at the woman. His expression was begging for help, but he knew the cause of all of this was her. Asking her for help would basically be asking for death.
The strange lady chuckled, "I do apologize, but I must have overlooked this."
'This woman has to be crazy!' He thought, not understanding her at all.
She slowly walked up to the paralyzed Alex as she had her witch hat covering her eyes. Reaching to him, she quickly raised one of her legs and instantly threw it towards Alex's face.
Alex was unable to move a single muscle. His whole body was indeed paralyzed, which didn't let him dodge the kick.
His jaw dropped as his teeth fell out from the singular kick she did, blood still leaking out his mouth.
The woman, with no hesitation, kicked Alex once more. Battering his face completely, she then raised her leg and put her shoe over Alex's face.
Alex wasn't able to use any type of ability. Not his Concept, not even a normal spell. Even his Soul Mechanism was ruled out.
The lady slowly took her shoe off Alex's destroyed face, his expression clearly read annoyance.
He was barely able to do a single thing, and it was greatly bothering him. This humiliation wouldn't be forgotten.
Alex bit his tongue, trying desperately to wake himself up. H
As the woman took a couple of steps backwards, Alex felt as if he was slipping into the ground once more.
The woman, now in the distance, raised her index finger and pointed it at Alex, who was laying down, humiliated.
Alex took his gaze off her and noticed the bigger problem arising above him. While he still felt the sensation of peeling into the floor again, it was slow.
A large spike of purple gem was formed from nowhere above him, its sound echoed throughout the room.
The lady quickly opened her palm and threw it downwards as more spikes formed and fell towards Alex.
Alex was going to try and swallow, but he'd end up only swallowing broken teeth and blood.
He closed his eyes, keeping his composure. He knew the floor would end up pulling him downwards.
Wherever he'd end up, it'd be better than being rammed by massive spikes.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. While he felt the feeling of being pulled downwards, the spiky gems fell down at a horrifying speed.
He wasn't even able to react to the six gems that instantly came down at him.
Alex narrowed his closed eyes and he clenched his jaw. This wasn't what he was anticipating.
Why was this even happening in the first place? Why would Clara, a trusted servant of the castle, bring him to such a place?
This wasn't what they had agreed for. Alex sighed. He wished that he just stayed with his party.
However, if he died now, he would have no regrets. Even after ending up in another world, he still managed to make it.
He even made many important friends and acquaintances along the way. It was all worth it.
…
He furrowed his brows. "It's not worth it at all!"
Still barely able to move, he managed to raise his head forward.
As soon as the spiky gem reached him, he moved his head back and forward, striking it directly with the spiky gem.
The spike instantly shattered into a number of shards which fell onto the ground, then slowly vanished into particles.
However, he only managed to slam his head into one spike. There were at least five more.
As soon as the other ones caught up to him, they suddenly stopped mid air, hovering right above him.
The strange lady clapped from a distance, "Impressive. These Sanctuaries are truly hard to manage. Everyone tends to overlook it, only because its hard to summon in the first place. If I get the hang of it... It might prove useful, but that might take years." she sighed, putting her hand over her face, somewhat disappointed.
However, Alex was in no mood to listen to her blabber any further. He felt awake now.
As the lady was distracted, Alex jumped at her, grunting as he did.
Before Alex even reached up to her, one of her eyes, barely visible through her hand, instantly locked onto him.
Alex clenched his jaw further, as he finally had a chance to strike back.
The moment he was about to get into contact with her, he felt as if his head was slipping through the air now.
He saw the image of the woman, and everything else, break down like a mirror smashed into pieces.
A loud bang was heard once more, like a ringing bell.
He blinked. Alex stood in the same spot he first came from, and the woman was standing in front of him, smiling mischievously.