The Sight Beyond The Haze

Chapter 20: Inside the Painting that was Inside the Gallery

"What the—?" Caspian exclaimed as we both faced the unknown scenery that was we both initially thought just a simple gallery.

Academia Amitiel prided itself on the arts; birthing to numerous painters, sculptures, and the likes throughout its reign as one of the prestigious and luxurious academy on this side of the county. A gallery such as the room that both Caspian and I should have gone into was not a rarity inside the academy's various infrastructures. There were numerous galleries spread on the academy featuring either a specific artist or just the students' accomplishments that the administration deemed worthy.

The place Caspian and I were currently in though was definitely not inside the academy.

"Oh, s**t," I heard Caspian mumbled under his breath. He was giving me a sideway glance, ensuring that I was not looking back or even paying attention to him. "This is not happening. How lucky could I get to get stuck inside a TIF!" he protested, but then his eyes drifted to where I was standing.

A temporal illusory fragment, I thought. Then again, it was quite a bit of mouthful so I understand the resentment to its name.

Upon finding my cold and indifferent gaze directed towards to himself, Caspian smiled at me. Not in the way he usually does though, it was a little nervous and jittery as though a simple flick of a finger would throw him off his sane mind.

I bet he does not know how to get out of this temporal illusory fragment.

And I just want to kick him again for that fact.

"We need to find the way out of this temporal illusory fragment by finding out how to break the illusion," I stated in a logical tone, Caspian nodded along, but I'd be damned if he knew how to do that. "There will be some kind of barrier that might be the end of it, an illusory fragment won't stretch out that far, but if we want to get out—" I checked at Caspian's wrist watch that was branded with a luxury name but even the hands that were supposed to be pointing at the time was not functioning, "—we need to find it fast."

Or perish, I thought with a sudden gloom.

I touched my head where the black butterfly was resting upon. With the sense of my skin, the butterfly fluttered its wings and lept towards my opened palm. Even though its wings were only made up of thin strips of what was once a glowing light material, it surprisingly managed to retain its buoyancy.

On my opened palm, it looked elegant and the way it fluttered its wings was rather imposing. I brought close to my face, whispering a command to it.

"Find the key," I ordered on a low voice that Caspian, who was wearing with a rather agitated look on his face, would not hear a word.

I gathered energy on the ball of my palm with the hand that I was not using to hold the butterfly and ran over the surface of it. The metal-like black form of the butterfy slowly faded into dust and was swiftly replaced by the glow of its original form.

The butterfly, seemingly satisfied that its light came back to its form, fluttered its wings anew and flew towards me. It perched on the tip of my nose, a little and precious farewell, before flying off to a distance.

Caspian and I both watched it as it fly, but I was already deep in thought of this temporal illusory.

A temporal illusory fragment is usually a figment of someone else' imagination made to specifically trap people inside or provide a hiding spot. Deo once told me that it was like a barrier of some sorts— made to bar a certain people or just the opposite.

To get out of the temporal illusory fragment was was either to break its physical limits by brute force such as finding its outermost barrier and destroying it or find the key to open the illusory fragment like a simple door. A temporal illusory fragment was a best place to hide, unless if you are both Caspian and I who have no idea whose property this illusory fragment was.

It was laid bare on the door towards the gallery, clearly it was put there on purpose. Or maybe it was only being transported or it could be that the door was its original gateway. But to have a seamless bridge between reality and imagination was truly incredible and amazing. It was so seamless that not even an actual person could break away from it or notice the shift of reality unless a person has truly succumbed into it.

The golden butterfly would surely inform me of its finding after its done surveying the area, the only thing left to do was to explore this ourselves. Maybe we could find useful information or even the key itself, though I doubt the latter part.

But if we managed to break the illusory fragment's barrier then that would be great, but that was easier said than done.

Finally, with a decided mind, I started to walk at the opposite direction that the butterfly flew off to. I tried inspecting the direction Caspian and I just entered to get inside the temporal illusory. As expected, there was not a single thing that could indicate there ever was the door that we entered earlier.

Behind me, Caspian followed closely. I tried to pretend to ignore his askance expression. He must have been wondering about a lot of things, but do we really have time for that?

The longer we linger in this place, the faster our sanity, our own bodies, would be depleted.

The sick thing about a temporal illusory fragment was that it draws sustenance from the ones inside it such as humans, the flora, and the fauna alike. Base on the vibrancy of the colors of the surroundings, this illusory fragment has been rather well-fed.

I clenched my jaw and gave the boy beside me a sideway glance yet again. If he was not going to ever speak, then do not attempt to. It was rathering distracting to listen to his abrupt smacks of his lips, opening it but also closing it as equally quick.

"If you do not spit it out," I started and halted from where I was walking. I did not bothered on looking back to him to see what kind of expression he had on his face. "If you do not spit it out," I repeated, enunciating every syllable to make him understand that I was at my wit's end with his attitude and that he was not helping, "then I will sew your lips together, do you understand?"

"The butterfly," Caspian immediately spoke, not wasting a second when he was finally given permission to speak. "How did you get that? Why do you have that?"

"Why?" I asked him coldly, my back was still in front of him and my eyes were staring at the distant lands. "Is there anything I have to know about those butterflies?" I asked again when he did not answer me right away, but the question did nothing to make him speak.

My eyes lingered on the scenery. If I was a good enough actress, I could pretend that this land was just around the corner of Academia Amitiel' street or maybe even one of its gardens.

I waited for Caspian's answer. He was contemplating deeply, brows were furrowed and head bent down.

I sighed deeply and started to walk again, wandering on the field of the temporal illusory fragment. I have never been in an temporal illusory fragment, but I have heard from Deo that it could take the form of whatever it was that its master wishes.

On this instance, it was a never ending field of green grass. There were some trees and, when I stared up to the sky, it was blue and clear. We were walking on a straight dirt path in the middle of two green patches grass that could almost reach my calves. At some remote distance, I could see the horizon.

That horizon perfectly cut in between the land and the sky, a thin fine line jagged between the great interspace between the two entities. And then a manor came into view.

I heard Caspian exclaimed loudly behind me and ran towards the manor, not having any real care if there were traps that were laid ahead. Before he even reached the entrance of the manor, he turned back towards me and waved me over to where he was standing.

"Come on, Seraphim!" he called candidly to me. "There might be clues inside that could tell us how to get outta here!"

He even had the audacity to tell me to come over? And did he just say that there might be clues? How certain was this boy to tell that to me? What if there were even more threats inside?

I opened my mouth to call him back, but Caspian was alreading speeding through the way to the manor.

I looked back, hesitation was pouring in my mind. The golden butterfly has not come back from its exploration. I wonder how it would fare outside. I then turned my attention to Caspian's back who was still unwittingly walking towards the formidable manor and started walking after him.

If a dumb boy like him go inside, he might as well get himself killed but I was not too heartless as to let him commit an unintentional suicide.

As we got closer, I also got a better look on the manor. It was fairly big in size with a dozen visible windows and two floors. The overall look was not as grand as it looked like at a remote distance, it rather looked plain in comparison to Mr. Tharraleos' own mansion.

There was a great door that was waiting for us. As we walked closer to the front yard of the manor, the great door opened with a loud boom. Maybe it was the moment that Caspian noticed that a thing or two were a little odd on our situation.

Finally, the dumb boy noticed.

He took a few steps back and fall in line beside me. He turned his head towards my direction and then looked back at the manor looming in front of us. At last, there was hesitation on his expression.

"Why would there be a temporal illusory fragment inside the academy in the first place?" I asked Caspian without really glancing at him. "An academy is hardly a proper place to store it, unless..."

I did not continue though.

I felt his hesitation doubled up with my statement, and tension seemed to have materialized and touched his shoulders. He was standing beside me and, through my periphery, I could sense him looking at me in a serious manner.

"Do you not..." his voice faded away at the middle of his sentence. "Do you really not remember anything?" he finally finished his question.

I shook my head as an answer.

I do not even have any idea what he must mean with that. There was this enormous question mark that still lingered on the back of my mind, but it was Deo who said not to worry about it. Pretend as though everything was normal and they would take care of the rest.

"I have asked you a question first," I stated in a cold tone, "would it be not rude to ask another question? Besides that," I paused and squinted my eyes at him, "if you are not going to ever tell me anything about what I was before and how I got tangled up with a mess in your world, then I suggest you be quiet."

Caspian let his eyes wandered everywhere but the line of sight of my eyes, the sides of his eyes were reddened with embarrassment. His hands swung back and forth on his sides, even a person with half a mind would notice how uncomfortable I made him be.

Never that mind though. There were far more important matters we both must do and one of those was that we have to get away from this place. We have been walking for almost thirty minutes now. I know I was not the most credible source of information, but I tried to keep track of the time by counting our steps from our starting point.

I headed straight towards the opened door of the manor. Inside was just a dark hallway, when I was about to step inside, I directed my eyes on the person that was supposed to go inside with me. Caspian did not move even just a single step.

"Do not tell me you have become a wimp by just looking at the shadows inside?" I accused Caspian with acid.

He immediately shook his head at me and looked as though he was offended by the mere idea that I thought him as an ineffectual cowardly human being. He ran towards where I was standing, poised to take a step inside the manor, almost colliding to me. I gave him a sharp glance which just put an awkward smile on his face.

"I thought you didn't want to go?" he asked me, almost hiding behind me. Caspian was shorter than me by at least a few or so inches though even if he hid behind me, he could still be seen.

"Who says?" I asked him back which earned me a piercing glance from him which did not hurt me in the least. "Let us go," I said placidly, not bothering to look back at him with if he was following.

The moment we both entered the manor, lights were opened, blinding both Caspian and me. I shielded my face with my arm but I was still forced to closed them. The next thing that happened was that Caspian and I were both lined up on a straight line. We were evidently inside one of the rooms of the manor. Based on the sets of furniture, it might be a receiving room or a drawing room. Maybe it transported us to some part of it.

That was not what really captured my attention, but the fact that Caspian and I were not alone in the roon. There were also people inside the temporal illusory fragment. The people inside of this illusion were not just Caspian and me.

This just took on a stranger turn. Now, we have to really get out of here and save these people. I looked at my hand and saw that it was slowly disappearing, just a hazy illusion of my corporeal body. I furtively observed the other people.

There were a total of six people inside of here, including Caspian and me who just entered.

Among those four people, someone was already missing an ear, and then the next was missing an arm. The rest I was not certain anymore, but imagine if it was your genitals that was being a hazy outline of what it once was. What a sight to behold that would be.

What we lost here, a portion of our physical bodies, would also be brought back to us once we get out of here but if we won't be able to do that; I fear that we would just disappear in this imaginary world.

"Hello, Miss Griyego, Mr. Cashel," a calm voice greeted Caspian and me.

My eyes widened with surprised as Sir Apollyon revealed himself as one of the people held captive by this temporal illusory fragment. It seemed that I was not paying the attention I thought I was spending earlier when I was assessing the situation we were in.

It seemed that I was not paying enough attention.

"Sir," I said with urgency, "do you have an idea how to get out?" I asked which was a moot question.

If Sir Apollyon Hart have already an idea how to get out of this situation, he would not be here with the students.

"I am trying to find the key," he answeted me patiently, "Miss Griyego, you don't seem to be shaken?"

I pursed my lips at his question. I was uncertain if I should answer him directly or not. Even Caspian was tad anxious when I glimpsed at him briefly, waiting for my answer.

"No matter, no matter," Sir Apollyon, however, reassured me, "it is better to have more people who have mastered the mystic arts than not. Three is better than one, don't you all think so? What I am worried about is..." Sir Apollyon glanced at the other people inside the room. "Them."

There was an absolute silence among the students that were here. This time though, I made sure to truly look at their faces. Two girls and a boy. One of the girl students was wearing our physical education uniform; a black jogging pants with a white tee shirt that was imprinted with the academy's insignia and name. The other one though was wearing the traditional uniform; a black pleated skirt with a white lapel blouse that was buttoned up to her neck.

The boy, wearing the slacks version of the academy's uniform, was uncomfortably standing beside one of the girls, particularly the one in the skirt uniform. That meant they knew each other, but not enough to comfortably stand side by side or even make an idle talk.

The girl in the p.e uniform, however, was close to tears. She was standing by herself on a corner, looking as though she was lost in the middle of what was currently happening.

I pursed my lips.

"How did you got siphoned in here, Sir Apollyon?" I asked him curiously while my eyes continued on watching the other three, each were equally puzzled and confused.

Complications, I thought as my lips curled on their own, they were complications.

"I'm not sure myself if I'm being honest," Sir Apollyon admitted and scratched the back of his head with an impish smile, similar to what you might find on a teenage person. "I was just going in to the gallery to check on some new artworks, but I got sucked inside of this. I've been to situations like this before, and the worst I got was being half blind. Don't worry, my students!" he announced, his words on the last part were marred with pride. "We will get out of this!"

There was hope that shone brightly on the eyes of the other four, even Caspian and I just want to sigh repeatedly at how our situation seemed to be hopeless. I saw a droplet of sweat trickled down Sir Apollyon's temple and a sheen spread of sweat also covered his face.

I just looked at him blankly.

Interesting, a math teacher that was interested on 'artworks'. If I were to say that was suspicious, it would not be because he wanted to see those artworks, but because who in this world was sane enough to get out of the middle of the class to just look at those so-called artworks when they could do so at the end of the said class? It was the middle of the first class in the morning class session and I was sure that Sir Apollyon has his own class, I could just confirm it later on.

"Do you even know how to get out of here?" I asked in a rather exasperated tone, but Sir Apollyon just smiled assuringly at me.

A sigh escaped from my mouth.

Will we ever get out of here before we finally faded into nothingness?

An hour passed by quickly and as I was exploring the manor, a shrill shriek echoed on the whole manor that seemed emptier than I originally thought. I was up the stairs of the manor when I heard the scream, the balls of my feet were creating noises as I hurried down the stairs while my hands were busy dusting the shirt of my uniform ensemble out of crystal-like shard of glass.

I have no idea or recollection how those glass shards came to my person.

When I entered the room where I thought the scream came from, I saw Caspian who was as equally as confused as I was. He pointed at the end of the hallway, pointing me to the right direction. Since he was the one who he heard the noise first and that his position was closer, Caspian might have heard it clearer than I did when I was up the stairs of the manor.

On the way there, I could hear extreme sobbing from the room at the end if the hallway and the soothing voice of Sir Apollyon. The teacher was coaxing someone, talking in his peculiar way with his smooth velvety voice.

I sensed Caspian looking at me, hesitation and anxiety were evident on his whole face. I was not sure how to respond, but when I entered the room by the end of the hall where the scream that pierced the whole manor came from, there was a horrifying scene that greeted both Caspian and me.