13 Paradise

The giant hill, Veco started walking as he lead Ren out of the woods. Just like before, forest was devoid of life. Everything quiet. Only the sounds of twigs snapping could be heard. Ren thought that it was eerie and creepy for a forest to be so quiet. He wanted some noise, maybe some sqauwking birds or some howling wolves, anything would have been fine.

"Do you want to hear a song?"

It looked like Veco read his mind as he asked him.

Not trying to be rude, Ren accepted. If he only knew..

Veco coughed to warm up his voice. He even showed an embarrassed look towards Ren. Finally he sang.

The end of the world. Ren was able to visualize the end of the world. The sun dried up as it transformed into a black hole that swallowed earth piece by piece. Instinctively, he held his hands over his ears. If he wasn't afraid, he would have punched himself back to sleep.

....

A good minute passed and so did the national anthem of the Underworld stop. Ren endured it so long, it felt like even though he was not physically hurt, his mental health, his soul would take a trip to the Underworld during that minute.

Horror painted his face once again when Veco asked-

"Do you want to hear another song?"

Ren knew that the words sang by Veco were harmonious and fine. It was not out of tune at all IF!

If someone else sang it. It turned, the wonderful stroll through the forest into a death march.

Ren immediately cut off Veco's words-

"How bout you let me sing this time?"

With his eyebrows soaring high, a suprised look manifested on Veco's face. He accepted while looking at Ren expectantly.

'What a weird fellow.. He sings like the Grim Reaper, unaware that his singing might kill one day... He's a dangerous entity alright...' Ren thought sarcastically.

Ren imitated the him, coughing before he started. He was nervous inside because it was a first for him to voluntarily sing for others. The last time was during his assignment in school. Other than that, the only audience he ever had was his own reflection in mirror of their bathroom back at home. Feeling shy, he started.

"I see skies are blue..." He sang with 100% of his effort.

When he got to the second verse, his prior attitude of being shy faded.

'I need to change myself, I am now alone in this world, I can't show weakness to others.' He thought. His mindset was now on a fixed path, in a foreign environment, change was necessary.

...

A few minutes later, the song was done. He felt new and refreshed. Confidence was radiating from his bones. This episode in his life, he would look back to, in the future. It was his first step to 'change'.

*clap clap clap*

"That was great! I can't believe you are so good at singing. I think you even beat my master!"

"Really?" Ren said in surprise.

'If I ever go back to Earth, I'll audition at The Voice.' Seemingly pleased at himself, he set his goals high. However, if he only knew how soul guardians worked, how their traits were a copy of their masters. He would feel pranked.

They venturred through the forest, once again arriving at the wild plains where Ren dropped down unconscious like a leaf battered by a storm.

Suddenly, Veco asked.

"How did you drown again?"

"I fell at a well, then it turned out to be an ocean.." Ren said once again.

"How could there be an ocean? Wait, tell me about this 'ocean' that you're talking about."

"It was deep and dark. It was empty but I felt like I was being watched by something dangerous. I tried to swim upwards but I descended faster instead. It was really weird."

"Hmmm..." Veco fell into a deep trance.

Suddenly..

"If you are there, I beseech the Mirror Slime to appear before me using authority given to me as the soulspace guardian of Summoner Leum!" He looked at the sky as he shouted with all his might.

Nothing happened.

Ren began to ask about the spectacle that just occured.

"Yeah, you say ocean but I think it wasn't that simple. You sink when you try to swim up, then you survived for a long time in that ocean and didn't die. You say you felt danger but you made it here in one piece. All I can think of is that what you encountered was not an ocean but a dense aether energy. The danger lurking that time might have been one of my master's summoned beasts called the Mirror Slime. It's not a legendary summoning beast but it was special enough to be called the 13th."

"Master seldomly let it enter the soulspace because it didn't wish to part with him for too long. It refused to enter the soulspace as well."

"In summary, you could actually breathe in that ocean and you didn't die because the Mirror Slime is a herbivore."

As they were walking, he couldn't help but look at the sky. It was a normal sky but he knew it was an illusion. The sky was actually made of ice. He had already gazed far into the horizon and saw a crystal wall extending to the skies.

Soon, they went lower, as the plain turned into a gorge. It was beautiful beyond comparison. Trees grew from the cliffs, waterfall creating rainbows, and huge rocks with grass growing around them were everywhere. It was paradise. If Atlantis was ever found back on earth, Ren would still choose this scenery over the legendary kingdom.

There were stairs going below. It was made of rocks, and was strangely uniformed and free from moss. It was in good shape over all. It gave him security as he descend the steep cliff. At the end of cliff was a shrine made of crystals.

"That's the shrine of this soulspace. I'll tell you what you need to do to inherit the soulspace and become my new master once we get there.