Hollow Garden

He did not know exactly what this entity wanted, as its actions made it difficult to correctly determine its intentions.

After all, first this entity had helped him by sharing a grace with him, plus it had also done something when he had been unconscious after his fight against the Faceless Wrath, which had resulted in him being alive.

He wasn't an idiot, and in the little time that had passed, he had been kicking around the fact that he had indeed died, but due to some unknown factor, he was still alive.

He might think it was the system, considering he was his supposed "Host", but something told him he didn't have such a good relationship with the system that it would do something like that for him on its own.

Instead, the most likely culprit to have saved him in his view was the entity that was able to share graces, something that put it on a similar level to his system, at least according to his current understanding.

In addition of course, to the clear message that coincidentally was next to the bone, near his unconscious body and surrounded by unknown blood.

This made him think that perhaps the entity was benevolent to humans or that it had plans with him, both being infinitely better results than what the normal inhabitants of the mirror world were looking for with him.

However, this entity's latest action had been to attempt to control his mind in order to force him into an unfamiliar space, something that really didn't seem to be very friendly.

"Listen... don't try that again, please." Noah said with a slight tone of anger in his voice, addressing the bone, who now knew it could understand him, .

"..."

For a while he got no response, but this time he apparently wasn't ignored, as the entity didn't try to control him again.

Instead, he got another message.

__________________________

[Notice: The entity "???" is inviting the "Host" to [Mind Space: Hollow Garden]]

[Would you like to accept the invitation?]

[Y/N]

__________________________

"Now, that's more like it." Noah said, accepting the entity's invitation by pressing the letter "Y" on his arm.

In just an instant after Noah accepted, his surroundings immediately changed, at the same time as the familiar feeling of being in a place where he didn't belong washed over him.

His room disappeared, and in its place he could only watch as the floor turned to dirt, and his surroundings began to fill with trees.

After a couple of seconds, a forest had appeared around the young man.

"...So this is the Hollow Garden?" Noah wondered, remembering the system's warning.

Thanks to the system, he hadn't been caught completely off guard when he was transported into this strange space, which he didn't know exactly if it was a place like the mirror world or if it was just in his mind.

Not being sure if the entity was dangerous or not, Noah's first reaction was to look for a weapon, but to his bad luck, there was nothing nearby that he could use for this, as he seemed to have been transported with only his clothes.

Thinking about this, Noah then came up with something and began to hastily prod his left arm while thinking in his head, 'System, are you still there?'

It would indeed be a dangerous situation if in addition to having no weapons he had been cut off from the system, but to his luck, this didn't seem to be the case.

Tsss!

For a moment, the letters appeared only to burn Noah, but even this served to indicate to him that the system was still with him even in this strange space.

"Hm, good!"

Apparently, the system was no longer completely indifferent to Noah, as it was at least responding in one way or another, not just ignoring him like before, something he was quite grateful for.

"Come closer!"

At that moment, a voice shook his whole body at the same time as the trees moved in such a way that they formed a circle with only one exit.

Exit that led to an elevated part of this strange space, with the path having old and broken stone steps half buried in the ground, as if they had been made long ago.

Looking at the new path that was revealed before him, Noah was considering whether heeding the voice was a wise decision, his distrust being evident towards the entity that brought him to this place.

'If it wanted to do something to me, it would have done it by now wouldn't it?' Noah thought, being amazed at the entity's ability to change this strange space.

With no other way in sight, and doubting that the entity in question truly wanted to hurt him, the young man then decided to heed the entity, though the latter had apparently misunderstood the young man's stillness, as it spoke at that moment.

'Not even a little trust towards the one who saved your life?'

"!"

Hearing these words, Noah was surprised, but he was also glad that his assumption that it was the entity who had helped him was true.

Besides, it was also good to hear a confirmation that didn't come from the system every now and then.

"...Thanks for letting me know about the Crookedteeth." Noah replied as he began to walk down the stone path.

Now that they had reached a point of conversation, Noah then lowered his alertness slightly to this entity, though what the latter was about to say was going to cause another surprise in the young man.

"That's not what I was referring to, I was talking about the hole in your chest."

"Eh?"

Just like that, with a few simple words, the entity then had caused the young man to enter a state of confusion.

'Hole... in my chest?' Noah wondered, not knowing exactly what it meant by that.

It was a strange thing, for while he seemed to know what the entity was referring to, every time he was about to remember about the hole in his chest, his memories were completely clouded.

"Do not worry, I'll help you remember what happened with that... Faceless Wrath you call."

After saying those words, a wind then came from the stone path Noah was walking on, hitting his face squarely.

Immediately after, a system notification appeared before him, making it clear to him how it was that the entity planned to help him.

__________________________

[Notice: The "??? of the Roses" wants to share with the "Host" an [Information Sphere: Small]]

[Would you like to accept?]

[Y/N]

__________________________

"If you allow me, of course."

"...I accept." Saying that, the system took it as confirmation, not requiring Noah to touch his arm.

The next moment, Noah's mind was flooded with memories that were not his own about the fight he had with the Faceless Wrath, all from another perspective.

Although most of the confrontation was just as he remembered it, when he reached the end of the fight, seeing the monster's arm pierce his chest, Noah's memories immediately returned.

"What the...?" He said, confused and no longer under the influence of the information sphere.

His head was hurting, but at this moment, he was focused on something else, as he didn't understand why it was that he had forgotten something as important as the reason he had died.

And worst of all, he really wouldn't have been able to sense that anything was wrong if the entity hadn't mentioned it.

Unexpectedly, unbeknownst to him, something had affected his mind, making him forget.

"If you want to know more, hurry." The entity then said before falling silent again.

"..."

Still having a slight headache, Noah wasted no time and continued to move along the stone path, his earlier caution having subsided to be replaced by his curiosity.

Along the way, he could see that in his surroundings, while he seemed to be in a forest, there was something strange, and that was that no noise of any kind could be heard.

Considering it was a forest, this was strange, as normally, one would be able to hear the noise of birds, small animals, or even if it was the wind moving bushes or the leaves of trees.

But in this forest, it was silence that reigned, something that reminded him quite a bit of the mirror world, plus a certain detail that he might not have noticed if he wasn't so sensitive to such things.

Despite how green and vibrant the trees and bushes looked, this was only in appearance, as none of them were really alive, giving him a strange feeling.

With all these details in consideration, Noah thought the name "Hollow Garden" fit quite well.

Before long, Noah reached the end of the stone steps, the trees opening up to reveal a wide clearing filled with roots and grass.

Coming from the trees, all the roots were concentrated in the center of the small clearing, gradually becoming thicker and greener.

And in the center of the clearing was a bed of roses decorated with several pairs of skulls, with some being human but others being vastly different in both size and shape.

However, creating a contrast with so much decoration, the flower bed was empty.

Or at least, that was what it seemed at first glance, but the young man, even though he could see nothing, felt that the owner of the bed was right there in front of him.

After all, it was no longer just his senses telling him that there was something hidden in plain sight, but also the system.

__________________________

[Warning: The [Host: Mortal Mind] is being affected by the presence of the "??? of the Roses". It is recommended to reduce contact to a minimum].

__________________________

'It's hidden.'

'You are perceptive. To be able to notice me even though you can't see me.'

'!'

The entity's voice rang in Noah's head again, answering him, and this time much more clearly than before, but more than anything else, generating a strange sensation in Noah's head.

A sensation that was nothing more than having an unknown entity in his head, reading his thoughts, something confirmed by the system itself.

__________________________

[Warning: The [Host: Mortal Mind] is being affected by the presence of the "??? of the Roses"].

[Warning: The [Host: Mortal Mind] has been unable to resist the presence of the "??? of the Roses"].

[Warning: The [Host: Mortal Mind] can be read by the "???? of the Roses" as long as it is in its field of vision].

__________________________

"...Why are you reading my mind?" Said the young man as he looked down at the flower bed.

Rubbing his head to ease the pain, the young man then proceeded to clear his thoughts, in an attempt that the entity could not know what he was thinking.

"...Aha."

What caused this was nothing more than a small chuckle from the entity, who was looking with interest at what Noah was trying to do.

"I apologize, I didn't know it would bother you so much, I am not used to dealing with... humans."

As it finished speaking, immediately, the uncomfortable feeling of someone else prying into his thoughts disappeared, confirming that the entity had kept its word.

With that out of the way, Noah lowered his hands and swallowed saliva before asking a question.

"Was it really you who healed my wounds?"

Although the entity had said yes before and Noah felt it was telling the truth, one last confirmation wouldn't hurt at all.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, a rush of wind from the rose bed impacted the young man, his mind being invaded again, but this time it was not by the entity, but similarly to before, by a sphere of information.

Accepting without hesitation, Noah was then invaded by several visions.

Similar to the way he had seen the group of monsters approaching his house, he was seeing everything from a third person perspective.

In this case, what he was seeing was the ground floor of his house in the mirror world, with his dying body sitting against the wall, holding the bone in his hands and the dead body of the Faceless Wrath to the side.

The vision was sped up, showing the bone first releasing an aura that slowed Noah's death, before it began treatment to heal him, using a strange technique involving the Faceless Wrath's corpse.

Finishing up, the last thing the vision showed Noah was how the hole in his chest closed and filled with something black for a moment.

"HAA!"

Startled, the young man shook his head, still not used to this abrupt manner the entity had for conveying information to him.

Though if he had to say anything, it was that without a doubt, despite leaving him with a mild headache, this was effective, no need to have to make use of words, only images and emotions.

Rubbing his head, Noah asked the entity a question, "It seems you really did save me, but... why?"

While he had resolved one of his doubts, because of the answer, it had raised more questions in the young man, as to why an entity from the mirror world would decide to help him, not just once but twice.

First, it had shown him visions of the Crookedteeth before they arrived at his home, giving him time to prepare, and more directly, a chance to survive.

Second, after the fight and defeat he suffered against the Faceless Wrath, the one who saved his life was none other than the entity.

Simply what was a mirror world entity looking for from him to perform such seemingly benevolent actions?