4 Warm Marigold and Sweet Cotton Candy

Wang Fang continued on her path, leaving the icy land behind.

She steeled herself when she finally found another light.

This one, however, was two colors. Warm sunlight yellow and sweet cotton candy pink. The two colors mixed in a swirling vortex.

As she got closer, she discovered not one but two landscapes that were joined in the middle.

On the right was a scenic grassland with marigolds speckled around, the left was a fluffy kingdom of pink clouds with equally fluffy looking pastel teddy bears scattered here and there.

In the middle of it all, on their respective sides were two people emanating colors.

They were embracing each other, mixing their colors into a peachy hue.

They looked like President, but with slight variations.

The one clouded in pink was small in stature and looked like a child no older than 12. She sported a goofy grin that showed her childish nature.

The one glowing yellow was the exact opposite of President with her genial appearance. Looking like a helpless doting mother, she patted the little one on the head.

Wang Fang flinched when the child perked up and stared at her.

"She's finally here! The nameless one is here!" She jumped up and pointed at Wang Fang.

"Candy, it's rude to point," The motherly looking person gently lowered the child's hand.

"Marie! She took forever! What do you think took her so long?"

"Perhaps it was President?"

"Pfft, and I made President promise to be as quick as possible too."

"Well, she must've tried."

"She didn't try hard enough! It's boring here!"

"Enough though I'm here with you?"

"I-I, well, it wasn't so bad with you…"

The two turned their attention back to Wang Fang.

"I'm Marigold, this little one here is Candy," Marigold smiled. "Come, have a seat. You must be tired, I bet President's place didn't even have a place to sit."

Marigold pulled Wang Fang down to sit next to her.

Candy leaned over to grab something from Wang Fang's hair.

"??!"

"President left some ice on you. You're probably going to be tainted by it if you leave it." Candy held up some bits of cold crystal.

"I-is that bad?"

Candy shrugged, "Could be. We're fine, but you should probably watch yourself. You're turning blue."

Wang Fang looked down at herself to find that her white light had turned to a light blue.

"It's not too bad, don't worry too much," Marigold reassured Wang Fang with several head pats of her own.

Candy grabbed a nearby teddy bear and settled herself in Marigold's lap. She stretched out like a lazy cat and looked up at Wang Fang, her blue eyes becoming the same striking color as President's. She blinked and they turned back into the soft pastel blue that they were before.

"Do you have questions? We'll do our best to answer them." Marigold combed through Candy's platinum hair and messed with the child's bangs. In doing so, her own locks of platinum blonde hair fell onto Candy's face.

Candy batted Marigold's hair away and looked up at Wang Fang once more, her eyes filled with secrets she would like to share.

"H-how many of you guys do I have to meet?"

"As many as you need, my dear." Marigold smiled at Wang Fang mysteriously.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"We are Wang Fang. As for where you are, I cannot answer that."

"How-"

"We are dormant because of a certain someone's tantrum. She's refused to come out and now she drags us all down with her. I hope you can bring her back to her senses before it's too late." Marigold sighed as she stroked Candy's head absentmindedly.

"How long have I been here?"

"Not very long, time passes much faster here than outside. I doubt a minute has even passed out there."

Marigold looked down to see Candy drool onto her sundress. She stiffened then shook her head helplessly, "We mustn't wake Candy. You should get going. Others await you."

Marigold slowly set Candy down. She stood up and took out a handkerchief before expressionlessly wiping the saliva off her dress.

"Candy will be upset that she didn't get to spend much time with you. Be sure to come back and visit us again soon."

Wang Fang nodded.

"The next person in line should be Ghost. She's more knowledgeable than me so you may find more answers with her. Perhaps she'll even lead you to Wang Fang. Hurry before she gets tired of waiting."

Wang Fang was pushed out by Marigold. She ran quite a distance away before she looked back.

Just in time to see Candy's teddy bears come to life and smother her as Marigold's marigolds grow into monsters and eat her.

"...what…"

The monstrous creatures turned their attention to Wang Fang and began to give chase.

Wang Fang turned around and sprinted as fast as she could to get away from the grotesque flowers with blood dripping from their newly formed jaws.

Wang Fang ran and ran until she had no energy left. When she looked behind her, all she could see was endless darkness. Only then did she relax. She shook off the image of those monsters and continued onwards.

She started running once again when she saw the grey light in the distance.

When she approached, she saw that it was once again a strange landscape.

Everything in the land was made out of various devices and pieces of technology. Sitting in front of a pc in the middle of the landscape was a young woman with spectacles.

Just like the others, she looked like Wang Fang. Her long platinum hair was swept into a sleek ponytail with curtain bangs barely brushing her slender eyebrows. The eyes behind the black-framed glasses were sharp and crystal-clear. It was as if one glance could absorb all the information presented to her.

She donned a white blouse and pleated navy skirt coupled with an equally dark tie.

This is the Ghost that Marigold talked about.

Her eyes slid up from her screen to look at Wang Fang.

"So you've finally arrived."