A shrine
Slipping out of the cave again, I gaze around the surroundings, trying to figure out which way to go.
As my gaze wonders, I can't help but notice the nature for once.
The grass, which takes on a blue color, easily sways with the waters currents, matching their motions.
The trees, while red in coloration, still retain all the features from their land counter parts.
Various other foliage litter the area, some taking close forms to those found on land while others seem completely alien.
And while not pronounced, various forms of wild life scurry and roam across the forest. Many fish and other sea critter taking the form similar to land animals.
'Hm… this way should be good…'
Deciding to go to the left for my little adventure, I go to swim forward…
*Glub*
'So… hungry…'
First though, I take a small detour towards one of the octopus that I had slaughtered yesterday.
Quickly grabbing a bite, I make my way back to the cave, going in the direction I had originally intended.
Drifting through the quiet forest, the only thing my thoughts can do is wander.
Only now did I realize that my new life up until now had been a series of fights. Rather than living, I've only been searching for more blood…
Thinking about it… brings on a certain feeling within my heart…
Continuing my swim, I instead glance around curiously, trying to keep these thoughts away…
And just like that, almost two hours pass, with me swimming around the calm forest, admiring the landscape…
And then… something interesting happened. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something near the ground.
A series of stones dot the ground, leading in a certain direction.
'A stone path…?'
Deciding why not, I started to follow the stone path.
Every once in a while, along the side of the path, a stone lantern would appear, with a glowing yellow stone within its center.
Continuing down the path, I admired the scenery, only stopping when the path ended, leading into a clearing.
The dirt clearing was fenced in with a tall red fence, while the entrance was framed with a red arch.
Within the center of the clearing was a dilapidated building, which I easily recognized as a shrine.
The building was rather large for a shrine, looking to have three floors in total. Although most of the building was scarred, filled with holes and other damages, it still held a certain air around it.
Drifting into the clearing, I let my gaze wander around the shrine, admiring it despite its poor state.
My gaze lingers for a moment, spotting an open window on the second floor of the shrine. Not minding the peculiar entrance, I swim up towards it.
(A/N: I definitely didn't make her go through a window cause I have no fucking clue where a shrines entrance would be at…)
Slipping through the window, my fish eyes quickly dilate, rapidly adjusting to the lack of light.
As my eyes start to stabilize, the sight of a room comes to view. The room, which seems to be a bedroom of some kind, is rather nice compared to the rest of the dilapidated shrine.
The room has a large bed, with fluffy looking blankets. While the bed is placed in the middle of one of the walls, there is a table and wardrobe on the opposite.
The wardrobe, which is cracked open, contains various traditional Japanese clothing, as well as more modern casual clothes.
To the left of the wardrobe is a table and a chair. The table does have much other than some tattered papers and old looking writing utensils. A dusty looking coat is draped over the wooden chair.
Giving the room another glance, it has quite the comfortable feeling, even being cozy to a certain degree.
Actually, now that I think about it… It reminds me of my grandparents house…
Moving on from my thoughts, I drift over to the bed… Deciding to test if it's as comfortable as it looks…
Curling my body around itself on the bed, almost like a dog, I try to get comfortable on the soft looking bed… Only…
'Why the fuck is this so hard!? Ugh…'
Instead of a soft bed, I instead get something that feels like a rock, digging into my scales.
Deciding to investigate, why such a comfortable looking bed is so uncomfortable, I pull back the blanket, using my hydro motion to do so.
'Ah so that's why it's so hard, there's a skeleton'
Lying comfortably under the blanket on the bed, is a skeleton, smaller in size and with two protrusions coming from the head.
Guessing from the bone shape and some details I picked up from around the room… The skeleton seems to belong to a girl… Probably not human, especially with horns like those…
And from the quality of the room… This person was probably the one in charge of this shrine and…
Looking around the room, I can't help but wonder if this area is really part of some dungeon, rather…
Rather it seems like this place actually has a history to it like…
...like it was ripped straight out of the real world.
Actually, this kind of reminds me of something… I remember I read a novel once, where the dungeon master stole various parts of the real world to gain certain advantages in their dungeon…
Ah well, I suppose it could be a possibility, but… I don't really mind either way
Turning my back towards the skeleton, I make my way to the door, hoping to find something interesting in this shrine…
--- --- ---
Hello hello, very late release, sorry.
I would've released hours ago if my chapter hadn't been deleted for no reason.
Well long story short, my chapter didn't save as a draft in the we novel app and I just lost the mood to write. So I put off till now…
Ah, also, sorry if this seems to be of lower quality than my other chapters but…
Solo exploration like this is a pain in the ass for me to write, I rather write fights or character interactions.
Also I had to rewrite this so that might also contribute to the low quality…
Well that's all!
Fuck~
you~