Chapter 5 is up now and ready to eat. Glad everybody is enjoying it so far. I am trying new things with every Chapter, so if you notice my writing getting confusing, i do apologize.

Elias and all characters referenced from 'ancient magnus bride' belong to Seven Sea Entertainment
Al belongs to me

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It was strange. Nothing had changed. Something bigger and stronger than him, swallowed him down with little to no hesitation. But something was different about this last time. Could it be that he gets digested faster if the eater kisses him? That was when a thought crossed his mind as he laid there on the soft grass. How would he know if he made it home? It's not like the memory is there to tell him that he is. He sat up and looked behind him. ‘As far as I know, this little house could be home. Wouldn't complain, it's beautiful here, and relaxing.’ The thought crossed his mind as he looked upon what could be summarized as a summer home. Or would it be spring cause of all the flower? It's difficult for the young traveler to get a grasp off when he is. It feels like a week since he's started this journey, but that could be a lie. Maybe each time he jumps, his body might've been digested down now for weeks. Months. Even years wouldn’t be too crazy. He saw the stone path before him and walked on it towards the front door. Upon standing in front of average wooden door, he looked and saw the doorbell.
“Better knock first,” said Al as he reached to knock.
Knock. Knock.
Nothing happened for a few seconds. So he rang the doorbell, the sound echo throughout the house. He waited a good minute. No answer, not even someone yelling to hold on. The young boy reached for the doorknob. But before he even had the chance to grab the thing, the door clicked. And the door slowly opened for him.
“Hello?” yelled the boy as he stood in the door frame. He cautiously walked into the ordinary house. “I'm coming inside.” The boy untied his shoes and left them inside the house, near the door. ‘Weird. Wonder why I feel the urge to do this?’ the boy thought to himself as he looked around. As he walked in, to the right was a kitchen, not too cramped but just right. And in the middle was a white table, with four chairs. You'd think with four people here, that someone would be home. There was a piece of paper folded up on the table.
‘Elias,
Went to market with Chise and Ruth. Be back before night.
Silky’
“Such nice handwriting. Must be a girl’s,” Said The traveler as he stood in the kitchen holding the opened note. Elias. Chise. Silky. And Ruth. Aside from that last name, the other three were easy to guess. He put the note back like he founded it, and proceeded to explore the house. Across from the kitchen, was a dim room, shelves of books covering the walls. The language appeared oddly, like it was gibberish, but understandable if one focused enough. Al walked out of the room, the amount of focus needed was making him light-headed. He saw a stair case, and walked up the wooden planks. Upon reaching the second floor, there were three rooms, doors all closed. Odd. There are four people in this house, yet only three rooms. Was The fourth a recent addition? As he was about to grab the door knob, something grabbed at his wrist painfully. Al looked down and saw what had wrapped itself around his wrist: Thorns. A black vine had come out of the door and wrapped itself around the hand that was about to grab the ordinary looking door knob. Then, a sound echoed in the house, like inside a cave. Suddenly, little blue star like lights rose from the wooden floor, and flew upwards at an alarming speed. But what The young intruder didn't notice before it was too late, were the thorns rising from the ground, wrapping bits of his body in their black vines. Before he could say something, his body was wrapped in a thorny cocoon. Another thump noise filled the house, and almost on cue, the cocoon sunk into the wood, like being slowly dropped into a pool of quick sand. In a matter of seconds, the cocoon was gone from the second floor of the house. And the traveler with it.

Though the cocoon had vanished from the second floor, it wasn’t destroyed, merely moved to a more convenient location. The cocoon materialized into a darkened room, similar to the room with books, but with tables, chairs, and a few heated lamps. Al had to be careful, for if he moved even an inch, his body would be covered with scars. And he's not even sure how much the curse would heal him. Though he couldn't move or see, he had his hearing. And what he heard was a single set of footsteps, walking slowly, the volume of the steps getting louder. As they stopped, there was silence. Then, he felt the cocoon get tapped right on his face, and the thorns shivered, moving slowly apart without even a scratch. The light from the flames of the lamps blinded the prisoner for a few seconds. Al squinted his eyes, and made out a silhouette. The shadow of the person was about eight or seven feet tall, and his back was facing me. He had a on a suit, but it appeared baggy, almost like a trench coat, and was black. The man looked back at the cocoon, his long snouted face was covered by a simple red cloth.
“You appear human, but something bothers me. See most humans--,” his voice was interrupted by the shocked impression of the cocoon boy, for the calm voiced man held the sneakers that Al removed when he walked into the house. “They don't usually take the time to remove their footwear in the house that they intend to rob.” He dropped the shoes, but when they landed, it sounded like they did by the front door.
“I am no thief. I woke up on your lawn and was hoping to find help inside this house. But when I knocked and rang the doorbell, the door opened itself up.” Protested Al as he looked a little weird with his face being the only thing of his body exposed. “I have no reason to steal. And no kind of grudge against you. So I ask you kindly: would you please release me?” The words from his mouth were true, but he hoped this person would see it too. The man looked back at the boy, a red eye glowing brightly back at him. Seeing that, Al started to sweat. Was this the shadow creature in his true form? Will he kill the traveler, or chew him up into pieces and devour his remains? These thoughts filled the prisoner with fear and anguish, and he started to squirm. Thorns we're prickling his entire body as he tried to free himself. The man looked back at him in shock.
“Please refrain from moving! If you don't, you'll most assuredly—” said the creature, reached out like he wanted to grab the boy’s hand. But whatever he had said was lost, as Al had lost too much blood, and passed out.

It felt like a bad, educational show. This was the part where he learned something new. Al sat crossed legged in the void, expecting the creature to torture him, or a memory to torture him. Either way, he would learn something new: different kinds of pain. But nothing was happening. It's been awhile since he just had a dream where he did nothing.
“My, what as unusual venue.” Said a familiar voice. It belonged to the one that tried to stop him. Al was hesitant, but he had to see if it was Him or not. Standing next to him, was not the buff man he spoke to. Instead was the shadow figure from the room he was just in. But now, he could fully see the person. The creature was wearing a black suit, almost identical to a trench coat, but fancy. He had a white under suit, the kind that looks good with a tie. But Instead of a tie, he had a jewel of sort dangling around his neck like a necklace, but it wasn't. And that's when the boy saw his face. The red cloth that covered his face was draped over the back of his head, just past the twisted twin horns he had. Horns? It was true, they were horns, brown, and had lines that made a repeated pattern. On the base of both horns, was two yellow strings that were slipped under his chin, like a child that was playing with their parent’s necklace but they put it on their ears and not on the neck. But what should've surprised the fearful boy, didn't. Both his eyes red, unlike the creature he encountered in this void. And what kind of made him surprised was the fact that his head, looked like the skull you would see in cartoons that took place in the desert. Though his neck was almost hidden completely, Al saw the faintest of dark purple flesh. The man's red eye looked down at the boy, his mouth unmoved. “Did my form, truly scare you?” the man almost sounded sad when he asked. “I apologize. My form tends to scare those, which is why I hide my face with this cloth,” the creature gestured to flip the cloth onto his face, but his wrist was grabbed. Al stood up and had his hand holding the man's wrist, and his head rested where the heart would be located on a person. Faintly, he heard it. The sound of a heartbeat, calmly beating like nothing was wrong.
“No. You're ok. I should apologize to you.” Said the boy, who started to calm down the more he heard the heart beating. “Someone, or rather something, has cursed me. And seeing him, sends my body into shock, and I start to freak out.” He slowly lowered his hand, as he pulled the wrist down with it. Al then softly grab the hand he stopped, which he just now noticed, was wearing a fancy white glove. “Its funny. Despite all those that resemble monsters or creatures, I hoped there was a sliver of humanity that would let them spare me. But you,” Al placed the man's hand inside both of his own. “You are the closes I've seen that has been even remotely close to human.” The man tilted his head to the side.
“What a odd intruder indeed.” He said, his mouth didn't budge. He pulled his hand out of the clasping hands, and gestured to hug the boy. “Odd things are always the best things in life.”

After that touching moment, the two went back to the matter at hand.
“So, uh, sir. How are you here in my head?” Al Asked the tall man. The man looked down.
“I am Elias. And this isn't your head.” He said looking at the emptiness. “This is a pocket world, manipulated by the one who cast it. When you passed out, I noticed your mind vanished, so I followed,” Yeah. He was way too calm, like this was normal for him. “My body is currently working to heal you in our world, while my mind is here.” He moved his hand like, he was parting a curtain. And in his palm, was a glowing fabric of darkness. He looked at it, like he was looking through a micro scope. “I see. So this is his work, is it.” He calmly dropped the fabric, which dissolved into the darkness. He looked down at the boy, who didn't even realize he was holding his other hand. “It appears that the one who made this had something else to attend to and didn't come. Come, let us take our leave.” Elias raised his unused hand, and a snap echoed.

Al slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw were the bright red eyes of Elias looking down at him. He rose to a sitting position, placing a hand on the side of his head.
“Ugh. Why does everything hurt.” Al said, not even meaning to make it sound like a question, but a fact. Everything hurt. Out of nowhere, Elias stood on his feet, with a wooden cane in hand. It was a normal walking stick, but something was different about it. Elias tapped the floor near Al twice, the familiar sound echoed through the room. And Al was surrounded by blue lights once again. Except for instead of thorns, he was now towered by a two hundred foot tall Elias. The giant reached down, and grabbed the four inch Al. He held the little boy in front of his gaping moist maw, and out from it, a large purple snake of a tongue wrapped itself around Al. And pulled the boy into his wet abyss with no hesitation. A tiny squeak was heard before being pulled the gullet. No bulge was made, when he swallowed down the boy, or when the morsel landed in his gut. He rose to his feet, and sat in his study chair.
“I do apologize for such a rash behavior. I was originally gonna just give you a good tongue bath. But something urged me to want to swallow you down.” Elias said, now sitting crossed legged in the comfortable chair. No response from the boy, or he was so small that he couldn't hear him answer back. Or complain. “You see, my tongue holds a bit of healing magic in it. You had said you were hurting, so I had wish to heal you. But it appear your curse changed that,” And though he couldn't hear the boy, he knew he was surprised to hear him say curse. “Yes. Your curse, which was lost to the winds of time. But time isn't a problem for a immortal man, like him.” Elias felt a cold chill throughout the room, like a window opened up somewhere. He continued talking with the little time he knew he had left before the boy was digested. “His name was lost to those same winds, but goes by the name, ‘Free'. To represent his freedom from the shackles that bind him.” He rose to his feet, and walked to the kitchen and grabbed the folded parchment that was on the floor. “I cannot lift a spell of this caliber. Only he can. I am sorry I cannot help you anymore than this.” He stared at the handwriting, placing the unused left hand that was held by the boy earlier, on his unchanged belly. “Safe travels, my friend,” before Elias would forget, he snapped his fingers with his left hand, and blue flames enveloped the shoes that were at the front door, leaving no evidence, not even ashes or burn marks.