Kaleidoscope: The Fox And The Butterfly

28- Follow The Spiral

His vision dark and closed, Ren feels himself weighless above ground but still standing upright. He feels his four limbs spread out and straightened. Tingles of buzzing pain tied around his wrists and ankles. A similar sensation to a sleep paralysis's numbness. He could only flexes and pulls his fingers, no other joints has responded to his command.

"Oh my, this is that fox I told you about before! Tell me, is this mere coincidence? Or were you planning this all along?"

A voice both familiar and unfamiliar to him. Familiar as in he heard it before, unfamiliar as in he doesn't know much of its owner.

"Ah, I remember how feisty this one was. How'd you even tame him?" That voice says again. It has a slight echo of a man's and a woman's tangled together. A voice so out of this world, or more specifically, out of earth.

Groaning, Ren slowly opens his eyes, his blurry vision meeting the magenta glow emitted from a colossal thing in front of him- A giant sakura tree surrounded by three torii gates.

Startled, his pupils jolt around. He sees that he is stuck in a some sort of a circular crucifix that holds his limbs with knots made out of electricity.

But the rest of the sight isn't making this anymore concrete. He finds himself in the middle of a giant, dark room. Dusty, cracked bricks being its floor, walls and pillars. Bioluminescent plant life scatters around the corners and sides of the room, on the wall or hanging from the unseen ceiling. Most of those plants glows dim purple, creating a starry sight that contrast the dark.

But the true source of light in this lampless room is the phenomenon in its middle, the giant sakura tree that is surrounded by three crumbling and dusty torii gates. Ominous magenta veins glows, spreading throughout the tree's barks as if they're circulating its own glow. Those veins circles on the center of the tree's pillar-like stem into a spiral shape. In the center of that spiral is a giant and glowing purple fox mask, surrounded by nine petal-like structure that vividly pulsates a glowing gradation of purple to pink, then to blue.

"Oh! He woke up! My, how exciting!" That voice speaks again, distracting Ren away from the sight.

The voice belongs to a certain someone with only one facial feature, the yellow slit that runs down from the center of her face to her thin, non-existent feet glows in excitement. That Jellyfish Woman's voice is as playful as ever as she floats in front of Ren, one tentacle hovering inches from his cheek, almost touching him.

"Miss Cubozoa, I'd prefer if you refrain from touching him, please," Gently, the Manticore's voice comes from behind the Jellyfish Woman, prompting her to retract herself back onto the floor.

"Ah, I do apologize for that. I guess my curiosity has its negativity."

"If you'd like, you can watch the whole ritual commence. But please, do not interfene with the process, nor its subject."

"Hmm, well, these kinds of affairs back at Xczyuar isn't as strict as the ones here on Earth. But well then, aside from that. I suppose you have kept your part of the bargain, yes? That's the only reason I've been waiting here~" Cubozoa hums, her body bouncing with each words.

"Of course, Miss Cubozoa, the artifacts that you've requested will be delivered to your estate shortly after this."

"Heheh, no no! That won't do!" She immediately dismisses his words, "I would like to see atleast... One. With my own eyes. Right here, right now."

Her demand leaves him out of words.

"In particular, I would like to see that Triangle," She continues, looking up at her own lightbulb, "The abstraction of earthlings to be capable of trapping an ancient god inside a little device is fascinating don't you think?" She then goes back to face the Manticore, tilting her head as she do so.