Lethal Beauty

Lethal Beauty - Winter Wonderland Part Three

This dream was wild!

Abel thought to himself---I just want to wake up!

"I'm guessing with the way you smile that you're the Cheshire cat?" he said to the vampire who in the real world had returned to the clan and was now among the councils.

Jessen wasn't the kind to take his responsibility seriously and had been regularly traveling the world, but would often visit Abel and Iris to complain about his new position. By the way, the Jessen in his dream had cat ears and a tawny tail that made it difficult for Abel to take him seriously. But should he take anyone in this dream seriously?

"I'm a cougar, but okay..." the man reminded and shrugged.

"Whatever! How am I supposed to get out of here?"

"Get out of where?"

"HERE! Also, how am I supposed to get back to my original size?"

Jessen looked up. "That depends on where you want your feet to take you."

"I don't care as long as I can get back home---"

"Then, it doesn't matter which path you walk into," said Jessen.

"---I want to go HOME!"

"Where is your home?"

Abel opened his mouth, blinked, and felt that the question seemed to have two meanings. Where was home indeed? The last time he asked this question, he found himself at a vampire academy. It was one of those adventures that led him to his fate where he met the others.

But HOME is where IRIS is...Abel said to himself.

"How do I know which door leads me somewhere?" he tried asking again.

Jessen waved his right hand round, "In that direction lives the two idiots that are fond of the tea party; and in that direction," he waved his other hand with perfectly polished claws, "lives the bored caterpillar. You can visit either one of them, doesn't matter. They're all crazy."

"I already did, thank you!" Abel impatiently remarked. "Can't you say something sensible? Tell me, where do I find the wise owl?"

"The wise owl, eh? He's attending the wedding."

"A wedding?"

Jessen nodded, he was now busy grinding down and shaping the edges of his nail with a file. "Yes, a wedding."

"But they said I should find the wise owl to get out of this mad place."

The man appeared flabbergasted. "We're all mad here. They are mad. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you that I'm one of you?"

"You must be. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

Abel didn't feel the need to prove anything to him at all. Even in this dream, it was hard to talk to Jessen. It had only been a few minutes and his head was already aching bad. He looked at the end of the corridor and saw the small door and thought it must be the way out.

As he walked nearer, he noticed a riddle above the door. Bending and leaning closer, he started to read: "Life is a maze, of endless misdirection. To win the game, you must first learn to see what is hidden in plain sight."

In plain sight? Abel looked around again and saw a painting hanging between door A and door B on the right wall. The painting featured the five people he met before arriving in this place. Lexus, Milo, his grandmother, Raviel, and his brother Stein. Their hands were bent in a somewhat peculiar way as if they were holding something. Only that neither one of the five people had anything stuck in their hands. As he studied the portrait closely, he noticed an information column below the painting. There was an orange box on the column and there was a button on top of this box. Anxious but also curious, he clicked on the top of the orange box and it opened...a RED DIAMOND popped out of the box.