I stepped out into the narrow hallway with the thudding close of the heavy door behind, momentarily breaking the silence cast upon the mansion.

A wave of cold damp air washed over me, making me shiver a little. My eyes rolled without a pause as it  greedily took in the sight of aesthetic architecture reminding me of a vampire's gothic abode. Be it the high vaulted ceilings etched in mesmerizing paintings or the exposed beams hung with wrought iron chandeliers or the faded black wallpapers adorning the walls mounted with beautiful sculptures, gargoyles, tapestries of mythical creatures, unlit candelabras and gas lamps. Everything was so… breathtaking. It felt like I'm high on aesthetic pleasure.

*Swoosh*

A cold breeze brought me back from the high. I rubbed my gooseflesh from the chill and shaked away my dazed mind. Sharpening my nerves, I looked ahead in apprehension.

The hallway slumbered in silence. Only the thin white curtains shading the stained glass windows swayed gently letting in foggy sunlight that danced with the coloured shadows on the deep wine red carpet. 

Quiet like a cat's paw, I walked forward with unconscious careful steps muffled on the carpeted floor. With a sideway glance, I stepped past the food cart standing aside. But…

*Growl*

Damn, not now! The pleasant smell wafting from the food made my starved stomach protest loudly once again breaking the silence in the hallway. I froze in my steps and looked around, face slightly heated up in embarrassment. 

Thankfully, no soul could be sensed. 

I let out a sigh of relief and traced back my steps to the cart. It's a sin to leave the food lonely out in the cold wind. With tongue flicking my parched lips in anticipation, I lifted the lid covered above and…

Voilà!

The simple yet savory breakfast blinded my eyes in illusory sparkle and sent a blast of drooling aroma to my twitching nose. Forgetting all the tension I felt by the gloomy corridor, I rubbed my palms and dragged the cart back to the room feeling mischievous like a thieving cat. I shut the door and sat before a small mahogany table with the steaming food spread out in front. Hm~ hmm~

*Gulp*

I first scooped a spoonful of hot soup, blew the heat gently and gulped down almost biting the spoon. Wow! 

The taste burst like firecrackers inside the mouth, making me widen my eyes in bliss and as it flowed down the dry throat, it moistened it and warmed my stomach like a gentle kiss of a mother's embrace. 

After practically inhaling the soup bottom up, I spread the butter and jam on soft bread and took a rapacious bite. Mhmm, this is it! Impatient, I stuffed some more seasoned scrambled eggs into my still chewing mouth. Oh, the buttery burst of flavor. Délicieux! With no inch of elegance left, I gobbled down the rest of the food like a ravenous beast. 

Who's to blame?! I'm literally starving from two lives back for fxcks sake, it's a feat I'm still functioning sane. 

After the scrumptious fill, I slouched back in the cushioned chair sipping the aromatic coffee, feeling fuzzy like a well fed cat. After some time staring into the space with half-lidded eyes and mind cleared of thoughts, I reluctantly blinked away my sleepy brain and stood up stretching. I really wanna take a nap. I gave a longing look towards the bedroom. 

*Slap*

I slapped myself in cheeks. Wake up you damn bastard! You're in a strange place. Have some sense of crisis! 

Yoshi! Let's go!

I rolled the leftover cart and placed it back outside the room. 

Then, shall we explore?!

With my energy bar full, I sauntered down the hallway and found myself in the balcony above an empty ill-lit ballroom furnished in elegant chairs and tables. But… why does this mansion feel so deserted? The shut doors of rooms all around veiled the place in shadow like a protective embrace under a large wing of a giant creature. It felt cozy but at the same time a bit creepy. The faint light leaking from the gaps around slithered through the jewel adornments and the crystal chandeliers, their flickering shine reflected on the numerous giant vertical mirrors placed on walls creating a disorienting effect. 

Finding a large ornate door in one side of the wall that seemed to be an exit, I climbed down the spiral staircase with the cold railings numbing my fingers and chill seeping my feet from the cold stone steps. As I descended, I felt like I'm spiraling down to the heart of a devil's tomb with air growing colder and my mood somber with each  echoing step. Is it my illusion or intuition that I feel like something's watching me from the dark? 

Haha, must be my mind playing with me.

Still a bit uneasy, I started striding fast to the door on the opposite end of the wide hall. As I neared the center, the chains hanging from the large crystal chandelier above clinked slightly in some unseen wind. My eyes wandered to the mirrors that reflected myself in multiples. Surprisingly, my gait unconsciously evened out to a steady pace and posture straightened to a graceful bearing. 

It's like my body autocorrected itself. What the heck? At first, I felt a detached discomfort but then the demeanor flowed smoothly like it's always been my own. Just as I turned my head away from the mirror feeling amused at the repeated strange situations I'm encountering, my peripheral vision caught sight of some movement in the reflection and..

*Crash*

One moment, I'm standing and the next, I'm lying face down in the rubble of crashed pillars and a shit ton of pain from my abdomen and spine to the bonus. 

"Argh.. cough! Cough.. W-what?"

I pushed myself up with a groan and sat leaning against the pillar, coughing dust and blood in the process. My head spinned like crazy from the dizziness and ringing. But my blank mind slowly kick-started to function as the pain disappeared suddenly just like how it came. 

I'm still alive?  And not a pile of broken bones & blood with that impact strong enough to shatter a pillar?  

Far from feeling weak, weirdly enough, my body feels energized and senses abnormally sharp like I'm overdosed on caffeine. Every touch of a sand grain on my palm, the sound of my racing heartbeat, the drag of my huffing breath, the suddenly bright vision like night goggles and even the faint footsteps approaching through the dust. Wait… My eyes narrowed as I watched the approaching entity, body rigid in tense. Suddenly I'm painfully aware how my own heartbeat grew increasingly fast as the footsteps neared. My tightly clenched fist drew blood from the nails digging in deep but I wasn't even aware. My whole being focused only ahead. But…

Scared. Really scared.

The dust cleared and I could finally see the enemy. It's a person clad in black ninja like clothes with a hood covering their face. A sword resembling a katana was sheathed around their waist. The person approached with a leisurely gait but my fear only deepened. Was it because of the lack of heartbeat? Or the creepy feeling of the gaze boring into me? There was this sense of incongruence in their whole being like it's not supposed to exist. Like it's not something living…

It stopped two steps away from where I sat frozen in fear and looked down overbearingly at me with a slight tilt of its head. I took a sharp breath in shock. I wasn't even aware I was holding my breath until now. The face! There isn't one! It's just a head with no eyes, nose or mouth except for the blue-black hair. It's like someone tightly wrapped a layer of grainy skin around the face.

Gulp.

Just as I gulped in fear as the strange entity stared at me with strangling tension in the air, suddenly it lunged fast and raised me high, dragging my whole body against the pillar with one arm gripping my neck hard. 

Khegh.. can't breathe.. I clawed at the hand strangling my throat. My fingernails dug into it with a weird sensation of clawing concrete. Only a few fragments slipped away. Soon the clawed part rebuilt itself anew. I stopped and dropped my hands helplessly hanging aside.

It brought its face close to mine. Now I could even see the constantly swirling waves under the grainy layer of skin like numerous worms wriggling under sand. The part where the mouth should be rippled and a hole appeared amidst the swirling mass. The hole soon formed an ill-shaped mouth. Then… it grinned. Yeah, it grinned eerily wide with both ends of the mouth reaching the side of the head. Then a scratchy broken voice came out like nails scraping against stone. 

"F..ig..h.t.. Ba..c.k…"

Fight back? I can't even lift my hand now. Just.. kill me… already…. When I was at the verge of fainting from lack of oxygen, I was suddenly sent flying, once again, crashing through the tables and chairs at the end of the ballroom. 

"Urgh… cough! wheeze.. cough.. cough"

I coughed painfully and greedily took in air that suddenly felt so precious. Arghh! Why me?... I should have just lied down in bed instead of this sudden pvp battle. This time I wasn't so overcome with fear and freeze. I stood up staggeringly with the help of the wall. Surprisingly, my body felt fine aside from some minor injuries. I spit the blood pooled in my mouth aside and wiped the trickling corners with the back of my hand. You want a fight? I'll give you a fight motherfxcker. 

Suddenly, I'm not so scared anymore. What could happen? Death? Pshh.. tell me something new. Death just became my new best friend. I scoffed internally and glared at the ninja man with newfound courage. A weapon… I looked around for something to grab on.

"!"

Gotcha! I grabbed the butter knife among the broken tableware. I stepped out of the rubble and stood in front of the faceless wielding the butter knife like a warrior with Excalibur. I guess you want to play with the prey before killing. Bastard, I won't die without giving a solid punch to that wriggly face of yours. 

Seeing my stance, the wriggly, I'll call you wriggly from now on, also took a stance and unsheathed the katana with a shing. The shiny sword's reflection gleamed dangerously in the mirrors all around. Hey, wait a minute.. isn't it too much to take out the sword against my butter knife? Wriggly, not fair! 

I can d-do it. Even though my hand was shaking slightly in fear, I steeled my nerves and focused all my enhanced senses on the opponent. Gulp. I could even hear the sound of my sweat sliding down my temples and dropping on the floor. A slight screech of the opponent's leg moving an inch alerted me. Now!

A blink of my eye and the creature is already upon me. So fast! The sword aiming for my neck rushed at me. I felt like a snail watching the world. Move! Dammit. And like a miracle my body moved at the last fraction of second before the sword pierced me. With a slight tilt of my head, I evaded the sword. A trickle of blood ran down my cheeks where the sword grazed. Though my body remained standing rooted, my hands didn't stay still. 

Stab!

I thrusted the knife straight into the entity's heart with all the force my body could muster. Since I didn't evade and stood still, Wriggly's whole body crashed into me and we were both sent crashing against the mirror wall. And everything went still.

"Huff.. huff…"

The only sound for a while was my heavy breathing. I was sandwiched between the broken shards of mirror digging my back and Wriggly's looming body. The katana was embedded deep into the wall right next to my ear. With the weight of the crash, the butter knife was pierced deep inside its chest until the hilt and I felt something fragile.. crack. 

And like a ripple in still water, cracks started to appear like a wave from its chest and soon spread throughout the whole body. My eyes widened and I watched in shock as the whole being soon turned into powder and disappeared like mist. 

Did I do it?! That's it?

I stood still and my mind took a while to process the fact that I actually killed it. I did it! Damn you, wriggly! I won! Woo hoo… Haha. Hm? What's that? Woah Woah wait, what the fxck? 

While I was internally dancing in joy, six more Wrigglys jumped out the shadow and surrounded a tight circle around me. Are you kidding me?! 

Crack.

You hear that crack? Yeah, it's the sound of my imaginary ball of hope cracking and disappearing into powder just like the Wriggly before. My eyes become dead in the view of my bleak future. My death? Is that what you want? Fine…

The fingers gripping the knife loosened. The knife started slipping away but… I grabbed the handle tightly once again. Still… still, I won't go down without a fight. Grip.

I glared at the enemies waiting for them to charge. Then..

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

An echoing clap resounded through the wrecked ballroom, shattering the thick tension in the air. 

THUD.

A being jumped from the balcony and landed outside the circle with a thud. The Wrigglys surrounding me respectfully made way for the being and kneeled like knights with katanas unsheathed. It walked leisurely and stood before me. It was a person. A person with a face, thankfully. He wasn't anything like the Wrigglys, be it the clothes, demeanor or face. While the Wrigglys seem like something out of Japanese fantasy, He's wearing clothes from a typical medieval fantasy. An androgynous face and a lazy laid back demeanor with a slight smile on the lips. But one thing common between them was the hair. They all have that unique blue-black hair. He turned his head with an annoyed face and waved his hand casually at the kneeling group.

"That's enough for today. You all go back now"

Then the Wrigglys all sheathed their katanas simultaneously in one swift motion and disappeared back into the shadows. He then faced me with the slight smile back on his lips and eyes curving into a smile. It almost felt creepy. One more thing in common.

"Now, Now. My dear prince, If you can kill one of my puppets so effortlessly why do you have to drag on for so long? I really couldn't understand you who says he hates fighting and takes a beating instead even though he is so strong. Hm?" 

He quirked his brows playfully in wonder. Then he looked around with his brows furrowing in disgust.

"What a mess. Let me fix it"

*Snap*

He snapped his fingers casually. Then a magical sight unfolded before me. All the chairs, tables, broken pillars and everything flew back and fixed themselves like time rewound. The whole ballroom turned good as new. Even the shaky chandeliers fixed steadily. If I could freely express my emotions, my mouth would have been gaping open in shock right now. I was still alert of his presence and ready to fight back anytime but now I know one thing for sure. He's strong. Like really strong.

"Perfect. So, prince, why do you have to skip training this morning just because you hate fighting. We already went over this many times. If this happens again, I have no choice to report to your father"

At the mention of my father, he stared at me like he's expecting my reaction. I don't know this body's father. Maybe they have a bad relationship. But who is this guy anyways? Whoever he is, one thing I know is that this is some kind of training and he is not going to kill me. Relief flooded over me with my shoulders slumping in ease. The knife slipped out my hand and landed with a rattle on the floor. Anyways for now I have to go along with this guy.

"I apologize, I won't do it again" 

I bowed my head slightly and looked up to see his reaction. He made an understanding nod with an expression saying that's how it should be. I don't know what he misunderstood my reaction as. Maybe he saw that as resignation due to fear for my father.

"Good then. I won't be seeing you again anyways. I too apologize for promptly holding your missed training session"

He bowed his head slightly and curved his eyes in a narrow smile. Somehow I knew, that bastard's not sorry at all.

"It's alright"

"How generous of you my prince. Then I'll take my leave. As the butler of this mansion, I have to catch up on many tasks." 

Oh, so he's the butler. 

He turned back but stopped midway. Then he started striding towards me. What now? He gripped my shoulders painfully hard and examined my face with eyes enlarged comically.

"Oh my! There's a scratch on the prince's handsome face. What to do? Should I blow away the pain for you?"

This bastard. He's mocking me. Should I punch his face now? I steered in my anger and squeezed out a no.

"No thank you"

He gripped my shoulders even hard with that creepy smile.

"If you say so. But still tend to your injury soon so not to leave a scar on your noble face"

"Yes"

"I won't be seeing you again for a while. I'll be very sad, my prince. Don't forget my teachings and have a nice life at the academy. Farewells. Don't miss me too much"

He leaned in a bit and whispered the last part into my ears. My body went rigid and unconsciously pushed him away from me. Though he is bigger in stature and stronger than me, he got himself pushed back with a playful wink and sauntered away through the exit. 

Only then my rigid body relaxed. Creepy and dangerous. The whisper raised gooseflesh on my skin. It wasn't something like a romantic whisper or anything but more like a snake coiling around your throat and hissing threats in your ear. Dangerous, he may be but he sure is quite a jerk. 

Feeling petty anger, I raised both my middle fingers to the way he exited.

"Right! I forgot to give.. you.. this… Prince, what are you doing?"

I froze when he came back suddenly. 

*Swoosh~*

A cold wind blew in the resounding silence between us. I slowly curled my fingers and lowered my hands. Then I just stared at him dead in the eyes without blinking. I didn't do anything. It must be your illusion.

He once again curved his eyes into that narrow creepy smile but now even his mouth grinned wide. Now I know from where that Wriggly's smile came from. If he was just creepy before now he feels like an amalgamation of ten Wrigglys with the kill mode switched on. Don't kill me! I'm sorry.

He didn't come at me but just exaggeratedly widened his eyes with both hands on cheek comically.

"My cute prince, have you finally learned to swear? But what to do.. my faint heart is in distress that it is towards me. I just came back to deliver this"

With a swish, he flicked the thing in his hand towards me. I couldn't even see the path it flew but only a tingling sensation at my neck and something trickling down. I shakily brought my hand to my neck. Something cut me.

My eyes never left him. It's like an instinctual alertness against a predator. He suddenly erased all expression from his face and tilted his head like a doll.

"Be careful prince. Since my heart is in distress, I might make a mistake and accidentally cut your head off."

And then like a switch, his smile is on.

"But don't worry, your faithful butler will stitch your head back for you. Who knows? It might just stick back due to the abnormal healing power of your body. What do you say? Wanna give it a try?"

*Shake shake*

I creakily shook my head in denial.

"Sigh, what a pity. Call me if you need anything else then"

With that he disappeared again. I'd be insane to call you for anything. Crazy bastard. Wait… He won't come again right? I watched the exit warily for a while. Only then I was sure he's gone for good. 

"Sighhhh……"

I slumped down the wall letting out a tired sigh. 

What just happened?