New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live-Chapter 1108: Serenity And Dread

Tian Kuo stepped first into the doorway he had conjured, the scenery changing from the nice panorama his pagoda offered over the mountain range, to a sealed chamber, with no light to illuminate their arrival.

Everyone followed suit except Amara, who looked at the doorway with wide eyes and an uneasy feeling.

"I’m not stepping foot in there," she stated, looking at Alexander before he went in.

"I’m not asking you to. Let me do this quick thing, and I’ll bring you home right after. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. I’m sorry I took you from your room in the middle of the night, but I swear I’ll get you home shortly."

Amara huffed at his claim, doubting he was sorry at all for his actions. One did not act so decisively and regret afterward.

She knew from experience some actions required immediate taking, and being sorry for them was pointless.

"Save me the empty excuses. Just make sure you bring me back home soon, before Maria mobilizes all my men for a hunt. Even if you are strong, she is more dangerous than you give her credit for. Don’t tempt the fates," Amara threatened.

Alex chuckled as he walked past the strange doorway, ignoring her threat. He had no intention of letting this take any longer than a few minutes, after all.

He had shit to do, too.

Amara watched all of them vanish through the dark doorway before it eclipsed itself and sighed.

’Such a roughshod man, taking point in saving humanity. And to think I have to trust him... Oh well, no point in dwelling on the matter. He surely had his reasons,’ she mused, walking toward the open walls, gasping at the sight of the mountain range.

"Woah... Where the hell did he take me?" she whispered, seeing the height at which she stood, and the city in the distance.

By the structure under her, she could imagine it was somewhere in Asia, but for her, it was too hard to guess where.

She only ever travelled for business, after all: her travel credentials were sorely lacking.

"Well, at least while I’m waiting, I get to enjoy this view, I guess," she mumbled.

Turning to look at the table again, she noticed some teacups in front of some of the seats, some of which were still fuming from some hot liquid in them.

Walking over to the table, she spotted one cup still fuming and smelled the aroma floating over the teacup.

"Hmm, Pu-erh tea. High quality at that. I guess we must be in China, then," she mused, pulling the untouched cup to her lips.

Tasting the mellow-flavoured tea, which glided smoothly down her throat, leaving nothing but a sweet aftertaste in her mouth, akin to a ripe plum, she smiled.

"It’s excellent tea. Aged perfectly and probably stored in a specialized place. This man, whoever he is, doesn’t settle for mediocre."

Setting the cup back down, she pulled a chair toward the edge of the open wall, where a banister separated her from a fall that would surely be fatal, and walked back to the table to grab the cup.

She brought it to the chair and sat down to enjoy the view with warm tea in hand as the crisp mountain wind carried the smells of willows and chrysanthemums to her.

There was no sound to be heard aside from the breeze and the faint sway of the building, making the wood of its construction creak lightly.

Overall, the environment and the mood it set were peaceful and serene.

Even though she was usually impatient to get what she wanted, she could feel her usual hurriedness melt away at the sight of the clouds lazily flying by the pagoda.

’I could get used to this.’

She sipped the tea, enjoying the quiet, which was a luxury she seldom could afford these days, with how troubled the waters had gotten after New Eden had disconnected.

She had seen it happen in one of her visions. However, like all her visions, it came at the same time as many others, and she knew it was only a possibility.

She couldn’t possibly prepare for all of them, since most of her visions contradicted each other. The only times she could prepare for anything was when the visions were set in a timeframe that had no other vision in it.

This was a rare occurrence, but one she treasured when it happened.

Lost in thought, she didn’t even notice as the surrounding air suddenly began freezing, making the tea in her cup freeze over and her breath come out in little clouds of condensation.

By the time she noticed, her body was shivering in place, and her nightgown was crispy with frost.

"What in the hell is happening?" she muttered, getting up from the stone chair that was now freezing her buttocks.

Looking over the banister, everything seemed normal, both with the pagoda and in the distance. But she could tell something was off.

At that moment, a wave of mana hit her, making the air escape from her lungs, turning the cold air into burning gas, which had her gasping for every bit of air she could find.

Amara recognized this suffocating presence. It was one she had felt so often in her visions.

"A demon," she muttered, her eyes bloodshot from the lack of air.

Memories of her visions flashed behind her eyes, standing in rivers of blood, as her friends’ corpses were strewn around her feet, imps and lesser demons feeding on them with glee.

The sound of bones cracking and popping reached her ears as the slurping of bloody flesh echoed in her mind.

Her body began shivering again, the vision too strong for her to break out of, as tears began streaking down her face.

Her heart started beating faster and faster as the imps in her vision locked their eyes on her.

Fear locked her body, and she couldn’t move a single muscle from the terror spreading inside her mind. In her visions, the demons had never seen her.

This was the first time they noticed her, and she could feel the terror spreading in her body.

But before anything else could happen, the suffocating presence vanished, and her vision was cut abruptly. She collapsed to her knees, wheezing as her lungs cried out for fresh air.

"What in the gods..."