The Arcadia System

"Where am I?"

Reve's eyes fluttered open. The sharp colours in his current surroundings invaded his pure sight as he tried to block them with his right paw.

He was in some sort of room, on a long table. The room was constructed with Asant, an exceedingly rare tree from Arcadia.

Before he could focus on the makeup of the room, he was attracted to a beautiful sound.

"Cat soup. Cat soup. Cat soup. Mix it with red mushrooms. Sweet," sang the beautiful voice.

It belonged to a young woman with grey hair flowing all the way to her waist.

She wore a long black flowing gown with ancient symbols embroiled in it. The gown was tight fitted on the waist, emphasizing on her sharp curves, thin waist, and moderate bust.

However, Reve could not focus on that. The song she sang made him fear for his life or what remained of him.

To top it off, she seemed to be chopping some ingredients on the very table Reve was on.

The woman noticed his subtle movements the moment he tried to spy on her.

She looked at him and smiled, "Oh, you are awake."

With her face facing him, Reve could see every detail.

Her oval face structure matched well with her abysmal black eyes that appeared to want to suck all light in the vicinity. Her plum dark red lips highlighted the feminine aspects of her. 

However, what bothered Reve was the natural sleepy look she had on her face. No matter what gesture she made, she gave the feeling that she would rather close her eyes and take a quick nap than deal with her current issues.

It was quite...carefree.

Reve asked her cautiously, "Is this the….otherside?"

"The other what?"

"The otherside," affirmed Reve.

He didn't feel good about the clueless look she shot at him.

"I don't understand," she said frankly.

"The otherside? You know, hell, the great beyond, the palace of dreams, underworld….." muttered Reve.

He wondered if the lady was truly ignorant or just pretending to be.

She chuckled as she focused back on her cooking, "Oh, that. Most certainly not. The underworld is an insane domain. It would be foolish to go there."

"So, this is not the underworld...."

"Yes, apparently," she rolled her eyes, mocking him.

When she noticed Reve's impatience, she guided the conversation, "Little thing, what are you trying to say?"

The words were at the backs of Reve's throat but he found it hard to release them.

However, with help from the lady, he hurriedly spat, "Am I dead?"

As he waited for the answer to his question, he suddenly felt conscious of time, counting each millisecond that went by.

"Yes," firmly replied the lady.

"Ohhh…..."

A weird feeling was building up in him. He felt it was strange. He had already come to terms with his death.

Yet, just when he thought he might not be dead, reality slammed into him like an angry bull.

As buried his head in his body and laid downcast, he heard boisterous laughter coming from the lady who tried to keep it down.

Ultimately, the moment he looked at her, she broke down in fits of laughter with tears coming down her face.

"Haha, Xoris' face, I jest. I jest. I jest, hahaha," she giggled, spewing all sorts of profanities from her delicate mouth.

After her laughter died down, she explained to the miserable down, "Oh, little thing, you are not dead. Well, you almost died. You would have gone to your 'otherside' had I not intervened."

The way she vocally highlighted 'otherside' made him feel embarrassed.

He was not sure whether she was pulling his legs so. he asked again, "I'm not dead?"

"No, you are not dimwit," chuckled the lady.

It was at times like these that her face was lively and not the usual lazy face.

She continued chopping the vegetables on the table as Reve was left to ponder on her words.

Minutes later, he addressed the elephant in the room, "What are you cooking?"

"Ca--Mushroom Soup," the lady smiled.

"You were going to say cat soup, weren't you?"

"Of course not. What do you take me for?"

Reve eyed her suspiciously, "Really?" 

"Ok, I admit. I was planning on savouring you. Well, I healed you a week ago yet you didn't wake up so I assumed you were beyond recovery. Hence, I planned to give you back to the world that birthed you," explained the lady.

She almost managed to convince Reve that she had noble intentions. Almost!

What sold her out was the song she sang when he had just woken up. It was the song one would sing when craving a sweet dish.

"Balderdash! I heard you," shouted Reve.

If he was a second late, he might have ended up in the lady's stomach.

After expressing his emotions, the room descended into silence.

It appeared that the lady was quite used to it as she made no effort to break it. All she did was continue cooking.

Reve wasn't concerned about that. He had experienced strange things recently. He needed some time to interpret them.

Minutes passed, and no sound apart from the whistling pot beside the table could be heard.

The lady was currently stirring her ingredients in her mushroom soup and the meal was almost ready.

She put her index finger on the spoon and tasted the content.

A smile erupted from her face as she nodded her head in satisfaction.

After a while, she lifted her pot from the strange device that served as its stove and placed it on the table next to Reve.

As soon as she snapped her fingers, two bowls appeared on her hand which poured a portion of the soup into.

She smiled at Reve, lifting him up with her free hand and walked out of the kitchen room, heading to her main room.

...

The lady walked past the hallway and entered a large room which was strangely warm.

She placed Reve on a nearby chair along with his bowl and sat on another.

Afterwards, they are and discussed, "Have you caught up with things now?"