Lucid stood there. He could feel her intensity radiating through the quiet atmosphere of the green field. Confronting her directly over her possessive behavior would lead to no obvious tactical outcome. He simply nodded and took a deliberate step backward, creating a necessary physical boundary between them.
He looked around the endless expanse of the soulscape. He needed to break the heavy tension settling over the grass. He raised his hand and pointed at the ground like a curious child asking a mundane question.
"Why is the grass green?" Lucid asked.
Alice stopped advancing. She clapped her hands gently beneath her chin, her lips parting in genuine intrigue. A soft, musical chuckle escaped her throat.
"It is the soulscape, my darling," Alice replied, brushing a stray lock of white hair from her shoulder. "Do you not remember?"
Lucid looked around the landscape again. He paced a slow circle around the massive trunk of the central tree.
"I do remember," Lucid stated, keeping his tone carefully neutral. "It is just that I have not seen this place in a very long time. I did not really pay attention to the surroundings during our last conversation here. I was a bit distracted by the giant metal spike protruding through your stomach."
Lucid rested his hands on his hips. He turned his attention back to her.
"So, is this the place you normally hang around?" he asked.
Alice tilted her head. "Hang around? What a vulgar way to address a Goddess."
She chuckled again, but the word did not sit well with him. 'Goddess.' The title implied a level of absolute authority that Lucid was not entirely willing to concede.
He looked at her standing under the shade of the tree. He took in her physical form. Her white robe hung loosely over her pale skin, barely contained by the heavy iron chains wrapping around her torso. Her thick, soft shoulders sloped downward into a deeply revealing neckline. Her chest was completely unrestricted by the fabric, exposing a dangerous amount of pale skin and the faint edge of a pink nipple. Her waist curved inward before flaring out into thick, plump thighs. She possessed a distinctly fertile and divine frame, a body built to inspire absolute reverence.
"Eyes up here, darling," Alice taunted.
Lucid looked away immediately, staring deliberately at a patch of distant grass.
'She thinks she has something to look at,' Lucid grumbled internally. He crossed his arms and pouted like a scolded recruit.
Alice walked closer to him. She moved with impossible, silent grace. She brushed her soft shoulder against his arm as she passed by.
"Yes, I spend the vast majority of my time in here when you slumber or when you are otherwise occupied," she explained.
She walked a couple of steps ahead of him. She turned back around, bending slightly forward and clasping her hands behind her back. The posture caused her white robe to slip even further. Lucid felt his cheeks burn. He forced his gaze upward, locking onto the stained white blindfold covering her eyes.
"I exist inside a state of trance," Alice continued, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "It is as if I share your exact vision."
Lucid looked at her with sudden, intense alarm. "Oh. Really."
"Indeed," Alice confirmed cheerfully. "I see everything you see."
Lucid dropped his arms to his sides. He delivered a completely deadpan stare. "But you know I am human, right?"
"I am acutely aware of your mortal status, Lucid."
"Yeah, well, I am so human that I take a shit every single day," Lucid informed her bluntly.
Alice recoiled slightly. She let out a soft gasp of aristocratic horror. "Such vulgar language."
She straightened her spine, adopting a posture of supreme dignity. "I do not take interest in such mundane biological activities. Do not worry. Observing that is entirely beneath me."
She shot him a condescending glance, an impressive feat considering her eyes were completely covered.
"But to the quite contrary," Alice added, a wicked smile spreading across her face. "I do watch very closely when you change your clothes."
"How lewd," Lucid muttered, instinctively clutching his own arms over his chest.
Alice smiled warmly. She gestured toward the endless green horizon.
"I am always here," she proclaimed softly. "This place is a domain within my own soulscape. Only the Enlightened possess a place quite like this."
"So I do not have one of my own?" Lucid asked.
"Well, your soulscape is mine," Alice answered, her voice dripping with possessive affection. "We are intertwined. We are one and the same."
Lucid brushed that commentary away. The underlying implication of her words was deeply concerning. He did not like the idea that he possessed no internal privacy.
"You can enter here at will," Alice explained. "Awakened mortals do carry their own internal domains, but they are incredibly fragile. I believe they are so beneath us that it would not mean anything to discuss that matter further."
She lifted her right hand.
A massive depression formed in the green grass a few yards away. Water bubbled up from the soil, filling the crater in a matter of seconds. A vibrant, crystal-clear pond emerged from the ground.
Alice bent down onto her knees at the edge of the water. The movement caused her white robes to spill open across the grass, revealing significantly more of her thick, pale thighs than any respectable maiden had the right to reveal. Lucid found himself unable to look away this time. He told himself it was a matter of tactical observation, but he knew it was a question of simple human desire.
A strange noise caught his attention. He heard the distinct chirps of small birds and the wet splashing of ducks.
Lucid walked toward the edge of the pond. Alice had given life to a small, thriving ecosystem. Tiny ducks floated across the surface of the water. A green frog rested on a lily pad, snapping its tongue at invisible insects. It was an incredible display of raw creation.
Her hand glowed with a soft green light. She looked at him with a deeply relished smile.
She reached her glowing hand toward the center of the pond and grabbed a white swan by its torso. The swan did not flap its wings. It seemed completely unresponsive to her touch. She held the bird with both of her hands and lifted it up to show him.
"I have been experimenting," Alice announced with a cheerful, highly possessive tone. "I am creating life."
Lucid looked closely at the swan. The body of the bird was absolutely flawless. The white feathers were pristine. The wings were folded perfectly against its sides. It looked exactly like any normal swan he had ever seen on Earth.
Then he noticed the face.
The bird had no beak. The front of its head was completely smooth, covered entirely in seamless white feathers. It possessed no mouth, no nostrils, and no method of consuming food.
Alice carefully lowered the silent, defective creature back into the water. She stood up and faced him proudly.
"I have been pulling from your knowledge," Alice explained, wiping a drop of water from her thumb. "I examine every word you have read. I evaluate every civilian you have spoken to and the nature of the worlds you have visited."
She lifted her hand again.
"I took it all as inspiration," she said.
A thick green vine crept its way up her forearm. The plant sprouted sharp thorns and large, vibrant blue flowers. She pointed her arm directly toward Lucid.
Lucid threw his hands up in a defensive gesture. He took a rapid step backward, terrified that he would end up like her silent, beakless creation.
Suddenly, a light weight dropped into his open palms.
Lucid looked down at his left hand. He was holding a large bouquet of freshly cut blue flowers.
"What the hell," Lucid whispered.
Alice walked closer to him. She looked down at the bundle of blue petals resting in his grip.
"Is that for me?" she asked softly.
Lucid offered the flowers back to her. She took the bouquet with both hands and smiled brightly. She lowered her face and buried her nose into the bright blue petals.
Her smile vanished instantly. A look of profound disappointment settled across her pale features.
"It has no scent," she remarked bitterly.
She looked up at him, tossing the useless flowers onto the grass.
"As you can see, they are not totally perfect yet," she admitted.
Lucid looked at her in complete confusion. "Since when did you have these specific powers?"
Alice chuckled, regaining her composure. "It is not a power. This is a soulscape. You can do it too, but this domain is mine. No, it is ours."
Lucid focused his mind. He stared at the grass and commanded a flower to bloom. He felt absolutely nothing. He felt like a foreign object standing inside a locked room.
He activated his heightened perception, attempting to trigger his Chain of Heart trait. The familiar rush of slowing time did not arrive. His internal energy reserves remained completely dormant. None of his abilities functioned here.
He looked down at his forearm. He debated whether he should harm himself to test the physics of this metaphysical space. He wondered if pain translated equally into this environment.
Alice noticed his dark calculation immediately. She reached out and held his arm, stopping his fingers from digging into his own skin. She shook her head slightly.
"You are safe here," Alice promised. "This is your safe haven."
She slid her hand down his arm and began to gently fiddle with his fingers. Her touch was warm and incredibly distracting.
"If you wish, you can stay here," she whispered, stepping into his personal space. "Forever. With me."