I don't know how long I was asleep, but I woke up when Pinky kept nudging me with its branches.
After a yawn and a stretch, I sat up, having just enjoyed the best sleep so far.
Looking around, the room seemed different than before. It was like being inside a vast space with huge windows covered by curtains. There was no furniture, but the room was filled with all sorts of equipment. Floating lights were everywhere and there were glowing parchments and papers scattered all over the place.
It looked chaotic.
I was used to working in an orderly environment. There's a designated place for everything.
Now, what I just saw is the complete opposite of what I'm used to.
I walked around, trying to find a sort of door or something. Unlike the rooms we had on Earth which had a door at the corner, the room I'm in has no door.
So I tried pulling the curtains on the windows and I'm speechless at what I saw.
Strange...
Everything looks... different...
Chaos reigns on the ground and in mid-air. Since the castle I'm in is floating, I have a better view of the sights below.
I wonder how high this castle is from the ground...
All sorts of buildings in different sizes and colors... scattered all over, whether on the ground or floating in the air.
I'm used to what we have on Earth, which is an organized structure of some sorts. City planning there means houses are in a specific area and commercial buildings, especially the large ones, are in a designated spot. But here? It's like a burst of glitter.
I continued to watch until my stomach started to hurt.
Oh.. I haven't eaten yet.
Hmmm... Lion isn't here, so I'll try to communicate with Pinky.
I'm not sure if Pinky can understand me though.
To my surprise, it sort of understood me as it started growing some sort of fruit on its branches.
The fruit is unlike anything I've seen on Earth. A small assortment of shapes is bundled together in one fruit. The color is a mix of pink, purple and green. I hesitantly pick one up and smelled it.
It had a sweet and slightly sour smell.
Hopefully it isn't poisonous or something...
So I took a bite.
Ohh.. it tastes good!
It tasted like mango mixed with lemon, sprinkled with a bit of sugar. I finished one and Pinky kept nudging me to eat more.
I ate two more, then I stopped. I love fruit, but my stomach needs something heavier.
Uh.. what is that?
Something was glowing in the corner, so I hesitantly approached it. It looked like a small floating triangle, so out of curiosity, I tried touching it.
I suddenly felt cold and saw all sorts of colors bursting everywhere, followed by darkness. I immediately closed my eyes out of fright. When I opened them again, I saw that I was inside in a different room.
That was so weird...
But where am I now?
It looked like a giant library of sorts, but instead of bookcases, a huge cylindrical piece of furniture was there, with an assortment of books, papers and parchments floating near it. It looked like the the sun and the planets revolving around it.
It's quite neat if you think about it. You just need one of these and voila! No more messy bookshelves!
I saw a glowing parchment and out of curiosity, I tried to take it. Suddenly, everything stopped and an endless amounts of books, parchments and papers started falling down.
Uh-oh.
What the heck should I do now?!
To my relief, Lion suddenly appeared out of nowhere and everything revolved again.
His hair looked messy and his tail kept swishing around. He asked me whether I was hungry. I told him that I hadn't eaten for more than a day. He looked surprised, as if he had just realized it. Then, instantly, he waved his hands and magically, different shaped, colorful objects started appearing.
I took a purple, hourglass-shaped one and hesitantly tasted it.
Uh..
It tasted...
Salty?
I made a face and Lion asked me what's wrong. I exclaimed that it's salty!
He asked curiously what I meant. He explained that objects like the one I had just tasted provided them nourishment. They take only one and it nourishes them for the entire day.
Seriously?!
I excitedly told him that where I'm from, we have different kinds of nourishment that we call 'food'. I explained to him the differences between fruits, vegetables, snacks and meals.
He exclaimed excitedly that it was fascinating to hear that we mixed them and used fire to change their taste.
One by one, I tried tasting the different 'fruits', described their flavors and even tried combining some of them.
We spent a long time having fun doing this, since Lion kept using magic to fetch fruits.
The magic he uses is interesting... a floating glowing orb keeps appearing carrying several fruits.
Heh..
Strange yet cute.
.......
Lion taught me how to read time and honestly, I didn't understand any of the explanation until finally, he just made me a magic 'tell time' sort of like a watch, but only shows the two suns and the several moons.
That's... not very helpful, to be honest, as I could just peek outside the window.
I have so much to learn in order to survive.
I told Lion what happened to me, but he just sighed and gave me a long explanation that was too much to remember.
To explain it simply, I was transported here because of a magical anomaly that occurred between my home universe and this one.
My previous universe expanded to the point where it interfered with another universe's 'area', creating a vacuum that absorbed magical energy, despite my home universe having none.
As this current universe tried to reabsorb its magical energy, the reaction was so severe that it pulled in various interstellar objects and of course, me.
Lion doesn't understand why an "occupant" from another universe gets absorbed, especially since I am so miniscule. He promised he would try to research the matter and, in the meantime, help me adjust to my life here.
I wonder why he is helping me, a stranger?
Suspiciously, I asked him why he was helping me. He frowned for a while, then admitted that he was just fascinated with me.
Otherwise, he would destroy me, as I am an 'anomaly' in this world and might risk the safety of those living here.
I should be careful around him.