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He was looking outside the window; the scenery was truly perfect.

It was clear she had seen this place through his mind.

Mori wondered what the fine line between \'reading minds\' and \'feeling his mind\' meant.

She couldn\'t tell what he was exactly thinking, yet she had a general idea.

"So you\'ve seen everything I\'ve seen?" he asked.

"No, just what you\'ve done in this realm so far."

Mori nodded. It made sense. Nothing from his world would mean something to her.

"So, how do I leave?" he asked.

"That\'s up to me."

Mori\'s eyebrows arched.

That\'s quite the situation.

"Let me leave."

She got out of her seat, walking around Mori.

"I don\'t know..."

She was slow, almost calculating every step.

"Should I?" she said.

"What good would it do to you to keep me here?"

Mori tried to get up, but she grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back down, without having to stop walking circles.

"Let\'s make a contract, then you can leave."

"What do you want?"

She stopped in front of him again.

"You come down here once a week."

"That\'s it?"

"Yes."

"Agreed. Now send me back."

She leaned forward; her face inching toward his.

Her finger traced a path from his shoulder to his chin, raising it higher.

Instead of going for his lips, she kissed his cheek.

"Hoping for more?" she said.

"No."

"Right..."

She broke away, Mori touched his cheek but couldn\'t feel anything.

"Once a week, I\'ll be expecting you here."

"Good. How do I contact you in the meantime?" he asked.

She chuckled, then slapped her hands together.

Her next hand gesture was one hand pointing up, while the other supported it.

The scenery to crumble.

The walls were falling, but as parts of it flew in the air, they vanished before reaching anything.

The dust that was raised seemed to disappear as fast as it formed.

As the walls fell, it revealed no towns on the other side.

It looked like they were situated in the eye of a storm.

Wind swirling dark clouds around them faster than a tornado ever could.

She stood there, while he was slowly ascending.

The armchairs disappeared, the wooden floor, the animal hides, everything.

As he looked closer, the storm was closing in on them; the circle tightening.

The clouds were shades of dark grey and midnight blue, and flashes could be seen going from one side to the next.

Her clothes were flapping in the wind, he must\'ve now been a couple of meters up.

The circle kept tightening; the wind becoming even stronger.

The clouds were so close; it engulfed Maël while she looked at him rise, hiding her behind the violent storm.

It reached him, propelling Mori upward at a speed that no human could survive.

Everything he could see was dark clouds mixing with darker ones. There was some glittering adding to the effect, caused by the raindrops reflecting what little light they could.

Darkness finally let place to some more light, as he emerged from that storm by opening his eyes on the floor in the dungeon room.

It was soft light, caused by torches that would never go out. He could hear purring and feel the vibrations on his back.

As he moved, the Unkindled got up, stretching. Taking its time to finish, it moved off him, slowly walking toward its flame.

Mori rolled over, looking at the ceiling.

He felt sore and exhausted.

"How long was I out?" asked Mori to the Unkindled.

The cat turned around and sat down, its eyes staring into Mori\'s while its head tilted slightly to the side.

"You don\'t want to tell me?"

It didn\'t answer.

The walls, floor and ceiling slightly shook for about a second, it was soft, but still unexpected.

Mori quickly looked around.

"What... the hell is happening?"

He then looked at the Unkindled again.

"Hey, what\'s happening here? Isn\'t this room safe?"

"It is."

Mori quickly turned around. It sounded like the Unkindled\'s voice came from the walls.

Not something directly echoing through his mind, but physically through the room.

"You weren\'t gone for long. You heart did stop for a moment."

He turned around again, surprised.

"What... Why are you talking through walls, now?"

"I can\'t reach your mind anymore."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because of her."

Mori frowned, the cat was pointing right at his face.

He went toward one of the few drawers in the room, quickly opening it.

After searching for a moment, he simply opened the shop and found what he was looking for.

After pressing the [Buy] button, and seeing his Kindle balance go down, a standing mirror appeared next to the bed.

He walked to it, standing in front of it.

His surprise made him take a few more steps forward.

He looked normal, at least normal compared to what he looks like normally.

But, that \'normal\' was only half of him.

On of his eyes had changed, from the purple shade caused by his Hex Harvesting that lasted years to white, what is was normally.

Inside the white iris, was a swirling pattern that reminded Mori of the storm that pushed him up.

The pattern in his eyes wasn\'t static.

It moved.

The swirling continuously spun slowly, adding movement in his eyes that felt more unnatural that anything else it could\'ve been.

Mori finally realized why she chuckled when he asked how he could meet her.

He sighed. "Maëlstrom."

Pinpon! You figured it out.

Mori kept looking into the mirror, watching his eye in amazement.

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"So, one voice in my head was replaced by another."

I know you don\'t mind the over sharing of your thoughts, but I would rather keep it closed.

"What does it matter? It\'s a cat stuck in a dungeon who couldn\'t care less about us. Whatever you\'re thinking about, he\'ll probably ignore."

You let anyone into your home, with their muddy boots on your carpet that\'s fine. I\'m not the same.

Mori sat on the bed, letting himself fall flat.

Everything in this room reminded him of Aleesia.

Mostly because everything was truly there because of her.

He wouldn\'t have invested that much currency on comfort.

He would\'ve been fine just piling things on the floor, sleeping on a hide next to the cooking fire.

All those dishes to accommodate someone who lived sheltered her whole life.

And then some more, because she wouldn\'t clean them, but wanted clean ones.

The shop was truly a work of art, the Unkindled didn\'t lie when he said this room would be their home, and that it should be treated as such.

There was a clear emphasis on making this place as comfortable as possible.

For every kind of cuttlery he could find, there was an equal amount of weapons. The earlier tiers of the shop were laughable compared to the later one.

A flail with spikes, a flail with no spikes, a flail with a rock, a flail with a blade at the end... The amount of weapons was large, but most of them were of similar quality, and not worth spending on.

All he would need was his new spear.

Nothing changed.

I\'ll complete the next floor, heal my arm back, then I\'ll cut it again.

This time, however, nothing would come out of it. He would go into it.

Mori would\'ve rested, but since he would be healed by the dungeon rest wasn\'t necessary.

All he needed was to conquer the next floor.

He got his [Spear of Purity] out, then opened his [Dungeon] tab and selected the next floor with a boss.

He went from laying down on his bed to yet another room softly lit.

He took a few steps forward, rapidly getting used to his surroundings, and headed for the first room, like clockwork.

A trio of goblins was before him.

They look like all the others. Their weapons were simple and they had no armor.

One of them had a shield, but that was pretty much it.

They wore dirty rags and looked like they were having a conversation.

Mori walked into the room, all three of them surprised by his presence and quickly readying themselves to attack him.

Their weapons were pointed toward him, while they started distancing themselves from each other.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see the [Spear of Purity] flying out.

...What?!

It was flying at a more than decent speed, hitting the ground in the middle of the group.

In a bright flash, the ground trembled as the goblin in the middle disappeared without a trace.

The others who started walking sideways had been propelled to their nearest wall, on his left and right.

He quickly looked at his arm.

It was shades of pitch-black, dark blue and dark grey mixing together, swirling around his arm on the surface of his skin.

It looked as if even the texture of his skin had changed.

He quickly pulled his sleeve. That pattern kept going all the way to his shoulder, and his neck, he guessed.

Lifting his shirt, only one side seemed to have changed.

He looked at his hand again, anger flickering through his eyes.

Maëlstrom.