(A)lpha
"I don't want to be here." Yohan said to himself, as he saw the place around him form like some kind of castle. "I want out." He spoke again, reaching forward to touch a mirror before him with sparks of light emitting upon touch and showing his arm now mainly looked white like a sketch. "Let me out!"
"Calm down." A white haired boy appeared from out of thin air. "There's no point in getting angry."
"Who are you?" Yohan demanded, a tone of anger lashing out.
"You may call me Shiro. I suggest you calm down now, sir." Raising up his right hand, a plate poofs itself onto it as he takes hold of a fancy looking cup and places it down before Yohan. "Have some water. It's cool, refreshing and will help calm you down in a jiffy!" Yohan looked to the cup with hesitation, but decided that he did feel dehydrated. Yohan takes hold of the cup and lifts it up, drinking it all down as his form quickly returns to how it should look.
"There now. Feeling better?" Shiro gave a smile upon seeing Yohan nod, taking the cup from his hand and putting it back on the plate and allowing it to poof. However, Yohan sees the boy grow older as the plate poofed away, now Shiro looked older and now stood taller than Yohan! "We don't have a lot of time, although it will feel like that's not the case here. But I have some things to explain, though I'm not sure if you will remember once you wake back up."
"Wake back up...?" Yohan sat down and put a hand on his head. Had he done something before now? He... Couldn't remember. Shiro said he would explain some things to him, so he decided it was a good idea to listen to him for now. "Alright, I'm listening."
"Well, for starters, the reason I had you calm down is mainly because of the connections you have right now." This caused Yohan to become confused. Connections? "Right now, the others must be in a fragile state after what you all just went through. When you were angry, that feeling must of briefly made it's way over to the others. Though I see one of them is currently not fully connected yet, that anger could of had a negative impact on the others."
"What are these connections you are talking about?" Yohan rubbed his head while trying to remember, but he could only come up with a blank.
"My apologies. Right now, there are other people seeing through your eyes, though I am not sure if they will remember anything from this either. Let's just say these connections will be important to remember for when you come here."
"So..." Yohan looked around, finding himself sitting in some kind of big castle like hallway. "Where exactly am I?"
"Ah, yes. You are currently in your own world." Shiro's words caused Yohan to blink rapidly a few times in disbelief.
"My... Own world?"
"Yes. Everyone with The White or The Black has one. The mind is a powerful tool, and well, you can think of this place as sort of a safe heaven among all the wild and crazy power in that brain of yours."
"So this place is somewhere I can relax?" Yohan rose up to his feet, looking up at Shiro. "So, do these others have a place like this?"
"But of course, sir. They have been given this power as well, though I imagine they won't be able to enter this place for quite some time."
"They can enter into my place?" Yohan rubbed his head as he tried to let all of this sink in.
"Yes sir. Those connections I mentioned before will largely affect how that goes. Though I don't know if they'll have reason to enter here. I can't really see anything being here waiting for them." Shiro looked over his shoulder really quickly before turning back to look at Yohan. "Though I have been wrong before. There are some things about this place even I do not know of. I have been here for years, searching and exploring everywhere I could go, but there are parts I do not have access to. Then there are the parts I don't want to have access to. You must be feeling tired though, come. I will show you around."
"Alright." Yohan slowly rose up to his feet and followed Shiro through the hallway. As he walked, he took notice of passing by multiple doors, some of them having different symbols on them, others having different colors on them entirely. "So uh, what's up with all the doors?"
"Each door has a different purpose. For now, all you need to know is not to mess with any of these doors. Opening even one of them could have some kind of negative effect on you. However, there is only one forbidden door." Shiro and Yohan stop as Shiro points towards one of the last doors, and Yohan's eyes widen to see a menacing dark red door.
"What's wrong with that door? It's not natural."
"Indeed, that door holds behind it something I've been trying to keep at bay for as long as I've been here. It grows stronger over time, and it's always getting free whenever I'm not able to keep it locked up. You won't hear any noise if you try to listen in, but there is something in there. That thing is dangerous and you should avoid it at all cost."
"So... Do the others have a door just like this one?" Shiro paused at Yohan's question, closing his eyes as if hesitant to answer. But after some silence, he opens his eyes and slowly nods.
"I hate to admit it, but yes. Everyone has a door like this, I wish I could say no one was tempted to open it. Well, hopefully the others don't have to deal with it like this troublesome one likes to act."
"But, how is it a problem for us? It was never opened before, right?" Shiro paused again, giving some time to choose his next words carefully.
"Things... Were different when I first arrived. By the time I got here, the door had already been opened and I barely managed to lock it back up. I wish I had known sooner of the dangers of this door, but nothing can be said of that now. Come, I have something to show you before you go." Shiro began to walk again, Yohan stared at the ominous door for a little longer before following after Shiro.
"This place is so big, Shiro. But if that door exists, does that mean there are other bad doors as well?"
"Yes, afraid so. Many bad doors exist within this place, that red one I showed you is the most dangerous of all. This place isn't perfect I'm afraid. I have taken it upon myself to learn of the ins and outs of what I could about this place. As long as you seek me out when you return, you will be safe. Should I ever be missing, however, you must take it upon yourself to take the path I show you now and not open any of the doors or mess with anything else. Understand?"
"Y-yeah. I think I get it." Yohan nods as Shiro and him come to a halt in front of the biggest door yet. Shiro pulls out some sort of stone and holds it up to a key that was hung nearby the door, the stone glowing and poofing as the key began to glow.
"This key will always open any door within this place. I must use special requirements in order to use it, but for you it will always be available." Shiro takes the key and inserts it into the keyhole, twisting the key as the key poofs away. The big door began to shine as it creaks open before them, the light that once shined behind it fading away to reveal a large room. "This room is special. It connects to every area of this castle."
"I don't get it. I don't remember any castle. Why is it like this then?"
"It depends entirely on the person, I suppose. For you, it seems as if you consider this castle to be the safest haven you know. In your case, this castle is designed to comfort you. But we can discuss that more later. For now, we must observe the dream you are having." Shiro walks into the room, leaving Yohan to stand there for a bit looking confused.
"Wait... I'm dreaming right now?" Yohan walked into the room slowly while Shiro tapped a crystal ball lightly. Yohan looked closer at the crystal ball to see some images flashing briefly in it.
"Why, of course. You couldn't be here if you weren't. This place is not set in reality, nor is it set in the fantasy. It is hard to explain properly, but I think you will just have to experience it for yourself to find out." Shiro looked over the images appearing in the crystal ball. "Interesting. This appears to be a dream you and someone else are sharing right now. I wonder if it will reach out to the others. They may awaken before you do, which could serve to our benefit."
"Our benefit? How?"
"Well, there is one more thing I would like to show you before you go. It is the only thing left I can do before you go. If you are interested in finding out, that is."
"Of course I am. If I can help out somehow, I will!" This caused Shiro to laugh lightly.
"I didn't expect you to be so cheerful, but very well. I will show you a secret about this castle, one that even I have not unraveled the mysteries of yet!"